What’s happening in the world of social media?
In what was initially dismissed as a cruel April Fool’s Day prank, earlier this week Samoa Air created a stir by announcing its new "pay by the pound" policy that is said to be the first in the world to charge passengers not by the seat, but by how much they and their luggage weigh. Since the announcement, Samoa Air has been asking folks via its Twitter account (@SamoaAir) what they think of the policy, but much to the chagrin of the airline, the account has only managed to garner 25 followers. Nevertheless, given the bold trailblazing announcement, Twitter users have started to respond to the controversy by using #SamoaAir.
The power of video and images in the world of travel, leisure and lifestyle marketing is clear. It’s important to sell the destination story – film, photography and animation are central to this process. With thousands of YouTube videos uploaded each day, the key is to be imaginative – develop a creative concept that will cut through the ‘noise’. Further to this, ensure it lands on the lap of key online influencers. With this in mind, have a watch of the latest stop motion film to catch the beady eyes of team Mashable this week… Brooklyn Brewery Mash – A trip through BK in 3000 photos is a creative, inspirational, fun & engaging way to highlight a snapshot of life in Brooklyn. Simple images and great music – it tells the story and does the job. Time to book a flight to NYC.
Celebrity style has become a bit of an obsession among the general public these days, fashionistas all over the world are always on the lookout for items of clothing worn by the likes of Kim Kardashian or even our very own Kate Middleton. So fashion fans will be rejoicing as Shazam, the company behind the app allowing consumers to identify a song, has plans to create a similar one for recognising fashion. The idea is that shoppers will ‘Shazam’ an item of clothing on a TV show and will be able to find out where a celebrity’s dress is from in just one click…
Facebook will today make their biggest move yet by attempting to become a frontrunner in the smartphone market alongside Apple and Google. The social media giant plans to announce its new ‘home on Android’, the world’s most popular operating system. Facebook has been developing a Facebook-branded handset that will showcase a number of new mobile social networking features including, ‘uberfeed’ which will collate information relevant to the user, not just from Facebook, but from emails, texts and location updates. It will also contain targeted advertising. There is also a rumour about a "caller identification" feature which could track caller locations and could include reminders such as children’s names. However, if you find the new software too invasive, users can press a button to switch sharing on and off.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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