social media round up

Social Media Round Up – New Furry Friends And A Deliberate Facebook Failure?

FACEBOOK MODERATORS_

With the evolution of social media, people all over the world now have the ability to post live content on the likes of Facebook and Instagram, allowing others to watch your every move. Although the live streaming feature works well for brands when hosting events and Q&As with celebrities, the platforms (like everything else) can also be misused.

Over the past few weeks there have been a number of cases where people have taken to Facebook’s live streaming service to live stream devastating events to millions of people which caused the home affairs committee to demand social platforms to pay for investigations into crimes on their network.

In response, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced that he will employ 3,000 moderators to review violent and illegal content posted to the platform. Zuckerberg also plans to make it easier for users to report videos and vows to work more closely with the police on issues. Well done Facebook!

 

FACEBOOK STORIES – FAILURE OR DELIBERATE SABOTAGE?_

As the most recent platform to jump on the ‘Stories’ disappearing content wagon, all’s not going quite so well for Facebook’s version. While the near carbon copy on Instagram has been a roaring success since its introduction in August last year, the feature remains largely unused on Facebook. This is a tough failure to bury quietly as the feature sits right at the top of the Facebook app, noticeably idle.

Mashable has a theory that this could be a deliberate act by the social media giant to water down the feature and push young upstart, Snapchat out of the market. A little cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face but not completely unrealistic. As the biggest and most established of the social media giants thoughts are that Facebook can afford to make moves like this. And with reports this week that WhatsApp Status (another Snapchat clone by a Facebook-owned outlet) has 175 million users, more daily users than the original disappearing content platform, the strategy might just be working.

 

FURRY FRIENDS GO VIRAL_

This week saw not one but two celebrity animals going viral. Constable Eliot, the New Zealand Police Guinea Pig, found internet stardom when adorable images and videos of him wearing a mini police uniform and hat emerged online. The famed Guinea pig’s purpose is to inform people about the importance of safe driving and reminding them that “kids are going to be out and about walking and biking, crossing roads. Like me, they are small and unpredictable, so you have to watch out”. Already, the post of Constable Elliot on the New Zealand Police Force’s Facebook page has generated more than 10,400 likes and been shared over 2,200 times.

Another fury friend (one who is maybe less responsible than good old constable Elliot) is Uncle Fatty. As his fame started to grow with tourists in Thailand feeding him on the streets, so did his stomach, resulting in the macaque now weighing 33lb – that’s more than double what the scales should read. Photos of the obese monkey appeared online of him gorging on tourists’ food including sugary treats and milkshakes and it has since been announced that uncle fatty will be going on a strict diet!

IT’S A KNOCKOUT_

Last weekend Anthony Joshua beat legendary heavy weight boxer Wladimir Klitschko in an 11 round epic fight to become the unified heavyweight champion. The victory bought him to the forefront of boxing and mainstream media and the sudden surge in popularity was reflected on social media.

Joshua shared live posts from Wembley where the fight took place, including a thank you to fans from in the ring after the fight which has had almost 3.7 million views so far. The boxer’s follower figure has also jumped by 25 per cent following the fight.