Tag Archives: Social Media Today

As it seeks to play its part in keeping people informed about the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has announced that it’s rolling out a new COVID-19 Information Center panel, which will be featured at the top of all user News Feeds for the foreseeable future. As you can see here, the new information panel will feature the latest official news and updates on the outbreak, as well as links to helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and preventing the spread of COVID-19. “People can also follow the Coronavirus Information Center to receive updates from health authorities directly in their News Feed. And starting in the US, people will see […]

What do communicate with your customers and clients amid the overwhelming news influx of the coronavirus pandemic? That’s what many social media and content professionals are now considering as they grapple with the new reality of social distancing and self-quarantine lockdowns, while also contending with revenue declines and significant business changes as a result. In some ways, you want to communicate that your business cares, and is doing all it can to assist, but in others, you also need to consider the longer-term viability of your workplace, and how you can keep revenue flowing despite the conditions. It’s a lot to take in, but if you’re looking at social media communications […]

Could this be another challenger in the short-form video space? While TikTok continues to gain traction, and face scrutiny over its various operating processes, Singporean video app Likee has announced its intentions to make a push into the US market. As per the PR release: “Likee, the fourth-most downloaded video app in the world, behind Facebook and Instagram, is making its move into the U.S. market. Offering short-form (15-second) videos – recorded and live-streamed – Likee is at the forefront of a revolution in how people consume and interact with content. Driven by its superior video creation suite, advanced Artificial Intelligence-based curation and 4D effects, extensive music library and over 1000 […]

Here’s another new option for your Facebook Stories. This week, Facebook has started to roll out a new ‘Mood’ option within its Facebook Stories tools, which enables you to create GIF-centric Stories frames to convey a chosen feeling. Social media expert Matt Navarra shared this video of the new ‘Mood’ option in action. It’s a fairly simple addition, which taps into the popularity of GIF reactions, providing another way to use Stories as an engagement option. And it’ll likely prove popular. Earlier this month, Google-owned Tenor released a tool which enables users to search for popular GIFs by reaction conveyed, underlining the popularity of this type of GIF usage. The key with […]

Amid concerns that WhatApp is being used to spread misinformation around the COVID-19 outbreak, the Facebook-owned messaging giant has launched a new COVID-19 info hub, where users will be able to access timely, accurate information related to the pandemic. As explained by WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart: “Today WhatsApp ​has launched a hub for health workers, educators, small businesses, and others that are using WhatsApp to support one another during this extraordinary crisis. We’re grateful to WHO, UNDP, and UNICEF for coordinating the response to this crisis, including using WhatsApp ​to do so. Already several ministries of health are providing updates to citizens on WhatsApp and we will expand these services together.” […]

This will no doubt be a concern to privacy advocates. According to a report in The Washington Post, the US Government is currently 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 to better track and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic across the nation. As per WaPo: “The U.S. government is in active talks with Facebook, Google and a wide array of tech companies and health experts about how they can use location data gleaned from Americans’ phones to combat the novel coronavirus, including tracking whether people are keeping one another at safe distances to […]

In these times of physical distancing, social platforms are likely to become an even more important element of our day-to-day lives, and tools which enable us to interact in real-time, simulating social elements as best as possible, will also come to the fore. We’ve already seen Zoom take off as a virtual hangout tool, and other platforms are working to expand their live-streaming capacity and provide more ways to connect. And now, Twitter has updated its real-time video connection feature, adding a new option to add audio guests into your Twitter live-streams before you actually begin your broadcast. Broadcast live with a little help from your friends, no matter where they […]

Facebook-owned social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle has launched a new search feature to help journalists and students track down relevant information on evolving web trends. As shared by CrowdTangle CEO Brendon Silverman: Today, we are launching CrowdTangle Search, a powerful new tool that lets our users search memes, see social trends over time and access page transparency data across FB, IG and Reddit (2/3) pic.twitter.com/x2lCHGAi9O — Brandon Silverman (@brandon33175) March 17, 2020 As you can see here, the new option will enable CrowdTangle users to search for any term in order to access a display of all the relevant mentions, along with a chart showing the query’s popularity, based on post […]

This will no doubt be controversial. WABetaInfo has reported that WhatsApp is developing a new option which would enable users to set their WhatsApp messages to auto-delete after a set time limit. As you can see in these screenshots, pulled from the beta version of WhatsApp on Android, the new option, if it is rolled out, will let people set their messages to auto-delete within each chat. When a user chooses to enable auto-delete, they’ll also be able to pick a time limit – from an hour, up to a year – before their messages are erased. It makes sense – with more users now preferring the intimacy of direct messages […]

LinkedIn has this week launched a new ‘Conversation Ads’ option, which essentially enables you to add clickable CTA buttons that your email recipients can choose from in-stream, making your Sponsored InMails more engaging, and more interactive, which could help to drive better results. As you can see in this example, with Conversation Ads, you can add direct action CTA buttons into your Sponsored InMails – or ‘Message Ads‘ as LinkedIn now calls them. Among the various options, your in-message CTAs can be things like: ‘Visit website’ ‘Register for Webinar’ ‘Sign up for newsletter’ ‘See case studies’ ‘Sign up for demo’ ‘Learn more ‘Tell me more’ You can add several CTA buttons […]