The Social Short: Week 42

Reddit Launches New Content Sharing Integration with Snapchat

This week, Reddit has launched a new content integration with Snapchat, marking the first functionality of its kind on the platform.

As per Reddit: “redditors who have the Snapchat app installed will be able to share their favorite Reddit posts with friends in a Snap. To share Reddit content in Snapchat, redditors simply tap the “share” icon on an image, text or link-based post on Reddit’s iOS app and select the Snapchat option. Then, choose a few friends to send the post to, or add it to your Story so all your friends can see it.”

When users share Reddit posts on Spanchat, a new sticker including the Reddit logo and source info will be generated, linking back to the post in question (see below).

YouTube Expands Access to AR ‘Try-On’ Ad Feature

Youtube first launched its augmented reality ‘Beauty Try-On’ ad format back in June as reported in our previous social short.  This was only available to selected partners and allowed for new immersive ad formats. With makeup tutorials being some of the most popular content on the platform, YouTube decided to introduce AR Beauty Try-On, which provided a split-screen experience that let users try on the product in question while watching the tutorial. Offering realistic, virtual product samples that worked on a full range of skin tones.

This week Youtube announced that it would be expanding this functionality to more brands while also adding these AR ads to its Masthead ad placement options, making it easier for users to find them.

As shown with the example of cosmetic brand NARS, the next round of AR ‘Try-On’ advertisers will be able to push their ad to the front page or improve discovery of the same via search.

So far, most AR-enabled ad offerings have focused on beauty products, but as AR tools continue to evolve, we can expect to see more brands looking for ways to integrate such functionality into their campaigns.

Instagram Tests New Event ‘Invites’ Sticker for Stories  

According to reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong, Instagram is reportedly testing out another sticker option for Stories. This one will be aimed at facilitating event participation with ‘invites’ via your Story.

The new ‘Invites’ sticker would enable users to create an event, including title, date & location, which could then be attached to their Instagram Story as a sticker. Viewers would then be able to RSVP directly from the sticker, providing another way to share exclusive events or generate interest around upcoming ones.

While there is no word on whether the sticker will end up being rolled out, Wong’s discoveries generally do tend to be released within a couple of months. This new sticker option would offer an additional way to connect within the app.

Google Launches New Voice Recorder App

Earlier in the week, Google held its hardware event where they announced that they would be launching a new voice recorder app for Android devices.  This one will tap into advances in real-time speech processing, speech recognition and AI to automatically transcribe recordings in real-time as the person is speaking. Moreover, the improvements will allow users to turn the recordings into text even when there’s no internet connectivity.

The Recorder app was demonstrated onstage during the event, live, and offered what was an error-free transcription.

Google’s new voice recorder app will have to compete with other in voice transcriptions with similar AI advances, from Otter.ai to Reason8 or Trint.

The app was introduced among a series of improvements coming to Google’s new smartphone, the pixel 4.