Viral Facebook post claims to help Dakota Access Pipeline protestors — but does it?

Facebook is host to a hoax a week, or so it seems. This time, Mark Zuckerberg isn’t donating money for each like or share, you won’t need to copy and paste a status to ban Facebook from using your profile content, and no… for the last time, Facebook isn’t going to start charging users next week. Instead, pranksters (or well-meaning but misinformed users) are calling on the crowd to check in at Standing Rock, the location of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Checking in, the status reads, will ‘overwhelm and confuse’ law enforcement when trying to track the protesters via social media.…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Facebook Unveils Resources for Business Influencers

Facebook Monday released a bundle of resources for business influencers, highlighted by its Business Influencer Guide.

The Facebook for Business Influencers page includes information on using Facebook as a leadership platform, Facebook Live, Facebook Mentions, notes, 360-degree videos and other related content.

And the guide touches on getting started, building a presence, developing an audience, key features and tools, Instagram, content ideas and Facebook Media.

Strategic partner manager Craig Mullaney wrote in a Facebook Media blog post:

Hundreds of global business leaders across industries, regions and enterprise sizes use Facebook to connect authentically with their customers, employees, communities and other stakeholders. Using Facebook, these leaders can communicate directly, control their messages, use precision targeting and access a flexible set of publishing tools including text, photos, videos, live video and more.

We’re committed to providing high-quality and timely education and best practices to business influencers and business communications professionals. We will regularly update this resource hub to reflect new products, features, updates, case studies and learnings.

Readers: What are your initial thoughts on the resources Facebook introduced for business influencers?

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Study: Moderate Facebook use could lead to longer lives

We’ve known for decades that people with strong social networks tend to live longer, but does that include online friends? A University of California San Diego study of 12 million Facebook users says yes. “We find that people with more friends online are less likely to die than their disconnected counterparts,” the paper states. “This evidence contradicts assertions that social media have had a net-negative impact on health.” Well, mostly anyway. Before you get too excited, there are a couple of caveats. First, the study suggests that ‘likes’ from strangers really don’t do anything to improve your happiness or lifespan. Beneficial…

This story continues at The Next Web

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SearchCap: SEMPO survey, HTTPS & Halloween

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: SEMPO survey, HTTPS & Halloween appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

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Justin Kan Launches Whale Video Q&A App

Twitch creator Justin Kan launched a video question-and-answer application called Whale. The app allows users to send questions to influencers and experts and receive video responses.

Users can sign up for Whale using a Twitter account, and they can flag categories they’re interested in, such as music, sports and tech. From there, users can browse previously answered questions and video responses, and they can also send their own questions to influencers and experts. Users can also follow others within the app.

With the Whale app, influencers, experts and other approved users have the option to monetize their answers. For instance, one influencer may charge a user $1 to ask them a question, but the app will only charge the user if the influencer answers their question within 48 hours.

Once a question has been asked and answered, other users can spend coins, the app’s currency, to unlock and view the video response to the question. Each time a video response is unlocked, both the user who asked the question and the expert will receive money.

Users receive a few coins for free when they sign up for Whale, and they can purchase additional Whale Coins via in-app purchase.

In a post on Product Hunt, Kan explained the inspiration behind Whale:

The point of Whale is to solve my own problems with video Q&A. I’ve been giving entrepreneurship/startup/life advice on Snapchat for the past year as a way to give back to the community (and also pass the time while doing cardio on my exercise bike). I love answering questions with video—it can be way easier than writing out a response. But there have been a few problems with the Snapchat format: I get the same questions over and over, there’s no library of answers and often times people miss the window to ask me something and their message gets lost in the flood.

At the same time, I’ve also noticed through Twitch and observing other platforms that video influencers want more ways they can make money directly from their fans and community. We think Q&A might be a good way: Almost every type of influencer gets lots of questions from their fan base.

The Whale app is available to download for free on the iTunes App Store.

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Pinterest Adds Three New Types of Promoted Pins

Pinterest introduced three new types of Promoted Pins for advertisers: one-tap Pins, video Pins and app pins.

The social network also announced that the availability of Promoted Pins was extended to the U.K., with other markets to be added “very soon.” Promoted Pins had previously been available only in the U.S.

Head of partner activation Francis Larkin described the three new types of Promoted Pins in a blog post:

• One-tap Pins: Just tap a one-tap Pin in your feed to jump directly to the site it came from so you can quickly learn more. We’ve only just started showing these Pins on Pinterest, but people already seem to be loving how much easier it is to get right to the products they’re looking for. In fact, almost twice as many Pinners are finding items to buy through these new Pins. For now, we’re only letting a handful of select businesses promote one-tap Pins, so you may not see them right away. But just keep your eyes peeled for the arrow icon, which you’ll find in the lower corner of each one-tap Pin.

