C omments Are The Best, How Alex Dominates and Instagram Stories Explode
Here’s the news we’re talking about around the Zbra Studios water cooler. We’ve provided key bullet points from each article for the speed readers out there.
How Comments Became the Best Part of Instagram
By Taylor Lorenz from The Atlantic
- “For years, comments on Instagram were secondary to the photo and video posts that make up the app’s main feed. But recently, Instagram comment sections have begun to eclipse the photos they sit below.”
- “In August 2017, Instagram added threaded comments, making it easier for people to have coherent conversations. And in the spring of 2018, the company instituted an algorithm that surfaced noteworthy comments from celebrities, athletes, influencers, and verified accounts.”
- “Instagram’s comment wave doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. One positive aspect of Instagram’s accidental sideways-scrolling feed test was that comments were easier to view when posts were consumed individually.”
Amazon says 100 million Alexa devices have been sold — what’s next?
By Dieter Bohn from The Verge
- “How Amazon got to those numbers is a lot more interesting than the numbers themselves. Amazon’s strategy for Alexa reveals a fundamental philosophy: speak softly and empower everyone to just ship.”
- “When I ask him if Amazon is doing anything in contracts with companies to limit what they do with other assistants, the question was so outside of Limp’s worldview that he is taken aback by it.”
- “Amazon won’t have a gigantic booth, nor will it stage an over-the-top keynote, but it will have a presence. That presence will be the ubiquity of ‘Works with Alexa’ labels on gadgets throughout the show floor alongside new devices that have Alexa in them.”
Instagram’s e-commerce success is building with Stories
By Jon Kroopf from Marketing Land
- “Instagram is currently being leveraged more than twice the second-most leveraged social platform, Facebook. Both Facebook and Twitter influencer marketing campaign volumes have dropped by 20 percent and 10 percent respectively in the last year.”
- “Stories were the first native post format on Instagram that allowed links to be embedded directly. They also give brands the opportunity to sell products directly within the application, which is one of the big reasons that there are more than 2 million monthly active advertisers on Instagram.”
- “With Instagram releasing its next iteration of shoppable features for Stories earlier this year, it is now easier than ever for users to purchase products without leaving the app. The shoppable functionality gives brands the ability to include shopping bag icon stickers on images of products, which then direct potential customers to additional information on those products.”
Nick Cotton is a project manager based out of Los Angeles, California. He’s got a background in the entertainment industry, and uses his talent at online messaging to extol the virtues of content marketing, interactive fiction and sentences measuring 280 characters or less.
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