August 5, 2016
With political conventions behind us and the Olympics ahead, this week was the relative calm between storms on social media. But that doesn’t mean it was without buzz. Here are a few of my favorite finds from the past week:
· Let the (Sponsors’) Games Begin. With the opening ceremonies happening today, everyone is getting excited for a summer Olympics that is sure to be chalk full of news. But for brands that are not official sponsors of the event, participating along on social media is going to be very closely regulated. If you don’t know by now to avoid all official hashtags, location references, ‘lypic references and athlete references, check out this post immediately.· 6 Seconds to Win It. Speaking of competition, Mashable and Vine recently released the Armstrong award winners – Vine videos so good they took home a total of $10,000. The competition saw more than 400 submissions across seven categories: art, comedy, animation, illusion, music, series and remix. Watch the winners here.
· Facebook Factors. Several interesting reports hit social out of Facebook this week. The platform launched a birthday compilation feature to remix the 100 times people say “happy birthday!!!!” on your birthday. And if perhaps that news doesn’t wow you, they followed up with a prediction that phones, not glasses, will be the future of augmented reality and a sneak peek at their massive new R&D lab where they will get to work making that prediction a (virtual) reality.
· InstaSnaps. Facebook-owned Instagram also made a big announcement this week, unveiling a major revamp of its popular social media app called Instagram Stories,” which allows users to capture and share video clips throughout the day. The videos self-destruct after 24 hours – very similar to the way SnapChat works – and won’t appear on your profile grid or feed.Calvin Harris, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Ciara, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas are tipped to be among the first to share “stories”. Don’t worry, Snap Chat still has its filters to stand on – and with 50 new suburb-focused geo-filters hitting Australia this week it got its own spot in the limelight.
· ICYMI. Finally, in case you missed it, everyone is buzzing about the trailer for #WonderWoman. It looks pretty spectacular if you need a quick Friday break.