Tag Archives: social media news

Social Media News - 17 April 2016

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

You can also watch the recording of THE #SocialToday SHOW below where I give you my take on the latest social media news. Feel free to ask me questions by posting in the Comments. Friend or follow me to receive notifications so you can watch live.

Facebook - Facebook held their F8 conference this week and there were a number of interesting announcements.

Bots are coming! Facebook is keen to develop Messenger as a stand-alone platform complete with a new bot store. This will enable businesses to build their own chat bots. Bots are automated response tools within Messenger which can handle customer service queries. Watch the video below for examples:

Messenger at F8 from Facebook on Vimeo.

A great new feature on Messenger is the ability to send files from Dropbox. If Dropbox is installed on your mobile device, select the three dots then Dropbox to attach a file.

Ads are also coming to Messenger but messages from businesses can only be sent if a person has already engaged with them. People will have the option to block a

Say goodbye to passwords! Facebook Accounts will enable people to log into apps with just a mobile phone number, extending the familiar ‘login with Facebook’ functionality. Apps that enable logins with Accounts will ask you for your phone number. Once you’ve entered it, Facebook sends you a 6 digit code to confirm the number belongs to you. Enter the code and you’re now logged into the app, with no password to remember. Cool eh?

Last year Facebook rolled out video profile images and Facebook has now made it easier for developers to add a button to their camera app to upload a 7 second video. Expect to see the buttons on Instagram and Vine soon.

Last week I wrote about no less than 7 new features for Facebook Live and at F8 there was another exciting announcement. Any desktop app or camera will shortly be able to stream to Facebook Live. At the conference Mark Zuckerberg looked up nervously from the stage as he was live streamed by a drone. The first main stream camera called Livestream Meevo is now available for pre-order.

Talking of Facebook Live, media partners such as Buzzfeed are being paid by Facebook to broadcast videos, presumably to raise awareness of the service. Buzzzfeed’s live video of an exploding watermelon had 700,000 viewers at one point.

Facebook is launching ‘quote sharing’. Rather than screenshot or copy and paste text into a Facebook post, you can simply highlight it and share it. Facebook will paste the text into a new post in block quote format, and include a full preview of the original article. Developers will have access to a ‘share quote’ button and the feature will be available on Amazon’s Kindle shortly.

The popular Save feature whereby you can save posts for reading at a later time has now been extended to the whole web. If you’d like people to save content to Facebook from your website, you can find out more in this video:

Twitter - I spotted today that Twitter are displaying ‘Your tweet activity’ on the right hand side of the homepage. Have you spotted this?

Brands and businesses are increasing using Twitter for customer services following the axing of the 140 character limit on Direct Messages. Mystery shopper group BDRC Continental have announced a Top Ten and a Bottom Ten of UK companies using Twitter for customer services. The Top Ten is full of financial services companies with Nationwide @AskNationwide coming top. Retailers feature strongly among the worst brands for answering customer queries on Twitter. Fashion retailer French Connection @FCUK, which saw sales in 2015 fall 8% to £164.2m, comes bottom of the pile.

[RUMOUR] Twitter to launch fresh design for its Android App. A number of Twitter users have begun seeing a design that places Twitter’s four core areas (Feed, Moments, Notifications, and Direct Messages) as large tabs across the top of the screen. You can move between them either by tapping on the tab or by swiping side to side, making it much easier to navigate and explore than at present. The new design also makes useful areas like Highlights easier to access. Lets hope that Twitter rolls this out for all Android users.

Instagram - Instagram has expanded its Explore feature to include video channels. Soon you’ll find a personalized channel called ‘Videos You Might Like’ that curates videos from Instagram’s into a seamless viewing experience. As you scroll through the Explore grid, you’ll also see Featured channels with videos on specific topics.

Number of week - My number of the week is 39. The number of hours - 39 hours and 22 minutes to be precise - on average it takes French Connection to respond to customers on Twitter.

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 – 14 March 2016

Keep up to date with the latest social media news by watching THE #SocialToday SHOW every Monday. 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 can benefit.

Here’s today’s show on Facebook Live:

Today was ‘double trouble’ as it marked my first experience with Facebook Live (watch above). I used it to broadcast THE #SocialToday SHOW having done the same show on Periscope as usual earlier. The two both have their advantages with Facebook Live seeming to be a little more immediate plus my audience was bigger than usual with about 100 viewers. I’m busy tomorrow (Tuesday 15 March) but will use Facebook Live for THE #SocialToday SHOW on Wednesday 16 March, so 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.

