Welcome to this week's episode of Social Chatter, the longest running social media marketing talk show where we cover the latest social media news from this past week.
As a reminder, each episode of Social Chatter is available as a blog post or video.
For those of you who missed last week's show, you can find it here.
We're also joined by this week's special guest, Jessika Phillips.
Let's see what's new in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Nick Rishwain.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
Resharing to Instagram Stories
In Instagram news, they are testing the ability to reshape posts to Instagram Stories.
Why Resharing Posts to Instagram Stories Matters For Your Business
Instagram has always lacked a way to share posts (on purpose).
They're currently testing a way to share Instagram posts to Instagram Stories (link).
Right now, this feature is currently being tested with a select group of users; however, if it does go live, you'll be able to make your Stories more interesting by sharing posts to them.
This is what you will see when you want to resale posts to Stories.
The good news is that you will be able to turn off this feature in Settings under Options > Allow Resharing to Stories.
Overall, we would love to see Instagram bring this feature to Stories (along with notifications when people share your story or whether someone takes a screenshot).
As a business, you may be wondering how you'll find enough content to keep your Instagram followers engaged. Resharing posts to Instagram Stories is the answer to help get your channel rolling.
You can read more about Instagram testing resharing here.
YouTube to Remove Ads and Downgrade Discoverability For Posting Offensive Videos
In YouTube news, they will start to remove ads and downgrade discoverability of channels that post offensive videos.
Why YouTube Removing Ads and Discoverability From Channels Posting Offensive Videos Matters For Your Business
YouTube is tightening control on its community in the wake of Logan Paul by introducing changes to their current strike systems when channels upload videos that could result in harm to their community and to creators, viewers and advertisers.
Here is a breakdown on these changes.
- Premium Monetization Programs, Promotion and Content Development Partnerships. We may remove a channel from Google Preferred and also suspend, cancel or remove a creator's YouTube Original.
- Monetization and Creator Support Privileges. We may suspend a channel's ability to serve ads, ability to earn revenue and potentially remove a channel from the YouTube Partner Program, including creator support and access to our YouTube Spaces.
- Video Recommendations. We may remove a channel's eligibility to be recommended on YouTube, such as appearing on our home page, trending tab or watch next.
Overall, this is a much needed change. Why should YouTube reward channels who are harming the community? Not only can it cause issues for YouTube, but its users and advertisers also suffer as we result.
With these new changes, YouTube can now remove ads, limiting your opportunities to monetize your channel. They also lower your discoverability.
Regardless of how large your channel is, everyone should abide my the same set of rules that govern YouTube.
As a business, you likely won't have to worry about these new rules if your channel isn't posting offensive content.
The good news is that you stand to benefit if there are channels who run afoul of YouTube's changes.
You can read the announcement about YouTube preventing harm in the broader community here.
Greater YouTube Transparency
YouTube is working to help viewers "better understand the sources of news content" that they watch on YouTube.
Why Greater YouTube Transparency Matters For Your Business
It is becoming increasingly more difficult to spot fake news. As a result, YouTube is rolling out a notice that will display on videos that are uploaded by news broadcasters that receive government or public funding.
This is what you will see on those videos.
This is a positive move by YouTube because it opens the door for greater transparency. It also helps you better understand who is supporting the videos that you are watching.
As a business, this could influence your decision to not watch these types of videos, which can be a good thing if it's not something that you believe in or want to support.
While there will likely be backlash at first, we expect to see this notice across more and more YouTube videos moving forward.
You can read the announcement about YouTube transparency here.
New Facebook Group Features and the Facebook Community Leadership Program
In Facebook news, they are adding new features to Facebook Groups and also rolling out the Facebook Community Leadership Program with up to $10 million in grants to people creating and leading communities (wow!)
Why New Facebook Group Features and the Facebook Community Leadership Program Matter For Your Business
Facebook wants to reward community leaders who are having a big impact. With this new program, Facebook hopes to "empower leaders from around the world who are building communities through the Facebook family of apps and services."
These include:
- Residency and fellowship opportunities
- Community leadership circles
- Groups for Facebook Power Admins
In addition though, Facebook is rolling out new Facebook Group features.
Here are four new features.
- Admin tools - Admins can find member requests, Group Insights and more in one place
- Group announcements - Group admins can now post up to 10 announcements that appear at the top of their group
- Group rules - Facebook Groups will now have a dedicated section to list the rules of the group
- Personalization - Admins can add a personalized color that members will see throughout the group
Here's a brief video showing you how to use the Facebook Group Rules feature.
