Ltap Research: May 2016

Friday, May 27, 2016

Here's why investors are throwing money at Snapchat

Eugene Kim

More Charts

Snapchat raised an additional $1.81 billion in funding, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.

That means the messaging app has raised over $2.6 billion since its founding in 2011. That's a lot of money, given Snapchat only generated $59 million in revenue last year, according to TechCrunch.

One reason why investors are throwing money at Snapchat may be due to its robust daily active user growth. This chart by Statista, based on numbers reported by TechCrunch, shows Snapchat hit 110 million daily active users by December 2015. That's a whopping 50%-plus year-over-year growth every quarter for at least the past two years.

7 New Twitter Features You May Have Missed

Written by Meghan Keaney Anderson | @meghkeaney

In an industry fixated on rapid growth, any slowdown in user acquisition or monitization sounds alarms. And Twitter, whether it likes it or not, has been sounding a lot of them lately.

Not only is it facing stagnant monthly active user growth, but the revenue generated from those users has disappointed a market accustomed to steady tech progression. In the face of a negative narrative, the company has been quick to take action and has focused predominantly on changes geared toward the user.

Over the last six months, Twitter has made a collection of changes, small and big, to drive user engagement and improve the overall onboarding and experience of the platform.

We know how tough it can be to keep up with these types of updates, which is why we put together a handful of the more notable features and changes below. Marketers, take note.

7 New Twitter Features You May Have Missed

1) The 140-Character Count Loophole

As far as debates go, Twitter's 140-character limit is about as contentious as the oxford comma. Some say the character limit on tweets is essential to Twitter's identity. It secures Twitter in place as one of the fastest available ways for ideas to spread. Others are ready to see it lifted, arguing that removing the 140-character cap would open Twitter up for a new and engaging range of content and possibly new users. One area where the pain of the character cap is particularly sharp is in adding media to your tweets.

By default, media links can take up 23 characters in a tweet, which is about 16% of your allotted characters. No small portion. That said, images are a boon for interactivity on your tweets: HubSpot conducted a study and found that tweets with images resulted in 18% more clickthroughs and 150% more retweets.

Image Credit: HubSpot & MDM

This week Twitter announced that soon media (e.g., images, polls, videos) attached to tweets will no longer count against your 140-character count. The same rule would apply to the @handle when replying to someone else's tweet.

This update makes a couple of changes to the way replies and retweets are handled. Users will no longer have to add a character prior to a reply -- for example, ".@meghkeaney" -- to ensure their reply is seen by all followers. Not to mention, users will be able to retweet their own content if they want to add a thought to a previous post.

2) Accessible Images

Back in October, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made a public appeal to developers to submit ideas for product enhancements:

One of the ideas generated out of that invitation focused on making Twitter more accessible to users who are visually impaired. In other words, people using Twitter's iOS and Android apps can now add alt text descriptions to images within tweets. Websites have long used alt text to help visually impaired visitors understand the messages conveyed by images using assistive technology like a screen reader or Braille display.

Accessible images has to be set up at the user level, a drawback for it gaining mass adoption, but it's easy enough to set up. In an Android or iOS device, go to your Twitter settings (the gear icon) and follow these steps:

Tap Accessibility.
Next to Compose image descriptions, turn that feature on.
From there, when you add an image to your tweet just tap Add description to insert descriptive text.

Adding accessibility may seem like a win for a small population, but it's a best practice across the board for businesses and organizations looking to grow their audience and do the right thing.

3) The Connect Tab

In the early days of Twitter a friend who had just joined told me she didn't get it. She had followed a bunch of news organizations and recommended accounts but it just felt like a news ticker to her.

"When does this get interesting?" she asked.

It was only when I sent her a custom list of people to follow whom I knew she'd like that the value started appearing. If Twitter wants to expand its user base -- as a world of investors keep telling them they must -- it needs to make it easier to get to that first moment of value.

