social media

eMarketer reports that if Facebook, which is reporting its earnings later this week, were a country, it would be one of the largest in the world. And it’s only getting bigger, with eMarketer projecting a monthly user base of 1.87 billion by 2020, the end of its forecast period.

And Pandora to digital video and BuzzFeed to Snapchat. A new study from the VAB claims to make these cross-platform comparisons buyers have been craving for years.

The app’s purpose is to prompt users to create and share more video content, the Wall Street Journal reports. Like Snapchat, the app’s current prototype opens to a camera view, and reports indicate it will also enable live streaming. Facebook won’t comment on the app, and sources indicate it’s still deep back in the pipeline. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.

ABC/Disney’s WPVI leads Philadelphia’s local media outlets in social media performance in both total actions and fans/followers according to Shareablee data. Fox-owned WTXF is nipping at its heels in both categories, though.

This is the second in a series of reports developed from RTDNA’s annual survey of newsrooms across the United States. Topics in the series include what’s new online, social media and mobile strategies, television and radio budgets and profits, stations doing news, news director profiles, and our most popular areas of research; newsroom salaries, women and minorities in newsrooms, and broadcast newsroom staffing.

Raycom-owned CBS affiliate WAFB has a commanding lead in total social actions and fans/followers in Baton Rouge, La., according to Shareablee data, dominating both Facebook and Twitter among local media.

Social News Desk’s Kim Wilson is a veteran of numerous f8 conferences, and she says this year’s marked Facebook’s most intensive reach-out to media. Here, she looks closely at presentations on Facebook Live and Instant Articles, the game-changing implications of both for publishers and the journalism and monetization opportunities within them.

Here’s the top line from CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s f8 keynote Tuesday: Facebook is developing new ways for users to engage and share. Building out new functions in its Messenger app and promoting the everyday use of live streaming video are top of the list,

KHQ, a Cowles Publishing-owned NBC affiliate, holds the lead in overall social media actions and the number of fans/followers in local media in Spokane, Wash., over the last six months, according to data from Shareablee, while Tegna’s CBS affil KREM puts up a respectable second-place showing.

Evidently, the reason is that Facebook is chafing at the NFL’s traditional ad model, as it likes its streaming videos to be commercial-free. Verizon, Yahoo and Amazon are still in the bidding, though the smart money sure isn’t on Yahoo there.

Tribune-owned Fox affil KTVI is leagues ahead of its local media competition in social media according to Shareablee data, which shows a commanding lead in total actions and fans/followers, not to mention dominance on all three major platforms.

In case you missed yesterday’s New York Times read on this, Benjamin Mullin’s take on news organizations’ adoption of Facebook’s live streaming service is a good collection of mini-case studies. He looks at how NPR, The Verge, BuzzFeed and KXLY Spokane, Wash., are using Facebook Live — a worthwhile scan for those looking for an entry point into video on the cheap.

It’s a move that could take social live streaming completely next-level: Facebook and several publisher-partners have developed equipment that can integrate into control rooms and allow for multiple cameras, remote segments and more polish. The move would take the rough-hewn immediacy out of live streaming and potentially cajole many more broadcasters to distribute video on its platform. Facebook will reportedly announce the development at its F8 developers conference next month.

ABC/Disney’s KTRK has the edge among local media in social in a highly-engaged Houston, while Fox-owned KRIV holds a respectable second. A benchmarking snapshot via Shareablee data.

As Apple tries to fend off government demands for access to iPhone content, the company is leaning on free speech arguments as a key part of its defense in a California courtroom. On the other end of the country, 10 separate lawsuits have piled up this year against net neutrality rules, with both sides claiming First Amendment rights in this long-running dispute over the federal regulation of Internet service.

Morgan Murphy Media’s CBS affiliate WISC ranks heads and shoulders among the Madison, Wis., competition in social media, according to data from Shareablee. It leads in both total social actions in the last six months as well as the city’s highest number of fans/followers.

