Facebook paid events
A few years ago Mari Smith suggested that Facebook may one day become like We Chat, the Chinese social network that facilitates every part of your online life.
I may have scoffed but they are getting there.
This week they are launching paid events. You’ll be able to sell tickets directly via Facebook. No more links to Eventbrite or other sites.
This works in a similar way to the Facebook shops and is available to businesses in 20 countries including the UK but not including Ireland.
There will be no fee from Facebook initially to use events but when people buy via an iOS device you will be charged a fee by Apple.
The seamless experience will make buying easier and could mean we no longer need external ticketing sites. Soon we won’t have to ever leave Facebook for anything.
This could be great for businesses and it could make setting up paid events more accessible to all.
Control what you see from Facebook pages
What do people see from your Facebook page? Up until now, we could be pretty sure if someone followed our page they had the chance of seeing some of our posts.
But now Facebook is giving users more control over what they see. When they follow a page they will have the option to choose exactly what they want to see and how much they want to see it.
Choose from: posts, videos, live videos, offers.
And: Highlights, all.
It’s good that we get more control over what we see but not so good for businesses who need to understand their audience better unless they add statistics on this to Facebook Insights.
https://twitter.com/MattNavarra/status/1294237994493378561/photo/1
Instagram wants to kill the bots
Instagram has a bot problem and if it remains unchecked they’ll start to lose users. These bots do automatic tasks like follow/unfollow, leave inane comments and like posts. Instagram T&Cs prohibit them.
This week Instagram announced a new measure to combat bots. They’ll be asking accounts that display bot-like behaviour to prove they are human with ID.
Once the ID is submitted they’ll get the account back. Unlike Facebook, they won’t be forcing people to use their own names on their accounts.
“Pseudonymity is still important”
TikTok fights back with information
How should a business react in a crisis? TikTok is showing us.
This week they launched an information centre that will guarantee their message and their side of the story will get out.
The headline article is their response to President Trump’s ban.
This site will give TikTok a page to refer media and social media complaints to ensure their story is told.
Facebook launches ‘Short Videos’ in India
Are short TikTok style videos the future of social media content?
India was the first country to ban TikTok and it was the first place that Instagram launched Reels. Now Facebook is testing their own ‘short video’ tool with users there.
Videos can run for 26 seconds and you’ll be able to add text to appear at a specific time. It’s a bit like TikTok lite.
Will any of these TikTok clones win over users? Is this style of video the future of social media content?
We know stories and video have both been hailed as the future of social media content. These short video clips merge both of these elements.
A new way to navigate LinkedIn?
When you look at a social network how much do you actually look at each post? Does the scrolling action mean you automatically scroll on by?
LinkedIn is testing a new way to navigate the feed which will involve swiping up and down between stories. A bit like Flipboard.
This could become the new way we consume online content. Although people on Twitter at least aren’t excited about it I can see this change creeping into all social eventually.
Facebook / Instagram messenger integration gets closer
It’s hard to stay on top of all the places people can get in touch with you. Facebook personal, your Facebook page, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Email, Text message, TikTok…
This week the full integration of Facebook, Facebook pages and Instagram messenger got closer.
Page messages will start appearing in messenger soon. This will make it much easier to see and respond to new messages. You’ll be able to click to switch to your business pages much as you can on Instagram.
But Facebook is also integrating your Instagram messages into messenger. A move that will annoy non-Facebook Instagram users.
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