Read all about LinkedIn's new targeting and retargeting tools – just a few ways your life on LinkedIn will get a little easier. Also read all about Facebook's new email marketing capabilities, and three new products they've unveiled!
Read moreSocial Media Friday Four
Check out what’s new in the world of social media! As of this week, LinkedIn users now have access to two new features – Virtual Events and a polling tool. Instagram also introduced updates, increasing users’ comment management capabilities and introducing a new sticker for stories.
Read moreSocial Media Friday Four
The Social Media Friday Four is back, and it’s time to go through what’s new in the social world!
Facebook users now have the capability to delete messages in Messenger, Instagram has added new e-commerce features to the platform, LinkedIn has unveiled its new and improved “LinkedIn Pages”, and Snapchat has released its Creative Partners Program.
Let’s jump in ⬇️.
Facebook’s New “Unsend” Feature
Have you ever sent a message you didn’t mean to send? Or a picture? Or a made a typo that you wish you could fix? Well, Facebook has been listening to customer feedback, and has implemented an update, which will allow users to delete messages that they’ve sent in Messenger - woohoo!
Upon review of the deletion process on their app, Facebook’s VP of Messenger shared that most message deletion attempts were legitimate and due to mistakes made or content that wasn’t meant to be sent in the first place. The global rollout of this feature has already begun, and many users are already seeing the new update.
With “unsend,” users will have up to 10 minutes to delete a sent message, and once removed messages will be erased from the chat. When a message is removed, a “tombstone” placeholder will appear stating, “user removed a message”. The message recipient will be able to see the “tombstone,” and will be enabled to report the content removal if they feel that the message was sent maliciously in order to combat online bullying.
Let’s hope the feature is as helpful as it sounds, as this could be a huge help to those of us who don’t always proofread our content before hitting send!
Instagram Is Building Out its E-Commerce Features
E-Commerce businesses rejoice! Instagram is building out its shopping features even further with the announcement of three new product updates. Did you ever wish you could buy something straight from a video you were watching? Save items to a “shopping collection” for later? More easily shop from business profiles? You’ll soon be able to do all three.
Have you ever used a shopping aggregate tool that saves all your favorite items (usually on sale!) all in one place? These tools are GREAT because you can browse and bookmark all your favorite items, then revisit them all in one place once you’re ready to compare and make purchases. Well, now you won’t need to leave Instagram to do this!
We also love Instagram’s shoppable posts, which are now being integrated into videos! It’s the worst when you see something you love and want to buy while watching a video, but then need to stop the video, open a new window, and search for that item online. Thankfully, soon enough you’ll be able to click right on items within a video, and make a purchase.
And if Instagram wasn’t making this whole shopping season easy enough for us, business profiles are also getting a slight redesign so that their shoppable posts will be organized under a new “shop” button and organized into one area.
Instagram’s new features will provide users a more fully formed shopping experience where they’ll never have to leave the platform... just in time for the holidays this year!
New and Improved LinkedIn Pages
“LinkedIn Pages” was just rebuilt from the ground up, and we’re excited because this business network hasn’t always been the most intuitive platform to use. But, thankfully with this rebuild, LinkedIn has just gotten MUCH easier for both small and large companies alike to engage in constructive conversations with employees, customers, and followers within the community.
Pages were originally created to make connecting organically with other organizations simple and to make it easier for users to build lasting connections with one another. But, the platform didn’t quite hit the mark in terms of ease-of-use. One of the best things? Community management for admins will now be significantly easier!
Admins will be able to post updates and respond to comments through Pages, listen and respond to conversations surrounding their brand or relevant topics, and share documents, like PowerPoint presentations, Word Documents and PDFs to tell richer and more compelling brand stories. There’s also a new Hootsuite API integration, and a Crunchbase partnership that brings in funding insights and key investors on the professional social network.
LinkedIn spokesperson said, “We believe that individuals make up a business, but it’s the community that brings them all together.” Hopefully the new improvements to Pages will make our lives easier, but only time will tell!
Snapchat Launches Creative Partner’s Project to Team Up with Brands
Just when you thought that Snapchat was done improving upon augmented reality, they step up their game!
The company introduced its Lens Creative Partners program on Monday, offering brands a way to find certified AR Lens creators. With more than ⅓ of its 186 million daily users interacting with AR Lenses, it’s no wonder they’re casting an even wider net.
Almost a year ago, Snap Inc. launched Lens Studios, allowing anyone on the platform to create AR Face Lenses. Now Snapchat is offering companies, both small and large, connections to AR content creators who will be able to help develop AR filters for their brands. According to Snapchat, they have selected the first 30 creators, that were put through an extensive Snapchat development course in order to learn about ad policies and buy models before starting AR creation.
