We Are Social Asia Midweek Mashup #171

tobias.cragg
Uber unveiled #UberChopper in Shanghai to grow its profile in China
With the partnership of the aviation company Kaijet, consumers could book a helicopter ride through the Uber app. This is one in a string of Uber’s on-demand stunts to generate buzz around its car service. Between 9 a.m. and 10.30 am on the 25th April, one-click to the UberChopper app enabled users to buy a RMB 2,999 (US$484) four-hour sightseeing flight across the city.
Uber has operated in China since 2013. They now boast a presence in nine Chinese cities. Uber has been effective, too, in partnerships with major players in the market: leveraging Baidu’s search and mobile capabilities, and Alibaba’s e-payment system.
Twitter Self-Serve Ads now available to Indonesia SMBs
Indonesia’s SMBs can now run their own advertising initiatives and campaigns on the platform. Until now, only large companies with a direct working relationship with Twitter could launch campaigns and buy ad products.
Indonesia is the 5th market in the Asia-Pacific region to gain SMB access to ads. The others are Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Japan. The move is an important one for both Twitter and Indonesia. The country is one of Twitter’s largest markets worldwide. Small businesses are a key pillar in Indonesia’s economy, with an estimated 50 million in the country.
In the purchase of ad products for SMBs, there is no minimum spend, and billing is by engagement.
Social Media Platforms lend support to Nepal earthquake relief/rescue effort
Facebook has created a message which will appear at the top of users news feeds encouraging them to donate to the International Medical Corps whose emergency response teams are operating in the region’s hardest hit areas. In addition, Facebook’s Safety Check function provides persons in and around affected areas to let friends and loved ones know they are alright through the platform.
Line, the communications app, has released special edition stickers the proceeds of which will go to the Japanese Red Cross relief fund. In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Line raised nearly half a million USD for victims.

The nail in the coffin of organic Facebook reach?

Facebook has announced three key updates to its News Feed:

  1. It is relaxing the rule that stops users seeing multiple posts from the same source multiple times in a row.
  2. Content from friends that you care about (or regularly interact with) will appear higher.
  3. Stories about friends liking or commenting on content from outside your network will appear lower.

It’s the latest chapter in the story of declining organic reach on the platform and point three in particular may mean a further reduction; Facebook is continuing its metamorphosis into an entirely paid channel for brands. Indeed, analysis by Locowise has concluded that organic reach is as low as 2.27% for pages with over one million likes. Brands are attempting to counter this by posting more and post frequency has increased 31% year-on-year for Q1 2015, according to Adobe Digital Index, in a study that also states organic impressions are down 35% in the same period, while paid are up 8%.

Facebook reveals Q1 2015 figures
It might not come as a surprise, after a story about the importance of paid media on Facebook, to learn that the network’s ad income continues to skyrocket. In Q1 2015, Facebook announced total revenue of $3.54bn (a 42% year-on-year increase), of which $3.3bn came from ads (up 46%). Mobile ad revenue accounted for 73% of that, compared with 69% in Q4 2014. But this doesn’t mean we’re being served more ads. In fact, in the same period, the number of ads has decreased by 62% – it’s the cost per ad that’s gone up, by a huge 285%.

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None of this would be possible without an enormous user base, of course. In the first quarter of 2015, Facebook had 1.44 billion monthly active users (up 13% year-on-year). Of the 1.44 billion, 65% use the platform every single day…

Facebook the clear leader for social logins
It’s been a really good week for Facebook stats-wise. The network retains its title as social login leader, according to two separate studies. Gigya said that Facebook accounted for 63% of all Q1 2015 social logins, with Google+ in second at 21%. LoginRadius put the figures at 72% and 20% for Facebook and G+ respectively.

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Facebook says ‘Hello’
So Facebook Home didn’t work out. That’s not stopping Zuckerberg trying to work his way into the smartphone market with Facebook Hello, a new replacement for the Android dialler. It’s not as all-encompassing as Home, but allows users to mine social data for contacts and caller ID details, make calls over WiFi and move conversations to the Facebook Messenger app, among other things.

Facebook Hello

WhatsApp voice calling comes to iPhone
iPhone users: WhatsApp voice calling is here. The feature, already available on Android, is included in the latest app version, which also adds improved sharing features and a quick camera button in chats.

Twitter shows off its new Highlights
Android users: your iPhone rivals may have caught up with WhatsApp voice calling, but there’s a brand new Twitter feature just for you. It’s called ‘Highlights’ and sends a twice-daily push notification with a roundup of the day’s best tweets.

Twitter allows users to opt-in to universal DMs Not getting enough Twitter DMs? Fear not, you can now opt in to allow anybody to DM you, regardless of whether you follow one another or not. The feature will allow brands to receive DMs without having to follow customers first, useful for those who use Twitter for customer service or to exchange private information.

Pinterest to become more brand-friendly Pinterest has created a new programme that allows certain marketing tech companies to offer account management tools to brands. It hopes that this will make it easier for brands to post to the platform organically and, subsequently, to promote these organic posts.

It’s 10 years since the first YouTube video They grow up so fast! It’s been 10 whole years since YouTube co-founder, Jawed Karim, posted the first video to the site. Here it is, in all its glory.

Social apps on Apple Watch Planning on buying an Apple Watch? Have a quick look at what your favourite apps look like first. Below we have Twitter, Instagram and Yelp. Screen Shot 2015-04-27 at 4.55.10 PM Screen Shot 2015-04-27 at 4.55.21 PM Screen Shot 2015-04-27 at 4.55.31 PM

NHL bans Periscope and Meerkat The National Hockey League (NHL) has banned Periscope and Meerkat from its arenas, to prevent users from live-streaming games to their friends elsewhere. It’s a move we may expect to see replicated elsewhere, especially by organisations that are particularly protective of live content.

Airbnb to use Instagram carousel ads Airbnb has become one of the first brands to employ Instagram’s carousel ads, which allow advertisers to include multiple images and a link. It’s doing so as part of its ‘Never a stranger’ campaign, which includes the below video slot.

Instagram ad series for acne medication Over-the-counter acne medicine Benzac has commissioned an Instagram ad campaign, which takes the form of a series. In 22 parts, it focuses on the lives of high-school friends and their struggles with acne.

Choose your own Instagram adventure The Toronto Silent Film Festival has created a choose-your-own adventure out of Instagram videos. Starting with a fight scene, the film compiles clips from a number of the movies on show at the festival.

Age UK launches ‘no friends’ campaign Age UK has responded to Facebook’s ‘friends’ poster campaign with ‘no friends’, which looks to highlight the problem of loneliness among old people.

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Hey hey hey hey, post tweets everyday Brands dipped into stoner humour for 4/20, the annual celebration of cannabis that takes place on 20th April. Here are a couple of examples.

No action on Guinness tweet
Guinness escaped action last week after a complaint about one of its tweets, below, which was accused of implying that alcohol could improve your week. As the image included the brewery and no alcoholic drinks, it was deemed acceptable by the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency.
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Political parties not yet nailing social
In case you haven’t heard, there’s an election coming up in the UK. Social media is a huge battleground for the hopeful parties, but their strategy leaves much to be desired, as We Are Social’s own Paul Greenwood discussed with Yahoo News.

I think it’s a huge missed opportunity. A huge proportion of the electorate are disillusioned and apathetic and don’t vote, and it’s mostly the young ones. They are all spending a lot of their time on social. If someone had one good idea about how to reach out to them and talk to them in a language they understand, how to make politics relevant to them on social, it would be huge. But I’m not seeing that.