It may have a new article title, but there’s no change to the content in this news round-up. Read on for the latest happenings from the digital marketing world:
Snapchat Ads Are Being Made Available to More Brands
Since the June 2016 introduction of Snap Partners, brands have been able to place videos between stories. Now, two months on, the photo sharing app is expanding its offering and allowing more brands to get in on the action.
However, in order to maintain the integrity of the app, the number of ads will be capped to three time-based promos per day. So, whether you see 100 stories a day or 10, everyone will be exposed to the same amount of advertising.
New Report Claims 63% Stop Using Apps Within a Month of Downloading
Earlier this week, mobile engagement platform, Localytics, released new data that revealed that, on average, app retention was just 37% a month after download. This reduced to 25% after two months.
It also revealed that high-performing apps, or those with more than 1 million monthly active users, had better retention rates.
Facebook is Making 360° Videos Easier to View
Facebook has released a guide to its new 360° video feature in order to make viewing the more interesting parts easier. The guide will show those posting the videos how to direct viewers to the most important areas using pre-set options.
There is also a new analytics tool called Heatmap for 360° videos that have more than 500,000 views. This will show which parts of the video are ‘hottest’ or watched most, and other new features will also show who is watching the video content.
Snapchat Angers Users with New Filter
Many Snapchat users are in uproar after the story-sharing app released its newest filter that superimposes stereotypical Asian features onto people’s faces. (It also doesn’t help that the cartoon symbol is holding a bayonet.)
A company spokesperson said the filter was supposed to pay tribute to the popularity of anime; however it quickly took the filter down and apologised. But it’s not the first time this has happened; four months ago it released a Bob Marley filter that added dreadlocks and blackface on photos, and was met with many complaints.
Twitter Moments Being Rolled Out to All Users
Last week we reported on Instagram’s new stories feature, and this week Twitter has announced it will be making its own similar feature, Moments, more readily-available to users.
Everyone will have access to Moments sometime ‘in the coming months’ where tweets will be strung together in a narrative. However, firstly, this will be made available to influencers, partners and brands.
Ad-Blocking Software Will No Longer Work on Facebook
Improved ad preferences have been rolled out across Facebook, however it has also been announced that ad-blocking software will no longer work on the social media desktop site.
Vice President of Ads and Business Platform, Andrew Bosworth, explains in a Newsroom post:
‘We’ve designed our ad formats, ad performance and controls to address the underlying reasons why people have turned to ad-blocking software. When we asked people about why they used ad-blocking software, the primary reason we heard was to stop annoying, disruptive ads. As we offer people more powerful controls, we’ll also begin showing ads on Facebook desktop for people who currently use ad-blocking software.
‘Some ad-blocking companies accept money in exchange for showing ads that they previously blocked—a practice that is at best confusing to people and that reduces the funding needed to support the journalism and other free services that we enjoy on the web. Facebook is one of those free services, and ads support our mission of giving people the power to share and making the world more open and connected. Rather than paying ad-blocking companies to unblock the ads we show—as some of these companies have invited us to do in the past—we’re putting control in people’s hands with our updated ad preferences and our other advertising controls.’
The Latest Digital Marketing News
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