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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 7/3/19: Ms. Gritmon if ya nasty

Facebook Ads stop discriminating; Instagram “Chat” sticker, Explore ads, and layout tweaks (bye-bye, scroll); Twitter t tests layout changes, visual themes, and auto-mute; LinkedIn shifts towards relevant content, adds Company Page features, and adds ad retargeting; find me on Girlboss.

I simply cannot imagine what public figure’s Tweets might inspire such a content warning…

Taking its recent advertising anti-discrimination regulations a step further, Facebook will now make advertisements for housing, jobs, and credit searchable by all users, regardless of income, geography, or other targeting features that might be deemed discriminatory.

New Story sticker alert: Instagram has officially added the rumored “Chat” sticker, which adds those who click it into a DM group.

Instagram is also adding ads to the Explore tab, and has rolled out a new profile layout (in case you’re wondering where scroll view went).

Twitter’s got a new layout in beta - and it’s making your Lists easier to access on mobile, just a quick swipe away from your home screen.

Twitter may soon allow you to customize the appearance of the site to your own liking. You’ll be able to better customize content, too; they’re testing an auto-mute feature that will preemptively prevent certain content from appearing on your feed based on accounts you’ve blocked in the past.

If you thought LinkedIn had been showing you more posts in your niches of interest, congrats, you’re correct; the algorithm has shifted to prioritize “people you know, talking about things you care about.”

LinkedIn is also beefing up Company Pages, including your choice of Calls to Action, mobile editing, and the ability to engage with hashtagged conversations as your page entity, and they continue to roll out upgraded advertising functions; the latest news is that audience retargeting is coming soon.

Girlboss is the new online professional network for women supporting women (started, of course, by Nasty Gal founder Sophie Amaruso).

 

more info on all stories:

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faq Christine Gritmon Inc. faq Christine Gritmon Inc.

FAQ: Video length

Is “more” always more when it comes to video?

There’s a ton of advice out there on best practices for video length on various platforms. Here are some quick stats by platform:

Facebook (pre-recorded): 2 minutes

Facebook Live: at least 10 minutes; 15 minutes is a sweet spot

Instagram: 30 seconds

Twitter: 30-45 seconds

YouTube: 2 minutes

But stats are just that: stats. My advice is ALWAYS to explore what your own audience responds to, what works best to tell your content’s story, and, above all, what you actually want to do.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 5/8/19: F8 wasn't the end of it...

And you thought Facebook got out all of its announcements last week at F8… nope! News on the video algorithm, Messenger features, Workplace layout, new Cryptocurrency rumors, and Instagram “join chat” sticker.

Also, Twitter did a thing.

Facebook has announced some loud & clear guidelines for how it’s shifting its algorithm with regard to video content - they’re preferring content that viewers return to repeatedly and deliberately, videos that keep viewers engaged for at least one minute and are at least three minutes long, and original content.

Facebook Messenger debuts a new Desktop app and some new features including co-watching (like Watch Parties), “Close Friend” designation, emoji status options, and a scheduling tool for appointment-based businesses like beauty and healthcare providers - and is planning to create interconnectivity between Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Facebook’s enterprise-level tool, Workplace, has also experienced their first redesign in years, focusing on chat, News Feed, and groups, while also delivering notifications about the company.

We’ve known for years that Facebook was developing its own cryptocurrency, but that story is moving forward as they seek investors. The latest rumors state that the currency is intended to be stable (not prone to the fluctuations of currencies such as Bitcoin) and that it may even seek to replace credit cards by undermining their processing fee structure.

Instagram is Working on a New 'Join Chat' Sticker which would enable Stories viewers to join a private chat group, direct from a Story.

Twitter is now allowing GIFs to be added to retweets. (See reaction below.)

MORE INFO ON ALL STORIES:

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: Snap, Pinterest & Google expand interactivity

Facebook tests downvotes, and gets animated, communal, and protective; Instagram story sharing; Snapchat opens marketing API, Maps feature, creator tools, and free ads; Pinterest rearrangements & visual/text search; Google AMPs up Gmail & search.

