The Weekly Download – March 2, 2018

Spodek & Co Weekly Download - Mar. 2, 2018March is finally here + it’s Friday. Those are good enough reasons to make us smile today! How about you? Here’s what caught our attention on our news feeds this week:

What’s Vero, say hello to HearMeOut, how social were the Olympics, SnapChat rebounds and more…

Could Vero be the next big thing in social media?

Have you heard of Vero? With a promise of authenticity, Vero has been slowly making its way onto the social media scene as of late. It’s a subscription-based social network, offering the first million people to sign up free Vero for life, while latecomers will be charged a small annual fee.

It’s taking on some of the things that are annoying Facebook and Instagram users. Chronological news feeds: Vero has it. No advertisements: Vero has that, too.

A few of our team members tried to sign up, but couldn’t access the site. Seems it was over logged with users at the time, and due to this (as of March 2), they’ve extended free subscriptions beyond the first one million members.

But wait, maybe the next big thing is HearMeOut?

If you follow our blog, you already know that we see voice as a growing trend for 2018. It’s taking over our homes, our cars, and our apps. Enter: HearMeOut, a disruptive new social network that’s changing how we consume and post content. HearMeOut is a voice-based social network built around 42-second voice recordings.

HearMeOut is already getting some traction through a partnership with Ford Motors and is currently the only social app in Ford entertainment systems, making voice-to-social a reality while driving.

Olympics generate 15 million mentions on social media

Just how social were this year’s winter Olympics? This report found that as of February 24, there were 14.6 million mentions. The U.S. contributed most posts (58 per cent), followed by South Korea, Canada, Japan and the U.K, but a spokesperson for Facebook said Canada was the most engaged country on that platform.

We think this might have something to do with ice dancers and Olympic gold medallists, Virtue and Moir. Their performances were breathtaking and had many social users commenting on the chemistry and hoping for a secret romance off the ice. The pair was mentioned more than 358,000 times online and we think it had a lot to do with their beautiful final dance and tribute to the late Gord Downie.

Snapchat rebounds despite redesign haters

Snapchat rolled out a redesigned interface over the past few months to make it easier for new users to learn the ropes, but not everyone has been enthused…including a big influencer, Kylie Jenner. Just last week she tweeted her dislike of the new design. If you ever wondered about the impact an influencer can have on a brand, this is a prime example. The stock immediately dropped, but it has since rebounded and app downloads are up 5 percent this week.

Friday Fun

Have you seen Drake’s video for “God’s Plan” yet? He hands out close to a million dollars to people in need in the video. We love how it has inspired other people to do the same, at an albeit smaller scale…and here’s the memes to prove it.

Line drawn peony from Spodek & Co Digital marketing site