From Pinterest Analytics to Instagram Apps: What’s New in August

In the world of social media, just as in life, the only thing constant is change. Put your phone down and unplug for a few days, or heck, look away from Twitter for a few hours, and you’ll see just how much you missed. It’s good to look away from the screen for awhile, so not to worry! As you return from your summer vacations and head back to work or school, here’s what you missed in August.

Pinterest Analytics

Just this week Pinterest unveiled their new analytic platform and I have to say at first glance it looks great! Pinterest analytics by themselves aren’t new, as they first rolled out for business accounts in March 2013 to much fanfare. I admit though, after reviewing them then, despite being hopeful, I settled on this thought….

Meh.

Fast forward to this week and I’m changing my tune. These analytics more closely remember Facebook insights. They offer up colorful graphs and charts that show demographics on your audience, activity on pins from your own website and most popular pins, plus top pin impressions.

Here’s a sample of the new interface.

New Pinterest Analytics

If you haven’t converted your business Pinterest account to an official business account, now’s the time to make the switch.

Facebook Newsfeed Changes

Surprise! Facebook changed their newsfeed again.This time they are working to push down stories known as clickbait. If you follow The Weather Channel on Facebook (I hate to call them out but they’re guilty IMHO) you know clickbait. Here’s an example:

Now aren’t you glad you put that phone down? In all seriousness, Facebook is constantly researching how their 1.23 billion users interact with content in their newsfeed so they can offer up a better product and keep you on Facebook where you belong. In this case they are factoring in time spent on stories clicked through from Facebook to determine the value of the original post. In the Weather Channel example, you can see why people might click on the story based on the post. In the case of serial clickbaiters, typically there’s little in the story that matches the headline, so folks click right back to Facebook. Facebook can measure that and, if it happens a lot with a story, it won’t display as often in the feed. Facebook clickbait marketers beware!

Twitter Timeline Changes

Twitter updated their definition of their timeline with this statement last week:

“Additionally, when we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that’s popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline. This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.”

Until this change the Twitter timeline, not including sponsored tweets, showed users content only from accounts they had chosen to follow. This is a change in that core philosophy. I’ll let other bloggers debate the ramifications.

Instagram adds Hyperlapse as a Standalone App

This week Instagram has released Hyperlapse, an app, according to to Instagram’s blog, designed to capture high quality time lapse videos even if you are moving the camera.  Currently the app is only available on iPhones; however, there are plans to develop an Android version as soon as they work out the camera functionalities.

I went straight to the app store and downloaded it. It’s super easy to use, does not require an account and incorporates sharing to both Instagram and Facebook once your video is produced. Check it out.

Pinterest Messages

And we’ve come full circle back to Pinterest. This month, Pinterest added the ability to message other pinners in your community right on the pins themselves so you can plan trips, discuss recipes, share a new hairstyle or outfit idea or anything else those pins inspire. I’ve been experimenting with it and it works well. Push notifications are included. The function appears when you click the share button at the top of the pin. Here’s what it looks like:

Now that you’re back in the loop, please share with me in the comments what you did on your summer vacation. As you can see, I didn’t take one. If I missed anything on this list, let me know there too.