For now there are only 30 Snapchat creators for companies, but in the next few months they are looking to add more than 100 creators. According to Snap, Nielsen Catalina measured 22 campaigns from different consumer-packaged-goods brands, and found that the AR Lenses used led to an average sales increase of 10%, along with increased ad awareness and brand life.
Snapchat’s AR camera features are a cornerstone of the app, so it’s only natural that they would expand the program. We’re really looking forward to having even MORE options coming through!
Did you enjoy today's content? Leave a comment below, and check back every Friday for the latest in social media!
Social Media Friday Four
Happy Friday! This week in the social media world the LinkedIn mobile app is welcoming Groups, Snapchat's new Android app has finally arrived, the New York City Library is making reading cool again with Instagram Stories, and Facebook and Twitter are cracking down on propaganda pages. Get the scoop with today's Social Media Friday Four ⬇️
LinkedIn’s Mobile App to Welcome ‘Groups’
LinkedIn’s earlier-deleted ‘Groups’ app will now be integrated into its main iOS program. After six months away, this feature will be re-released by the end of the month.
With the merging of the main LinkedIn application and the side Groups app it will be smoother and easier than ever before to navigate the application. Users are looking forward to having their entire LinkedIn experience in one space.
Snapchat’s New Android App Is Finally Here
Almost a year after the initial announcement, Snapchat’s new and improved Android app is here, as long as you have root access. There are some aesthetic changes and fun additions like the Emoji brush, but overall, the whole point of Snapchat Alpha is to bring Android performance up to that of iOS.
To be clear, the update has a ways to go: it does not allow for chatting, crashes are frequent, and Snapcodes are not accessible. In any event, this is an exciting step for Android users!
Instagram Is Making Reading Cool Again with Stories
The New York City Library might be starting a new trend on Instagram: reading classic books. @nypl has launched a new campaign using graphics and videos to encourage followers to read and visit the library.
Insta Novels will be featured in the ‘Highlights’ portion of their profile for users to browse. They even include a space for your thumb so it won’t be in the way of the words while you hold the page to read, and we think that's pretty cool! Alice in Wonderland was the first featured read, and it is only the first of many.
Facebook and Twitter Work to Remove Propaganda Pages
These platforms have been successful in removing several hundred accounts that were created with the goal of “coordinated manipulation.” Twitter has revealed that it was able to remove 284 accounts associated with the Iranian government and Facebook has removed 652 pages from the same sources.
This shows that social media giants are still taking security seriously following concerns that arose from Russian manipulation of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. We're feeling at least a touch safer from digital malice!
Enjoyed this content? Leave a comment below, and check back every Friday for the latest in social media!
Social Media Friday Four
Happy Friday, and happy August! Let’s talk about what’s new this week in social media, from Facebook time limits and Pinterest’s ‘Night Mode’ to LinkedIn VoiceMails and Snapchat ‘Storytellers.’ Let's dive in ⬇️
Facebook and Instagram Introduce Time Control Tool
As our society becomes more willing to discuss mental health and wellness, Facebook has enlisted the help of mental health professionals to develop a tool limiting users’ time on their apps. Users will now be given the option to view how much time they’ve spent on the Facebook or Instagram apps, in addition to setting timed reminders to help limit their usage. Some are excited about the update, but many say it’s too little too late. A lot of people are aware they spend too much time on social media, but they aren’t ready to do anything about it. Would you use this new feature?
Pinterest Adds Night Mode to Its Mobile Web Presence
Pinterest is changing the feel of its app with the new ‘Night Mode’ feature. Available right in the web app’s settings, you can give your Pinterest a darker makeover to bring your brightness down. This comes with several changes Pinterest is enacting to improve its mobile web experience, boosting performance and limiting the data load. These changes have given the platform an unbelievable increase in international leadership, in addition to double the domestic active users over the previous year.
LinkedIn Introduces Voice Clips Into Their Messages
You may be wondering why LinkedIn is making headlines for something our cell phones have been doing for ten years. However, the new VoiceMail feature could be a networking asset, especially when it comes to international communication. Certainly adding a more personal edge to the traditional message or email, leaving a voice message can be more efficient and flexible. Also, because we’re creatures of habit, this change could be more important than we realize, as we become more and more reliant on the age of Alexa and the ‘voice search.’
Snapchat ‘Storytellers’ Forges Relationships Between Creators and Advertisers
Snapchat’s new program is pairing brands with five of its biggest content makers to star in ads and collaborate on creative direction. As it has lagged behind Instagram Stories, Snapchat is looking to establish and show advertisers the most effective way to promote themselves through their app. While this is an important step for Snapchat regardless, it comes at a time when Snapchat really needs to assert itself and find more ways to bring in money.
Enjoyed this content? Leave a comment below, and check back every Friday for the latest in social media!
Social Media Friday Four
Happy Friday! Let’s check out what’s new this week in social media.
Read more