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, video or you can listen to the Alexa Flash Briefing.
For those of you who missed last week's show with Phil Gerbyshak, Christian Karasiewicz and guest, Dorien Morin-van Dam, you can find it here.
We're also joined by this week's special guest, Gary J. Nix.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
Instagram Video Chat, the Camera Effects Platform and Sharing to Stories
In Instagram news, they are rolling out three new features, sharing to Stories,the camera effects platform and Instagram video chat.
Sharing to Stories
The first new feature is the ability to share stickers from Spotify, GoPro and more.
With this new feature, you can now share to Instagram Stories from some of your favorite apps. For example, if you're listening to a good song, you can add it ti your story or send it to Instagram Direct. Your followers can then play the song.
Camera Effects Platform for Instagram
Also this week, Instagram announced a new camera effects platform.
This new Instagram tool will let third parties create unique and interactive camera experiences for their followers.
If you're in your Instagram Stories and see a new effect, you can tap on the "try it on" option to add it to your Stories and test it out.
Right now, they're working with Ariana Grande, Baby Ariel, Vogue and Buzzfeed, with more fun and creative effects to come.
Instagram Video Chat
A third new feature from Instagram is a new video chat feature.
This will make it easy for you to hangout with friends or customers over video.
With Instagram Video Chat, you will be able to start a video chat from Direct (look for the camera icon). From there, you can chat with just one person or a group. You can also minimize the video and still continue chatting.
To read more about these new Instagram updates click here.
Add Multiple Photos and Videos to Instagram Stories
This week, Instagram rolled out an update for Android for adding multiple photos and videos to your Instagram Stories.
When you go to upload media to your Instagram Stories from your Android device, you can tap a new icon in the top-right (it looks like a stack of photos) and select up to 10 photos and videos to include.
Why Adding Multiple Photos and Videos to Instagram Stories Matters For Your Business
While this feature isn't earth-shattering (it is essentially like adding multiple photos and videos to a carousel post), it means progress for Instagram Stories.
Now, you upload multiple photos and videos to your Stories and save yourself time.
To read more about this update to Instagram Stories for Android click here.
Protection From Bullying Comments On Instagram
Also this week, Instagram rolled out a new bullying comments filter. This new feature will let you hide comments that attack a person's appearance or character or threat's to their well-bring or health.
This new feature can help scrub your Instagram feed. This way you don't get bullied - sometimes competitors will bully you.
You'll also be able to ensure you don't miss important comments from customers that may have been buried by someone attacking you.
Instagram has turned this feature on for their global community and "can be disabled in the Comment Controls center in the app."
To read more about Instagram bullying comments click here.
Facebook F8 Updates
In Facebook news, they have rolled out a number of new tools and enhancements at F8, their developer's conference. Here is what is new.
Why Facebook F8 Updates Matter For Your Business
Facebook Augmented Reality In Messenger
Facebook has rolled out augmented reality in Messenger. This is what it looks like.
You can sign-up for the beta program here.
Facebook M Translations
In addition, Facebook is adding M Translations, a feature that will allow businesses in Marketplace to be able to receive messages in another language and then have M give suggestions for translations.
Overall, these should be very useful updates for businesses looking to engage their customers on Facebook.
To read more about the F8 announcements here and here.
New Facebook Fundraising Tools
Also this week, Facebook rolled out new fundraising tools to help you raise money to support a cause that matters to you.
Why Facebook Fundraising Tools Matter For Your Business
Here are the new features that are coming to Facebook for fundraisers.
- People can pledge to match donations to their nonprofit fundraiser. This is a first of its kind tool in online fundraising that's now available in the US and will soon expand internationally.
- We're also announcing new categories for fundraisers for personal causes so people can raise funds for more social good causes across family, faith, travel, and volunteering.
- In the coming weeks, we're eliminating the platform fee on all fundraisers for personal causes, helping maximize their support
With these new tools, you can setup fundraisers for causes that matter to you. These can be to help others or for personal causes.
According to Facebook, to create a fundraiser for a nonprofit or a personal cause, visit http://www.facebook.com/fundraisers or tap the Fundraisers bookmark on your Facebook app. You can choose the cause you want to support, share why it's important to you, and follow the steps to set up your goal."
You can read more about new fundraising tools here.
WhatsApp Group Calling and Stickers
In WhatsApp news, they are adding group calling and stickers.
Why WhatsApp Group Calling And Stickers Matter For Your Business
All of your customers are not on Facebook or Instagram. In fact, a majority of them use WhatsApp.
While it's a similar messaging platform, it has been neglected for a while. Fortunately, over the next few months, WhatsApp is adding group calling and stickers.
These new features will make it easy for you to have calls with multiple people on WhatsApp. We'll share more as it becomes available.
Snapchat Spectacles 2.0
In Snapchat news, they have launched a new pair of Snapchat Spectacles.
Here is what has changed with Spectacles 2.0.
- Slimmer frame
- Take photos and video
- Waterproof
- New colors and lenses
- Higher resolution camera
- Faster transfer speeds
Here's a new video on Snapchat Spectacles 2.0.
Why Snapchat Spectacles 2.0 Matter For Your Business
As a business owner, you may want to look into getting a new pair of Snapchat Spectacles.
Even if you don't use Snapchat much for your business, the fact that you can take rounded video can help your content standout wherever you choose to share it.
That in itself is one of the major reasons why your business should invest in a pair of Snapchat Spectacles. Couple that with new colors, lenses and a slimmed down design, and you have a great device for creating great video for your business.
Snapchat Spectacles are priced slightly higher than the original version at $149.99.
You can read more about Snapchat Spectacles 2.0 and buy a pair here.
YouTube Kids Adds Parental Controls
In YouTube news, they have added controls to YouTube Kids to allow parents full control over what their children see.
Why YouTube Kids Parental Controls Matter For Your Business
Do you have customers with children? One thing you can do is educate them about new changes to the YouTube Kids app.
This new feature adds three new options: parental controls, a more closely managed "search-off" mode, and trusted collections of channels personally curated by YouTube.
Overall the parental controls are the most important.
They will allow you to hand-pick the channels and videos your kids have access to on YouTube Kids.
This feature lets you whitelist approved content that they can watch. Because you will be picking what your kids have access to, you'll be able to learn more about how the social media app works.
As a business, you may wish for a feature on your own YouTube channel if you have employees who manage your YouTube channel. This way they stay on-track and don't waste the day away watching YouTube videos.
This new feature, while only for the YouTube Kids app, is a great new feature to have. To get it, be sure you've updated your mobile app to the latest version.
You can read more about YouTube Kids parental controls 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.
Fastory
The first tool that we have discovered this week is called Factory (web).
How would you like to create more immersive Instagram Stories?
With Factory, now you can. Think of it like Canva for Instagram Stories.
In just a few steps, you can add animation to your text, add videos or photos, as well as your logo, and create beautiful Instagram Stories to share with your customers.
One other very useful feature for Fastory is that you can download your Instagram Stories that you create and repurpose them on Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and more!
You can get started with Factory for free from the link below.
Try FastoryFacebook Analytics
The second tool that we have for you this week is the Facebook Analytics mobile app (iOS).
The Facebook Analytics mobile app is a new app from Facebook that will enable your business to stay on-top of your growth, engagement and monetization on the Facebook platform.
This new app is a companion app for your analytics on Facebook and enables you to get an in-depth look into how you are performing on Facebook right on your mobile device, with useful metrics, the ability create your own Facebook reports and more.
You can download the Facebook Analytics mobile app for free from the link below.
Download Facebook AnalyticsWrap-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.
