This Week in Social, #ICYMI: 1/23, 2015

For this week’s Social Scoop we’re serving up a lesson on how to use social media to reach millennials from none other than the President of the United States, new details on Facebook’s war on prank news stories, and a $40 million retrograde acquisition by Twitter.

 

The SOCIAL State of the Union 2015

• The White House has made it clear that reaching, exciting, and engaging millennials was a critical KPI of this year’s State of the Union
• Obama gave social media users—the true targets of this plan—first access to the news, making them more likely to share
• Tactics included a pre-speech Vine, post-speech influencer interviews, and a CTA for people to ask the White House questions through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, & Tumblr

 

 

Fuel For Thought

Using social media to reach new audiences is something brands are all trying to accomplish, and the president is handing out lessons. President Obama is the first president to really embrace the digital age, and he’s doing an excellent job of using the world wide web to get his message out. Granted, he naturally commands attention as the most powerful man in the world, but that doesn’t mean his marketing strategy isn’t top notch.

Story via adlibbing.org

 

Facebook is Cracking Down on Hoaxes in Your News Feed 

• Now, when users see a false news story—either as a link, photo, or video post—they can report it as false
• If a large number of users report or delete a post, Facebook’s algorithms will automatically reduce its visibility in the News Feed
• The algorithm won’t delete these types of posts, but it will add a message warning users that the post has been reported as containing false information

Fuel For Thought

One of the concerns many have voiced about this feature is that it could be used to bury legitimate news stories that people don’t like. Facebook has not made it clear whether or not there will be any controls in place to prevent users from abusing the tool, but at least it will likely reduce the number of people putting their iPhones in the microwave.

Story via mashable.com

 

Twitter Hopes its ZipDial Acquisition Will Lead to Many More Users in Emerging Markets 

• ZipDial is a Bangalore-based startup that the social media giant believes will help it connect with millions of new mobile users in emerging markets
• For many, their first online experience will be on a mobile device
• Although Twitter currently has around 284 million users, data released last year suggested growth is slowing

Fuel For Thought

As social media platforms reach their peak mass amongst Internet users, the only way for them to expand into new markets will be to bring more users online. Viewed in that light, these acquisitions make perfect sense. What’s particularly interesting about this acquisition is that Twitter won’t be using the Internet to push their content at all, instead opting for a clever SMS workaround to get tweeps their tweets.

Story via digitaltrends.com