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SandraSays

the life & times of Sandra Fernandez

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Facebook adds a little “Love” … Reactions available to all

reactions-image-en_us

Facebook today rolled out their Reactions feature globally, making it possible for millions of Facebook users to have an option to the standard “Like” button. WE all know that clicking “Like” for a sad comment, or to acknowledge that we agree with something that makes us angry … well, it just doesn’t make sense. And now you can choose Live, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry.

On your desktop you access it by hovering the mouse over the “Like” button until the Reactions pop up. On your mobile app, you press down on the “Like” button until the new options pop up. (Not seeing this on your mobile app? You may need to update it first.)

Now we have to watch and see how this impacts engagement rates.

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Is Twitter on the decline? It’s not increasing in users

Twitter
In the fast-paced world of social networks we’re used to seeing stars rise and fall quickly. The new “it” network will pop up virtually overnight (pun intendend) and today’s favorite toy will become tomorrow’s forgotten friend.

However, in the past few years a few networks have endured the test of time. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and YouTube are everyday names. And that’s reality for a reason. I’ve come to take it for granted that they’ll continue to be in the top ten. But that’s not something anyone should count on.

In a recent report, Twitter released the news that for the fourth quarter of 2015 their total number of users didn’t grow and instead remained flat. What this means is that the social network may have reached its plateau for users. And, in fact, their total active users declined (both worldwide and in the US). So even the registered users they have have stopped using it actively.

Is this the beginning of the end for the social media giant?

Twitter has rolled out a plan on how they expect to overcome this plateau. Some of it includes improvements to the product, but also use of live video such as Periscope. And then there will be changes to the timeline, which I’m hoping won’t actually be the thing that kills Twitter for me.

Time will tell, I guess.

However, they did report an amazing 48% increase in revenue for the quarter (when compared to the same quarter in the previous year). So there’s some good news.

In the meanwhile, Twitter remains my favorite social media tool. I hope that doesn’t change too much anytime soon.

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SOURCE: The Number Of Twitter Users Did Not Grow At All In The Final Quarter Of 2015

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Video Pick: “How to Create a Live Video Talk Show Using Blab”

Today’s Video Pick is from Social Media Examiner (via YouTube): “How to Create a Live Video Talk Show Using Blab.” I know several podcasters who are using Blab as a video component for their shows, and even as a tool where they record interviews which are added to the podcast later.

I haven’t used Blab effectively yet, but it’s on my list. Social Media Examiner takes a look at how to use Blab to create a live video talk show. Worth checking out, especially if you haven’t already begin using Blab for marketing.

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Manage multiple Instagram accounts from one mobile device

 

instagram-512-blackHooray! We’ve been waiting for this announcement for weeks … months … forever … Instagram now allows you to manage up to five accounts from your iOS and/or Android apps. No more logging out of one account and into another when you needed to post a new image, and then logging out again.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this is going to make my life much easier. And it’s going to make it easier to work with scheduling options in Hootsuite and SproutSocial (which still require that you be logged into the correct Instagram account on your mobile device to finish publishing).

Now if they’d just let me post from my desktop … but that’s an announcement for another day.

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Video Pick: How to Grow Your Twitter Following Automatically With Social Quant

TwitterI’ve been hearing a lot about Social Quant through my networks, online and offline. People I respect have been telling me that this automated service works really well to build your Twitter following. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m sharing this video for those of you who are also considering the service.

If you have used Social Quant, let me know your thoughts.

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SOURCE: How to Grow Your Twitter Following Automatically With Social Quant | Social Media Examiner via YouTube

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Video Pick: Using Bitly for Content Marketing

Bitly.com is one of the tools I frequently recommend to students in my social media classes, in particular when discussing measurement and review. The service does so much more than just give you shortened links to use in Tweets, especially if you create an account — it gives you statistics on how many clicks your content is generating, when and from where (and that’s just that start).

This video from Digital Marketer gives an in-depth look at how they use Bitly, the types of info they gleam from it, and advanced techniques you might consider in your usage. Check it out.