Facebook Live Rolls Out for Groups and Events: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news.

To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week

Facebook Live Rolls Out for Groups, Events, and More: Facebook announced several new features for Facebook Live that will “give you more ways to discover, share and interact with live video and more ways to personalize your live broadcasts.”

“When your friend reacts to your video or to a video you are both watching together you’ll see their profile pic and a little starburst before their reaction appears.”

Facebook Messenger Launches Scannable Codes Similar to Snapchat, and more: Facebook added new ways for people to “find and get in touch with the businesses they care about” on Messenger with Messenger Codes, Usernames, Messenger Links, and Messenger Greetings.

“Soon, your username will show up directly on your Page, underneath your Page title with an @ symbol before it.”

Facebook Adds More Ways to Discover Live Video in Search: Facebook’s updates to search make it “easier to discover Live video in topics that are Trending on Facebook.” Facebook is also building “a dedicated search experience for the new Live video destination that’s coming to Facebook’s mobile app.”

“If a relevant Live video is available, it will be included in the Search results pages for these topics so you can get a direct, first-hand look at what’s happening.”

Twitter Introduces Direct Message Button: “With this new feature, it’s simple to share a Tweet via Direct Message and spark a private conversation.”

The new Message button makes it even easier to send Tweets privately to friends: https://t.co/S3LMsTqW9l pic.twitter.com/HEdCxSn9RA

— Twitter (@twitter) April 5, 2016

Facebook Updates Policy and Launches New Tool for Branded Content: Facebook updated its policies and launched “a new tool that makes collaboration [between publishers and influencers] on branded content easy and gives marketers more visibility into and control over all their efforts on Facebook.”

“This update is something that marketers, media companies, public figures and influencers have asked for, as branded content is a growing and evolving part of the media landscape.”

Facebook Announces New Metrics for Live Video: Facebook announced “two new video metrics: total live viewers during a broadcast, and a new chart showing the number of concurrent live viewers over time during a broadcast.”

“These new metrics are available through Page Insights and your Video Library – and coming to the API and export soon.”

Twitter Updates Conversion Lift Reports: Twitter introduced updates to its conversion lift reports “to help performance advertisers better understand the full impact of their Twitter Ads campaigns.” These updates include optimized spend using daily updated results, cross-device insights, and direct access to reports through Twitter Ads dashboard.

Direct response advertisers: we’re excited to announce 3 new updates to conversion lift reports! Learn more: https://t.co/bcZYb1giIg

— Twitter Advertising (@TwitterAds) April 6, 2016

Our Take on Top News This Week

In this blab from Friday, April 8, 2016, Michael Stelzner and guests discuss the top news in social media. Topics include major updates to Facebook Live (2:00), new features for Facebook Messenger (27:00) and Twitter’s new direct messaging button (38:50). Subscribe to future shows here.

More News to Note

Medium Announces New Features and Revenue Model for Publishers: Medium introduced Medium for Publishers, which is “designed to give more tools and horsepower to publishers and bloggers across the web,” and launched “two new ways that publishers can opt in to earn revenue on Medium.”

“Some examples of newly branded sites: The Awl, Electric Literature, and Pacific Standard.”

Facebook Introduces Automatic Alternative Text: Facebook now “provides people who are visually impaired with descriptions of a photo’s content using advancements in object recognition technology.”

Pinterest Opens Promoted Pins to the U.K.: Pinterest will “start selling advertising in the U.K., marking the first effort to make money from its more than 45 million users who reside outside the U.S.”

Kik Launches Bot Store: Chat app Kik launched a “brand new Bot Shop, a place to find bots to chat within Kik.”

Upcoming Social Media News Worth Following

Twitter Will Increase Image Sizes in API: “Starting June 1, you’ll see a subtle change that increases some of the image dimensions returned in [Twitter’s] APIs.”

“Visual comparison of the old and new ‘small’ size for landscape images.”

Some Interesting Studies to Note:

The Future of Mobile Advertising Is Native: A new study conducted by IHS and commissioned by Facebook Audience Network provides the first market sizing and future projections of the mobile native advertising market across regions. Collecting data from over 70 in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders in 25 countries, the findings suggest that 63.2% of all mobile display ads will be native and account for $53 billion in total advertiser spend by 2020. The report also projects that in-app native ads served by third parties such as the Facebook Audience Network will grow at an annual rate of 70.7% and account for 10.6% of all mobile display ads by 2020.

2016 Social Media Impact Report: B2B Industry Edition: TrackMaven analyzed social media content from 316 leading B2B brands across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. The findings show which B2B industries receive the best follower interactions, growth, and engagement from social media marketing. The report also examines and compares the most effective social media strategies being implemented within each industry.

2016 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus: A new study from comScore examined the increasingly interconnected way consumers access content across multiple screens and revealed how this “cross-media ecosystem” is occupying consumers’ time and attention. For example, one finding shows that Facebook-owned properties (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp) currently represent 1 out of every 10 digital media minutes spent on desktops and more than 1 in every 5 digital media minutes spent on mobile devices.

How Strong and Weak Ties on Social Media Help You Find a Job: A new paper published by the Journal of Labor Economics examined the role close social media connections versus weaker social media connections play when it comes to searching for a new job. The findings show that social media users are more likely to find job opportunities through weaker social media connections, but strong social media ties tend to put more effort into helping the person land a job. The research also offers insights for job-seekers on how to better leverage their social media connections in their job search.

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What do you think of the new updates for Facebook Live? Have you tried any of the new Facebook Live features or search? Please share your comments below.

Facebook Live Rolls Out for Groups and Events and other social media news for April 9, 2016.