THIS WEEK’S DIGITAL NEWS ROUND-UP FROM CLARION

It may only be the middle of January but 2015 is already heating up to be one of the most competitive years on social media, with leading platforms all looking to take ownership of video. 

Twitter to increase video functionality    

2014 had seen massive growth for videos on Facebook and now Twitter is set to get in on the act by improving its video packages. As part of the drive, Twitter will offer its one-click play video unit to all advertisers in a bid to encourage more content on the site. In addition, Snappy TV, the live clipping platform that Twitter acquired in June 2014, will also be available for free to advertisers.  

Twitter Drives 18% of UK Cinema Ticket Sales

A study commission by Twitter this week highlights the impact the social media channel has on cinema ticket sales. Twitter claims to have directly contributed to 18 percent of UK cinema ticket sales over a three-year period - that is a pretty impressive statistic! 

Additionally 46 percent of respondents to the survey said that they had watched a trailer for a movie on Twitter. 

Google Translate gets smarter with language detection

They say Star Trek inspired the mobile phone with is communicator device. Perhaps the sci-fi series also inspired Google’s updated language detection tool, Google Translate, which through new ‘Word Lens’, instantaneously translates written text.

Facebook ‘likes’ prove to be more accurate gauge of personality than friends

Researche by Cambridge University’s Psychometrics Centre has found that Facebook ‘likes’ can determine a person’s personality more accurately than their own friends.

A specially coded algorithm created by the researchers trawled the social media interactions of volunteers and used this information to form a picture of the person’s character. Surprisingly this method was found to more accurately gauge personality than a work colleague.

And finally...

How soccer star Francesco Totti's famous selfie came to be

Granted it is only January but this may prove to be one of the most famous selfies of 2015. AS Roma soccer star Francesco Totti gained worldwide media headlines this week for celebrating a goal by taking the first on-pitch selfie.

The idea though, wasn’t as spontaneous as many may have thought. Totti had come up with the idea for a special celebration should he score a goal, according to Sean Foley, who runs the club's digital and social initiatives. The plan was simple: plant an iPhone 6 with goalkeepers coach Guido Nanni, who would be easy for Totti to find should he score. The rest as they say is history.

10 SURPRISING MEDIA MOMENTS OF 2014

Every year there are surprising news moments that really grab the media’s attention, providing them with great copy for news stories and comment pieces. Clarion Communications spoke to a few journalists to get their views on the ones that particularly stood out in 2014, from the selfie to the referendum, and the ice bucket to the ‘consciously uncoupling’.

Kim Kardashian's "break the internet" photos

Her nude photoshoot for Paper magazine seemed to take over the web, causing meltdown on social media and leading to newspapers running a selection of the shots. The champagne shot has been repeated numerous times.

Ice Bucket challenge

The viral videos were the gift that kept on giving to social media and charity. Apparently coming from nowhere it dominated social media became a source of stories and discussion in mainstream media.

An almost never-ending list of A-List celebrities jumped on the bandwagon. It prompted coverage on ALS disease.

Scottish Referendum

The "Yes" campaign turned out to be considerably stronger than commentators had anticipated. With days to go polls showed the two camps were level-pegging, leading the 'no' campaign to roll out the big guns.

Renee Zellweger's face

Appearing in front of the cameras for the ElleWomen in Hollywood Awards, she looked unrecognisable as the star of Bridget Jones, prompting intense speculation over her apparent transformation.

  

U2 album giveaway

The band gave their album away to absolutely everyone on iTunes for free - The giveaway of 'Songs of Innocence' entered history books as it was the largest album-release ever, with 500 million people receiving it. However it wasn’t to everyone’s taste, with some people complaining they’d received an album on iTunes they didn’t want  

David Moyes sacking 

Manchester United sacked David Moyes after less than a season in charge. Moyes, 51, was given the tough task of taking on the most famous club in the world but was given the boot before even finishing his first season. His record at the club was not actually dissimilar to Sir Alex Ferguson's first season in charge - and his start was not as bad as Louis Van Gaal's.

Chris & Gwyneth break up

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow decided to "consciously uncouple" - The Coldplay singer, 37, and the 41 year old actress shocked everyone with their split and the way they went about it. They even coined a bizarre new term for it - "consciously uncoupling." Chris went on to stun people further not long after by dating star Jennifer Lawrence, 13 years his junior.  

BBC Three axed from TV

Many were shocked and infuriated at the announcement in March as the channel is widely loved and renowned as a platform for comedy. The controller of the channel, Zai Bennett, quit after it was announced and slammed the decision. A host of big name comedians rallied together, starting a petition to save the show.

Germany wipe the floor with Brazil

Germany smashing hosts Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-final - The German thrashing of Brazil left viewers shocked and the host nation heartbroken. The game, which was the most tweeted about thing in 2014, was especially stunning as no major football nation had ever been destroyed at this stage of competition in such fashion.

The "Oscar selfie"

TV host Ellen DeGeneres' star-studded selfie at the Oscars took social media by storm and became the most retweeted photo on Twitter ever, creating great publicity for Samsung. The photo has racked up more than 3.3 million retweets.

If you would like to discuss your PR requirements for 2015 please contact Debbie Jackson on 0207 343 3110 or email djackson@clarioncomms.co.uk