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WEEKLY DOWNLOAD: The GIF That Keeps On Giving

Nicolette Cusmano : July 15, 2016

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.

The GIF That Keeps On Giving

For those of us who use GIFs to communicate in the digital world, nothing is worse than finding the perfect GIF for a tweet … only to find out it is over the 5MB limit. Good news: this week, Twitter had increased the GIF size limit to 15MB. YAY! The downfall? You can only use the 15MBs on the web, not on mobile. Twitter has begun to relax on some of their many restrictions starting with not counting images, polls and usernames in the 140-character limit and supporting videos up to 140 seconds long. Twitter is here for us; we just need to be patient.

Airbnb Takeover

This week, Airbnb has hosted their 100th million guest! The online accommodations marketplace is now worth 30 billion dollars (cha-ching!) – about 30 percent more than most major hotel companies. But with all that success, there are growing pains for the company. “The biggest problem has been created by people who get greedy and buy a place and kick the renters out,” says Kitty Mrache, a longtime Airbnb host who rents out a cabin in California. “That goes against the principles of Airbnb.” Airbnb also filed a suit last week over new rules that hold them financially responsible if hosts do not formally register listings with the city.

Google Showcases Online Shopping

This week, Google revealed its “Showcase Shopping” ads that are designed to give retailers a boost during the holiday shopping season. According to Google, more than 40 percent of shopping-related queries on Google are for broad terms, such as "summer dress," "women’s athletic clothing," or "living room furniture." The search engine is changing up its format for retailers first and will make online shopping user-friendlier. Also, since booking travel on a mobile device is increasing, Google is enhancing features to book through the company’s Hotel Smart Filters, which will make it easier to filter out exactly what you want.

$napchat

Snapchat has grown tremendously over the last year – and brands are taking note. But a strong presence on the platform comes with a hefty price tag, as Adweek recently found when tracking Snapchats sponsored lenses. The Peanuts Movie campaign spent $750K for 24 hours on Halloween. Still, demand has risen alongside cost. "Prices for the lenses are going up, but what Snapchat is saying is that they've also seen an increase in the use of the lenses," said Monique Lemus, group director at The Media Kitchen. So the next time you send a cute little snap to your friend, know that it’s costing a brand some BIG bucks!