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THE WEEK IN SOCIAL: FACEBOOK LIVE, VINE CAMERA, AND YOUTUBE A.D.D.

09 Jan 2017 Cassandra Megraw

Facebook still reeeeeally wants us to watch Live video

There’s no rock to big enough to shelter anyone living under it from last year’s Facebook Live phenomenon. The ever-prevalent social media platform has been pushing the feature hard since its launch in February of 2016, and it’s still finding new ways to flog it today. The latest push prompts select users from around the world to watch Live broadcasts via an autoplay window that pops up in the bottom right of the Facebook app. This recent feature shows videos from Facebook connections or pages the user may follow.

Facebook quietly adds automatic subtitling for Page videos

Facebook has launched a free, automatic video captioning tool to all US English Facebook Pages. Its voice recognition means Page owners uploading videos have an easier (and quicker) time editing and approving the subtitles suggested to them. Part of Facebook’s plan to help Pages adapt to the silent-until-clicked auto-play format, this feature will become even smarter with time, as more and more Page admins make edits to their video subtitles. Facebook hasn’t commented on whether the feature will eventually be available to all users.

Vine is out but Vine Camera is (almost) in

First Twitter told us that it was shutting down its stand-alone Vine video app, then it said it’d be replaced by app Vine Camera. Now it’s unveiled it’ll all be going down on Jan 17.

In true 140-character style, the social network recently tweeted the announcement, warning users to get in and download all their Vines before the date. Vine Camera will let users create 6.5 second looping videos and share them to Twitter or save them to their phones. To transfer followers, both Vine and Twitter accounts must be public and linked in users’ settings. Vine has also added an FAQ page with all the need-to-knows.

Twitter getting ready to Livestream early round PGA Tour tournament play

Twitter is holding strong on its livestreaming game, promising early round PGA Tour tournament action to its users as part of a partnership between the two companies. Livestreams will tee off with the CareerBuilder challenge on Jan. 19 and continue all through August at PGATourLive.twitter.com and @PGATOUR. The partnership also promises more highlight videos and original content for Twitter and Periscope.

Study shows most millennials only watch YouTube ads till they can skip them

Millennials may have been the earliest adopters of the YouTube platform, buuuut it turns out they are not as into the ads. While UBS Evidence Lab has found that 54% of 18 – 34-year-olds visit YouTube at least once every day, 59% of them only watch ads until they can skip past them, and 11% use ad blockers (though other research has found this number to be higher). Surprisingly though, 29% of respondents reported watching YouTube ads all the way through.

Facebook Live peaks as 2016 wraps up

It was a happy new year indeed for Facebook, as its Facebook Live baby had the biggest night of its young life. On the night, millions of users around the world used Facebook Live to broadcast their celebrations, breaking records and making it the biggest night since launch. The US, Europe and Mexico were the most enthusiastic users, followed by the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.