Where digital meets travel + lifestyle … A collection of can’t-miss news from this week. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox every Friday.
Is Facebook Live the Jazzercise of the future? Condé Nast recently launched the Sexy Fit program, which broadcasts live from a dance studio, teaching users the latest moves from popular stars like Beyoncé and J. Biebs. (Alright, we see you, Condé Nast.) “We’re seeing demand for live fitness programming because our audience can tune-in to instant instruction at the right time in their day,” Lauren Lumsden, digital director of The Scene, said. Makes sense, let the squatting commence!
YouTube wants to turn video advertisements on its site into a DIY possibility for small and medium size businesses. This week, Google launched three ways for businesses to create video ads for YouTube. The best part? The low price tag. The YouTube Director app helps businesses with little-to-no budgets create commercials for next to nothing. “Today what we see is we have a lot of big brands being able to advertise on video because they have the resources for a video campaign,” said Diya Jolly, Google's director of product management. “And while we have SMBs, we see that the quality of the video isn't as high.” To even the playing field, YouTube is working to connect businesses with nearby filmmakers to make extremely cheap videos. Awesome idea!
This week, Microsoft announced it had bought LinkedIn for “$196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LinkedIn’s net cash.” The social network has had a continuous growth of 433 million members worldwide and has over 105 million unique visitors monthly (WOW!). Microsoft claims that this deal is the next step forward for Office 365 and Dynamics. There has been no immediate change to the LinkedIn organization, but the deal is expected to fully close by the end of 2016.
In the last year, bots – artificial intelligence platforms that use instant messaging as an application interface – have been taking over for many different brands. Kayaks, Skyscanner, Expedia.com and Cheapflights have all jumped on the bandwagon helping users find flights and book hotels. We have a feeling travel bots are most likely going to become the customer service norm very soon. But will we miss that human touch?
Watch these corgis kill it on the dance floor.