Once a status symbol for celebrities, Twitter’s verified badge is about to become a little less exclusive, and Instagram is implementing a very useful element of Facebook, plus we couldn’t talk about the top stories in social media this week without mentioning Pokemon GO!
Blue Badges Galore
If you’ve ever wanted to join the elite of Twitter, by having a verified account, now is your chance.
Twitter announced that it would reopen its verification submission program, which allows users to apply the tiny blue badge next to their handle.
Once reserved for big brands, and the celebrities on the platform, Twitter is now expanding the verified options to smaller businesses and other users.
As we’ve seen with the blue icon, users have been able to differentiate real accounts from fan accounts or even malicious clone accounts.
Upon applying, users will need to submit some proof of who they are, much like the verification program on Facebook. Want to check it out. Click here.
Instagram Offers Analytics
Since buying Instagram, Facebook has shared many of its well-developed procedures and even its well-discussed algorithm with the visually driven platform.
Now it is sharing a key tool for businesses – analytics. Instagram announced that it would offer business accounts the ability to pull analytics on Instagram.
Managers of business accounts will need to tether the Instagram account with the business’s Facebook page.
This is the latest Facebook integration into Instagram, which also saw advertising fall under one umbrella in the Facebook ads manager.
Fstoppers Jason Vinson has a preview.
Pokémon Go Alters Social Media Usage
We couldn’t have an article without mentioning the white-hot app Pokémon Go.
The app, which has taken over America by storm, even in some not so good cases, is causing quite the shift in social media use.
Forbes highlighted a recent report from 7Park Data, which analyzed information from anonymous U.S. Android users who are playing the Pokémon Go app.
Users spent an average of 75 minutes per day playing, which may have contributed to a decrease in the use of both Snapchat and YouTube.
But Facebook showed a slight increase in usage, as the average user spent 35 minutes per day on the platform. One theory is that people were using Facebook to share their rabid fever for the online hunting of Pikachu and other characters.
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