Tag Archives: LinkedIn

Social media news that matters - 19 June 2016

Here’s my summary and opinion on the week’s social media news that matters including new developments from Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn and Periscope.

You can watch my take on latest news on THE #SocialToday SHOW below and every Monday at 8.45am BST on Facebook Live. Feel free to ask me questions by posting in the Comments during or after the broadcast or under this blog post, or by tweeting me @intranetfuture.

You might also be interested in signing up to my Social Media Roundup newsletter which goes out every Sunday evening with social media news, tips, tools and a useful person to know.

Facebook - If you’re setup to automatically sync photos from your phone to Facebook, note that these photos will be DELETED on 7 July. Syncing was a feature introduced in 2012 and was a great way to back up all the photos you took on your phone and to make them accessible via Facebook. Note that the deletion only applies to photos that are synced and not those you upload. Best to check look for a folder named Synced (in the app) or Synced from Phone (on the desktop at facebook.com). This is part of a push by Facebook to move users to its Moments app.

Facebook have improved their Local Awareness Ads, which are great for local businesses, by adding a Shop Locator feature. This shows users a map which highlights the location of the advertiser, together with other relevant information in one place. Business can also now track those who’ve seen their Ads on Facebook and then visited their shop or venue. This is done using location services on a mobile phone or with a Facebook API that integrates with the epos (electronic point of sale) system.

Facebook Messenger - Facebook’s social network’s AI (Artificial Intelligence) chief Yann LeCun is going to be teaching chat bots common sense. Chat bots are digital assistants that help consumers interact with businesses. For example, by helping them order a taxi or book theatre tickets. The open project will involve chat bots overseeing humans interact with users through Facebook’s M, it;s own digital assistant.

The Messenger App on Android can now incorporate SMS text messages. I was prompted to switch my default text messaging app to Messenger during the week and it works pretty well. The main benefit is simplicity; messages in one place and one less app needed. You can choose to view all your messages together or Facebook messages and texts separately. There’s support for gifs, stickers and chat heads. There’s no word on when SMS on Messenger is coming to iOS.

Twitter - As previously flagged up on this blog, Twitter has been testing a Live button allowing live video broadcasts on Periscope to be started from Twitter. Twitter has now announced that the button is now live on iOS and Android apps although it’s not live for me! Do you have the Live button? Let me know in the Comments below.

Ready to go live? Now everyone can tap a new button on iOS & Android to easily broadcast on #Periscope from Twitter! pic.twitter.com/tedpUN1QMA

— Twitter (@twitter) 15 June 2016

Twitter users can now retweet their own tweets with or without a comment (quoted tweet). This could prove handy for repeating a previously popular tweet easily and quickly but it could cause an increase in spammy tweets. At least, each tweet is limited to one retweet from its creator.

LinkedIn - There’s much debate about what direction Microsoft should take LinkedIn following last week’s purchase for $26.2 billion and what this means for users but as I describe in my open letter to Microsoft there are a few things that should be fixed first.

Periscope - All broadcasts are now automatically saved forever, although you can opt to have them auto-deleted after 24 hours.

Pinterest - Pinterest Ads have only been live in the UK for less than two months but they’ve now added three new targeting options; customer list retargeting (eg email lists), website visitor retargeting (people who’ve visited your website), and lookalike targeting. This is in addition to targeting Promoted Pins based on Pinners’ interests, search keywords, device and location. For those advertising on Pinterest, this should help provide even better results. Recommended for those selling products or a visual nature, eg jewellery and fashion.

Number of the week: 1. Facebook Messenger is no 1 in the Android app charts and has around 900 million users.

Open letter to Microsoft re LinkedIn

Dear Microsoft

Congratulations on your purchase of LinkedIn!

I am sure you have lots of exciting plans for the ‘professionals’ network’ including additional features and integrating with your products - building in video conferencing using Skype would be amazing. But I digress, before all the shiny new stuff would you be so kind to fix a few things?

Don’t get me wrong. I love LinkedIn and find it extremely useful for networking and winning business. Only on Monday I was running a social media workshop at a University which was business I obtained through LinkedIn.

