Friday Wrap #181: Periscope is Apple’s App of the Year, Vine declines, YouNow stars arise

The Friday Wrap is my weekly collection of news stories, posts, studies, and reports designed to help organizational communicators stay current on the trends and technology that affect their jobs. These may be items that flew under the radar while other stories grabbed big headlines. (Here’s hoping this week’s collection makes sense, since I’m writing under the influence of some serious pain meds following back surgery on Wednesday.) As always, I collect material from which I select Wrap stories (as well as stories to report on the For Immediate Release podcast, along with stuff I just want to remember to read) on my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow. If you want to make sure you never miss an edition of the Wrap, subscribe to my weekly email newsletter.

News

Periscope is Apple’s app of the year—On a recent episode of my podcast, social media thought leader Chris Brogan shrugged off Persicope; it forces audiences to participate when the broadcaster is ready, not when they have the time or interest, he said. Social media got us away from that kind of “push” mentality, he added. Nevertheless, Apple has named Periscope its iPhone App of the year, calling it a “game-changer” that “made sharing and watching live videos an instant obsession.” The takeaway: Live streaming is building crazy momentum (see the item on YouNow later in this briefing). If you haven’t started thinking about how to employ it in your communications, start. Start now. Read more

Kickstarter hires journalist to investigate mini-drone project failure—Nobody expects every company they invest in to return a profit. Likewise, nobody expects every kickstarter project the invest in to succeed. But Zano’s mini-drone project—the largest from Europe ever funded on Kickstarter—failed more spectacularly than most. More than 12,000 people sunk more than $3.5 million into the project that never took off. Such failures have led Kickstarter investors to wonder why the company never investigates (or, at least, requires greater transparency). The Zano failure led the company to hire freelance journalist Mark Harris to look into the failure “from its inception to the present” in order to “help the backers…get the information they are entitled to under their agreement with the project creator.” The takeaway: Transparency isn’t optional, even for new-economy social-focused businesses. Build transparency into your operations. Read more

Facebook at Work poised to launch—Facebook at Work—the enterprise version of Facebook that has been in test mode for a year with more than 300 companies—will open to all organizations in the next few months. The takeaway: Most employees already know how to use Facebook, and its Groups and Pages features are ideal for internal purposes. By pointing to successes from companies involved in the test—like Heineken and Royal Bank of Scotland—Facebook could become the dominant internal social network. Look out, Slack. Read more

LinkedIn plans changes to Groups—LinkedIn’s Groups, not one of its most popular features, are getting an overhaul. They will all be private, part of an effort to encourage more meaningful conversations, greater privacy, and a vetting of people asking for approval to participate in a group. A dedicated Groups app will make it easier for people to participate. Users can tag people in their groups using @mention. The takeaway: The value of LinkedIn Groups is bound to improve, particularly for B2B marketers. Read more

YouTube adds “trending” tab—Users can now see YouTube’s algorithm for identifying videos going viral in a dedicated tab on iOS, Android, and the desktop. The tab lets users and producers watch as videos take off and go viral. The list of videos gaining traction isn’t customized based on the type of videos you watch; it’s more like a leaderboard for viral videos. Android users will also find categories of videos behind the tab (e.g., music, gaming, news). The takeaway: Metrics matter, as does curation, and the “Trending” tab accomplishes both. For communicators studying what’s trending could be an excellent way to build understanding of what appeals to a generation of consumers who would rather watch YouTube than television. Read more

Tweet sharing declined when Twitter dropped share counts on tweet buttons—Those Twitter share buttons that appear on content have, until recently, displayed how many people shared the tweet. (The same is true of the share buttons for Facebook and Google+.) Twitter dumped the share count from the button and, according to data from Shareaholic, people responded by sharing fewer tweets. Sharing via the twitter button has dropped more than 11% since the tweet count totals were shut off on November 20. The takeaway: People are more inclined to share content they see others have already shared. Twitter obviously ignored the concept of “social proof” in its decision. Let’s hope they reverse the decision soon, since more metrics is always better than less. Read more

Amazon tests expert-written original content—Amazon has quietly been recruiting niche experts like home improvement guru Bob Vila to produce content for shoppers. The main landing page for Amazon’s in-house articles section shows shopping guides for home offices and lighting, as well as starter kits for organizing closets and raising backyard chickens. The takeaway: Third-party experts have more credibility than in-house writers. Having influencers write for you (in addition to the more traditional practice of seeking out influencers to write about you on their own channels) is a tactic worth emulating. Read more

