The first semester of 2017 has brought several innovations in the various social media platforms, which seem to be in competition to see who introduces the most original features and have updated the existing features in order to offer a more pleasant user experience. In this article, we discuss the four new potentialities of social media that may be relevant to companies that use this type of platform in their marketing mix.

Messenger Day (Facebook)

During the month of March, Facebook launched a new feature called Messenger Day. This tool is aimed at Messenger users, Facebook’s chat app, and consists of a new way of sharing photos and videos that last only 24 hours. Users can decorate their photos and videos with stickers, visual effects and even draw on them. For those who have used Snapchat or Instagram Stories, it's exactly the same.

Instagram Carousel

In February, Instagram released a new feature that allows users to share up to 10 photos or videos in the same publication. This new feature is called Carousel and shows the photos and videos as in a photo album. Users swipe right or left with their finger and see the various elements that are part of the publication. Usually this type of publication has a theme. For example: all the photos of a birthday party or a dinner of friends. According to Instagram, this tool was created with the goal of removing the pressure of choosing a single perfect photo.

Ads on Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories was born in 2016 and had a huge following from users. Instagram recently launched the possibility of making ads in stories. As with most Instagram advertising templates, this feature started with being available only to a specific set of companies, but has since been made available to any company wishing to advertise on the platform. Instagram Stories ads appear on the full screen, which offers some advantages over the ads that appear in the feed, which go more easily unnoticed.

LinkedIn Trending Storylines

LinkedIn has long been the platform of choice for recruiters and job seekers, but it seems that the social networking site seeks to engage with its users at other levels. An example of this is the launch of Trending Storylines in March 2017. The purpose of this feature is to facilitate the discovery of content by the public, appearing in the feed of each user the stories most relevant to him or her according to his interests and interactions in the network.

All of these innovations are attempts by social networks to remain relevant and reach their audiences in different ways. For companies, the challenge is to keep abreast of these new trends and adapt them to their goals and culture, taking full advantage of the possibilities offered by each tool. We look forward to what the second half of the year will bring us.