Originally published when I worked at an Atlanta Digital Marketing Agency.
Video viewing on social platforms has grown over 80% year over year. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are vying for all those eyeballs. Each platform is elevating its video and live-streaming game in order to woo you. Here are some social media trends in the news this week.
Instagram Stories are cross-posting to Facebook
Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. Your Instagram Stories are now popping up on Facebook. While still not available to businesses, personal accounts are seeing the cross-posting of content from Instagram stories to the mother platform. This new feature eliminates the task of having to replicate posts on both channels. Instagram says that there are 250 million Instagram Stories users.
In another development, people who are currently streaming video through Instagram can now add anyone who is watching the video to their stream by clicking on an “Add” button.
Facebook Live has launched screen-sharing function
It’s no surprise, what’s hot on one platform, typically shows up on another. No longer requiring 3rd party software, Facebook Live offers you the opportunity to share your screen while streaming. When pushed, the “Share Screen” button will prompt you to install the Chrome app, “Facebook Screen Sharing Extension” in your browser (a Firefox version has not been released yet).
The latest improvements to live streaming from Facebook and Instagram looks like another attempt to bring their applications in line with competitors, such as Google. Google Hangouts already offers this type of functionality.