This document summarizes key social media metrics and trends from 2015. It provides statistics on the number of users for major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. It also outlines some of the most popular hashtags on Twitter and top influencers. Additionally, it summarizes new features and updates released by various platforms throughout the year on a monthly basis.

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Compiled by:
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3. SOCIAL USERS BY PLATFORM*
Facebook
1.5 Billion
Twitter
316
Million
* Nov 2015
Instagram
400
Million
Pinterest
100
Million
Snapchat
200
Million
LinkedIn
97 Million
Vine
200
Million
YouTub
e
1 Billion

4. Top Twitter Hashtags
1. #AskRachel
2. #PrayForParis
3. #BlueandBlack vs. #WhiteandGold
4. #LoveWins
5. #BlackLivesMatter
6. #DonaldTrump
7. #Ask(Insert Name)
8. #IStandWithAhmned
9. #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies/WhiteFamilies
10.#IStandWithPlannedParenthood

5. And the top hashtag on Instagram: #Love
Top #TBT

6. A Selection of Top Tweets

7. Most Influential People on Social Media
1. Felix Kjellberg
(PewDiePie)
2. Stina Sanders
3. Brandon Stanton
4. Tess Holliday
5. Lena Dunham
6. Harry Styles
7. Taylor Swift

8. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

9. Twitter rolled out Group
DMs, allowing users to
message multiple
people at the same
time, even if they do not
follow each other.

10. Facebook added
a call-to-action
button to all
pages.
Businesses can
now choose from
seven different
options including
“Contact Us” and
“Book Now.”

11. Twitter introduced new
"While you were away"
feature highlighting top
tweets since you last
logged in.

12. Facebook
introduced
Place Tips,
taking a nod from
Foursquare,
allowing users to
share
experiences
about places they
visit.

13. Snapchat introduced
Discover, where
editorial and media
teams share
information through
“stories.”

14. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

15. YouTube launched the YouTube Kids app, the
first Google product built from the ground up with
little ones in mind and can be downloaded for free on
iTunes and Google Play.

16. Facebook introduced Product Ads, allowing
businesses to promote multiple products in the same
post, resulting in more relevant ads for Facebook users.
This month Facebook also improved the ads dashboard in rolling
out new Custom Audiences, the Ads Managers app and a new
tool to rate the effectiveness of an ad via a relevance score. They
also promised to not charge businesses for ads unless they are
viewed by real people and not fake accounts.

17. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

18. In March, Twitter launched
the ability to embed videos
on your website by adding
the embedded video widget
to their site.

19. Twitter rolled out Periscope; a live-streaming app that allows for replays and is
popular with celebrities.

20. Facebook
added the
ability to send
or receive
money from
Friends via
Messenger.

21. Facebook changes how likes are accumulated. By removing
inactive accounts and adjusting business page likes, “Reach”
becomes a more valuable metric.

22. Instagram launched
Layout, allowing users
to create collages and
post directly on
Instagram or Facebook.

23. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

24. Instagram added
five new filters and
Emoji Hashtags,
increasing users’
ability to discover
and tag more.

25. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

26. Twitter introduced
a new search
results interface for
all logged-in web
users, introducing a
cleaner look-and-feel
and more filtering
options that let you
sort results by top
tweets, “live” tweets,
accounts, photos,
videos, news and
more.

27. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

28. Facebook confirmed its support for
GIFs, which automatically play in
newsfeeds.

29. Tumblr added the ability to search GIFs by simply clicking + and the
GIF button. Twitter rolled out GIFS and now automatically play as
users scroll through.

30. YouTube introduced
YouTube Gaming, a
new app and website to
keep users connected
to games and players,
with videos, live
streams, and the
biggest community of
gamers on the web.

31. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

32. Facebook
launched
Video
Library and
updated
their video
upload
system. This
allows Page
owners to
customize
editing and
controls.

33. In July,
Facebook
began sharing
ad revenue
with video
creators. This
was done in
order to attract
stronger, more
polished ads.

34. Snapchat rolls
out Tap to
View. In addition
to that, users
can now add
friends with Add
Nearby and
improved their
security through
a two-factor
authentication.

35. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

36. In August, The
New York Times
built a Slack bot
to help predict
social media
trends. Named
Blossom, this bot
helped editors
decide what to
feature on social
media channels.

37. Bad cropping be gone!
Instagram adds
landscape and portrait
options for photos.

38. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

39. Facebook
introduced 360
Videos. Users can
now rotate videos 360
degrees and watch
from different
perspectives.

40. Instagram opened advertising to all businesses. Now, more brands can create
effective ad campaigns on Instagram in over 30 new countries.

41. Instagram improved
Direct Messaging.
Now, threaded
conversations and
enhanced emojis are
available on the app.

42. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

43. Twitter increased the follow limit to 5,000 from 2,000 to 5,000 as a way to
help indicate suspicious activity.

44. YouTube launched YouTube Red, allowing you to watch videos across
all of YouTube without ads, while also letting you save videos to watch
offline on your phone or tablet and play videos in the background, for
$9.99 a month.

45. In October,
Instagram
launched
Boomerang.
This video
app stitches
bursts of
photos
together,
making a
video either
in portrait or
landscape.

46. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

47. YouTube launched
YouTube Music, a
personalized app designed to
quickly find music videos,
tracks, artists and albums,
plus remixes, covers, lyric
videos and concert footage
that YouTube has to offer.

48. YouTube rolled out YouTube Cardboard. This app lets users experience virtual
reality in a new, 360 degree video capabilities.

49. Instagram tested a
multiple accounts feature
on Android devices. With
this new update, account
managers who have
access to multiple accounts
can (finally!) switch
between each account
seamlessly.

50. Pinterest
showcased a
new visual
search tool.
Now, users can
select part of a
pin and learn
more about it.

51. Snapchat allows
deep links in
Discover
channels. This
lets businesses
directly link users
to their content.

52. Tumblr added
Messaging. Now, users
can talk to each other
directly on the app.

53. Twitter swapped out ‘Favorites’
for ‘Hearts’. Just like Vine and
Periscope, Twitter now uses
‘Hearts’ to express which tweets
are loved by users.

54. JANUARY MARCH MAY JULY SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
FEBRUARY APRIL JUNE AUGUST OCTOBER DECEMBER

55. Facebook introduced Live Video and Collages. Now users can discover and
share videos in real time, plus group photos together in a personalized way.

56. Google announced a new messaging app. This intelligent, communicative bot
is being created to rival Facebook M.

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