Dan Rose, Facebook’s VP of partnerships, says the company is in discussions with the NFL about securing rights to live-stream games and has reached out to Hollywood agents to bring actors, athletes, music artists and others into its live-streaming fold.

Tegna’s CBS affiliate KENS holds the competitive edge in social among local media in San Antonio, Texas, in a close race with Graham Media’s ABC affil KSAT, according to Shareablee data, although iHeartMedia’s KAJA-FM obliterates both TV broadcasters in terms of overall fans/followers.

Tegna’s effort to overhaul local news is manifest in Inside the Triangle, a six-week investigation into heroin usage by the group’s Atlanta NBC affiliate. So far it’s been available only online, generating close to four million page views. “Everybody has talked for years about trying to change the formulaic product that we produce,” says Tegna’s Ellen Crooke, “and Tegna is devoted in 2016 that we’re going to do something about it.”

Top Academy Awards TV ad spenders also scored big social media results. Samsung scored a 883% “penetration per thousand” index, according to 4C Insights. According to iSpot.tv, Samsung was also the biggest spender in buying traditional TV advertising time on ABC: $18.8 million.

The battle for social dominance in Tulsa, Okla. is down to two contenders — Cox’s KOKI (Fox) and Griffin Communications’ KOTV (CBS) -— with the two leaving other local media in the dust. KOKI is currently winning, according to data from Shareablee.

There are two TV titans battling it out among local media outlets on social in Seattle, but for now, Cox-owned CBS affiliate KIRO is dealing the heavier blows than its close rival, Tegna-owned NBC affil KING, according to data from Shareablee.

The social network plans to begin automatically putting captions in video ads running in its news feed, which play automatically with the sound off by default, to reduce the negative noise without silencing ads’ effectiveness. The automatic captioning is part of Facebook’s push to reduce the friction in getting people to check out the content that appears in their news feeds, particularly on mobile.

When it come to social actions in Savannah, Ga., Cumulus-owned, urban-formatted WEAS-FM outperforms other media, according to Shareablee. Raycom’s CBS affiliate WTOC ranks No. 2 in overall actions, while Media General’s NBC affil WSAV is third.

Instagram’s  28-episode scripted series, Shield 5, is scheduled to play out over the next few weeks, with one 15-second episode per day posted to the show’s dedicated Instagram account. Last week, in time for the Iowa caucus voting, Snapchat released its first original show, Good Luck America, hosted by former CNN reporter Peter Hamby.

Tegna-owned NBC affiliate KPNX is in a razor-close race with Fox O&O KSAZ for local dominance in Phoenix’s social media, according to Shareablee data. For now, it’s KPNX in a photo finish.

Raycom’s CBS affiliate WTOL leads all of Toledo, Ohio, local media on social media in overall actions, according to Shareablee data. But Gray’s WTVG puts up a strong fight, and the ABC affil  has captured the largest number of fans/followers in this week’s Social Scorecard.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. said rumors about the company’s interest in buying microblogging site Twitter Inc. or building a stake in it were untrue. Twitter’s shares, which rose as much as 14% on Wednesday, pared some gains and closed up 4.1% at $17.38.

When Nielsen launched its Twitter TV Ratings in the fall of 2013, it hoped to measure a great deal of the conversation about TV shows taking place in the social-media sphere. Now the company will have to contend with a lot more chatter. The company will expand its work to Facebook, and, at a later date, Instagram, and will measure aggregate-level conversation related to TV shows taking place in posts shared with friends and family, with followers and with the public at large.

Cox Media Group-owned WPXI holds a commanding lead among Pittsburgh local media outlets’ performance on social media, according to Shareablee data. Over the past six months, it claims the bounty of the market’s total social actions, dominating both Facebook and Twitter, and it has the city’s highest number of fans/followers.

The NBC awards ceremony generates more than 1.75 million total tweets, No. 1 for the week among all TV telecasts.

Tribune-owned NBC affil KFOR holds the lead spot among local media on social according to data from Shareablee, at least in terms of total social actions. But it’s seeing competition from Griffin’s KWTV (CBS), which leads the market in overall fans/followers.