Facebook tests downvote button, develops animation tools for Quill VR app, adds a $10 million community grants program, and extends intellectual property searches and reporting to Instagram content; Instagram adds ability to share Stories, the first native in-app sharing it's introduced yet; Snapchat opens its marketing API to developers, brings its Maps feature off-app to the web, opens custom filter & lens creator tools to the general public (SpaceX even has an AR lens that takes you to the Tesla that's currently in space!), and lures advertisers from other social media platforms (most notably, Instagram) with free ad offers; Pinterest is FINALLY letting you rearrange pins, and has strengthened its visual search capabilities by allowing them to bolster text searches; Google AMPs up the Gmail experience - as well as Google search results - with new integration of Accelerated Mobile Pages and search "stories".

Facebook Downvote Button

Facebook testing Downvote button, but says it’s not a Dislike (9to5MAC)

Facebook confirms test of a downvote button for flagging comments (TechCrunch)

Facebook Announces Animation Tools for Quill VR App

Facebook brings animation tools to its Quill VR painting app (TechCrunch)

Oculus' Quill tool now lets you animate VR (Engadget)

Facebook Introduces Free Animation Tools For Quill (Cartoon Brew)

Facebook Extends Intellectual Property Protection Tools to Instagram

Instagram Now Lets Content Owners Scan for and Block Copyright-Infringing Video

Facebook Extended Its Rights Manager to Instagram (AdWeek)

Facebook Community Grants

Facebook’s plan to build community with hiring and $10M in grants (TechCrunch)

Facebook Offers Grants To Build 'Communities' (Digital News Daily)

Facebook creates $10 million community leadership program (CNet)

Instagram and Sharing Stories

Instagram Unleashes the Ultimate Weapon for Marketers (AdWeek)

Instagram tests its version of the retweet but thru Stories (Marketing Land)

SNAPCHAT OPENS MARKETING API

Snapchat’s Marketing API is now available to all developers (Venture Beat)

Snapchat Is Opening Up Its Marketing Platform to All Ad-Tech Players and Agencies (Ad Week)

Snapchat Courts Creators With New Audience Analytics (The Hollywood Reporter)

Snapchat Snap Maps

Snapchat's Snap Maps is now available online (Mashable)

Snapchat brings Snap Maps to the web in latest push outside of main app (9to5MAC)

Snapchat brings its Snap Map to the web (BGR)

Snapchat Custom Lenses

You can now create your own custom face lenses on Snapchat (The Verge)

Snapchat launches custom filters and lenses for all users from $10 (9to5MAC)

A New VR And AR Snapchat Filter Exists And You Can Do Some Pretty Cool Stuff (LADBIBLE)

Snapchat Lens Portals Lets Users Travel to Elon Musk’s Space Tesla (PressKS)

Snapchat Luring Advertisers with Free Ads 

Snap is trying to lure Instagram advertisers by offering them free ads on Snapchat(ReCode)

Snap is trying to capitalize on its killer earnings by launching a direct assault on Instagram (Business Insider)

Snap offers free credits to brands running vertical video ads on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, elsewhere (MarketingLand)

PINTEREST BOARD EDITS

You can finally reorder pins on Pinterest boards (Wired)

Pinterest now lets you archive your boards and rearrange pins (Venture Beat)

Pinterest iOS app now allows you to rearrange pins, reorder sections, archive boards (9 to 5 Mac)

Pinterest Lens Adds Visual Search

Pinterest will let people use its image-recognizing Lens feature to augment text searches (MarketingLand)

Refine Pinterest's Lens visual searches with text suggestions (Engadget)

Not happy with Pinterest search results? Refine it with text and photo queries (Digital Trends)

YouTube Announces New Sanctions

YouTube will remove ads and downgrade discoverability of channels posting offensive videos (TechCrunch)

Google Brings AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to Gmail... 

Bringing the power of AMP to Gmail (Google Keyword Blog)

Gmail will let you browse websites in your email with new AMP support (The Verge)

Google launches AMP for email to bring web-like actionable content to Gmail(Venture Beat)

Google's AMP coming to Gmail to make email more 'interactive' (CNet)

...AND TO SEARCH RESULTS.

