800m Facebook users use 'translate' each month

"Machine learning is accomplishing Facebook’s mission of connecting the world across language barriers. Facebook is now serving 2 billion text translations per day. Facebook can translate across 40 languages in 1,800 directions, like French to English. And 800 million users, almost half of all Facebook users, see translations each month.
That’s all based on Facebook’s own machine learning translation system. In 2011 it started working with Microsoft Bing to power translations, but has since bene working to transition to its own system. In December 2015, Facebook finally completed the shift, and now exclusively uses its own translation tech."

Source:  Techcrunch, 23rd May 2016

130m visual searches are done each month on Pinterest

130 million "visual" searches using Pinterest's image search tool each month (explained here: https://t.co/h7X1klq1ZB) #EmTechDigital

— Tom Simonite (@tsimonite) May 23, 2016

2.3m American households own a virtual reality headset

"Parks Associates announced new consumer research today showing that 2% of U.S. broadband households, or 2.3 million households, own a virtual reality headset. The research firm will host CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference May 24-26 in San Francisco, where its analysts will discuss findings from 360 View: CE Adoption and Trends, a survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households, which reveals 5% of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a VR headset in 2016, an increase from only 1% who made a purchase the year prior."

Source:  Parks Associates, 16th May 2016

Note - This figure seems high, until you realised that it includes Google Cardboard.  

'As much as' 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound

"Facebook might be hosting upwards of 8 billion views per day on its platform, but a wide majority of that viewership is happening in silence.
As much as 85 percent of video views happen with the sound off, according to multiple publishers. Take, for instance, feel-good site LittleThings, which is averaging 150 million monthly views on Facebook so far this year. Eighty-five percent of its viewership is occurring without users turning the sound on. Similarly, millennial news site Mic, which is also averaging 150 million monthly Facebook views, said 85 percent of its 30-second views are without sound. PopSugar said its silent video views range between 50 and 80 percent.
The news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as Facebook has built a video ecosystem that does not require users to turn the volume up — and publishers have been more than happy to play ball. Most users’ news feeds are now inundated with short videos that feature text or captions narrating what’s being shown on screen. While most of these videos feature narration or some form of background music, the intent is to make it easy for people to consume the information presented in the videos without needing to turn the sound on."
Source:  Digiday, 17th May 2016
Note - So keep it visual, and use subtitles!

More than 300,000 a week log on to Google's free wifi in Indian railway stations

"Guwahati station, the gateway to India’s easternmost states, has just became the 15th train station in India to offer our free, high-speed Wi-Fi service. The other stations that have just come online include Allahabad, Jaipur, Patna and Ujjain Junction, following quickly on the heels of the nine stations announced last month.
 As the network has expanded, the number of people logging in has as well – we’re thrilled that more than 300,000 people are now using this high-speed Wi-Fi each week."

Source:  Google India Blog, 12th May 2016

The number of scripted TV shows in the US doubled between 2009 and 2015

"Between 2009 and 2015, the number of scripted shows nearly doubled, from just over 200 to an estimated 409 last year. Netflix alone says it will produce 600 hours of original television and spend $5 billion on programming, including acquisitions. This dramatic surge in TV production has touched nearly every aspect of the industry, from actors and showrunners to those responsible for production logistics for all of the new programming ordered from an ever-expanding roster of networks."

Source:  Vulture.com, May 2016

Mobile location data in the US is accurate to about 30m

""PlaceIQ commissioned independent research from Findyr, a global technology company that provides brands with custom data and analyses, to conduct the study. The new study consisted of an independent, third-party analysis of more than 150 physical locations across five U.S. cities and found that on average, location data obtained via mobile smartphones is accurate up to 30 meters.
In addition, the average finding for location data accuracy varied in each of the five U.S. cities analyzed, which included Boston, MA (21 meters), New York City, NY (27 meters), Austin, TX (28 meters), Washington, D.C. (29 meters), and Chicago, IL (38 meters).
These findings are demonstrative of the complex relationship between multiple factors that affect location data accuracy, such as signal source (GPS signals, Wi-Fi, cell tower triangulation), environment (area density, skyline view, indoor or outdoor location), and personal use (location data access enabled, type of mobile app used, operating system usage)"

Source:  Yahoo, 25th May 2016

60% of Instagram's users say they learn about products and services on the app

"60 per cent of Instagram’s 400m monthly active users say they learn about products and services on the app and 75 per cent say they are inspired to act — by searching for a brand’s website, going to a boutique or telling a friend."

