Welcome to this week's edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media.
On this week's Social Media Marketing Talk Show with Michael Stelzner, we explore Facebook's latest growth with Mari Smith; Amazon's social network, Spark, with Jeff Sieh; LinkedIn's new Web Demographics tool with Viveka von Rosen; and other breaking social media marketing news of the week!
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If you're new to the show, click on the green “Watch replay” button below and sign in or register to watch our latest episode from Friday, July 28, 2017. You can also listen to the show as an audio podcast, found on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Android, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS.
For this week's top stories, you'll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above.
Facebook Shares Q2 2017 Results: Facebook announced its Q2 2017 Results and shared an update on its progress in “bringing the world closer together.” The Facebook community is now more than 2 billion people strong. This includes more than 1.3 billion people who use Facebook every day and 100 million users who are part of “meaningful groups” on Facebook. Facebook also shared that “more than 250 million people use Instagram Stories every day and more than 250 million people use WhatsApp Status every day.” (6:40)
Amazon Introduces Amazon Spark: Amazon rolled out Amazon Spark, a new shoppable feed filled with stories, photos, and ideas that's exclusively available to Prime members. TechCrunch reports that “Amazon Spark users are encouraged to post stories, ideas, and images of products they love, which others can react to with comments and ‘smiles' – Amazon's own version of the Like or Favorite button.” Spark posts may also contain product images, text, links, or polls. Amazon Spark is currently only available to Prime members who are in the U.S. and accessing Amazon through the iOS mobile app. This new feature isn't designed for desktop use at this time. (19:10)
Instagram Introducing Enhanced Metrics and New Features to the Instagram Platform API: Instagram rolled out the ability to access valuable metrics on content and overall presence on the Instagram app in the Instagram API for the very first time. Instagram also introduced new comment moderation tools such as the ability to hide comments or toggle them on and off. The enhanced Instagram Platform API is now available to all Facebook and Instagram Marketing Partners and is expected to be publicly available to all developers “in the coming weeks.” (30:58)
LinkedIn Announces New LinkedIn Website Demographics Tool: LinkedIn introduced LinkedIn Website Demographics, a free reporting tool that provides brands and businesses in-depth insights about their website traffic and visitors using professional data from LinkedIn's 500+ million members. According to LinkedIn, these insights will offer marketers “a powerful way to tune [their] marketing to those visitors and develop better targeting and content for [their] campaigns” along eight individual professional dimensions such as job title, industry, location, and others. LinkedIn's new Website Demographics tool is expected to roll out “in the coming weeks” and will be available for free to anyone using LinkedIn Campaign Manager. (35:16)
LinkedIn Rolls Out Ability to Add Multiple Photos to Single Posts: LinkedIn announced that members can now select multiple photos to include in a single post on LinkedIn. This new feature is currently available on LinkedIn's iOS app and is “coming soon” to Android and desktop. (41:23)
Facebook Launches Groups for Pages Globally: Facebook announced that Groups for Pages is now “available around the world.” With this update, brands and media companies can now “create fan clubs and groups centered around [their] super-fans” and can link new and existing groups to their pages. Adweek reports that this new feature allows brands create their own pages “without having to rely on admins to set up groups from their own personal accounts” and “give[s] organizations the chance to create ‘official' groups that unwanted or unofficial third parties and fan clubs can't set up.”
Facebook Tests Ability to Create GIFs With Facebook Camera: Facebook is running a test with “a small number” of iOS users in which they're able to create their own GIF files via Facebook Camera. Adweek reports that users with access to the feature can “swipe left on their applications to bring up Facebook Camera, where they will see the option to record GIFs.” The article also notes that “the GIFs are limited to a few seconds in length.. [and] can be added to posts, posted to users' profiles and saved to their devices.”
