We Are Social’s Tuesday Tune-Up #199

News
rebecca.zappia
Heads up, your Twitter wallpaper has gone
If you thought Twitter was looking very bland recently, you’re not wrong.

Twitter has removed all users background images from the home and notifications timelines. The solid white background has replaced users customisable wallpaper.

NASA debuts Pluto Surface Photo on Instagram
NASA debuted its first surface image of Pluto to its 4 million Instagram followers, giving the photo-sharing service an hour head start before being officially released. As a way to engage with a new audience, the space agency pushed the photo directly to Instagram’s 300 million users, then to their official website.

 







Gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach, which was at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday – about 7,750 miles above the surface — roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India – making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Images from closest approach are expected to be released on Wednesday, July 15. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons#solarsystem #nasabeyond #science

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on


 




YouTube viewing time grows 60% in a year
Q2 looked good for YouTube, as overall viewing time grew 60% year-on-year. Mobile was particularly strong; the average viewing session on mobile grew 50% in the same period to 40 minutes. According to Google’s chief business officer Omid Kordestani, more people now watch YouTube on mobile than watch video on any US cable network.

Facebook is working on a virtual assistant
Facebook is developing a virtual assistant for its standalone Messenger app. The feature’s details are still under wraps, but we can expect the ability to ask real people for help with searching for products and services. Oh, and it’s being referred to internally as ‘Moneypenny’, making it the closest most Messenger users will get to being James Bond.

Facebook to create fully shoppable pages
Facebook is building ‘Shop’ pages, where users can enjoy the entire shopping experience, from discovery to purchase, within the network. We don’t know exactly what they’ll look like yet, but here’s a mock up for the impatient among you:

Facebook shop pages

‘The Power of Four’ from 20th Century Fox and We Are Social
To promote the upcoming Fantastic Four film, 20th Century Fox and We Are Social’s Singapore office have created ‘The Power of Four’. It’s a content-led Instagram campaign that asks users to work in teams of four and locate hidden visuals across each character’s feed, for the chance to win tickets to an exclusive movie screening.

The Power of Four

Pinterest and Waitrose form partnership
Waitrose has launched a Pinterest campaign dubbed #TasteOfSummer, which asks customers for input into what makes the ultimate ‘taste of summer’. Interestingly, the platform actually approached the supermarket about the campaign, as it looks to test content and introduce advertising into its business in the UK.

Waitrose Pinterest

Laphroaig to project tweets on its distillery wall
Laphroaig, the Scottish whisky, is celebrating its 200th anniversary by projecting tweets about the drink on its distillery wall. The move, called #BigOpinions, is part of a larger campaign, #OpinionsWelcome. That means all opinions, good, bad and everything in between. Here’s one of our favourites.

 

Brands and World Emoji Day Put it in your diaries, July 17th is World Emoji Day. Naturally, brands were keen to get involved last week (as we’re sure they will be next year). Here are some examples of their work.