Facebook adds customer service tools to Pages—Facebook has emerged as a primary channel for customers seeking service from companies. To aid companies in delivering service, Facebook is giving marketers new tools to respond to customers and to manage interactions with them. Marketers can now see all the comments customers leave on their pages organized in a new section that lets companies respond through any device (desktop, tablet, or smartphone). Other tools include setting “away” messages and annotating private messages. The takeaway: Facebook may be a preferred channel for customer service, but too few companies are investing the resources to respond to inquiries and problems. I hope these tools inspire more companies to deliver service where customers want it rather than continue to try to drive them to the 800 customer service number nobody wants to call. Read more

Article embedding comes to WordPress—Version 4.4 of the WordPress content management system—which is the foundation of one-quarter of the world’s websites—will include the ability for publishers to allow readers to embed content on other websites. The takeaway: For companies (and individuals) interested in having seeing their content easily duplicated across the web, the feature is a godsend. Read more

Trends

The decline of Vine—Vine videos were the hottest thing in social media not too long ago, but today they make up only about 4% of branded video. A video analytics company reviewed the Vine, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube accounts of 40 major brands. Between September and November, they posted 2,500 social videos, and only 113 of them were Vine videos. Only 13 of the 40 brands posted anything at all to Vine during that period. General Electric, an early and enthusiastic Vine adopter, has posted nothing since lasst January. A host of reasons account for the decline in Vine’s popularity, including lack of an advertising model. It also fails as a distribution channel. Brands still have success of Vine, though, when they partner with popular Vine producers and social media stars. The takeaway: Chasing the shiny object rarely works, while experimenting with new formats is always worthwhile. There’s nothing wrong with the Vine format, but it should be employed because it will help achieve an objective, not because it’s cool. Read more

YouNow is producing its own crop of stars—I reported on YouNow back on November 20; it’s a livestreaming app that is exploding in the teen demographic. Just as YouTube, Vine, and Periscope have produced celebrity producers, teens are flocking to the streams of ultra-popular users like 15-year-old Zach Clayton, whose broadcasts are seen by thousands people. More than half a million people follow his YouNow handle. When he launches a broadcast, even without announcing it, tens of thousands tune in. They also buy his signed posters and t-shirts. While YouNow may sound like a teen-focused version of Periscope, they’re not much alike. YouNow is about broadcasting the broadcaster, not what the broadcaster sees; the camera is set by default to selfie mode. The takeaway: Marketing to teens will undoubtedly lead brands to partner with YouNow stars—once they figure out what it is and why they should care. Read more

Digital signage sparks Ford crowdsourcing campaign—I have been touting the advantages of digital signage as a communication channel for a while, but not many people pay attention. Ford Motor Company, though, has seen potential in the ability to instantly update digital signage. Its “By Design” campaign lets consumers create an ad aligned with the campaign theme and see it on digital billboards in major cities. The takeaway: Digital signage is still seen as mundane and uninteresting, a bottom-of-the-list tactic. Don’t fall into that trap. The possibilities are endless, and the ability to engage audiences is huge. Read more

Gallup sees no improvement in employee engagement—Back in June 2013, Gallup revealed that only 30% of America’s workers were engaged in their jobs. Based on their own annual or every-other-year surveys, companies have taken steps to expand the size of the engaged population. New data shows those efforts haven’t paid off, with engagement growing just over two points. The problems: Companies don’t really understand engagement, undertaking surveys that inflate scores based on measuring the wrong things. Measurement alone isn’t enough; the culture has to change, which takes time. And most of the programs implemented to improve engagement don’t have much of an impact, while too little is being done to improve the quality of managers and supervisors. The takeaway: Programs aren’t the answer to the engagement problem, but great managers and supervisors alone won’t fix it, either. Ultimately, engagement starts at the top and fosters a culture that leads employees who can’t wait to get up and go to work in order to be part of something they value that is greater than themselves. Communication is rarely cited in engagement reports, but its importance can’t be overstated. Read more

Instagram is becoming a requirement—Instagram users are heavily engaged with brands, which is leading companies to realize that the Facebook-owned image-sharing service has become a requirement. According to Simply Measured’s analysis of more than 2,500 posts and 80 million likes and comments from more than 138 followers of 90 Interbrand 100 brands, participation and engagement has risen across all metrics. Specifically, increased activity by brands has led to an increase in engagement by users. Likes and comments have risen 53% from last November to November 2015, with the average brand getting more than 30,000 interactions per post. The takeaway: All brands—B2B included—need a visual strategy, and it has become increasingly clear that Instagram needs to be at the heart of that strategy. Read more

Brands embrace unboxing videos—I have never figured out the appeal of unboxing videos, those YouTube videos in which fans of products open a box and show viewers what’s inside. But popular they are. People have watched unboxing videos on YouTube more than 1.1 billion times; that’s 60 million hours of unboxing videos. That’s tough to ignore, and Target is among companies that are taking advantage of the craze. Target has hired four YouTube toy experts—including two prominent toy unboxers—to produce videos for the department store. Others include The Walt Disney Company (which hosted a live 18-hour marathon of unboxing Star Wars toys) and Toys “R” Us. The takeaway: Consumer companies with products that can be unboxed are wise to tap into this trend, and even wiser to partner with unboxes who already have a following. There’s also an opportunity for unboxing videos from unexpected companies, such as B2B companies that can capture attention by emulating a consumer unboxing with a B2B product that has never been subject to such treatment. Read more

