This week, Snapchat reported that they had surpassed six billion daily views on Snapchat – an incredible growth for the yellow ghost who was sitting at just two billion daily views in May.
It seems as Snapchat’s reinvigorated platform including the impressive face skin feature has been effective, seeing it become on of the giants in photo and video sharing. In the space of a few months, thanks to new features rolled out one after the other, Snapchat has become the promised land for users and more importantly, brands.
Snapchat Reaches 6 Billion Daily Videos Views, Tripling From 2 Billion In May https://t.co/F42YOWsxw2 by @lucas_matney
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 9, 2015
On Thursday, fellow Social Media giants Facebook released Notify, a push notification news app. With Notify, you can customise your alerts through over 70 publishers and be informed about items interesting to you. Thanks to Notify, Facebook could rival Twitter as a real-time information service.
For the moment, like all big developments ie Twitter Moments, Notify is only currently available in the US but it can’t be too far away from our shores.
Facebook's new push notification app Notify could be the next Twitter alternative https://t.co/KMENdlJYD1
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 11, 2015
Also on Thursday, Google launched a new app to explore music videos on YouTube: YouTube Music.
This app allows access to users to any content (remixes, concert videos etc) of any artist. You can also create your personal playlists and get recommendations.
YouTube Music is free providing you are a YouTube Red customer (which is currently $10/month in the US), It signals big competition for the likes of Apple Music and Spotify with the subscription including access to features like offline listening and the ability to switch between the video and audio version.
With YouTube Music, Google will look to trump the big music streaming services through the unique content found on YouTube like covers and live performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwj1qFPnhow
Google launches YouTube Music, a new app for discovering music videos https://t.co/KpIEJDUZ9B pic.twitter.com/VcuvnmnkpE
— Mashable (@mashable) November 12, 2015
It’s been a big week for Facebook who in addition to announcing Notify also launched its assault on the virtual reality landscape with their 360-degree videos. To use the feature you have to be an iPhone and Samsung Gear VR user. Then, you can explore videos in full 360-degree motion. This new function is similar to Google Cardboard feature on YouTube.
Facebook brings 360-degree videos to iPhone and Gear VR https://t.co/JrLzhojj8W pic.twitter.com/QqpxIzwavN
— Mashable (@mashable) November 12, 2015
To conclude our look at the week in Social Media, Taco Bell rolled out an original campaign: #TacoEmojiEngine. The concept is simple. Taco Bell invites followers to tweet a taco emoji with any other emoji to its Twitter account. Then, the follower receives a personalised gif or photo with both emojis.
The campaign has proved to be a good way for Taco Bell to improve its fan engagement and illustrate its creativity. Surfing on emojis fad, this campaign was inevitably a success.
🌮🌮 What's #TacoEmojiEngine? Tweet us a 🌮 + any other emoji to find out. 🌮🌮 pic.twitter.com/tioahCA0WC
— Taco Bell (@tacobell) November 9, 2015