Social media news this week has a soap opera theme as channels encounter rumors, copycats, and top dogs with power. In the news, Instagram prototypes a feature for reverse-chronology on your feed, Facebook quietly releases a Pinterest copycat app, and YouTube comes out as the dominant video streaming service for 2019.
Instagram Prototypes “Latest Posts” Feature
Have you missed the old chronological order of Instagram posts on your feed? A prototype testing of a “Latest Posts” feature is rumored to give us hope. This feature comes in the form of a pop up displayed on the main feed asking you if you would like to “See Posts” or “Not Now.”. If you select s“See posts,” you will be directed to another area that will show you what up to 9 friends have posted recently in chronological order.
Instituted in 2016, the current algorithm shows you relevant posts or ones that you may like instead and ranks accounts based on who and what content you interacted with the most. The outcry from the algorithm eventually prompted the creation of a “You’re All Caught Up” insert by Instagram to inform you that you have seen all posts from the last 48 hours.
Instagram has confirmed the authenticity of this feature and that it is being tested internally, but says they have no plan to test or launch it at this time. However, a prototype like “Latest Posts” has the possibility to one day be tested and launch officially if the test results are positive.
Hobbi: Facebook’s Copycat App
Has Facebook gone too far in knocking down the stock of a powerhouse app with its new creation? Pinterest shares have gone down after the low-key release of a new app from Facebook called Hobbi. The app was developed by the New Product Experimentation team, or NPE, at Facebook, which was created last year in July.
So, what is Hobbi? This app is meant to be a personal project organizer that sorts images of projects into collections and can share highlights. These features are parallel to Pinterest, and the public has labeled Hobbi as a copycat Pinterest. Feedback, so far, rates the app low, most likely due to a limited amount of features. NPE is known for pulling the plug on apps if they are not useful, so only time will tell if Hobbi will be successful.
YouTube is the leader in video streaming apps for 2019
The results are in, and YouTube has dominated as top dog in video streaming apps in 2019! Out of the top five video streaming apps worldwide, YouTube had 70% of the time spent among users. The shorter time length and wide range of videos may attribute to the time spent on the platform, as well as the low-barrier to access because it is free.
YouTube offers a way to serve its audience with content that’s brief and entertaining. Differentiation among other video streaming apps is forming, as they create value by offering different experiences on each platform. Perhaps there will be a shift in 2020 for video streaming apps, but for now, YouTube is the king of the hill.
Facebook has 2.41 billion monthly active users
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