#SongbirdStories: The Rest From The Nest of #SocialMedia

It's Saturday and time for our weekly edition of The Rest From The Nest. A lot has happened this week, but here are the few extras that we were not able to cover, so here they are in a nutshell.

Twitter Add Autoplay Video For App Ads

Starting today, advertisers can now use video to promote their mobile apps on Twitter. https://t.co/1jJ02Oeiqg https://t.co/vnJIYVsEY0

— Twitter Advertising (@TwitterAds) September 24, 2015

Twitter have been attempting to come up with new ways to promote more apps and for the first time they are introducing videos ads. Apps will now be able to post short video ads that will pop up on Twitter and play as you are scrolling through the page. At the end of the ad, a direct link to your app store will be available to download the app in question. Video App Card, of its name, allows promoters to give the public an preview of the product.It makes sense as they are reaching the 82% on site and 90% on mobile.

Google Have Improved The Voice Search

firstamtech.com

Google voice search is already more developed than some being able to recognise even the quietest of voices but this week it has improved further. The app can now cope with a noisy background and still responds faster than ever. The new and improved version of Google Voice Search will allow people to query anything and get a quick and detailed response. It might not have the personalised features of other voice searches such as Siri, but the app is developing, and it is developing quickly.

Australia Minerals Council 'Delighted' By #CoalisAmazing Backlash

This little black rock is the number 1 cause of climate change. #coalisamazing pic.twitter.com/PcNBN5G3D8

— Max Phillips (@maxphillips) September 6, 2015

#CoalisAmnazing has been trending on Twitter but not for the usual reason of being successful. After the somewhat satisfying response to the ads, the public went wild on social media about the promotion of  the uses of coal. Parodies of the ad were made, people mocking the idea. CEO of the minerals council Brendan Pearson was not in the least bit surprised by these and even said that he would have been disappointed if no parodies had been made. People criticising are still reading the articles, meaning more people aware of the promotion of coal.

The GIF That Plays For A Thousand Years

www.somethingawful.com

Over the years GIFs have been used for various reasons, using the power of moving images to create a short display. These guys took it a few steps further. For a project they called 'As Long As Possible' they decided to make a GIF that would count to 48 140 288 over one thousand years. Every ten minutes the GIF will change to the next number and so on until it reaches the last image. Juha Van Ingen and Janne Särkelä from Helsinki were inspired by John Cage's Weird Organ Project which still has about 600 years left to complete. They hope to get funding for this 12 gigabyte GIF in order to display to the public, allowing it to run for as long as it takes, outliving them and everything we know to be as it is today.

Facebook Released New Notes

soshable.com

The Notes feature on Facebook that was being tested last month has finally been fully approved and is up an running. It allows you to write significantly longer posts, accompanied by a clear and decent sized image. The font also appears to be easier on the eyes than just the plain old classic one. The improvements are vast as they have managed to create an option for re sizing pictures, adding hash tags and mentioning your friends and family. The privacy settings are still strong, meaning you can still decide who can see what and when. The old Notes feature has certainly taken a turn for the best. 

The Pope Is Critical Of The Purpose Of Social Media

During his triumphant trip to the United States, Pope Francis stated during a conference that he believes social media to be a 'result to radical loneliness'. He says that it is unhealthy to chase after likes and followers. Although he has a successful Twitter account himself, what the Pope is trying to suggest is that people just consume relationships with the use of social media due to the kind of world we live in. He argues a fair point, social media is of course largely used for personal reasons, but is it being abused?

'YouTube Red' - Google Might Launch A New Service

thenextweb.com

For years we have hoped for a way to play music on YouTube and be able to shut the page, still listening. If you have the most recent Android update for the app you should be in for a treat soon as this new YouTube Red concept seems to be the answer to all our prayers. A service was released November 2014 called YouTube Music Key and it looks like this new app is just an improved version. You will potentially be able to play music, and by changing certain settings on YouTube, activate the new service allowing you to listen with no more interruption. We have seen it with Spotify before so it was only a question of time. We are still waiting for it to be launched but it has the potential to change a lot of people's views of YouTube.

Edward Snowden Is On Twitter And Following Only One Person

Can you hear me now?

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015

This week Edward Snowden who had been off the grid for a while has signed up to twitter following an interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. They had been joking about what his account would be, finding it became official soon after. In itself not such a big deal but here's the twist. Snowden had thousands of followers in just a few hours but he follows one person and one person only: The NSA. It is uncertain why he has made this decision but it is a rather bold statement on his part as days later, he still hasn't followed anyone else. 

Facebook Attempt To Bring More Ads To The Social Network

bn.co

More people use smartphones than watch television nowadays so why not put the advertisement where the people are? Facebook Inc have been trying to make a point of using social network to advertise your company. New advertising products were released on Sunday hoping to convince more people to advertise with them. They believe that fewer people watch television now so their 'dollars would be well spent' advertising on Facebook. There is a possibility of programming it so that the server will pick up on which sites a woman has been shopping on for example, suggesting similar sites. 'We want to be the single most important platform for all businesses' said Facebook's Vice President for global marketing solutions. They intend to bring as many companies into their circle, reaching millions more people.

Twitter Backlash After Eamonn Holmes Interviews Jeremy Corbyn

Corbyn exposing Eamonn Holmes for the muppet he is right now.

— Sophie Halliday (@smhalliday) September 30, 2015

Following a cringe-worthy interview from Sky News presenter Eamonn holmes, Twitter went mad as they crticised his approach. Jermey Corbyn had been asked questions like 'Was yesterday your FA Cup Final?' referring to every boy's dream. People have questioned the reporter's ability to perform political interviews although Corbyn manged to remain relatively calm throughout. He just went on to answer the questions, trying to avoid the clear discomfort. Tweets have been repeatedly posted about Holmes' inability to talk about such a subject corectly and that he has reduced it to nothing. He was described as 'rude' and 'a muppet'. His attempt to break Corbyn didn't happen and it didn't happen on live television.

Sophie Giscard

One of the newest members of The SMF Group. Although she loves a good city life, she grew up in the beautiful French countryside. Who knew that talking to a bunch of cows and friendly chickens would get her here? Quite used to writing stories in her bedroom, she is now deciding if she's cut out for content writing. We'll see! Follow her @SophieAtSMF

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