If you were still on the fence about using Instagram Stories, new information from Facebook should change your mind. Half a billion people are using Stories every day, which means there’s a good chance you’re missing out on valuable customers if you keep neglecting it. Like it or not, it seems like Stories is here to stay (unlike the actual content on Stories).
Instagram
Social Media Today: Instagram Stories is Now Being Used by 500 Million People Daily
If you were still unsure about its impact, take this as your cue to start sharing content on Stories. Instagram alone now has about three times as many people using Stories per day as Snapchat has total users.
Social Media Today: Facebook Publishes New Report on What Instagram Users Expect from Brands
The report shows that Instagram users are pickier about who they follow, but once they do, they’re likely to become customers because they have actual interest in the brand. Additionally, 57 percent of the 21,000 people surveyed said they’re using Instagram more than they did a year ago.
Podcasts
The Verge: Spotify Gets Serious About Podcasts With Two Acquisitions
Though Spotify still has almost twice as many paid subscribers as Apple Music, the company is willing to spend up to $500 million this year to increase its share in the podcast market. Spotify’s podcast listeners spend almost twice as much time on the platform as music listeners, so this move could open more doors for advertisers looking to promote content through Spotify.
Emoji
The Verge: 2019’s New Emoji Include Mechanical Arms, Hearing Aids, Wheelchairs, and Orangutans
In an effort to be more inclusive of all people, the 2019 emoji include people with physical disabilities and different representations of couples holding hands. Other new emoji include some welcome animal additions: orangutans, otters and sloths. Overall, there are 59 new emoji and 171 new variations of existing emoji.
Project Highlight
Lutheran Medical Center | David’s Bariatric Surgery Story
David got pneumonia at age 50, gained 100 pounds and remembers “sitting around waiting to die.” Now, he’s lighter than he was in high school — and he has his family & his music back. This vignette was created for a New Year campaign for the bariatric surgery program at SCL Health – Lutheran Medical Center.
