social media round up

Social Media Round Up – Harry Potter Turns 20 And Facebook Enters Tv Market

#HARRYPOTTER20_

Fans of Harry Potter have taken to social media in their thousands to celebrate 20 years since the first book was published. More than 60,000 tweets were generated in the first 24 hours and #HarryPotter20has been trending around the globe. People tweeted quotes, favourite memories, thanks to JK Rowling, gifs and memes.

To coincide with the anniversary Twitter has a new emoji of Harry’s iconic glasses and his lightning bolt scar, Facebook has introduced a new Easter egg special effect so when users write a house name it appears in that colour and of course, there is a Snapchat filter to mark the occasion.

It’s ten points to Gryffindor from us!

BRITS FOOLED BY FAKE TESCO FACEBOOK PAGE_

Last week thousands were fooled by a fake Tesco social media page. While the Facebook page ‘Tesco – Promo’ looked completely legitimate with the Tesco logo as the profile picture, it was actually a fake page posting false promotional offers. The offers asked followers to click on a link which then asked for personal details leading to fraudulent activity. When one Facebook user tried to warn others about the fraudulent page, it was simply blocked by the people running it. The link has now been removed, however, ‘Tesco – Promo’ page still remains on Facebook.

While many are aware of the dangers of online predators and fraudsters, it can be easy to be fooled by a well-managed brand page with the correct logo and details. The official Tesco Facebook page can be recognised by the blue ‘verified’ tick.

FACEBOOK TAKING ON NETFLIX AND AMAZON PRIME_

Facebook has had a real focus on video content recently by upping its live stream capacity to introduce the live-story feature. Aiming to compete with streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, it has been reported that Facebook is in talks with Hollywood studios to produce original content to be released on the social media site as soon as late summer 2017. Targeting audiences between the ages of 13 and 34, two shows; ‘Strangers’ and ‘Last State Standing’, a relationship drama and game show respectively, have already been lined up. Sports, gaming and reality television will be the focus, with a possible budget of up to $3m per episode.

WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY, AND NOBODY CARES!_

A jolly good piece of PR from Aviva this week shows that 73 per cent of Facebook users do not want to see their friends’ holiday pictures in their feeds. Most galling were photos of legs on the beach with the question, ‘hotdogs or legs?’ – we just couldn’t care less apparently. Even so, the research showed that while we might not be able to take it, we can certainly dish it out, with 77 per cent of us posting holiday snaps on social media. Our holiday advice: take a break, switch off the social media and relax… after all, if you spend your well-earned week away with your head in your phone, think of what you might be missing.