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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
Twitter Removes 140-Character Limit in Direct Messages: This change is a “big step towards making the private side of Twitter even more powerful and fun.”
Direct Messages now go beyond 140 characters. Go long, express yourself, wax poetic: https://t.co/zr2lnTfOI7 pic.twitter.com/o4eSv6Wv5u
— Twitter (@twitter) August 12, 2015
Google Rolls Out Improvements to Hangouts: Google released “Google Hangouts 4.0 for Android, with a fresh new look, improved speed, and features that make it even easier to reach people the way you want to reach them.”
Facebook Adds New, High-Performing Ad Formats in the Audience Network: Facebook introduced “a significant expansion of ad types and formats available in the Audience Network. The goal is even better outcomes for you, your advertisers, and the people that use your app.”
More social media news worth noting:
Google Reorganizes Under New Umbrella Company Called Alphabet: “Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet.”
Periscope Surpasses 10 Million Users: Based on the “aggregate amount of time that people spend watching live broadcasts on iOS & Android”, there is “over 40 years of video watched per day” on Periscope.
Canva Launches Canva for Work: “With the introduction of Canva for Work, organizations of any size will be able to use Canva’s core feature set along with special features aimed at businesses.”
Buffer Introduces Buffer for Video: “Buffer customers can now upload, share, and schedule video from Buffer to all your social media networks.”
Other upcoming social media news worth following:
Skype for Business Previews New Apps for iOS and Android: Skype for Business announces “a look at what’s new and how you can participate in the preview.”
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Here are a couple of cool social media tools worth checking out:
Sense: An app for iOS and Android that makes it easy for marketers to monitor their competition in real time.
Glif: A new social media tool that lets you create branded video content on Twitter simply by using a hashtag.
Weekly Video Tip:
How to Use the New Facebook Power Editor
Some Interesting Studies to Note:
2015 Media Report: According to a new report from Active International, nearly three-quarters (71%) of media executives surveyed are concerned about most effectively delivering audience through digital, mobile and social channels. More than half (52%) say their company will measurably increase its investments in the second half of 2015 to expand its programmatic capabilities. A significant number also say their company intends to utilize technology to expand their mobile advertising (41%) and social media (24%) revenue models.
Instagram Leads Vine and Snapchat in Satisfaction and Buzz: YouGov BrandIndex interviewed 2,100 adults (age 18-34) from January to July 2015 and determined Buzz and Satisfaction scores for Instagram, Vine and Snapchat. Instagram hit its 2015 peaks in both Buzz and Satisfaction in mid-July after bypassing Snapchat and Vine in the spring.  The study also found that 37% of respondents have logged onto Instagram within the past 30 days, compared with only 29% for Snapchat and 15% for Vine.
Marketing Personalization: A VB Insights survey of 506 marketers found that between 70% and 94% have seen an increase in the effectiveness of various key metrics when personalization was employed with plenty of room for growth in effectiveness and targeting. Email is the most popular digital channel for delivering personalized content among 80% of respondents. Social media, trailing a distant second at 42%, followed by website landing pages (37%), homepages (36%) and content such as articles and blog posts (31%) comprise the top five.
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What do you think? Have you been having longer chats with Twitter Direct Messages? Please share your comments below.
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