Instagram's Snappy Reincarnation and the Rise of Live Streaming

It's been a crazy week for innovation in social media and business communication tools. It's Facebook vs. Snapchat.

It's also Slack vs. Skype, Microsoft Teams and Facebook at Work. These are major stories for how digital is evolving for business, startups, small businesses and for how brands engage consumers in real-time. Facebook's Workplace is dubbed as another "Email-killer" and looks like this:

Snapchat Adds Major new feature: Groups

Snapchat has added new features, including the ability to add groups of friends of up to 16 people. The new Group feature also includes an easy way to pop out to individual chat with anyone within the Group (called ‘Quick Chat’), making Snapchat even more engaging and useful.

To create a Group chat, you select the Chat section in the app then tap on the people you want as participants in your group conversation. You can also name the Group if you choose.

Snapchat's Spectacles Launch with IPO Approaching

Snapchat's spectacles allows for users to take micro videos easier than ever for a hands-free experience. The hardware means Snap Inc is evolving rapidly before its IPO expected in early 2017. Impressively, the co-founders will still control 74% of the company.

#FutureRunDown

Facebook Clones A Snapchat-esque Instagram

Coincidentally, as Snap Inc. is branding itself more as a "camera company", Facebook is trying to copy and improve upon its features in the hopes of stealing some of its younger user base.

The battle for customer retention comes as Snapchat made terrific headway in video content in 2015 and the first half of 2016, with Facebook and Instagram innovating new engagement with fresh features in the second half of 2016.

Since Facebook's attempted acquisition of Snapchat back in 2013 for $3 billion, it's now valued at about 8 times that just four years later.

Slack Now Has In-App Video Calling

Meanwhile, Slack has added in-app video calls with up to 15 users. Slack a unicorn-messaging service, is now going to get competition from major tech companies with Microsoft and Facebook going head-to-head with their service.

Facebook Events App Goes Live for Android

One of the genius features of Facebook in terms of connecting with real-world events, and Android today has the Events by Facebook app now finally available. Facebook events is a great example of social media actually improving real life, I personally can't wait to try the app.

Instagram has Live Video

Instagram has unrolled live Video, this is beyond huge. For personal brands and retail brands this is definately way more accessible than Facebook Live, as engagement slides on Facebook, but remains relatively strong with Stories, and even more new features coming to Instagram in the works.

Disappearing Video streaming in stories means Facebook's copycat of Snapchat's best features is nearly complete. 2016 has seen Instagram and Pinterest, significantly improve their interface and features for advertisers. Snapchat like features are coming to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger as well.

Live Streaming on Twitter now Integrated

Remember Twitter? They too announced today, that Periscope is finally able to ‘go live’ now in the Twitter app. I guess this means live-streaming is now fully mainstream. Periscope will continue to operate as a separate entity, though its days are likely number as a standalone platform. This gives journalists, celebrities and influencers a neat way to interact with the public, when Facebook Live's more corporate feel is not desirable.

Live-Streaming Explodes in China

Before live-streaming has really gone mainstream here in the West with no clear winner, it's already exploded in China on Tmall. While Facebook Live is common for news, Instagram disappearing video should make for more dynamic visual story-telling for brands and personal brands.

Facebook Unveils Parent's Portal

Facebook has unveiled a Parent's portal to help keep kids safe and retain some of its youngest users.

Facebook Workplace Seeks to Upend Slack

Slack’s 2.7 million daily active users might not want to so easily try Facebook's Workplace. Meanwhile it's very early for Facebook Workplace, which has approximately 1,000 companies on board at the moment. Microsoft Teams on the other hand, might even one day have implications with LinkedIn, since it sells via Office 365 suite across devices.

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How do you see Instagram now competing with arch rival Snap Inc? Do you believe Slack, Microsoft Teams or Facebook Workplace can change professional teams for good?