Here are the top social trends 5Loom is discussing the week of July 9, 2012.
SocialCam – The Instagram of Video
- SocialCam, originally a free iPhone mobile app, offers users the simplicity of uploading videos straight from their mobile device, and easy sharing on Facebook.
- Despite its negative reception by most media outlets, the app has become the most successful video sharing app, with 8 million active daily users and 75 million total users on their app and website.
- Most of the negative attention is surrounding its privacy settings. Users must authorize the app on both their mobile device as well as on Facebook, as they are mutually exclusive settings. Therefore, people often complain about the app sharing their viewing habits despite unauthorizing the app.
- They recently launched a website to better connect with their growing audience – which sets them apart from Instagram. The website offers leaderboards with highly influential users and popular videos.
Facebook Mobile Advertising
- Facebook is launching a new type of mobile advertising that targets users based on the apps they download and sync with Facebook’s Connect feature. Facebook ads are then targeted based on that data.
- This is an innovative new way for brands to track what consumers are doing on their phones. Currently, Facebook hasn’t decided if they will also track what people do on the apps. If Facebook does choose to go beyond the mobile-ad networks, it may raise additional privacy concerns.
Twitter’s New Search Function
- Twitter announced they updated their search function. New features include: search autocomplete, spelling corrections, related suggestions, results with real names and usernames, and an option to get results from only those you follow.
- This may prove useful when searching for a topic that may have multiple names, because Twitter will provide current relevant suggestions.
- The new features are limited for mobile devices. iPhone and Android apps only received search autocomplete, spelling corrections, and related search suggestions.
If you would like to learn more about one of these topics, we’d love to talk to you. Please email us at info@5Loom.com or call at 877-365-6669.