Google is working on a new version of Google+ for Android, which is said to be brand new and completely rewritten.

According to Google+ engineer, Leo Deegan, the new G+ is set to be released within the next several days. While it will resemble the current app in appearance, it sounds like a lot of technical changes have been made under the hood.

”…this new version is the culmination of a complete rewrite of many core features using Google’s latest Android app infrastructure which will allow our Android team to build new features on a modern tech stack.”

In addition to core features being rewritten, some subtle updates have been added including:

• Improved stream rendering and scrolling
• Redesigned photo lightbox
• Swipe up to leave a comment
• Grey-spammed comments now viewable by post authors

Google admits there are a few known issues that are still being worked on, which is to be expected with a complete rewrite. The new Google+ app should be available on Android in the next few days.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8213443

The Twittersphere yesterday erupted with outrage at the news: Pepsi was releasing “Lady Doritos,” a quieter, purse-friendly chip for women.

It’s the type of mockable, scoffable idea that’s perfect for Twitter. And to be fair, consumer shelves have seen their share of half-brained, pink washed products designed to capture women’s dollars, often at a premium. Bic Pens for Her come to mind. As do earplugs for women or tape for girls.

Related: 6 Ways to Show People You’re Really Listening

A “Doritos for women” seemed particular off-base emerging when it did, weeks after the second Women’s March and in an era of Time’s Up and #MeToo. Anger online came fast and furious, with social media reacting against what it thought was the latest symptom of a society that still had outdated, precious ideas about what women wanted and needed.

Good news, ladies. We got a female Colonel Sanders and Doritos that don’t crunch, so feminism is cancelled. We’ve achieved equality.

— OhNoSheTwitnt (@OhNoSheTwitnt) February 5, 2018

To some, the very idea of Lady Doritos was exhausting or even upsetting. Busy Phillips, the actress and influencer, called the chips “triggering” during an Instagram Live. 

.@Doritos we’ve been through enough this year.

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 5, 2018

To be sure, society still has lots of things to fix and lots of outdated ideas about women. But Lady Doritos, as a product, doesn’t actually exist.

Related: Listening Is an Art, and Mastering it Will Make You a Great Leader

The hubbub started when a quote from a Freakonomics podcast episode featuring Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi was misunderstood. In the podcast, the CEO mentioned a slew of ways that Pepsi is researching how users eat and use snacks of all kinds. Nooyi, you may or may not know, has been instrumental in diversifying Pepsi’s snack portfolio to include “Better for you” and “Good for you” offerings, products with whole grains and nuts. But, as the podcast interview explained, the company is interested in all the ways people consume snacks, including where they carry them after the snack leaves a pantry.

Here’s Nooyi’s full quote from the podcast.

“You know, when you eat out of a flex bag — you know, one of our single serve bags — especially as you watch a lot of the young guys eat the chips, they love their Doritos, and they lick their fingers with great glee, and when they reach the bottom of the bag they pour the little broken pieces into their mouth, because they don’t want to lose that taste of the flavor, and the broken chips in the bottom. You know, women I think would love to do the same, but they don’t. They don’t like to crunch too loudly in public. And, you know, they don’t lick their fingers generously and they don’t like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavor into their mouth.”

She added:

“It’s not a male and female as much as ‘are there snacks for women that can be designed and packaged differently?’ And yes, we are looking at it, and we’re getting ready to launch a bunch of them soon. For women, you know, low-crunch, the full taste profile, you know, not have so much of the flavor stick on the fingers, and how can you put it in a purse? Because women love to carry a snack in their purse.”

In the same podcast, Nooyi talked about how Pepsi needed to rename a Sobe beverage flavor “Liquid Liposuction” to “Sobe Lean” after Pepsi acquired the company, knowing that people held Pepsi to a different standard than an edgy independent food company. 

Related: Want to Be Successful? Stop Listening to ‘Them.’

The company tried hard to set the record straight yesterday. There was a simple, straightforward tweet:

We already have Doritos for women — they’re called Doritos, and they’re loved by millions.

— Doritos (@Doritos) February 6, 2018

And there was a statement by a spokeswoman, tagged onto the already widely shared stories. “The reporting on a specific Doritos product for female consumers is inaccurate,” the statement read, in part. “At the same time, we know needs and preferences continue to evolve and we’re always looking for new ways to engage and delight our consumers.”

Some on social media caught on to the misunderstanding and tried to chime in, explaining the interview itself was an empowering one about a female CEO with two advanced degrees who used to play cricket as well as lead guitar in an all-woman band.

