The end of August signifies that more than half of the year is truly gone and brands are bettering themselves with each update. In the first half, we saw many tests and updates, and the second half looks just as interesting. From WhatsApp’s new voice message previews, Twitter new Retweet with Comment, Instagram’s new algorithm to take down accounts to Facebook’s new ad format, LinkedIn’s notification filters and Bing’s new Carousel format, platforms are updating themselves in every way possible.
#1 YouTube Adds New Topic Tags And Information Markers To Enable Customization of Video Recommendations
YouTube is now investigating various ways to ensure users are not being steered in concerning directions by its recommendations and has announced some new changes which will put more power into the hands of users in regards to the videos which are recommended to them.
YouTube’s adding new topic tags within recommendations listings which will help users find more specific recommendations based on their chosen area of interest. It is also adding a new information marker on videos it recommends for you based on what “other viewers with similar interests have liked and watched in the past”.
#2 Google Announced Two New Features For Google Search Console
The two new features are (a) Search within the markup so you can quickly find the spot in your markup that you want to adjust. (b) Copy the code and markup and then make tweaks to it. See if those tweaks pass validation and result in the outcome you desire.
#3 Alexa is Announcing Two New Features to its Competitive Analysis
The new Alexa Site Overview service now provides keyword opportunities and audience analysis about any site or its competing sites.
#4 WhatsApp Testing An Option To Share Status Update as Facebook Story Too
In a new beta for WhatsApp, there is a feature that allows you to share a new Status update that you post within the instant messaging app, on Facebook Stories too. For those who are using the WhatsApp beta version, you will now see a sharing option underneath your Status update.
#5 Instagram Has Updated The Layout By Pushing The Follow And Message Icons Below The Bio
With the new updated version, when users visit a profile, the option to click on the button to scroll through the account is not available anymore. Instead of this you can either click on their photos separately or see their tagged photos only. Don’t worry, the scroll is not gone completely instead when you click on any picture of a profile you have the option to scroll up or down. So this means that you can still scroll through the pictures instead of clicking on them individually.
Previously message and following button were under the number of followers and post but with this updated version you’ll find the button under the profile bio.
#6 Facebook Is Testing a New Option to Mute Notifications
Facebook is trying out some new, simple toggles to clear all your notifications and mute push updates for whenever you choose. This option would give you the capacity to remove almost all the red dot notifications, eliminating them from your feed. It is being tested with a selected group of users
#7 LinkedIn Adds New Custom CTA Buttons for Pages, Helping to Direct Visitor Actions
LinkedIn is adding some new options to help businesses, in the form of custom call to action buttons for company pages, which will help brands drive more desired action from visitors.
The five new CTA options are:
– Contact us
– Learn more
– Register
– Sign up
– Visit website
#8 Twitter Updates Search Results with Additional Contextual Info
You may have noted that there’s more information there, relating to trends, mutual follows – additional context to help guide you to the results that you’re actually looking for.
This week, Twitter has officially announced this update, which is now being rolled out to all mobile platforms.
#9 Facebook Adds ‘Top Fans’ Targeting Option for Organic Page Posts
??Facebook is rolling out a new option that enables Pages to publish updates targeted to their top Page fans specifically in order to ‘thank them or share exclusive content’.
#10 Instagram Launches ‘Join Chat’ Sticker to Promote Private Group Discussion
Instagram has this week officially launched its new ‘Join Chat’ sticker for Stories, which, when tapped, will connect Stories viewers into a private discussion.
#11 Instagram is Rolling Out New Ad Units in its Explore Tab
Instagram has announced that it’s adding a new ad unit to its Explore feed.
When you tap into an image in the Explore feed, you’re taken to a separate listing of related posts. Within that separate stream, as you scroll through, you may also now be shown a related ad.
#12 Twitter Is Launching New Warning Labels on Controversial Tweets from High-Profile Users
After outlining its potential plans to add warning labels to controversial tweets from high profile users back in March, Twitter has this week announced that these new labels are now going live, which will provide more clarity as to why and when Twitter has chosen not to remove a tweet that violates its rules.
