The week in social: Snap Inc., Meerkat closes down, and YouTube Go

Snapchat changes its name to Snap Inc.

Some of the biggest news of the week came from Snapchat. The ephemeral messaging platform has renamed its company to Snap Inc., and additionally to the change, they have introduced their first hardware product, Spectacles. Spectacles are glasses that have camera technology built directly into them, that allow users to record video clips, sending the clips to Snapchat straight from Bluetooth or WiFi. The video is transferred in a new format called circular video.

Periscope VIP program coming soon

Periscope is rolling out a VIP program for some of the platform’s top broadcasters, as a way of thanking them for their contributions. Benefits of the platform include ways to help grow audiences, collaborate with user users more easily, and identification as a VIP broadcaster. Periscope is planning to roll the program out in the next couple of weeks, and users will be able to apply to be a Bronze, Silver, or Gold VIP broadcaster.

More information on Periscope Blog.

Twitter adds more options for conversion ads

Earlier this week, Twitter introduced a new website conversion ad type, released in beta. The goal is to give direct response marketers on Twitter. In addition, the website clicks unit is being renamed to website visits to reflect the exact objective it achieves. Twitter also notes that this will help for marketers who have visitors to their website, as the website conversion ad does a 2.5x better job at driving conversion than website visit ads.

Meerkat shuts down

Meerkat was removed from the iOS app store earlier this week, as CEO of Life on Air, Ben Rubin announced the shut down of the app on Twitter. As Life on Air looks to pivot, it has released a new application for group video chatting called House Party. Meerkat was forced out of market in response to competitive effort from Periscope, run by Twitter, and the launch of Facebook Live.

Snapchat reaches 60 million daily users

Reaching a new milestone, it was reported this week that Snapchat reached 60 million daily active users, combined for both the United States and Canada. This number represents a third of Facebook’s total daily active audience. Platforms that compete with Snapchat such as Facebook and Twitter, gain the highest revenue per user in these markets, and it is likely to be the case for Snapchat as well, although these numbers have not been revealed.

More information on Bloomberg.

Facebook at Work launching next month

The office and work-focused companion to Facebook, Facebook at Work is launching next month, a source confirmed to TechCrunch this past Tuesday. Facebook at Work will be charged on a “per monthly active user” rate, as a way of only charging companies when users are properly engaged with the platform. Facebook at Work will offer work feeds, messaging, and groups, similar to features on the consumer platform. Audio and video calling options will be part of the messaging component. Exact pricing and release date have not been announced yet.

Facebook testing product tagging

As a potential new feature for admins of Facebook Pages that sell products, Facebook is testing product tagging. When clicked, tags will be able to lead to a shop or product catalog section. Tags will be available to be added into posts, photos, and video. There is no official word on a wider release.

More information on Social Times.

YouTube releases YouTube Go

As YouTube seeks to expand its usability in different regions, including those with weaker digital signals, Google has released YouTube Go. The premise is for the app to address four key concepts; making it relatable for users by providing suggested content, being offline first, so its easier for people to use with little or no connection, cost effective, so it reduces data usage and charges for users, and social, in that it connects users to people and content that are important to them. The application also includes a preview feature which will show what a user can expect from downloading or viewing a video before they go all in. The app will be rolled out slowly over the next few in key markets with wider availability at the beginning of the year.

More information on Google Blog.

Twitter Moments is now available to all users

Twitter Moments, a feature meant to help curate Twitter content around particular events, is now open for all users. Previously, Twitter Moments creation was limited to the company itself and key users. The feature gathers links to stories, photo content, video content, and posts on the specified subject. Twitter announced the news through a Tweet last Wednesday.

Facebook reaches 4 million advertisers

Facebook has announced that they boast over 4 million advertisers globally, with 70% of these coming from outside of the United States. In addition to this, now over 60 million businesses are using Pages across the world. As part of the announcement from Facebook, several other key milestones were announced; including Southeast Asia being the fastest growing advertising region, and more than 20 percent of active advertisers used video ads, one of Facebook’s newer ad formats.

More information on Social Times.