Digital Industry Highlights: August 2016
If you’re just joining us, welcome to the second installment of L.A. Connect’s monthly rundown of the latest and greatest from the digital space. Tune in each month for updates on social media, content, and other digital innovations that affect our work as PR professionals.
This past month, Instagram took a few pages out of the Snapchat book, but in the words of Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, “This isn’t about who invented something. This is about a format, and how you take it to a network and put your own spin on it.”
And though the Olympics are over, we are definitely not done talking about them. It was an interesting Game, for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is watching how an event that occurs every four years tries to keep up with technology and trends that change almost by the day.
Remember, you could be featured! If you or your clients are taking advantage of the latest in digital trends and innovations, tell us about it using the contact information listed at bottom of the page.
Instagram Learns a New Trick
You may have noticed a small yet very consequential change to your Instagram feed. That little bar at the top is Instagram Stories: temporary compilations of photos and videos created by accounts you follow. Sound familiar? It should – it’s pretty similar to Snapchat’s feature, which also happens to be named Stories.
And while the initial consensus was an automatic irrational disdain for the feature (no one likes a copycat), opinions quickly began to shift. While Insta Stories don’t have Snapchat’s flagship feature, Lenses, they do include filters, drawing and text functions. Stories also let you post more frequently without “over-posting” and filling up your permanent profile with unworthy content, and the content gets placed right at the top of your feed where you can’t miss it. But it is important to note that the Story list order is generated by an algorithm, just like your regular feed, meaning it is not purely chronological.
Where brands are concerned, Stories are a new way to produce timely content on a platform that’s more established/understood/accepted than Snapchat, but that content will experience the same placement setbacks due to the Insta algorithm. Many are already loving it.
And Another One
Another feature new to Instagram is not so new to Snapchat: content from major live events. Events, which is housed under the Explore section of the app, showcases videos from events like concerts and sports games.
One unique and cool factor? Instagram Events are curated by an algorithm just like the rest of its content. Whereas some find the lack of chronology on the general feed annoying, with Explore and Events, you’ll be served content suggestions more likely to interest you.
The feature does not currently allow ads or sponsored events, so brands that want to stand out will probably need to offer a special perspective like an actual view from the ground, or a sponsorship at the event itself.
The Olympics Tries to Keep Up
And they’re not alone. With viewership dropping heavily in recent years, the Games, the network and pretty much everyone else involved were really trying to boost the numbers for Rio.
NBC partnered with Snapchat AND Buzzfeed to produce behind-the-scenes content for the NBC Rio Discover channel. But while they expanded their own social sharing, the International Olympic Committee was cracking down on everyone else, implementing strict rules, especially for brands.
Brand sponsors like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Visa, but especially Samsung and Nissan, capitalized on social media buzz during the Games, the New York Times launched two-way text coverage to keep people updated in a new interactive way.
Are you, or is your client leading the way through digital? Tell us about it and your work could be featured in our next issue. Send submissions to editor@prsala.org.