#13 YouTube No Longer Allows ‘Instructional Hacking And Phishing’ Videos
YouTube updated its list of what it considers “harmful or dangerous content.” One notable addition is of “instructional hacking and phishing” videos, with the Google company reportedly already pulling existing content and issuing strikes to creators. The list also includes “Extremely dangerous challenges,” “Violent events,” and “Eating disorders.”
#14 LinkedIn Is Reportedly Working On Notification Filters
LinkedIn has been testing out various updates and new features to improve user experience on the platform. One such update is filtering on notifications where you could apply a filter to get only specific types of alerts. The filter options are:
a) All Notifications b) Your Updates: Related to any activity involving the user such as mentions, reactions, comments etc. c) Network Updates: Related to activities transpiring in a user’s group or network. d) Jobs: Related to Job Recommendations and Alerts.
#15 LinkedIn Updates Campaign Manager, Adds Brand Awareness, Conversion Campaign Options
LinkedIn is adding three new features to its Campaign Manager advertising platform, along with an optimized click pricing option. The new features include Brand Awareness campaigns that charge by impressions, enhanced integration with its website conversion tracking capabilities and ads for LinkedIn Talent Solutions customers to help with recruitment measures.
#16 Instagram Adds New Comment Warnings & Restricted Mode As Anti-Bullying Measures
Instagram’s adding a new automated warning which will prompt users when their comment may be considered offensive, giving them a chance to review before the post creator sees it. It also testing a new ‘Restricted’ mode, where once you restrict a person, their comments will be visible only to them. You can choose to make a restricted person’s comments visible to others by approving their comments.
#17 Facebook Updates Ad Tools To Show Users How They Are Targeted By Brands
Facebook has implemented a series of updates to its suite of ad tools designed to improve the transparency behind targeted of content. The changes include providing people with the reasoning behind why they are being shown specific ads beyond a simple demographic match or internet history. Now more detailed targeting information will be supplied including the specific interests and categories which led to a match being made.
#18 WhatsApp Is Working On a Fingerprint Unlocking Mechanism For Android Phones
The new authorisation method will make third party locking apps, which were very popular, redundant. The fingerprint authentication mechanism will add an extra layer of security as WhatsApp users will have to authenticate themselves every time they open the app. There are chances that WhatsApp could also bring the Face Unlock feature too for the Android users.
#19 Bing Showing A Streamlined Recipe Carousel in Search Results
Bing appears to be testing or introducing a new way to show rich results on desktop. For queries that may relate to recipes, Bing is displaying a carousel that features just three recipes.
#20 New Google Shopping Program Enables Customer Photos To Show With Their Product Reviews
The feature is rolling out now and available through a handful of reviews partners.
#21 Instagram Updates The Rules For Taking Down Accounts
Instagram announced that it will soon be rolling out new rules for taking down any account from the platform. This indicates that the app is taking a strict measure to ensure the removal of offensive content or any activity that contradicts with the policies.
Unlike the previous guidelines, accounts will be shut down once the account violation reaches a certain number in a specific time-period.
#22 Twitter Rolls Out New Detailed Follower Listings in Notifications
Twitter has announced that it will now roll out a new format for follower notifications, which will include a larger profile panel within your Notifications tab, and enable you to follow back directly from the alert.
#23 Facebook Tests ‘Suggested Moderators’ to Help with Group Administration
Facebook’s continued push to boost groups usage sees another wrinkle added this week, with a new test of ‘Suggested Moderators’ – group members which Facebook’s system has identified as people who may be able to help you manage your online community. Facebook’s continued push to boost groups usage sees another wrinkle added this week, with a new test of ‘Suggested Moderators’ – group members which Facebook’s system has identified as people who may be able to help you manage your online community.
#24 Facebook is Changing its Ad Format from Next Month
The Social Network has announced that – starting from August 19th – mobile News Feed ads will be compressed in order to “match the look and feel of the new Facebook design introduced earlier this year”.
