DIGITAL TRENDS

Every week, the world of social media undergoes multiple changes. To make sure that social media users and advertisers have the best experience, every platform strives to introduce new features to ensure that they stay ahead of the competition. Some of these features are unique to each platform utilising their USPs, while other additions are small tweaks introduced by other platforms in a bid to be more versatile (think of the introduction of Facebook Stories after the success of Snapchat and Instagram’s stories).

This week, we focus on some of the updates from the week that was. From analytics to Artificial Intelligence powering Augmented Reality, this has been a week to remember.

1. Timing is Everything, according to Twitter

The rise of video content on all platforms has really put wheels in motion and every advertiser has switched to distributing videos to promote their products or services (if you havent yet, now might be a good time to start). With that in mind, Twitter has introduced a new video analytics tool that allows you to see what time your viewers watch the maximum amount of videos on Twitter. Aptly dubbed the Timing is Everything’ tool, this gives advertisers an idea into when to publish their video content to make sure the reach is magnified and complete the objectives of your ad.

However, something to note before you start hailing this – This tool does not give you information about the viewership of your videos, it tells you the overall video activity of all your organic followers. Maybe that update will come soon. We can hope!

Find out more here
href=”https://media.twitter.com/content/media-twitter/en_us/articles/blogs/2019/timing-is-everything-insights-tool-for-publishers.html”

2. Instagram testing Co-watching feature

It’s not possible for two people to watch videos together all the time. Facebook decided to act on this with their Watch Party feature, giving people from different locations a chance to watch and interact with videos from different locations. Seems like Mark Zuckerburg’s other platform is taking up this other feature as well. According to Techmeme, Instagram is testing its own co-watching feature with the update integrated into Instagram Direct.

As of now, details are vague about which videos can be seen together, made even more complicated because of the short duration of Instagram videos and the low popularity of IGTV.

3. Less fake accounts

The number of fake accounts has been increasing day by day on all social media platforms. The most notable one from recent times being the user haqnii on Instagram (tagging the account activates bots giving you 500-600 likes on any Instagram comment).

Taking the fight away from the accounts to the companies that make these fake users, Facebook is now cracking down on companies and people who promote the sale of fake followers and engagement on the platform. Enforcing intellectual property laws against a practice known as cyber-squatting, Facebook hopes to protect the integrity of its platform. Despite all of this, the practice may not be as easy to shut down as it seems.

4. Shop on Google Images

Visual shopping is all the rage on social media in the last few months, with Snapchat and Instagram taking the lead on this trend. However, search giants Google arent far behind, building their own system of shoppable image ads. Just days after Google Images introduced shopping ads, the Silicon Valley behemoth is creating its own version of click to buy on images.

Here’s how it works – If a shopper searches for home office ideas on a mobile device or desktop, Google Images will surface ideas on how to organise the room. The shopper can then scroll through the images and hover over any ad with the price tag to see the various items that are for sale within the image with their prices, brands, etc.

Along with this, Google is also introducing Showcase Shopping Ads, a chance for advertisers to promote their brands through a visual rich experience. A small bar on top of the normal image results shows the products that users are going to buy. With Google joining the race, the e-commerce space is really heating up.

E-commerce is a space that is becoming more and more imperative for brands. A successful e-commerce website can be the difference between brand getting more business or getting left behind. Build your next website with us and get the traffic you’ve been yearning for.

Take a look at our past works in e-commerce:

https://www.thedigitalimpressions.com/work/outhouse-jewellery/

https://www.thedigitalimpressions.com/work/libas/

5. Clear your history

After the debacle that Facebook faced due to Cambridge Analytica and the platforms role in invading privacy, the platform is taking some serious steps to protect its users from data invasion. In a move that inhibits Facebooks targeting capabilities, users will be able to delete the information that Facebook has collected from them via third-party apps and websites.

In Facebook’s own words, We dont tell advertisers who you are.

While this is a step in the right direction, Facebook has also made it clear that this program is optional for users, with only users who select to do so in the initial phase being allowed to delete their data when they want.

6. Test Your Site

With the rise of mobile internet users in the last two years, brands have had to focus more on making websites that are mobile-friendly. Its either that or losing out on visitors to the competition. Handheld devices are the first thing that people use to visit any website, and its only natural that the websites function seamlessly on devices that bring in the maximum amount of traffic.

With that in mind, Google had introduced the Test My Site tool in 2016 – which allowed website developers to check how their websites looked on different devices, with various benchmarks helping developers make a website that is friendly for all devices and platforms.

In 2019, Google has rebuilt the tool from top to bottom, introducing a hose of new features like:

The speed of both their entire site and of individual pages
Whether their site/page speed is faster or slower compared to the prior month
Whether their site speed/page speed ranks Fast, Average, or Slow
How their site speed compares to others in the industry
The potential impact of site speed on revenue
A detailed list of recommended fixes to increase speed on up to 5 pages on their site
A complete report to share with their team

This’ll only help developers in making their websites even friendlier to other devices.

A mobile-friendly website helps you get more people coming to revisit your website. Take a look at some of the best mobile-friendly websites we have worked on:

https://www.thedigitalimpressions.com/work/perona/

https://www.thedigitalimpressions.com/work/fablestreet/

For now, this was a weekly round-up of all the major developments in the digital world. What does this week have for us? Wait and find out.