The week in social: Twitter shares, YouTube rights, and FICO scores

Twitter’s CEO gives 1/3 of his shares back to employees

Two weeks ago, recently re-appointed CEO Jack Dorsey laid off 8% of Twitter’s workforce. This week, Dorsey committed 1/3 of his company shares (about 1% of the company) back to the social channel giant’s employees. Beyond the PR and morale benefits, the move is being seen as a personal commitment to the success of Twitter, and a serious value to the employees if Twitters trajectory remains on the upswing.

Burberry’s catalog shoot on Snapchat

Burberry will publish its Spring 2016 catalog in January of the coming year. Fans and followers on Snapchat, got a free preview this week, when the brand covered the catalog shoot on Snapchat. Fashion brands remain eager to embrace new technology to keep vibrant and relevant with their target audiences. Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s CCO/CEO, cemented Burberry’s desire to stay up front, “We have to innovate all the time to drive fashion forward and I think this is just part of it.”

Tweeting from apps takes a step forward

Over the years, the barriers for tweeting natively from within applications have slowly dissolved. Twitter, app developers, and marketers have sought to help bring tweeting from within apps to popularity by addressing three things: provide a distinct value for sharing from within an app, minimize/remove the effort level for sharing, and instill confidence in the user that sharing from the app is safe.

Twitter made a huge step forward with the latter two elements by introducing the ability for apps to preview the shared text from within an app, and the ability for the app developer to provide an install link that will go with the shared Tweet.

Twitter Polls for everyone!

Should I wear sneaks or oxfords tomorrow? Should I dress as The Dude or The Most Interesting Man for halloween? Should I have the fish or the chicken? You may now unburden yourself from life’s toughest questions, as Twitter has opened up its poll functionality to all. Anyone can now post a A/B poll from the native Twitter client. Polls remain active for 24 hours, and individual votes remain anonymous. Will brands take hold of this new functionality to deepen their connection with their audiences?

Twitter & Vine profiles combine

Twitter and Vine have been inseparable since the beginning, and the channels have finally decided to take the next big step. You may now link your Twitter and Vine profiles on each respective platform. Other users can find your Vine account by searching for your Twitter handle, and your identity on each can be shared as part of your profile page.

YouTube Red already seeing content revolt

YouTube Red will require partner contributors to agree to a new deal that enables payment from a subscription model (rather than a share of ad revenue). YouTube states that those that do not agree will have their content removed, and Tech Crunch reports that ESPN has already removed content in the wake of the announcement.

Users have clamored for an ad-free option from YouTube for some months. Few saw this option being paired with a policy that could so drastically alter how indy content creators and giant media outlets generate revenue alongside each other. YouTube’s viability for small channel producers will remain in question for some time.

Engagement and user patterns

AppLift produced a new infographic showing how consumers interact with Media & Entertainment apps. Among the data insights: music apps saw the greatest increase in usage, news apps are most popularly consumed in the morning commute hours, and push notifications dramatically increase app launches.

Instagram trumps FB for engagement

In September, Instagram was credited with 699 million engagements, while Facebook trailed behind with roughly 666 million likes/comments/shares/dislikes. 156 million engagements came from National Geographic alone, as the company continues its reign as king of the Instagram mountain. Buzzfeed has dramatically increased its production effort in video and food across all channels, giving it the most improved engagements from August to September.

Star Wars: the tweets were strong with this one

The third (and reportedly final) trailer for the next Star Wars filmed debuted last Monday during NFL half time. As a new benchmark for pop-culture success, the trailer generated a conversation rate of 17,000 tweets-per-minute, peaking at 390 thousand conversations Monday Night alone. To throw in with the fans, Twitter has announced a series of emojis available to accompany the ongoing buzz.

Your social profile could affect your FICO credit score

Creditors are early adopters when it comes to tools for assessing consumer credit worthiness. The Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) has announced that they are looking at “alternative sources” to enhance their industry standard tools. These sources include smartphone records, and information volunteered on social profiles. For now, if you have a loan interview on Monday, don’t post that you were ‘wasted’ on Friday.