Facebook adds ‘Care’ Reaction button Many of us know the emotional components of sadness, irritability, emptiness and exhaustion. Sometimes it’s just a little action, a non-verbal gesture, that can make us feel connected and understood. Enter Facebook with its’ new ‘Care’ reaction button.
Over the course of this week, Facebook is due to update its Reactions options for both its main platform and Messenger app. It will be adding a new ‘Care’ Reaction – a face hugging a heart, aimed at helping users show their support for one another during this crisis. Facebook Messenger will also be getting a new ‘beating heart’, which users can choose instead of the existing non-animated heart by pressing and holding down on the default heart reaction.
WHO rolls out an interactive Health Alert experience on Messenger The World Health Organisation released a new Health Alert experience on Facebook Messenger which provides accurate, timely and free information about the coronavirus pandemic to Facebook users globally. The project follows the success of a similar activation WHO recently ran on WhatsApp, which helped the organisation reach over 12 million people.
Instagram debuts new Sticker initiative for small businesses Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a staggering 70% of businesses in the hospitality sector to reduce the hours of their staff, and 43% to either sack workers or place them on unpaid leave. A not-yet-global initiative from Instagram is being introduced with a view to driving demand, saving jobs and small businesses along the way through the release of a new Sticker option for Stories that gives business and creator accounts the option to direct people to a website where they can order food delivery or buy gift cards. Businesses also have the option to include this link as a permanent button on their profile. At the moment, this functionality is only available in the US and Canada but a global rollout of the new Stickers is planned for the coming weeks.
Pinterest makes a push for sustainable brands on World Earth Day The need to keep small business alive is clearly well understood. That’s why Pinterest is focussing on small, sustainable brands for World Earth Day, which is taking place April 22. Pinterest has stocked its shopping profile, @PinterestShop, with hundreds of new products from 21 sustainable and ethical businesses. Unfortunately, this service is very much focused on the US, which makes for a great opportunity for local media owners, categories or brands to take action accordingly.
TikTok dials up safety initiatives for children With kids at home, net safety is high on the agenda and so is keeping them entertained (for the sanity of those parents who are WFH). TikTok has jumped on this need and amped up its parental controls with a new feature called Family Pairing, which allows parents to link their kids’ accounts to their own. Once linked, parents can then disable direct messages, turn on restricted content mode and set screen time limits. However, parents will still have to get their kids to agree to have their accounts linked under the new system. As part of the move towards increased safety, TikTok has also banned its youngest users from accessing direct messaging, so only those aged 16 and above will be able to use the feature from April 30.
NZ Police meaningfully connects with the public (but not each other) And sometimes it’s just a bit of light-hearted entertainment needed from brands and organisations to demonstrate that we’re all experiencing the same issues. This is a piece of content from our friends across the ditch. Choice, bro.
This edition of the Tuesday Tune-Up was prepared by Gerry Cyron, with additional reporting by Ryan Dubras.
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