Social Media News - 22 Feb 2016

If you run a small or work in marketing or public relations you’ll know that the social media landscape is fast shifting with changes happening literally every day. It can feel like a full time job to stay on top of the latest trends and new features. So to help you keep up to date, every Monday at 8.45am GMT on THE #SocialToday SHOW I provide my take on the latest social media news and explore what it means to you.

Watch my roundup of the previous week’s social media news and the latest social networking features:

You can watch THE #SocialToday SHOW every weekday at 8.45am on Periscope or Twitter and if you miss the live show you can watch the recording on Katch, where you can find all my past shows.

Latest Social Media News Snippets

Welcome to the latest social media news snippets where I help you keep up to date with the latest changes in social media and improvements to social network functionality. Here are some developments that have caught my attention with some social media tips on how you can take advantage and use to promote your business.

Facebook adds new video features - You can now choose a video to make it display more prominently on your Page. Once ‘featured’ it is displayed under the About section on the left of your Page and more prominently in the video section. You can also create playlists which is a handy feature if you have a number of videos and you wish to categorise them in the same way that you can do on YouTube and Vimeo. Thirdly, you can add a call to action button at the end of your video to direct people to your website. For an example, see the Marks and Spencer Facebook Page which makes great use of video and these 3 new features.

Siri, Cortana and now M -  Facebook has announced its own digital personal assistant called M which you’ll be able to find soon in Messenger. The service is aimed at making peoples’ lives easier, with M being able to buy items, deliver gifts and pick up your dry cleaning. The difference between M and other similar services is that as well as using artificial intelligence, people known as M Trainers, are employed to take calls and book reservations, organise dry cleaning collections and pick and so on. But you won’t know whether you’re dealing with a human or artificial intelligence. Businesses will certainly want to get in on the act and be recommended and used by the service. One to watch.

Twitter improves DMs further - Direct Messaging has been improved once again. Following the option that allows you to message people even they are not following you and the addition of group messaging, Twitter has now removed the 140 character limit on DMs. This opens up all sorts of possibilities and will allow Twitter to be an even more effective customer services channel.

LinkedIn cuts down on emails - Have you noticed less emails from LinkedIn? The professionals’ network has cut down the number of emails by 40%. For those getting many invitations to connect, they now receive a single weekly digest in place of individual emails.  Plus, if you subscribe to several LinkedIn Groups, they are aggregating the updates from those groups into a single email. A sensible move. If you want to fine tune the emails you receive go to Privacy and Settings/Communications/Set the frequency of emails.

Instagram adds search to website - Instagram is very much about mobile but the lack of a search function at instagram.com was a strange omission. This has now been rectified and the new search allows web users to seek out users’ accounts, and to find photos via hashtags and general terms. Handy for when you’re on desktop rather than your smartphone or tablet.the desktop rather than fiddling with your phone.

Periscope - As predicted in my previous Social Media News Snippets, it looks like live streaming app Periscope is going to be huge. Having launched in March, it already has 10 million registered users with nearly 2m daily active users watching 40 years of video per day on their tablets and smartphones. The mobile app enables anyone to broadcast live video via their smartphone or tablet to fellow Periscope and Twitter users.

Latest Social Media News snippets

Welcome to my latest social media news snippets. To help you keep up to date with the latest changes in social media and improvements to social network functionality, here are some developments and news items that caught my attention.

Facebook introduce Call To Action button - You can now encourage visitors to your Page to take an action, such as ‘Sign up’ to a newsletter or ‘Buy now’. If you’ve not yet set this up, I’d strongly advise you to do so. Tip: If the button is not visible on your Page, then make sure you are acting as yourself ie using your profile, and not as the Page.

Feature a Facebook video and create a playlist - You can now feature an uploaded video under the About section on the left of your Page - (see below) and create video playlists. The latter is a handy feature if you have a number of videos and you wish to categorise them.

Twitter improves DMs - Direct Messaging, Twitter’s method of privately messaging other users, has been improved in a couple of ways. Firstly, you can now message people, even if they are not following you. Everyone on Twitter now has the option of being able to accept messages from any user, this making communications easier. Secondly, you can now message more than one person using Group Messaging; handy for collaboration.

