Technology Matrix: Facebook Pages Can Reply to Comments Privately: This Week in Social Media

social media research Welcome to our weekly edition of what's hot in social media news.

To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

Facebook Rolls Out Private Message Page Replies: Facebook released "an update to [the] Pages/Graph API which will allow a Page to reply to a comment on a post with a private message."

"When a Page responds to a comment left on a post with a private message, a direct messaging session will be opened… and the message will include a link to the comment for reference."

Facebook Updates News Feed Algorithm to Show More Relevant Posts: Based on user feedback from a Feed Quality Panel, Facebook is ranking the stories "people might take action on, and which people might want to see near the top of their News Feed." Watch for commentary from Michael Stelzner on this update in the Morning Social Media Marketing Talk replay below.

Instagram Extends Video Ads to 60 Seconds: Instagram "began running its first 60-second video ads, starting with T-Mobile and Warner Brothers."

Facebook and Instagram to Run Longer De-Duped Campaigns: Marketers can now "book reach and frequency campaigns up to 90 days in length on Facebook and Instagram."

Twitter Updates Homepage to Reach Logged-out Users: Twitter is rolling out a "home timeline to people across 23 countries who visit the twitter.com homepage on their mobile devices" and is making it easier for them "to discover stories and conversations happening on Twitter without signing in."

Today we're bringing Tweets to more people around the ?? on our homepage: https://t.co/VIVfJCt2PU pic.twitter.com/C0htvdamPn
— Twitter (@twitter) February 2, 2016

In this blab from February 5, 2016, Michael Stelzner and guests discuss the top news in social media. Topics include the new private message page reply feature on Facebook (2:20), updates to Twitter (15:58) and the latest changes to the Facebook news feed (31:41). Subscribe to future shows here.

In this episode tech and tools expert Steve Dotto explores How to Streamline YouTube Publishing with TubeBuddy.

Simplify your social and build your business in just 10 minutes a week by subscribing to future shows here.

WhatsApp Grows to One Billion Users Worldwide: "That's nearly one in seven people on Earth who use WhatsApp each month to stay in touch with their loved ones, their friends and their family."

LinkedIn Rolls Out New Lynda.com Course Page: "With over 4,200 courses on Lynda.com, the redesigned course page will help you get where you want to go faster and more efficiently."

"The new player is optimized for faster playback and easier access to controls."

Facebook Shares Examples of 360 Video for Sports: Facebook shares examples of "how 360 videos can give viewers a new way of looking at sports."

Army/Navy in 360The Army/Navy game is a surreal experience in person.
This 360 video will make you feel like you're there.
Posted by CBS Sports on Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Twitter Experiments With Trending Tweets by Topic in the Timeline: Twitter is testing grouping and highlighting "tweets on a trending topic" in users' timelines.

Instagram Tests Multiple Account Switching on iOS: "Instagram confirmed it's running a test involving multiple account switching on iOS." Instagram already began testing this feature on Android "with members of its Instagram beta test group" late last year.

YouTube Red Will Premier First Original Programming: "In addition to getting all of YouTube uninterrupted and a premium YouTube Music experience, a YouTube Red membership will now give you exclusive access to new original series and movies."

A Year in Search and YouTube in Rewind: Google's annual A Year in Search and YouTube in Rewind report examines the defining trends of 2015 based on searches on Google and YouTube, and shares what these insights mean for marketers. The report especially highlights "micro-moments" that occur when people act on a need with intent, immediacy and within a certain context. Micro-moments are seen as rich opportunities for brands to engage with consumers.

2016 Creative Trends: With information gathered from millions of searches and downloads, Shutterstock's annual Creative Trends report shares the visual trends throughout the world. The report also explores the trends around culture, social sharing, design elements and music.

Video Marketing Statistics 2016: According to a recent survey from Wyzowl, a large majority (97%) of U.S. consumers are willing to share a video from a brand with their friends on social media and 70% say they have done so in the past. When asked what motivates them to share a brand video, 76% reported that they would be open to sharing if the video is entertaining. Other reasons mentioned were if it's of interest to their followers (69%), informative (65%) or inspirational (55%).

The Social Media Audit: Talkwalker analyzed and compared the social media presence of 10 of the largest global professional services firms to determine how other B2B companies can make the most of their social media efforts. The case study examined engagement, effective post topics and most popular content types.

Display Ad Viewability and Engagement: Mediative conducted an eye-tracking study to determine how consumers view display ads. Data from the study was used to generate heat maps showing the length of time spent looking at various parts of web pages, as well as gaze maps indicating where people clicked.

How Social Media Video Changed in 2015: Socialbakers examined the past year's most successful videos to determine the top trends that drove social marketing and trends that will likely continue to drive social marketing in 2016. This study focused on the top platforms for video publishing and the video types that drove the most engagement by platform.

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What do you think of the new private reply feature on Facebook pages? Have you tried responding to your customers in this way? Please share your comments below.