Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup

New features for Instagram Stories. Live video for Instagram. Twitter explained how to create a Moment on mobile in (what else?) Image via Instagram. When users are mentioned in a Story, they’ll receive a notification in Direct. Image via Instagram. Users can also find new live Stories on Explore. Live video on both Instagram Stories and Explore will roll out globally in the coming weeks. Once viewed, the messages will disappear from inboxes. Want the best social media images?

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Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog

A unified inbox for Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. New features for Instagram Stories. Live video for Instagram. The release of Snapchat’s highly anticipated Spectacles.

It’s been a busy month on social.

Never fear. We’ve rounded up all the updates—big and small—from all the major social platforms to ensure that you don’t miss a thing.

Table of contents

Twitter

Tools to address abuse

On November 15, Twitter announced new controls, reporting, and enforcement to deal with online abuse. As part of this initiative, Twitter expanded its pre-existing mute function. Now users can mute keywords, phrases, and entire conversations in notifications.

Additionally, Twitter has given users a more direct way to report hateful conduct that targets people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease. Twitter has also retrained its support teams on policies, including special sessions on cultural and historical contextualization of hateful conduct. The company has implemented an ongoing refresher program.

Want to stop getting notifications for Tweets that contain certain words, usernames, or hashtags? We’re giving you that control. pic.twitter.com/awoNHUYbTG

Reply counts and organized conversations

On November 29, Twitter introduced new tools to help users see the buzz around their Tweets. With reply counts, users can see how many people are participating in a conversation via a number displayed next to the reply icon. This number will show how many direct replies the original Tweet has received, rather than the total number of replies in a total conversation. The conversation ranking feature means that replies will not be shown in chronological order, but rather will be grouped by sub-conversation. Twitter explained: “When ranking a reply higher, we consider factors such as if the original Tweet author has replied, or if a reply is from someone you follow.”

https://support.twitter.com/articles/20174577

Moments creation available on mobile

On November 30, Twitter rolled out Moments on mobile. Twitter first opened up access to Moments—which allow users to create stories featuring Tweets and images—in September 2016. Originally, users were only able to create them on the web. Twitter explained how to create a Moment on mobile in (what else?) a Moment.

Facebook

Jobs page

On November 7, Facebook introduced a new jobs tab to allow businesses to promote opportunities on their Facebook Page. Facebook confirmed the test to TechCrunch: “Based on behavior we’ve seen on Facebook, where many small businesses post about their job openings on their Page, we’re running a test for Page admins to create job postings and receive applications from candidates.”

TechCrunch reported that the test includes a new status update composer option to share a job opening, including details such as title, salary, and whether it’s full-time or part-time.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via TechCrunch.

Messenger Platform 1.3

On November 8, Facebook introduced Messenger Platform 1.3 to allow businesses to “drive targeted audiences to Messenger and keep them engaged with new tools.” Businesses can now run News Feed ads that open Messenger conversations and send sponsored messages to re-engage customers on open threads.

Among other things, Platform 1.3 includes the ability for developers to add reference params so they can see where bot traffic is coming from, list templates, improved search results, and a checkbox plugin to allow customers to opt-in to Messenger conversations with a business.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via Facebook Messenger Blog.

Among other things, Platform 1.3 includes the ability for developers to add reference params so they can see where bot traffic is coming from, list templates, improved search results, and a checkbox plugin to allow customers to opt-in to Messenger conversations with a business.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via Facebook Messenger Blog.

Ethnic affinity marketing

On November 11, Facebook rolled out updates to “ethnic affinity” marketing—a way for brands to reach multicultural audiences with relevant advertising—to better prevent discriminatory advertising. Facebook says it will build tools to detect and automatically disable the use of ethnic affinity marketing for certain types of ads—such as those offering housing, employment, or credit.

Additionally, Facebook plans to update its advertising policies “to be even more explicit and require advertisers to affirm that they will not engage in discriminatory advertising on Facebook.” Facebook says it will also offer new educational materials “to help advertisers understand their obligations with respect to housing, employment, and credit.”

Bots analytics

On November 14, Facebook announced analytics support for Messenger bots. Facebook is extending the analytics support offered through its Facebook Analytics for Apps tool. Developers will be able to view reports on messages sent, messages received, and people who block or unblock their app—without the need to add additional code. They’ll also have access to demographic reports that include age, gender, education, interests, country, and language.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via Facebook Messenger Blog.

Additionally, developers and businesses can also now apply for FbStart, “Facebook’s global program to help early stage mobile startups build and grow their apps.” The program includes benefits such as Facebook ads credits and free services from partners like Amazon, Dropbox, and Stripe.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via Facebook Messenger Blog.

Unified inbox

On November 15, Facebook launched a unified inbox to allow businesses to manage interactions across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Businesses can now link the accounts so they can manage communications across the channels from a single app.

The feature allows businesses to reply to Facebook comments, visitor posts, reviews, messages, and Instagram comments. Businesses can also tap the name of a user to see their publicly available profile as well as the person’s previous interactions with the business. The unified inbox will be rolled out globally to all users of the Pages Manager mobile app in the coming weeks. It will soon be available on other devices as well.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via Facebook.

Android Auto Messenger integration

On November 15, Facebook introduced a Messenger integration for Android Auto. This will allow Android Auto users to listen and reply to texts from friends on Messenger using voice commands.

Metrics

On November 16, Facebook announced an update to metrics and reporting “ to give our partners and the industry more clarity and confidence about the insights we provide.” Updates included increased third-party verification, additional measurements solutions with clients, and more consistent communication on metrics through a new Metrics FYI blog series.

Social Media News You Need to Know: November 2016 Roundup | Hootsuite Blog
Image via Facebook.

Social Good Forum

At its first Social Good Forum on November 17, Facebook announced new tools to…

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