Instagram launches a guide for parents
If you thought building the perfect sand castle or assembling a safe swing set was difficult, navigating your kid through their first Instagram account is sure to make you crazy. But fear not, 21st century parents – Instagram has released a handy guide for worried P-units in order to help them understand the platform and how they can keep their kids safe while using it. Although Instagram doesn’t allow users under the age of 13 to sign up for the platform, the guide is suitable for Instaignorance of any level, covering features such as blocking accounts, private profiles, and setting time limits for daily usage. As increasingly younger children start to want Instagram profiles, nervous parents can educate themselves about the platform and assuage some of their concerns.
Now can someone create a “How to keep your parents from looking like fools on Facebook” guide for us? My mum’s content has gotten out of control. Thanks!
Vertical video ads new to Youtube
YouTube has followed in the footsteps of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and Snapchat as it launches vertical video ads. The ads will be similar to the TV-like ads already on the platform, although it’s likely that companies will favour shorter ads that can be used across other platforms as well. YouTube is seen as the original and biggest video platform, so its adoption of vertical ads marks the significance of the format.
Instagram tests video tagging Instagram confirmed last week that it is testing a new video tagging capability that would allow users to tag friends in videos just like in pictures. Instead of the icon in the bottom left showing tagged names on top of the content, the new feature would link to a specific list of tagged people. The new feature is currently available only to those who have opted into the test with no confirmed plans to roll it out wider yet.
Snapchat lets publishers create live stories from UGC Media companies will now be able to access public Snapchat posts from users and use them to create their own content revolving around live events, breaking news, and other topics. The feature will be called Curate Our Stories, and will allow companies to do the same as Snapchat does with the Our Stories feature – collecting photos and videos from Snapchat users. Our Stories is extremely popular within the platform, and expanding the option to publishers will allow them to create content quickly and cheaply.
Facebook gets festive with a new set of creative tools
In preparation for the holiday season, Facebook has announced a new set of holiday-themed ad options including festive templates for its Dynamic Ad overlays and holiday-themed tools for the Video Creation Kit.
LinkedIn brings Dynamic Ads into Campaign Manager
Following the recent redesign of its Campaign Manager platform, LinkedIn is introducing its Dynamic Ad product to the management tool – meaning that advertisers will now be able to create, manage and track campaigns through the platform that are tailored to the individual viewer, based on publicly available information from the user’s profile. The newly introduced service will also come with pre-built templates, auto-translation capabilities, and the added ability to run A/B tests. LinkedIn’s Dynamic Ads are said to have delivered up to two times the click-through rate of traditional display ads.
LinkedIn Learning courses are now available on the go
The professional social network has announced a new partnership with travel providers including Delta Airlines, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Turkish Airlines, select Alaska Airlines flights, and the Eurostar rail service to enable passengers to take LinkedIn Learning courses in transit. LinkedIn’s Learning Library currently includes thousands of professional skills courses, and the platform says the new agreements aim to help users make the most of their travel time.
WeChat vs. Bullet Message Bullet Message, a new instant messaging app, has quickly become “the most-downloaded free offering on Apple’s App Store in China” and could become the first big challenger to WeChat. Despite WeChat being essential for daily life in China – with its nearly 1 billion users using it daily to pay their bills, stay in touch with friends, and generally live their lives – Bullet Message has managed a meteoric rise by keeping its offering simple and providing a few services that have been sorely missed from WeChat’s offering. One of the services proving most popular is the transcription of voice recordings into text messages, as opposed to WeChat’s audio-only method of communication.
Apple spends big on Twitter for its iPhone XS launch
Despite being famously absent from the platform – still having never tweeted organically from its main Apple account – Apple spent “a significant amount on Twitter” for the launch of its latest products on September 12th. Apple had “a promoted trend ($200,000 per day), a custom build for “like for reminder” ($250,000 for several days), promoted tweets in at least 12 languages (CPMs depend on budget, going from $0.50 to $8), a hashflag, and a livestream of its launch event”. On September 12th alone, “there were about 1.9 million tweets about Apple’s event and products”.
Join us September 12 at 10 a.m. PDT to watch the #AppleEvent live on Twitter. Tap ❤️ below and we’ll send you updates on event day. pic.twitter.com/i9mGHTKhvu
Verizon Wireless releases an AR scavenger hunt Snapchat game
American telecommunications company Verizon Wireless offered their customers the chance to get their hands on one of 150 brand-new iPhone XS devices over the weekend as it launched a new augmented reality Snapchat game. Similar to Pokemon Go, players had to find and capture three music loops and one Super Loop, which were produced by Squeak E Clean using songs from artists including SZA, Daya and Borns. Once captured, users had to arrange them to create a unique music mix, which they could then submit to the competition.
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