Platform 5: Important social media changes including Twitter launching Periscope
This week’s most important social media changes including Twitter launching Periscope
What are the major changes in the last seven days and what do they mean?
Despite major changes coming from the F8 Facebook Developer Conference this week, our top social media changes came from the announcement of Twitter launching Periscope being released to the public. Facebook F8 changes included Messenger becoming a platform for developers, and analytics becoming available for apps. Google works on a way to pay bills within gmail and Instagram releases Layout.
1. Twitter launching Periscope
Twitter has launched its live-streaming video app Periscope to the public. The release puts a strain on Meerkat who heavily relies on Twitter for distribution. Periscope is currently only available on iOS.
Read more about Periscope.
2. F8 Facebook Developers Conference announcements
Majority of this week’s social media changes came from the F8 Facebook Developers Conference. We’ve summarised the most influential;
- Messenger as a Platform for developers: users will be able to create and share content with 3rd party tools as well as communicate directly with businesses. Initial partners include ESPN, JibJab, and Giphy.
- Analytics for apps: a web dashboard is now available for marketers to measure audience engagement and conversion rates.
- Facebook allows embedded video on other sites: this is a direct attempt to rival Youtube.
- Expansion of LiveRail: the video ad platform will now support non-video mobile ads.
- Realtime comments plug in: conversations will update in real-time on Facebook itself as well as on sites that host embedded comments
Read a full summary of all F8 announcements.
3. Google working towards payable bills in Gmail
Google is working on a project that will let users receive and pay their bills directly within Gmail, called Pony Express. It is believed to be launched in the fourth quarter and it is not certain if Pony Express will be the market name.
Read more about Pony Express.
4. Instagram releases Layout
There are a number of 3rd party apps to create Instagram collages, but none owned by Instagram itself. Instagram this week released new app Layout that allows users to create quick collages. The app also allows photos to be taken via a timer Photo Booth as well as a Faces option “that shows you all the photos in your camera roll that feature people.” It is currently only available on iOS.
Read more about Layout.
5. Reddit comment threads are embeddable
Reddit now allows comments to be embedded on other sites making it “easy to showcase Reddit comments on your website or blog without having to take screenshots or copy [and] paste long blocks of text.”
Read more about embedding Reddit comments.
Read more of our social media changes posts here.