The Social World: A Weekly Round-Up

While Snapchat launched universal search to simplify navigation, Instagram introduced ads in Stories. Here’s what’s new in the world of social media.

Snapchat launches universal search: Snapchat updated its mobile app with a new universal search bar. The company says the feature is designed for speed, so that users can quickly locate what they are looking for and get back to snapping. The new search bar accessible at the top of the app will allow users to find friends and groups and discover publishers and trending stories. “Quick Chat” suggestion will allow users to jump straight to a specific message thread. Catch all the action here.

Instagram Stories now have ads: Instagram has announced that Stories will now start displaying ads. Not just that, business users would soon be able to track the metrics too. The ads would be immersive and full-screen. Instagram will be testing this feature with a select few brands such as Capital One, General Motors (Buick), Maybelline New York, Nike and Netflix. Read more here.

YouTube launches Super Chat: The favourite video platform just launched Super Chat, a tool that lets you pay to pin comments on live streams. In other words, the tool would help creators monetize when they go live. The goal for Super Chat is to help fans reach out to their favourite YouTubers in real time. Catch all the action here.

Facebook allows Pages to go Live from desktop: The social giant has confirmed that it's bringing the feature to the browser, allowing users to select a "Live Video" button in the status update box and immediately begin streaming. As of now, the feature is just available to businesses and brands, but it would eventually be made accessible to the masses. Read more about the feature here.

Facebook is also testing a new 'mid-roll' ad format which will give video publishers a chance to insert ads into their clips after people have watched them for at least 20 seconds. Read more here.

Do tell us about your thoughts on these recent developments in the comments box.