The week in social: Yahoo Livetext, Facebook profile tags and self destructing emails

Facebook native videos outperform YouTube, Instagram

In a recent study conducted by Locowise, 555 video-posting Facebook pages were analyzed during June to see their video-posting habits. Out of these Facebook pages, 96.4 percent of all videos posted were native Facebook videos, while YouTube accounted for 3.5 percent and Instagram only .018 percent. Native Facebook videos also trumped YouTube and Instagram in terms of video performance. Facebook native videos received an engagement rate that was 97 percent higher than YouTube and 75 percent higher than Instagram.

AdEspresso launches Facebook Ads gallery

Facebook marketing partner AdEspresso announced its new tool, the Facebook Ads Gallery. The tool provides inspiration for advertisers by showcasing successful campaigns, a feature that will help businesses of all sizes grow. As of now there are over 1,500 ad examples living in the gallery. Advertisers can search for keywords, placement examples, verticals and objectives. Over 12,000 searches were conducted in one day. Top objectives searched included Sales, Lead Generation and Mobile App Installs.

Pandora introduces sponsored listening

Users wanting to listen to their favorite music without being interrupted by ads now have an alternative to subscribing to Pandora One. Pandora’s Sponsored Listening feature asks users to engage with an ad in exchange for one hour of uninterrupted music. The ad, ranging from 15 seconds to 2 and a half minutes, will require the users to interact with rich media, ensuring they pay more careful attention to the ad content. Pandora’s Sponsored Listening trial period saw a 12 percent higher brand awareness and 30 percent purchase intent.

Twitter introduces minor updates for iOS app

Twitter’s new update to iOS now includes options that give users a more seamless experience while using their devices. Users will now be able to favorite or reply to tweets while using other apps. In addition to this, saved drafts will be more readily available when crafting messages.

Facebook to test profile tagging

Facebook will be testing a new profile tagging feature, which will allow its users to assert tags to their profiles or friends’ profiles. Tags will serve as a way to describe oneself or hobbies, such as “thinker,” or “graphic artist,” however users can also use any free-form tag they desire. Friends can “like” one another’s tags, which will cause tags to appear in order of the number of likes they received.

Dmail lets users retract emails

Dmail is a new app that allows users to retract emails they have regretfully sent. The app can be downloaded as an extension for Gmail and the Google Chrome browser. Once downloaded, Dmail will be placed into e-mails with the option of retracting e-mails after they have been sent. The app does have a drawback in that in order for it to work effectively, the recipient of the email must also have the Dmail extension in their browser and Gmail. Nonetheless, those guilty of sending an accidental email may be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Yahoo unveils new messaging app Livetext

Yahoo has launched its new app, Livetext, a messaging service that offers a unique way to communicate with friends and family. Users can send text messages during a video call, however the video will be muted. With the removal of audio Yahoo hopes to focus on real-time reactions and convenient communication while targeting young users. Livetext will offer similar features of other popular messaging services. For instance, there is no time limit for Livetext conversations and users can chat with friends using front or back-facing cameras. In the same vein as Snapchat, Livetext will also not save sent messages. Livetext is now available for download on the App Store.

Periscope introduces mute feature

Twitter’s live-streaming app Periscope has introduced a mute feature. The newly added mute button prevents users from being inundated with push notifications from excessive streamers. The update will ultimately help Periscope users quiet the incoming noise on the app while making their experience more user-friendly. Language preferences can also now be selected with the new update.

Facebook testing Buy & Sell button

Facebook is introducing its first e-commerce functionality – a new Buy & Sell button. The feature is currently being tested in Auckland, New Zealand and will direct its users to a page where they can view available items for sale in their area. The “Buy” button will allow transactions to happen instantly and can also unlock inventory data. The introduction of social selling on Facebook may very well open up the doors to large retailers and ultimately change the Facebook experience for businesses, shoppers and marketers alike.

Amazon Prime Music comes to the UK

Amazon announced that its Prime Music streaming service will now be available for UK members. Paying Prime members will be offered one million tracks. The update gives current members a valuable perk to their membership while offering prospective members a reason to join the service. Though not quite on the same level as Spotify or Apple Music, at £79 Prime Music does undercut more expensive services. Prime Music libraries will also be based off of the listening habits of its UK members. The streaming service will be available for Android and iOS as well as through the browser and Amazon’s Fire tablets and smartphone.

Twitter cracks down on plagiarism

Twitter is enforcing copyright rules to crack down on plagiarized posts, including jokes. Twitter will erase or hide tweets that have been stolen from their original poster, also known as the copyright holder. The policing of tweets comes after 25,000 Millennium Copyright Act notices reported last year and the well-known trolling issues that occur frequently on the platform.

Snapchat is fastest growing social network

It’s no secret that Snapchat has been one of the fastest growing social networks of the last few years. Now in its fourth year Snapchat has an estimated 200 million monthly active users and 100 million daily active users. These numbers alone put Snapchat ahead of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in terms of four-year-growth comparisons for each network. Interestingly enough, while Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have all generated significant revenue, Snapchat remains at $0 in revenue.