So-Called Social: Week of February 11

Your weekly dose of social news.

Oh, Friday. I’ve been waiting for you for (what feels like) a long time. This week in social land, some fresh Insta news, cute Valentine’s Day stuffs we did, Barbie is an influencer (?), and more. Read on.

Social nets update stuff

For the first time ever, Twitter has revealed its number of daily users. Previously only sharing monthly numbers, the site reported that it has 126 million “monetizable” daily active users. Twitter claims that this figure is not comparable to numbers from other companies, who share a more expansive metric (Snapchat reports 186 million, FB rolling in at 1.5 billion). Twitter, like Facebook, has been on a mission to eliminate fraudulent accounts and bad actors on the platform. This no doubt is shrinking its monthly active user stats, and the company plans to stop reporting that figure.

Instagram DM’s are coming to a desktop near you. Facebook announced this week that businesses will now be able to receive and respond to Instagram messages from their Facebook page inbox. Oooo. The change will begin to roll out in the U.S. and Brazil in the coming weeks. This comes as yet another move Facebook has made to unify its family of apps. Additionally, news has spread that Instagram is internally testing a web version of IG Direct messaging that will let users chat without the mobile app. Messages drive massive engagement on Instagram, so a web version would likely elevate this even further.

More fresh Insta-news! Instagram announced that IGTV previews will now begin showing up in users’ main feeds. One minute previews of new videos from those you follow will appear in-feed, and a tap will take you to IGTV. The company has been continuously pushing IGTV into its main app since June, including featuring videos in the Explore tab, alerting users with notification banners for new videos, and allowing users to add IGTV previews to their own Stories. IG with an emphasis on the TV.

Eyes have been closely watching video on LinkedIn, and this week the social network took a step forward in the medium. LinkedIn is (finally) launching live video, giving people and organizations the ability broadcast real-time video to select groups or the broader LinkedIn audience. In the coming weeks, the “Linkedin Live” beta will be invite only within the U.S., but there will also be a contact form for those who want to get in on the action. On LinkedIn, live video could mean unique monetization opportunities beyond ads, such as potentially charging users for viewing access to conferences or exclusive company events.

Adobe does stuff

Our Brand channels were spreading the love this Valentine’s Day will some good ol’ dad jokes. Sharing Adobe Valentine puns on Instagram Stories, Twitter, and Facebook, we encouraged followers to send, share, and tag messages to their Valentines, spreading sentiments like “I can’t hide this Layer. I’m crazy for you.”

The Adobe Spark and Adobe Education teams are taking creativity to new heights… literally. The teams have partnered with NASA OPSPARC missions, a national student competition that ignites creative thinking. Students in the 3rd through 12th grades choose between 3 different missions that use NASA research and Adobe Spark to solve new problems for a chance to visit NASA’s Goddard Space Center and meet scientists and astronauts during workshops.

Other brands do stuff

Financial help products like Quickbooks and TurboTax may not be the most inspiring, but Intuit is changing that attitude with their new brand campaign. The company released a 60 second animated film about a female entrepreneur who uses Intuit’s ecosystem of products to grow her design business and help her dreams become reality. This is the second film of the campaign, the first gaining over 21 million views on YouTube.

Fresh off of his Superbowl success, Mr. Peanut is back again. This time, he’s landed a date with love expert and media personality Dr. Ruth. Through Valentine’s Day, people had the opportunity to tweet questions on romance to @MrPeanut using #AskDrRuth. The campaign resulted in quite the video. Watch for yourself.

Interesting stuff

Life in plastic, it’s fantastic. It seems that Barbie has found her true calling: influencer. Having been around for 60 years, Barbie’s brand has struggled to keep up with the evolving roles and ideas surrounding women in our culture. Now it seems that with a YouTube vlog and Instagram following of almost 2 million, Barbie fits the influencer role quite well. Attending NYFW, staying at 5-star hotels, and traveling around the world, Barbie is living. the. life. It seems to be working, as last year Mattel reported Barbie’s fourth straight quarter of growth.

Word on the street is that Facebook is interested in cryptocurrency. The company’s recent acquisition of a team from a blockchain startup has sparked conversation on how this could affect marketing and advertising on the platform. Possibly affecting payments, gaming developers, or disinformation efforts, only time will tell what sort of impact blockchain could have. Hmmm.

As expectations around customer experience rise, brands are looking for ways to break through the notification overload and email clutter. Messaging apps might just be the way to do that. Offering a platform to exchange both transactional and promotional content, messaging apps have the potential to empower brands to create an interactive experience for their customer, ultimately cultivating brand loyalty and engagement.

A recent study by Sprout Social found that 91% of people believe social media can successfully connect people, and 78% want brands to do their part in making this happen. Consumers expect transparency from brands, and feel strongly connected when brands discuss industry topics, trends, and social responsibility initiatives that resonate with them. Brands understanding where their corporate beliefs align with their audience’s beliefs = major.

Fun stuff

Cookie Monster held an AMA on Reddit and it’s pretty fantastic.

James Corden does “Tyding Up” with Jean Claude van Damme and yeah, he breaks everything.

But how will he get out of that maze of roses?