Other things Nooyi discusses in the interview: Growing up in India, being CEO in the middle of the financial crisis, the importance of young people sticking with STEM, and the way she drastically retooled the company to add a nutritional component to the brand.

— Caroline Siede (@CarolineSiede) February 5, 2018

But these more nuanced perspectives, such as how Nooyi did her job as CEO, or the reality of how all products are designed for a variety of market segments, continued to be lost in the excitement online. created by those who seem to not to have read past the headlines they’d tweeted. Just minutes before I wrote this sentence, a full day after most of the corrections had been issued, folks on social were still reacting to “Lady Doritos,” and with fresh outrage.

Please tell me Lady Doritos is not a real thing.

Tell me that at a time when women have had to watch an overqualified female presidential candidate lose to a joke, and they are fighting for equality and the #ERA – please tell me @Doritos is not STUPID enough to market that.

— PoliTeach ?? (@PoliTeach) February 6, 2018

I’m terrified for the rest of 2018 because women really want better healthcare and equal pay but so far we’ve just gotten Reba in KFC commercials and lady Doritos

— ali (@alibakerevans) February 6, 2018

Related: An Expert’s Guide to Steering a Conversation

As crises go, this is a minor one. But it says a lot about how we talk online. And it’s a reminder of social media’s power in spreading a dominant message and how that conversation — one free of nuance —  can go awry. More than anything, it’s another example to all of us to rethink a ‘quick take’ or a craft a witty reaction, since we risk misplacing our outrage. Better to put that time into reading more or listening, not just reacting, and strengthening the very important skill of widening our points of view and making up our own minds.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308631

A new ad unit is coming to Instagram stories, as advertisers can now feature up to three pieces of media per stories ad.

Stories ads will display multiple pieces of media in a carousel-style format, similar to stories you would see posted by any of your Instagram contacts. Users can tap through, swipe back and forth or pause the content.

Previously, Instagram stories ads were limited to either one photo or one video. Now they can feature either three of the same type of media, or a combination of both.

This greatly expands the size of the canvas that advertisers can work with when telling their stories. Whether it’s a video ad shown in three parts, or a slideshow highlighting three different product features, there are a host of new opportunities.

Carousel stories ads are being rolled out to a limited group of advertisers at first, some of which include Coca-Cola, Renault, and Paramount. Instagram says it needs time to learn how users and brands engage with the new ad unit.

A further announcement will be made when carousel ads for Instagram stories are more widely available.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8150153

Instagram continues to build on its popular stories feature with an update geared toward text-only stories.

Now stories can be published without a photo or video. Type mode allows users to create messages using a variety of typefaces and backgrounds.

Type mode can be accessed from the camera screen with an option under the record button reading “Type.” Simply select type mode and write a message.

From there, different text styles can be selected from the top of the screen. Text styles include options such as “Modern,” “Neon,” “Typewriter,” and “Strong.” Specific words in the message can be highlighted for added emphasis.

Select a background color after styling the text and the story is then ready to post. Here are a few examples:

The new text styles can also be applied when text is added to photos and videos. To start publishing text-based stories on Instagram download the latest update from your device’s App Store.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8149352

Prominent Twitter users have collectively lost over a million followers as a result of federal and state inquiries into fake accounts.

Entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and media figures have all lost a significant number of followers. One thing they have in common is many of them bought followers from a company called Devumi.

Twitter has vowed to take action on Devumi, but declined to comment on whether or not it is purging fake accounts. Followers began to vanish after the New York Times published an article over the weekend exposing social media’s “black market.”

According to NYT, virtually all the followers provided by Devumi are fake despite the company promising active, English followers. However, buying followers of any kind on Twitter is strictly prohibited, whether they’re bots or real people.

Federal and state lawmakers are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Devumi and similar companies for “deceptive and unfair marketing practices.” Devumi is also under investigation by Florida and New York attorney generals.

There is evidence that bots are being cleverly disguised as real people, with some 55,000 fake accounts using the names, profile pictures, and other personal details of real Twitter users.

On top of being duped into buying fake followers, those who have been exposed as customers of Devumi are facing some serious repercussions. The Chicago-Sun Times has suspended the publication of reviews by its film critic after it was revealed he bought at least 25,000 followers from Devumi.

More stringent laws are required to regulate social media companies, say lawmakers. Legislation was recently introduced in California that requires social media companies doing business in the state to link every account to a real person.

Will more states follow suit? If so— would it solve the problem, or just lead to more bots posing as human beings? We’ll have to wait and see as this story continues to develop.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8139235

Facebook has created a new policy which effectively bans ads for cryptocurrency, as well as other financial products.

