social media round up
Social Media Round Up – Instagram Notification Confusion
In the wonderful world of Snapchat this week, we have seen social media integrate even more into everyday life when it was revealed that an American university is now notifying students they have been accepted using the photo sharing app. A social media specialist from the university said ‘students love Snapchat…aside from the immediacy, it also makes for a more interactive process’. It has also been announced that the app has launched prescription lenses for its wearable product, Snapchat Spectacles. Further blurring the lines between virtual reality and the real world, the prescription lenses start from $99 and allow you to post directly to the app. We are keeping our eyes peeled for what’s next…perhaps Snapchat contact lenses… This week it was mistakenly reported that Instagram was planning to start alerting its users when someone took a screenshot of their posts. This inaccurate report was actually met with much praise as images being ‘stolen’ and shared on other accounts claiming them as their handiwork is rife on the platform. However, where the confusion appears to have arisen is that notifications only occur when a screenshot is taken of a post within the Stories function, and it’s the screenshotter, rather than the screenshottee (these are real words, promise) who receives the notification. The new function is not an image theft prevention feature but is in fact a new way for users to share images with other users as messages. Our favourite story this week was the heart-warming tale of social media to the rescue after a dad embarked on a search for some little blue Tommee Tippee cups. Marc Carter’s autistic son Ben only drinks out of these specific cups, and when the brand announced they would be discontinued, Mr. Carter launched a Twitter appeal to find more. The plea was retweeted more than 12,000 times and people across the globe rallied to support by sending Marc all the cups they had. Tommee Tippee has also promised to send the family 500 cups after scouring its factories high and low. The power of social media won this week! In this week’s ‘the internet is a strange place’ award, we have two bizarre considerations. First up, the new online video trend – babies crying…in slow motion. Yep. Shooting a video in slow motion, especially using Snapchat’s dedicated filter, makes the sound of the wails far more entertaining with an effect worthy of a budget horror movie. (Nope, we don’t get it either). In a close second place for strange online finds this week… There are plenty of very niche Instagram accounts out there we’ve discovered one that takes its narrowed focus to another level. @maccas.sunsetsdescribes itself as “golden arches and golden sunsets”. All images feature the iconic McDonalds signage bathed in a glorious sunset glow. #sunset might bring up over 100m tagged photos on Instagram but we’re not sure how big a hit this particular feed will be.A CHIEF SNAPCHAT OFFICER?_
INSTAGRAM NOTIFICATION CONFUSION_
RAISE A CUP!_
THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WEB_
