Yes, it is Monday, again. Which means it’s time for the Digipave Monday Review. We’ve got a big story from Facebook that will surely interest our European readers. We have two interesting items from LinkedIn that you’ll want to know about. As well, some “breaking news” from YouTube. Beyond those four stories, we have a bonus item about Taylor Swift. Yes, Taylor Swift. Without further ado, here we go:
1. Facebook Marketplace is Expanding: Facebook announced last week that Marketplace will be expanding to 17 countries across Europe. Those include: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. That’s in addition to an earlier Marketplace expansion to six countries (Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand and the UK).
“In May, more than 18 million new items posted for sale in Marketplace in the US, and that number continues to grow,” said Facebook’s announcement. Marketplace directly competes with sites like eBay, which is available in 30 countries.
2. Active Status on LinkedIn Messaging: The next time you look at someone you know on LinkedIn, you may see a green status dot next to their profile photo. “This green dot,” according to LinkedIn’s recent announcement, “means they’re currently online and it might be a good time to talk to them. Now if you’re busy and don’t want to be interrupted, that’s no problem. There’s an option to pick how your status is displayed and who can see if you’re available.” Keep in mind though, LinkedIn’s new “Active Status” will be on by default.
With messaging being extremely popular today across social media channels, this probably does not seem like such a ground breaking announcement. We’ve written before about LinkedIn playing catch up with other social networks. “Active Status” is currently rolling out to all LinkedIn members globally.
3. LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms: If you’re still not using LinkedIn’s Lead Gen forms, you should contact us right now. Seriously. Now, we know LinkedIn didn’t release this last week, but Digipave did have a recent blog post explaining how to use LinkedIn’s Lead Generation forms in depth.
4. YouTube’s Breaking News Tab: YouTube has begun rolling out a “Breaking News” section within the feed a that shows a collection of videos pertaining to breaking news around the world. The section is available on desktop and iOS and Android YouTube apps. According to a post by Android Police, “it’s unclear if this section will only appear when a worldwide event such as the Barcelona incident occurs, or if it’ll be an everyday thing.” On a personal note, I have yet to see the new “Breaking News” section while logging on to YouTube from Israel. We’ll have to wait and see if this new sections expands globally or will be limited to the US and a few other countries.
5. Taylor Swift’s Social Media Return, Sort Of: As you’ve probably heard by now, Taylor Swift wiped her social media profiles clean. Until today. When she posted a video. A really strange video. Of what appears to be a snake. But don’t take our word for it, check it out for yourself.