AMP stories: Bringing visual storytelling to the open web (Google Developers)

Snapchat-Like Stories Arrive in Google Mobile Search Results (PC Magazine)

Google launches its own version of Snapchat Stories (CNet)

Google plans Snapchat-esque stories for mobile search results (Engadget)

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: better visuals & more advertising power

Facebook friend limits, Watch revamp, and audience insights; Google Pixel 2 Visual Core expands to apps; Snapchat text options, mute, and Snap Store; Instagram Stories type, Story ads, and video chat rumors; welcome Daisie.

Facebook is NOT limiting your feed to 25 friends; Facebook's Watch eyes more of a YouTube model; Facebook's audience insights get even creepier; Google Pixel 2 Visual Core enabled for Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp; Snapchat introduces more colorful text options, the ability to mute, and an in-app merchandise store; Instagram Stories has fun with type, introduces longer Story ads, and is still probably working on video chat; Maisie Williams introduces Daisie.

Facebook Friend Limit

Does a New Facebook Algorithm Only Show You 26 Friends? (Snopes)

Facebook limiting status updates in news feed to 25 friends? That's a hoax, pass it on (USA Today)

No, Facebook isn't limiting you to 25 friends' status updates (CNet)

Facebook Expanding Watch

Facebook is talking to advertisers about a more direct assault on YouTube (CNBC)

Facebook Is About to Declare War on YouTube(The Motley Fool)

Facebook may share ad money to lure creators from YouTube (Engadget)

Facebook Estimates Users' Socioeconomic Status

Facebook patent tries to guess users' socioeconomic status (Axios)

Facebook patents technology that would estimate users' socioeconomic status (The Hill)

Google's Pixel 2

The Pixel 2’s Visual Core photo processor now works with Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat (TechCrunch)

Google expands Pixel Visual Core’s HDR+ to Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp (9To5)

Google enables Pixel Visual Core for better Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp photos (The Verge)

Google Flips the Switch on Its Pixel Visual Core (Wired)

Snapchat Redesign

Snapchat redesign gets colorful text, while all users can mute specific chats (Digital Trends)

Snapchat slips in features like fonts and do not disturb amidst redesign (TechCrunch)

Snap Store 

Snapchat’s new Snap Store teases in-app commerce potential (TechCrunch)

Snapchat launches in-app merchandise store, opening the potential for mCommerce (Mobile Marketing)

Snapchat opens in-app shopping section with Snap Store(Marketing Land)

Instagram Type Mode

Introducing Type Mode in Stories (Instagram)

Instagram Adds Text-Only Feature to Stories (NY Mag)

Why Can’t I Change My Instagram Story Font? Type Mode Is A Game-Changer (Bustle)

Instagram Carousel Ad Format

Instagram triples length of Story ads with carousel format (Marketing Land)

Instagram’s Carousel ad format is coming to Instagram Stories (TechCrunch)

Instagram Video Chat

Instagram Leak Reveals Radical New Video Feature (Forbes)

Instagram video calling leak hints at major future feature (Slash Gear)

Report: Video chats coming to Instagram (Phone Arena)

Daisie

Actress Maisie Williams to launch Daisie, a social app for talent discovery and collaboration (TechCrunch)


 

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: Stories about stories

Facebook upgrades security, newsworthiness, Story publishing flexibility, and makes video viewing more social. Instagram Stories adds GIFs, text-only stories, a screenshot notification feature, and activity status. Snapchat Stories are now shareable, and adds valuable advertising features. WhatsApp goes business.

Big news week! Facebook is upgrading security technology, prioritizing more trustworthy news publishers, adding desktop posting to Stories, and encouraging people to watch videos together (virtually), as well as hitting the road to help businesses with the platform in 30 cities. Instagram Stories adds GIFs, tests text-only stories and a screenshot notification feature, and letting friends know when you were last active. Snapchat Stories are now shareable beyond the platform, and app install ads add more valuable features. Finally, WhatsApp rolls out business access.

