Friday Social: Instashopping, Facebook Sinks Admiral, and Quick Replies

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

Shop while you scroll

Instagram will be testing shoppable photo tags, making it easier for its users to shop for the products they love without interrupting their scrolling.

The new feature which, for now, is only available to iOS customers in the US, allows retailers to tag products in their photos. These tags are hidden behind a “Tap to view products” button. After selecting a product, users see an in-app details page with a specific product’s price, description, additional photos, and a “Shop Now” button to buy it online.

Find out more from Instagram here

Facebook pulls the plug on Admiral

Admiral has been forced to pull a new initiative that used Facebook to analyse the personalities of car owners and set the price of their insurance based on their digital footprints. Facebook insisted that protecting the privacy of its users was of the upmost importance and blocked the invasive ‘firstcarquote’.

Admiral Insurance aimed to launch ‘firstcarquote’ as a way to analyse Facebook accounts of first-time car owners. The intention was to look for personality traits that are linked to safe driving, including indicators of conscientiousness and organisational skills. At that stage, Admiral’s initiative was voluntary and planned to only offer discounts rather than price increases. However, Admiral did not rule out a further expansion.

Twitter speeds up customer service with Quick Replies

Twitter has announced two new features to create better conversational experiences between brands and Twitter users. Businesses can set up Quick Replies and welcome statements in Direct Messages, reducing wait times and helping businesses demonstrate their commitment to good service. Companies including Pizza Hut and Evernote are making use of these features already.

Find out more here

Facebook launches Snapchat-style lenses

Facebook is beginning to roll out its version of Snapchat-style animated lenses, adding the feature to its live streaming service. Every so often, like Snapchat, Facebook will swap out the masks for different designs. The debut set included Halloween-themed masks.

Facebook also rolled out limited edition Halloween themed reactions, including a “Haha” witch, “Wow” ghost, “Sad” Frankenstein’s Monster, and an “Angry” Pumpkin.

Danish startup offers analytics service for Snapchat

Snapchat is notoriously difficult to analyse, with photos and videos deleted shortly after viewing or posting. However, a Copenhagen-based company is now offering a new analytics service for the platform. Snaplytics uses its own system to monitor activity on public, one-to-many communications. Its dashboard features metrics on views, average number of screen shots taken for each Snapchat story, number of followers for each company, and open rate.

Find out more here