#SocialRecap 15: Tech takes over & records get smashed in this week’s top 7 social media news updates

Chia
August 9, 2018 ・ 7 min read

#SocialRecap 15 sees a growing trend in more high-tech developments among popular tools and digital strategies in social media – especially with the integration of voice and augmented reality (AR) technologies. And this week, these developments are accompanied by some record-breaking news and updates from the likes of social networking giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Slack!

Plug-in your headphones to hear about these social media news updates (and more) on YouTube, or scroll down to read the highlights below:

And here’s this week’s Recap, starting with Google Home:

1. You can now schedule your routines in Google Home, instead of giving the same commands every day

Earlier this year, Google Home rolled out multi-step routines, which let you combine multiple actions with a single command. So, you could have Google Home:

  1. Dim the lights.
  2. Adjust the thermostat.
  3. And put on some music.

All by giving a single command, like: Google, relax.

 

#okgoogle #googlehome

A post shared by Jérôme No (@jerom2paris) on

Now, users in the U.S. can schedule a multi-step routine well in advance, from the new Time & Day settings in the Google Home app. So you can have the lights dimmed, temperature adjusted and music playing every night at 8 PM, automatically.

2. BMW x Alexa launch full support for voice control & voice search in iDrive 7.0 cars

It’s no secret that voice-activated digital assistants have been on BMW’s agenda for a while, but it’s finally up and running! And the Alexa-based integration will be available in the new 7.0 operating system, for BMW vehicles produced after March of this year.

(via BMWblog)

Amazon’s Alexa integration with BMW goes beyond simply providing audio responses. When you make a request and Alexa finds any graphs, charts or other visual information related to your topic, you’ll see all of this on display in the screen in the center console inside the car. So it’s a little more advanced than the Echo Dot.

Plus, BMW has made sure that they maintain control over the framework by inserting themselves as a middleman between drivers and Alexa. This basically means that when you make a voice request, you’re talking to BMW servers first. And then, they patch your request to Alexa.

This additional step is something that could result in a slight lag between your request and getting an answer, but so far, testers haven’t reported any noticeable delays. And it’s a very clever way to keep the door open for future collaboration with other tech companies, like Microsoft.

3. Voice messaging now available for LinkedIn

LinkedIn has recently been taking steps to give their app a more high-tech makeover. They’ve just added:

  • QR codes to make your user profile easier to find
  • a translation button that supports over 60 different languages in your feed
  • and voice messaging has also just become available – so users can record and send voice messages up to one-minute long on the app.
screenshot of voice messaging feature in LinkedIn app

This is currently being released to both Android and iOS users on LinkedIn (if it’s not available for you now, it will be soon). Those on desktop, in the meantime, will still be able to receive and listen to voice messages.

4. Domino’s introduces augmented reality (AR) tech to pizza delivery

Domino’s is arguably more tech-friendly than most pizza chains, being one of the first to let people order pizza through a voice-recognition app (pretty much like ordering pizza over the phone… but more high-tech). They also let customers order pizza by tweeting a pizza emoji on Twitter, and even just by launching an app, without having to tap on any buttons. Well, their innovative streak is continuing and now they’ve become the first chain to let people order pizza via augmented reality.Domino’s has become the first pizza chain to let people order pizza using SnapChat’s AR lenses. Snap users can play with the filter and use it on their faces to see themselves wearing a pair of sunglasses with pizza in the reflection. But flip the camera over, and a floating pizza box will appear on-screen in their surroundings. And they can order a pizza directly from Snapchat this way!

Going high-tech doesn’t come cheap, though – there’s a $500,000 flat rate to advertise on Snapchat’s AR Lens. Snap estimates that brands can reach up to 20 million users, and get 40-60 Million impressions via AR. This puts CPM (or Cost Per Thousand Impressions) on the pricier side, so it’s not for every company. But for those with deep pockets, it’s definitely a way to stand out and build brand awareness, increase customer engagement and boost customer retention rates – in a way that’s pretty memorable.

Now, for some less high-tech yet record-breaking news.

5. Facebook breaks record for largest 1-day loss that US stock market has ever seen

Just one day after posting less than optimal quarterly results, Facebook stock plummeted by roughly $120 billion. In less than 24 hours, they went from having a market capital of nearly $630 billion down to nearly $510 billion – that’s a decrease of roughly 19%. No other company has ever lost this much in just the course of a day in the entire history of the US stock market.

(via NASDAQ)

Facebook’s enormous loss occurred the day after they issued their Quarterly Report, revealing that they had not reached their expectations for revenue, and that their numbers for Global Daily Active Users were also on the decline. Not only did this loss set a record in the US stock market, it was also the worst decline in terms of percentage ever experienced in Facebook’s own history.

6. Twitter also drops 20% in stock market value… but with outstanding results

Just a few days after this financial fiasco with Facebook, Twitter also experienced a 20% drop in market value, very similar to Facebook’s loss in terms of percentage, though not in real figures. This came after Twitter released their own quarterly report, which was both disappointing and outstanding.

The disappointing part was reflected in Twitter’s growth in monthly active users – or lack thereof. Twitter lost about one million monthly users in Q2 of this year. Global users remained pretty consistent, with a general pattern of growth. In terms of US users, however, the numbers dropped from 69 down to 68 Million. This seems to be a number that they cannot break past, as they’ve been bouncing back and forth between 68-69 million users in the US for the past few quarters.

The contradictory outstanding part from their report is seen in their profits. Despite losing a decent amount of monthly active users in the US market, they also experienced an all-time quarterly high, profit-wise. Twitter’s net income reached about $1,000,000.00 with a 24% Year-on-Year increase of about $710 Million.

Even though figures for monthly and daily active users are key indicators of growth, it’s important to remember that roughly 50% of Twitter’s revenue from Q1 of last year came solely from video ads – and that video views in general on the platform doubled in just the course of a year.

7. Slack acquires HipChat as Microsoft Teams expands

HipChat is – or was – one of Slack’s biggest competitors in the world of workplace chat solutions, but recent acquirement by Slack will see HipChat users migrated over to Slack. HipChat will be available until February, and then users will be encouraged to transfer their activites to Slack. The same goes for Stride, a similar product which, like HipChat, is also from Atlassian.

Since Slack purchased just the intellectual property behind HipChat and Stride, Slack and Atlassian have more of a partnership instead of a buy-out, one that opens doors to future integrations together.

The timing of this merger may prove to be crucial, especially with big players like Microsoft giving Slack a run for its money in the corporate chat space. Teams is Microsoft’s answer to Slack, and it’s immediately available to more than 130 million Office Cloud subscribers. There’s even a free version to attract new users. Currently, Microsoft reports that 200,000 organizations are using Teams, while Slack reports 500,000 organizations using their own services.

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Chia
Video Creative at Brand24 | Creator of #ChiaExplains | Writer & Host of #SocialRecap