This Week in Social: Instagram Business Profiles, Twitter Connect and Some New Facebook Engagement Stats

It’s been another fast-paced, exciting week in the world of social media.

In this latest weekly roundup, we’ll discuss the latest news from Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as well as share some super-interesting insights into how people are using Facebook Reactions.

Let’s dive in!

What’s new in social this week

Facebook testing content categories

Facebook’s mission is to make News Feed content as relevant as possible to users and as screenshots from Social times show, it appears they’re testing a new way to categorize content and various options for customizing what you’d prefer to see.

The below screenshots show how you can edit your preferences:

Is this something you’d like to see Facebook launch for everyone? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

➤ Source: Social Times

Twitter Connect tab

Twitter have launched the Connect tab as a way to make it easier to find new, interesting accounts to follow. The new tab will give users a detailed list of people and accounts Twitter thinks you’ll enjoy following, all in one place.

In a blog post announcing the launch, Twitter explains:

To give you the best recommendations — which we’ll continue to refine over time — we look at who you already follow, Tweets you like, popular accounts in your local area, what’s happening in the world right now, and more. We’ll also let you know exactly why we’re showing you each recommendation.

Instagram video carousel ads

Instagram first announced carousel ads in 2015, but now brands can include multiple videos (of up to 60 seconds long) to the same sponsored post.

The new video carousel ads are currently in testing with a small number of advertisers and should be rolled out to everyone in mid-May.

Here’s an example video carousel ad from Taco Bell:

➤ Source: AdAge

Instagram testing business profiles

In March, it was confirmed that Instagram is working on Facebook-like Pages for businesses. And thanks to Later.com we’ve been able to see a sneak peek of what these Instagram business profiles may look like.

The new pages feature three distinct changes from the general Instagram profile:

• Contact button
• Linkable location
• Category tags

The ‘Contact’ button will appear next to the Following button in the profile information section of the page. Upon clicking the button, users will have the option to email the business or get directions to their location.

The ‘Location’ tag will be displayed underneath the current website link on a business page and when tapped, will open up a map showing the business location and enable users to get directions from their current location.

The ‘Category’ tag will appear under the bio section on pages (see Health / Wellness Website on the below screenshot):

There’s no confirmed date when (or if) these new business pages will be rolled out to all business on Instagram. All three additions enable businesses to streamline their bio and provide a much better experience for their followers.

Would you like to see these features rolled out to all users?

➤ Source: Later, The Next Web

Only verified Facebook Pages can share sponsored content

In an update to their Sponsored Content Policies, only verified Pages can post sponsored content that advertises someone else’s products or services. Non-verified Pages cannot post: affiliate links, ad images, links to info about anyone else’s products or services.

To verify your Page:

1. Click Settings at the top of your Page
2. From General, click Page Verification
3. Click Verify this Page, then click Get Started
4. Enter a publicly listed phone number for your business, your country, and language
5. Click Call Me Now to allow Facebook to call you with a verification code
6. Enter the 4-digit verification code and click Continue

➤ Source: Search Engine Journal

Facebook adding Mother’s Day Reaction

Mother’s Day (in the U.S.) is just around the corner and to celebrate Facebook have announced their first new Reaction. The social network is testing the ability for users in a few markets to leave a flower reaction

This update was first spotted by Sreedev Sharma and is the first time Facebook have expanded beyond the default five reactions. It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on this trend and see if Facebook expands reactions for any other holidays. If they do, this could create some interesting opportunities to drive engagement on Facebook.

The social network is also rolling out limited-time Messenger feature enabling users to decorate messages with flowers for Mother’s Day:

New research: How are people using Facebook Reactions

Social media analytics company, Quintly, have analyzed over 130,000 Facebook posts to discover how people are using Facebook Reactions.

The study found that ‘Likes’ still dominate engagement on the social network. 97% of the time when someone interacts with a post on Facebook it’s either a like, comment or share. Just 2.4% of engagements are using the love, wow, haha, sad, angry Reactions.

Videos receive 40% more Reactions than images

The analysis shows that video content can generate more emotions, positive as well as negative. As Quintly explain over on their blog:

After consuming videos users tend to react with a “wow” reaction significantly more often compared to images. Same applies for the “angry” reaction which users are twice as likely to interact with after watching a video.

“Love” is the most common reaction

“Like” aside, love is the most commonly used of the new Reactions (love, wow, haha, sad, angry). Love makes up just over 50% of all Reactions (when likes are excluded) and negative Reactions, sad and angry, equal just under 30% of Reactions.

Check out the full study over at Quintly’s blog.

Over to you

I’m super excited to see how some of the updates from this week develop. Instagram video carousel ads feel full of potential, and I can’t wait to see if they roll out the Business Pages to all users. I’m also keen to see whether Facebook rolls out more Reactions to celebrate holidays and events.

Has anything in this week’s roundup got your excited? Is there anything we missed? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading.