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The week in social: Insta Novels, Giphy Stories, and Pokémon

27 Aug 2018 Majed Alnahwi

NYPL DIGITIZES CLASSIC NOVELS FOR INSTAGRAM STORIES

Love books? Love Instagram Stories? Well, great news! Earlier this week, the New York Public Library launched “Insta Novels”, a digitized version of a novel that features animated illustrations by visual artists. The first novel released was Alice in Wonderland and over the next few months, the NYPL will release digital versions of The Yellow Wallpaper and The Metamorphosis. Each release will be collected as Highlights and can be viewed anytime. The idea to leverage Instagram Stories for this purpose is clever and original; it also makes classic literature more accessible.

GIPHY LAUNCHES ITS OWN VERSION OF STORIES

Add Giphy to the ever growing list of social network mediums with a “Stories” feature. Giphy launched their take on the popular storytelling format on both desktop and mobile versions of their site. The update was also featured prominently on their homepage this week and content will include categories like Sports, Entertainment, and Reactions. Giphy plans on opening up Stories to Partners & Artists later this year so that they can create and distribute their own content.

END-TO-END ENCRYPTION NOW AVAILABLE ON SKYPE

Following their announcement of a preview in January, the new Private Conversations feature is now available for all users across all platforms. The new feature includes end-to-end encryption and content will be hidden in both the chat list and notifications. Skype now joins Apple’s iMessage, Facebook’s Messenger, and WhatsApp as chat platforms that offer end-to-end encryption. With sentiment around privacy in technology currently at one of its lowest points as recent scandals plague some of the world’s largest tech firms, providing more a more secure product will help alleviate some of those pains moving forward.

ADIDAS PARTNERS WITH TWITTER TO STREAM FOOTBALL

The world of sports continues its positive embrace of technology, across all areas of the sector. The integration of social media and live-streaming of sporting events has picked up with Facebook’s streaming of UEFA Champions League football matches being the biggest example in recent years. Adidas recently announced its partnership with Twitter to live-stream 8 high school football games. Adidas and Twitter are both key parts of the high school football experience and this partnership will elevate that experience for fans of the game.

FACEBOOK BANS ITS FIRST APP SINCE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has been working hard to fix its image. Among many of the key changes the company has implemented in the aftermath of the scandal, Facebook has undertaken a large-scale audit of the apps it hosts on its platform. It announced last week that it had banned myPersonality as the app failed to abide to Facebook’s audit request as well as improper data controls and protections. In addition to this ban, Facebook has also suspended over 400 other apps for various policy infractions.

TWITCH TO LIVESTREAM POKEMON, ALLOW VIEWERS TO “CATCH” BADGES

Twitch is partnering with the Pokémon company to stream the entire Pokémon TV series as well as movies. This is similar to binge fests Twitch has hosted previously with one exception: there will be an engagement aspect to the live-stream. Twitch will launch an extension called “Twitch Presents: Pokémon Badge Collector”; the overlay will accompany the broadcast and allow viewers to collect Pokémon badges that appear on screen for points. Twitch looks to expand its audience beyond just gamers. The strategy is necessary as the competitive landscape for online streaming continues to heat up.