LinkedIn Q3 sales up 23% to $960M Professional networking app LinkedIn has published promising Q3 earnings ahead of its planned acquisition by Microsoft at the end of the year. Revenues for the third quarter were $960 million, up 23 percent on a year ago, and membership numbers were up 18 percent to 467 million. Mobile now accounts for 60 percent of all traffic to LinkedIn, the company said, growing at double the rate of its desktop service.
Instagram v Snapchat – who wins with Millennials? Adweek asked 511 Instagram and Snapchat users aged 13-34 how they feel about Instagram and Snapchat, with interesting results. The most striking difference between the two was in the coolness stakes, with 64% of respondents picking Snapchat as the coolest platform. Neither did particularly well on specific ad recall but Instagram scored marginally better, in spite of the fact more people using Snapchat remembered seeing ads on the platform in the first place. Interesting, Instagram had the best predicted longevity, with 35.5% predicting it would still be popular in five years compared with Snapchat’s 26.8%. Ad blocking rates stabilising in Europe Townsend Freehan, CEO of IAB Europe, has reported that ad blocking rates in Europe have stabilised, which will be welcome news for advertisers.Several publishing executives at the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe in Nice, France reported that ad blocking rates are no longer growing, helped by the shift to mobile. But with one estimate claiming publishers in France are losing up to a fifth of desktop ad revenue to blockers, clearly the battle is far from over.
Twitter axes Vine In what will come as a surprise to, er, nobody, Twitter has axed video service Vine. Twitter has not given a reason for the closure, but on Thursday it announced it was cutting 9% of its workforce following slow platform growth. Vine will be staying live to allow people to access content.
Facebook tests Snapchat-style camera special effects Facebook is overhauling its in-app camera to copy, ehem, I mean embrace, augmented reality visuals pioneered by the likes of Snapchat. The Facebook camera’s new features include animated selfie masks, overlaid graphics, geofilters, Prisma-esque fine art-themed style transfer filter, and some innovative new “reactive” filters that respond to your body’s movements. Facebook is testing the new features in Ireland from this week.
Facebook Messenger now supports PayPal payments for US users PayPal will now be available for use within Facebook Messenger in the US.Facebook has been beta testing payments in Messenger with select developers, and will roll out this capability more broadly by the end of the year. In addition, Messenger payments are not being limited to PayPal – customers can use payment info already stored in Facebook and Messenger within the bots, as another option.
Twitter is testing relaxed character limits for replies Another week, another change to Twitter’s character limit rules. In a limited trial for some users on mobile, Twitter will not count usernames against character limits in replies. If the change is rolled out, it will mean whether responding to a single user or a bunch of them, you’ll be able to reply with all 140 characters.
Spotify launches first UK brand campaign Spotify is launching its first UK brand campaign to position itself as more than just a music streaming platform. The outdoor, digital and social campaign aims to highlight the ways its community can discover and share music. Head of consumer marketing in the UK, Karen Staughton said: “We found ourselves in the hugely fortunate position of having a wealth of great stories to tell in the UK, and the time felt right to tell it.”
Trump’s on Tinder… and so is Clinton Try not to be too freaked out if Donald Trump rocks up on your Tinder. True, given his reputation, it may well actually be him, but it could also be part of a Tinder campaign called Swipe The Vote. Tinder users can now swipe left or right to show their support for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton on 15 key issues. Are you #WithHer or on the #TrumpTrain? Either way, the whole sorry mess will be over next week (or November 28th if you’re a Trump supporter).
