Social Media News: August 2017 Edition

If there's one thing that is constant about social media, it's that it is ever changing. Some of your favorite social media platforms rolled out big changes this month. Here's the highlights of what you should know:

-Facebook Goes All in on Video: The biggest change this month was Facebook's launch of the "Watch" tab which it will be rolling out soon. The Watch tab allows you to watch videos all in one place, but most significantly, Facebook announced that it will be rolling out original programming. This is significant as it means that Facebook is betting big on video and is getting into the game that Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are playing right now with incorporating original series into their streaming services. If you thought video was a passing fad that would go away (or you hoped would go away), I'm sorry to say that it appears that video will continue to be increasingly relevant in social media marketing. If you're not creating video content right now, it's time to start rethinking your content strategy and figuring out how you can bring more video into your social media efforts. 

-Twitter Annoys that S*** Out of Everyone: So, I do like Twitter. I really do. I think they've struggled with how to innovate to keep their product relevant. I think it's no secret that Donald Trump will go down in marketing history as one of the best things that ever happened to Twitter. I just really hope Twitter can figure out how to turn this reprieve they've been granted into a big win for their platform. However, the major change they rolled out this month ain't it. If you're already on Twitter, you've probably noticed that now you get notifications when people you follow start following the same person or tweeting the same article or retweeting the same tweet. Because, you know, Twitter notifications weren't crowded enough, now we have to get notified about what people we follow are doing. I can only imagine how terrible this changes makes the Twitter notifications of people who not only follow a lot of people, but have a very active community and are getting lots of followers on the daily. I'm annoyed and my Twitter community is microscopic compared to some other users on the platform. 

-Instagram Stories Formally Usurps Snapchat's Dominance: Snapchat is another little platform I'm a bit worried for. The Facebook/Instagram behemoth has stolen all of their platform's cool features, repackaged them, and beaten them at their own game. Instagram stories now boasts 250 million daily users. Snapchat, which pioneered the disappearing stories feature, trails behind with only 166 million daily users. Is the writing on the wall for Snapchat? Time will tell, but unless Snapchat finds a way to pivot and innovate their product again, they're going to be fighting the with the same relevancy problem that Twitter has.

-Instagram Makes Going Live a Community Event: Instagram announced it's testing a new feature that will allow you to go live with a friend. This is a fun little feature that I'm sure we'll see Instagram influencers putting to good use over the next few months. I can already imagine people doing live interviews with this new feature or even doing a little low-budget reporting segment. 

-LinkedIn Launches Native Video: LinkedIn is testing a new feature to allow users to natively upload videos. This is cool because this is a feature that LinkedIn was majorly missing out on. It was almost impossible to share a video on LinkedIn in a meaningful way. This native video launch will be a good thing for marketers who get a lot of traction on LinkedIn and are already (or are planning to) create lots of video around their business or brand.

What do you think of these changes? Which one are you most excited to try out? Let me know if the comments below!