The reason for this policy change, Facebook says, is to honor one of its core advertising principles that ads should be safe. Ads for cryptocurrency are frequently tied to misleading and deceptive practices, the company believes.

Facebook’s new policy reads as follows:

”Ads must not promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency.”

Examples of prohibited ads include:

• “Start binary options trading now and receive a 10-risk free trades bonus!”
• “Click here to learn more about our no-risk cryptocurrency that enables instant payments to anyone in the world.”
• “New ICO! Buy tokens at a 15% discount NOW!”
• “Use your retirement funds to buy Bitcoin!”

If Facebook’s new policy sounds too broad, that’s intentional. As the company ramps up enforcement it will work to detect more specific types of deceptive and misleading ad practices. The policy will also extend to ads on Facebook-owned Instagram.

The underlying goal is to make it harder for scammers to thrive on the world’s biggest social network. However, this is not a guarantee that everyone will be caught. Facebook encourages users to continue reporting ads that violate its policies.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8126782

Instagram is finally introducing a way for users to schedule posts in advance. Specifically, tools that utilize the Instagram Graph API now have the ability to schedule posts.

Hootsuite is one such tool, and the company says the scheduling and publishing of Instagram content is the number one request from its customers. Tools with the Instagram Graph API can allow multiple team members to manage large volumes of content across multiple instagram accounts.

Those with a business profile who are interested in scheduling Instagram posts are asked to work with a Facebook Marketing Partner or Instagram Marketing Partner.

This is not a perfect solution, but hopefully it’s the start of something that will be offered more widely. Scheduling posts natively within the Instagram app would be the most accessible solution, as would giving free apps like Buffer the ability to schedule posts.

It appears that Instagram is gearing this feature toward business and enterprise clients. In addition to scheduling posts, the Instagram Graph API can now show users which posts they’ve been tagged in. Lastly, other business profiles can now be viewed using tools with the Instagram Graph API.

Developers using the old Instagram API will need to migrate to the Instagram Graph API in order to work with these new features. Instagram will end support for the Instagram API Platform, giving developers plenty of time to migrate.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8126283

Live social video is all the rage, but it isn’t just something the social media marketers and brand managers should care about.

Social livestreaming can boost your SEO, too – if you do it right.

Freshness, dwell time, chatter. These are all important factors that can help your SEO, and they’re all natural qualities of social live video.

Keep reading to understand how you can use social live video to amplify your organic reach.

Social Live Video: Stand Out in a Crowded Newsfeed

Social marketers freak out about Facebook algorithm changes the way SEO pros do about Google’s updates.

Social networks are on a constant mission to do everything within their power to strongarm brands into playing exclusively on their networks.

Some platforms, like Instagram, notoriously don’t even allow links in posts.

Others, like Facebook or LinkedIn, do a bait and switch: sure, you can add links to your posts, but only at the cost of it then getting heavily deprioritized by the algorithm in the main feed.

As marketers, we get it – it’s good for their ad dollars and their stockholders to keep users in-network, but it sucks for our brands. What’s an SEO pro to do?

This is where social live video comes in.

By 2021, experts predict video will represent 82 percent of internet traffic.

Consumers want more content from the brands they follow, but 80 percent would prefer it take the form of live video over a blog.

It’s no surprise, then, that Facebook claims live videos generate 600 percent more interactions.

Here’s the best part: some platforms, like Facebook, make it a point to boost “live” content in their feed.

With Facebook consistently making it near impossible for brands to show up in the news feed, social live video is one way that still works.

Social live video is no longer opt-in; it’s required.

Brands must create social livestreams that delight their followers.

The key is to make it good for your SEO, too.

Focus on the Right Social Media Platforms

While everyone’s hopping aboard the social livestream train, certain platforms are friendlier for brands.

For your live video to succeed from both a social and an organic perspective, you need to choose the right social network.

• For social media, this means the networks where you’ve got an engaged following and the know-how to create and strategically post high-quality livestream video.
• For SEO, this means the qualified networks from that first statement that let you add links to the post and make it easy to annotate your videos.

I’ll save some of your work for you – the clear winners here are YouTube Live and Facebook Live.

Instagram Live disappears 24 hours later while Meerkat doesn’t offer a replay option, and Twitch isn’t really applicable unless you’re in the gaming industry.

But with Facebook Live, you can create a permanent post, download your video for embedding on your own website, add a description to your post, and review analytics during and after your stream.

YouTube Live offers the same features – and it’s owned by Google. Enough said.

Amplify Your Other Marketing Channels

Live streams in and of themselves are not a go-to SEO option.

