The Week in Social: Custom filters, livestreams, and voice analytics

Snapchat: geo-filters made easy

Snapchat introduced custom geo-filters a year ago. At that time, creating a filter required logging into Snapchat’s web tool to get images and traits set up. This week, Snapchat added the feature directly into the Snapchat app. Looking to create a memorable custom filter for the weekend? Open your app and go to Settings. Select “On-Demand Geofilters”, and get your creative game on. Plan ahead, Snapchat reserves 24 hours to approve a filter before it goes live.

2 Billion monthly users

Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that Facebook has crossed the 2 Billion monthly users mark. Media company or not, Facebook is the most ubiquitous social platform on the planet. This comes a week after Facebook announced a new manifesto for positive community. The available audience guarantees a healthy revenue stream. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to watch how Facebook balances their desire for ad dollars with building an ethical community.

Twitter gets more exclusive livestreams

Twitter is not backing away from their livestream strategy. While the company penned exclusive deals with the NFL and Wimbledon last year, those ventures could be seen as mere market tests. This year, Twitter is going all in with similar content deals across news, entertainment, and sports. Keep an eye on the deals moving forward. Twitter’s contract for Wimbledon last year was with ESPN. This year, the contract is directly with The All England Club. New network, anyone?

Previews: The Championships - Wimbledon 2017

Facebook producing original series

Cord cutting is on the rise, while Netflix and Amazon are winning Emmy Awards. Firmly entrenched in the battle for video relevance, Facebook is producing its own original content. The social giant is reportedly creating new shows near a budget of $3 million per episode. In addition, Facebook is resurrecting shows cancelled by major networks. Facebook has never had a pay for content model, therefore expect the shows to be 100% ad driven.

The Next Web

Facebook’s New Metrics

More transparency. A better understanding of performance. Facebook is promising to answer the market’s demands for both with a new set of metrics rolling out in the coming months. The new features will include how often users land on a brand’s mobile page, how often a brand is previewed, and how often a page is recommended from one user to another.

A new brain for messenger

Messenger’s AI bot ‘M’ got an upgrade this week. M has been growing since last April by reading your chats and offering assistance as it parses out what you’re talking about. If you’re chatting about a meeting, it might offer to set a reminder. If someone you frequently chat with sends a link, M might offer to save it for you. The deeper impact of M’s suggestions lies in how it integrates brands and services. When you ask someone where you should eat, can local restaurant’s buy M’s recommendation?

Voice analytics

Overheard in the office last week, “Alexa! Never play this song again!” Voice control is the way of the future, which means Apple, Google, and Amazon are going to swing hard to provide the best experiences. Unfortunately, interpreting user journeys from hundreds of thousands of conversations is an extremely daunting task. Enter, Adobe’s voice analytics system. The AI-powered system promises to help interpret user intent and outcome at scale to help brands build better experiences.

Voice search ad placement?

The model is straight forward. If I own a coffee shop, I’m going to want to buy Alexa’s preference in my area. If a user is near me, my shop should be recommended for inquiries containing: coffee, latte, cappuccino, espresso, fair trade, free wifi, pastries, Starbucks, Costa, Peets, and Nero. This model guarantees to obliterate user trust. While voice search advertising is being hyped, smarter companies are focused on improving consumer experience, rather than monetizing their platforms.

Instagram testing Favorites

The dynamics of your social circle may be getting a little stir from Instagram. The still-in-testing Favorites feature will enable you to create a sub-group of the people that follow you. You can then share posts that are only visible to that group. When a follower sees that content in their feed, it will have an icon indicating that you’re in their Favorite group.

Facebook Fighting the Spam

Facebook wants to help with your friend who has the over-posting problem. Along with measures to cut back fake news, and eliminate hate speech, Facebook is weeding out content from individual spammers. If you have a friend who posts more than 50 times a day, the odds are that the content is poor quality, click-bait, or misinformation. Facebook is looking to remove posts like these to generate a little more signal, and a little less noise.