Kick off the fall season with this week’s #MMSocialReport! This week in social media, Twitter introduced a new feature to keep users updated on local and world news and Instagram experimented with a new layout. In other news, YouTube expanded channel subscription services and Snapchat and Pinterest took new steps to improve their advertisement strategies. Read about all this and more in this week’s report!
Awesome news in this week’s #MMSocialReport: Adobe is finally killing off Flash, and Microsoft confirms that Paint will still be available for Windows 10.
We also cover a Google Chrome extension that will allow you to view Facebook stories on it’s browser, BuzzFeed is selling a hot plate that can be connected to your smartphone, and lastly find out what the Snapchat Hotdog means for the future of AR.
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself glued to the New York Times Facebook Live reporting of the People’s March for Education Justice in New York. It was a march protesting several of the new government’s initiatives on education, including the appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
Broadcast reporting on Facebook, at last!
This is what we’ve come to expect from coverage of an event like this. Like on television, the large crowds were recorded to give the audience a sense of the turnout and a reporter interviewed some protesters, providing a personal account.
But because it was done through Facebook Live, it had a fresh sense of immediacy. The reporter herself did the recording from her phone’s camera. She asked the protesters questions, while viewers commented at that exact moment. The questions were often personal, resulting in parents’ musings about how they’d like their kid to be educated. The audience nearly had a presence at the event; something they could never have had through traditional news television.
Who would have thought a short video about food could be such a hit? It turns out Buzzfeed struck gold when it generated the Tasty channel one year ago, which has completely taken over social media with its fast-motion, aesthetically pleasing videos showing off recipes from start to finish.
Since Tasty went viral, others have hopped on the bandwagon making videos in the same style. Insider Food and Tastemade are Facebook’s newest additions, posting daily and increasing views and popularity by the millions. The videos are around 30-50 seconds and each one is a how-to that includes ingredients used and the step-by-step process of making the dish.
We’re kind of obsessed with this type of content over at Metter Media, so we foodies put together a full-course meal brought to you by some of our favorite visual dishes. 😋 Bon appetit!
The lightning pace of the digital world has made it increasingly difficult for us to hold concentration. In fact, a study recently released by Microsoft Corp. reveals that the attention span of the average human has fallen to about eight seconds — yikes, less than the common goldfish!
In this same study, which surveyed 2,000 people and tracked the brain activity of 112 others, 77% of mobile users aged 18 to 24 agreed with the notion, “When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone.”
It’s true the mobile age has brought with it shorter attention spans, but along with these statistics comes a new opportunity for brands to develop short, impactful content that makes a lasting impression on consumers.
So how do we use this short time span effectively? Here are five examples of excellent eight-second content:
My my, hey hey … @HeyRatty is here to stay. We included Michael Ratty in our “Who to Follow in Boston” Twitter Guide because of his journalistic tendencies and also because he has the uncanny ability to tweet about news, sports, and politics while remaining someone we’d like to be friends with. And it’s not all #seriousbusiness; he’s also hilarious.
Hey hey, my my, @HeyRatty can never die. Because his Twitter Tips are now immortalized:
1. It sounds clichéd, but BE AUTHENTIC. Use your own voice. People these days have a good Bullshit Detector, and the knob on that detector is turned up to ELEVEN on Twitter. I haven’t gained Twitter followers by being the funniest or smartest person in Boston. I’d like to believe I’ve done it by being authentic. Not in a rude IDGAF way, though. When people start following me, they know they’re going to get snarky thoughts about the MBTA and sports and politics and movies. Oh, and lots of Instagrams of food. If those aren’t your bag, you probably shouldn’t follow me.
2. Don’t worry about who you follow, the cream rises to the top. Most of the best people I follow I learned about from friends. When you start seeing your friends retweeting articles from the same journalists and thought leaders, it’s probably a good idea to start following those people. If you consistently offer followers unique and interesting content, your follower count is sure to increase.
3. If the firehose of information is too big and you’re following too many people, UNFOLLOW everyone! Charlie Warzel at Buzzfeed did this last year (“I Nuked My Twitter Feed and You Should Too”) and I found it to be a fascinating experiment. I am guilty of this, as I currently follow almost 4,500 people. I am considering doing this same thing to start from scratch.
4. Hootsuite, Schmootsuite! Don’t feel like you need to use third-party apps to get the most out of Twitter. Although I use Hootsuite and TweetDeck for work and to live-tweet conferences and events, I find them too messy and busy for personal use. I don’t like the layout of either of them and, ironically, I find that it’s easier to miss something when information is flying through at breakneck speed. There’s nothing wrong with using good ole Twitter-dot-com.