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GET THE DETAILSFacebook on iOS now lets you create your own GIFs pic.twitter.com/UpJANRfCfG
— Matt Navarra ️ (@MattNavarra) July 14, 2017
Facebook Introduces the Live 360 Ready Program and New Features for Live 360: Facebook launched a series of updates that will “improve and simplify the Live 360 experience for both creators and audiences.” This update includes a new Live 360 Ready Program, which presents “an array of third-party 360 cameras and software solutions… that provide great Live 360 experiences on Facebook.” Facebook also announced that it will now support 4K resolution for all Live 360 streams and soon viewers will be able to enjoy Live 360 videos streamed at 4K in VR with the Facebook 360 app for Gear VR. Additionally, broadcasters can now add the Donate button, use Facebook's image stabilization, Guide, Schedule Live, and Heatmaps tools, or cross-post their Live 360 videos.
Facebook Extends Ability to Alter Link Metadata Exclusively for Select Publishers:Â In an effort to “limit the spread of false news on Facebook” and “support a more informed community,” Facebook announced that non-publisher pages will no longer be able to overwrite link metadata (i.e., headline, description, image) in the Graph API or in page composer. Meanwhile, publishers who “rely on overwriting link preview metadata to customize how their content appears to audiences on Facebook” will have the ability to do this through a new tab in Page Publishing Tools. This new tool will allow publishers to indicate link ownership and continue editing how their own links appear on Facebook. Facebook is initially rolling out this new tool to news, sports, and entertainment pages and plans to expand it “over the next few months.”
Facebook Asks Users to Suggest Tags for Groups:Â A new pop-up found within Facebook groups is asking members to “suggest tags to admins that describe the group.” Users can recommend up to three tags that best identify what the group is about and help others find it.
Facebook Features Prompt for Sharing Events in Messenger:Â Facebook now features a new prompt that encourages users to share an event discovered on Facebook with other Messenger users.
Twitter Adds More Alerts to Notification Tab: Twitter added a new Notification tab feature on both mobile and web that tracks and alerts users about interesting links, trends, and accounts. While Twitter has provided this type of information to users through push notifications for years, this is the first time it will appear in “the same tab where you track the activity surrounding your own account and tweets.” This new feature is available to all users across iOS, Android, and the web.
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Twitter adds updates about interesting links, trends and accounts to its Notifications tab https://t.co/1qCZZLsrI2 by @sarahintampa
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) July 26, 2017
Google Analytics Adds Voice-Based Navigation:Â Google is adding voice-based navigation to Google Analytics, using the same natural language processing technology available across Google products like Android and Search and machine learning. This new feature is rolling out in English to all Google Analytics users “over the next few weeks.”
Snapchat Introduces Multi-Snap and Tint Brush: Snapchat rolled out a new Multi-Snap feature that “allows users to record up to six consecutive 10-second Snaps at once,” and a new Tint Brush tool that enables users “to add new colors to objects in their photo Snaps.” The Multi-Snap feature is rolling out to all iOS users globally and an Android version is expected to “follow soon.” The Tint Brush is available to all iOS and Android devices now.
Snapchat Now Allows 6 Consecutive 10-Second Video Snaps: https://t.co/Z3mWZLxrcf #snapchat pic.twitter.com/itJPWpGYPr
— Social Pro Daily (@SocialProDaily) July 18, 2017
Facebook Acquires Content Management Startup, Source3: Facebook acquired Source3, a content rights management startup that sets out “to recognize, organize and analyze branded intellectual property in user-generated content” and is used to identify “products across a variety of areas including sports, music, entertainment, and fashion.” This new technology will allow Facebook to “recognize brand IPs in user-created content and commerce marketplaces… [and] measure their presence or take action against infringers of their copyrights and trademarks.”
Facebook acquires Source3 to get content creators paid https://t.co/yW934eaz0I pic.twitter.com/WK1UxBOEuW
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) July 25, 2017
LinkedIn Rolls Out LinkedIn Lite for Android: LinkedIn released an Android version of its LinkedIn Lite app, “a pared-down version of its original LinkedIn mobile app that is developed for users in markets where data networks are slower and relatively more expensive for consumers, and phones are slower.” TechCrunch reports that LinkedIn Lite only requires 1MB of space on a device, uses 80% less data than the flagship LinkedIn app, and loads a page in less than five seconds. It's currently available in India, but LinkedIn plans to expand it to more than 60 more markets “in the coming weeks and months.”
