Welcome to this week’s Social Marketing Cluster Facts! Every week we dig into the social media marketing news scene and uncover the goods. What’s up this week?
Snapchat smells tween spirit, Twitter teases with the 140 and LinkedIn passwords make their way to the black market. Watch SMCF!Â
Transcript:
LinkedIn was Hacked!… I mean it was 4 years ago and it was reported that 6.5 million passwords were stolen. Well. It actually was 117 million passwords. We only knew about 5.5% of the damage. Now those 117 million passwords are available to the highest bidder on the black market. Here’s a Pro Tip for ya: Change your passwords and use the two-factor authentication options. Also, change you password on every other account that has the same password as your LinkedIn AND use something different. Sucks, we know, but seriously.
Instagram will soon be rolling out video carousel ads. Advertisers will be able to share up to 5 separate videos that can EACH be up to one minute long. This update gives advertisers a lot of creative flexibility. Instagram reported that the time people spent watching video increased by more than 40% in the last six months.
We’ve already reported that business profiles are coming to Instagram! YAY! But, were also excited about the announcement of an in-app analytics tool, Instagram is calling it “Insights”! The apps new detailed analytics will provide businesses and marketers stats about their follower demographics ad post interaction. This is not yet available to all users, but is coming.
15 months ago, Pinterest made the decision to ban affiliate links due to issues with poor user experience. According to MarketingLand, last week, they reported that affiliate links are back in play. Pinterest has since made huge strides with improved spam tracking technology that ensures the affiliate experience will not detract from a solid user experience. Pinterest hopes the restoration means more participation on the network and will provide additional revenue sources to community members who have previously found a solid ROI.
Social Song Bird.com reports that YouTube is getting a messenger service built natively into its app. The feature will be more like Facebook Messenger, in which you can chat and send links and videos back and forth in real time. This is a big step for the platform, and a necessary one to continue to drive Google’s apps in a social direction. As for now, the messaging is only available to a fraction of users. In the future, it will be rolled out to all.
At YouTube’s Brandcast event, CEO Susan Wojcicki was asked how YouTube’s Music Key streaming service will stand out from competitors like Pandora, Spotify and Apple Music. Susan said, “It’s different because we have the music videos, which being able to see your favorite music artist perform a song and see what they imagine when they created that song…” Hmm, yeah… ok, I guess. As much sense as that makes, doesn’t that make it a music video streaming service? Does that really give YouTube a one-up on competitors? Music videos are still around, but seeing as how MTV and VH1 couldn’t live up to the power of radio (the original music streaming service), how can YouTube make sure that Music Key doesn’t become a one-hit wonder?
RUMOR (MAYBE_REAL_WE_WISH_ON_A_STAR_WITH_OUR_FINGERS_CROSSED) PATROOOOOOOOL! Bloomberg used its wand and sprinkled some pixie dust on a story, a myth really, that Twitter was going to make changes to the 140 character limit so many hate like a villain. The fairy tale deets are that Twitter will soon stop counting photos and links as part of its 140_character limit for messages. The source asked to not be named because the decision isn’t public yet and Twitter isn’t saying a peep.
UBER Techy Update with some good news and some other good news. First, the good news: Twitter is going to start selling more ads which will make investors happy because, “mo’ ads, mo’ money.” Good news squared: Twitter users won’t see ’em. (YAY!) So, where are these ads gonna be popping up? Twitter explains the ads will show up outside of the Twitter’s properties, but will be piggybacking on tweets that run in other apps. They could be out to prove their reach is much larger than it’s base of 300 million active users. You can read the, “Twitter Kit + MoPub” article on Twitter’s Developer’s blog.
Facebook is now selling video ads on behalf of other companies. That’s right, rather than just curating ads on Facebook, they’ll place ads in third-party websites and applications, including those operated by Daily Mail, Mashable and USA Today Sports Media Group.
Need to go on a trip, but don’t want to leave your house? Well Facebook’s got your back, by adding a pretty neat-o interactive map that allows users to find live-broadcasts from all over the world. The feature works both on mobile and desktop and is a pretty fun and extremely lazy way to experience the world.
As a quick housekeeping item, Facebook’s chief, Mark Zuckerburg and chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg met with representatives of the Conservative party to discuss conservative voices being muted on the popular social channel.
Snapchat broke the internet this week, as tweens are losing their shit over two new features in Snapchat’s latest update. With all the millenial excitement, you’d think Justin Beiber was live broadcasting his abs, but no, it’s something much better. Snapchat has added a double dog filter, allowing for two people to have a dog mouth and ears at the same time! But that’s not all, hold on to your oversized Pharell hats kids, because this is gonna make you happy. Snapchat is also giving users the ability to mix and match multiple filters and lenses at the same time! Every time I think about leaving Snapchat just pulls me back in!
Sources:
Hackers selling 117 million LinkedIn passwords, @Jose_Pagliery, CNN Money
New and Improved Instagram Allows Longer Videos, More Ads, Small Business Trends
Instagram overhauls analytics and business profiles, @clareifying, Ragan’s PR Daily
Pinterest to become an affiliate’s best friend again, @tamar, Marketing Land
YouTube Builds a Messaging Feature in its Native App, Social Songbird
Announcing a new way to monetize your app with Twitter Kit + MoPub, Twitter Blog
Facebook starts rolling out Live Video map on desktop, @franticnews, Mashable
For Facebook and Conservatives, a Collegial Meeting in Silicon Valley, @MikeIsaac, @NYTnickc, The New York Times
The New Snapchat Update Will Totally Change The Way You Use Filters, @taylor_ortega, Elite Daily
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