This week on Spark Bites, it’s all about communication! We’ll tell you all about how Instagram added voice recording, Skype added captions, and Facebook wants you to tell the world about your special moments. Sit back and luxuriate in all these social media updates, because we’re spilling them all!
Facebook:
Facebook just made your “Life Events” more exciting! The updated feature now allows you to add animated photos or videos to the highlights of your lifetime and there’s plenty of Facebook art to choose from if you don’t have your own images. The posts will be less likely to be missed since friends will receive notifications for big life events like relationship or career updates… plus they’ll look amazing!
A blast from the past, specifically from 2012, is coming back: Facebook search ads. Acting as an additional placement option for news feed ads within Ads Manager, the ads will come up in Facebook search results. Although Facebook hasn’t shared exactly what they will look like, you can be sure to get a result for Herschel backpacks when you search for your friend Herschel. Kids’ names these days!
Messenger Lite, the app intended for slower internet connections and less powerful Android devices is getting more expressive features. Swap out the colours of your chats and make unlimited changes to emojis and nicknames of the people you’re chatting with. You can also now share files by tapping the “+’ sign. But of course, our favourite update is that GIFs in Messenger Lite are now animated. Hallelujah!
Instagram:
Is this thing on? Direct messages now include the option to create voice recordings to send to friends. By pressing and holding the microphone icon, you can record audio for up to a minute. These messages will appear in wave form in the thread and are accessible for an unlimited time, unlike other shared media types in Direct.
Just in time for the holidays, #InstaGiftGuide features gift ideas from 34 brands on Instagram that fit 6 popular hashtags from 2018 including #catsofinstagram, #iseefaces and #oddlysatisfying. Just one more way Instagram is making shopping easier!
Skype:
Skype just debuted live captions and subtitles in one-on-one and group calls. The captions and subtitles auto-scroll in your call, and are optimized to be fast and continuously updated. Soon, new viewing options will be available, such as viewing them in a side window. Not only that, 20 different language translations are rolling out in the coming weeks. This is great for making the app more accessible and it’ll do wonders for that friend on the call that can’t multitask. Now they can just read the subtitles to catch up on what they missed. Sneaky.
Until next time on Spark Bites, we’ve got listening ears on, so we can share all social media’s secrets. Shhh.