We Are Social’s Tuesday Tune-Up #137
News
News
Sharing is caring. Caring is loving. Loving is amazing.
Pedigree strictly followed this old saying in their latest YouTube campaign. In order to raise money for their Adoption Drive program, Pedigree created a 60 second video of cute puppies playing in front of the camera. Based on the premise that if a video goes viral on YouTube, the video platform shares the money earned from advertising with the video creator, Pedigree is hoping to use the funds in order to feed, treat and finding owners for their dogs. So if you want to contribute to this great program, just share the video with your peers and let’s make this video as viral as we can. For the love of dogs…
The most watched Australian YouTube ad in 2014 so far…
In a recent article published by AdNews, Head of YouTube Solutions Olly Grundy lists the most watched Australian YouTube ads since the beginning of the year. As Grundy outlines, online video platforms such as YouTube allow advertisers to communicate for longer than the classic 30 seconds TV spot. The video that tops the podium is actually over 4 minutes long by Air New Zealand. It features extremely talented Sports Illustrated models taking us through the beauty of in-flight safety. I personally feel much safer now. Enjoy!
TV conversation targeting arrives in Beta on our Australian shores.
Oliver Young, Twitter Senior Product Manager announced that the new targeting capabilities have arrived in Australia in beta form. Every day people use Twitter to engage with their favourite TV shows or TV events. By combining their TV & Twitter efforts, advertisers can encourage users to take action (for example: visit a website, watch a video, subscribe to a platform…)
Research revealed that earned audiences exposed to TV & brand-related Tweets are taking action. #ARFRETHINK14 pic.twitter.com/hhFDZ75XOx
— Twitter Advertising (@TwitterAds) March 24, 2014
Most social referrals come from Facebook
Facebook leads its rivals for social referrals, according to the Shareaholic Social Media Traffic Report for Q1 2014. In March, over 20% of all referrals to Shareaholic’s 300,000 sites came through Facebook; closest rival, Pinterest, saw just 7.1%. Almost all major social platforms grew their share of overall referrals during the study period, with only LinkedIn and YouTube witnessing a decline.
Facebook in review: Q1 2014
Facebook has announced its figures for the first quarter of this year. The platform now has 1.28 billion monthly active users and 802 million daily active users, up from 1.23 billion and 757 million in the last quarter of 2013.
A large proportion of new users came from mobile. Over 1 billion people now access Facebook via mobile at least once a month, compared with 945 million in the previous quarter. Mobile-only users have grown from 296 million to 341 million in the same period.
Revenue grew 72% year-on-year to $2.5bn. Ad revenue accounted for $2.27bn, a year-on-year increase of 82%, while 59% of all ad revenue came from mobile. That’s up from 53% in the previous quarter and just 30% in Q1 2013.
Facebook launches Newswire
Facebook has announced the launch of Newswire, a resource that looks to provide content from the platform for journalists and newsrooms to embed in their own stories. The system is powered by Storyful, a social discovery and verification tool.
Facebook acquires Moves
Another week, another acquisition by Facebook. This time it’s ‘Moves’, an app that tracks fitness and activities – you can see how it looks in the image below. For now, the impact of the acquisition will be minimal, with the founders of Moves assuring users that it will continue to act as a standalone app, independent of its parent company.
Video ads are coming to Instagram
Instagram is soon to introduce video advertising, according to AdWeek. The platform, which is notoriously meticulous when it comes to vetting advertising, will continue to work with only a few select partners.
Instagram personalises the Explore tab
Instagram has updated its ‘Explore’ tab. It now features not just top content from across the network, but also the photos and videos that have been liked by those you follow.
WhatsApp reaches 500m users
WhatsApp now has 500 million active users, having added another 70 million since its acquisition by Facebook in February. Jan Koum, the company’s chief executive, stated that these users are now posting 700m photos and 100m videos every single day. He also implied that its rivals were “shitty”. The potty mouth.
