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Welcome back, Spark Biters! It may be hard to imagine, but Easter has already ended. As we spent time with our loved ones and extended family, we didn’t forget about you, our virtual family! These “egg-citing” social media updates we’ve uncovered will have you hopping down the rabbit trail for more chocolatey treats, so listen up! LinkedIn is a newcomer to the reaction game, Bumble extends their reach through a print magazine, Facebook is testing swipeable news feeds, TikTok wants to hire campus ambassadors, and Twitter is working on a “hide replies” feature. Get your pastel-colored baskets ready, your fingers set to scroll, and go on to collect the Easter eggs we have waiting in store. ...

Welcome to this week’s edition of Spark Bites! We have exciting news from the world of social networks — for starters, more than one of them has taken augmented reality to a whole new level. Read on to find out more! Facebook   Facebook is launching a “Snooze” button, which you can use to mute content from a friend, group, or page. Posts from the muted account won’t appear on your newsfeed for 30 days. This gives us another more subtle alternative to unfriending and blocking.   The social network has launched an AR platform to allow developers (or anyone, for that matter) to create AR experiences for Facebook Camera. These 3rd party AR creations will be part of the platform’s “World Effects” feature, which all users can apply to their photos or videos. Now that’s what we call taking the AR social...

The financial services industry’s stringent regulations initially held companies in this sector back from wholeheartedly embracing social media as a marketing channel in the same way that other industries did. But the days of apprehension are shifting into the rearviewmirror as financial services brands are more regularly dipping their toe (or even diving) into the waters of social media. In our new white paper we evaluate and analyze data from the 50 largest (by revenue) North American financial services companies on social media. Forbes divides the industry into four sectors or categories, and we evaluated these companies based on those designations, which include: Banking (JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, etc.), Consumer Services (American Express, PayPal, etc.), Insurance (Prudential, MetLife, etc.), and Investment (Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, etc.). The resulting insights are instructive for financial services brands looking to enhance their digital...

This has been a big week for social networks. There have been major upgrades, redesigns, integrations, you name it! While some social media apps overlook basic household maintenance, others show us their humane side. Read on to find out more!   Facebook   In a bid to beat tween-focused competitors like Snapchat, Facebook has launched “Messenger Kids,” a text/video chat app exclusively for children. One huge USP of the app is that kids needn’t sign up for an account at all and parents have control over their friend list. The social network also has special safety filters in place to prevent kids from sharing inappropriate content. Whether these efforts pay off and the app gains popularity remains to be seen.   Facebook has always taken a strong stand against pre-roll ads on videos. However, after the launch of its (YouTube-esque) Watch platform, the social...

Nothing deters social networks — not even the holiday season. Some of them continue to upgrade their technology and features, while others make bloopers worth marveling at. Check out the latest in the world of social media in this new edition of Spark Bites! Facebook   Facebook launched a Messenger plug-in that can be integrated into third-party websites. This means that businesses are able to not only chat with customers, but also continue the conversation after the customer leaves their website. Another advantage is the whopping reach of the app and the ease of access across all web and mobile devices. That’s another feather in the social network’s already feathery cap.   Clearly under pressure to solve the problem of fake news, Facebook made a misguided trial attempt, wherein it promoted comments containing the word “fake.” As a result, for every feed from...

We’ve been grabbing coffee and saving the digital world, all in a brief hiatus's work. But now we're back with your recommended dose of social media updates in another edition of Spark Bites! This has been a big week for many social apps, what with new food ordering features, beta tests of facial recognition and increased character limits flying around. There’s plenty of exciting stuff going on in the social world -— read on to find out more! Baby Oh Boy GIF from Baby GIFs Facebook Facebook has launched a new “Order Food” feature in the US. It allows you to explore restaurant options in your area for take-out or delivery. Apart from partnering with restaurant chains, the social network is collaborating with other food ordering services so it doesn’t really face competition. So go ahead, stuff your face(book)!   The time has...