We’re only a few days into March and already we’ve seen some pretty hefty social media news stories. Here are some of the biggest…
Twitter partners with leading companies to live stream esports tournaments
Twitter have announced that it has partnered with leading esports companies to live stream content this year. ESL, the worlds largest esports company and industry leader, and DreamHack, both the world’s largest computer festival and a production company with a focus on gaming, will both be working with Twitter.
The first tournament to be live streamed via the social network will be the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, kicking off this week on Saturday 4th March. Over fifteent seperate events in the ESL One, Intel® Extreme Masters (IEM) and DreamHack circuits will be live streamed across Twitter. Twitter’s COO Anthony Noto said this:
“Esports is growing at a rapid pace and we see this collaboration as a way to tap into the engaged audience of gamers that are already using Twitter as a primary source of content… We look forward to bringing the best of esports live video and conversation together on Twitter.”
Facebook’s Explore tab shows posts from pages you don’t like but might like
Facebook have began rolling our another tab for iOS and Android which shows users content from pages that they don’t necessarily follow but might be interested in. ‘Explore’ seems to be an example of Facebook experimenting with an alternative news feed, perhaps in an attempt to stem the existence of echo chambers and fake news.
According to various sources the ‘Explore’ tab, which is available on the latest beta version of the Android app and has been glimpsed on some iOS versions, displays a combination of posts that are proving to be popular based on topics and interests that are similar to pages already liked by the user. However, these posts are from pages not liked by the user – theoretically offering views from outside their own echo chamber of news.
Facebook develop AI suicide prevention tools
Facebook will begin using artificical inteligence in a bid to spot users who may be at risk of suicide or harming themselves. Although suicide prevention tools have been present on the network for over ten years, AI should theoretically be able to flag posts that show consistent patterns of suicidal thoughts or depression, based on previous known cases.
Through these tools, Facebook can reach out to users and encourage them to contact a friend or a helpline in order for help. Reporting tools will also be integrated into Facebook Live, allowing viewers to report and reach out to the person directly.
Loss-making Snap shares soar 44% on first day of trading
The company behind Snapchat has gone public with stocks soaring 44% on the first day of trading, despite the fact that it is technically a loss-making enterprise. The boost valued the company at $28bn.
Shortly after co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange with a guide share price of $17, share price rose 41% to $24. At one point it reached $26.05, with a market value of $29.1bn, but settled at $24.48 upon closing, with a market value of $28.3bn.
Instagram rolls our Ads in Stories for all businesses
The Instagram Business Team have announced that Stories Ads are now available for all businesses globally. Full-screen ads on Stories were first announced back in January at which point they were tested by around 30 global brands including Nike, Airbnb and Capital One. Now they are rolling out to all businesses and will be available globally in the “next few weeks”.
Wondering how to create ads that run in stories? Check out this page on Facebook Business Advertiser Help Center.
