The week in social: Snapchat ads, Instagram comments, and Vimeo Business

Snapchat adds new ad targeting options

In effort to be more competitive with other paid social options, Snapchat has introduced several new ways to target users for advertising on its platform. Among these include email addresses, advertising identifiers attached to a user’s device, and interest based targeting. The new targeting options are called Snap Audience Match, Lookalikes, and Snapchat Lifestyle Categories. The company previously took a stance against user data driven ad targeting, but it is shifting this view likely as it seems to generate more revenue from advertisers on the platform who want more precise targeting.

More information on Marketing Land.

Instagram makes comment moderation more widely available

As a way to help users combat spam or abuse on photos, Instagram is more widely introducing its option to filter comments by keyword. Within the comments section of user options, it is now possible to select “hide inappropriate comments”, based on a default list of words that users have previously flagged. Underneath this option, users can also add their own words that they wish to block, mostly for use if they are the target of specific words. Kevin Systrom, founder of Instagram, notes in a blog post that tools are not the only solution to the problem, but that the platform is committed to making Instagram a safe place for content creation.

Users can now be notified when someone goes live on Twitter

Similar to how Facebook has prioritized notifictions for when Pages and users go Live on the platform, Twitter has introduced a notification that users can receive that will let them know users they follow are using Live video on Periscope. The news was announced via a tweet, accompanying a short GIF that shows how to activate the notification type.

More information on Twitter.

Pinterest makes it easier to advertise with Promote buttons on Pins

Seeking to reduce the time it takes for potential marketers to set up a Pinterest paid campaign, the platform earlier this week introduced a “Promote” button for every pin that is created on a US user’s account. With this new option, Pinterest says that it is possible to get started marketing on the platform in 9 seconds. In addition to this new option, the company also created a quick reference guide to give know-how to potential marketers on the platform.

Twitter adds customer service options for brand profiles

Earlier this week, new features became available to help businesses let customers and users know how to get in touch with customer service. Business are now able to note that they provide support, and that information appears above the brand’s handle when users search for it. In addition, businesses can stipulate when they are responsive, information that appears on the profile of the business. Lastly, the business can provide a more direct button to tap to let users send a direct message for more immediate support.

More information on Twitter Blog.

Tumblr introduces new Explore tab

Tumblr has built and introduced a new Explore tab, as a way of helping users discover more content. The tab is active on iOS and Android versions of the mobile application. The explore tab also comes with the introduction of recommended Tumblrs, which are shown to users based on who they are currently following and frequently engage with. In addition, there has been the introduction of trending topics, which highlight the 10 most discussed topics on the platform, and users will also be able to follow the topics and receive content as part of the regular feed.

More information on Social Times.

Facebook updates Messenger with advertising and more features

The introduction of Facebook Messenger v1.2 comes with a host of additional features. First among these is mobile link click ads that drive users to messenger bots. A brand can create one of these ads, and then when the user clicks it, they are introduced into the Messenger app and the bot that the brand has set up. In addition, Facebook is making it easier to share messages from bots using a single click within the app, and the option to share a bot’s profile also still exists. Lastly, for developers, Facebook is also developed an enhanced mobile web view experience, with more details provided within the Facebook Developers Blog.

More information on Facebook Newsroom.

Vimeo launches an official business solution

Vimeo has introduced a brand new business plan, a subscription service simply named Vimeo Business. It comes at a cost of $599 USD per year, and among the features available to users will include CTAs for email capture, unlimited bandwidth, additional tracking for performance analysis, team collaboration tools, and more. Subscribers also have 5TB of space to store video content they create.

More information on VentureBeat.

Instagram adds more more direct calls to action in its advertising

Instagram has introduced four new solutions to help users find more information about the brands they are interested in, in response to ads they are shown, taking the form of different “learn more” prompts. When a user shows “interest” in an ad, by tapping somewhere on the post, or hovering on the ad, a “learn more” prompt will appear. Also, when a user taps into an advertiser’s profile from the ad, a CTA button will appear on the bottom of the profile. Next, any information that Instagram detects as available from the ad will be added to the call to action. Lastly, for a video ad, if a user un-mutes the video, they will be taken to a destination URL experience, where the video will continue to play, but underneath, the user can experience more about the brand.

Twitter officially changing its 140 character restrictions

In order to help users get the most out of Twitter, the platform is cutting down what sorts of media count towards the 140 character count. Previously, things like photo and videos would take up 20 or more characters when posted within a tweet, but starting September 19th, this will no longer count, as well GIFs, polls, and any other items considered part of media documents. In addition, when usernames are included at the start of a post, they also will not count towards character limit. Initial plans to do this were first announced by the company back in May.

More information on The Verge.