But there are some parts of LinkedIn that just don’t work; they are broken so it would be great if you could sort them out. Below are 10 for you to get started on. Thank you.

1) Reminders under Relationship on profiles do not work. I’m not the only one to notice this - read this in LinkedIn Help. I’m sure lots of people have missed follow-up calls and meetings as a result.

2) When adding a Comment it’s often helpful to add a link but this isn’t possible. Over on Facebook you can add links, images and even video.

3) The Headline on the Profile under Name is a useful way of making a personal statement. However, to add or edit is not easy as only the first few words are displayed and the complete headline is impossible to see. The field is not long enough and needs to be extended.

4) When I invite someone to connect and wish to state ‘We’ve done business together’ it would be helpful and logical if my current business - Intranet Future - was at the top, to make it easy to select. However, for some reason it’s 4th in the list of companies I’ve worked for. However, when I ask for a recommendation it’s correctly at the top.

5) It would be nice to be able to post an update on my Company Page or write a blog post for Pulse on the LinkedIn app on my Samsung S7. Neither are possible which is surprising given the importance of mobile.

6) I like to congratulate people when they obtain a new job but not sure why I often get a reminder a few days later asking me to do exactly that.

7) If you’re working through search results and following up by InMail there’s a handy box on the right showing the next search result. It would be handy to be able to look at this profile after sending each InMail. However, as soon as you send an InMail it disappears!

8) There’s an option to use return to send a message which is handy. But once selected you are then asked every time you send a message if you are sure you want to send the message!

9) Message history is often incomplete under Relationship and in Messaging. This can lead to difficulties if you start a conversation with someone assuming you’ve never spoken to them before, only for past messages to appear just after you’ve hit Send.

10) It’s an established feature of social networks that you select the date stamp to view the update on its own new page and indeed this used to be the case on LinkedIn. But click on the date stamp now and nothing happens, so it’s not possible to send a direct link to an update that could be of interest to a colleague or which you wish to post on social media or include in a newsletter.

I look forward to seeing you make progress with LinkedIn  and look forward to seeing you take it to the next level.

Yours faithfully

Jonathan Pollinger
@intranetfuture
029 2078 9139

Note to reader: If you have discovered over functions of LinkedIn that don’t work, please post them in the Comments below. Thank you.

Social media news that matters - 12 June 2016

Here’s my summary and opinion on the week’s social media news that matters including new developments from Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.

You can watch my take on latest news on THE #SocialToday SHOW below. I do the show every Monday morning at 8.45am BST on Facebook Live. Feel free to ask me questions by posting in the Comments during or after the broadcast or under this blog post, or by tweeting me @intranetfuture.

Facebook - Facebook has rolled out the ability to use video when adding Comments to posts following on from the addition of emojis and stickers to Comments. Facebook’s Bob Baldwin states: “Videos in Comments are now available worldwide! You can upload them as replies to posts by people and Pages, as well as within Groups and Events. It’s supported on desktop web, iOS, and Android.” So if you want to reply to a client’s question on your Page or in your Group why not make an impression by recording a posting a video?

Some users are now able to upload 360 photos to Facebook. Simply, take a panoramic photo with a 360 photo app or camera and post it like a normal photo. 360 photos will have a compass symbol on the right hand side, signifying to users that they are able to tilt their phone or drag with their mouse to see more of the image. Photos can also be viewed using a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift or Samsung Gear VR. The video below explains.

Introducing 360 Photos on Facebook from Facebook on Vimeo.

Facebook Live - Facebook Live is now available in Groups. If you use a Group to grow a Community, provide them with extra value by using Facebook Live to run Q and As or to provide useful information.

Instagram - Instagram is now more popular than Twitter amongst advertisers according to a survey of 83 advertisers by Strata although the results are disputed by Twitter. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed cited Instagram as their platform of choice compared to 56% who chose Twitter.

It’s now easier to share photos from iPhones and iPads. Yo can now post directly to Instagram from Photos or other iOS apps. Users can select an image and use the share menu to post directly. It’s also possible to add a caption in the process without having to open the Instagram app.

