Social Media Happenings

Ilfusion loves to bring you news on the newest social media functions and trends. Recently, there have been three major happenings in the social media world.

Meerkat, a new app that has risen to fame due to the 2015 music festival South By Southwest, Talk of Instagram’s installation of clickable ads and their newest update of video looping capability, and new payment systems via social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Meerkat

Just launched on February 27th, this exciting new app integrates live video streaming onto Twitter. The app works by allowing users to stream live video footage directly to Twitter from their smartphones. Once the streaming begins, followers on Twitter will be notified and can view the live footage. However, once the video is over, there is no record of the footage, and the video disappears. This fun new app gained traction at the 2015 SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas. As of March 15th, about 13,000-15,000 Meerkat streams were going live every day. About 60,000 watchers are tuning in per day.

Instagram

In recent months, Instagram as integrated two new features. First, they have introduced a brand new video looping capability. While in the past, Instagramers were able to upload 15 second videos, these videos will now loop, similar to videos on Vine. This new feature will allow followers to view other’s videos in a whole new way. The second features Instagram released are carousel clickable ads. These new features will allow advertisers to post multi-photo carousel ads, as well as clickable ads that lead the Instagramer straight to the advertisement’s webpage. These ads will roll out over the next few weeks.

Social Media Payment

The recent trend of social media payment options continues to grow among different social media platforms. Following the trend of Snapchat’s Snapcash, Facebook and Instagram have created their own methods of sharing cash via social media. Facebook implemented this feature through Facebook Messenger, similar to Snapchat, when chatting with a friend, one clicks the dollar sign icon and includes the amount wanting to be shared, that is then charged to a credit card on file.

Instagram also implemented Penny, an interactive new way for users to buy and sell products on Instagram. Penny allows sellers to upload a picture of a product through the app, where a buyer (with a credit can then comment “#sold” to actually buy the item.

Other apps are following suit, Tagspire is an app being introduced this Spring that allows you to post photos with a tag that either takes you to a video/website or a tag that allows you to purchase the product. Soon you will be able to easily pay from any social media platform.

At Ilfusion we always stay up to date on recent social media happenings. If you would like help with your social media, visit our social page for more info.

Categorized in: Articles, Featured, Social Media