THE LATEST SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT: 7TH AUGUST
One thing I’ve always strived to do on this blog is give you the most valuable information.
I know how tough it is to keep up with everything. You don’t want to hunt round for the latest Instagram hashtags you should be using, or try to research what the new SEO trick is. You just want to be able to access it quickly and easily.
Luckily, I’m here to give it to you.
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll have seen that I’m now officially upping my blogging game, especially now that I run ABOH full-time.
P.S Thank you all so much for your kind words and messages - they filled me with such joy!
My aim with this blog has always been for it to be a hub for bloggers and business owners, where they can come and devour content that is relevant and actionable.
That’s where this new series of blog posts comes in.
There are so many changes happening in our industry and we usually don’t find out about them until weeks later. So I’m going to do the hard work for you.
Each Monday I’ll be giving you the most important social media and blogging news you need to know about, from new features, to the latest trends.
Today, we’re looking at mainly Facebook updates along with a few bits of other news too. Let’s dig in!
Facebook Stories Go Public
Now anyone can see your story on Facebook. The platform has decided to make Facebook stories accessible to all public followers, not just your friends. Only public figures were able to do this at first, but it’s now been introduced to all users.
Facebook Stories are Tested on Desktop
Facebook has been testing the ability for users to view stories directly from desktop. Apparently, it’s still a test at the moment, but it’s expected to be rolled out on a bigger scale soon.
Facebook Tests Badges for Group Admins
Facebook is testing providing group admins with badges. It seems that they’re appearing just under the names of the group administrators.
Pinterest improves iOS search function
Pinterest have said they’re introducing a “small but very helpful new improvement” to their app. They’ve added the search toolbar and a Lens Camera feature onto the home feed. So instead of going to the Explore page for ideas, you can just type what you’re looking for into the search bar at the top of your screen. Super helpful, thanks Pinterest!
Facebook introduces more interactive engagement
Next time you say “Congratulations” or “Congrats” in posts and comments on Facebook, take a closer look. You should see that they’re highlighted in red and generate an animated confetti and balloon when clicked. This also happens when you send Xs and Os - it generates a burst of red hearts. Apparently it’s not available to all users yet, but it’s been seen on the news feed, a well as in groups and pages.
Google Updates Image Search
When you search for something in Google Images, you’ll now see “what else you can discover with a single tap” of an image. In the left-hand corner of an image, you’ll find text and a badge where you can click to see lots more information, including product information, recipes and even videos.
Facebook Updates Algorithm
Facebook has announced it’s making changes to the news feed algorithm, that will show users stories that link to faster loading web pages. Essentially, they’re going to give a higher ranking to links that are expected to load more quickly over links that might load slowly. This could mean that those sites who have particularly slow loading time might see less referral traffic. Facebook are providing tips to help with this change, but you can expect to see it being introduced over the next few months.
Instagram Stories Beats Snapchat
You probably won’t believe that Instagram Stories is only a year old, but it’s already surpassed Snapchat’s daily usage. The platform now has 250 million daily users compared to 166 million on Snapchat. What’s even better for the company is that Instagram Stories has also helped increase the amount of tiem people spend on Instagram.
You can also expect to see birthday stickers sometime too!
YouTube shuts down Video Editor and Photo Slideshows
This announcement was made to shut down these tools in September, giving users just a couple of months to finish any projects. They’ve said they’ve seen less people using these tools and want to focus their efforts on building new tools and improving other features.
LinkedIn Updates
LinkedIn has announced a few new features recently, some of which are completely in line with the social media trends for 2017. You can expect to include multiple photos in your posts, record video within the LinkedIn app, share drafts with others and disable comments.
What do you think of the latest social media news? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!