Beth Becker’s latest “Political Social Grab Bag” e-newsletter is out, and you should check out the whole April issue archived right here, an Epolitics.com online exclusive. Sign up now to get the next Political Social Grab Bag delivered straight to your inbox.
Besides the Deep Thoughts and tool updates excerpted below, the full version includes a look at upcoming webinars, the ever-popular “don’t try this at home” section, who’s winning the internet, and more. Take it away, Beth:
What’s New to Think About?
In 2016, by my count we had a total of 78 new social media platforms debut in the world, and 74 of them disappeared in a month or less. So how does a platform stay relevant to an ever changing set of expectations from users as it continues its march to profitability and long-term success?
After all, Social Media Platform Wars aren’t new, but it’s no longer about all of the platforms trying to be Facebook. Suddenly Facebook seems, in some ways, to be playing a bit of defense by adopting features from other platforms like Snapchat. So where does this all end? Do we end up with just one social platform?
I think the answer is a resounding no. Said competition keeps all of the platforms ever evolving in an attempt to retain users and attract new ones. Imho, they key is that they need to adapt based on their own platform strengths and weaknesses. They need to learn to embrace what makes them unique and use that to become a key to long term success instead of just a flash in the pan.
What’s your favorite new platform?
Platform Updates
Facebook & Instagram
- In case you missed the debut of Townhall
- Introducing Messenger Day
- Slight algorithm tweak: Reactions now getting a slight relevance score uptick over post likes– it’s still not a good idea to explicitly ask for them as that would negate the advantage
- More metric renaming happening
- New to Ads: A/B Testing — at long last! And a new ad format: Collections
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Yes!- this would make using FB groups in organizing even more agile
- Facebook’s long awaited camera app has debuted
- New feature being tested: Feature to remind someone to finish watching a video
- New front opens in platform wars: Facebook vs GoFundMe
- Instagram's turn to mimic Snapchat– this time with geostickers
- Instagram Stories ads now available to all
And The Rest
- @Replies no longer count in character counts– and not everyone is loving it
- Pre-roll ads debut on Periscope
- More Periscope changes including analytics and the ability to watch Periscopes in Moments
But wait, there’s more! That was just a taste — continue on to the full April edition.