This week we’ve enjoyed updates from the usual suspects Facebook and Google, witnessed Essena O’Neill’s dramatic exit from social media, and seen a glimpse into the future of billboard advertising. Here’s some highlights…
That John Lewis Christmas ads do get better and better
DoubleClick have created their own take on billboard advertising
They’ve released a series of billboards all over London that measure real-time data, such as the weather and local events, to decide which ads to show. More here.
Google’s drone delivery service will start in 2017
Dubbed ‘Project Wing’, Google’s custom-designed drones plan to hover and winch packages down to the ground for delivery. More here.
Google’s ‘Private Index’ is really useful
You can search your phone for things as opposed to the web. For example “pictures of my dog”. This is just another step for Google to become your ‘Ultimate Assistant’. More here.
Facebook has finally relaxed its real name policy
After a lot of lobbying by civil liberty groups, Facebook will make two changes to its ‘real name’ policy. Users will now need to provide more information to Facebook about their name if it’s considers ‘unusual’, and users who claim someone else is using a fake name will need to provide more information about why they’re making the accusation. More here.
Photoshopped poppies don’t count as support
Much to the internet’s delight, someone decided to would be a good idea to Photoshop a poppy onto David Cameron’s Facebook profile picture. The image was swiftly removed and replaced with the picture of him actually wearing a poppy, but not before the world had spotted the mishap and created some versions of their own! More here.
@paulwaugh @mrjamesob @dylanhm Thank god they didn’t go for the first draft of that photoshop! pic.twitter.com/FexJreOBST
— Ian Payne (@01101001) November 2, 2015
YouTube wants shoppable ads
The service is testing a split screen style of advertising with a few select users. More here.
Social media fame isn’t all it’s hyped up to be
Essena O’Neill has been all over the internet this week as the social media star has decided to quit social media for good after claiming and renaming her Instagram account to “Social Media Is Not Real Life.” More here.
Twitter stars are now hearts
Twitter has updated the way users engage with tweets. ‘Favourite’ is now ‘like’ and the iconic favourite star symbol is now a heart. The reasoning behind this? ‘Favoriting’ has been dubbed confusing, Twitter bods feel it’s a bold statement to say something is your favourite, however people can ‘like’ multiple things. More here.
Facebook’s new app Notify will be live next week
That standalone app will give users the ability to subscribe to media outlets including; Vogue, the Washington Post, CBS, Mashable, Comedy Central and Billboard. More here.
Bradford has a shopping centre
The Broadway opened yesterday and we’re pretty excited about it!
How to build a shopping centre in 6 seconds. @TheBroadwayBrad is now open in #Bradford! https://t.co/65HyeaawSb — Bradford Council (@bradfordmdc) November 5, 2015
Facebook has had another amazing year
Facebook is celebrating after releasing better than expected financial results, this BuzzFeed article probably puts it better than the rest.
Facebook’s Q3 Mobile Ad Revenue (as a % of Total Ad Revenue): 2015: 78% 2014: 66% 2013: 49% — Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) November 4, 2015
Animals are the cutest (okay we knew that anyway!)
Kristina will be welcoming this Cavapoo to her home in December and we already can’t wait to meet her!
We’ve been busy making friends with ‘barge cat’ whose owners have parked their barge right outside out office, we love how it likes to wave to us!