An irreverent review of social media news with Rebecca Davies-Nash, head of content at 24 fingers.

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Snapchat has done something strange, it’s gone in for a bit of long-form content. Yes, we know.

It’s a platform made famous by photos and videos that disappear in seconds and now it’s asking its users to sit down, put their feet up and read for a bit.

From the end of June (well, now really) it will release its own digital magazine, Real Life, with daily articles that examine how we live with technology and how that shapes our daily lives. It sounds intriguing, if nothing else then just to see how it sits with Snapchat’s existing user base.

Lights, camera, action

Eagle-eyed social media watchers will have been keeping tabs on Periscope since it appeared on the radar last year (see what we did there?). Not least because the live video-streaming app for iOS and Android was bought by Twitter before it had even launched.

So what did Twitter have planned? Certainly its first development to allow users to use the app while on the Twitter platform suggests that it saw a way to compete with other platforms that already have live video streaming capacity. What’s more, Twitter has now made it as easy as posting a picture or video and if it is posted through Twitter, then viewers won’t need the Periscope app to watch it either. It encourages users to post current events, as they happen, and raises the profile of the platform as a source of breaking news as well as opinion. That is unless users just want to stream themselves doing stupid stuff.

A tweet a day keeps the Dr away

Twitter has once again stolen the show. As a platform for wit and humorous commentary on current affairs and PR blunders, Twitter is unsurpassed. Take Donald Trump’s tweet congratulating Scotland on its vote to exit the EU; Twitter lit up within seconds as people pointed out his obvious error. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee felt this was too funny to just be enjoyed by Twitter users so decided to dedicate a segment of the show to the responses. And then it had the brilliant idea to ask everyone’s favourite Dr Who and Scot homeboy David Tennant to read them out. What happened next was an utter joy to behold and it got the whole of of social media talking.

That’ll learn Trump to try to get involved in politics… oh, no, wait.

Image: TBS