Facebook looks to expand its sports content with new deals Facebook has won a £200 million bid to broadcast the Premier League (as of the 2019-2020 season) to audiences in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos – all countries with a huge British football following. The platform is also in discussions with Cristiano Ronaldo about creating a docu-series for Facebook Watch. It’s unsurprising that Facebook is keen to create more sports content, as sports-related programming such as “Ball in the Family” (a reality show following LaVar Ball and his family) has done particularly well out of the first Facebook Watch original shows. With Facebook increasing its live broadcasting of sports (it has previously livestreamed MLS and La Liga matches), along with the growing popularity of its Facebook Watch sports series, the platform could become a one-stop-shop for sports fans’ viewing needs.
Save it for later with Facebook Stories archive Facebook is rolling out an option to archive Stories, much like the update that arrived on Instagram last year. The feature could encourage brands to engage more with Stories on Facebook and invest more time into them, as there will now be the option to reuse Stories or to post them onto other platforms rather than losing their content after 24 hours. The archive will mean that users can re-post their best performing Stories, or simply keep them in the archive to see which posts perform well and which don’t. Are Stories the future of storytelling? Seems that way!
Instagram releases new “You’re all caught up” notification
I don’t know about you, but I think hitting the bottom of my Instagram feed would be my personal rock bottom. But if you ever do find yourself amidst the most bored day of your life, Instagram has graciously rolled out a “You’re all caught up” message feature, which alerts users that they have seen all new posts from the past few days. It’s basically the Instagram equivalent of Netflix’s “are you still watching,” but rather “are you still scrolling?” Of course, it isn’t intended to make us feel unproductive, but rather serves as an attempt to prevent us from endlessly scrolling through days and days worth of posts in search of those that may have been lost in the algorithm, so you can FOMO no mo(re).
And for those of us that work in social media, I suppose we can feel accomplished knowing we’ve completed our daily “research.” We also must consider what this means for our clients – if users are being encouraged to use the app less, or use it more efficiently/effectively, our messages must be all the more impactful, memorable, and worth scrolling for.
Facebook and Instagram trial new features to cut down on overuse
Parents, employers and professors everywhere – rejoice! You may now have people actually paying attention to you when you talk, thanks to Facebook and Instagram’s new “Do Not Disturb” feature that will allow users to turn off notifications from the apps for a selected period of time. The update is an attempt to discourage users from disabling their accounts while also allowing them to take a break from the platforms. It seems that platform bosses are really dedicated to helping users ensure that the time they spend on each platform is valuable, with Usage Insight dashboards coming to both Facebook and Instagram. These screens will show you how much time you’ve spent on their apps per day and will allow you to set a daily limit, after which you’ll receive a notification reminding you to look up from your screen.
Hello, Moves and tbh just aren’t doing well enough, to be honest
Facebook has announced that it will be shutting down Hello – an app that syncs Facebook accounts to phone numbers so that you can see who is calling you and whether you want to answer. It’s also removing Moves – an activity tracking app, and tbh – an “anonymous compliment” app for teens. Facebook reported that the apps just weren’t “keeping up,” and that all user data from the apps will be deleted within 90 days. This isn’t the first time that the platform has axed “low usage” apps – other examples include M, Lifestage, and Groups. Facebook has said that the process is a necessary one, as “it’s only by trial and error that we’ll create great social experiences for people.”
Take on tennis queen Serena Williams with Snapchat’s new Lens
Ok, so obviously Queen Serena’s tennis skills are an insurmountable goal for us mere mortals, but Snapchat is giving users a chance to take on the icon with a new interactive 3D Bitmoji Lens. Williams collaborated with the platform to roll out the game in honour of Wimbledon, and as she says, “It’s so fun because how often do you get to play against me?” Try it, lose graciously, and bow down to Her Royal Highness.
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