Umpf / Blog / Friday Social: Instagram Goes Dark, Snapchat Introduces In-Game Purchases and the WAG Feud that Took Over Twitter

Friday Social: Instagram Goes Dark, Snapchat Introduces In-Game Purchases and the WAG Feud that Took Over Twitter

  • Social Media

Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter – @Umpf

Instagram Ditches Following Tab

Like spying on what your Instagram friends are getting up to on their own accounts?

Well, sad news – Instagram this week unveiled that it’s ditching the ‘Following’ tab – a section of the app which shows what the people you are following are doing in real time – such as what posts they’re liking and who they’ve recently followed.

Instagram said the feature was ‘no longer serving its purpose’, adding that many users didn’t even know it existed – hence the need for giving it the boot. Shame.

Snapchat & Adidas Introduce In-Game Purchases for First Time

Snapchat has teamed up with Adidas to offer in-game purchases for the very first time on the platform.

The campaign, launched in line with the MLB playoffs in America, uses a simple 8-Bit baseball game to capture eager-baseball fans imaginations. Through the game, players will then be able to buy the latest Adidas cleats that they fancy – without ever leaving the app.

This is a big step in boosting Snap’s gaming and advertising ambitions, and clearly shows Snap’s intentions to remain as popular and cutting edge as ever.

Instagram Unveils ‘Threads’

Fancy introducing another private messaging app into your lives? Then look no further than Threads, Instagram’s new private messaging app which was unveiled this week.

Giving Instagram users the chance to message their ‘Close Friends’ list, it rivals Snapchat’s popular private messaging system by offering a space for discussion with select friends only.

For users who decide not to download the app, the messages will be sent to their Instagram DM inbox as normal.

And finally… WAG Feud Takes to Twitter

Footballers Wives may have left our screens in 2006, but this week Twitter users were treated to drama that could have been lifted straight from the script – thanks to Coleen Rooney.

Coleen, wife to ex-England footballer Wayne, took to Twitter to post the below statement, claiming that fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy has been selling her private news to tabloid papers.

In a self-produced five-month investigation, Coleen admitted to planting false stories on her private Instagram, and blocking all of her friends from viewing them – except for Rebekah. Once these stories then hit the tabloids, she made her deductions.

Mrs. Vardy has since hit back on Twitter, claiming multiple people have access to her Instagram page, and therefore could be the leak.

The feud is ongoing and we’re all very excited to see where it leads.