LinkedIn has a revamp - The professional’s network’s homepage has had a long overdue makeover and there are no three clear buttons for Sharing an update, Uploading a photo or Publishing a post. Above the buttons you’ll find stats about your profile.

Periscope - Twitter have launched a new app called Periscope - view on iTunes - which enables you to broadcast live via your iPhone or iPad. It’s a shame it’s not on Android yet but it’s coming soon. It has huge potential for broadcasting events, tips, talks, conferences, behind the scenes activities, instructions and all manner of business activities. As well as your live video being broadcast over Periscope, a link to your video is automatically posted to Twitter to attract additional viewers. Expect to hear a lot more about Periscope in the coming months.

BufferApp - Pinterest now joins Facebook. LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ as social networks that can be connected to Buffer. This has been Buffer’s most requested new feature and it’s addition makes the social media dashboard even more useful. You can read more about Buffer in two of my posts over on LinkedIn - here and here.

This week’s Social Media News snippets

Facebook bans ‘Like-gating’ - From today, 5 November, a Page can no longer incentive a user to Like a Page. In Facebook’s words, “You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.” Services like ShortStack have removed this functionality from their Facebook Apps. If you are running a competition on your Timeline as a status update, you can still ask people to Like your status update in order to enter your competition. You can also require people to Like a photo, but you cannot require them to Like or Share your Page.

Order your photos in Facebook posts - When you upload multiple photos from a mobile app to Facebook, you can now choose the order they appear in. This gives you the option of ‘telling a story’. Press down on a photo and drag it to the position you want it to appear in. Once you’ve shared your photos, friends will see the story in a new collage layout. Tapping into a photo lets you scroll through the story from beginning to end.

Twitter putting non-followers content in Timeline - You have noticed tweets from people you haven’t followed appearing in your Timeline. Twitter has confirmed that following testing they have now moved to a Facebook type algorithmic approach and are presenting recommended tweets, accounts and topics. Twitter’s Trevor O’Brien stated, “We recently ran experiments that showed different types of content in your timeline: recommended tweets, accounts, and topics. Testing indicated that most people enjoy seeing tweets from accounts they may not follow, based on signals such as activity from accounts you do follow, the popularity of the tweets, and how people in your network interact with them. These experiments now inform the timeline you see today.” This is a controversial move by Twitter who are desperate to attract new users. For many people, the chronological Timeline was Twitter’s main benefit, when compared with Facebook.

5 in 6 Social Messages Sent to Brands Are Ignored - Over the past year the number of messages sent to brands via social media has increased by 77% (Source: Sprout Social) . Regular readers and recipients of my training will know how passionate I am about the importance if listening, so I was disappointed (and staggered!) to learn from Sprout Social that only 1 in 6 of these messages are replied to. It seems that brands are largely ignoring potential and existing customers. However, this does give small businesses the opportunity to compete with brands by paying attention and showing they care about their customers.

Social Media News snippets: 24 Sept-7 Oct

Facebook converting and removing Profiles - There have been numerous reports of Facebook converting Profiles representing businesses into Pages and even removing them without notice. Facebook state: “It’s against the Facebook Terms to use your personal account to represent something other than yourself (eg: your business). If you’re using your account to represent something other than yourself, you could permanently lose access to your account if you don’t convert it to a Page”.

Ello gains traction - According to one of its founders, Ello is receiving 31,000 email requests to join the new social networking every hour. Originally a private social network, Ello doesn’t require users to register with their real name and doesn’t have adverts. In its manifesto, it promises that it won’t sell its members’ data. Existing members can invite friends or you can ask permission to join.

Slideshare launch first app on iOS - SlideShare has launched its first iOS app, specifically designed for iOS 8 and optimized for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. A LinkedIn (owner of SlidesShare) stated, “It’s about delivering the personalized professional content you want when you need it through a beautiful viewing experience you’ll enjoy.”

LinkedIn make’s it easier to connect - No other social media blog has picked up on it yet, but LinkedIn appears to have made a change to the way you invite people to connect with you on a desktop or laptop…at least on my profile they have. They’ve removed the need to have a reason to connect. You simply select the Connect button and your invitation is sent. This was always the case on LinkedIn mobile apps and in Search results but this approach now applies across the board. If you wish to personalise the message you can select the down arrow to the right of the Send InMail button and select ‘Personalise invitation’.