The SEO comes when you use social live video to improve results from your other channels, from events to content marketing.

As they say, a rising tide lifts all ships.

The more social video you create, the more you have to embed on your related blog posts or landing pages.

Once the stream is over, you can update your video description with links to said blog posts or landing pages to drive traffic.

Videos do wonder for your dwell time – video watchers tend to click through to 2.3 pages per visit, and they’ll stay on your website for up to six times as long as a visitor who doesn’t see any video.

YouTube videos are often pulled for featured snippet results, which is one way social live video can directly impact your SEO.

But you can hack your other popular content tactics into compelling live streams for an added, albeit indirect, SEO boost.

Product Tutorials

How-to videos are among the most popular type of YouTube video. Instead of a traditional tutorial, make yours exciting by filming live.

Benefit Cosmetics has done this to great success with their weekly Tipsy Tricks series. Their products are so simple to use, you can apply them over drinks with friends.

Event Marketing

Social live video gets more people talking about, hyped up for, and attending your event. In fact, this is one of the most common types of livestreams you’ll see.

Before social live video, only people at an event got to enjoy it, while others would read about it afterwards. With social live video, you can infinitely scale your audience and invite all your Facebook fans to enjoy it, too.

Promote, Promote, Promote

As with any campaign, promotion is essential to a successful live video.

Hype your livestream beforehand to drive eyeballs and increase your visibility on the platform when you do go live.

• Create a Facebook event people can RSVP to.
• Regularly tweet, post, or snap on your other networks to remind people it’s coming up.
• Feature it in related blog posts or your email newsletter.
• Ask your influencers to do the same, especially if they’re going to be featured in your video.

The more eyes see your video, the more click-through you’ll see for your links, and the better the long-term visibility of the video overall.

One of the best ways to promote your live stream is simply to do it often. The more consistent you are about going live, the more your fans will look out for it, driving views.

Remember that precious “freshness” factor? It doesn’t just apply to content on your own site. Google pays attention to how much people are talking about you online.

If there’s a surge in people talking about you on Facebook from your latest live video, you can bet Google’s going to notice.

Go Live

During the live stream itself, follow social live video best practices

You can permanently post videos on YouTube and Facebook for long-term visibility, but you’ll get the most eyes for your video while it’s live, so you want to make the most of it.

• Pre-schedule posts on Twitter and your other networks to drive eyeballs to the live stream platform while it’s happening. Use the same hashtag in all your posts.
• Engage with viewers, ask questions, and respond to their comments. On Facebook, invite them to tag friends who would enjoy the video in the comments. Live stream comments are included in Facebook’s live video ranking algorithm.
• During the video, encourage people to visit your website. Make sure your URL is clear, easy to understand, and simple to type in. This is not the time to use an unbranded bit.ly link. Ideally, use something like yourbrand.com/onewordhere.
• Really drive the point home by keeping the related URL visible throughout the video. Write the link in big letters on a whiteboard behind you. Print out a big poster. Design special shirts for the occasion. You get the idea. You want to keep the link visible on the screen throughout the video so people still know where to go if they’re playing it on mute.

Keep the Ball Rolling Once You Publish

Once you finish live streaming, publish the video to your page and follow all the steps in your typical SEO checklist for regular video. This includes:

• Making sure your post is set “Public.”
• Adding a keyword-optimized title and relevant tags.
• Beefing up your post description with relevant web links above-the-fold, and a detailed summary of takeaways below the fold.
• Exporting the video to repost it on your other video hosting sites and social media networks.
• Uploading the video to relevant blog posts or landing pages on your site to increase dwell time. This gives people a website URL to link to instead of your Facebook profile.
• Including a transcription file for the video on YouTube and your blog page.
• Providing an embed code for the video that links back to your website.

Conclusion

There’s an inherent urgency built into live stream video that makes it irresistible to watch. Just imagine if you can put that momentum to work for your SEO.

More Video Marketing Resources:

Image Credits
Featured image: StockSnap/Pixabay
Screenshots by Amelia Willson. Taken January 2018.

http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/8110759

Despite the fact that he’s milked #BloggerGate for all its worth, Dublin hotel and café owner Paul Stenson doesn’t want the argument he’s making about the entitled behavior of influencers to come at the expense of the woman who prompted it.

Earlier this month, a Facebook post by Stenson on the page for one of his businesses, the White Moose Café, went viral. This initial post contained a screenshot of an email from a social media influencer who had contacted Stenson seeking a free stay in exchange for promotional posts on her own accounts. He uploaded the screenshot along with a rant refusing the request and lecturing blogger types who think they’re entitled to freebies in exchange for the publicity they offer. 