Source:  FT, 22nd May 2016

Mid-tier bloggers 'can charge up to $2,500 for a blog post'

"According to multiple sources, mid-tier bloggers can charge up to $2,500 for one blog post, plus corresponding social media conversation. The average fee, however, probably ranges closer to between $400 and $1000, depending on the breadth, scope and content. Even those with just 10,000 followers can find ways to monetize. “We try not to let bloggers take less than $200 per post, even if they’re small,” said Nazarudin, whose BloggerBabes network helps broker deals between brands and bloggers. Two hundred dollars might not sound like a lot, but if a blogger is publishing two to three sponsored posts a week, as many are, even on the low-end of the spectrum, it can quickly add up. And certainly, there is no shortage of opportunities for motivated bloggers to partner with brands."
Source:  Racked, 23rd May 2016
Note - 'Mid-tier' is defined elsewhere in the article as
"a social following of 50,000 and your content is great and your readership is loyal"

A lot of popular Vine users are no longer active on the platform

"Once a social media darling, Vine is falling out of favor. After analyzing 9,725 Vine users with more than 15,000 followers, influencer marketing company Markerly found that 52 percent of them have exited the platform since Jan. 1. Instead, they have moved to YouTube and Snapchat for different reasons.
“I used this account a lot before Snapchat came out,” influencer Nash Grier wrote in his Vine profile.
The finding may not surprise many. Compared to Vine, Snapchat offers features like geofilters, 3D stickers and My Story that allow would-be influencers to create more vivid in-the-moment content than they used to share on Vine. YouTube, on the other hand, lets creators make more polished long-form video content, which is becoming appealing to more and more Vine stars. For example, Zach King, one of the biggest celebrities on Vine, started to move his content over to YouTube where he updated three or four times a month. His most recent Vine clips, in comparison, were posted in January."
Source:  Digiday, 17th May 2016
Note - Zach King has started posting again

Slack has 3m Daily Active Users

Source:  Blog post from Slack, 25th May 2016

Candace Payne's 'Chewbacca Mask' was the first Facebook Live Video to hit 100m views

"A braying Chewbacca mask found "on clearance" has shot a Texas mother to internet stardom.
Candace Payne was not expecting to purchase the mask when she went to her local Kohls department store, just outside of Dallas, Texas. She doesn't even consider herself a huge Star Wars fan.
On Thursday, the 37-year-old mother of two was returning some items and was going to spend her birthday money on some exercise clothes or something "for the kids".
The Facebook Live video she broadcast from the store's car park - immediately after purchasing the Chewbacca mask - has broken the record as the most-watched Facebook Live video - ever.
"That's just crazy," Mrs Payne told the BBC. "I'm just laughing - in all honesty, that is ridiculous. I've looked at the number of views and it just seems like someone is just playing with a calculator."
It's a big number: So far, more than 48 million people have watched Payne laugh hysterically as she shows Facebook her new purchase. (Update: As of early Saturday, the video has had 91 million views.)"
Source:  BBC News, 20th May 2016
Note 1 - As of 23rd May the video has had 135m views - see it here
Note 2 - For absolute clarity, the video had very few views 'live' - almost all of these views came afterwards when it somehow went viral.  'Live' basically means that it was uploaded while it was being made, which is clearly the easiest thing to do.
Note 3 - Psy's Gentleman (follow up to Gangnam Style) reached 100m views in 4 days in 2013 - the fastest video ever to do so.  So Candace Payne easily beat that.