We’ve got a lot of exciting social media updates for you in this week’s edition of Spark Bites! Read on to get the latest scoop on the new AR lenses Snapchat is testing, Twitter’s upcoming Trend Spotlight Ads, Instagram’s new “question” sticker for Stories, and more.
Snapchat
Experimenting with Snapchat filters and AR lenses is about to get even more fun! Last year, Snapchat released its Lens Studio, which enabled creators to build their own AR lenses, and since then, over 100,000 unique lenses have been created. To make the creations available for everyone to use, Snapchat is building an in-app library where users can browse and use the masks, filters, and lenses!
Snapchat is also working on a new project, codenamed “Eagle,” to make its camera a product search tool. The unreleased “Visual Search” feature tool would take a photo of a barcode or object and direct the user to where they can purchase the product. Snapchat is already teaming up with Amazon to help pair product images to places users can make the purchase. The new online shopping feature would make the app useful for much more than just connecting with friends socially!
Google has been announcing updates to Google Pay all year long, and they’re finally going live! The most anticipated update is its peer-to-peer function, which allows users to transfer payment to their friends and even split a transaction between up to five users, making splitting the bill much easier. Users have been able to pay and request money from friends through Google Pay Send, but as of this week, they are also able to complete the transactions directly on Google Pay, following Google’s efforts to bring all its transaction abilities to one app.
Twitter is on its way to make a lot more revenue from its ‘Trending Topics’ feature by introducing Promoted Trend Spotlight Ads. The promoted trending topics will appear at the top of the trending list and will be shown with a banner of an image or GIF. While advertisers will get a whole lot more real estate for their ads, the update may make it harder for users to get an accurate idea of what’s trending in the world at a quick glance, as organic content will be demoted by the ads.
Pinterest is widely used for finding party planning tips, DIY project inspiration, and recipes, and with its release of a new chat feature, it will also be a great platform for group discussions and collaborative planning! The chat feature is a new addition to activity feeds for group boards and will allow users to comment on boards or start a public conversation with a user without having to attach it to any specific pin.
It’s been a big week for Facebook! Among all of the platform’s recent updates, the most exciting may be its upcoming AR ads that will enable users to virtually try on advertised products, including accessories and even makeup, by simply tapping the ‘Try It On’ button on the ad and enabling camera. The update is in its early stages but could make a big impact on ecommerce once it’s fully developed!
Facebook is adding an archive option to its Stories, so users can save their Stories content to the app rather than use storage on their phone. After the initial 24 hours, stored content can be re-posted to Facebook or other platforms, including Instagram.
Facebook is also testing an Instagram-like highlights feature for its Stories content. In addition to having the option to archive Stories and keep them private until they’re reposted, users will be able to store the Stories publicly after they’ve been shown on the main feed for 24 hours.
Additionally, Facebook is furthering its efforts to make the platform safer by testing a Messenger feature that will detect suspicious accounts and notify users when they’ve been messaged by an account associated with an unusual address or phone number, or if the account was just recently made. Once the feature is rolled out, it will help fight scams and unsolicited messages from fake accounts.
This week, Instagram introduced a “questions” sticker to its Stories so users have another way to interact with their friends. Released in October, Instagram’s polling feature for Stories has shown to be very popular. The new questions sticker feature will go a step further by allowing friends to ask users open-ended questions and have the responses posted for all followers to see.
Instagram also announced an update to its Stories that will benefit advertisers. Soon, all brands that have enabled shopping on Instagram will be able to add product tags to images in their Stories. The new feature is sure to help brands market their products to Instagram’s 400 million users!
And there you have it, all your social media updates for the week! We’ll see you next week for another edition of Spark Bites. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
