Social Media Weekly Roundup 13.11.20
With England moving into the second week of its second lockdown, Black Friday just 2 weeks away, and some unbelievable scenes happening on the other side of the Atlantic in the aftermath of what can only be described as an almost unbelievable election...well, it’s a lot to take in.
Thankfully, the SocialDay community is here to help you stay connected, productive, and up to date on all things social media marketing. If you’re feeling a little low or just need a little extra inspiration this week, feel free to reach out to the SocialDay team or our fantastic social media marketing community over in our Facebook group. Together, we’ll make it through all the craziness!
Google rolls out new family sharing feature on its cloud gaming service Stradia...and offers free gaming kits to YouTube premium subscribers
Google has introduced a new family sharing feature to its cloud gaming service Stradia. Users can now share games with members of their Google family group, even if those members have not purchased the game themselves. And Google’s efforts to bring more people to Stradia don’t stop there. This week, the company began offering free Stradia Premiere Edition bundles, which include a Stradia controller and a Chromecast Ultra (worth $100), to YouTube premium subscribers.
TikTok enters into collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment
TikTok has announced a new licensing agreement with Sony Music Entertainment, allowing creators on the platform to use the publisher’s songs in their videos. The collaboration will allow both TikTok to offer its creators greater options when creating content and thus greater opportunities to connect with their audience, as well as offering artists signed to Sony Music Entertainment the chance to raise awareness of their work and enhance their careers.
Google makes changes to its storage allowances
Google has announced that, from the 1st June 2021, it will be ending its offer of free photo backups in its Google Photos storage feature. With the new 15GB cap on photo storage, users will now have to pay for extra storage when they exceed the 15GB limit, but the company says it will send alerts and warnings when users are nearing this point. Google also says it will be introducing some new tools to make it easier for users to find and delete photos they might not want to keep anyway, which should help them manage their storage more effectively.
Facebook is extending its temporary ban on political advertising
Last week, we published our round-up of all the new features and adaptations made by the biggest social media platforms in preparation for the explosive US election. This list included Facebook’s temporary ban on political advertising in the week leading up to the big day. And after an equally explosive election aftermath, Facebook has announced that it will now be extending its temporary ban for at least another month in an effort to protect the election and maintain fairness and democracy in the divided nation.
WhatsApp begins rolling out shopping feature
WhatsApp has begun rolling out its new shopping feature, which aims to make it easier for users to browse brands’ catalogs of goods and services. The new button, which appears as a storefront icon, has begun to replace the voice calls button in the top right corner of users’ screens, though users can still start voice calls via the generic call button (which will then offer the choice between starting a video or voice call).
Google Travel adds Covid-related health and safety info
On Tuesday, Google announced that it would be adding additional Covid-related health and safety information to its booking and exploration service Google Travel. The new feature will add to the existing COVID-19 health and safety information on the platform by extending to individual hotels and holiday rental properties as well as general locations. When users search for hotels and properties, they may now see information about the Covid-related safety precautions being taken at those properties, such as enhanced cleaning procedures and the option for contact-free check-in.
Black Friday is just around the corner…
This week’s guest article, written by Creative and Professional Writing student Dan Millen, highlights five of the most innovative Black Friday marketing campaigns to inspire you to make the most of the sales phenomenon this year.