This May, Twitter took the hint and reimagined the experience of finding people to follow. They released the Connect tab, a new feature that allows you to scan your contacts for people to follow and provides custom recommendations based on your location, activity, existing follower profile, and major interest accounts.

Image Credit: Twitter

Lizzy Plaugic, news editor at The Verge, calls this a smart move for Twitter: "If you're one of Twitter's many users who only follows 30 random kids you went to high school with, your timeline is probably stagnant and uninteresting," she says. "By bumping up the number of people you follow, Twitter is hoping to make your feed something you actually want to look at."

4) 'Go Live' Button for Periscope

Facebook has bet big on live streaming video, giving it its own tab in the mobile app and prioritizing live streams within the newsfeed. As a result of this and the natural appeal of the feature, live streaming videos see 10x the engagement on Facebook as other posts.

Twitter, which acquired Periscope last year, has been slower to prioritize this type of format. All signs point to that changing however. Beginning with Android phones, (see Android fans, sometimes you get things first) a small percentage of users will begin to see a "go live" button when they compose tweets. This button connects to Periscope and enables users to broadcast directly through Twitter.

This feature expands the content types marketers and content creators have to play with. Instead of having a "Tweetstorm" or a complicated Twitter Q&A, user can use live streaming to compile and publish longer form thoughts and responses. This also keeps the clutter down on Twitter feeds and can garner engagement in a live -- and arguably more compelling -- video format.

The ability to quickly go live is important for Twitter. In a recent earnings statement, the company explained: "We’re focused on what Twitter does best: live. Twitter is live: live commentary, live connections, live conversations. Whether it’s breaking news, entertainment, sports, or everyday topics, hearing about and watching a live event unfold is the fastest way to understand the power of Twitter."

5) Native GIF Search

Even though this list isn't weighted for significance, it took real willpower not to place this at number one. As someone whose reliance on GIFs is beyond description, this feature release was a big one for me. In 2015, people shared more than 100 million GIFs on Twitter. When you think about the steps it previously took to share an animated image on Twitter, that number is even more impressive.

Previously you had to leave Twitter, search for the appropriate GIF on any number of GIF search engines, save that image, go back to Twitter, recompose your tweet, and finally, upload the image. Today, with Twitter's new GIF feature, you just click a button and conduct the search there. No saving or uploading needed.

Image Credit: Twitter

(By the way, if you like GIFs, I highly recommend this post by my colleague. It's a fascinating history and analysis on why exactly GIFs became so popular.)

6) The Switch to Uncropped Photos

Twitter may have started as a text-based platform, but images are the source of some of its top engagement. That's why the news that Twitter had adjusted its image size requirements to not force-crop most images came with such praise. The resulting experience means that Twitter is more visual and engaging right off the bat. See the before and after shots provided by Twitter below:

Image Credit: Twitter

Along with the uncropped photo update, Twitter also introduced a new view for multi-photo displays. This update allows users to see even more of the individual photos included in a collage.

Image Credit: Twitter

7) Increased Anti-harassment Features

One of the most serious complaints against Twitter is how easily harassment can spread and exacerbate on the network. Historically, tweets aimed at threatening or scaring individuals on Twitter have gone unfettered and caused a number of users to delete their accounts or even fear for their safety. In the last six months, Twitter has begun to respond to harassment and threats on the network with a series of features and services aimed a keeping people safe. These additions include:

Clearer definition of abusive behavior in the platform's terms of service
Stronger functionality for blocking, muting, and reporting abuse
The launch of the Twitter Safety Center and the Trust and Safety Council

These updates are critical to ensuring Twitter stays a welcoming place for all users. In aleaked memo last year, former Twitter CEO Dick Costello underscored the importance of this move, saying:

I'm frankly ashamed of how poorly we've dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. It's absurd. There's no excuse for it. I take full responsibility for not being more aggressive on this front. It's nobody else's fault but mine, and it's embarrassing.

We're going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them. Everybody on the leadership team knows this is vital."

