SnapSpectacles
Well this is new!
Admittedly this is something I had never thought of, or even seen until now! Sure the Virtual Reality glasses we talked about a couple of weeks ago have some points in common but this is something quite different entirely.
Do you remember when Google started selling a prototype of Google Glass to qualified "Glass Explorers" in the US in 2013? For $1,500 it became available to the public on May 15, 2014. They then got culled and won't be released again until they are 'perfect' with no re-release date being set.
Those inventions aside, these babies are brand new and purely for Snapchat! At $130/pair they are also slightly more affordable - though still difficult to come by. getting your hands on a pair of Spectacles isn’t all that easy. Currently, the only way to get a pair is by finding or tracking down one of Snapchat’s apparently randomly placed Snapbot vending machines.
When these videos or images are played back on Snapchat, they are viewable both horizontally and vertically, capturing the full range of the circular lens.
When shared to other platforms, the videos are displayed in a new circular format, giving it quite an original look.
They “give us the opportunity to tell stories in a completely new and unique format, especially in the first-person point of view.” - Ben Benrubi, Associate Director of global partnerships at VaynerMedia I'm not sure when we will see these in New Zealand or how well they will take off, but it looks like a bit of fun and they're even are relatively fashionable looking which is a bonus!
What's new in 2017?
I have found three new useful tools that may gain some momentum in 2017 so I thought I would share them with you. They are going to be of great benefit to both businesses and to social media marketers.
1. First up we have - Pixabay. It's not brand new but it is awesome! Trust me on this! It's going to be very well utilised by the team at Grass Roots Media in the coming years.
Pixabay has over 830,000 free images and videos that you can use anywhere - attribution and royalty free!
From photos to illustrations to vector graphics and vidoes - you're very likely to find exactly what you need - and high quality at that! I really love how simple it is to use - you don't even need to have a log-in which is nearly unheard of these days.
Once you have downloaded an image, a PayPal option pops up where you can choose to donate to the image contributors - not a necessity but a nice touch. You can also 'like' or choose to follow photographers.
The only negative I have found is that is doesn't really appreciate my extremely poor connection speed - Download the smallest file available of you can get away with it.
2. My next find is Adobe Spark We're talking social graphics, web stories and animated videos - easily. It's not currently available on Android but it can be used on PC, or Apple.
Usually when I am looking to create images I will use Pixlr on my android phone or Canva on the laptop. I'm always open to new ideas and options so this is how I found it.
Firstly it took a little while to sign up and even longer to load (My net speed remember) where as Canva you are into it instantly.
It has a great range of ready to go and easy to understand format types. An added bonus is that you can change the post size/type after design which with Canva you must pay to have that access.
Overall it looks OK and could be more useful if you are using Adobe on a regular basis. Personally I'm going to stick to Canva and embraces it's team collaboration for a while longer but I'd love to hear if you have used it and what you created!?
3. The third find for this week is Falcon.io - I reckon I'm on to a winner here.
I would say it is more focused at the hardcore marketer than someone looking to start a blog or create nice images. It's a pretty serious piece of work of which I won't entirely go in to here. Partially because it is a whole other 500 words in itself and partially because I haven't even made my way around its entire offerings yet.
I would recommend checking it out and to give you some insight - my plane reading tomorrow will be the 'Prepared Marketers Guide 2017' by Falcon and includes;
- Taking Stock - How are you performing? How do we compare?
- Establish Business Goals - Return on investment (ROI) measurement and tools for that
- Map Your Content to Your Audience - Create a content and editorial calendar then track
- Embrace the Latest Opportunities - Read up on trends for 2017, get creative and lead the way
NOW! - Go forth and prosper - Don't say you weren't informed.
Chanelle O’Sullivan is Grass Roots Media's Social Media Specialist. She originally studied agriculture, before moving south onto a Station, followed by a stint dairy farming. After three years vet nursing, she is now a Mum to two kids and creator of Farming Mums NZ and ‘Just a Farmers Wife’ while also working part-time for the NZ Landcare Trust and Grass Roots Media.
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