Summer is winding down and, as usual, there were a variety of big social media updates.
Instagram made one of its greatest enhancements yet, while Facebook hit a monumental milestone with its first day recording one billion daily active users.
Learn more about these updates and more in our monthly social roundup:
General
The New York Times aims to predict which stories will do well on social media with a bot that runs within popular messaging app Slack. Of the stories NYT publishes each day, only about 50 end up being shared on social media. The new bot, called Blossom, is designed to analyze a selection of articles and pick out which ones will do best on social media.
Learn more: The New York Times Built a Bot to Predict Successful Social Media Stories
Buffer introduced the ability to upload and schedule native video content across all social media platforms. The company says its software is the first to offer the ability to upload a video to one place and share it everywhere — including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Learn more: Buffer Makes it Possible to Upload and Schedule Your Videos on Social Media
For the first time ever, Facebook recorded one billion daily active users on Monday, August 24th. This milestone was announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg on a post to the network, adding that this is “just the beginning of connecting the whole world.”
Learn more: Facebook Hits One Billion Users in a Single Day
Facebook introduced a new feature allowing public figures and celebrities to broadcast live stream’s via the Facebook Mentions app.
Learn more: Facebook Introduces Live Streaming for Public Figures
Facebook is reportedly testing the idea of turning its current Notes product into a long-form content platform. This update is poised to make Notes — a Facebook feature that largely went forgotten once the company started allowing longer status updates — relevant again.
Learn more: Facebook is Testing Its Own Medium-Like Content Platform
Facebook is working on a new mobile app for sending breaking news alerts direct to smartphones. Still in early development stages, the app is said to work by asking which publications you’d like to receive notifications from and what your topics of interest are. When news breaks that you’re interested in you’ll receive a push notification with a link back to the original story.
Learn more: Facebook Working On An App For Delivering Breaking News Alerts
Facebook is beginning a small roll out of a digital assistant service that will live within Messenger. The service, called M, is capable of completing tasks and finding information upon request. Facebook’s M calls to mind Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana, but what sets M apart is how you interact with it.
Learn more: Facebook Launches M, a Siri-Like Personal Assistant for Messenger
Instagram introduced one of its most significant changes in recent memory — landscape and portrait modes for photos and videos. This means you can post your photos and videos as they were originally shot. No more cropping videos that you shot in widescreen, or selfies you took in portrait mode.
Learn more: Instagram Landscape and Portrait Mode Are Here! Third-Party Apps No Longer Needed
It was announced in February that a deal was struck between Twitter and Google which would see the indexing of tweets in Google’s search results. Now, the promised new feature is finally live.
Learn more: Tweets Will Now Be Included in Google Desktop Search Results
YouTube
YouTube announced it will provide more timely video view counts, which means the infamous “301+ views” will become a thing of the past.
Learn more: YouTube to Provide More Up-To-Date View Counts, No More 301+ Views
Which of these updates will have the biggest impact on your social media strategy? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
Image Credits
Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
In-post Photo: Ismagilov/Shutterstock.com