Facebook Introduces a New Instant Articles Analytics Tool: Facebook partnered with Nielsen to develop a new analytics tool that allows individual publishers to measure how their instant articles are performing on Facebook compared to other mobile web equivalents. The new tool will be available to publishers that have published enough instant articles and mobile web versions to measure the difference. Facebook plans to add more metrics to the tool to help track instant articles' performance “in the coming months.”
LinkedIn Rolls Out Dedicated Desktop App for Windows 10: LinkedIn is rolling out an official desktop application for Windows 10 to all markets by the end of the month. The new LinkedIn for Windows 10 app offers quick access to the platform's functions and features from the Windows Start menu and task bar and “delivers real-time professional updates, including new messages, insights on who's viewed your profile, trending news in your industry and other timely highlights on your professional network.” LinkedIn's new desktop app will also be available in 22 languages at launch.
Twitter Releases Q2 Earnings Results: Twitter released its Q2 2017 Earnings Report, which revealed that the platform didn't add any new users this past quarter. Twitter reports having 328 million total users at the end of Q2 2017, which is the same number it reported for Q1 2017.
Snap Inc. Adds More Ways to Purchase Spectacles: Snap Inc. added two new ways to purchase Spectacles beyond a Snapbot and direct web orders. Last week, it was announced that Snap is now selling Spectacles in all three colors (black, coral, and teal) through Amazon. The camera company also opened a pop-up shop inside London department store Harrods. TechCrunch reports that this “marks the first time you can buy Spectacles in person and not through a Snapbot.”
Snapchat Now Features Daily Broadcasts From NBC News: NBC News announced a new twice-daily news show called “Stay Tuned” on Snapchat's Discover platform. This will be the first daily news show on Snapchat and will include morning and afternoon editions each weekday, a show on the weekends, and updates throughout the day to cover breaking news. TechCrunch reports that the show “aims to connect with younger viewers who no longer get their news from traditional television, nor connect with a trusted anchor during a nightly broadcast as generations before them” and will cover national and international news, politics, pop culture, and more.
Google Plans to Merge YouTube Red and Google Play Music: YouTube announced plans to merge the Google Play Music with YouTube Red to create a new streaming service in the near future. Google is currently in the process of evaluating how to bring these two products together “to deliver the best possible product for [its] users, music partners, and artists.” Google hasn't confirmed when this update is expected to roll out; however, the company assures users it will notify them of any changes before they happen.
YouTube's head of music confirms YouTube Red and Google Play Music will merge to create a new servicehttps://t.co/ra5ad9YJw6 pic.twitter.com/pLiIfFfJ5T
— The Verge (@verge) July 27, 2017
Google Launches Hire App for Recruiting: Google rolled out Hire, a new recruiting app designed to help small and medium businesses “identify talent, build strong candidate relationships and efficiently manage the interview process end-to-end.” This new service integrates “seamlessly” with G Suite apps like Gmail and Google Calendar and offers an “intuitive and simple UI,” which can help streamline and manage a company's internal hiring process. Hire is available for purchase by any U.S.-based business that uses G Suite and has fewer than 1,000 employees.
Adobe Will End Support of Flash by 2020: Adobe announced plans to stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020. The company encourages content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to other open formats such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly. Adobe will continue working in conjunction with Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Mozilla. Each company has offered details on their individual plans to move away from Flash as many other browser makers have already taken steps in recent years to disable Flash or limit its use due to both security and performance concerns.
We'll stop updating & distributing Flash Player by the end of 2020. More about our plans & a look at what's next: https://t.co/P925Dozz6k pic.twitter.com/4Ss82ZfdeI
— Adobe (@Adobe) July 25, 2017
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