Social Media Essentials: What's new in social media this week?

Spotlight Story: Twitter has started testing a feature that enables longer messages

Have you ever been in the middle of a Twitter conversation, but you can't fit everything you have to say into the 140 character limit? Twitter have looked at this limitation of Twitter compared to other social networks and have started testing how to make what they call a 'tweet storm' easier for its users - it's a strange name. The feature will allow you to chain tweets together into a cohesive message. So, instead of posting tweets into separate tweets, you can tweet them all at once. The example they give isn't great...

By introducing this feature, Twitter is making sharing expanded thoughts more accessible to everyone. For those of us who have a lot to say or a business sharing breaking news or campaign details, this will allow you to tweet quicker and share content cohesively.

WhatsApp introduces tools for businesses

WhatsApp has announced plans to build and test new tools to help businesses and small companies to communicate effectively with customers. They also announced that they will be rolling out an enterprise solution for bigger companies operating at a large scale with a global base of customers.

LinkedIn Audience Network

LinkedIn announced the launch of LinkedIn Audience Network, a native advertising network that allows businesses to reach a wider audience by placing sponsored content on third-party publishers. Adweek reported that this list includes Microsoft properties like MSN and Outlook.com. LinkedIn explains the purpose is to reach beyond your LinkedIn audience and expand your advertising campaigns. If you are currently using LinkedIn ads or your wanting to expand your reach you can access this new platform through LinkedIn's campaign manager.

The iPhone X will include animoji

Unless you have spent the week hiding under a rock, you will have seen that Apple has announced the launch of iPhone X and iPhone 8. One cool thing about this iPhone are it will allow for a new type of emoji, an animoji. The iPhone X has a new facial camera system can track your facial expressions. Therefore animojis will be able to track your facial expressions and use them to animate your favorite emojis. You can also record an audio message to go with your animoji, whose movements will be synced with the sound. Creepy? Yes, but also pretty cool.

Facebook adds a dedicated ‘Movies’ section

For some users, a new section called 'Movies' will start appearing in their main navigation. This allows you to see what movies are playing near by with show times and nearby cinemas. The feature is integrated with Fandango’s and Atom Tickets’ booking services. This is currently only available to US users.

Facebook Watch video tab launches to all US users

We mentioned last month that Facebook was testing and looking to launch 'Watch'. This feature would be a hub for original video content. According to Techcrunch Watch will allow you to view personalized recommendations of live and recorded shows and you will have your own 'Watchlist' where you can subscribe to updates. This has now been officially rolled out in the USA. US users will now see the TV icon in the mobile navigation bar and desktop site bookmarks.

Social Media Week London 2017 Recap

This week I was able to attend Social Media Week London a three-day conference that focuses on the latest trends in communication, engagement, VR, Mobile, influencer marketing, and of course social media. SMW London holds over 50 sessions and workshops, with brands such as Buzzfeed, Facebook, and ITV. I have summarized each talk to keep you all up to date on what’s happen and what key trends you will need to start adapting to your social media strategy. Find the full summary here.

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