Nearly half of young users deleted Facebook from their phones last year
A new survey by Pew in the US has revealed that a staggering “44% of those aged 18 to 29 say they’ve deleted the app from their phone in the last year”. Overall, of the 3,400 Facebook users surveyed, 26% of respondents said they had deleted the app while 42% had taken a break from the app for several weeks. The study only included Facebook’s main app and did not extend to subsidiaries such as Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.
Facebook adds new users and bets big on Stories
But not everyone is leaving Facebook – as part of its recent Q3 earnings report, the social media giant announced that it has now reached 2.27 billion monthly users globally, up 37 million users from the previous quarter. Part of this growth included over 1 million new users in North America, where the platform had experienced no growth last quarter. The platform also added an additional 24 million daily active users, hitting 1.49 billion (up 1.36% compared to Q1). However, the platform also saw a decline of 1 million users, both monthly and daily, across Europe. Facebook also revealed that its ad sales were up 33% year-over-year, which the platform hopes to build on through its increased focus on Stories and vertical video advertising. Across its three Story offerings, Facebook currently sees one billion Stories posted per day.
Facebook expands its breaking news Tag test
After its initial test launch with 50 publishers across North America, Latin America, Europe and Australia, Facebook has announced it will be expanding its breaking news tag to publishers in more countries in Europe and Asia. In addition, users in Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain and the UK will now be able to see content labelled with the tag. The platform is citing the success of the trial, the results seen with publishers, and the positive reaction from users as the reason for the expansion.
WhatsApp plans to bring ads to its Status feature
After years of staying ad-free, WhatsApp has announced plans to bring ads to its Status feature (its version of Stories) as part of plans to monetise the popular messaging platform. Currently, there is no timeline on when the ads will start appearing.
IGTV previews come to Instagram Stories
Last week, the platform announced an update that will allow users to share IGTV previews to their Stories. By tapping the airplane icon and selecting ‘Add video to your Story’, users will be able to share a preview of their favourite show, which friends and followers will be able to watch and click through to see the full show.
Pinterest debuts Promoted Carousel ad formats Pinterest has launched a new self-service ad offering, Promoted Carousel, which enables advertisers to add up to five images to their ad at one time. “Promoted Carousel ads can be served in Pinterest’s home feed, Related Pin or search fields of the photo-sharing network” and are clickable back to the advertiser’s website. The update is aimed at helping brands achieve direct response KPIs on social by giving consumers a better understanding of the brand and its products.
Vimeo launches integration for LinkedIn company pages
Video platform Vimeo has announced an integration with LinkedIn that will enable paying subscribers to share videos they upload with a single click. The new option is now available within the ‘Publish to social’ feature, which is open to Plus, Pro, Business and Premium account holders, and it will enable users to publish their video content natively to the professional network in addition to the pre-existing options of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
James Patterson releases new novel on Facebook Messenger
Last week, one of the world’s biggest authors, James Patterson, debuted his latest novel as a “digital novel experience” via Facebook Messenger. The Chef, which will formally be published in February, was adapted for the messaging platform so that users could “begin reading while also interacting with the characters and locations with videos and sound clips that tie into the story”. Facebook also supplemented the story with live Q&A sessions with Patterson, and it will launch Instagram profiles for the main characters.
Apple releases 158 new emojis
Joy. To. The. World. Christmas came early for iPhone users (and gingers) this year. After being on the cards for some time now, Apple finally released its suite of red head emojis to users of iOS 12.1 Aussies also got a nod with the addition of a kangaroo, who was joined by an alpaca (or is it a llama?), a swan, a hippo, a parrot, a lobster (for subtle hint dropping when brainstorming first-date ideas), and more. There are also new foods such as a mango, a cupcake, a head of lettuce (vegos, rejoice!), and a delicious mooncake. Yum yum. These come as part of the 158 new emojis introduced with the update (factoring in all skin and gender variations). There are also bald heads, a disembodied leg, and the highly-debated ‘Woozy Face’. So celebrate with an old fave (the beermoji) and give that Woozy a go.
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