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 new in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Nick Rishwain!
Watch This Week’s Social Media Updates
Adding Link URLs to Instagram Stories
In Instagram news, you can now add link URLs in Instagram Stories.
For the longest time, a lot of Instagram users have asked to be able to include links in their posts to drive followers back to their blog or to sell things on Instagram.
Up until now, that was a frustrating process.
This week, Instagram has rolled out an update.
In this update, they’ve added the following.
- Access Boomerang from Instagram
- Include “see more” links in your Instagram stories
- Mention Instagram users in stories
Why Link Urls In Instagram Matters
Instagram Stories are quickly becoming a great way to engage with your followers on Instagram.
With the ability to include URLs in your stories, tag people and use Boomerang to create mini videos, if your business isn’t using Instagram, these new features present a great way to connect with your audience on a deeper level and to create even better content.
You can read more about the Instagram Stories update here
WhatsApp Testing Status Feature
In WhatsApp news, they are testing a feature called WhatsApp Status.
WhatsApp Status is a clone of Snapchat Stories.
With WhatsApp Status, you can share a status with a user’s WhatsApp contacts.
The content would be available for 24 hours.
Why WhatsApp Status Matters
Despite WhatsApp Status being a Snapchat Stories clone, this could be a very useful feature for businesses or employees looking to use WhatsApp as a marketing tool.
With a majority of WhatsApp users being international and a lot of users wanting to see fewer ads, WhatsApp Status can allow users to push new content to their contacts.
You can read more about WhatsApp Status here
Facebook Page Job Listings
In Facebook news, they are working on a new jobs feature for Facebook Pages.
This is what the new feature looks like on a Facebook Page.
This new feature poses a significant threat to LinkedIn.
If you look closely at the following screenshot, you will notice that your Facebook Profile has a section for someone to add Facebook profile tags.
These were added last year.
They are also available to Facebook Pages when someone sends you a message.
By adding profile tags, people can recommend you for a job, which is similar to LinkedIn’s endorsements feature.
If a Facebook Page lists a job opening, you will be able to apply by clicking on an “apply now” button.
This will use information from your public Facebook profile.
The Facebook Page would then receive a message via Facebook Messenger.
Why Facebook Page Job Listings Matter
Facebook job postings seem like a fantastic fit for Facebook Pages.
Not only do they give a Facebook Page another type of content which to share, but this also encourages users on Facebook to be more active and to keep their profile up-to-date.
This is also important because it threatens LinkedIn’s position as a place for job-seekers.
Most of the time, people rarely go to LinkedIn to do much of anything except to update their resume.
By adding a job posting feature to Facebook Pages, this makes Facebook a powerful one-stop-shop.
Read more about the Facebook job posting here.
Facebook Video Filters Using Artificial Intelligence
Also this week, Facebook began testing applying video filters using artificial intelligence.
Here is an example of a video with applied filtering.
While this is just the start, Facebook is applying Caffe2Go to create new ways for people to express themselves.
Why Facebook Video Filtering With AI Matters
Artificial intelligence has always been fascinating.
Now that is nearly here - and in such short time, this means you will have more tools and technology at your disposal.
Be sure to check out the videos from Facebook on artificial intelligence filtering here.
There are so many possibilities across Facebook, especially Facebook Live video once they begin incorporating AI.
To read more about real-time AI in the palm of your hands, click here.
Snapchat Adds World Lenses
In Snapchat news, they have added world lenses.
Snapchat world lenses can help augment the reality around you.
They are similar to the selfie-filtering lenses from Snapchat.
With the new world lenses, you could apply a snowfall effect to your surroundings.
Snapchat world lenses are only available when using the front-facing camera on your device.
Here is an example of Snapchat world lenses.
Your World 🌎 New Lenses 👏🏼 Just tap to activate a fun surprise! pic.twitter.com/Hl1Lff2RJD
— Snapchat Support (@snapchatsupport) November 8, 2016
Why Snapchat World Lenses Matter
Snapchat World Lenses take us further into augmented reality.
Now you can apply effects to your surroundings such as the snow effect we mentioned.
If you are a business though, we could see Snapchat rolling out world lenses to be able to apply pricing or messaging to products that might be in the background of your snaps.
For example, say you are recording a snap and on your shelf is a t-shirt that is on sale.
Imagine being able to have a price tag pop-up and eventually be able to make a purchase right from Snapchat.
Snapchat Launches Vending Machine to Deliver Spectacles
Also this week, Snapchat rolled out vending machines.
The vending machines are there to let you purchase Snapchat Spectacles for $130.
They come in three colors. Black, teal and coral.