 

• Video Pins: We’re also introducing promoted video Pins, which play right on Pinterest—no more clicking off to another site before you can watch. You’ll also find a selection of related ideas that help you learn more about how things work or buy products you spotted in the video.

• App Pins: We also now have promoted app Pins, too, which make it easier for you to find out about the applications and app-makers you want to hear about most. These Pins link directly to the store so you can download the app and start using it right away.

Readers: What are your thoughts on Pinterest’s introduction of one-tap Pins, video Pins and app pins?

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Periscope Removes Follower Requirements From VIP Program

Following the reveal of its VIP Program in September, Periscope announced that it changed the requirements users must meet before being eligible for the program.

The Periscope VIP Program gives eligible broadcasters access to a variety of benefits, including badges on their Periscope profiles and “prioritization in people search results.” When the VIP Program was announced, Periscope said it would require users to have at least 10,000 followers on Periscope in order to quality for Bronze, the lowest tier of the program.

Now, Periscope removed the follower requirements from the program, and it has placed the focus on the average number of live viewers users have for each broadcast.

In a blog post, Periscope commented:

Many of you shared with us that “number of followers” is not always the best indication of live content, and we agree. During the past few weeks, we’ve had multiple conversations on the program requirements and what we can do to better reflect what’s most important to our community. We believe that average live viewers per broadcasts meet that requirement. The live interactions and audiences you’ve brought together on Periscope are at the heart of what we do, and we will be focusing on those metrics to review applications. Follower count has been totally removed from the requirements.

As part of this update, Periscope increased the average number of live viewers users need to have for each broadcast to be eligible for the Silver and Gold tiers of the VIP Program.

Specifically, while users were previously required to have an average of 300 live viewers per broadcast to be eligible for the Silver tier (in addition to the follower requirement), the Silver tier now requires users to have an average of 750 live viewers per broadcast. In addition, while the Gold tier previously required users to have an average of 500 live viewers per broadcast, this number has been increased to 2,000.

The live viewer requirement for the Bronze tier (an average of 200 live viewers per broadcast) hasn’t been changed.

In addition, the program still requires users to broadcast, on average, two times per week to be eligible for any of the three tiers.

Periscope continued:

With the focus on live viewership, more than one-third of broadcasters who apply to the program are accepted, and the majority of people who don’t qualify are extremely close. This excites us because it revalidates that these new requirements are a better representation of what should qualify a broadcaster for the VIP program. We will review the new and existing applications on a biweekly basis.

Readers: What do you think about this change to the Periscope VIP Program?

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Take the State of Search Survey from SEMPO & Search Engine Land

Take the SEMPO survey and win access to SMX West and other excellent SEM related prizes. Oh, and you'll also help out the industry as a whole. The post Take the State of Search Survey from SEMPO & Search Engine Land appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Meet a Landy Award winner: Quick on its feet, Point It wins Best B2C Enterprise SEM Initiative

On a tight timetable, Point It managed to execute successful, targeted campaigns to support a product launch on the US Microsoft Store. The post Meet a Landy Award winner: Quick on its feet, Point It wins Best B2C Enterprise SEM Initiative appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Facebook Vote Planner Feature Prepares Users for Election Day

After doing its part to get voters to register and endorse their candidates of choice, Facebook introduced a feature to give voters all of the information on what they will be voting on.

The social network’s vote planner presents an outline of candidates and ballot initiatives that will appear on users’ ballots Nov. 8, Election Day, as well as information on where candidates stand on issues.

Facebook teamed up with the nonpartisan Center for Technology and Civic Life on the information presented within its vote planner, and the social network said it provided a way for users to report issues with data from the CTCL.

Controls for who sees choices made by users within Facebook’s vote planner were also made available.

Facebook said in a Newsroom post introducing its vote planner feature:

The candidates are presented in random order in a horizontal scroll, and there are several ways to interact with the candidate profiles. You can view their issue positions (information candidates have provided about their policy positions), their endorsements, recent posts and their website. You can also add a candidate to your favorites to create your plan to bring with you on Election Day.

When you first visit this feature, we will show you information about the candidates running for president and statewide races. If you would like information about your local election, you will be asked to add your address. This is optional.

How you vote is a personal matter, and we’ve taken steps to make sure that you have utmost control over your plan. After you make a selection, you have to choose who you want to be able to see it (“Only me” or “Friends”). For example, you may want to be private about your choice for president, but share with friends your pick for a congressional race or a ballot initiative.

Many people look to friends and family for information and guidance about how to vote, so if you’re undecided about a race you can ask your friends for advice on Messenger. If you decide to make a choice visible to friends, they can see it inside their own voting plan (it won’t create a post in News Feed).

Readers: What are your thoughts on Facebook’s vote planner feature?

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