With all of the recent Facebook algorithm changes, you want to be sure you're building a community. These new features for Groups can be a valuable way for your business to begin to do that, while having the tools you need to manage the group properly.
You can read the announcement about Facebook investing in community leaders along with a list of new Facebook Group features such as Facebook Group rules on the Facebook blog.
Facebook Lists In Posts
Another new feature this week from Facebook are Facebook List posts.
Why Facebook Lists Matter For Your Business
Facebook is adding another type of posting option, Facebook lists.
You should start to see the Facebook lists option, as it is starting to roll-out to everyone.
Now, when you go to type out a status update, you'll see a "list" option where you can type out a list - think how-to or instructions.
As a business, these could come in handy if you record a video and then type out a nice Facebook list.
Do you have lists on Facebook yet? If so, we would love to hear what you think about them in the comments.
You can read more about Facebook Lists here.
Facebook Testing Removing Reaction and Comment Counts
Facebook is currently testing removing reaction and comment counts to see whether this affects user behavior.
Why Removing Facebook Reaction and Comment Counts Matters For Your Business
You may have noticed in your News Feed, that Facebook has removed the counts next to reactions and comments.
Here is a Facebook post that displays the count for comments and reactions.
Some users are seeing this post though, which shows that there are reactions and comments on a Facebook post, but they don't know how many.
While Facebook is likely doing this to test user behavior to see how we respond to things, they could also be using this to drive extra clicks, which could be to increase the number of advertising spots.
As a business, if you notice your Facebook posts are missing the counts, don't panic. Your Facebook isn't broken. Instead, Facebook could be testing a new feature with your account, as they typically often do.
Facebook Messenger Love For Valentine's Day
Also this week, Facebook rolled out custom Messenger notifications.
Why Custom Facebook Messenger Notifications Matter For Your Business
Facebook is rolling out a new feature for Valentine's Day for Messenger.
These include:
- A heart shower
- A custom heart emoji
- Customize your Messenger chat text color, emoji and nickname
- If you're in a relationship, Facebook will put your loved one first in your active tab
If you work with your partner in your business, this could be a great way to express your love and gratitude towards them or to thank them for sticking by you as you launch your own business.
Here's a short video showing you how custom Messenger notifications work.
Hopefully Facebook will make more of these available in Messenger and allow you to customize your conversations year-round.
You can read more about Facebook Messenger love here.
Snap Maps For the Web
In Snapchat news, they are bringing embeddable Snap Maps to the web.
Why Embeddable Snap Maps Matter For Your Business
Are you looking to identify real-time content in your area?
Snapchat is bringing Snap Maps to the web. Snap Maps will work outside of the mobile app.
You won't see individual user locations, only public stories.
Snap Maps on the web will also show a heat map that resembles a weather radar.
This is what embeddable Snap Maps look like.
One thing useful feature for Snap Maps is that wen you embed them on your site, instead of being static, it will continue to sow live content.
As a business, embeddable Snap Maps could be a useful way for you to quickly identify what is going on around you so that you can then tap into a nearby event.
How to Embed Snap Maps
- Go to Snap Maps on the web
- Search for a location
- Click on the share icon in the top-right corner
- Copy and paste the embed code and add it to your blog or website
Here is what the screen looks like to embed Snap Maps.
You can try out Snap Maps on the web here.
Tools
In addition to sharing the latest news from this past week, we also highlighted some great social media tools and apps for you to check out.
PixelMe
The first tool that we have discovered this week is called PixelMe (web).
Do you find you spend a lot of time creating content and then developing campaigns for each social network along with their respective ads?
You can save yourself a lot of time if you use PixelMe.
PixelMe is a URL shortener with a twist.
When you shorten URLs with PixelMe, you add retargeting pixels from Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn to the link.
Now, whenever someone clicks on a link you shared, they will be retargeted on their respective ad platform.
You'll also be able to track and measure the links that you sorted with PixelMe.
You can try PixelMe for free for 7 days using the link below. Prices then start at $10 per month.
Retarget link clicksStoryheap
The second tool that we have for you this week is called Storyheap (web).
Every platform from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp are moving to the Stories format.
Storyheap makes it easy for you to manage your Snapchat and Instagram Stories from one convenient dashboard.
With Storyheap, you can upload and schedule your Stories in seconds from the web and then track and measure their performance to improve upon them.
Storyheap starts at $49 per month for 100 uploads per month.
You can try Storyheap from the link below.
Try StoryheapWrap-up
That's it for this week's show!
To watch next week's episode of Social Chatter, your weekly social media marketing talk show, tune-in here to find out what's new in social media!
If you have any questions about of the social media news or tools that were mentioned this week, please share them with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or in the comments below.
No Comments