Social Media Round-up - Facebook video updates and jobs, Twitter Explore and Snapchat AR.

Hi everyone, I hope you’ve all enjoyed your week. I’ve got some very exciting developments to share with you from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, enjoy!

Facebook video updates

In the past, Facebook discovered that its users found it annoying when sound was played from a video in their feed without them first selecting this option. Facebook suggested that around 80% of people reacted this way so made it necessary for people to tap a video they wanted to hear the sound for. This is why most videos come with subtitles automatically on the platform. Now Facebook is reversing this due to a change in attitudes, so videos will automatically play sound as you’re scrolling (unless your phones Is on silent of course). For reasons that Facebook are not completely sure about, people have now started to respond positively to this. It may have something to do with the rise of Snapchat and Instagram stories where sound from the start of play is the preferred mode of viewing to give context to the content, so now many people have come to expect sound straight away. Whatever your preference is, you’ll be able to change the setting back if you want via your Facebook settings, otherwise it may take a little getting used to!

As well as the sound, Facebook is adding a few new features to the way users can view videos. First off, improvements to vertical viewing have been made so that many videos can now be seen in high quality this way. Also, you can now have picture-in-picture inside or outside of the Facebook app so you can watch a small version of the video you’re viewing whilst doing other things on your smartphone.

Finally, an app is being developed that will allow users to stream Facebook videos on their televisions sets via devices like Apple TV, and the Amazon Fire stick etc.

Click here to see a short video from Facebook detailing these features.

Twitter Livestreamed videos available in Explore

Twitter have now added live streamed videos filmed via the periscope application in to the ‘top trends’ section of the new explore tab. Live videos will be identifiable via a red ‘live’ icon and users will be able to use all the actions offered in periscope such as liking, commenting and retweeting the videos. You can also now see featured live streamed videos on your home page in the right column under the suggested people to follow.

Snapchat is delving into the world of augmented reality

With Snapchat’s existence being threatened by its competitors, Instagram stories and Facebook’s continual updates; it is entering the world of augmented reality, they’ve decided it’s the area most likely to give itself a competitive edge. Augmented reality is an alternative to Virtual reality where users can view their real-life environment through their screen with virtual aspects added to it (Similar to how snapchat filters work). Recently Snapchat introduced several of these ‘world lenses’ that allow users to do this in its basic form and now they are working on an updated version that will enable virtual elements to interact with real world objects. We can’t wait to see what they’ll think up!

Facebook introduce job ads and applications

In what looks like the first step in Facebook potentially trying to kill off LinkedIn, it has now introduced capabilities where employers can post job ads and those who are looking for jobs can apply via the platform. Users applying for jobs can also choose to pre-populate part of the form from their existing Facebook details to save time and send these through messenger. This feature has become available in Canada and America and is expected to hit the UK very soon. Currently, Facebook are even offering it for free!

That’s all for this week. Check back in and see what’s happening in the world of Social Media next week.