Twitter - It’s been reported that 32 million Twitter accounts have been hacked with user names and password put up for sale. Although there is a question mark as to whether the data is authentic, Twitter has sent many of its users notification that their accounts have been locked for security reasons, along with a request to reset passwords. Even if you haven’t had an email this is a good time to reset your password and review your connected applications. Here’s how - Reduce risk of your Twitter account being hacked.

Twitter has introduced Twitter Insiders. According to Twitter’s blog it’s “a network of more than 12,000 Twitter users that participate in research studies… [and] act as an anonymous virtual panel from across the US and the UK, inspiring businesses to make a more customer-centric decision.”

Twitter has a shiny new Android app which has a neat and tidy menu at the top which makes it easier to move among the different sections of Twitter. It also features a floating action button which you can use no matter which part of Twitter you are on. It’s a big improvement!

A revamped look and feel for our @Android app, now rolling out globally! See what’s new: https://t.co/MOaWKJgjqc pic.twitter.com/snL8pBLnDL

— Twitter (@twitter) June 7, 2016

Periscope - Periscope is providing support for Community Meetups with “tips, tricks and FAQs” to make planning and joining local events easy. Event organizers can submit their meetups to Periscope here. Periscope will then share details of the event on a web page and if you’re lucky will tweet about it to keep more people up to date. I’ve just registered Laptop Friday in Cardiff.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn Premium members now have access to Premium Insights on Company Pages. This is a new feature that provides “unique and timely data about the companies that interest you – their growth as well as hiring trends by function.” STOP PRESS: After publication of this blog post it’s been announced that Microsoft have purchased LinkedIn for $26 billion. More on this in my video above.

Number of the week - 40. Nearly 40% of Twitter users say they’ve made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet from an influencer. Source: Twitter and Annalect.

Social media news that mattered (over the past 2 weeks)

Fresh back from a great holiday in Croatia, here’s my summary and opinion on the latest social media news that matters including new developments from Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Facebook Live, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Due to my break I’m covering the past 2 weeks news.

You can watch my take on latest news on THE #SocialToday SHOW below. Feel free to ask me questions by posting in the Comments under the video or by tweeting me @intranetfuture.

You might also be interested in my Social Media Roundup which is sent out on Sundays and covers the news, provides tips, a handy tool and introduces you to a useful person to know - Subscribe

Facebook

Facebook are teaming up with Microsoft to lay a high speed data cable across the Atlantic. The project called ‘marea’, which is Spanish for tide, will see a massive underwater cable stretch from Virginia in the US to Bilbao, Spain, transferring digital data across 6,600 kilometers of the Atlantic. Speeds of 160 terabits per second will be achieved which is 16 million times the bandwidth of your home broadband connection!

Facebook will soon start to display ads to non-Facebook users on other websites. At the moment only Facebook users are served ads on other websites. This will increase the range of options available to marketers for raising awareness of their products and services. It also signals Facebook’s intention to take on Google Adwords in this space. Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s ads and business platform, said: “Publishers and app developers have some users who aren’t Facebook users. We think we can do a better job powering those ads. Our buttons and plugins send over basic information about users’ browsing sessions. For non-Facebook members, previously we didn’t use it. Now we’ll use it to better understand how to target those people.”

Fancy going to Paris or Brussels for £25? If you’re a Facebook user you can use Eurostar’s Snap service to book a cheap fare. The trade-off is that you specify am or pm but Eurostar choose the time.

[RUMOUR] Facebook are testing topics in News Feeds in Australia on both desktop and mobile so could they be rolled out for all? Topics such as Animals & Pets, Politics, Travel, TV & Movies and Relationships can be selected from a range from which users can then choose sub-topics.

Facebook Messenger

Following the announcement of support for bots on the Messenger Platform companies are starting to use the technology which automates activities such as searches, purchases and bookings. An example is Skyscanner where travellers can visit the Skyscanner Facebook Page and are prompted to enter their flight details. Once the information has been entered, the bot returns details of the cheapest fair available along with a link for the 10 ten cheapest. You can then visit skycanner.com to book your flight.

