Facebook Expands Test of Facebook Stories, its Next Big Snapchat Clone. First there was Instagram stories, now a similar feature is available on Facebook via Facebook Messenger called Messenger Day—and in what has become true Facebook style, eerily similar to Snapchat’s Stories feature. If you are not familiar with how Messenger Day works, users can string together several photos and videos along with filters and text and post to their Messenger feed. Your friends can tap, swipe and have a good laugh as well as comment on your posts similar to the way Snapchat users can do with Stories. Facebook is still testing this feature to see if it will be embraced by its users. Only time will tell if Facebook users will take to Messenger Day as much as Instagram and Snapchat users have embraced those platforms. In the beginning, many people criticized Instagram for copying Snapchat. Now indications are Instagram users are using the Stories feature more and more. To find out more, check out this article shared by my smart friend, Ruhani Rabin.
Facebook Expands Test of Facebook Stories, Their Next Big Snapchat Clone https://t.co/Qn5uDbtgrS #socialmedia
— Ruhani Rabin (@ruhanirabin) March 16, 2017
Gen Z Use Smartphones in Stores More Than the Average Shopper. If you have teenagers, it will not come as a surprise to you that they are spending more time than ever on their smartphones. For marketers, Gen Z is a key demographic to pay attention to and being aware of their preferences can be a huge advantage in helping your clients build messaging and marketing strategies. In a recent study by Euclid analytics, it indicated that Gen Z consumers (16-20 years old) prefer shopping in physical stores. They also enjoy using their smartphones to communicate with their friends, taking photos, and asking friends for recommendations. When shopping, they also tend to check emails for any available promotions or discounts. I don’t know about you, but I do all these things, too (and I’m far from being a Gen Z’er! To find out more, check out this very interesting article shared by Marsha Collier, who is always one of my go-to sources on all the latest news and trends. This is a definite must read.
#GenZ Uses Smartphones In-Store More than the Average Shopper #retail #mobile https://t.co/A2RiOaxjG2 pic.twitter.com/n7K76XgeuA
— Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) March 15, 2017
Facebook Renames Metrics Definitions to Improve Clarity. Last Monday, Facebook announced the updating of names for Facebook ads reporting. According to a post published on Facebook Business, “Today we’re updating our metrics to give our partners and the industry more clarity and confidence about the insights we provide.”
The updates are a way for Facebook to increase consistency in calculating and naming advertising metrics. This is likely a result of lawsuits that were filed against Facebook wherein the social giant provided incorrect metrics about the length of time users spend watching video ads. If you work with clients on Facebook ads, I highly recommend you read this insightful article shared by MediaPost writer, Laurie Sullivan.
.@Facebook Renames Metrics Definitions To Improve Clarity https://t.co/spP4MXqx6n
— Laurie Sullivan (@LaurieSullivan) March 14, 2017
Twitter got hacked — even a BBC account. Do this one thing to protect yourself. If you were one of the unlucky few who woke up Wednesday morning with swastika and Nazi hashtags being tweeted by your account, I certainly don’t envy you. Fortunately, Twitter quickly identified the issue and took back control of the comprised accounts. It turned out that the cause was due to a third party app called Twitter Counter. Twitter revoked Twitter Counter’s permissions and the service itself blocked the ability to post tweets through the app. Just for good measure, I suggest you review your Twitter accounts and revoke any access from apps you don’t use anymore. Take the time to do it today. I also recommend you set-up two factor authentication as a further precaution. Find out more by reading this helpful article from USA Today.
We identified an issue affecting a small number of users. Source was a 3rd party app and it has been resolved. No action needed by users.
— Twitter Support (@Support) March 15, 2017
How Facebook and Instagram are quietly changing the appearance of American homes. If you’re like me, active on social media and have made purchases based on recommendations by your friends on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, you are not alone. In this age where people are used to sharing their recent purchases online from furniture, to clothes, toys, food, and even home renovations. The result is many of your posts inspire your friends and people who follow you to check out those products and eventually buy them. Check out this very interesting article shared by Umberto Panini about how social media affects purchase behavior and the platforms that have the biggest impact.
How Facebook and Instagram are quietly changing the appearance of American homes https://t.co/2J4e28qLm6
— Umberto Pagnini (@treecgames) March 15, 2017
5 ways voice search will affect SEO in 2017. I use voice search to find information all the time, from getting directions, sending text messages, finding contacts on my phone, and even asking my phone to call that person. No need to lift a finger. I actually prefer voice commands over typing and it looks like I’m not alone. According to Mindmeld, search via virtual assistants have jumped from 0 to 10% of overall search globally in 2015. This is equivalent to 50 billion searches being performed by voice search each month. Google also mentioned that 20 percent of mobile searches are done by voice. That’s pretty significant. Marketers would be wise to look at how voice will affect SEO in 2017. Chris Rauschnot, another of my super smart friends (that you should be following and/or paying attention to), shared an interesting article about this topic that should be on your must-read list for this weekend.
5 ways voice search will affect SEO in 2017 https://t.co/UT2cxDvVsw via @TheNextWeb pic.twitter.com/D3JpxZv0vB
— Chris Rauschnot (@24k) March 15, 2017
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