Vine Has New Features and They Rock

Vine is a crazy concept.  Make a video that is under 6 seconds but has the content and reach of a video that’s 6 minutes.  How is that even possible?  How can we even do that?

Well, there are a lot of people and a lot of brands that have mastered Vine.  During Halloween this year multiple big name brands, particularly Oreo and Tide, rolled out Vine campaigns that were outstanding.  They captured the essence of the brand while be incredibly entertaining in only 6 seconds.  Brands aren’t even just using Vine on Halloween, they use the platform constantly to show off their products in short, visual ways.

The Tide Vines were awesome.

In essence, Vine is the perfect video platform.  The attention span of the average Internet and social media user is going down.  YouTube videos over the 2 minute mark are being considered too long, even ads longer than 30 seconds are pushing it.  Audiences today want to be engaged immediately and then move on just as quickly.  Vine is perfect for this.  It’s 6 seconds of fast paced video that’s so short it has to be engaging because it’s over before you know it.

The trouble with Vine is that the average social media user is probably confused by it.  Yes, Vine has taken off as a social media platform, but the people making crazy cool videos are artists and creatives who have an exceptional handle on video platforms.  What about the average user? 

In October, Vine included new features to make it more user friendly.  Two new tools were introduced: Sessions, which allows users to save drafts of videos and come back to finish them, and Time Travel, a tool that allows users to remove, reorganize and replace parts of the video within the post before it gets published.

Thanks to Mashable for taking screenshots of the new features, the top picture is Time Travel and the bottom picture is Sessions.

I tried out these new features, because I am someone who finds it difficult to make cool and engaging Vine videos.  First off, the Sessions tool is a godsend.  Having the ability to make drafts of videos and save them after exiting the app is great, because one of the biggest flaws of Vine I had seen before was that videos had to be taken in the moment and posted right away.  Time Travel is interesting because it allows you to easily move the different shots around within the overall Vine.

I personally believe that Vine is a platform that isn’t going away anytime soon.  Yes, Instagram video is longer and has filters, but Vine is a pure video platform along the lines of YouTube.  I think that if brands continue to use Vine in the ways they did during Halloween and presumably will use it during Christmas, then the platform will only expand.  Including user friendly tools such as Session and Time Travel only up it’s appeal to the general public and as our attention spans continue to decrease, Vine will stick around to entertain us in 6 seconds or less.

Check out my time traveling Vine: https://vine.co/v/hUnxetbDbEm

Pinterest is Taking Over Social Media

This year has been about growth for Pinterest.  The platform started out as being “exclusive,” meaning you had to request to join.  Then, it seemed like the only people using Pinterest were young women, pinning pictures of clothing, food, and exercise ideas.  However, in 2013 Pinterest has made serious changes in order to grow as a social media platform and they seem to be working.

Announced in May, Pinterest partnered with several major brands, such as Target, ModCloth, and Sony, to include more descriptive pins in a new format.  These pins will now include information such as the pricing for products, or recipe descriptions that are directly on the pin, meaning users no longer have to switch back and forth between sites for information.  This is incredibly beneficial to brands because it gives them a stronger presence on the site.  Previously, users would find a pin, not know its source, click on the pictures and potentially be taken to a website that held no information about the product or picture.  Now, brands are more interactive on the pin, allowing users a chance to interact directly with the brand while on the Pinterest site.

An example of new pins on Pinterest.

In September, Pinterest announced their new article pins.  Before, when users pinned articles on Pinterest only the photo from the article with a link on the bottom were featured.  Now, the article title, author’s name, article description and a larger link will be on the pin.  The goal behind this was for users on Pinterest to pin more articles from news sources.

Even more recently Pinterest announced location pins, where users can create pinboards for specific cities, neighborhoods, and for mapping out travel plans.  The new feature allows users to “add a map” on a new board or existing board to add “Place Pins” to add the location of where a pin is from so other users can go directly to a restaurant or store where the product is.

I tried out the new location pins.

Pinterest has also been expanding overseas.  The company recently announced that they will be expanding into Scandinavian countries by adding language capabilities for Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.  Pinterest already has French and UK capabilities, and they have offices in London, Paris, and Tokyo.

I have always thought that brands tend to overlook or misuse Pinterest and part of that isn’t their fault but rather had to do with faults on the site itself.  That being said, new descriptive pins with an emphasis on content sharing and growth to an overseas market show immense promise for the future of Pinterest.  In the past I thought there were some brands that would never be able to make it on Pinterest because they weren’t consumer based, but if Pinterest becomes a site that includes consumer products and news content sharing, it has the opportunity to be used by a much wider audience.  Rolling out these new capabilities shows that Pinterest has longevity and the ability to reach more than just one audience.  I’ll be interested to see what new growth they make in the future, but focusing on becoming a content sharing site will separate them from Facebook and Twitter, and make Pinterest a platform that everyone and every brand can use.

