We Are Social’s Tuesday Tune-Up #120
News
News
Holden attacked on social media
Australian car company, Holden, has been attacked for their current ‘Think About This’ campaign which aims to reassure Aussie consumers it’s committed to building “the best cars” for Australia, despite moving their manufacturing off-shore.
Loyal Holden consumers were not shy in venting their anger on Facebook, ridiculing the new campaign for being “an insult to Australians who supported you for a long time,” and the “delusional attitude of this company.“
A social campaign that clearly misses the idea of socially led thinking?
US women spending more time on social
According to research by SheKnows and Harris Interactive, US women are spending more time on social networks now than they were in August. Of those surveyed, 67% said they were spending more time on Instagram, 48% more on Pinterest, WordPress and blogs, while 30% had increased time on Facebook.
It’s no wonder, considering that the sample group also attested to trusting social media recommendations more than anywhere else online – 62% said they trusted their social media connections most, compared to just 14% saying editors of their favourite websites.
Facebook launches video ads
After much testing, Facebook last week launched News Feed video ads with the trailer for upcoming film ‘Divergent’. As expected, the ads will autoplay; users can either scroll past to ignore them, or click to play full screen with audio.
Facebook adds ‘donate now’ button
Facebook has added a ‘donate now’ button to the pages of 18 non-profit partners, including water.org (shown below). It’s open on web to all US users, who can donate pre-set sums of $10, $25, $100 or $250 via credit card, debit card or PayPal. If a user comes across a non-profit’s post in his News Feed, he can donate using the same button embedded on the post. This button also gives donors the option to manually enter a preferred donation amount so they are not restricted to the preset amounts listed above. In the coming weeks, Facebook plan to extend the feature to include more charities, as well as mobile integration.
Facebook redesigns ‘Home’
Facebook has redesigned its ‘Home’ app for Android, in the hope of attracting more users. By adding a clock, weather and notifications over the top of the screen, it’s looked to make the feature more similar to alternative mobile home screens.
Twitter’s ‘promoted accounts’ enter users’ timelines
Twitter is bringing promoted accounts to users’ timelines, in an attempt to make them more visible on mobile. Previously, the ads had appeared in an obscure corner of the mobile app, despite fairly good visibility on desktop. Now, when accessing Twitter via mobile, users will see promoted accounts join their normal streams, underneath a tweet by the advertiser.
Vine introduces vanity URLs
Twitter has brought vanity URLs to Vine, starting with verified users on the 20th December, followed by all others today (Monday 23rd). The network will automatically reserve URLs that “mirror verified Twitter @usernames”, but these accounts will still need to claim the URL.
Foursquare raise $35m in Series D round
Foursquare has raised $35m in a Series D funding round, with DFJ Growth and the Capital Group’s Smallcap World Fund as principal investors. This gives the platform a valuation of just over $600m, slightly higher than its Series C.
Samsung’s #Galaxy11 launches on social
Samsung’s latest campaign, involving international football stars including Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, was launched last week. Each player will post to their various channels about the interactive stories and socially-led challenges – that’s a combined potential reach of over 200 million users. The campaign will run across six platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube.
O2 launches #TweetServe
Europe’s Mobile provider O2 has introduced #TweetServe, an automated system run through Twitter, which allows users to get information including their balance, minutes or data usage. By tweeting @O2 saying #TweetServe, customers will be automatically followed by the account and sent a direct message including a verification code. After this, they can contact the account with a set of keywords for access to the various services described above.
Tourism Ireland’s Facebook mural
Tourism Ireland unveiled an 18-metre mural in Derry-Londonderry, created from Facebook images submitted through a Facebook app. The image, designed to celebrate Derry’s role as City of Culture 2013, depicts a robin and the river Foyle’s ‘Peace Bridge’.