Facebook Live

Facebook Live now allows continuous non-stop broadcasting although the trade-off is that users can’t rewind or replay. Great for ‘live cam’ footage of events, weather, construction of buildings, aquariums and zoos.

Users can also view parts of a Facebook Live video that has the most engagement. With this new feature, you can essentially “see when the video gets interesting and skip there if you want.”

Facebook is rolling out an Interactive Live Broadcast Map which shows public Facebook Live streams that you can tune into in real-time from all over the world as well as who’s watching the video you’ve selected. There’s no word on when this new feature will be available globally.

Instagram

Instagram is closing down its feed API on June 1 which services like Flipboard and IFTTT currently use to display the feed on other sites.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is providing free access to Lynda.com, the online learning company it acquired last year, for its premium members. This is a  major benefit if you intend to improve your skills and knowledge via online learning and another factor to take into account when considering whether to upgrade.

LinkedIn is also “rolling out several new features to make it even easier for marketers to manage and optimize their campaigns on LinkedIn.” Advertisers will be able to save targeted audiences for reuse in future campaigns and extend or reinstate past campaigns, as they currently can on Facebook. LinkedIn users will also now be able to like, share, or reply to comments on sponsored content and organic company updates.

Twitter

Twitter have announced that user names in replies and media like photos, GIFs, videos, and polls will in future no longer be included in the 140 character limit of tweets. This is great news and will help conversations flow better.

In the coming months, we’re introducing new ways for you to express even more with a Tweet: https://t.co/l1sWRvXWqr pic.twitter.com/zzhWpRcABs

— Twitter (@twitter) May 24, 2016

It’s always irritating to have to cut a person or two out of a group conversation to get under the limit. This change will take place over the coming weeks. Other big changes are coming to Twitter. I’ll be covering these in my Advanced social media workshop for PR, marketing and social media professionals on 9 June in Cheltenham as well as explaining how marketers can take advantage of them.

Twitter has announced that all advertisers can now use Twitter’s Audience Platform to display ads not just on Twitter but on mobile apps and websites. Twitter has also rolled out “new creative formats to help direct response advertisers better connect with this influential, high-intent audience across both mobile and desktop.”

In a surprise move, Twitter has curtailed product development on its ‘Buy button’ and will now focus its development on product ads. They could well regret this with social commerce likely to prove popular on Facebook and other social networks.

[RUMOUR] Twitter is testing a ‘Go Live’ button for Periscope that will be available within the Twitter app. It’s likely that this feature will be rolled out to all users.

YouTube

YouTube has announced the YouTube VR app which will “provide an easier, more immersive way to find and experience virtual reality content on YouTube” and “comes with all the YouTube features you already love, like voice search, discovery and playlists, all personalized for you, so you can experience the world’s largest collection of VR videos in a whole new way.”

WhatsApp

WhatsApp messaging service is now available via desktop apps on Mac and Windows. You can download here.

Number of the week: My number of the week is 44. That’s the percentage of Americans who obtain their news from Facebook. Source: Pew Research Centre Poll

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Social media news - 2 May 2016

Slightly later than normal due to the UK Bank Holiday, here’s my summary and opinion on the latest social media news plus new developments from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Periscope, Pinterest plus what could be a game changer from Google.

You can watch me go through last week’s news on THE #SocialToday SHOW below. If you watch the replay on a mobile device please click Follow (on Android) or Live Subscribe (on iOS) to receive notification when my live broadcasts start. Feel free to ask me questions by posting in the Comments or tweeting me @intranetfuture.

Facebook - Facebook announced their Q1 results and here are some key stats. Earnings were $1.51bn, a big increase from $512 million a year ago. The world’s largest social network continues to grow too despite reaching saturation point in developed countries. The number of users rose 3.71% with total monthly active users standing at a whopping 1.65 billion people. As if we didn’t know, Facebook is now the dominant mobile platform. 91.52% of Facebook’s monthly active users use a smartphone or other mobile device to access their news feed while 60% only ever use a mobile. In the UK, mobile only users amount to 80%. Advertising revenues fell following the Christmas bonanza but revenues are still over $1 billion per month.

