Find out what were the top Social Media Marketing News – January 2017 recap.
Summary Social Media Marketing News January 2017
A list of the most important social media updates this month (scroll down for more):
- Facebook:
- Introduced the Facebook Journalism Project;
- Audience Network grew to 1 billion people;
- Testing Ads on Messanger;
- Update on how video ranks in News Feed;
- Update on post ranking signals;
- Introduced Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) portal
- Twitter:
- 360 video on Twitter;
- Announced a new Explore tab;
- Instagram:
- Introduced Business insights and Ads in Instagram Stories;
- Live stories – rolled out globally;
- Snapchat:
- New Snapchat design;
- YouTube:
- Introduced the “On the rise” section in Explore tab;
- Introduced Super Chat for live streams;
- LinkedIn:
- Rolling out a desktop redesign;
- Pinterest:
- Update on how relevant Pins are identified;
- Introduced Pinterest Ad Groups;
A historical overview:
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**Scroll below for details on the Social Media Marketing News for January 2017**
Facebook Updates January 2017
Announcing the Facebook Journalism Project
On January 11th, Facebook introduced the Facebook Journalism Project. It will provide tools and trainings for both journalists and Facebook users and will also result in the collaborative development of news products.
Click here to read the full Facebook Journalism Project announcement.
Audience Network Grew to 1 Billion People
On January 12, Facebook announced that they have established partnerships with new global publishers. With these new publishers, now over 1 billion people can be reached through Facebook’s Audience Network.
Click here to read more about the Audience Network expansion.
More updates to Trending
On January 25th, three updates to the Trending feature were announced:
- Update on the system of how topics are identified as trending. Up till now, topics could end up “Trending” due to very high engagement with a single post or article on Facebook. However, now the system will take into consideration topics that have been published by multiple publishers and their cumulative engagement.
- The list of trending topics will no longer be personalized based on your interests. Everyone in the same region will see the same trending topics.
- To provide more context, an example headline from a publisher will appear under the topic, as seen below:
Click here to read more about the updates on Facebook Trending.
Testing Ads on Facebook Messanger
On January 25th, Facebook announced that they are testing the placement of ads on Messanger for a small group of publishers in Australian and Thailand.
Click here to read more about the Messanger ads test.
Facebook Introduced New Privacy Basics
On January 26th, new privacy basics were introduced to make it easier for users to find tools to control their private information on Facebook.
Click here to read more about the privacy basics update.
A Change in the Way Videos Rank in Facebook News Feed
On January 26th, Facebook made a change on how they account for video completion rates. To avoid penalizing longer videos, Facebook algorithm to start weighting percent completions more heavily the longer a video is, because completing a longer video is a bigger commitment than completing a shorter one.
Click here for more details about the new way videos rank in News Feed.
New Version of the Facebook SDK
On January 26th, Facebook announced that with the latest update of the Facebook SDK, they made it easier for developers to set up Analytics for Apps and to measure and optimize the customer journey.
Click here to read more about the Facebook SDK update.
Updates in Post Ranking Signals
On January 31st, Facebook announced that they are increasing their efforts to show more authentic and timely stories on people’s News Feed.
- New universal signals – for example, if page’s posts are often being “hidden” by users, this will be one of the factors for page posts’ authenticity;
- Updated real-time signals – the algorithm will take into consideration how engagement changes real-time. Meaning that if a page’s post gets a lot of engagement for a small period of time, it will rank higher in people’s feed for as long as that intensive real-time engagement lasts;
Read more about the new ranking signals here.
More People-Based Measurement Partnerships
On January 31st, Facebook introduced:
- Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) portal where Facebook’s measurement partners can gather information directly from Facebook, Instagram and the Audience Network. Advertisers will be able to compare which type of ads (TV, digital, print) bring the highest outcomes;
- Expanding partnerships for third-party data verifications;
Learn more about MMM and third-party verification here.
Twitter Updates January 2017
Introduced 360 Video on Twitter
On January 11th, Twitter introduced 360 video:
360 Sunset in Florida. First ever #Periscope360 with @Brandee_Anthony https://t.co/AZWbnnT15S
— Alex Pettitt (@Alexpettitt) December 28, 2016
Click here to read more about Twitter 360.
Working On a More Inclusive Twitter Workplace and Community
On January 19th, Twitter published a heart-warming recap on the practices and achievement towards building a more inclusive Twitter community and workplace in 2016.
Click here to read the full post.
Announced a New Explore Tab
On January 26th, Twitter announced “Explore”. A tab that will contain all best trending topics, moments, live video and search.
Read more about Twitter Explore here.
Twitter Discloses Two NSLs
On January 27th, Twitter published a post talking about their dissatisfaction with their right to speak more freely about national security requests that they might receive.
Instagram Updates January 2017
Business Insights and Ads in Stories
On January 11th, Instagram announced that they are bringing Insights and Ads to Instagram Stories.
- Business profiles will now be able to see – reach, impressions, replies and exits for each story they publish;
- And businesses will soon be able to create full screen ads in stories;
Read more about the Instagram announcement here.
Live Stories – Now Available Globally
On January 24th, Instagram announced that Live Stories are now available globally.
Snapchat Updates January 2017
Snapchat made some changes in the design of the app with the latest app update. However, it is nothing too ground-breaking.
YouTube Updates January 2017
New Section in the YouTube Trending Tab
On January 11th, YouTube announced a new section in the Trending tab, dedicated to discover up-and-coming creators and artists on YouTube.
Read more about the new “On The Rise” section here.
Introducing Super Chat
On January 12th, introduced a new “Super Chat” tool to help creators and fans to connect easily during live streams.
Read more about YouTube Super Chat here.
LinkedIn Updates January 2017
LinkedIn Desktop Redesign
On January 19th, LinkedIn announced a new desktop redesign.
Read more about LinkedIn’s Desktop Redesign here.
Pinterest Updates January 2017
Making Related Pins Even More Relevant
On January 12th, Pinterest announced that they will start applying deep learning to identify related pins.
Read more about the logic behind it on Pinterests’ engineering blog.
Introducing Ad Groups
On January 17th, Pinterest announced that they are rolling out an update on the Pinterest Ad structure, similar to the one of Facebook.
Click here to read more about Pinterest Ad Groups.
The 2016 Transparency Report
On January 25th, Pinterest published their yearly transparency report.
Pinterests Video Platform
On January 27th, Pinterest published a summary of how their video platform works in the Pinterest Engineering blog.
Feeling well informed? Don’t forget to also check out:
and stay tuned for next month’s entry.
