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Social Media Roundup: What’s New For May

As you all well know, social media advances at an incredibly fast pace. So much so that it’s undeniably difficult to stay up to date on the latest and greatest developments rocking the digital sphere, so we’ve decided to make things a bit easier. In this post, we’re going to catch you up on all of May’s social news with a not so subtle emphasis on Facebook and Instagram (since you know we have a soft spot for those channels). Let’s go!

1) Instagram Updates

  • We all knew this was coming. Well, most of us at least. Instagram has been nipping at the heels of Snapchat since they released their ‘Story’ feature in August 2016. It was only a matter of time before Instagram added a filter feature much like the beloved ones Snapchat offers. Instagram didn’t attempt to recreate the wheel with their version of filters. While they don’t have the ubiquitous dog filter, they do feature the ever popular flower crown filter and other very slight variations of Snapchat’s offerings. In regards to marketing, Instagram has yet to release a sponsored filter feature but based on their track record we can be certain that it’s only a matter of time.

  • We’re now one step closer to Instagram shopping being widely accessible. Since November, they have been testing more multidimensional, posts for retailers, letting 20 select brands—such as Kate Spade New York, Lulu’s, Macy’s and Warby Parker—add product information and links to their photos. Today, the feature, called Instagram Shopping, is available widely in the U.S. to apparel, jewelry or beauty brands. Exciting stuff!

    • 2) Facebook Updates

  • A long awaited feature, Facebook Causes will now allow users to discover, support and organize campaigns, fundraisers, and petitions around the issues that impact you and your community. This feature is a fantastic update for non-profits and individuals. You can also add a Donate button to live events on Facebook.

  • Facebook is testing split screens for live streaming. Now, more than one person can participate in a live stream. This will allow you to, for example, do interviews, similar to Google Hangouts. Right now it’s only released for personal account use but will soon roll out to business accounts.
  • One of the biggest complaints content creators have with Facebook is that other people will download their content and share it on other Facebook pages. That cuts out the potential ad revenue for the creator. Now Facebook is seeking to remedy this situation. If you upload your own content, you now have options on how to deal with that. You can block the content from being shared. You can claim the ad revenue. You can monitor it, or you can manually review each instance and decide how you want to proceed. This is similar to the set up on YouTube. The goal here is a friendly environment for content creators without fear that their content will be stolen!
  • Video Cover Images! This feature is currently only in testing but could be interesting for ecommerce businesses if it is rolled out. You can see an example on the Narcos Page. We admit that this is a cool feature and it can be fun, but you have to ask yourself if you’ll get enough ROI on the customization. The answer is maybe yes and maybe no!

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    3) Other Social Updates 

        • Pinterest – ‘Like’ button going away soon! Pinterest released a statement saying, “But because we have both a Save button and a Like button, it hasn’t always been clear how they’re different. After doing a bunch of research with Pinners, we found Pinterest is easier to understand when we remove the Like button altogether.” You can read more about the ‘Like’ button retirement, here.
        • Pinterest – Promoted Video gets even better! They now offer autoplay, more places for pinners to see your videos, and enhanced reporting. Find out how you can get started now.
        • Google – Rolls out 3 important new updates to Dynamic Search Ads. One of which are changes to ads based on what someone searches for. Read more about the feature here.

     


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