With Snapchat Spectacles, you will be able to record video using your glasses.
To record your own 10-second snap, all you have to do is press a button on the spectacles. A light shows your friends you are snapping.
Your snaps can then get added wirelessly to “memories” on Snapchat.
The case they come in not only let’s your store your Spectacles, but also charge them.
So far, we’re impressed.
Why Snapchat Spectacle Vending Machines Matter
Snapchat Spectacles are fantastic.
They are being delivered in a very cool way - through vending machines.
This is what a vending machine looks like.
Snapchat is selling its Spectacles via these crazy-looking vending machines https://t.co/sgnjPRNOfa pic.twitter.com/xSe2Nfz7yG
— The Next Web 📱💻🌍 (@TheNextWeb) November 10, 2016
They won’t suffer the same fate of Google Glass, which were slow and buggy and a bit clunky.
They have a “cool” factor. Here is what video looks like from the Spectacles.
Here's what @Spectacles video looks like on your camera roll.. although in Snapchat it's even cooler as it really comes alive. 😎 #spectacles pic.twitter.com/8V0KOCcbkt
— Johnny Martin (@johnnymartin) November 10, 2016
Right now, Snapchat has everything going for them.
We’re waiting on Instagram or even Facebook to come out with their own hardware for capturing video while leaving your smartphone in your pocket.
To find a Snapchat vending machine near you, go here.
Keep Track of Ideas You Try on Pinterest
In Pinterest news, they have added a way for you to keep track of ideas you have tried on Pinterest.
Say you used a tool that you pinned on Pinterest and you found a lot of success with it.
Instead of just leaving the pin there, “when people try a pin, their feedback will show up on the pin itself.”
According to Pinterest, “all the Pins you try live in a new section on your profile. That way you can easily get back to things you want to try again—like your favorite cocktails or go-to hotel workouts.”
Why Pinterest Idea Tracking Matters
Pinterest idea tracking not only lets you see what you’ve accomplished.
When you add ideas to a pin, you can scroll down on a pin and see how it turned out for others.
This way you can see if you can step-in and help. You can also provide feedback to the person who wrote the article to encourage them to update their article.
Here is what you will see when you scroll down on a pin with Pinterest ideas.
You can read more about Pinterest tips on pins here
Vine Might Live On
In Vine news, the social network might be sticking around.
A few weeks ago, we reported that Twitter was shutting down Vine.
This week, we’ve learned that Twitter might keep Vine around by selling it to another company.
On the show, we mentioned how Vine still seemed to have a lot of life to it.
Hopefully Twitter will keep Vine around, even if it’s with another company.
Short videos are becoming increasingly popular. Vine made that possible for a lot of businesses and individuals.
Why A Vine Revival Matters
With our attention spans at an all-time low of eight-seconds, it makes a lot of sense to keep Vine around.
Vine provides a quick and powerful way to create short videos that businesses can use to capture the attention of their audience.
Read more about a Vine revival here.
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.
Graava
Graava (iOS | Android) is a mobile app that wants to make it easier to edit video content.
With Graava, you simply specify how long you want your video to be.
Next, select the photo and video content you want to use.
Graava will put together a video for you.
As a business owner, this can be extremely useful.
For example, if you collect a lot of photos and videos from events, you can quickly create a compilation video in seconds using Graava.
This way the content doesn’t sit around for months waiting for you to organize it.
You will also now have more content that you can share with your audience on your favorite social media channels or in a blog post recap.
Graaava is available as a freemium app.
Download GraavaGIFShare
The next tool we wanted to share with you is called GIFShare.
GIFShare is an app that converts your animated GIFs into videos.
You can then share these on your favorite social networks.
This is a particularly useful app if your business uses Instagram or Facebook.
Because you can’t share animated GIFs on Instagram or Facebook, GIFShare can convert them to videos.
You can then take them and share short snippets that lead back to a blog post or a longer video.
GIFShare is a free app. You can download it below.
Download GIFShareSnaplytics
The last tool we wanted to share this week is called Snaplytics.
Have you been looking to measure your Snapchat content?
Snaplytics is a Snapchat analytics and marketing tool.
With Snaplytics, you can see the following on your snaps that you share on Snapchat.
- Opens
- Completions
- Screenshots
- And more
Snaplytics offers plans for brands as well as for influencers.
You can create an influencer profile for free.
Brand pricing starts at around $179 per month.
You can learn more about Snaplytics for Snapchat here.
Try SnaplyticsWrap-up
That’s it for this week’s episode of Social Chatter.
Be sure to tune-in to our next episode of Social Chatter 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.
