Welcome to this week’s episode of Social Chatter where we cover the latest social media news from this past week.
Each episode of Social Chatter is available as a blog post or video.
Let’s see what’s cooking in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Vincent Orleck!
Watch This Week’s Social Media Updates
New Facebook Live Video Features
This week, Facebook rolled out a new updates to Facebook Live. Here are some of the new updates.
Fullscreen Facebook Live Video
One update to Facebook Live videos this week is that you can now view them in fullscreen. This way viewers can catch more of the action.
Hide reactions and comments on Facebook Live broadcasts
A second update to Facebook Live video is that you can temporarily hide reactions and comments.
To turn this feature on, swipe to the right. If you swipe left, this will bring comments and reactions back on your live video broadcast.
Record longer Facebook Live Video
One last piece of Facebook Live news is that you can now record longer videos.
Previously, you were limited to 90 minutes. Now you can record up to 4 hours.
This is great news if you’ve been wanted to be able to record longer Facebook Live videos.
2016 Facebook Page Redesign
One thing you’ll notice is that the tabs have been moved to the side - they were previously underneath your cover photo.
Facebook Messenger is also more prominent too.
They have also added an easier way to get your Facebook Messenger Code so that your fans and customers can easily message your business.
Facebook Messenger Crosses 1,000,000,000
If you’ve been resisting using Facebook Messenger (iOS | Android), it might be time to reconsider.
“Today we are announcing that more than 1 billion people now use Facebook Messenger every month, making Messenger one of only a handful of apps worldwide that touch so many lives.”
Personally, we use Facebook Messenger practically everyday. It’s great for sending messages and can even do a few tricks that make it an extremely powerful messaging tool for business owners.
Request a Twitter verified account
Have you been wanting to have your Twitter account verified?
This means you’ll have a blue checkmark next to your name.
Usually this was reserved for well-known companies, celebrities and notable public figures.
Today, you can now request to have your account verified.
Before you can request to have your Twitter account verified and get a blue checkmark, you’ll need to make sure you have the following items updated on your account.
- A verified phone number
- A confirmed email address
- A bio
- A profile photo
- A header photo
- A birthday (if your account is not a company, brand or organization account)
- A website
- Tweets set to public under Twitter privacy settings
From there, it’s a simple process. You just fill out this form and then just wait.
Snapchat and Bitmoji integration
One last piece of social media news this week is that you can now integrate Snapchat together with your bitmoji.
If you’re new to bitmoji, they’re a way for you to create your own custom image.
Here is an example.
As a business owner, especially a solopreneur or someone who is the face of their business, you should create your own bitmoji.
It helps make things more personal for fans and customers and to get to know who they are working with.
Once you have your own bitmoji, you can then use them in chats or in snaps.
For those of you who work with a business partner, you can both create your own bitmoji image and then send a “friendmoji” where you both appear in the bitmoji!
To get started, simply download the Snapchat (iOS | Android) and the Bitmoji app (iOS | Android).
Tools
In addition to sharing the latest in social media news from this past week, we also highlighted some great tools and apps to check out.
Planoly for Instagram
Planoly is a new Instagram scheduling tool.
Unlike the other tools, Planoly is a visual planner and scheduler.
You can also use Planoly to discover user generated content and also see your data at a glance along with you top Instagram posts.
Planoly is a free app with in-app purchasing that is available for iOS and desktop.
Download PlanolyScrivener
Would you like to write blog posts or your next book when you’re on-the-go?
Scrivener (iOS | Mac | PC) is a powerful writing app, praised by professional authors and bloggers.
You can conduct research from within the app while you’re doing your writing.
Your documents sync via Dropbox so you can write on your mobile device or desktop and everything will be synced.
When you’re finished, Scrivener can also export your writing for publishing on Amazon Kindle, PDF and many other formats.
Scrivener for iPhone and iPad runs $19.99, but that’s a low cost for all that it can help you do with your writing.
Download ScrivenerCanva for iPhone
The last tool we wanted to share this week is Canva for iPhone.
Canva (for iPhone | for work) is one of our favorite tools for creating social media images.
This is because you don’t have to be a graphic designer to create beautiful images.
Canva also includes a number of handy keyboard shortcuts, but those won’t work on the mobile version of Canva.
Everything else works in the Canva for iPhone version though.
What this means is that instead of waiting until you get back to your desk, you can be creating and sharing images on your businesses social media channels whenever you have a spare minute.
The Canva for iPhone interface is very intuitive and easy to use so you won’t feel like it’s too cramped to work on a mobile device.
We’re particularly excited about Canva for iPhone because this has been in the works for a while. It was definitely worth the wait though!
Download Canva for iPhoneWrap-up
That’s it for this week’s episode of Social Chatter.
Be sure to tune-in to our next episode on Blab to find out what’s cooking in social media!
If you have any questions about anything mentioned this week, share them with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or in the comments below.
