February is off to a shotgun start in the social media world, and if you didn’t hear about all of the changes, we’re here to pass you the baton. Instagram is giving users an inch and letting advertisers run a mile, LinkedIn isn’t living up to expectations, and Facebook is giving a popular feature a facelift. Here’s a look at what you might’ve missed in social media news this week.
Instagram Extends Video Advertising
Instagram is hoping to expand your attention span and please paying advertisers at the same time. On Wednesday, the mobile uploading platform doubled the maximum length of video advertisements from 30 seconds to one minute. Two companies, T-Mobile and Warner Bros., have already taken advantage of this update and pushed their ad times to the limit. The telecom company uploaded some behind the scenes footage of their upcoming Super Bowl commercial while the movie studio started promoting a minute-long trailer for How to Be Single. “Our research shows that it’s important to capture people’s attention in the first seconds. At the same time we want marketers to have the creative flexibility to drive their business goals,” an Instagram spokesperson explained via email. For now, regular users are still limited to the 15-second video maximum.
LinkedIn Shares Sink
On Thursday, stocks for the top professional networking site nearly hit rock bottom. During after-hours trading, LinkedIn shares dropped by as much as 25 percent. This unfortunate fumble was the domino effect of even worse news: the financial estimates for 2016. LinkedIn released forecasts for the first quarter and all of 2016 that were well below experts’ estimates. Analysts expected the networking site to bring in $867 million during the first three months of the year but LinkedIn officials admitted it would likely be around $820 million. The company revealed a net loss of $8 million or six cents per share. Despite the freefall, LinkedIn is continuing to boast a boost in its business and user base globally.
Facebook Updates Algorithm
Thanks to thousands of surveys, the world’s largest social media site is updating one of their most popular features. “We saw through our research that people reported having a better News Feed experience when the stories they see at the top are stories they are both likely to rate highly if asked and likely to engage with,” the company explained in a blog post. Officials say the average user won’t see any dramatic changes but business pages may see some dramatic spikes and slumps. Referral traffic will be impacted when “the rate at which their stories are clicked on does not match how much people report wanting to see those stories near the top of their News Feed,” officials said.
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