Wimbledon launches first autoplaying Twitter video

Wimbledon, in association with its sponsor Stella Artois, tweeted the brand’s first Twitter Auto Amplify video last week.

The footage is of Nicolas Mahut and John Inser’s mammoth three-day battle from 2000, the final set of which ended 70-68.

Twitter Auto Amplify is basically a programmatic way for advertisers to sell pre-roll video ads against videos uploaded to Twitter as promoted tweets.

Twitter introduces product and place pages

Twitter is testing a new way to surface and organise relevant Tweets about products and places on dedicated pages. 

These pages will feature images and video about the product alongside information such as a description, price, and an option to buy, book, or visit the website for more information.

In addition to pages, Twitter is also beginning to test new ways for people and brands to create and share Twitter collections of products and places. 

You’ll be able to browse collections from influencers and get more information about the products or places you find interesting.

Here are some examples from Demi Lovato and Nike:

I have yet to be asked to be a guest curator, but I have my collection of ‘cats that look like Stalin’ ready to go as soon as I get the word.

LinkedIn’s 10 most influential brands

LinkedIn has revealed the most influential brands, after analysing 18m UK LinkedIn members and creating a ranking based on a brand’s unique engagement divided by audience.

Here are the results:

  1. Ernst and Young
  2. Hays
  3. BP
  4. Financial Times
  5. McKinsey & Company
  6. The Economist
  7. Michael Page
  8. Unilever
  9. Standard Chartered Bank
  10. GSK

Tumblr TV

Tumblr has launched a a new search and viewing feature that allows you to enter a full-screen mode that loops GIFs.

According to Bill Eager, a product engineer at Tumblr, “We wanted to create a beautiful and easy way to deliver the endless amount of incredible GIF content on Tumblr without any interference. The result is an immersive, effortless and entertaining visual experience that we are really excited to share with our users.”

We’re not just staring into the abyss, we are outright antagonising it.

Twitter removes 140 character limit for DMs

In an apparent effort to encourage its users to engage with its platform more freely, Twitter announced that it is removing the 140 character limit on Direct Messages. 

With the new 10,000 Direct Message character limit, Twitter users will be able to communicate more easily in a one-to-one fashion. As part of the announcement, Twitter is revising its APIs so that third party developers with applications offering direct messaging functionality can update their applications in advance of July.

Twitter says it has no plans to change the character limit on public tweets, which will remain at 140.

Patricio Robles discusses the possible outcomes for brands here

The Telegraph named most engaging newspaper brand on Twitter

According to research from Brandwatch, out of the UK’s top media brands, the print industry generated three times the amount of social mentions (61%), with TV (19%) and radio (20%) far behind.

And in terms of engagement in the print industry, The Telegraph is leading the pack:

Instagram ads began appearing in news feeds

Earlier in the month, I took a look out how sponsored ads are now finally beginning to appear in Instagram.

Presenting AudiUK’s first set of sponsored photos… 

As you can see the differences are subtle, but obvious. The ‘Sponsored’ notice is clear but unobtrusive, as it replaces the text that normally says how old the post is. The ‘swipe to see more’ and ‘carousel indicator dots’ are the only other additions to the classic Instagram look, but again they’re thoroughly unobtrusive.

It will be interesting to see whether Instagram successfully balances the commerce and trust issues in providing an effective platform for marketers as well as retaining its user experience.

Facebook News Feed update weighs time spent on posts

Facebook announced that the algorithm it uses to determine which content appears first in user News Feeds will now take into account how long users spend viewing posts.

As Patricio Robles covered in his article, here is an example of how Facebook will change your News Feed…

You may scroll quickly through your News Feed and like a photo of your friend’s graduation, followed by sharing a funny post from your sister. You keep scrolling and happen upon a post your cousin shared detailing everything she did and saw on her recent trip. Her post even includes a photo.

You spend time reading her post and the interesting discussion about the best places to eat that had broken out in the comments on this post, but you don’t feel inclined to like or comment on it yourself. 

Based on the fact that you didn’t scroll straight past this post and it was on the screen for more time than other posts that were in your News Feed, we infer that it was something you found interesting and we may start to surface more posts like that higher up in your News Feed in the future.

#MarriageEquality round-up

The US Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage in all states this month, and many brands were fully prepared with their celebratory tweets.

Here are a few of the best…

Pinterest enables ecommerce with Buyable Pins

Pinterest has been one of the most successful social drivers of revenue since its launch, and this month its further cementing this reputation by announcing Buyable Pins.

In a post on the Pinterest blog, Pinterest engineering manager Chao Wang described how Buyable Pins will work:

When you spot a Pin with a blue price, you’ll know you can buy it right from the app. Searching for something specific? Use the price filter to hone in on just the right Pin. 

You can also find the right colour for you, within the Pin itself. See how you feel about the orange sleeping bag, or maybe the black one. Swipe through all your options and pick your favourite. 

Once a user has located the perfect product, Pinterest will facilitate the purchase without forcing the user to leave the Pinterest experience.

Insult to injury

More than 60% of Fifa’s Twitter followers are either fake or inactive according to an investigation by Elrelo.com. It also revealed that 62% of Sepp Blatter’s followers are also either fake or inactive too.

Gutted.