Tuesday Tune-Up #172

Tuneup
caitlin.west

Canberra drivers monitor fuel prices using social media
In recent weeks, fuel prices have dropped to lows not seen for several years, making it a prime time to fill up the fuel tank. However, these low prices have not managed to make it to the bowser in the nation’s capital. A group of annoyed motorists have turned to Facebook, creating a community to share the lowest fuel prices in Canberra and to place pressure on petrol stations offering unreasonably high prices. Since launching on the 4th of January, the A.C.T Fuel Watch page has attracted over 13,000 likes.

80% of adults online now own smartphones
In new research released by the GlobalWebIndex, it has been revealed that 80% of all adults who are online now own smartphones, reaching a new high in smartphone ownership. Of those surveyed, only 9% of users are making use of smart watches and smart wristbands, while a whopping 91% own a laptop of PC.

Facebook not suffering from other networks’ growth
US adults are using more and more social networks, but not at Facebook’s expense, despite what some reports have suggested. The Pew Research Center found that 71% of internet users surveyed were on Facebook, the same as in 2013, and 70% said they used the platform each day, up from 63% in 2013. LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter all saw growth, as you can see from this lovely graph.

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Marketers upping social spend
Salesforce’s latest ‘State of Marketing’ report spells good news for social media. Of all marketers surveyed, 70% plan to increase their organic social/content marketing budgets, and 70% are also upping their social ad spend. You can have a look at the rest of the stats here.

WhatsApp’s user base is growing
WhatsApp is going from strength to strength, with 700 million users sending 30bn messages every day. I’ve only sent one today, to ask my housemates what they’d like for dinner. I’ll keep you posted with any updates on that thrilling tale.

Facebook Messenger use increases rapidly
ComScore has released its mobile data app report for November 2014, which shows strong year-on-year growth for Facebook’s Messenger app. Facebook’s core app was used by 69% of all smartphone users, compared with 76.2% the year before, while Messenger had increased in the same timeframe from 22.1% to 43.1%. Now, you statisticians will know that correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it could well be that splitting the app in two has been good for Messenger, and not so great for the main app.

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More video content on Facebook
If you needed more evidence that Facebook is becoming a more video-heavy platform, you’ll love the next sentence. Globally, users are now posting 75% more videos on Facebook than one year ago – in the US, it’s up 94% – and 360% more videos are appearing in users’ feeds.

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Facebook buys QuickFire Networks and Wit.ai
Facebook made two acquisitions last week. The first, QuickFire Networks, developed a software platform for reducing video files sizes and upload times, while the second, Wit.ai, has built an API for building voice-activated interfaces. The former is described as a ‘Pied Piper’ of video, presumably due to its colourful cloak and ability to charm rats and children with its music. You can see how the latter works below.

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Twitter is launching autoplay
Twitter is set to release autoplay video, with a distinctly ‘Twitter’ spin. Brands will have a six-second preview (which can be any part of the video) to entice a user to click, at which point sound will start and advertisers will have to pay. Here is a picture of a play button surrounded by Twitter logos, to help us all visualise what’s happening.

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Twitter to sell ads on other sites
Twitter has laid out plans to make money from tweets seen across the web, outside of the network itself. It is to start selling ads within streams of tweets displayed on apps and sites of other companies.

Advertising on Snapchat
A recent survey has suggested that Snapchat users are okay with ads on the network – 60% of respondents said that they enjoy ‘Our Story’ ads and 44% were happy with ‘brand stories’. Some might say that the Snapchat-commissioned study could be accused of bias, but not us. In fact, here’s an article on some of the best ads on Snapchat so far. They include Universal’s promotion for films ‘Ouija’ and ‘Dumb and Dumber To’, Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and Samsung at the American Music Awards.

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LinkedIn gives access to its publishing platform
LinkedIn has opened its publishing platform, previously available to brands and influencers, to 230 million of its users. The only stipulation is that you have to live in an English-speaking country.

Coca Cola wants to trademark hashtags
Coca Cola is attempting to trademark two hashtags, #cokecanpics and #smilewithacoke. The move raises a number of interesting questions about the legal status of social media content, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on it.

Under Armour creates its own social platform
Under Armour has created a new piece of ‘health-tracking software’, called UA Record. The platform, which the brand describes as a “social network for activity”, pairs with a number of wearable devices.

Nike+ sends personalised clips to users
Nike has created 100,000 personalised animations, each under the banner of ‘Your year with Nike+’. Every Nike+ user is sent their own clip, created with data including location, weather and training information.

Social media at the Golden Globes
Awards season really got going yesterday with the Golden Globes – as you can imagine, social media was heavily involved. L’Oreal Paris recreated red carpet outfits using shoppable GIFs that were then posted to Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Meanwhile, Facebook and Instagram partnered with the event; the former had an exclusive booth on the red carpet, while the latter had access to backstage photographs taken by fashion photographer, Ellen von Unwerth.

Virgin Trains saves passenger on Twitter
Word to the wise: if you’re going to get stuck on a train without loo roll, make sure it’s a Virgin train. The brand last week came to the aid of a passenger who tweeted them with something of a dilemma.