Facebook Lite now has 200 million monthly active users Facebook Lite, a low-bandwidth alternative to the social network’s flagship Android application for users with poor connectivity, has now topped 200 million monthly active users. The app has doubled its user based since last March, when it topped the 100 million MAU mark.
Facebook announces changes to its measurement system Facebook has increased its transparency by updating video and third-party viewability metrics. The platform will provide new insights into campaigns, and it plans to open up third-party display viewability to measure text and photo ads through its new partnership with comScore and Nielson. Similar to video viewability, display viewability will track when and how long ads appear on a page – these measurement offerings will begin to roll out in the first quarter of 2017.
Further to this, Facebook is also launching a new blog called Metrics FYI that’s similar to Facebook’s News Feed FYI blog, but it will focus specifically on measurement changes.
Snapchat brings new episodes of Planet Earth to mobile Hurrah. Planet Earth II episodes are coming to Snapchat. BBC Worldwide and Snap Inc. are partnering up to release six episodes on the mobile platform. The Snapchat episodes premiere on February 17th and will be released weekly, covering the same content as the television show. The episodes will also feature binaural audio which is a new stereo feature created with the use of two microphones that give sound a 3D quality.
Twitter’s ad revenue declines Twitter’s advertising revenue has slightly declined in the fourth quarter, after the platform struggled to build a strong user base despite putting increasing emphasis on live video. According to Twitter’s Q4 2016 earnings report, advertising revenue totaled $638 million, which is down from previous years, with mobile devices bringing in 89% of the total revenue.
Pinterest introduces Lens, Shop the Look & Instant Ideas
Pinterest has introduced three new visual discovery products – Lens, Shop the Look and Instant Ideas. Lens is a tool inside the Pinterest mobile app that functions as a ‘Shazam’ for objects – so point it at furniture, food, whatever takes your fancy, and Pinterest will show recommendations for similar objects.
Shop the Look is a new shopping feature that allows users to browse and buy items they see in home and fashion Pins. Similarly, Instant Ideas enables users who see a concept they like in a Pin to tap the circle in the bottom-right corner to check for similar ideas.
YouTube creators with 10,000+ followers get mobile live streaming YouTube’s product managers have announced that the mobile live streaming feature that was introduced last June is now available to all YouTube Creators with more than 10,000 subscribers. So YouTube Creators rejoice – you can now go live from your mobile devices.
LinkedIn Premium Subscribers get new data and insight features LinkedIn has introduced new features for Premium members – they can now take advantage of a whole new range of exclusive data insights as well as unlimited access to newly launched LinkedIn products, such as LinkedIn Salary and LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Premium Career members now have access to personalised insights within LinkedIn Jobs and Premium Business Insights is now providing unique and timely data on company pages.
Lego Life – a new social network for kids There’s a new social network for kids on the block from LEGO called ‘LEGO Life.’ LEGO Life is available as an iOS and Android application, and is aimed at those under the age of 13. It’s a safe, online space where kids can share their LEGO creations, and connect with a broader community. As well as being able to interact with LEGO characters, there are also LEGO videos to watch, LEGO news updates, quizzes and many other activities.
