Here’s a recap of last week’s must-know social media updates:
Instagram Introduces Event Channels on Explore – August 17, 2016
Instagram’s video channel on Explore will highlight videos from events such as concerts and sporting events personalized to meet their users’ interests. This feature is similar to Snapchat’s Live Stories and Story Explorer which launched last year and allow viewers to watch live events and discover content from multiple perspectives for the same event.
Currently, the video channel on Explorer is only available in the US.
Instagram users can view more video content for Adele’s concert from different perspectives.
Pinterest Launches Click-To-Play Promoted Videos – August 17, 2016
Earlier this month, Pinterest announced that they would finally introduce a native video player to ensure a seamless video viewing experience in their platform. Prior to these changes, Pinterest’s only native video format was the Cinematic Pin, which was launched in May in 2015. Cinematic Pins are motion-based, GIF-like pins that are controlled through scrolling. Pinterest’s Promoted Videos are an extension of the Cinematic Pins. Just like the Cinematic Pins, Promoted Videos move as users scroll. But unlike Cinematic Pins, once a user clicks on a Promoted video, it gets expanded into a separate tab with relevant products listed below the content as featured Pins.
According to Marketing Land, advertisers will be charged per impression, every thousand times the GIF-like preview is served in people’s feeds, regardless of whether users view the video or not. For now, Promoted Video is only available on mobile to businesses working with a Pinterest account team in the US or UK. Here’s a video demonstrating Promoted Videos from Pinterest’s blog post:
Twitter Introduces Promoted Stickers – August 15, 2016
Brands can create and promote four or eight custom stickers. These Promoted Stickers are featured in the Stickers library where all Twitter users can access and use them. Since stickers are visual hashtags, brands can gain more exposure as users click through images with Stickers to see other images with those same Stickers.
Promoted Stickers are available globally to certain brands with a Twitter account team.
Learn more about Twitter Stickers
Facebook Updates Messenger Platform – August 15, 2016
Businesses will have more opportunities to engage with users through the Messenger platform, but they are not allowed to contact users unless the user initiates the conversation. Users can also opt-out of receiving messages from businesses at any moment. The 3 main updates are:
- Businesses will have up to 24 hours to respond to a message initiated by a person in Messenger. Each time a person responds with an eligible action, the clock will reset.
- Businesses will be able to send regular, non-promotional content to people who opt in to receive subscription messaging.
- Facebook’s review process for new and existing Send/Receive API integrations will be streamlined so that all applications are reviewed within five days of submission.
Updated Messenger Platform Policies and Faster Review Times
Blab Shuts Down – August 12, 2016
The live video platform that had 3.9 million total users shut down its website and app. According to Blab’s CEO, Shaan Puri, user churn was a major problem:
“The struggle with Livestreaming — is that we need to show you something awesome, that’s being made right now.
Turns out, that’s really tough. It killed Meerkat, and Periscope & FB Live are feeling the pain right now. Really, only Twitch has gotten it right with live streaming video games.
In live streaming, the churn is real.
We hoped replays would help, but less than 10% of all watch time was on replays. Why? Because the off-the-cuff, unpredictable nature of livestreams make for terrible replays. The better the live stream was, the worse the replay will be.”
