Pinterest shortcuts, Instagram live face filters and hashtags birthday

Social Media Essentials: 6 platform updates from this week

Find out what happened in social media this week with these six platform updates to help inform your social media strategy.

Spotlight story: Snapchat adds 14 ‘Creative Partners’

Last week Snap Announced that they have taken on 14 new ad Creative Partners. They have introduced these partners to help build more engaging Ads that will deliver a strong ROI for their customers. They said the following:

These new partners represent the best in video, cinemagraph, and gif creation; game and playable ad development; lead generation and data capture; interactive and 360 video players; mobile couponing and more

Snapchat believes these new Creative Partners will help enhance the post-swipe-up experience on ads. As well as encouraging users to click through instead of quickly swiping, allowing users to interact more with the landing page.Find out more about the update.

Instagram adds face filters to live video

Instagram has made face filters available for live video streaming through the app. You can now use face filters on photos, video and live video. All the existing face filters are available for live video, but there’s also a new one that’s exclusively limited to use with live streaming. The rollout began last week but it could take several weeks for it to make its way to all users globally, Instagram says.

Facebook let you launch Instagram from in its app

Facebook has made it easier for users to access Instagram directly from within the Facebook app. Facebook will be rolling out a new addition its main navigation menu on mobile linking to your Instagram account. Although a minor change, I think this is a good way to link the two apps without having to leave the app and lose users to other platforms.

New Pinterest shortcuts

Pinterest has introduced a few new shortcuts to make it easier to save and share Pins from your iPad or iPhone. Now you can save Pins to Pinterest just by dragging and dropping. When you find an image you want to save, simply drag and drop it to your board to save it automatically. They also announced 'soon you’ll be able to drag Pins and boards out of Pinterest and into other apps—like iMessage—so you can easily send ideas to your friends'. Find all the new shortcuts here.

Twitters celebrates the hashtags 10th birthday

Last week Twitter celebrated the hashtags 10th birthday and looked back at how it became one of the most recognized symbols of our generation. It all started in 2007 with this tweet:

how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?

— ⌗ChrisMessina (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007

After one mans suggestion to use hashtags to create groups linked to tweets, it eventually caught on. The hashtag has dramatically evolved since then and is now used to group Tweets, discuss global issues and voice opinions. Twitter said:

Using hashtags on Twitter, people worldwide have made this platform their microphone, shaped culture, and changed the world.Combined with the power and influence of Twitter, the hashtag empowers everyone to see what’s happening in the world and what people are talking about. It allows people from all over the planet to share their voice and join global conversations. When something happens in the world, it happens on Twitter.

We all love a hashtag but are you using them right? In this post, I look at how many hashtags you should be using and which ones are best to help you expand your reach beyond your followers.

YouTube introduces fan sponsorships to gaming

YouTube has rolled out a new sponsorship program that allows gamers to earn money and connect with fans through their YouTube Gaming channel. Fans can now purchase digital goods directly from a channel or send recurring monthly payments of $4.99 (US). YouTube announced in return these sponsors will get 'cool insider perks, such as a custom badge for live chat that will help them stand out from the crowd and custom emoji. These badges and emoji are designed by you for your fans. As you gain more sponsors, you will unlock more emoji to be used on your channel'. The new YouTube Gaming sponsorships are now available to all eligible creators on the YouTube Gaming app.