It was a big week for social and social TV. Read the latest on Twitter and Comcast's "See It" button for TV shows, Facebook's new media partners and newsfeed algo changes, and Taco Bell's Snapchat story. Also, ever wonder what a Twitter Card is? We'll tell you. Skim to keep the sharks at bay.

Carrie at a coffeeshop. This week's viral brand sensation was a well-orchestrated video of a woman who uses telekinesis to destroy a coffee shop after someone spills coffee on her computer: a well-organized guerrilla stunt for the new Carrie release that must have scared onlookers out of their minds. With 25 million views and counting, it's one remake we'd like to think won't get a bucket of pig's blood dumped on it.

Watch TV on Twitter. Trash that remote control! Twitter's paired up with Comcast to launch a "See It" button that lets you watch and record TV shows directly from a tweet. For now, it's available exclusively to Xfinity TV members. The Twitter/Comcast collabo also includes an ad partnership between Twitter and NBC Universal for Spanish and English content.

Speaking of Twitter and TV, the new Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings launched this week. This brings two specific new measurements into the world: TV-specific Twitter activity (authors, tweets) and reach (unique audience, impressions). What it's found so far: Twitter's TV audience for a given episode (sports excluded) is, on average, 50 times larger than the number of authors generating tweets (e.g., if 2,000 people are tweeting a show, estimate that 100,000 people are going to see them). Of course that number varies from show to show, but in general US social TV activity is high: In Q2 2013, 19 million unique users published 263 million TV-related tweets.

How to shorten URLs. The Next Web's published a list of services that let you shorten URLs for free. Bonus: it also explains how to go about getting a vanity URL shortener. We enjoy Awe.sm for its pretty interface and reports:

Snapchat storytelling with Taco Bell. Snapchat: no longer just for safe sext? Earlier this month, and maybe in an effort to draw more marketers in, Snapchat introduced Snapchat Stories, a feature that lets you put multiple snaps together to create a narrative. (Background: on Snapchat, everything you send to other users disappears after 10 seconds.) "When you add a Snap to your Story, it lives for 24 hours before it disappears, making room for the new," Snapchat explained. But to really understand this feature (and maybe the Snapchat culture overall), read what Taco Bell—the Snapchat brand king—is [doing with it (visual example here).

Insta-ads on Instagram. Instagram's begun unrolling its ad program to select US users: "Seeing photos and videos from brands you don't follow will be new, so we'll start slow," the Instagram Blog promises. "We'll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community." Unlike parent Facebook, its ads will be delivered to users regardless of stated interests. Something to look forward to...?

Enter your email address to continue reading

#SocialSkim: Social Media This Week, Including Facebook's Media Partners, Algo Changes

Don't worry...it's free!

Already a member? Sign in now.

Sign in with your preferred account, below.

Did you like this article?
Know someone who would enjoy it too? Share with your friends, free of charge, no sign up required! Simply share this link, and they will get instant access…
  • Copy Link

  • Email

  • Twitter

  • Facebook

  • Pinterest

  • Linkedin


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Angela Natividad
Angela Natividad is a social media strategist, copywriter, and journalist based in Paris. A Bay Area native and lover of vending machine candies, she co-founded AdVerveBlog.com and is a frequent guest on marketing podcast The Beancast. You can follow her on Twitter at @luckthelady.