Google’s New Ad Features, Facebook’s New Crypto, Snapchat Events And A New Ranking System For Facebook

The battle of the tech giants. Snapchat vs Facebook: Who dares win?! I’ve finally had the chance to discuss some newsworthy social updates. It’s been quiet on the social front recently, however Facebook, Snapchat and Google have all had announcements this week as they look to keep their platforms on top of social network pyramid.

Google Announces New Ad Functionality

Google has decided to double down on its advert functionality with new advertising tools. Its new platform for creating ads will now have the ability to create 3D assets as well as AR promotions.

It’s an exciting time for marketers and the advertising sector because these new features will add a new dynamic aspect to get consumer attention. The ad platform has been named ‘Swirl’ and will allow 3D content to be visually displayed on mobile or web to entice consumers into purchasing a product/service. Users will be able to zoom in and out, rotate or play a digital animation. Swirl will now allow brands, that have the skill set, to create 3D content and build them in their ad units. Poly, Google’s own editor, will allow 3D editing to make it easier for brands to build their own advertising experiences.

I’m sure this will be a hit with consumers as the content will give them a better user experience before making a potential purchase. Users could have the ability to look at a product from all angles. Imagine being able to inspect one of the latest BMW models from all angles, checking out the finer details that goes into beamers. You can even closely inspect all angles of a new camera to see if it has all the bells and whistles you need. This will definitely beat the dreadfully annoying betting ads that seem to make its way through any type of digital advertising space it can find.

Google haven’t stopped there. AR is being introduced to it’s very own multimedia platform. Youtube is entering the space of AR advertising which will allow consumers to directly engage with ads. Giving the consumer the ability to try on their favourite brands make up and seeing what lipstick colour matches their style the most. Marketers will now be able to have viewers check out their latest products by using the ad format called ‘Beauty Try-On’. This feature has been used often with other brands and platforms such as Kylie Jenner’s Snapchat filter which allowed fans to try on makeup using AR. However, this is a first for Google/Youtube as they are now implementing this functionality to a wider audience on it’s platforms, making it a highly effective addition for content creators.

This is a step in the right direction for Google, as both ad options will improve the functionality for it’s user experience. A move towards more freedom and creativity is always one that will go down well with content creators.

Facebook Releases Details of Its Coming Cryptocurrency

Has Bitcoin finally found its match? Facebook have announced plans to launch its very own cryptocurrency that it hopes to take over the blockchain game. Libra, that is set to be available to the public in 2020.

Facebook will look to share control of the currency with a group of organisations, that include venture capital companies, credit card firms and other tech giants. Sounds like a plan for global domination to me. This currency has a lot of potential and power considering the size of Facebook and the reach it currently has with its existing users.

Once the crypto is live, users will have access to the currency and will be able to send Libra inside of Facebook Owned apps such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp. It sees Libra as the successor for the standard global currencies that is currently being transferred on the app. The block chain foundation will open up a lot of potential for the future of currencies, allowing quicker and a more safe way of transferring money.

To tie into the Libra, the tech giant is also looking to form a subsidiary company called Calibra. The company will develop services around Libra, to monetise the rise of the cryptocurrency. The implementation of a digital wallet will allow the currency to hold money and allow great investment potential.

Facebook will need to restore public reliability within the company to surpass the last 18 months of privacy issues the company has faced. This sounds like a great move for Facebook, but how will the top leaders in the world take the news. With the eliteness of Facebook, the power of the original currencies could lose value with the pulling power of Mark Zuckerburg’s company.

Snapchat Take Revenge On Facebook By Taking One Of Its Features

Instagram may have taken its’ stories feature from Snapchat, now it looks like Snapchat is getting revenge of its own by creating its own events feature, similar to Facebook.

Snapchat will look to integrate an ‘events’ section that will be closely linked to its other feature Snap Map. The new feature will allow friends to update their locations and reveal what they’re up to on any given day/night. Following on from the success of the events feature on Facebook, this could be a great way to tap into the younger market by linking each story/location to an open audience. This is a great way to promote major events like festivals and concerts, down to smaller get togethers and parties. Each event will have the ability to be public or private.

With the constant battle between social attention, I’m sure this feature will spread through Facebook’s ecosystem by creeping into new updates on Whatsapp and Instagram.

Facebook Comments New Ranking System

Negative and hateful comments seem to be increasing as the days go by. Facebook has been actively trying to limit hateful comments from its users posts and it has announced that it will be introducing a new and improved ranking system for public profiles, in an attempt to reduce abusive comments and increase meaningful conversations.

Pages with high follower counts already have this implementation in place, using its ranking system to judge how visible a comment will be. Comments with a high reaction count will be seen above those with less. The update will now see the comments of the page owner and their network of friends above the rest. This means, if you want to tell Kim Kardashian that her new heels are sexy asf, then it is very possible that your comment will firstly get drowned out by her social network, then the thousands of fan comments as well. However, in order to have total control, Facebook is keeping a lot of its cards close to its chest by only announcing a few of the functionalities surrounding visibility as a whole across its social platforms.

The updates don’t stop there, as the tech company announced in its F8 conference, its dating section will be rolled out across more countries very soon. Along with another feature called ‘Meet New Friends’, which kind of does what it says on the tin and will help users expand their audience based on shared interests.