“Know when to hold ‘em/Know when to fold ‘em.” –Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler” Kenny Rogers’ iconic song, The Gambler, is embedded in pop culture as a metaphor for knowing when to take a risk, and when you should walk away and live to play another day. It’s also a perfect example in song form of […]
Though daily social media use is ingrained in many peoples’ lives, it seems that major social media companies may have reached a saturation point when it comes to adding new users—at least in a few markets. Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, released its second quarter results on August 7, in which it reported the app lost three million […]
Would you rather your audiences use their smartphones to point and click—or point and buy? Given the pressure on social media marketers to tie their efforts to their company’s bottom line, we’d wager that the latter is preferable for most. And now, if a rumored Snapchat-Amazon integration is any indication, social media audiences will soon […]
Snapchat is testing a tweak to its much-maligned redesign that harkens back to the platform’s original layout—with user-generated Stories on the Discover page, right next to branded content, according to Recode. While it’s just a test, the updated redesign proves that best-laid plans of social media redesigns often go awry. But it also might signal good news […]
Has Snap Inc. finally cracked the ROI code for social platforms? Snapchat has unrolled a new feature, Shoppable Lenses, that aims to win brands’ advertising dollars by trading “soft” metrics like opens and impressions for clickthroughs, conversions and calls to action that can be tied directly to sales, TechCrunch reports. The feature, which uses Snapchat’s AR lenses and allows […]
Snapchat has released two new features, one that allows users to video chat with up to 16 friends and another that provides the option to tag users in Stories. The former mirrors video chat options on other platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts, while the latter is similar to Instagram’s “@” mention tagging feature. The new […]
It’s been a bad week for Snapchat. A Snapchat ad promoting the game Would You Rather?! asked players if they would rather “slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown.” Rihanna was not amused by this reference to the 2009 violent assault by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. How did this disturbing ad make it onto the app in […]
Mobile-first social media is so 2017. It’s time to start thinking about social as mobile-only. Here are three things you should do to ensure that you’re not alienating the vast majority of your audience.
Considering that Snapchat now shares analytics and insights with its network of influencers, its addition of “mentions” feels like another feature that will allow the platform to function as a serious tool for communicators. And considering that the company laid off over 120 engineers this week, it’s possible that the company might be content to continue beefing up its interface with innovations that already exist elsewhere.
While Snapchat’s redesign has caused a fierce resistance among its user base, creators and brands are poised to benefit from the facelift. The redesign was rolled out to U.S. users earlier this month, following disastrous reviews from beta testers in the U.K., Canada and Australia, and the backlash is reaching a fever pitch. A petition […]
