Top five social media news stories for marcoms professionals this week feature new innovations for businesses from Facebook, LinkedIn Live video and new features from YouTube and Whats App.
1. Facebook Merges Instagram Direct with Page Inbox, Allows Page Access to Groups
In the next few weeks, Facebook is rolling out Instagram Direct to page inboxes in Brazil and the United States. With the integration of Direct into page messaging, admins can manage conversations in one place, rather than switching between two different apps. The integration is available to both mobile and desktop devices for the application Pages Manager.
In the upcoming weeks, Facebook is allowing pages to participate in groups. With this change, page owners can join Facebook’s interest-focused communities and interact with members, rather than doing so from their personal accounts.
These changes improve Facebook’s usefulness for Brand Page owners – SS
2. LinkedIn Launches Live Broadcast Feature in Beta
LinkedIn is launching the live broadcast format in a US beta test. Called LinkedIn Live, it allows individual professionals and organizations to broadcast real-time video. For now, it’s available by invite-only, but will be opened up soon.
Live video was a game changer for Facebook. It will have a big impact for LinkedIn too. – SS
3. Facebook introduces household income targeting based on US ZIP code averages
Facebook is introducing ad targeting by household income by U.S. ZIP code. The feature allows advertisers to target ads to U.S. Facebook users based on the average income levels in the ZIP code in which they say they reside. Advertisers can target audiences by the top 5 percent, top 10 percent, top 10 to 25 percent and top 25 to 50 percent.
A really useful insight to add will even more power to Facebook advertising. – SS
4. YouTube expands test Explore tab to more devices
YouTube is expanding the test of its “Explore” feature, a discovery tool first introduced within its iPhone app. Like Instagram’s Explore page, the new feature introduces users to diverse personalized recommendations. The test is now available across devices, and now also suggests up-and-coming YouTube creators.
Better visibility and discoverability will keep YouTube a top tool for digital marketers. – SS
5. WhatsApp is testing an algorithmic feed for Status
The messaging app is now testing an algorithm for Status that will sort updates by relevance, rather than chronological order. WhatsApp is starting to test the feature now with a small subset of iPhone users in Brazil, Spain, and India, and plans to roll it out more broadly in the future.
The new algorithmic sorting will order WhatsApp’s Status updates — that’s the messaging app’s version of Stories — based on whose update is likely to be most relevant. Up until now, updates have been placed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent Status appearing first.
This will reduce visibility for most brands and Facebook could take this new approach with Stories on its other platforms. – SS
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