Tag Archives: Social Media Today

With everybody locked inside, and missing out on regular social interaction, Instagram is adding a new feature which aims to help users connect via video chat, with the option of also scrolling through your Instagram feed while still connected via video link. As you can see here, Instagram’s new ‘Co-Watching’ feature enables users to search through Instagram and share content with the group, enabling participatory engagement on Instagram content. As explained by Instagram: “To help people stay connected, we’ve launched media sharing, a new feature that allows you to view Instagram posts together with your friends over video chat. You can start a video chat by tapping the video chat […]

After lowering the video quality of its streams across Europe last week, in response to concerns that local networks could become overloaded with video traffic, YouTube has this week confirmed that it will do the same in all regions, with YouTube videos to load in standard definition by default for at least the next month. As explained by Bloomberg: “Over the coming days, viewers will at first see YouTube videos in standard definition. Users will still be able to watch in high definition if they want, but will have to choose to do so.” It seems like a relatively minor imposition – especially given that HD will still be an option […]

Reddit has launched a new Polls option which enables Redditors to pose questions to their audiences, helping to boost on-platform engagement, and activate the many ‘lurkers’ – people who scroll through the various posts but don’t post, share or comment themselves – within the app. As explained by Reddit: “We’re excited to introduce Polls, a brand new post type that encourages redditors to share their opinion via voting. For Poll creators, the new post type is a straightforward way to engage with Reddit’s 100,000+ active communities, and understand exactly what people think about a given topic. For those voting, Polls makes it easier than ever for our 430 million monthly active users […]

As you might expect, Twitter is seeing a lot more usage amid the COVID-19 lockdowns across the world – but that doesn’t, however, mean that Twitter’s making more money as a result, according to a new update from the company. As reported by Bloomberg, Twitter has this week withdrawn its revenue and operating income guidance for the first quarter of 2020, as well as its outlook for expenses, headcount, and capital expenditures for the full year due to the rising impact of COVID-19. As per Twitter: “While the near-term financial impact of this pandemic is rapidly evolving and difficult to measure, based on current visibility, the company expects Q1 revenue to be down […]

Twitter’s Joe Wadlington is back, along with his very jangly earring, to provide some more great tweet copy lessons that will help you compose more effective, impactful tweets. Wadlington, who’s the Global Creative Lead at Twitter, has already shared two videos in his ‘Good Copy, Bad Copy’ series, each of which providing valuable food for thought on how to improve your tweet approach. And this new video is no exception. The tips are simple, but as you can see from the ‘good copy’ version, it’s hard to argue that they’re not effective. Covering Wadlington’s latest tips: Add capitals to hashtags for clarity – Wadlington advises that brands should look to […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic expands across the globe, various misinformation campaigns – promoting everything from ‘cures’ to rumored government actions – have also gained traction, with messaging apps, in particular, becoming a key tool in circulating such reports. In the past, Facebook has been the key focus for misinformation efforts due to its massive audience reach, but now, with Facebook instituting more measures to remove and detect such, and messaging platforms providing more private means to reach similarly large audiences, the emphasis appears to have shifted. That’s lead various government groups to call for increased action, and now, Facebook is looking at new ways to stem the flow of messaging misinformation in order […]

Following on from its recently announced partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) on a new COVID-19 information resource on its platform, TikTok has now pledged to donate $10 million to the WHO to assist with its coronavirus response efforts. As per TikTok: “It’s been gratifying to see the global community rally behind the true heroes of this crisis: the health care professionals around the world who are battling on behalf of us all. We believe it’s essential to do everything we can to help the global health community in this fight, and today TikTok is donating $10 million to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Response Fund. This fund helps […]

How have your online behaviors changed amid the various COVID-19 lockdowns? No doubt you’re spending more time reading news content online – in fact, according to comScore, the number of minutes spent by readers on news sites has increased by 46% on the same period last year. You’re probably also spending more time in social apps – but are there any new behaviors that you’ve taken up in the last few weeks, like, maybe, Zoom hangouts or participating in more local groups? It’s interesting to note the various shifts, and to consider how these impacts will change people’s behaviors in the longer term. Many workplace experts have already noted that the forced […]

As more nations struggle to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, could digital surveillance tools, which track people’s movement via their mobile devices, enable better management of the evolving situation, and limit the spread of the virus? And if so, what would that mean for personal privacy and data tracking moving forward? This is the dilemma that many nations are now facing, as the rapid spread of coronavirus escalates concerns, and forces world leaders to seek out every potential option. Last week, reports circulated that the US Government was in talks with several tech companies, including both Facebook and Google, as to how it might be able to use location data from cell phones […]

As part of its ongoing effort to assist the relevant authorities in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has announced that it will provide free development services to health agencies in order to help them use Messenger to scale their response to the rapidly evolving crisis. As per Facebook: “We’re launching a global program to connect government health organizations and UN health agencies with developers that can help them use Messenger most effectively to share timely and accurate information, and speed up their responses to concerned citizens. Our developer partners have offered to provide their services free of charge to these organizations during this crisis.” The main focus of the initiative […]