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This Week in Social Media: March 2, 2017

This week in social media

Facebook you’re killlling me!

Last year Facebook published a survey that said 80% of the respondents react negatively when the sound plays automatically.

“In mobile-feed environments, people prefer having the choice to opt into sound. Our research found that when feed-based mobile video ads play loudly when people aren’t expecting it, 80% react negatively, both toward the platform and the advertiser. Advertisers should take this into account when creating video ads, making sure their stories don’t require sound to communicate their message.”

Facebook Video to Autoplay with Sound

Now they’re backpedaling and will be turning video sound on autoplay. Facebook says that phone viewers expect sound.

“Videos in News Feed have previously played silently — you tap on a video to hear sound. As people watch more video on phones, they’ve come to expect sound when the volume on their device is turned on. After testing sound on in News Feed and hearing positive feedback, we’re slowly bringing it to more people.”

Seriously, Facebook? Now how will I watch funny cat videos at work without the boss knowing? (Oh wait, I am the boss.)

Is this is to stay up to speed with Snapchat (who made it clear in their recent IPO filing that sound is a key component of their platform)?

Snapchat said “We believe that audio is a fundamental component of video, especially when it comes to emotion and impact. Creating and watching Snaps with sound is a more engaging and expressive experience than if the Snaps were muted. Just imagine watching a horror movie without a soundtrack—it might look like a comedy. That’s why we play Snap Ads with sound unless a user has muted their device. On average, over 60% of all Snap Ads are watched with sound on.”

Bottomline

Individual users still have the option to disable sound on video in their settings or mute the sound on their phones. ( I always forget to turn the sound back on and then miss important phone calls … like from my wife.) So to stay out of the doghouse with your boss and your spouse, you may want to go into your Facebook settings and disable sound on video.
Sound helps viewers to emotionally connect with what they’re seeing. And hopefully, that means more lead conversions and more sales. But no matter what, still put captions on your videos to cover all your bases.

Facebook Video: Let’s go Vertical!

Facebook is also taking all video vertical. That means your viewers are watching your videos on the big screen. (Okay, the screen is only 3 inches, but the video is sooo much larger than it used to be.) It makes your videos easier to view and understand.

Bottomline

It’s always good when viewers can see your content.

Video Window in Feed: Watch and Scroll …watch and scroll

Holy moly, now you can watch a video and scroll through your news feed at the same time! Will wonders ever cease? The video will minimize and keep playing in the corner of your screen while you take a leisurely browse through your news feed.

Bottomline

I guess this is where having the sound on would be a huge help, cause that little screen is tiny! This will only fracture your viewer's attention and have them distracted instead of being engaged with your content. This feature challenges content makers to come up with unique ways of grabbing attention. Say goodbye to the talking head!

Transparent Facebook

We were all appalled when Facebook came out about their data inaccuracies in December 2016.

After all, if you can’t trust Facebook who can you trust?

In an effort to regain our trust (and our ad dollars) Facebook has committed to a 3rd party audit and verification of the measurable campaign results (likes & shares).

Bottomline

This is good news for us marketers. When we get clean data, we can make intelligent decisions on where our ad dollars go. And we can trust Facebook again because a neutral 3rd party will confirm our data.

Instagram Multiple Image Uploads

Now you can load up to 10 images or videos to tell a more complete story in your feed. You’ll see your images in a carousel and viewers can swipe them to view them. Add filters to all of them or only 1 or 2. You can also change the order of the images.

Bottomline

This gives marketers lots more options for content and communicating a story. Instagram continues to evolve their tools and become more and more business friendly.  It's a social space to consider as the audience grows to span more and more demographics.

That’s a quick update on some of the new and trending latest Facebook updates that marketers should be aware of.  Yes, it’s not breaking news as some have been out for a bit now but the goal as always is to give you a consolidated and simple spot to see the updates!

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