Check out my Vine exploring the new Pinterest features: https://vine.co/v/hUnjvUlQxTr

The Cost of Social Media

We use a number of social media platforms in our every day lives. Facebook for socializing, Twitter for news, Instagram for pictures (and now videos),Tumblr for whatever it is Tumblr is for.  And that’s just scratching the surface.  In my opinion, these platforms have blown up because they’re easy to use and most importantly they are free.  But how do they stay free?  And what does it cost users for these platforms to remain free?

Here's an example of an ad on Instagram.

Unfortunately, each of these social media platforms needs to make money in order to remain free to users, which leads us to advertising on social media.  Let’s be honest here, advertising on social media platforms is annoying, albeit a necessary evil.  Recently there has been tremendous growth in social media advertising.  Along with the announcement of its IPO, Twitter announced a new ad platform.  Then, Instagram announced advertisements.  Even Pinterest is getting in on the action.

A promotoed tweet on Twitter.

So what does this mean for the user?  Well for starters our experiences on these platforms is seriously about to change. I’ve already noticed a change on Twitter, although it’s inconsistent about when I have ads and then when I do have ads, they are usually not targeted to me.  Same goes for Facebook ads, which are consistently on my newsfeed but generally irrelevant to my life.

I don't have a dog....

I will happily have ads on all of my social media networks if it means I keep getting free access.  However, I firmly believe advertisers are under using this advertising opportunity.  Twitter has a vast amount of data about each of its users, based on profiles, who they follow and what they tweet about. It should be easy to target content towards certain people.  This is not the case.  I have never once seen an ad targeted towards me, which I personally find ridiculous because I have a public Twitter profile with an obvious bio.  On Facebook, I can be equally as easily targeted through pages I like, as well as based off of my bio. 

Why does it seem like an opportunity is being wasted?  In my opinion it is.  Social media is an amazing place for advertisers to target their core audiences.  I’m more likely to follow through on an ad that aligns with my interest, as opposed to an ad that has nothing to do with me and instead turns me off to that brand.  While interaction on social media between brand and consumer is extremely important, I also think that understanding advertising on social media is just as important.  Taking advantage of data provided by Twitter and Facebook about their users is already an invaluable too and will only continue to grow as social media becomes even more widely relied upon.

Check out my Vine about ads on social media: https://vine.co/v/hw7urAgBb5I

Brands Should Really Use Social Media More

I truly believe that social media is underused by many major brands and companies.  One of the biggest draws to a brand for me personally, is transparency.  I don’t want your corporation to be some mysterious place where I buy goods and don’t know where they come from or what your company is all about.  Obviously before social media we had ads that were capable of “deceiving” us into making decisions.  Now, we live in a world where any sort of deception can be easily uncovered.  So what does this mean for brands?  To me, it means show me what you’re all about.  That's where social media comes in.  The beauty of social media is that you can do this for free, using Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, YouTube, even Tumblr, a brand can be almost like a friend to consumers.

It’s because of this transparency that social media provides that I think more brands need to use it to survive and build a consumer base.  Take Chipotle for example.  I recently watched the new Chipotle ad, which by the way is not streaming on television.  It blew me away, so I decided to tweet at Chipotle about it.  I got a response from them in about 20 minutes.  I didn’t follow Chipotle before this, but now I do because they have brand representatives on their Twitter feed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, responding to the tweets of Chipotle customers.  That is brand management.

Another major part of brand management is engagement from the top tier of the company.  According to a report by CEO.com, 68% of Fortune 500 CEO’s are not present on any social network.  To me, this seems detrimental to the brand, although potentially redeemable by how active the Twitter of the brand is.  Let’s continue with the Chipotle example.  Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle does not have a Twitter.  The Chipotle Twitter will tweet about Steve, but Steve himself does not tweet.  Does this take away from the Chipotle brand?  Maybe not in this case because the Twitter is already so engaged, but it’s still questionable.  I think this shows that engagement on social media isn’t tied to the CEO being present, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Overall, I think social media needs to be used by all brands, big or small.  Sometimes that means you can get to millions of followers and sometimes you won’t.  What’s most important is to be engaged with your followers-it’s how you gain more.  I’m an example of that.  And while Chipotle isn’t my favorite restaurant, they managed to get me to engage with them and that is a successful use of social media.

Check out my Vine about brands and social media: https://vine.co/v/hwWlW6iOQtF

First Post--Hello World!

This fall I started my senior year of college. Typically in college you take classes and as part of my social media studies course we have been assigned the task of creating a blog and writing in it throughout the semester. I'll be writing about topics related to social media, my life and my life using social media. Plus anything and everything else inbetween. Below I'll give you the stats on my life aka random information you should know in order to read this blog without being completely and utterly confused (assuming someone besides my mom, professor and roommate are reading this).

Name: Jess Canter
Hometown: Philadelphia
Current Location: Washington, DC
University: American University
Major: Public Communication and Political Science
Dream Job: Still deciding
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite TV Show: Happy Endings (RIP)

I also like long walks on the beach, pina colatas and getting lost in the rain. You can always find me at the refreshments table.