Friday Social – Instagram,Twitter upgrades and Facebook gets sympathetic

Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days. Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter – @Umpf / @TomScott1

1.Instagram Direct

Facebook’s interest in buying Snapchat has been well publicised but an app update on Thursday (12^th December) appears to have put the pursuit to bed. The photo-sharing application has now added the functionality to send images and videos directly to up to 15 contacts.

Mirroring Snapchat, users can see if their file has been viewed and add a small amount of text to accompany it, this article by the BBC alludes to the possibility of advertisers sending images directly to your inbox, this isn’t a feature yet but has no doubt got marketers thinking about how they can utilise it, if allowed.

2.Twitter Update

Twitter has been adding new features at a fast rate since its listing on the stock market, the latest upgrade to their mobile applications on both iOS and Android concerns direct messaging. They have added layout upgrades and slight appearance tweaks, but the main new feature allows users to send images in direct messages instead of  text only. This is, like the aforementioned Instagram update,is  a direct response to the challenge of Snapchat and Whatsapp.

Other upgrades include the ability to swipe between timelines and the introduction of direct messages to the bottom toolbar to enable quicker access.

3. UK Online spend

According to OFCOM,the UK now spends more money online than any other country in the world. We spent on average £1,175 each in 2012, up from £892 in 2010. Australia was found to spend the second most, but still trail the UK by £308 per person.

OFCOM state that the rise in spending is linked to the rise in mobile device usages, mobile ready sites and the trust we have in using online sites.

4.Facebook sympathy

The Facebook ‘like’ option has often been a source of confusion when it comes to how best to use it, according to reports in the Huffington Post, a Facebook engineer recently created a sympathise button, causing much excitement in the company.

Although the engineer himself says now isn’t the right time to launch it, would you welcome a sympathise option instead of just being able to like and comment? Let us know in the comment box below