While you may be consumed with Pokemon Go, there were many hot topics in the social media world. Facebook is bringing you a more intimate news feed, how you use Instagram may reveal your age, and Twitter shares which emojis are most popular on World Emoji Day. These are the social media stories making news this week.
Facebook Brings Instant Articles to Messenger
Lightning strikes Facebook as Instant Articles will now appear in the Messenger feed. Until now, if you wanted to read an article while surfing Facebook, it would open a new window. Now, Facebook is incorporating its Instant Articles into your Messenger feed. If you see an article with a lightning bolt, that means you can open it and read it within Facebook.
Facebook promises that the content will load quicker than clicking to an external page. Users will know if content is an Instant Article if a lightning bolt icon is beside the content. Facebook’s goal in this is to keep you in the Facebook realm long enough to see more ads. Traditional publishers, hoping to lure readers to their website may see a decrease in visits, which could result in a loss in ad revenue.
The new content system is on Android devices and will soon be available on iOS
Your Instagram Use May Reveal Your Age
When it comes to the way you use Instagram, are you showing your age? A new study from Penn State University unlocked some of the research into the habits of Instagram users.
How you respond might reveal a little bit about how old you are. Teens reply to comments within 7 minutes, whereas adults take a half an hour to respond. Another way you can spot the feed differences between younger and older audiences is the frequency posts. Younger users post less, and get higher engagement. Older users post more frequently, and get a much lower engagement rate.
Teens typically will share about more narrow subjects, whereas adults – with more disposable income, and the ability to experience more in life – post about a wide variety of topics and places.
World Emoji Day
Did you enjoy a big smiley face on World Emoji day. Popular in texts, Instagram posts, and Tweets, emojis liven up conversations with little cartoon icons. Many brands, and some of social media’s biggest users celebrated the event with fun emoji-related posts.
Twitter released a map showing which emojis were the most popular in many countries. The platform also revealed many new emojis. Among them were bacon, an avocado, an owl, a handshake, a shark, salad, and many others.
Twitter also released the top emoji for each calendar month, and some of the favorites were hearts for February, skeleton for October, and Christmas tree for December.
Emojis have grown beyond the virtual landscape. Retailers have cashed in on the emoji craze making all kinds of items that feature an emoji. Here’s a plunger on Kickstarter that celebrates the infamous poo emoji!
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