In all the punditry on the current and future state of Twitter, most of the narrative to this point has focused on the competition. Twitter's response, however, has been largely focused on its users. While some of these updates may seem small, in aggregate they signal a move to a much more intuitive user experience, fed largely by user feedback. Time will tell if this focus on fan-favorite features amounts to a measurable increase in usage and revenue.

#SocialSkim: Twitter's 140+ Character Limit (Finally!)

After months of speculation, Twitter officially changed the anatomy of tweets to give brands and users more room to express themselves, and Facebook updated Facebook Live by introducing continuous streaming and the ability for users skip to the good parts.

Also this week: the possibility of pay-to-boost reach posts on Instagram, Foursquare's latest chatbot that doesn't chat, and the latest growth figures for social media around the world.

Skim for better social skills!

Twitter finally loosens restrictive rules

The social network Tuesday confirmed the much-rumored loosening of its 140-character limit, changing how brands and users will construct tweets when the changes roll out in the coming weeks.

Essentially, the changes mean…

Media attachments and @reply usernames will no longer count toward the 140-character limit.
Users will be able to retweet themselves.
Tweets that begin with an @ will be sent to all of your followers, not just the designated user (no more need to add a period before!).

The shift is a big one for Twitter, but brands beware: Make sure you're using the extra space to write creative copy, post compelling images and GIFs, and respond to clients with useful information. Otherwise, an extra 17% of (non-compelling) text in user's feeds that as a result of the change might push your consumers away.

1. Facebook introduces extended live streaming and new way to skip to the best parts

Facebook Live got a few updates this week, and with them comes the possibility of round-the-clock puppy cams from which we won't be able to turn away.

Broadcasters are no longer limited to 90 minutes, and they can now maintain continuous streams, opening the door to multi-hour videos, fixed camera set-ups, and even full conferences or entire sports matches.

Streamers can also now make a video visible to users in a certain location, and use "engagement graphs," which let viewers skip to more exciting parts of live streams. The downside? Continuous streams can't be saved for later viewing, as the server strain would prove too costly for the social network. Yes, even Facebook has limits.

2. Instagram's code reveals possible pay-for-boost posts, new features for businesses

Before it introduces business profiles, a peek at the social network's code by the head of innovation at social media agency Social Chain gives us a glimpse at possible future features for brands to take advantage of on the platform.

The most significant of clues, "can_boost_post," hints at the possibility for brands (and maybe normal users) to pay to boost their posts' reach across the picture-sharing network. Instagram's owner, Facebook, just recently introduced a similar capability, so it makes perfect sense for the social behemoth to expand the feature to Instagram.

3. Foursquare launches a chatbot that doesn't chat

Foursquare takes the cake for confusing news of the week with the introduction of experimental iOS app, Marsbot. It's built to provide contextually aware recommendations of places to eat and go out before users ask, so you're probably thinking, "Oh, another chatbot." Except this one doesn't talk back.

Users can't ask questions the way they can with Facebook's chatbots, since Marsbot's goal is to give recommendations of where to go based on a user's location and where the user normally ventures.

Despite the differences, the company is smart to experiment in the bot craze, considering that various companies are already trying to push Foursquare aside.

4. Social media video ad spending ramping up quickly

Facebook introduced autoplay video ads in 2014, and the rest of the social sphere quickly followed suit. A survey in February from RBC Capital Markets and Advertising Age found that 57% of US marketers were likely to purchase Facebook autoplay video ads in the next six months, and a separate study from Nanigans found that spending on Facebook mobile video ads increased 26%.

Facebook was second behind Google and YouTube among properties that marketers said they plan to use for digital video advertising, according to an Advertiser Perceptions December 2015 study.

The tide is turning as consumers spend more time on feed-based social networks and become more comfortable watching video on mobile devices.

