social media round up
Social Media Round Up – Virtual Reality, Counting Calories And A Moment Of Twitter Genius
Virtual Reality (VR) has had some sputtering false-starts in the last 25 years. We have memories of dragging our parents to the Trocadero to sport neck-breakingly heavy headgear standing on tiny platforms, “wandering” through a pixelated landscape at a glacial pace as the digital surroundings crunched and whirred into vision. Facebook’s Occulus Rift headset has yet to capture the mainstream imagination with as few as 400,000 sold globally last year, but that might be set to change with the launch of its newest iteration, Occulus Go. The lighter and cheaper headset is set to go on sale next year for $199 with the aim of convincing a billion people to leave this reality for a virtual alternative. Mark Zuckerberg has said that Facebook plans to invest billions in VR in the coming years to broaden the content available for consumers. Another area that the social network is actively exploring is working much closer with businesses to use the advantages of VR in selling their wares to customers, with virtual test-drives of products and experiences to convince them to part with their cash for the real-world equivalent. How many sweet treats do you burn on your morning commute? Well you won’t be getting the answer from Googlemaps. In a recent unsuccessful test on iOS devices, the search giant introduced calorie counts to show users just how much they could burn if they walked from A to B. Critics have voiced their concerns, with many feeling upset with Google for dishing out unwanted health advice. Much of the feedback was based around the awareness of the knock on mental effects these sort of calorie counters can have on those suffering with weight issues, with calorie counting being an extremely common part of anorexia nervosa. While the decision to remove the feature from Googlemaps was based around a large amount of user feedback, you will still be able to work towards that dessert at dinner on apps like Citymapper and Route Genius. An unusual star was trending on Twitter this week – former CIA employee Lulu. Lulu the Labrador was a sniffer dog, who was less than interested in sniffing out explosives and was dropped from the CIA training programme after a few weeks. Whilst the CIA doggy cadets undergo rigorous training, learning to sniff out 19,000 explosive scents, Lulu was more interested in chilling and sleeping than searching and learning. The reaction on Twitter was great. Lulu fans called for her to be given a break and some even suggested she was a secret agent! There’s a nice end to the story. Lulu, has now found a new home with fellow pooch Harry. To the comms team that came up with that, we salute you!VIRTUAL REALITY CHECK_
COUNTING CUPCAKES_
LAID BACK LULU TAKES A BREAK_
KENTUCKY FRIED BLUEBIRD_