New Twitter profiles are open to all
No more staring in envy at those brand pages with their big headers and pinned tweets – the new Twitter profiles are now available for everybody. If you’re still deciding how to decorate your new online space, never fear – the new profiles aren’t compulsory just yet.
Twitter introduces ‘website preview’ ad card
Twitter is adding another type of ad to its list of cards. Soon enough, you’ll start seeing tweets like the below, which preview company websites. This is the latest in a host of such moves, and The Wall Street Journal believes that there may be a dozen more to come this year alone.
LinkedIn improves ad offering
LinkedIn has bulked up its ad offering with two new releases: a Sponsored Updates API and Content Partners. The API will allow selected ad tech partners to sell sponsored updates across the platform, with five partners initially signed up. With Content Partners, LinkedIn will let companies sponsor content from popular publishers such as The Atlantic, CBS Interactive and Bloomberg. According to LinkedIn, posts from the aforementioned organisations receive 30% more engagement than the average marketer update.
Vic Gundotra leaves Google
Vic Gundotra, the founding father of Google+, has left Google. This has led to big questions about the future of the social network. TechCrunch reports rumours that the 1,000-strong team in charge of the social network is being reshuffled – it also questions if this may be the end for Google+ as a rival to the likes of Facebook and Twitter. A spokesperson from Google has denied the claims:
Today’s news has no impact on our Google+ strategy — we have an incredibly talented team that will continue to build great user experiences across Google+, Hangouts and Photos.
Tumblr better for social TV than Twitter?
Tumblr has argued that it hosts more conversation about television than its rival, Twitter. In a study published last week, the platform accepts that more live mentions happen on Twitter, but only marginally so – and the figure is easily made up for in the following days on Tumblr.
Pinterest previews Guided Search
Pinterest has created a new tool, named ‘Guided Search’, for its Android and iPhone/iPad apps. With each query unique to the user, it aims to aid exploration of its vast swathes of content. CEO Ben Silbermann explained the tool’s goals very succinctly:
Let’s build a search engine that’s more about exploration and discovery and teaching you about your tastes.
Cinema tickets through Twitter
Fandango, the ticketing service, is allowing people to buy cinema tickets through Twitter. Tweets about certain films that link to the Fandango site will now appear with the poster, information and a purchase button.
Peugeot races against Twitter followers
Peugeot is offering Twitter followers a chance to win a driving experience for two in Germany, in order to promote its new model, the RCZ R. Entrants have to complete a 140-character tweet more quickly than the car can accelerate from 0-90mph on a track.
We Are Social asks Volvic fans if they’ve #GotTheBottle
Water brand Volvic has announced a partnership with Tough Mudder, aiming to drive awareness around ‘Volcanicity’. As part of the move, We Are Social has created a bespoke #GotTheBottle app, which will source fans’ best moments from Tough Mudder – and photo submissions will be entered for the chance to win a trip to Las Vegas.
Ronald McDonald gets new look
Nightmare inhabitant Ronald McDonald now has a new look, especially for social media. Mentions of #ronaldmcdonald and #lovinit have increased since launch, but so have tweets containing #notlovinit. We’ll let you decide for yourself.
#myNYPD Twitter fail
The New York Police Department created a classic Twitter fail last week by asking people to tweet their pictures of the force using the hashtag #myNYPD. It quickly saw many people posting images and tales of police brutality.
My fondest #MyNYPD memories: watching officers beat up peaceful protesters and arrest my journo friends for doing their jobs.
— allisonkilkenny (@allisonkilkenny) April 22, 2014
Need a lift? The #NYPD‘s got you! Free Delivery, Only at #myNYPD pic.twitter.com/AStS3ZjoZu
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) April 22, 2014
Brandwatch analysis showed that sentiment was not exclusively negative. With 5% positive, 15% negative and the rest neutral, the figures could be worse for the police department (though they could also be a whole lot better).