Today, 53%, 37%, and 33% of young adult Internet users watching video on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, respectively. That means that those social networks now rank fourth, fifth, and sixth behind YouTube, Netflix, and cable television in terms of where these young adults watch video!

5. Buy buttons aren't working on Instagram or Pinterest. Here's why.

It may be a while before social media becomes a driver of sales or customer acquisition. Instagram and Pinterest both introduced shoppable features last summer, but they've yet to produce stellar results. Brands and analysts say the sheer volume of content on the platforms means little visibility for individual pieces of content (and, therefore, products).

Another reason is that the intersection between what users want to buy on Pinterest and what's available to buy on the platform is tiny, with the most popular pins being un-shoppable.

Surprisingly, online beauty sample company Birchbox is more bullish on Snapchat, claiming the network lets it create a bond with users and gather feedback in a way not possible on Instagram or Pinterest. Snapchat doesn't have any click-to-buy features yet, but with only 13-14% of social media users interested in shoppable pins or Instagram buy buttons, it might not take much for Snapchat to pull ahead.

6. Snapchat update brings new world of possibilities with stickers

No longer will you bore your clients by using the same old emoji time and again. This week's Snapchat update had the messaging app bringing the same stickers it introduced with Chat 2.0 to your photo and video snaps.

We've now got a whole new range of possibilities before us. Note that there's no searchable feature yet, meaning it might take a while to find the right sticker. But go ahead, go crazy!

7. Facebook says no bias found in Trending Topics investigation, vows changes anyway

The leading social network announced Monday that no systematic political bias had been unconvered in its internal investigation after a former employee accused the company of suppressing conservative media stories form its Trending Topics section.

Facebook's general counsel said although the analysis reveals virtually identical rates of approval for conservative and liberal topics, the investigation could not rule out unintentional bias.

Facebook gave reviewers refresher training on making content decisions, said the review team would be subject to more oversight and controls, and told the world that the company will no longer rely on lists of external websites and news outlets to determine the importance of topics.

8. Social media enormous globally, but growth is slowing

Social media is certainly still growing worldwide, and it's obviously here to stay, but business must stay on top of social growth figures to adapt online marketing strategies accordingly. The stats of the last year give us some key takeaways to consider:

Facebook takes the cake: It boasts 1.55 billion users among the world's 2.1 billion people with social media accounts.
Twitter is behind more than you probably think: It comes in at number four behind YouTube, Instagram, and, yes, even Google+ in the number of active users.
Active-user growth is down: It grew only 9.3% this year, down from 12.5% last year.
Pinterest is on a roll: The social network grew by 81 million users over the year, which accounts for the majority of its 100 million users! Keep an eye on this one.

9. Instagram video carousel ads now available to all!

The ad format, which contains up to five elements (photos and videos alike) are now available to all advertisers on the platform.

The ads can be created through Facebook's Ad Manager, Power Editor, or marketing application programming interface (API) to run seamlessly on both social networks. Each ad is capped at 60 seconds.

10. Five steps to a stellar online reputation

In today's 24/7 cutthroat world of social media and review sites, your brand's online reputation can make or break your business—driving sales through the roof or shuttering your doors more quickly than you'd imagined possible.

Developing a strong online rep takes time, but its rewards of a stronger customer base and increased revenue can't be ignored. From "intercepting" negative reviews before they're posted, to all of the best practices for responding immediately to comments, check out these five keys to building a strong online reputation.

11. We'll wrap with how Chinese officials fake over 488 million social media posts per year

Distraction is the new censorship. That's the case in China at least, where the government now fabricates 488 million social media posts per year—the equivalent of Twitter's global tweet volume per day—to distract its citizens from controversial issues that might otherwise become a bigger headache for the government.

The study, led by Harvard's department of government, explains that the fake posts are crafted to look like they come from ordinary citizens. They don't step up to defend state policies and government officials, but instead avoid controversial topics altogether.

The report concludes that the practice enables the government to "actively control public opinion without having to censor as much as they might otherwise." Scary stuff...