2014 Year in Social Media

© ANCHOR MEDIA LLC 2014

SOCIAL STANDINGS: Monthly Active Users

COMPARED TO 2013

NETWORK USERS*

FACEBOOK 1.19 BILLION

YOUTUBE 1 BILLION

LINKEDIN 259 MILLION

TWITTER 218 MILLION

INSTAGRAM 150 MILLION

PINTEREST 70 MILLION

FOURSQUARE 40 MILLION

SNAPCHAT 26 MILLION

JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER

FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

On January 3, Vine introduced Vine on the Web. The app’s online platform allows users to view their home feeds, like and comment on loops, and share videos, as well as visit and share profiles.

Twitter launched a web profile page redesign

intended to better resemble the mobile app’s look.

@mentions

On January 14, Tumblr announced that after many user requests, it would finally add @ mention capabilities to its site.

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Twitter began rolling out yet another web profile page redesign in mid February. CEO Dick Costolo described this effort as “media-forward.” Many social media users pointed out similarities to Facebook Timeline or even Google+ pages.

Facebook announced on February 13 that US users would now have the option to list their genders as “Other” and choose which pronoun the site should use to describe them. The change also allowed users to decide who would be able to view the gender section of the profile.

Facebook purchased Israeli-startup mobile messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion on February 19.

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Google introduced the ability to advertise Google+ posts in late March.

Instagram released an update for Android that halved the app’s size, doubled its speed, and redesigned the entire user experience.

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In April, Twitter added several new advertising options, including the ability to create targeted ads directing people to download apps.

Hootsuite updated its AutoSchedule feature to allow users to edit the site’s

algorithm-based posting times.

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In May, Facebook launched Facebook Business Manager, a tool for users who manage multiple pages, apps, or ad accounts.

Yahoo acquired self-destructing text messaging app Blink on May 13.

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In June, Instagram added new photo-editing features, including the ability to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and warmth.

In June, Facebook added a menu feature, allowing restaurants to directly upload their menus to their Pages.

Google+ added a “Stories” feature in June which automatically sorts photos, videos, maps, and time-stamps into an instant photo documentary.

On June 30, mobile ad retargeting company

Tapcommerce announced that it agreed to be

acquired by Twitter.

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On July 17, Facebook announced that they began testing an in-stream “Buy” button feature to help business drive sales via the social network.

After successfully launching ads for consumer goods a few months earlier, Instagram featured its first ads

for television shows, including TNT’s new drama “The Last Ship” as well as two of Showtime’s returning

series: “Masters of Sex” and “Ray Donovan.

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The #ALSIceBucketChallenge took over social media in August, raising $88.5 million for the ALS Association.

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In September, the self-declared “anti-Facebook” and invitation-only social network Ello went viral.

Facebook experienced a massive world-wide outage on

September 3 lasting about 20 minutes. Reports estimate that

Facebook loses roughly $22,453 for every minute it’s down.

In September, Facebook began testing Snapchat-like expiring posts on its iPhone app. Select users had the option to schedule posts to delete after intervals ranging from one hour to seven days.

Pinterest introduced the Pin It button for mobile users in September, making mobile pinning much easier for iOS 8 users.

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On October 6, LinkedIn launched an insights component to its existing “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” feature, allowing users to see which actions you took that led to that specific increase in engagement (including making various updates to your profile, endorsing a connection, joining a group or expanding your network).

In October, Facebook launched Rooms, a chat-room app made of feeds with photos, videos, and text

focused on a topic determined by whoever created the room.

In mid-October, Facebook launched Safety Check, a notification system that allows users near disaster zones to alert their friends that they are safe and check on others.

The first ad appeared on Snapchat in mid-October. The sponsored snap story, which appeared as a 20-second trailer, advertised for movie “Ouija.”

On October 22, Twitter hosted #TwitterFlight, its first annual mobile developer conference in San Francisco, CA.

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In November, Facebook updated its Groups feature by completely redesigning it as a stand-alone app.

In November, Facebook banned like-gating, changing how brands run contests on the platform.

Instagram released an app update allowing users to edit the captions of images that have already been posted.

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Twitter’s chief communications officer designated Ellen’s Oscar selfie “The Golden Tweet of 2014” in December. The famous celebrity selfie was retweeted over 3.3 millions times – more than any other tweet ever.

YouTube released REWIND 2014, compiling the most viral moments and trends on the platform into a video helping us “Let Go” of 2014 and look forward to 2015.

Facebook updated Graph Search to allow users to search for text within posts. The search results are personalized and unique to individual users, and they can only find things that have been shared with them. Previous Graph Search capabilities continue to work as they have in the past.

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