Facebook as once again sponsoring National Small Business Week with a series of online and in-person events.

Facebook has introduced automatic captions for video ads, making it easier for businesses to create a video ad. Captions on videos and video ads are useful for viewers that don’t wish to play the video with sound on Facebook which is the majority.

Facebook Live is now available on Android in the UK for Pages but it appears not yet for Profiles. If you live in the UK and have Live on your Profile on your Android device, I’d love to hear from you.

Facebook has created apps for its main platform for Messenger and for Instagram for Windows 10.

Instagram - Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that the changes to Instagram’s newsfeed mean that priority is being given to posts with higher engagement, so it’s important to make sure your posts are interesting and or entertaining otherwise they will be less visible.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn’s first quarter results for 2016 show that it continues to grow steadily and has now reached 433 million users. Social sharing has increased more than 80% reflecting the increasing popularity of ‘posts’ (blogs on LinkedIn).

LinkedIn have launched LinkedIn ProFinder, a new professional services marketplace similar to PeoplePerHour and Fiverr. that helps you find the best freelance or independent professionals in your local area. It’s being  piloted across the US but if you’re a professional living elsewhere who wants to be listed you can register your interest. It’s an obvious move for LinkedIn given the data held on freelance professionals and it could prove very popular. If you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile lately ProFinder is another reason to do so. Learn more at our LinkedIn workshops in Cheltenham and Cardiff.

Twitter - Unlike Facebook whose shared soared following their results Twitter’s shares fell 13.6% as the firm struggled to attract new users and advertisers.

In what is in itself a small change but one with significance regarding it’s purpose, Twitter has moved out of the social network category on the iOS app store and into the News section.

Periscope - Periscope has added new audience statistics including ‘time watched’ plus a graph of your viewers showing your broadcast’s moments with the most reach. Initially, on available only for iOS, these new features will be rolled out to Android in due course.

Dig deeper into your broadcasts with a live viewer graph and improved stats on iOS! 📈👌 pic.twitter.com/WDABAn2lLW

— Periscope (@periscopeco) April 27, 2016

You can also now sketch as Periscope calls it or doodle on your live videos whilst broadcasting. Handy to highlight items on your broadcast or to illustrate a point.

Pinterest -  Ads have finally launched in the UK! Pinterest users with a business account can now setup up Engagement Campaigns and Traffic Campaigns. Pinterest is also launching featured collections in the UK which are curated collections of trending topics specifically tailored for the UK. They will also be available in France, Germany, Brazil and Japan.

Google - Google is testing a news platform called Twitter Posts which allows publication of 14,400 characters of text and the ability to publish up to 10 images or videos in any post. Posts last for 7 days. Following the opening up of Instant Articles on Facebook to all publishers, as reported last week, could this spell trouble for Twitter and news websites ?

Number of the week: My number of the week is 3 million. That’s the number of businesses that Facebook is serving with its video platform.

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See you again soon on social media!

Social Media News - 10 April 2016

Here’s my take on the latest social media news focussing on new developments on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest.

Alternatively, watch the recording of THE #SocialToday SHOW below:

The social media landscape is fast shifting with changes happening every day and it can feel like a full time job to keep abreast of the latest trends and new features. So join me on THE #SocialToday SHOW every week to watch, ask and learn about the latest new features and how small business owners plus PR and marketing people can benefit -  just Follow me on Facebook.

Facebook - There are a whole host of great new features for Facebook Live. You’ll can now go Live in Facebook Groups and Events. In a Group you could broadcast about your shared interest and in an Event you could provide coverage of the Event to those that RSVP-ed but weren’t able to attend. I’ll be using Facebook Live in Events for THE #SocialToday SHOW and look forward to trying out Facebook Live in Groups for Laptop Friday.

The second new feature is the introduction of Live Reactions. During a Live broadcast viewers can express their feelings using animated Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry icons - the same reactions recently introduced into the News Feed.

The third new feature is recording and playback of Comments. People watching the replay will no longer miss Comments made during the Live broadcast.

The fourth new feature is Live Filters where one of fifth filters can be overlaid onto the video. Snapchat have a similar feature.

