Channel roundup : May 2013

Essential intelligence on the latest developments from the world’s leading digital networks and channels, brought to you by Red Ant.

Social
Tumblr : Yahoo! seals the dealPopular multimedia blogging site Tumblr has been sold to Yahoo! for $1.1bn (857m euros), with an assurance from chief executive Marissa Mayer that it will be business as usual for its millions of bloggers.

Tumblr will become one of Yahoo’s growing stable of products, which includes Flikr, Summly and del.icio.us. Yahoo! has made no secret of the fact that it is attempting to appeal to a younger demographic group, and this acquisition is another step along that route.

Facebook : Testing targeted posts
The social networking giant is testing a new way for brands to create ‘unpublished posts’ tailored to a specific audience, rather than blanket publishing to anyone who ‘likes’ a page.
Page owners will post direct from their page by clicking the clock icon used to schedule posts, then selecting the ‘hide from News Feed’ option. This effectively prevents the post from being distributed to fans’ feeds, though it will still appear on a brand’s timeline. From a brand’s page, it will be possible to promote the post or use it as part of a page post ad in the News Feed, allowing advertisers to test different creative treatments without overwhelming fans with multiple posts.

Pinterest : Pinning down the details
Pinterest has partnered with eBay, Target, ModCloth, Sony and Netflix to provide more detailed descriptions for pins, from prices to product descriptions to inspiring comments. This in-depth information is designed to encourage consumers to become more active and consider purchasing products or services, rather than simply browsing through them.
In a move which a number of pinners have been waiting for, Pinterest has also added a ‘send’ button to pins, allowing members to forward them to friends and family.

Mobile, tablet and new tech

Android : Updated Google Plus delivers enhanced photos and auto-tagging
Android users will enjoy a number of improvements to Google +, with a focus on photo editing options and tagging.
Photo editing options include:

• Auto awesome – creates animated photos, panoramas and more from all uploaded images
• Auto enhance – automatically enhances images
• Auto highlight – automatically browses some of the best shots from every uploaded album

Other new functionality includes:

• Location sharing – displays the current whereabouts of friends who have shared their location on a map
• Auto tagging – all posts from Google+ will get automatic, browsable hashtags
• Hangouts – ‘Messenger’ has been removed in favour of one-tap access to the Hangouts app

iOS : Shazam iPad app receives a revamp
The music identification service, which now has a user base of over 93 million in the US alone, has updated its iPad app. It introduces a number of new features, including the ability to have Shazam running automatically in the background, rather than having to activate the app.
Now users can set it to run in the background, listening for any sounds it can identify and loading those it could find into a sound carousel on the homescreen.
As with previous versions, users can still share these tracks via their preferred social channel, purchase tracks, show movies from iTunes or Amazon, or – in the case of TV – learn more about what they’re watching.

Pinterest enhances its mobile presence
Pinterest is set to roll out a new feature that will give users the option to pin from mobile apps. The ‘pin it’ button aims to make Pinterest’s content an integral part of the user’s mobile experience. Applications partnering with this rollout include Etsy, Fotopedia, Jetsetter and ModCloth.

Google Glass goes social
Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr have launched social applications designed for Glass, according to an announcement made by Google at their I/O conference aimed at developers.
Twitter has shared the launch on their blog, which mentions that Glass testers have been tweeting photos which automatically include the text “Just share a photo #throughglass”.

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