Tuminds Newsflash – July

1. Snapchat Saves Tired Hands

In a recent article from SocialTimes, Snapchat was named the fastest growing social network to date. The unique photo/video sharing platform was launched in 2011, and now has an estimated 200 million monthly active users and 100 million daily active users, putting it ahead of its competitors at the four year mark. Snapchat also has the most engaging audience with more than 400 million snaps posted every day.

These impressive figures may be due to the platform’s continuous development and the many improvements which have been made to the network, including:

• Changing the way snaps are viewed – up until recently, users have had to keep their finger pressed on a snap or story until it finished, and if they stopped pressing the screen then the snap would disappear. Snapchat have now introduced “Tap to View” which allows users to simply tap the story/snap once and it plays all the way through. If users get bored of a snap or want to view the next clip in a story they can simply tap the screen again
• Viewing snaps more than once – users have always been able to view stories more than once, but until now, snaps sent to individuals could only be viewed once and then they were gone … forever (unless you take a screenshot of course). However, users are now given the option to replay one snap a day; only once a day, so make it a good one
• Adding friends – as opposed to only being able to add friends by username, people can now be added using either their Snapcode or location. This makes it easier to build your network and also to share your own presence on Snapchat by taking a screen shot of your Snapcode (which can also now be made into a GIF) and sharing that across the other social platforms

2. Facebook Introduce E-Commerce

Following the e-commerce boom in social media (Twitter, Pinterest and Google have all implemented the “buy” button feature), Facebook have announced that they will be introducing a new route of selling to customers for businesses. Certain brands will now have the opportunity to include a “buy” button on their company page, which Facebook are dubbing the “shop section”. This makes sense for the giant of social media as it will keep people within Facebook as opposed to users leaving when they click on a business’s website link to make a purchase or browse. It also keeps brands happy as it provides them with another direct touch point to increase profits, whilst improving the usability of Facebook for the customer. At the moment, only a small number of businesses are being allowed to roll this out on their page, but all going well, Facebook do plan to expand the test in the coming weeks.

3. Deleting Social Media Posts

A recent report published by iRights is being backed by the UK Government and is calling for young people under the age of 18 to have the right to delete embarrassing and damaging material which they have posted on social media. The ability to easily edit or delete comments and photos on social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook is one of the five rights set out by iRights that young people should expect to receive online.

The campaign follows growing concern over the damage that is being caused to young people as they move through their careers, trying to secure jobs and places at university. These opportunities are increasingly being hampered due to the internet storing a permanent record of a person’s past mistakes. These types of mistakes often come from errors in judgement and immaturity, which we have all encountered at some point in our lives, but it is this generation of young people who are unable to forget and have their regrettable actions on show for anyone with access to the internet to see.

Film Director and crossbench peer, Beeban Kidron, is encouraging social media platforms to feature delete buttons and to introduce expiry dates for data acquired from under-18s, and this is being supported by Westminster. The European Union is introducing a regulation which will allow adults to demand that any copy (photos and text) posted online when they were under 18 is removed. Although there are currently no plans to bring in this law in the UK, the widespread support for it indicates that it will soon follow and social media sites should take note.