The fifth new feature allows viewers to invite their friends to join them whilst watching a Live video.

Sixthly (I did say there were a whole host of new features!) there’s a new dedicated place on mobile apps for Facebook Live where you can discover and search for videos. I don’t appear to have this yet on iPad in the UK but looking forward to using it soon. For broadcasters, it should mean lots more viewers. Popular Facebook Live videos will also be marked LIVE under Trending.

And finally, there a new Live Map on desktop where you can see who’s broadcasting across the world.

[RUMOUR] - Facebook have published 2 studies on their research blog - Do jobs run in families? and How strong and weak ties help you find a job. This is interesting given that Facebook are not currently in the recruitment business. Could it be that they are looking at taking on LinkedIn in this sector?

Facebook Messenger - Facebook have announced three new improvements to Messenger. Page user names will shortly be displayed beneath the Page name and customers will be able to find your business and contact you more easily using your user name. If your Page doesn’t yet have a user name, then now’s a good time to set one up. Secondly, customers can now contact you via Messenger link (m.me/username) or Messenger code (available from your Page’s inbox). Here’s my link m.me/intranetfuture my code is below. You can click the link or scan the code to start a conversation.

The third improvement named Messenger Greetings are customizable notes that appear in a new message thread before messages are sent by your business.

Twitter - Twitter have now made it easier to send a tweet via Direct Message with the addition of a Message button on all tweets. It should help to spark new conversations and develop existing ones.

Instagram - Instagram have doubled the length of time of videos you can upload from 30 seconds to 60 seconds.

Pinterest - It’s been a long time coming but having been launched in early 2014, Promoted Pins (Pinterest Ads) are being made available outside the US with the UK first in line. There’s no confirmed date yet but I would imagine it will be weeks rather than months before you’ll be able to promote your Pins.

Number of the week - My number of the week is 1 billion. Over one billion messages are sent between people and businesses on Facebook Messenger each month.

THE #SocialToday SHOW on Facebook Live will be broadcast at 8.45am on Tuesday. Follow me on Facebook and RSVP to the Event to ensure you don’t miss out!

Social Media News - 3 April 2016

A more concise than usual social media news roundup this week as I’m under the weather with the flu. As usual I focus on new developments on the key social networks.

You can keep up to date with the latest social media news by watching THE #SocialToday SHOW on Mondays on Facebook Live - just Follow me or send me a friend request.

You can watch, ask and learn about the latest new features with tips on how small business owners plus PR, marketing and social media people can benefit.

The latest THE #SocialToday SHOW video with my take on this week’s social media news which was broadcast on Monday 4 April can be viewed below:

Facebook - As mentioned in past Social Media News roundups , Facebook is keen to develop additional functionality for its Messenger app. The latest development is a tie up with KLM that allows you to receive booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding pass and flight status updates via Messenger.

Twitter - Great to see an improvement for the visually impaired with Twitter adding the ability to add descriptions or ‘alt text’ to images. I would recommend using this feature as not only does it help the visually impaired but you can enhance your image for sighted users too. You can enable the features on Android and iOS apps by checking the compose image descriptions option under accessibility settings. Everytime you add an image to a tweet, each thumbnail in the composer will have an ‘Add description’ button.

Over the last two years, advertisers have used Twitter’s website tag to measure website conversions across multiple devices and platforms. They’ve also used the website tag to improve their ad targeting — creating tailored audiences based on meaningful signals of intent, such as a previous website visit or a view of a product page.

Twitter has introduced a new universal website tag for advertisers which makes it easier for advertisers to track website conversions and manage tailored audience campaigns. This makes it easier to use Twitter Ads to reach people who have visited your website or a certain page on your website.

Pinterest - Pinterest have introduced How To pins which provide steps below the Pin image. You can click or tap on any of the steps to get the full instructions and a list of supplies. See an example from Sofeminine UK below.

Number of the week - My number of the week is 200 million. Periscope have announced that 200 million broadcasts have been created in its first year.

THE #SocialToday SHOW will be broadcast weekly from now on on Mondays rather than daily, so do tune in to Facebook Live to watch, ask and learn - just Follow me or send me a friend request.

