Entrepreneur team says, “Twitter Inc said it would lay off up to 336 employees, or about 8 percent of its global workforce, as part of a plan to streamline operations. The layoffs, mainly in the company’s product and engineering functions, come about a week after the microblogging service provider appointed co-founder Jack Dorsey its permanent chief executive. “We feel strongly that engineering will move much faster with a smaller and nimbler team, while remaining the biggest percentage of our workforce,” Dorsey said in a letter to employees. “And the rest of the... [...]

Martin Beck says, “No one likes filling out forms on mobile devices. But Facebook is aiming to make that clunky process easier — and more likely to help businesses pull in the customer information they crave — with a new ad product that automatically fills out forms based on Facebook user data. Called “lead ads” and in testing since June, the ad unit is now available to all advertisers, Facebook said today in a blog post. The basic idea is this: When someone clicks on your lead ad, a form opens with the person’s contact information automatically populated, based on the information... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “On Monday, Twitter announced that it has named Jack Dorsey its permanent CEO. Although Dorsey, the company’s co-founder, has been serving as interim CEO for months, the move is not without controversy because Dorsey also serves as CEO of another company, Square, which is expected to go public soon. The stakes are high for Twitter, which many observers say is struggling with an identity crisis. The stakes are also high for marketers, many of whom have invested heavily in Twitter. Here’s what new leadership could mean for them. The good scenario While Twitter... [...]

Rainmaker team says, “Today’s episode of Youpreneur.FM is all about the latest social media favorite, Periscope, and how it’s taking the online marketing world by storm. Chris gives tips on how to start your own scopes and how he’s been able to monetize the app himself. He has seen firsthand how this app increases personal brand recognition like nothing else on the market right now. In fact, Chris is such a believer, he has devoted an entire show to helping you utilize Periscope for building your audience and your business. Chris highlights some of the biggest benefits and useful tips... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Twitter has announced more platform partners to enable its ‘Buy’ button within shared or promoted posts. Demandware, Bigcommerce and Shopify will both be offering clients the option of adding commerce functionality to their tweets, but are users really that interested in buying directly from Twitter? China presents a precedent… Social proof and user generated content is massive in China. There are a rumoured 200m bank accounts linked up with WeChat. Social media plays a huge part in validating purchases through peer review and if social networks globally... [...]

Martin Beck says, “It’s a buyer’s market for Twitter Buy Now buttons. Twitter announced a big rollout of its e-commerce effort today, partnering with Bigcommerce, Demandware and Shopify in integrations that will greatly increase the number of merchants who can sell directly within user timelines. Twitter has been testing its Buy button for more than a year, tinkering with ways to entice people to make purchases directly from tweets. Facebook is also testing an in-feed buy button and Pinterest rolled out Buyable Pins in June. Now Twitter is hitting the accelerator. Bigcommerce and Shopify... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Twitter is working on a product that would allow users to tweet more than 140 characters at a time, according to a report in Recode today. Such a move would be a major departure from Twitter’s founding days, when its 140-character limit was a necessary nod to the 160-character maximum in SMS messages. Since then Twitter has clung to its signature 140 characters, while users have adjusted by tweeting out blocks of text using screenshots attached as photos. The Recode report, citing “multiple people familiar with the company’s plans,” said the new product would allow... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Joining the ranks of Twitter’s ad cards is the Video App Card, app install ads that enable app developers to promote their apps with video clips. The card format is rolling out of beta globally. Videos show users a preview of the app and autoplay in timelines. App marketers can use any of Twitter’s ad targeting capabilities including device, interest, keyword, location and tailored audiences“. Twitter Rolls Out Video Cards For Mobile App Marketers Marketing Land  [...]

Chris Perkins says, “Facebook isn’t the only tech company that wants to deliver #content to its users instantly. Google and Twitter are teaming up to create their own open-source version of Facebook’s Instant Articles, according to a Friday report by Re/Code. Google and Twitter will be developing this project open-source with the hopes that other tech companies will adopt their platform. It is said to launch this fall with a small handful of publishing partners lined up. The main differentiator between this project and Facebook’s is that Google and Twitter wouldn’t... [...]

Danny Sullivan says, “Twitter is a powerful way for businesses to disappoint customers, alienate influencers and convince anyone never to become followers. Want a pathway to Twitter fail? Here are seven things to consider — or reconsider, if you’re after Twitter success. This is a companion story to a talk I’m giving today at Inbound (See slides below). In it, I’ll cover some of the things I’ve found businesses and others sometimes fail at from my perspective as a potential “influencer” and as a regular user of Twitter. My Life On Twitter I often have people reaching out... [...]