Social Media Platform Changes: February 2017

Here’s a full roundup of what changed on social media platforms in February 2017.

  • Auto-play videos in the Facebook News Feed will now play with the sound on, assuming your phone is not on silent. (You can disable this feature in settings.)
  • YouTube debuts “YouTube TV,” a live TV service that lets you access live and recorded content from major TV networks. It will be available later this spring for US users for $35 a month.
  • Instagram introduces multiple photos and video inside a single post. Now you can swipe through up to 10 photos or videos in a multi-post, indicated as a gallery by a series of blue dots at the bottom of the first image.
  • Facebook starts rolling out “ad breaks” (aka midroll) with publishers, those with at least 2,000 followers, and live videos with a minimum of 300 concurrent viewers. The video ad break can be placed after the first four minutes of content, and then again throughout a live or native video (provided there is 5 minutes of content in between ads). Ads are 20 seconds at the maximum.
  • Facebook launches a video app for set-top boxes, including Apple TV.
  • Facebook tests a picture-in-picture feature so you can watch videos while continuing to scroll through News Feed.
  • Vertical video viewing is now available to Facebook users on iOS and Android.
  • Facebook News Feed algorithm change: Facebook will promote content that is “not misleading, sensational, or spammy” (stating the obvious: Do not post fake news or clickbait headlines). The frequency of how often people “hide” your posts will also be taken into account. Facebook will also give prominence in the News Feed to posts that are going viral – defined by engagement around the Page post.
  • Facebook now takes video view retention and completion into account, giving greater prominence to content where viewers watch for a long time, and to the end of the video.
  • Facebook replaces its 30-second view metric with a 10-second metric. This is in addition to the standard view metric (3 seconds or longer).
  • Facebook expands its “Safety Check” feature to let you offer and receive food and shelter in an emergency.
  • Facebook introduces a feature that enables businesses in the US and Canada to post job openings directly on Facebook. The new Jobs Bookmark will allow businesses to track applications and communicate directly with applicants without leaving the platform.
  • Twitter opened up their own Live API (called Periscope Producer), which allows anyone to now incorporate high-quality live video from sources other than a mobile device.
  • Twitter has begun reducing the reach of tweets deemed abusive. Twitter now identifies people who have been permanently suspended (and blocks them from creating new accounts). New features that are in the works include a new “safe search” is an option that filters out hateful or abusive tweets from heavily blocked or muted accounts; and a collapsing feature for potentially abusive or “low quality” replies to tweets.
  • Twitter also announces the ability to mute specific words from your timeline, and mute “eggs” without profile photos.
  • YouTube is ditching the 30-second “unskippable” pre-roll, but this change won’t come into effect until 2018.
  • Snapchat Discover welcomes The New York Times, and breaking news updates from the Washington Post.
  • Snapchat Spectacles go on sale for $130, available for purchase online.
  • WhatsApp launches a “Story” feature that it calls “Status.” This is a new tab for sharing photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. See this as the encrypted version of Snapchat Stories.
  • Pinterest rolls out the ability to target ads by specific search teams.

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Article by: Tory Starr

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