Social Media News - 28 March 2016

Here’s my take on the latest social media news focussing on new developments on the key social networks. It’s a day later than usual following the Easter Holidays.

You can keep up to date with the latest social media news by watching THE #SocialToday SHOW on Mondays on Facebook Live - just Follow me. The social media landscape is fast shifting with changes happening every day and it can feel like a full time job to keep abreast of the latest trends and new features. So watch, ask and learn about the latest new features with tips on how small business owners plus PR and marketing people can benefit.

The latest THE #SocialToday SHOW video with my take on this week’s social media news can be viewed below:

Oculus - The first consumer version of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset has been hand delivered by founder Palmer Luckey to Ross Martin in Alaska - watch video. Oculus was acquired by Facebook in March 2014. Consumers who pre-ordered their headset in January will start receiving them from tomorrow.

Facebook - If your uploading videos to your Facebook Page (and if you’re not you should be!) you can now see how they are performing on any particular day with the following metrics - minutes viewed, views (number of views) and 10-second views.

[RUMOUR] - It’s rumoured that new capabilities for Facebook Live will be announced at Facebook’s F8 Developers Conference in April. These will allow broadcast quality video streams through multiple cameras and other studio techniques.

In another move illustrating the importance of video Facebook has introduced a new feature called Profile Videos, which allows users to upload 7 second looping video clips as an alternative to a still profile picture. The video will play for anyone who visits your profile. It is thought that the profile videos will allow the user to show a part of their personality and add a new dimension to the profile.

Periscope - Periscope celebrated its 1st birthday on Saturday 26 March. It’s seen off Meerkat but Facebook Live is providing stiff competition and other big players are launching live streaming services.

Katch - Katch which is a great service for storing Periscope videos and is also one year old, now has a search function making it possible to search through its entire library of videos. You can view all my past THE #SocialToday SHOWs from that have I’ve filmed using Periscope at http://katch.me/intranetfuture. Since 16 March I’ve been using Facebook Live.

YouTube [RUMOUR] - Google is apparently testing a new live streaming service called YouTube Connect with the aim of taking on Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook Live. But with Periscope a year old and Facebook Live gaining ground is it too late to the party?

Instagram - Following the addition of a search engine to instagram.com notifications have now been added to the Instagram website. You can now view likes, new followers, mentions, comments and friends who have recently joined Instagram.

Twitter [RUMOUR] - Twitter is testing a new product called Twitter Stickers, which will let users edit their photos before and add decals and overlays to them before they are uploaded. It appears to be similar to the Twitter Camera feature, which has been available to verified users since January.

Number of the week - My number of the week is 777. Following a survey of marketing campaigns by Appboy it was found that emoji usage has rapidly increased by 777% year-over-year.

THE #SocialToday SHOW on Facebook Live video will be live again on Wednesday with a top social media tip so Follow me on Facebook and do tune in.

Social Media News - 20 March 2016

You can keep up to date with the latest social media news and developments by watching THE #SocialToday SHOW every Monday on Facebook Live - just Follow me. The social media landscape is fast shifting with changes happening every day and it can feel like a full time job to keep abreast of the latest trends and new features. So watch, ask and learn about the latest new features with tips on how you and your business can benefit.

You can watch THE #SocialToday SHOW video with my take on this week’s social media news or continue reading…or do both!

Facebook - Facebook have rolled out photo frames enabling users to show their support for a country, cause, vents or movie by placing a frame around their profile photo. You can add a frame here - add profile photo frame.

Twitter - Twitter have made the move many long time users including myself have feared, with personalised timelines now the default. So if your timeline has been looking a bit odd over the past week, that’s probably the explanation. However, you can revert to the original reverse chronological (ie latest tweets first) approach by going to Settings and unchecking ‘Timeline: Show me the best tweets first’.

There’s now a Windows 10 app for Twitter and you can get it here - download now. A nice touch this week with the introduction of seemless login for TweetDeck. If you’re logged into a Twitter.com or are using a Twitter login on a website, you won’t need to login to TweetDeck seperately.

