May 13, 2016
It was a big week for social media news and activity. Here are some highlights from across the social spectrum:
- Instagram Gets a New Look: The popular photo-sharing app introduced a new logo on Wednesday morning – to some very mixed reviews. In an interesting PR twist, the social network explained the process in a blog post, even disclosing some of the logos it decided not to use.
- Facebook Focuses on Instagram: Call it cyber-stalking or marketing genius, Facebook is furthering its ability to target the right person in the right place at the right time by extending its retargeted Dynamic Product Ads to Instagram where users can now expect to see sponsored posts promoting items they’ve recently viewed elsewhere on the Web.
- Periscope Goes Perpetual: This week, the live-streaming app introduced a public beta allowing users to keep their Periscope broadcasts beyond the current 24-hour lifespan. By using #save in the broadcast title, users can now save and easily search for broadcasts by title or topic.
- Twitter Tightens the Reigns: In the latest example of tension between Silicon Valley and the federal government over terrorism and privacy, Twitter Inc. cut off U.S. intelligences agencies from access to a service that sifts through the entire output of its social-medial postings.
- Pinterest Pins Amazon Exec: Pinterest announced the addition of former Amazon exec Michelle Wilson to its board of directors. Wilson brings extensive background in global growth and talent acquisition, both of which are key areas of focus for the popular bookmarking service.
- YouTube vs. Amazon: Speaking of Amazon…the major online retailer is intensifying its rivalry with Google with a new ad-supported video service called Video Direct that resembles YouTube by letting account holders upload original or licensed video clips.