We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #229
We are spending more time using mobile apps than ever
Our time spent using mobile apps has risen by 21 percent compared to last year, with music, fitness and social media apps amongst the highest climbers.
Despite coming third to music and fitness categories regarding the time spent in apps, when it comes to app launches (i.e. opening up the app itself) social networking is leading the field with an average of 25.1 app launches per month. Our time in apps has already overtaken desktop web and this number is only going to continue to grow, according to Localytics, who carried out the research.
Small and medium businesses are the biggest spenders on social media
Research firm BIA/Kelsey has revealed that 74.5 percent of SMBs use social media to advertise or promote their businesses, rising from 71.7 percent last year. At the same time, SMBs are spending less on print and outdoor advertising. Steve Marshall, director of research at BIA/Kelsey, explains that “print and outdoor together have switched positions with social in terms of reach and share of spend”, describing social as convenient, user-friendly and inexpensive with low participation barriers. The most profitable best channels cited by SMBs are online banner ads containing video, streaming audio advertising and offers distributed on smartphones or tablets.
Asia-Pacific holds nearly 30% of global social network spending
Even though North America continues to retain its breadwinner status in terms of media dollars spent on social sites this year, nearly a third of worldwide paid social media spending will come from the Asia-Pacific region, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast. It’s expected for this region’s share to rise by almost 2 percentage points over the next two years, while it’s anticipated for North America’s share to fall.
Facebook captures 10% of US digital ad spend
Adults in the US will spend an average of 6 percent of their total digital media time on Facebook (roughly 21 minutes every day) and the platform captures 10 percent of all U.S. digital ad spending, according to a new study from eMarketer. Facebook in the UK is not far behind the US, representing 7.5 percent of all digital ad spend this year with another 3% going to other social networks, with the expectation it continue to grow at a strong rate.
Facebook prioritises breaking news
Facebook has announced changes to its News Feed algorithm that aim to put a greater focus on topical news and timely posts. The update looks at two new factors; one being trending topics, with Facebook giving more priority to breaking news, the other is how people are liking and commenting on posts determine if it’s relevant to a specific user. Facebook hopes the update will help to deliver everyone the right content at the right time, so users only read “what’s important to them”. For users, this might mean fewer BuzzFeed quizzes and ice-bucket challenges, and more breaking news.
Facebook’s private sharing app “Moments”
Facebook is trialling a new app codenamed “Moments”, a private sharing app designed to make selective sharing to different sets of people much faster than the main Facebook app, which focuses primarily on content rather than audience. Though Facebook is yet to officially comment, the app has already been likened to the mobile app “Cluster”, which lets people create safe “spaces” for sharing content with small groups.
Facebook relaunches ad network Atlas
Facebook has revamped the ad network it acquired, Atlas, with an updated system that enables it to better serve and measure ads across devices and beyond Facebook. Advertisers can target ads to any device leading up to a purchase, and use Facebook data to measure the success of a campaign. The update could be big news for brands looking to organise their digital ad spend, and seeks to extend Facebook’s display advertising dominance beyond its own service. The full details are due to be revealed during Advertising Week, beginning Sept. 29.
Instagram ads are set to roll out in UK soon
As promised back in June, Instagram is preparing to show sponsored posts to UK users soon. With ads being announced last year, and having already rolled out in the US, the Facebook-owned photo sharing site claims the sponsored posts will aim to be “natural”. The ads look just like regular updates, but are instead marked out with a “Sponsored” label in the top right-hand corner. If a user doesn’t like the posts appearing on their feed, they can select to hide any updates from that particular brand.
Twitter expands audience targeting tools
Twitter first introduced tailored audiences last year to give advertisers the ability to target audiences and tailor ads. Expanding on its audience targeting efforts, the platform has updated its self-service advertising dashboard to give advertisers more tools to manage targeted campaigns. They can do so by creating new audience lists and managing existing audiences, all through this new audience manager tool.
YouTube Analytics now with real-time tracking
YouTube has added new real-time reporting to its analytics dashboard that provides view counts down to the minute for your videos. The new dashboard looks at your last five published videos, how many users have accessed them, how the user figures have developed in the past 48 hours. The interface has two graphs: hour-by-hour data for the last 48 hours and minute-by-minute figures for the past hour. This is a particularly exciting update; providing a new way to look at content and keep track of what time is preferable to publish new videos.
Joan Rivers posts about iPhone 6-feet-under
After several warnings to PR companies, sponsored scheduled posts appeared on Joan Rivers’ Facebook and Instagram accounts two weeks following her death. One of these included an ad on the late comedian’s Instagram account promoting the Apple iPhone 6, before it was quickly taken down. However, with 1.3 millions fans, this didn’t stop people immediately having fun with the story on social media.