Prediction time is here—It gets crazier every year, the number of predictions for the next year flooding the blogosphere and other social channels. Some are worth your attention, such as the annual list from Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes, who lists five trends, none of which are easy to dispute. He sees social networks infiltrating the workplace (see the News item above about the impending launch of Facebook at Work), a surge in employee advocacy efforts, companies diving into social messaging, the maturing of social media advertising, and the dominance of social video. The takeaway: Most predictions are blinding flashes of the obvious. Others are pie-in-the-sky, more aspirational than realistic. The best—like Holmes’s, may seem obvious, but that’s because the trend is already well underway. The value comes from the dissection of each trend (such as Holmes’s recognition that Snapchat alone is reporting 6 billion daily video views in support of his prediction that social video will “eat the world.”) Read more

Mobile and Wearables

Carnival Cruise Line innovates a mobile experience—People planning a vacation can experience a Carnival cruise through a Facebook mobile ad “unit” that combines text, images, videos, and GIFs. The ad format—displayed in a manner similar to Instant Articles—is designed to bring the cruising experience to life.The takeaway: The mobile only Canvas ad unit is an example of Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to make Facebook ads as compelling (if not moreso) than a television show. When executed well, this kind of ad respects, rather than ignores, the user and could go a long way toward altering views that led to the current ad-blocking trend. Read more

Live streaming heats up for small businesses—Periscope and Meerkat, the live social video streaming apps that have been the subject of debate over their usefulness, are being embraced by a growing number of small businesses. Among the uses to which they’re being put: broadcasting events, hosting Q&A sessions, providing sneak peeks of new merchandise, and delivering how-to information. The takeaway: Live streaming sessions can help a small business stand out from its competition, but it can’t be an occasional activity. Scheduling a series of broadcasts that attract a loyal audience that expects new streams is the best way for a small business (or, for that matter, any business) to derive value from these tools. Read more

Virtual Reality will get a boost from social media—The Virtual Reality market will hit $6.7 billion in 2016 and grow like a weed for the next five years, reaching $70 billion by 2020. those numbers, though, don’t account for non-commercial VR, such as the Google Cardboard camera app that lets anybody create a 360-degree image that can be viewed in a VR headset. The sharing of these files won’t generate revenue, but they’ll spread the word, build interest, and help make VR a more commonly used tool. According to Jason Tsai, a wearable device analyst, “Social sharing will make VR technologies more influential and more tied to social media platforms.” The takeaway: I have already experimented with the Google Cardboard 360-degree camera. This early offering will undoubtedly be followed by more apps anybody could use to create immersive VR experiences. Companies should be experimenting with these now, both to get attention as an early adopter of VR and to begin figuring out where VR opportunities exist. Read more

Facebook pitching VR to ad buyers—Facebook is demonstrating to advertising how the Oculus Rift VR headset might fit their marketing plans. The focus is on 360-degree immersive video. The takeaway: Just as social media will help spread VR, innovative advertising and marketing efforts will also boost interest. Read more 

Research

Punctuation in test messages is different—and it matters—In traditional documents, you would never end a sentence without a period. In a text message, though, if you do, the recipients won’t think kindly of you. According to research from Binghamton University, text messages that end with a period are seen as insincere.  According to study lead Celia Klin, the cues we use in face-to-face communication aren’t available in texting, leading texters to “rely on what they have available to them—emoticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds, and according to our data, punctuation.” Interestingly, texts that end with an exclamation point are seen as more sincere. The takeaway: More social messaging is in the cards for companies next year, and it will pay dividends for those companies to figure out the accepted approaches rather than adhere to grammar, spelling, and punctuation standards from older channels that don’t apply to messaging. Read more

Social media isn’t driving charitable donations—An Adobe data review has found that 75% of visitors to charity websites got there through a Web search or directly typing the charity’s URL. Social media accounted for only 3% of referrals. That isn’t to say social media doesn’t influence people to donate, but those making donations said in-person requests, email, and direct mail were more motivating. The takeaway: There have been unquestionable successes in social media marketing for charitable causes, but charities shouldn’t assume that social media is their clearest path to fundraising. A strategy would include social media as a means of raising awareness and amplifying messages, but it’s a mistake to ignore the channels that actually produce the donation itself. Read more

This week’s wrap image comes from the College of DuPage Newsroom’s Flickr account, chonicling last year’s holiday gift-wrapping event to benefit children through the Humanitarian Services Project and the Metropolitan Family Services Organization.