Tuesday Tune-Up 257
Proving once more that in addition to cats, the Internet loves nothing more than stupid, catchy earworm videos like Pen Pineapple Apple Pen. The song has racked up tens of millions of views across multiple channels in less than a week. The lyrics are so simple and nonsensical they could easily be drunken ramblings overheard at a late night bus stop or the sleeper code to awaken Manchurian candidates.
In case you haven’t heard it, it goes a little something like this:
“I have a pen. I have an apple. Apple-pen! I have a pen. I have pineapple. Pineapple-pen! Apple pen. Pineapple pen. Pen pineapple apple pen.”
It’s already inspired hundreds of others to perform ‘covers’ and to tweet the song in emoji form:
Why? Because.
Will it be the next Gangnam Style? Only time (and Twitter) will tell.
Kim Kardashian tied up and trending.
Twitter lit up overnight as the reality TV star was robbed in France. KK, who was staying in Paris at the exclusive Hôtel de Pourtalès (rumoured to cost up to $30,000 for a week’s stay) was mugged – and not just by the expensive hotel room. It’s alleged that Ms. Kardashian West was robbed at gunpoint by muggers posing as French police officers who tied her up and got away with nearly $9 million in jewellery, y’know just the usual kind of stuff we all travel with really.
When news broke, Kim’s husband – award show interrupter and clothing designer Kanye West – immediately ended a performance in NY.
Is this all an elaborate prank to promote a line of very reasonably-priced designer jewellery, beige and brown clothes, a new album, a book of selfies, a new TV show, an app, some emojis, and a $5K per night hotel room? Maybe. Many are calling it a hoax, something about crying wolf…The point is, people online are talking about Kim Kardashian.
Facebook tests Messenger Day, another Snapchat Stories clone
After a not-so-subtle launch of strangely-familiar ‘Stories’ on Instagram, the Facebook family did it again in their launch of Messenger Day, a product that lets users share illustrated, filter-enhanced photos and videos that disappear after – you guessed it – 24 hours. It works in the same way that Snapchat or Instagram Stories do, and it’s just been launched in…Poland. Why Poland? Because apparently Poland remains relatively unfamiliar with Snapchat. Clever.
Facebook lets marketers link Canvas ads and include 360 video
Facebook is rolling out 360-degree video capability to its Canvas ads as well as letting brand owners link multiple ads together to tell more in-depth stories. Brands are already on board with Itau, a Brazilian bank that has been running a lot of Facebook ads, testing the 360 feature. Meanwhile, Beats by Dre has already used the linking option to let users explore headphones.
Snapchat’s rebrand to Snap Inc. explained
Snap Inc.’s chief strategy officer, Imran Khan, claimed that Snapchat’s rebrand to Snap Inc. was made because the company is bigger than just one app, a point proven by Snap Inc.’s release of Spectacles last week. The CSO also revealed that over 60 million of Snapchat’s 150 million+ daily users come from the U.S. and Canada. Speaking at Dmexco earlier this month, Khan said that 50 million of the company’s users are in Europe, meaning that the U.S., Canada and Europe represent 110 million daily active users. More than two-thirds of those folks actually create daily content within the app, with the average person spending 25-30 minutes in it.
Twitter opens up ‘Moments’ to all users
Until recently, Moments was only accessible to Twitter staff and selected publishing partners. However, now us mere mortals (and social media professionals…) can curate tweets about a moment of their choice and publish to their feed. This means you can now share with everyone that hilarious moment when the barista slightly misspelled your name after nailing your complicated coffee order. #LOL
Kik lets users talk to more than one chatbot in the same conversation
Canadian messaging app Kik is rolling out a new line of fashion and beauty ‘bots’ to help users decide on styles of clothing and makeup. Basically, you’ll be chatting with one bot (e.g. the H&M bot) but then can invite another bot to join the party. This is called a “concierge bot,” and it might show you celebrity styles or recommend something for a certain occasion. “What could possiblyyyyy go wrong?”
RIP Meerkat, your funeral is more of a Houseparty
Remember Meerkat? It launched last year, crashing onto the scene and starting the live-streaming craze. Anyway, vale Meerkat. It did pretty well at first…until Twitter brought out its own streaming service, Periscope. When Facebook waded in with an epic live-streaming service, it was the final nail in the tiny Meerkat coffin, which was pulled off of the app store last week. It’s not all doom and gloom for the company though, as it has recently launched Houseparty, a new private video chatting app that hosts group hangouts in private and already boasts 1 million users.
Snapchat users spending 78 seconds playing Under Armour game
Under Armour has launched an interactive game on Snapchat that features quarterback Cam Newton in a Discover ad. In the first 24 hours of the launch, 20% of users swiped ‘up’ to play, spending an average of 78 seconds on the game. Nineteen percent of users who played the game also shared it with a friend. Pretty impressive stats for the controversial QB so early in the season. Now to see if his actual game is as successful as his Snapchat start…
Quaker launches ‘Oatober’
Oats are taking over October as Quaker starts a campaign to prove that there’s more to oats than oatmeal and porridge by sharing recipes over Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. An accompanying Tumblr and webpage will also be launching with a series of sponsored videos from food publisher Tastemade. Oatober is mainly digital based, as insights show that people do a LOT of food sharing in the space and it’s been proven that oats look 150% tastier on Instagram (…100% not true). #oatstagram #nofilter #justfibre
This post courtesy of @ChrisMoriarty