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Hello! Welcome to this week’s edition of The Connected Church News, where we bring you the Top 5 Digital and Social Media News each week for Leaders of Nonprofits, Churches, Ministries and Faith-driven Entrepreneurs.
We know you are busy. And we know that most of you don’t have the time to search the big world wide web for the current news that is relevant to you.
That is why each week we bring you the Top 5 Digital and Social Media News that you need to know for this week and present it to you in a short video format.
This week we look at news items related to Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google.
📰 Top 5 Digital & Social Media News
🗞️ News #1 – Google brings Netflix to Nest Hub & Hub Max smart displays
(News 1 – Source)
Our first big news of this week is from Google. Last week, Google announced that Netflix is now available inside their Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max models of smart display devices. These are tablet-type of devices that sit in the living room or kitchen or office of people where you can easily consume video content. Now you can consume both YouTube and Netflix at the same time on the same screen, by just using your voice. You can voice-activate your content, you can say “play this show” or something like that, or people can also use the gestures.
If you have a camera-enabled device, then you can look at the camera or wave your hands and it will trigger the content consumption. This is a pattern or a trend that you need to watch out for as a leader of a nonprofit or a ministry. Also think about how people are going to start consuming your YouTube content when this becomes popular because of Netflix now being added into it.
Even with other companies like Amazon and other players in the space, more the content is being consolidated or brought together in one device, people are going to spend more time. And when they do that, is your content going to be available for them? That is something you need to think through, especially via YouTube, which is a very easy platform for you to place your content on. Think about that and plan for the future.
🗞️ News #2 – Instagram introduces new personal fundraising tools
(News 2 – Source)
Our next news is about Instagram. Last week, Instagram announced that they are releasing new options for creating ‘personal fundraisers’ inside Instagram. The interesting thing is: this is completely mobile-driven. In fact, they’re testing it first with Android users and then with iOS users in a few countries including US, UK and Ireland.
The options to create this fundraiser seems to be very simple. You just click on ‘Edit profile’, you will see an option called ‘Add Fundraiser’. And then you just create some details about your fundraiser, add a photo and give people a reason to donate for your cause. Then you submit it for approval. Once it gets approved, then your fundraiser lasts for 30 days, and then you can extend it for another 30 days.
Instagram says they are coming up with new ways in which you can share this on your news feed and let people know. So an encouraging trend towards fundraisers on social media platforms using mobile-enabled processes. Do check it out. It’s something that would impact the way fundraisers are created in the days to come.
🗞️ News #3 – Amazon Alexa app gets a new design focused on personalization
(News 3 – Source)
Our next news is from Amazon. Earlier this week, Amazon launched its newly redesigned Alexa app, which has personalization at the center of it all. Voice-based search is a space that is growing rapidly and evolving a lot with Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and Machine Learning (ML) becoming better and better.
Now Amazon Alexa app, which you can use in your iOS, Android, or your Fire OS devices, will now show you personalized recommendations and information right within the app, and they have redesigned it to make it much easier. It’s interesting to see how Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, they’re all competing for that space of voice-based ‘search’ that comes from users.
🗞️ News #4 – Twitter releases new statistics on media consumption patterns
(News 4 – Source)
Our next news is about Twitter. Earlier this week, Twitter’s marketing team released a video with some statistics about media consumption increase during this lockdown. We all expected media consumption to increase during lockdown and quarantine. But this set of statistics is very interesting. For example, one of the statistics says “the terms Watch Party and Netflix Party have risen over 500% on Twitter in Canada”. And the video also talks about the increase in podcast by 91% and creating videos by 133%. Do check out this video. It has some very interesting statistics.
🗞️ News #5 – Facebook brings Live streaming facility into Messenger Rooms
(News 5 – Source)
Our final news for this week is about Facebook. And it’s a big one. Facebook announced last week that they are bringing Messenger Rooms and Facebook Live together. Now, this can be big news for nonprofits and ministries because I know ministries use Messenger Rooms… have started using Messenger Rooms for small groups and other discussions.
Now, since Facebook Live is coming into the picture, you can broaden the scope of your Messenger Room usage to even interviews or teaching sessions or talk shows that you have with other experts in your area of nonprofit or ministry. And then you can livestream it to pages, to groups, and you can invite people to come and be a part of that conversation. It opens up new possibilities. Facebook even says that in June 2020, the live broadcasts on FB Pages doubled compared to the same numbers last year.
So more people are watching live and creating new live broadcasts. Bringing Messenger Rooms into that space adds a whole new dimension to it. So definitely check it out. I will link to the news item in the show notes.
That’s all we have for you this week. Thank you for spending your time with us.
Have a wonderful week!
Do leave your comments, questions, feedback, and reviews. You can also email me: podcast@natchilazarus.com
We will bring you a fresh set of the latest Social Media news for you next week.
Until then, Stay Connected, Stay Blessed.
Author of The Connected Church. Social Media and Digital Marketing Consultant for Nonprofits, Faith-based Organisations, Churches and Ministries. You can subscribe to Natchi’s email newsletter by clicking here.
