Mariano Media Social Media Friday Four 8%2F3%2F18.png

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!

Happy Friday! This week, we're looking at updates in collaboration on Pinterest, removing followers on Instagram, breaking news on Snapchat, and Snapchat advertising. Let's jump in ⬇️

Pinterest is Adding a Way for Users to Collaborate on Boards

Pinterest wants to become your go-to event planning hub! The platform is now providing group boards their own designated feed, as well as incorporating new notification options, @-mentions, and the ability to like comments.

Pinterest has maintained a strong reputation as the top visual nerve center for inspiration, but their primary goals are to stand out as one of the top social media platforms on the market, and to become a part of all users' daily social routines, much like Facebook or Instagram. They're hoping these new features will encourage users to visit the platform every day, not just when they're looking for inspirational ideas.

Instagram Test Lets Public Accounts Remove Followers

Instagram is officially testing a feature that would allow public accounts the ability to remove followers, an option that was previously only available to private accounts. Very few details of the feature have been released, but we do know that "removed" followers will not be notified that they have been withdrawn from following an account.

With this and other new elements, Instagram is clearly making a statement, and are doing everything in their power to keep users happy and keep them in the app. For them, keeping their loyal users happy is clearly more important than attracting new ones.

A New Snapchat Initiative Will Help Journalists Find and Verify Breaking News

Snapchat will allow organizations with subscriptions to NewsWhip, Storyful, SAM Desk, and TagBoard access to public Snaps for news discovery and verification. And Snapchat will be providing this for FREE, a word absent from the vocabulary of most social media giants.

This collaboration will give news networks, both big and small, access to a whole host of Snapchat data. Additionally, the geo-location features of SnapMap will give journalists an edge during breaking news situations, which introduces a new element to journalism as we know it.

Snapchat Beefs Up Ad Targeting in Deal with Nielsen

Snapchat and Nielsen are now offering marketers the ability to make targeted ad buys based on offline data as a part of their partnership. This partnership is set to put Snapchat on par with the likes of Twitter and Pinterest, with 30,000 audience segments from Nielsen Buyer Insights and Catalina Solutions available to them, much from offline loyalty card and credit card data.

Nielsen predicts that advertisers in the fields of retail, auto, finance, travel, and tech will find the partnership the most beneficial. The timing is great because as Facebook is scaling back on purchase-based targeting due to recent data and privacy concerns, Snapchat is scaling up.

Enjoyed this content? Write us a comment below, and check back every Friday for the latest in social media!