23 Nov 3 Changes in Social Media We’re Thankful for This Year
Congratulations, everyone! We’ve almost made it to the end of 2016. It’s certainly been an … interesting … year. This holds true for the world of social media, also. (Except in this case I mean ‘interesting’ in the most genuine of ways.)
Given how fast social media moves, looking back on a year in this landscape is like looking back 10 years in traditional marketing spaces. There have been some major changes to the industry and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’re going to recap the three changes in social media that we’re most thankful for this year.
1. Twitter Loosening Up the Reins on Character Counts
The announcement from Twitter that they would stop counting media attachments as 23 characters and that @mentions wouldn’t be included in the character count for a reply was a biggie. Community Managers like myself reacted kind of like this…
Why was this so great, you may ask? Because when you’re doing customer service on a channel that maxes out at 140 characters and you have to include a username, link, and language from your company’s legal department in your response, sh*t gets real. These loosened rules help ensure customers get the best experience possible, while also not straying too far from Twitter’s point of differentiation … their character limit. So for this, we are VERY thankful.
2. Facebook Reactions Launching
When Facebook announced Reactions, we weren’t sure how this was going to go. Would people use the angry reaction for ads? Would people know how to use them at all? Would I accidentally hit “Love” on my ex-boyfriend’s post while stalking his Facebook profile and cause chaos? The whole thing was unsettling. However, much to our delight, Reactions have actually been a great way to see the sentiment on a post that we otherwise would have to get via a social listening tool. Not to say that it’s a perfect gauge, because an angry reaction isn’t always a bad thing depending on what you’re posting. Reactions help truly give insight to what your fans are thinking and feeling- and that, my friends, is what social is all about. It’s emotion and storytelling. Reactions have given us a way to see how our fans are feeling without having the ask them.
3. On-Demand Geofilters on Snapchat
If you go to an event and there isn’t a custom geofilter on Snapchat, did it even really happen? This year, Snapchat made it much simpler (thankfully!) to submit your request and design for a custom geofilter. Before the process was opened up, it was nearly impossible to create a geofilter if you weren’t a brand paying big bucks. Snapchat realized this was a missed opportunity and made it much easier, allowing users the ability to create custom geofilters for all occasions and landmarks. While it’s still costly for brands to utilize, it did make it much nicer for individuals. Now, go forth and geofilter!
Overall, in the sea of social media changes this year, we’re the most thankful for Twitter giving us a break, Facebook letting us react properly, and Snapchat allowing us to make any event “official.” There are plenty of other changes that happened this year, like Facebook Live and Instagram Stories.
Tell us- what changes in social media are you thankful for?
