Social and Digital News: December 20-26, 2015

Below are the top social media stories for the week of December 20th to the 26th!

Facebook

Facebook Begins Adding Support for Apple Live Photos

Facebook has begun rolling out support for Apple Live Photos for some users of its iOS application. Read about it on SocialTimes

Facebook: Search for Posts on This Page

The ability to search Facebook users' profiles was spotted last month, and the social network appears to have extending that functionality to pages. Read about it on SocialTimes 

Facebook Says its Object Detection Tech Has Improved By 60 Percent in One Year

Facebook's chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, shares improvements in the platforms capabilities when it comes to two types of image recognition. Read about it on Venture Beat

Periscope

Periscope Updated with 'Themed Hearts' for the Holidays

Periscope has announced the release of new 'themed hearts' for the holiday season, which users can enable n their streams by adding one of more specific hashtags to the title of their broadcast. Read about it on SocialTimes

Google

Google Plans New, Smarter Messaging App

Google is building a new mobile-messaging service that taps its artificial intelligence know-how and so-called chatbot technology. Read about it on the Wall Street Journal

Google Spotlight Stories Bring New Interactive Videos to YouTube

Google has announced the release of Google Spotlight Stories on YouTube, bringing a new form of interactive video to users on select Android devices. Read about it on SocialTimes

SoundCloud

SoundCloud Settles Lawsuit with U.K. Music Group, Agrees to Pay Royalties

U.K. music licensing company called Performing Rights Society for Music has dropped its lawsuit again SoundCloud. Read about it on Venture Beat 

Social and Digital News: December 6-12, 2015

Below are the top social media stories for the week of December 6th to the 12th!

Facebook

Cost-per-View Bidding Option Available for Facebook Video Ads

All advertisers on Facebook now have the option of bidding on video ads on a cost-per-view basis, based on 10-second views. Read about it on SocialTimes

Facebook is Shutting Down its Creative Labs, Along With the Riff, Rooms and Slingshot Apps

Facebook has shut down its Creative Labs arm, and with it the Slingshot, Riff and Rooms apps. The Creative Labs Facebook page is also dead. Read it on The Next Web

Flipboard Now Lets You Share Articles With Your Friends Using Facebook Messenger

Flipboard‘s latest update for Android and iOS has added Facebook Messenger integration, allowing you to easily share articles with your friends in the chat app. Read about it on The Next Web

Instagram

Instagram Ad Performance Similar to Facebook (Report)

Nanigans, a Facebook Marketing Partner and member of the Instagram Partner Program, analyzed data from its clients that advertise on both social networks, from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31. Read about it on SocialTimes

Twitter

Twitter to Test Promoted Tweets to Logged-Out Users

Twitter is testing a way to surface promoted tweets, even if a user is not logged into the service. Read about it on SocialTimes

WonderVoice Now Lets You Interact With Twitter Using Your Voice

WonderVoice has released an update for its hands-free voice assistant app on iOS, bringing Twitter integration to the platform. Read about it on SocialTimes

Pinterest

Pinterest Acquires The Hunt & Pext to Boost Ads, Commerce

Pinterest announced Tuesday the acquisition of Tumblr Now Lets You Send Posts as Messages, and Supports Live Photos on iOS startups: Pext and The Hunt. Read about it on SocialTimes

Tumblr

Tumblr Now Lets You Send Posts as Messages, and Supports Live Photos on iOS

You can now send any Tumbler post as a message, piggybacking nicely on the platform’s new in-app chat feature, which also launches broadly today.  Read about it on The Next Web

YouTube

YouTube Reveals Top 10 Ad Videos of 2015

YouTube has revealed the top ad videos on its platform for 2015, highlighting the growth of mobile as a video-watching platform. Read about it on SocialTimes

Google

Google Drive is Making it Easier to Find Files Via a New Search Feature

With Google Drive's new search function, you can now look for files using granular parameters like file type or words contained therein. Read about it on The NextWeb

Yahoo Mail Gets Multiple Mailbox Support for Gmail and Google Apps Accounts

Yahoo Mail has expanded its server-side IMAP support to now include Gmail and Google Apps accounts which allows you to further consolidate your emails under one umbrella inbox and service. Read about it on VentureBeat

Dropbox

Dropbox is Shutting Down Mailbox in February 2016 and Carousel in March 2016

Dropbox today announced that it’s shutting down the Mailbox email client and the Carousel photo app. Dropbox picked up the former through an acquisition in 2013. Read it on VentureBeat

Social and Digital News: November 29-December 5, 2015

Below are the top social media stories for the week of November 29th to December 5th!

Facebook Testing Live Video By Users, Launches Collages

Facebook continues to become more and more visual with Thursday’s announcements of a test of live video from users and the introduction of collages of photos and videos. Read about it on SocialTimes

Google is Testing Ads That Let Consumers Demo Mobile Apps Before Downloading

Ever wished you could try a mobile app before wasting time, money and precious data on actually downloading it? Google wants to let would-be users test drive them. Read about it on AdWeek

In Latest Commerce Move, Facebook Brings Concert Ticketing To Its Platform

Facebook now makes some concert tickets available for purchase directly within its walls. Read about it on BuzzFeed

Yahoo Finally Relaunches Messenger as an App Aimed at Families and Groups

Yahoo Messenger, as the app is still called, is launching on Android, iOS, and the web. Read about it on The Verge

LinkedIn Launches Redesigned Mobile App on iOS, Android

LinkedIn has redesigned its flagship mobile app to create a simplified experience for users. Read about it on SocialTimes

Snapchat’s New Deep-Linking Feature Could Unlock the Platform for Publishers

Snapchat said it will allow its publisher partners (like CNN and Vice) to post links on social media that go directly to specific pieces of the publisher’s content within the ephemeral messaging app. Read about it on VentureBeat

Facebook Adds Multiple Matching Options for Custom Audiences

Facebook has added real-time matching across multiple data types to its custom audiences ad-targeting tool. Read about it on SocialTimes

Slack Just Took Over 4 Cities With its First Big, Extremely Bubbly Ad Campaign

Slack's new outdoor ad campaign in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Charlotte, N.C. is full of rainbows, kittens and ice cream. Read about it on AdWeek 

Instagram Tests Multi-Account Support for Android App

Instagram appears to be testing multiple account support with select users of its Android application. Read about it on SocialTimes

Facebook Releases Apple TV Software-Development Kit

Facebook released a new software-development kit for developers looking to integrate the social network’s features into their Apple TV applications. Read about it on SocialTimes

Social and Digital News: November 22-28, 2015

Below are the top social media stories for the week of November 22nd to the 28th!

Snapchat’s Lackluster Ads Threaten its $16 Billion Valuation

Snapchat, maker of a free mobile app that lets users send videos and messages that disappear in seconds, is struggling to gain traction with advertisers, fueling investor concern that its $16 billion valuation isn’t justified by a business that hasn’t yet shown it has a steady source of income. Read about it on VentureBeat 

Stribr: A new tool to manage all of your Instagram needs

Stribr is an all-round management dashboard that can handle multiple accounts at once, as well as search and monitoring of hashtags, follower numbers and analytics. Its creators have also told TNW that they will be adding a scheduling function soon. Read about it on The Next Web 

VidMob Launches Video Editing Marketplace App on iOS

VidMob has announced the official release of its app on iOS, which allows users to hire editors to create professionally edited videos from their own photos and video clips. The app allows users to upload content from their device’s camera roll, or import content from Dropbox or Facebook. Read about it on SocialTimes