What’s New in Social? May Edition

Shivani Desai
May 26, 2017

There’s no denying that social media continues to evolve on an almost-constant basis, and with so much happening, it can be difficult to weed through the rubbish to find the information that’s most relevant to you.

Enter ChatterBlast’s What’s New in Social? Here, we’ll take you on a speedy yet exciting journey through the world of social media, updating you on what’s new, what’s cool and what latest trend has hit the market.

Take a seat. Buckle up. Here we go. 

You’re in for a wild ride. 

Snapchat ads hit the market.

Snapchat’s continued growth in daily active users (albeit a rather slow and slightly troubling increase) has finally encouraged the company that maybe, just maybe, it’s time to expand to greater horizons. By that, we mean the company has decided to launch its new “self-serve ad manager for buying video Snap Ads.” Thus far, one could only purchase Snap Ads by going through Snap’s sales team or through a third party tool that used Snapchat’s API. The new self-serve ad manager will roll out in June to everyone in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Australia and more.

Why is this important? By expanding on the wide range of advertisers, Snapchat hopes to give its revenue a major boost after a recent report showcasing slow user count growth (more on that later!). Will it help? Only time will tell.

Read more: Techcrunch

Did you pass the questionnaire? No? Bye, Felicia.

Another change has come to Facebook and this time, it’s for groups. Ever since Zuckerberg promised to build the Facebook community and improve admin tools for groups, he’s been hard at work with his team to make that happen.

Group admins now have the ability to establish three questions for people who are requesting to join their Group. This allows admins to screen and control potential members and ensure that yes, they are the right fit for the group versus members who spam and/or troll the Group.

This feature has been officially rolled out to 100 percent of group admins around the world.

Check it out: Techcrunch

$6 billion loss? No biggie.

After losing close to “$6 billion in market capitalization after Wednesday’s Q1 earnings report…,” one would think that Snapchat and its parent company, Snap would be a bit worried. After all, the social media company’s average revenue per user declined by 14% in the first quarter and shares closed at $22.98. They continued to fall in after hours trading, opening Thursday at $18.05, which called for a loss of almost $6 billion.

However, the company that was valued at an impressive $28 billion at its IPO in March isn’t too worried. Many of Wall Street’s analysts are staying positive, stating that this is to be expected and over a period of time, Snap will monetize its platform.

Read more: The Guardian

Raising awareness, one platform at a time.

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Instagram launched a campaign titled #HereForYou to help its users find the resources and support they need both online and offline. The feature itself showcases three normal, run-of-the-mill people speaking about the struggles they’ve faced.

If users see a post on Instagram from someone they believe needs support, all they have to do is report the post anonymously. The next time that person logs into Instagram, the app will “connect them with organizations that can offer assistance.”

View the spot and more: Adweek

Twitter and the NFL are back for more.

The recent news that Twitter has penned a multi-year deal with the National Football League to offer fans a wide range of programming, including live content, is exciting for many football fans. For five days a week during NFL Season, Twitter will stream a 30-minute, NFL-produced live digital show hosted by the organization’s top talent. This show will include breaking news, game highlights, fantasy football predictions and more, and is also expected to “quickly become some of the most popular programming on Twitter.”

More details: Digital Trends

Customized Snapchat Stories, with a twist.

Snapchat continues to aim to differentiate itself from its competitors by adding a slightly new feature: the ability to create custom stories that are limited to a user’s specific friends, direct contacts, or their friends within a geofenced area. Basically, it’s like regular Snapchat Stories, but if no one within the group adds any updates for 24 hours, the custom stories will disappear.

Is this a good feature to add? Yes, we definitely think so. Especially when you consider how much Snapchat is used for special events, birthdays, weddings and more. Adding this feature only improves users’ app experience, hopefully enticing them to stick around Snapchat more than its competitors.

Learn more at Techcrunch.

And there we have it: The biggest news in social this month. Did we miss something? Hit us up here or on Twitter.