Today’s the day! You know, the day before the weekend. YASSS. This week in social news, Facebook is making some updates to Live video, P1324 launched a couple sweet challenges, Klout is shutting down, and this whole Yanny vs. Laurel thing is wild. Read on, comrade.
Social nets update stuff
Facebook is making some updates to Live video and they all sound pretty good. Posting Live streams across multiple Pages, a feature that will let people rewind live video, and a more seamless way for teams to collaborate when shooting Live video by giving publishers a single, permanent stream key for live broadcasts. Into it.
All of those changes come, of course, after Facebook announced new video metrics last week. Follower vs. Non-Follower viewer count, audience demographic breakdown by gender, and a Zoom Chart which will highlight audience engagement throughout the video. FB also reportedly fixed a bug that resulted in inaccurate retention graph data for videos running longer than two minutes. Progress?
Instagram is rolling out a few new ways for businesses to better interact with their followers. Now, messages to a business page will show up in the business profile’s main Direct inbox (instead of the pending folder), and businesses will be able to star and filter conversations to better manage their messages. Insta says it’ll also be testing quick replies in the coming weeks, giving businesses the ability to craft messages that can be sent in response to commonly asked questions. Stay tuned.
Have you guys seen the new Instagram emoji slider poll thingy? I haven’t quite figured it out, but I do appreciate the interactive stickers. This “emoji slider” is a new audience feedback sticker that polls your viewers on a rating scale using any emoji. The sliding scale allows users to ask people “how” instead of simply picking between two options.
Snapchat’s redesigned redesign has started to roll out. The new layout puts Snaps and Chats in chronological order again, and moves Stories from your friends back to the right-hand side of the app. Basically, what’s old is new again.
Adobe does stuff
Huge news in XD land! We released a FREE Starter Plan for Adobe XD, $10M in funding for design, 5 FREE UI resources by top designers, a bunch of new features for XD, a new Dribbble account, and a look at Adobe’s new design system, Spectrum. Phew. Spread. The. Word. Y’all.
Project 1324 also launched a couple challenges this week that are pretty rad. The first is in partnership with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re asking the community to create a piece of visual art — such as an image, graphic, or short film– that inspires the viewer to prioritize their mental wellness. The second challenge is in partnership with Pictoplasma and is all about character design, with the ask for people to create their secret sidekick and share how their character spices up their daily routine.
Other brands do stuff
Now, I might be a little biased, but I do love me a good employee advocacy strategy. And Vitamin Shoppe is literally handing over their Instagram accounts to its staff. The Vitamin Shoppe is launching 800 Instagram accounts, one for each of its U.S. stores, to localize more of its marketing. These accounts will be managed by store employees, empowering them to be influencers and also letting them host weekly Facebook Live events to connect with consumers on topics related to health and wellness. Of course, I wanna know what kind of training these employees have to go through… Sounds like a Center of Excellence is in the making!
Aww this is cute. Burger King has a new example of nimble marketing — a prom invite. And to none other than Wendy’s. A BK restaurant in Massachusetts happens to be sitting right next to a Wendy’s, so the fast feeder took advantage of their proximity and asked its competitor to the big high school dance. Wendy’s came back with a witty and demure, “I do” on Twitter.
Interesting stuff
Whoa, this is wild! Social scoring company Klout, which was once the go-to company for assessing the influence of social stars, is closing the end of this month. Methinks this has something to do with the evolution of the influencer industry. Brand have gotten smarter about what data points are most important in identifying influencers…
Apparently, virtual influencers are now a thing and my mind is blown. Virtual influencers are just like any other influencer except one big difference — they’re literally virtual avatars. And don’t exist IRL. But are somehow trusted advisors? Fascinating.