19 Sep Snapchat Gets More Real with Ad Targeting and New Updates to Instagram Stories | Social You Should Know
Snapchat gets more real with its ad targeting options and Instagram’s latest product, Stories (only a month out of the gate), is already getting major upgrades. All this and more in this week’s edition of Social You Should Know.
Snapchat Broadens Targeting Options
Up until recently, you could target very (I mean VERY) standard demographics, such as age and gender, using Snapchat’s ad product. Now, things are getting a little more snappy when it comes to ad targeting options for its audience of 100 million. Recall that not too long ago Snapchat stated that they wanted to leave the creepiness factor out of advertising and instead focus on the context of advertising. Yet, the three new products are those typically found on other social networks and include Snap Audience Match, Lookalikes, and Snapchat Lifestyle Categories. Creepy or not creepy? I’d say they are on the fringe.
Instagram Upgrades Stories Features
As I’m sure you recall, last month Instagram rolled out Stories, which closely resembles Snapchat’s story product. This week, Instagram Stories rolled out some new features that will bode well for users. The first is the ability for users to automatically save photos and videos that they use in Stories on their phones. The next feature is important because it allows users to mute stories, therefore giving a person more control over the Stories they truly care to see (Geeze… I hope I make the cut). Adding a splash of color is other change Instagram is making. You can now choose a font color to add to photos and videos (done by swiping the colors over the keyboard).
Twitter Allows for Longer Tweets
This was rumored back in May, but now The Verge reports that Twitter is allowing for longer tweets starting today. The items that will not be counted toward the character limit any longer include @names in replies and media attachments such as photos, GIFs, videos and polls. Welcome news for those frustrated with finding way to encapsulate their social expressions in a 140-character limit. It isn’t clear yet if these changes will happen at once or be rolled out individually.