Talking of TweetDeck, from 15 April TweetDeck for Windows will be no more but the web interface - you can access at https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ - offers a better experience so this news shouldn’t be a blow for anyone. I do wonder when Twitter will add a new feature or improve TweetDeck as it’s basically been the same since it acquired it in 2011.

Instagram - Using algorithms to determine the feed was flavour of the month with Instagram as well as Twitter adopting this approach. The new style timeline will be “based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post.” However, unlike Twitter it’s not possible to revert to the reverse chronological approach.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn share price has been struggling lately and fell to 50% of its 2016 last Wednesday after analysts at Morgan Stanley warned that the professional networking site “isn’t likely to be as big of a platform as we previously thought”.

Gwen Stefani had become the first-ever singer-songwriter LinkedIn Influencer. She follows 500+ fellow celebs like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey and Ariann who are paid to publish special blog posts on LinkedIn.

Pinterest [RUMOUR] - It’s rumoured that Pinterest are testing video ads with a select band of US users. Although Pinterest launched ads in May 2015 in the US, surprisingly they have yet to be launched in the UK but surely it won’t be much longer?

WhatsApp - WhatsApp has made it possible for for users to share documents as part of a new update for iOS and Android apps. On Android, users who tap the paper-clip icon for attachments will see a Document button, while on iOS users who tap the upload icon will see the option to Share Document. Handy for quickly and easily sharing documents.

THE #SocialToday SHOW on Facebook Live video will return on Tuesday with a top social media tip so Follow me on Facebook and do tune in then.

Social Media News - 7 March 2016

I’m busy working with clients today so my social media news roundup is in the form of a blog post today rather than THE #SocialToday SHOW.

The social media landscape is fast shifting with changes happening every day and it can feel like a full time job to keep abreast of the latest trends and new features. So to help you keep up to date, below you’ll find the latest new features with tips on how you can benefit from them.

Virtual reality - Regular readers and viewers of THE #SocialToday SHOW will know what I’m excited about the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) and social media. So it was interesting to note that despite us being in the very early stages of VR 39% want to watch movies with VR and 38% want to play games - learn more. Source: Touchstone Research. I’ll be taking delivery of my Samsung Gear VR this week so will let you know how I get on.

Facebook - Facebook Live videos will be given more priority in the News Feed whilst they are Live. Available in the US and to some users in the UK, Facebook Live is a new way of making a status update and is Facebook’s equivalent of Twitter’s Periscope. Facebook state that 3x as many people watch a Facebook Live video compared with the recording - learn more. Live streaming video is going to be huge and if you haven’t done so already, you should start to consider how you can use it as part of your Marketing and PR mix.

Facebook has launched the Your Business Story video tool which allows you to create a great video telling the story of your business, complete with soundtrack in around 5 minutes - create your video.

Here’s mine:

*Rumour* - It looks like you’ll soon be able to invite people to your Facebook Events via email as Facebook is testing this feature. Handy.

*Rumour* - Publishers will soon be able to publish content via Facebook Messenger. Look out for an announcement at the Facebook F8 Developers Conference in April.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn have boosted the accuracy of targeting for advertisers by launching Account Targeting which they describe as ‘a new way to run effective account-based marketing campaigns on our platform’. Sounds good, although having read their ‘How does it work’ section here, I’m not much wiser!

Twitter - In a bit of a coup for Twitter, Apple has chosen the 4th largest social network to launch it’s very first official social network account - follow @AppleSupport for ‘tips, tricks and helpful information when you need it most”. Pro-tip: Best not tweet them pics of your new Samsung Galaxy S7.

Instagram - Plenty of Instagram uses have encouraged their followers to join them on other social networking by including an ‘add me’ link to other social profiles. But not any more. Instagram say: “We’ve removed the ability to include ‘add me’ links on Instagram profile pages. Other types of links are still allowed.”

Meerkat - It was THE Live Streaming app of choice in early 2015 but with the arrival of Periscope and Facebook Live, Meerkat has now abandoned it’s live video streaming service and is focussing on setting up a video based social network.

My number of the week - My number of the week is 3 million. This is the number of businesses who actively advertise on Facebook.