š” We're beating the goldfish. Texting is taking over.
ššHappy Autumn!
Welcome to the first Pulse of Autumn. Iām not gonna lie, I will miss the long summer days, wonāt you?
In this issue, thereās been a small change in the News section. Hope you like it. But let me know if you donāt. Also, DO NOT miss out the Tools & Apps sections. Iām sure youāll love it. Just scroll to the endā¦
And now, one big question for you: What is it that you donāt like about Pulse? Reply to this email. Letās improve it together.
š” Would you go to a gym that charges you $300 per month, but gives you $10 every day you hit the gym?
- Ben
š° News
Instagram denies any plans for a native āRegramā button.
But, now you can send GIFs within Instagram DMs.
Also, you may soon be able to hide hashtags from your captions.
And add Quiz stickers to your Instagram stories!
@Twitter has been given a new life.
Twitter also scared many of their users last week by announcing usersā DMs may have been leaked to developers, which was quite bad. However, a point the majority of the users missed throughout the story was that the company said that about the DMs sent to customer service accounts.
Remember, back in 2016 when Twitter announced that you donāt need a period/dot at the beginning of a tweet if you want to start it with a @username? Well, you still do, because they didnāt bother to neither actually implement the change nor announcing that theyāre not doing it! And for the record, I think .@ is just too lazy and boring! Try an emoji.
Facebook is planning to unveil its video chat device 'Portalā for the home next week to compete with Amazon Echo, Cheddar reports.
Sony is following in Nintendoās footsteps with a PlayStation Classic.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife bought Time Magazine for $190 million.
White House draft order directs probes into tech giants [Reuters], but White House says a draft executive order reviewing social media companies is not āofficial.ā [TechCrunch] š
Polestar unveils first production EV with aim to overtake Tesla. [TechCrunch]
š§ Insights
Share Better Stories on Instagram - Credit: Luke van Zyl on Unsplash
6 Instagram Stories Tricks to Get Better Engagement
Your Instagram feed is ruled by its algorithm. Therefore, the more you engage with someone, the more they will show up in your feed.
Using Instagramās interactive tools and features is a neat way to get more people to interact and engage with your story and is a great long-term strategy to build an engaged audience.
Read more here.
State of Attention 2018 (eBook) - Credit: Prezi
Attention Spans: More Selective, Not Shorter
Preziās State of Attention report suggests that our attention spans are becoming more selective, not shorter, highlighting the importance of relevant and personalised content marketing.
A survey of 2,008 full time office workers, found that attention spans have actually increased.
Six out of ten respondents say they can give a piece of content their undivided attention without getting distracted, more than they could one year ago. Meanwhile, 42% say theyāve become more selective about the content they consume.
š Statistics
Teens Favourite Communication Methods - Credit: Common Sense Media
Texting is Now Teensā Favourite Way to Communicate With Friends
Itās no surprise that teens today are heavier social media users than they used to be: 70% report using social media multiple times a day, about twice the proportion (34%) from 2012.
However that doesnāt mean that social media is their preferred way of communicating with friends. Asked to choose between texting, in-person, social media, video-chatting, and talking on the phone, a leading 35% of the more than 1,000 13-17-year-olds surveyed said that texting is their favourite way to communicate with friends. Thatās up slightly from 33% who felt that way in 2012.
Top 10 Brands in the UK - Credit: Prophet Brand Relevance IndexĀ®
Prophet Brand Relevance IndexĀ®
A survey of 47,845 consumers in the United Kingdom, China, Germany and the United States to determine which of 803 unique brands they simply cannot live without [by Prophet]
Download the full index in PDF:
š©šŖGermany [German]
š± Tools & Apps
Cash App: a simple way to pay people back. Friends, family, co-workers ā anyone, really. Join and weāll get Ā£5 each when you use it for the first time.
Picular: Google, but for colours. Search for beer or strawberry and get all their shades - in Hex code.
Mobile Planet: Not an app, but Luke Wās presentation on mobile interface dynamics. [PDF, 107 MB] Itās a fantastic deck. Donāt miss it.
š® Fun Stuff
š Dogs of the World & Their Countries of Origin
Puppies! So many puppies! š
Credit: ConserveTheSound
š» Conserving the sounds of obsolete devices. Youāll enjoy this more the older you are.
This is not goodbye...
Later this evening, Iāll be at Jason Deruloās concert at Manchester Arena. Keep an eye on my stories on Snapchat & Instagram.
I will probably film the whole thing, like I did at Ed Sheeran, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and Imagine Dragons, and post it on my personal YouTube channel.
See you next week!
Peace