Category: Social media

Facebook May Host News Content

Posted on by Gabrielle Moehrke

This week, the New York Times released an article stating that Facebook has been in contact with half a dozen media companies to begin testing a new format to host news content inside Facebook rather than linking back to the publisher’s website. Facebook believes that the time it takes to open up the link on the website (typically 8 seconds) is too long, and this would be a way to make content appear more seamless and quickly.

This proposal would eliminate the ability of news organizations to collect consumer data, which may make them more cautious about entering the deal. However, Facebook discussed ways for publishers to make money off of advertising to make the proposal more appealing.

I think that the relationship with Facebook and the media is so important today, because people are resorting to different social media platforms to receive the news rather than to traditional news websites or newspapers. I often learn about stories on the news based on what is trending on Facebook. Thus, it seems like a good idea to embed the stories right into Facebook, especially when people are using their smartphones—it would eliminate the process of opening up a new browser and make news consumption more efficient.

Twitter and Rhapsody to work together

Posted on by Brian Lee

Music legality and streaming have been hot topics, especially at the annual SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas. This week it was announced that Twitter and Rhapsody have joined forces so users can now stream full-length tracks on the app even if they don’t have a subscription.

This feature can be made possible due to Twitter’s audio card, which allows users to stream audio directly from their tweets.

Any Rhapsody user–the service has more than 2 million of them–can share any song from the site’s repertoire to Twitter. However, it only works through the app. If you’re opening the audio card from the web, it will only give a 10-second preview of the song.

This is a good marketing move by Rhapsody, as they’re looking to increase its membership. Currently, the music service has fewer paid users than its competitor Spotify. Rhapsody is also promoting itself on each card with a “learn more about Rhapsody” button.

We like to call this co-marketing, or an opportunity for two brands to work together on promotional efforts with a co-branded offer. Both companies promote content/product and share the results.