Facebook Acquires Confirm

Facebook buys Boston software company that authenticates IDs (Reuters)

Facebook Just Acquired This Company Focused on Authenticating ID Cards (Fortune)

Facebook bought a startup that specializes in verifying government IDs (Recode)

Facebook to Prioritize Trustworthy Publishers

Facebook Asks Users to Judge Trustworthiness of News Sources (Bloomberg)

Facebook To Prioritize 'Trustworthy' Publishers In News Feed (Forbes)

Facebook’s latest News Feed update will prioritize trustworthy publishers (TechCrunch)

Facebook Adds Desktop Posting to Stories

Facebook is testing the ability to create Stories on PC (Engadget)

Facebook won’t retreat from Stories as it adds desktop posting (TechCrunch)

Facebook is testing desktop uploads for Stories to make the feature stick (The Verge)

Facebook Testing Watch Party Feature

Grab the popcorn: Facebook tests Watch Party for sharing videos in Groups (Digital Trends)

Your Facebook Group May Soon Be Able to Host a Watch Part (Ad Week)

Facebook Unveils 'Watch Party', Making Watching Videos a Social Experience (Gadgets NDTV)

Facebook's Community Boost Program

Facebook launches 30-city Community Boost program (CNBC)

The Facebook Community Boost Show Is Set to Hit the Road (AdWeek)

Instagram Story GIFs

Instagram Adds GIFs to Stories and, Yes, It's a Direct Shot at Snapchat (AdAge)

Instagram now supports GIFs in Stories (The Verge)

Giphy builds transparent GIF library for Instagram Stories (TechCrunch)

Instagram Adding Activity Status

Instagram Added Activity Status to Instagram Direct (Ad Week)

Instagram has a shady new feature, but you can disable it (Hello Giggles)

Instagram Text-Only Stories

Instagram tests new ‘Type’ feature for Stories and screenshot alerts (The Next Web)

Instagram Stories is secretly testing a new text feature with fun font options (Mashable)

Instagram's New 'Type' Text Stories Feature Has Snapchat Really Worried (Here's How It Affects You) (Inc.)

Instagram Story Screenshots

Instagram to support text stories and new stories screenshot notification! (WABetaInfo)

Instagram Is Testing a Creep Alert That Will Tell You if Someone Took a Screenshot of Your Story (Slate)

Snapchat Stories Shareable

Snapchat stories can now live outside the app (Wired)

Snapchat’s New Feature Means You Can No Longer Avoid Snapchat (Slate)

Snapchat is going to let you share Stories on Twitter and Facebook, in hopes of sparking new growth (CNBC)

Snapchat Update Features Ads with Deep Links

Snapchat Is Making App Install Ads More Targeted With Deep Links (Ad Week)

Snapchat updates app install ads with quicker deep links, deeper analytics (Marketing Land)

Snapchat 'doubling down' on app install tech to drive ad sales (The Drum)

WhatsApp Launches App for Business

WhatsApp officially launches its app for businesses in select markets (TechCrunch)

WhatsApp officially launches app, profiles for businesses (Marketing Land)

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: FB devices & integrations

Facebook gets into home devices & ditches its AI/VA hybrid in beta; Instagram Stories expand to WhatsApp; Ripple follows Bumble in taking on LinkedIn.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: Suggested stories, business DMs, more Snap

Instagram now recommends stories; Twitter empowers businesses with stronger direct messaging tools; Snapchat expands shareability beyond the app and increases ad strength by disabling immediate skips for some clips.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: chattin' up a storm

A whole lot of chatter on Workplace, websites, Twitter, Snapchat & Instagram

Facebook Messenger has rolled out to websites (yes, non-Facebook websites) and Facebook's Slack-competitor, Workplace, now has a chat function. On Twitter, you can now use twice as many characters for your chatter. Snapchat needs a redesign because us olds can't figure it out. Instagram Stories no longer have to be in-the-moment...and you can now properly use Hebrew, Arabic & Farsi on the platform.

