Umpf / Blog / Friday Social: Facebook Reactions, Twitter Moments & Instagram’s B’day

Friday Social: Facebook Reactions, Twitter Moments & Instagram’s B’day

  • Social Media

Our Friday Social 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 /@nathanbrush #FridaySocial

Facebook Reactions

Facebook has launched the first test of Reactions, a new way for users to engage with posts when a simple ‘like’ may not seem appropriate. The network has responded to repeated calls for a ‘dislike’ button by creating a series of six alternative (and animated) ways for users to interact. The test is underway in Ireland and Spain, where Facebook will take learnings, before rolling out the feature more widely.fbreactions.png

Instagram turns five

Instagram celebrated its fifth birthday this week – how time flies, hey? Founded in 2012, and acquired by Facebook for £629m in 2012, the network has gone from strength to strength, and now plays a key role in many brands’ marketing strategies. The recent update, which removed the requirement for all media to be cropped square, has made posting video content on the network even more attractive. In September, Instagram announced it has amassed 400 million monthly active users, a milestone which will help the brand raise up to £391m in revenue from advertising this year alone.

Accelerated Mobile Pages

More details have emerged about Google’s work to rival Facebook’s ‘instant article’ feature. Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP for short, will load almost instantly on mobile devices to make browsing on the go a much smoother experience. This will not only benefit users, but mobile advertisers and in turn, Google itself. The technology giant has partnered with Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other companies to develop the AMP framework, and BuzzFeed, the Guardian and The New York Times are some of the first publishers to be experimenting with the technology. Find out more on Google’s blog and watch the demo below to see how it will work in Google Search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=v8jPVSQLn4g

Twitter Moments

Twitter launched Moments in the US this week, a major new feature which collates content around world events into a new tab in the app. This will let users discover the most engaging and interesting content around a trend, without having to follow key content published. Full-bleed images and auto-playing GIFs, Vines and videos can be retweeted, favourited or swiped past in one smooth process. Currently, Moments are assembled by Twitter’s in-house content curation team and a select group of partners, including BuzzFeed, Fox News and the Washington Post, with plans to reach out to other publishers in the future.

Safe Harbour agreement ruled invalid

The 15-year-old Safe Harbour pact, which has helped tech giants send personal data from the EU to the US has been ruled invalid by the European Court of Justice. The court said the agreement does not negate the need for local privacy watchdogs to undertake due diligence in checking US firms are taking adequate data protection measures. Facebook is one of many technology companies affected, with its transfers from Ireland across the Atlantic in question. Whistleblower Edward Snowden celebrated the result on his newly-opened Twitter account.

LinkedIn fined for spamming

LinkedIn has lost a class-action lawsuit for spamming Internet users with invites to sign up to its network. The company has been fined $13m after encouraging users to import their e-mail contacts and send invitations, which resulted in thousands of unsolicited e-mails. One e-mail is seemingly within the law, however LinkedIn proceeded to send up to two follow-up e-mails without user consent. Members affected by the spamming have until 14 December to file a claim for compensation of up to $1,500, depending on how many people apply.