Fewer lines of primary text will show on mobile News Feed
Maximum media height for photos and videos will reduce to 4:5 on mobile News Feed
#25 Google dropped Bing Discover pages from its index
The Bing Discover pages were completely dropped out of Google’s search results and resulted in Bing losing millions of pageviews from Google search.
#26 Facebook Rolls out sent whatsapp message call to action button
The most awaited update has finally been rolled out on Facebook! You can now add send Whatsapp Message button as a call to action to your posts.
Here is how you can create ads that link to WhatsApp from Ads Manager:
Step 1: Go to Ads Creation.
Step 2: Choose your objective. Currently, you can select the following objectives: Messages, Traffic, Conversions and Post Engagement. (Although Facebook claims that this feature is present in all these placements, I have noticed this only in Post Engagement campaigns. If you guys have noticed this in any other placement let me know in the comments below)
Step 3: Choose your audience, budget and campaign schedule.
Step 4: Set up your ads as usual and in the call to action section, select WhatsApp.
Step 5. Review your campaign details and click Confirm to create your ad.
#27 Facebook Introduces ‘Facebook Search’ as An Option For Ad Placement
You can now show your engagement posts to people based on their search behaviour on facebook. This way you can reach out to a more relevant audience.
#28 Instagram is Testing a New Listing of Stories Mentions to Notify Users
Instagram is coming up with a new ‘Stories About You’ listing which would list all the Stories in which a user has been @mentioned or tagged by the Story creator, separating these notifications from your general notifications stream. Instagram is coming up with a new ‘Stories About You’ listing which would list all the Stories in which a user has been @mentioned or tagged by the Story creator, separating these notifications from your general notifications stream.
#29 Twitter Will Now Allow Users to Both Retweet and Retweet with Comment on the Same Tweet
Twitter has announced that users can now both retweet and retweet with a comment on the same tweet, which up till now had been limited to either one or the other option. Twitter has announced that users can now both retweet and retweet with a comment on the same tweet, which up till now had been limited to either one or the other option.
The option will provide more capacity to add your context to every tweet, while also sharing the original message.
#30 LinkedIn Adds New Services Listings for Profiles to Help Freelancers and SMBs
LinkedIn is rolling out a new option which will enable freelancers and SMBs to list the services they provide on their LinkedIn profile and be found for the same in search results. The new option will enable users to add a section on their profile which showcases the various services they provide. LinkedIn has also added this as a search option, meaning that when people go seeking other people who offer the same, they’ll be able to filter their results based on this new section.
#31 WhatsApp to soon allow users to preview voice messages before sending
WhatsApp allowed its users to send short audio recordings but there wasn’t a way to preview the recorded message before sending. This pain point will soon be taken care of and the upcoming update will let the users listen or preview the audio message before hitting the send button.
#32 Instagram is Testing AR Effect Sticker
Instagram is allegedly testing a new feature that will allow users to use a “green screen” effect in their Stories. Instagram is allegedly testing a new feature that will allow users to use a “green screen” effect in their Stories.
#33 Swipe to Visit’ has arrived on Google Images
Google has launched “Swipe to Visit,” an Image search feature that displays a preview of an AMP-enabled website’s header after a user selects an image result. The user can then swipe up on the preview to load the image’s corresponding web page.
#34 Microsoft Advertising rolling out experiments for A/B testing tool globally
You will see a new tab in your Microsoft Advertising account soon if you haven’t already. Experiments are rolling out globally for testing ad copy, landing pages, bidding strategies and modifiers. You will see a new tab in your Microsoft Advertising account soon if you haven’t already. Experiments are rolling out globally for testing ad copy, landing pages, bidding strategies and modifiers.
#35 New Tool ‘AdInboxMe’ Provides Email Alerts Whenever Your Competitors Launch a Facebook Ad Campaign
Utilizing Facebook’s Ad Library, which was rolled out to all Pages earlier this year, PixelMe’s new ‘AdInboxMe’ tool will send you an alert whenever your competitor/s launch a new Facebook ad campaign, helping you to stay up to date with the offers and processes they’re using.
