Friday Social: Apple Joins Instagram, #NationalCatDay, And Facebook ‘Watch’

  • Social Media

Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter – @Umpf

Facebook Launches New Video Platform

Facebook has launched a new video platform rivaling YouTube and TV networks.

Facebook users will soon have a “Watch” tab on their feeds, where they can easily discover a range of shows varying from comedy to live sport. As well as this, people will also be able to see what their friends are watching, create ‘watchlists’, and communicate with other people who are interested in the same videos.

There’s set to be sections such as “Most Talked About”, which will highlight shows that spark conversation, and “What’s Making People Laugh”.

Some of the shows will be funded by the social network, particularly if they are “community-orientated”.

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Live Stream With Friends On Instagram

Instagram has proclaimed that it wants to give people “more ways to have fun” sharing moments online, with the announcement of its latest tool to encourage the use of live video.

Instagram is giving its audience the chance to go live with a friend, family member, or, for influencers and celebrities, a fan, at the same time. This fresh capability is currently being tested with a small percentage of Instagram users in hope of it rolling out to everyone in the up-coming months.

Guests can be removed or added at any point in the conversation, with the aim being to encourage collaborative streams. Instagram is taking a leaf out of Snapchat’s book by labelling the feature as a more “authentic” way to engage with online followers.

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How To Become An Instagram Influencer

It has previously been reported that influencer marketing is now a multi-million-dollar industry. With this in mind, marketing agency Mediakix decided to delve deeper into the online influencer world…

Mediakix created two fake influencer accounts. The first being a lifestyle and fashion focused account, and the second being a travel photographer account. For the first account, a model was hired for one day to gather content; meet Santa Monica local, ‘calibeachgirl310’.

The second account, ‘wanderingggirl’ was purely created using free stock imagery. Content contained imagery of the Eiffel Tower, Croatia, and Italy just to name a few.

To kick start follower growth, Mediakix began buying ‘fake followers’ for as little as $8 in return for 1,000 Instagram followers. They then went on to buy comments at an equally low price.

After a while, the accounts hit the holy-grail 10,000 followers threshold, meaning Mediakix could sign them up for various influencer marketing platforms. Applying for new campaigns daily, the accounts secured four paid brand deals in total between them. The fashion account secured one deal with a swimsuit brand and one with a national food and beverage company, while the travel account secured brand deals with an alcohol brand and the same national food and beverage company. Both accounts were reimbursed with monetary compensation or free product.

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Apple Joins Instagram

It could be said that the iPhone actually helped create Instagram, together launching an online revolution in picture taking and sharing.

 

Apple has joined Instagram not to promote its technology, but to extend one of its existing ad campaigns – ‘Shot on iPhone’. Everything posted on the account will have been shot on an iPhone and nothing will have been taken by Apple – but instead by its users who have shared an image with #shotoniphone.

As it stands, the account currently has 15 posts. Could any of your snaps be one of the chosen few?

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And finally…

 

We celebrated #NationalCatDay earlier on this week and to mark the occasion we’ve included a few of our favourite cat GIFs… happy Friday.