The Week in Social: Superzoom, Sets, and 4K video

Instagram gives users a +1 on their live streams

Everyone’s favorite photo sharing app is following in the footsteps of its parent company, Facebook, by letting its users add a friend to their live streams. Good news for the app’s 800 million users, the feature means the chance to be even more social on social. It allows people who are streaming a video to add anyone who’s watching at that moment by clicking the “add” button in the corner of the screen. The person then joins in a separate window. For now, the feature only allows users to add one person at a time, and that person can also be removed and then replaced with another.

Facebook gets on the 4K-video bandwagon

It might be seven years behind YouTube, but Facebook is finally testing 4K video for its regular videos. The social network confirmed that it’s testing Ultra-High-Resolution video uploads, and that some Facebook pages and profiles can now post and watch 4K videos. Facebook already supports 4K resolutions in its live 360 videos, and the push to higher resolution makes sense considering Facebook’s foray into original content with more than two dozen original shows coming to the Watch tab.

WhatsApp to let users un-send messages

If you’ve ever accidentally sent the wrong text to the wrong person (or even worse – a parent), you’ll be happy to know that WhatsApp has introduced a feature that will let its more than 1 billion users effectively Ctrl+Z their texts after sending them. The feature is still rolling out, so not everyone has it, but it allows those who do the opportunity to delete messages after seven minutes after sending them, replacing them with a “this message was deleted” message. The catch, for now, is that all conversation participants must have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on their device.

Facebook takes a turn for the Pinterest

Facebook is testing a new feature that lets its users share their different interests with different friends. Called Sets, it lets users select things like status updates, photos, or videos and share them as a themed collection to everyone or to specific friends (eg: a wedding planning Set to share with your significant other, a vacation Set of memories with your family, or a fashion Set to show off your style). The company has been testing ways to compete more directly with Pinterest for years, and this new offering is no different. When asked about the feature, Facebook provided the following statement: “We’re testing a way for people to create sets of specific posts, photos, and videos for just the friends that want to follow along.”

Instagram’s new Superzoom feature has users feeling dramatic

Ten years after super-meme “Dramatic Chipmunk” captivated the internet, Instagram has released a feature in its honor. Superzoom rolled out this week on Android and iOS, and it lets users create Dramatic Chipmunk-style zoom with a single tap. Complete with dramatic music to heighten its effect, the feature lives in the Stories section and can be used with front- or rear-facing camera. Single tap captures are three seconds long and users can tap and hold to create a longer one… depending on the drama of the moment… dun dun dunnnnnnnn.

Facebook adds new tools to maximize business’ holiday campaigns

With the holidays (and all the advertising that comes with them) officially upon us, Facebook has introduced two new tools to help advertisers “find the creative that fits best in each placement based on performance, and then easily assign different version of your ad to each environment it’s running in.” The first feature is Dynamic Creative, which lets advertisers learn what creative works best with each audience and placement, and the second is Asset Customization, which delivers ads that flow naturally in each environment. Together, the tools “will help you streamline your holiday campaign and optimize your ad spend.”