Teens choose Snapchat over Facebook and Instagram A new report from investment firm Piper Jaffray has found the proportion of teens using Snapchat at least once a month has increased from 74% in 2015 to 80% in 2016. The figure puts Snapchat slightly ahead of Instagram (79% up from 76% in 2015) and miles ahead of Facebook’s unimpressive 52%, down from 56% in 2015.
Facebook Live broadcasts can now be scheduled in advance Facebook is helping broadcasters plan and promote live streams ahead of time so they can line up viewers before the cameras roll. The move means that instead of having to spontaneously start a stream, or pre-announce it with no link to share, broadcasters can create a link up to a week in advance. The tool is currently only available to Verified Pages, and will roll out to all Facebook Page owners in the coming weeks.
Facebook Messenger to launch “Conversation Topics” feature Run out of things to say? You might think the sensible move would be to stop talking, but Facebook disagrees. The platform is trialling a ‘conversation topic’ prompt in Messenger, based on what you and your friends have been up to. This means if you’ve checked in at a gig, posted holiday photos or shared a tune on Facebook recently your mates could see a handy ‘reminder’ so they can ask you about it. The creepy new tool is thankfully only currently available in test format on a handful of users at the moment.
Now you can stream Facebook to your TV Facebook has launched a new feature that lets you stream video clips from your timeline via Apple TV, AirPlay devices, Google Chromecast, and Google Cast devices. The feature is now available on iOS and will come to Android soon. To use it, just find a video in the feed on your phone or desktop, tap the TV button in the top right, and then select the device you want to stream through.
Instagram brings Stories to its Explore tab for Android and iOS Photo sharing platform Instagram is rolling out Stories into its Explore tab, to allow people to browse photos and videos posted by strangers. Instagram says the new ‘suggested stories’ section highlights the most interesting stories from across Instagram’s vast global community, tailored to the user’s interests.
Instagram rumoured to be testing live streaming A new report from a Russian news site shows live functionality embedded into Instagram stories, with a bold “LIVE” banner on what is apparently a live video appearing at the front of the stories feed. The report from T Journal also shows the user interface for going live from Instagram, which includes a giant red button reading “Go Insta!” Instagram has so far declined to comment.
Pinterest building new media channel for video and multimedia Advertising sources have been gossiping to Ad Age about Pinterest’s plans for a new media channel. The channel is rumoured to be similar in concept to how publishers work closely with Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with design and content ‘uniquely Pinterest’. Pinterest acknowledged it is looking at ways to help people discover new and trending ideas from brands and publishers but declined to give further details.
eBay Testing Shopping Assistant ShopBot on Facebook Messenger Second only to Facebook’s ‘conversation starters’ in the creepy stakes is eBay’s personalised shopping assistant ShopBot. Currently being tested for Facebook Messenger, the service uses artificial intelligence to learn more about shoppers through their Facebook profiles and questions about what they’re looking for.
Headache pills are the real victor from the Presidential Debates A tactical campaign from Excedrin headache tables went viral in the US last week after just six tweets. The #DebateHeadache campaign launched at 3am on Wednesday, October 19 pulled in 46,000 Twitter mentions on Wednesday, representing a 3,100% increase from the previous day.
New tool uses Trump’s tweets to generate donations for the Clinton campaign Supporters of the Clinton campaign can sign up to donate any amount from 50 cents upwards to her election campaign every time Donald Trump sends a tweet. The Troll Trump tool also offers a pledge that users can send to him when they sign up:
The idea was inspired by a tweet by Matt Bellassai, a former BuzzFeed editor and social media star, who made a joke on Twitter threatening to donate to the campaign every time Trump tweets.