While Stenson obscured the identity of the email’s sender in his post, Elle Darby outed herself in a 17-minute YouTube video, in which she said Stenson had “roasted” her. 

Related: Irish Hotel Publicly Shames Social Media Influencer for Requesting Free Stay

Stenson did not let up. He went on to post additional rants on Facebook and Twitter in which he said he would ban all bloggers from visiting his businesses. Then over the weekend, he printed a $6.5 million invoice for Darby (again not naming her) based on calculations by a Dublin PR firm regarding the value of the publicity their exchange had generated. 

He also made T-shirts based on the controversy and even hosted a mock press conference in which he set up an apology for his treatment of the “nameless,” godlike” influencer, sarcastically admitting that he should have “bent over and taken that influence straight to the bank.” 

[embedded content]

“In a moment of lapsed judgment, I assumed that a particular English blogger — who shall remain nameless — and 22 — was in a position to pay for her hotel stay. And, I may have acted out of line, resulting in a publicity tornado worth millions — and costing both of us exactly 0 euro,” Stenson says in the video. “I would like to apologize for this. I shouldn’t have gone after such a prominent YouTuber and Instagrammer — especially one that singlehandedly boosted the sales at Universal Studios Orlando.”

Related: The Hotel Owner Who Called Out a Blogger for Asking for a Free Stay Now Wants $6.5 Million From Her 

He followed these remarks with, “We would like to apologize to absolutely nobody.” He then joked that he would like to invite the “particular English blogger” to stay at his hotel at “a reduced rate on the requested dates.” 

His partner, who appeared with him in the video, whispered in his ear. Then Stenson continued: “No, sorry, that’s bullshit.”

Despite this mean-spirited tone, Stenson has made a distinction on Twitter in the ensuing days. While he’s had some fun with #BloggerGate and used Darby’s actions as a vehicle for publicity, he emphasizes that he’s never explicitly mentioned her by name. He highlights the difference between calling out the entire blogger community and targeting Darby herself with hurtful messages.

As social media continues to fuel the influencer economy, entrepreneurs should note this distinction. While it might not seem like an individual is prominent enough to justify receiving complementary goods and services in exchange for videos and posts on their accounts, beware of the power and reach of social media. As Darby and Stenson learned, even business interactions can spread like wildfire, welcoming the court of public opinion to pass judgement on the intentions of both parties.

Influencers should be aware of the risks of putting themselves out there with these types of requests, and business owners and brands should think carefully about how to respond. 

Some of the comments the girl (who I have never once named) is getting on her Insta are horrible. I don’t condone these comments and I think it’s time people laid off her. Insult me all you like, but leave the girl alone. She fucked up. She’s learnt her lesson. The end.

— Paul Stenson (@PaulVStenson) January 22, 2018 

At no point throughout this whole debacle have I ever mentioned the girl’s name. Not on Facebook, Insta, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, PornHub, Grindr or anywhere else. I have never mentioned it to my family, my friends, my dog, the cat across the road who torments my dog, NOBODY.

— Paul Stenson (@PaulVStenson) January 24, 2018

Sticking to his principles, Stenson also tweeted that he doesn’t think influencers should get pity freebies just because their feelings are hurt from being told off.

Cyber bullying is a serious allegation. As someone who was bullied in school, I despise bullies. I’ve always said that I don’t condone the unjustified comments the girl is getting, but I don’t agree that the cyber bullying card be used as a tool to generate cash via YouTube views

— Paul Stenson (@PaulVStenson) January 24, 2018

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308135

Instagram is making its stories feature even more animated with a new GIF option. GIF stickers can now be added to any story via an integration with GIPHY.

Users can select from hundreds of thousands of GIFs from GIPHY’s database to add as stickers. After tapping on the “GIF” button when adding a sticker, Instagram will show what’s currently trending on GIPHY. In addition, users can find something more specific by using the search bar.

From the looks of it, there’s seemingly no limit to the amount of GIFs that can be included in a single story.

GIF stickers are available now in the latest version of Instagram for iOS and Android.

Upcoming Feature

Instagram teased an upcoming feature that will be rolled out in the coming weeks. Soon, users will be able to add media of any size to a story without having to crop it.

When adding a photo or video to a story, Instagram will zoom in by default so it fits the size of the frame. Pinching to zoom out on the photo or video will display it in its original form. The unused space will be filled by a dynamically generated gradient.

The end result will look something like this:

Again, this is a feature that can be expected in the next few weeks.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-stories-can-now-include-gifs/233929/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedpress.me&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+searchenginejournal