Facebook Messenger for Websites:

Facebook introduces a Messenger plugin for business websites (TechCrunch)

Facebook Messenger plugin enables cross-platform customer service (Engadget)

Facebook Will Let Brands Integrate Messenger With Their Websites (Adweek)

Facebook Workplace Chat:

Workplace: One Year Later (Workplaceblog)

Facebook's Workplace, now at 30,000 orgs, adds Chat desktop apps and group video chat (TechCrunch)

Twitter Character Limit:

Twitter Doubles Tweet Limit to 280 Characters (Bloomberg Technology)

Tweeting in 280 Characters? Now You Can Do It, Too (NY Times)

Twitter officially enables 280-character limit for all accounts, including brands (Marketing Land)

Snapchat redesign:

Snap Will Overhaul Its App Just Nine Months After Its IPO (Bloomberg Technology)

Snapchat will overhaul its app to bolster user numbers, as it endures the growing pains of shift to programmatic (The Drum)

A huge redesign is coming to Snapchat (The Verge)

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is redesigning Snapchat because it’s too hard to use (Recode)

Instagram Stories:

You can now upload content older than 24 hours to Instagram Stories (The Verge)

Instagram continues Snapchat assault, lifts 24 hour limit on Stories clone (9 to 5 Mac)

Instagram now lets you add any photos or videos to your Stories (TechCrunch)

Instagram and Left-to-Right Languages:

Instagram now supports right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic (TechCrunch)

Instagram adds right-to-left language support starting with Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew (the Verge)

Instagram now supports three right-to-left languages (Engadget)

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: Christy Laurence on how to PLANN a great brand story

Christy Laurence of PLANN discusses how to tell engaging, relatable brand stories on Instagram.

Marketer, artist, and entrepreneur Christy Laurence started PLANN, an Instagram app, because people wanted help creating impactful, on-brand Instagram profiles. Images that stood together as a gallery, not just a random collection of one-offs. Posts that served strategic goals. And, above all, ways to tell their brand's visual story that didn't take up all of their time. Christy was kind enough to share some of her Instagram expertise with us today, namely on how to use this tool to tell a story (and why you should be doing so).

Some of Christy's top storytelling strategies:

  • BEHIND THE SCENES: Give followers a glimpse of what you're doing
  • COMMUNITY: Show your human side; be a little more vulnerable, less perfect. It's more relatable.
  • INSPIRATION: ...at the same time, sometimes giving your followers something to aspire to isn't such a bad thing. Just be sure the inspirational shots you post are in line with your brand.
  • EDUCATION: What can you teach your followers about your process, your mission/vision, your product, your area of expertise? People are more likely to look kindly upon you - and buy from you! - if you've taught them something.
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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 10/11/17

Permanent away message for AIM; Facebook guarding against fake news; Shopify bringing eCommerce to Instagram; Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories allow cross-posting; Snapchat introduces user verification and location context cards

Permanent away message for AIM; Facebook guarding against fake news; Shopify bringing eCommerce to Instagram; Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories allow cross-posting; Snapchat introduces user verification and location context cards

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 7/12/17: Everyone's copying everyone else...

Today's #MidweekMinute reminds us that everything is just racing to become everything else

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social - Cheftini and I "Shazam" our food

Cheftini and I played with Pinterest's new Food Lens feature and talked about why Instagram is the very best platform for #foodies.

My guest for this week's episode of Social, my Facebook Live show, was Tina DiLeo of Cheftini! We played with Pinterest's new Food Lens feature and talked about why Instagram is the very best platform for #foodies (the key word is ENGAGEMENT!).

Download Tina's eBook full of holiday recipes - all proceeds benefit Food Bank for Westchester!

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social - C'mon, get Snappy!

Social with Christine Gritmon - special guest Michael Berean of Grace Innovation!
We discussed all the latest Snapchat news: sponsored world lenses and new geofilters that target local businesses, perpetual Snaps and new editing tools, and of course how one can get in on the Snapchat advertising game. Check it out!

Today's episode of Social with Christine Gritmon featured special guest (and fellow Nyack digital marketer) Michael Berean of Grace Innovation!
We discussed all the latest Snapchat news: sponsored world lenses and new geofilters that target local businesses, perpetual Snaps and new editing tools, and of course how one can get in on the Snapchat advertising game. Check it out!

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Episode 3 of Social – guest Maria Colaco

Thanks so much to social media creative & content creator Maria Colaco of The New York Mom (among other pursuits) for a great conversation on Instagram Stories, influencer marketing, streaming TV and more!

Thanks so much to social media creative & content creator Maria Colaco of The New York Mom (among other pursuits) for a great conversation on Instagram Stories, influencer marketing, streaming TV and more!

 

 

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