The week in social: Tweets on Google, Multi-product ads, and Instagram loops

59% of Internet users in Canada are on Facebook

Nearly 6 out of every ten Internet users in Canada are on Facebook, and nearly half of that number is accessing the service on a daily basis, according to a report from Forum Research. Large percentages also use other social services based on the report from January 2015, including 30% on LinkedIn, 25% on Twitter, and 16% on Instagram. Percentage of daily usage cascades down in a similar fashion, with 47% of users accessing Facebook daily, and lower percentages for the other networks. The report goes on to estimate that nearly 20 million people in Canada will access a social network in 2015.

Twitter opening research and design center in India

Starting in the key hub city of Bangalore, Twitter is opening a research and design facility aimed at expanding its presence in foreign markets. This is the first facility of its kind outside of the United States, and the announcement comes on the heels of acquisition of Indian mobile start-up ZipDial for $40m. Dick Costolo, CEO, is coming under increasing pressure to reserve the slow-down of active user growth on the network, and to position the company as an affective tool for brand advertisers to reach their audience, and expanding into international territory is part of the company’s overall strategy.

More information on Financial Times.

YouTube introduces camera angle choices

A new experimental feature that launched earlier this week from YouTube, the service is letting users choose from multiple camera angles when viewing content. It currently only works for a single piece of content, a musical performance, but it allows the user to choose what angle they are watching the performance from by selecting from a series of thumbnails on the right of the video feed. This potentially makes streaming events more dynamic for the viewers as they can focus on the part of the action they want to see, but it remains to be seen if it will see wider adoption.

71% of people check social media sites during work meetings

In a recent poll of 1,000 office employes done by LondonOffices.com, it was found that 71% admitted to checking social media sites during work meetings, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, primarily on their mobile devices. 28% said that they catch up on live events using Twitter, and 10% said that they look at more than one social network during a meeting. Interesting, the vast majority, 99%, said it was not acceptable to play games on mobile devices during meetings. Out of all reasons for using mobile devices in these scenarios, boredom was cited as the number one reason.

More information on Social Times.

Tweets to start appearing in Google search results

Google and Twitter have reached a deal earlier this week to start showing tweets in real time as part of Google search results for the first time since 2011. The purpose of the move is to increase interest in Twitter and show results from the network that Internet users may not otherwise see. Google will now have access to the entire set of Twitter data and posts to serve as search results where relevant. Data licensing may potentially be part of the deal according to Bloomberg, but there is not said to be any revenue sharing from the tweets appearing in search results.

More information on BuzzFeed.

Facebook introduces new tools for advertisers

Facebook this past week has just introduced new tools for advertisers, specifically multi-product ads, and an enhanced Custom Audiences feature that integrates retargeting options. Multi-product ads is the biggest shift, as these now work similar to scrolling billboards, in that advertisers can show a number of different products in a single ad the rotates copy and visuals. The new custom audience features allow users to be targeted based on what websites they have visited or have not yet visited, within a specific timeframe. Previously, this option was only available on Facebook Exchange (FBX) and other third party services.

Twitter offers small businesses quick promote option

This past Wednesday, Twitter introduced a new feature to allow advertisers to promote their content more quickly than using the native ads platform and setting up a promoted tweet. Quick Promote allows advertisers to choose a tweet to highlight, and it will automatically be promoted to users who have similar interests to the account that is promoting the tweet. Users just have to open the analytics dashboard, choose a tweet, and set a budget, all other targeting information is optimized by Twitter. Twitter says that users who see promoted tweets are 32% more likely to engage with that brand.

Twitter releases Q4 earnings report and statistics

Twitter reported its Q4 earnings this past week, and its regular user growth has slowed down quite a bit, with users being reported at 288 million, and increase of only 4 million from the previous quarter. This is troubling news for the company as this is only about 20% of the total audience that visits Facebook on a monthly basis. The number is also less growth than the company has experienced in quarters of previous years, and even under the projections of analysts who expected 291 million regular users. In terms of earnings, Twitter has actually had a strong quarter, likely due to the large number of new tools available for advertisers, reporting $479 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 97% from a year ago in Q4.

More information on The New York Times.

Tumblr introduces new content filter

Tumblr has introduced a new content filter that allows users to search for content by type in order to make archived content easier to seek out. Filters include text, photos, quote, link, and more. Previously users had to search by the month of publishing. In order to access the feature, users have to hover over an Avatar for the account they are searching, and select “Archive”, where they will be given the filter menu.

Facebook updates Mentions app for public figures

As a new feature to Facebook Mentions, public figures or celebrities are now able to share directly to Instagram and Twitter, as well as add topics to the Mention feed. The updates were announced via a Facebook Media blog post by Allison Swope, product manager. Currently there are over 2 billion interactions between public figures and fans every single week.

Twitter tests syndication of promoted tweets

Building on the fact that tweets can be seamlessly integrated across different mediums, from website feeds to TV scrolls and mobile apps, Twitter has begun testing promoted tweets across these platforms. Flipboard and Yahoo! Japan are the first two engaged in the trial and the partnership opportunity enables promoted ads to reach a larger audience on third-party platforms. Twitter believes this product will enable marketers to produce large-scale, rich and well-targeted campaigns across multiple platforms.

More information on Twitter Blog.

Instagram video introduces loop feature

Taking a note from the competition, Instagram has introduced video looping across iOS and Android platforms to their list of capabilities. The update plays to advertisers – ensuring that content is viewed by users – but unlike Vine does not incorporate a counter to indicate views. Looping is not set to impact the app’s data usage and embedded forms of Instagram video are also said to incorporate the feature.