It was a relatively light month for social media updates, but the ones that were made are quite impactful. Here are the latest social media updates from April 2015.
Facebook made two major updates to their messaging services: Hello is a new app built by the Messenger team that with Facebook so you can see who’s calling, block unwanted calls, and search for people and places. Second, Facebook also just debuted video calling in Messenger allowing users to have face-to-face conversations with friends.
Learn more: Facebook Introduces “Hello” and Video Calling for Messenger
Facebook also introduced Riff, a new project which allows you to create and collaborate on videos with Facebook friends. You start by creating a video, adding a hashtag, and uploading it. From there your friends can view it, add to it if they wish, and send it along to their friends.
Learn more: Facebook Introduces New App for Creating Videos with Friends
Instagram added three new filters to its lineup: Lark, Reyes, and Juno. Lark, Reyes and Juno are a family of modern, subtle filters that brighten and enhance your photos in refined, beautiful ways. Lark desaturates reds while punching up blues and greens to bring your landscapes to life. Reyes brings a dusty, vintage look to your moments. And finally, Juno tints cool tones green while making warm tones pop and whites glow for vibrant photos of people.
Learn more: Instagram Gets Three New Filters, Brand New Emoji Hashtags
Twitter is testing displaying promoted tweets in user timelines. The ads are not meant to blend in with other content. The ad units will be clearly separated by a break in the stream, followed by a label that reads “suggested by Twitter.”
Learn more: Twitter to Display Promoted Tweets in User Profiles
Twitter made a significant move towards bolstering its own big data business by cutting off firehose access to third parties. Twitter’s ‘firehose’ refers to the raw, unfiltered stream of tweets and all related metadata. An announcement from Twitter’s data analytics team states that previous agreements with third party resellers of firehose data will be terminated.
Learn more: Twitter Cuts Off Firehose Access to Third Party Data Resellers
Buffer officially partnered with Pinterest to make it even easier to pin consistently. Buffer account holders can now post and schedule to Pinterest.
Learn more: Ready, Set, Pin! Buffer Announces Pinterest Partnership
Which of these latest updates will have the largest effect on your social media marketing strategy?
Facebook photo via Facebook Blog
Instagram photo via Instagram Blog
Pinterest photo via Pinterest Blog
