In the news this week – Facebook muscles into the online video scene, apple launches Instagram account and social media usage tops 3 billion…
Facebook muscles into the online video scene with Facebook Watch
Facebook have taken an officially stand to leap into the world of short-form professional online video with Watch, a new platform for shows on Facebook. Watch is somewhat of a late arrival to the online-video scene, however Facebook is currently second only to YouTube for internet video – so the likelihood is that if it takes of (and that is a big if) it will take off in a big way.
Over 30 different production partners have been announced, including MLB, A&E and Hearst. According to the announcement on their newsroom, they intend to see a wide range of shows on Watch, including reality shows, comedy and live sports. They said this:
“We think Watch will be a home to a wide range of shows… To help inspire creators and seed the ecosystem, we’ve also funded some shows that are examples of community-oriented and episodic video series… We’re excited to see how creators and publishers use shows to connect their fans and community.”
Apple launches Instagram account to showcase iPhone photography
The term “Shot on iPhone” has become synonymous with Apple Inc.’s marketing. Now the tech giant has created an Instagram account devoted to celebrating and promoting iPhone photography. The reasons are pretty clear – if there is any logical place to promote photography, it is the world’s largest photo-sharing app.
Instagram now commands a staggering 700 million active users a month. You can check out the new account @apple. For the time being at least, it looks like Apple plan on using the account to build community-centred marketing – at the time of writing their bio currently reads “Welcome to @apple. Tag #ShotoniPhone to take part.” Already the account commands over 500k followers
Combined social media usage passes the 3 billion users mark
The latest combined research from Hootsuite and We Are Social has reveal that the number of people using social media across the world now rests at 3.028 billion – and shows no sign of stopping. This is up four percent since last quarter, an increase of 121 million users, 113 million more than the amount of new adopters of the internet in general. Active social media users are now growing at a rate of one million per day.
Facebook, Whatsapp and Snapchat feature among list of worst apps for battery draining
A report by Avast into the most battery-draining Android apps included (perhaps a little unsurprisingly) Facebook, Whatsapp and Snapchat. These were listed among other feature-rich apps such as Netflix and Google Maps. To see the full list and read Avast’s recommendations for making your battery last the longest it possibly can, check out this article on The Independent.
