Google+ Gets Big, New Upgrades for Hangouts and Photos

Business owners who count Google+ among their top social networks for marketing purposes have some new goodies to play with. At an event today, Google unveiled several updated features for Google+ that are meant to improve Hangouts as well as photos and videos.
Hangouts, which are used to privately or publicly video chat between friends or colleagues, are getting a number of upgrades:

• Location sharing and SMS support for Android. Users can now send a map of their current location instead of having to find and type an address. Also new is the ability to send and receive SMS (text messages) instead of having to switching between apps.
• Ability to schedule Hangouts On Air. These are the video conversations that are broadcast publicly. Now users can schedule a Hangout On Air, then promote it with a dedicated watch page.
• Full-screen video. Conversations now happen full screen across mobile and desktop devices. Additionally, Hangouts can automatically fix and enhance webcam lighting. So, no more looking like you're broadcasting from a dark cave.

The Android app and video calling features will be available in a few days, Google says. The On Air improvements should roll out over the next few weeks.
Photo editing functions on Google+ are also getting an upgrade with enhanced auto enhancement features as well as new filters. What's more, users can take advantage of smart searching, meaning Google+ can better recognize search terms for different objects within images. Search for that crazy awesome "snowman" you made last winter and, voilà, it should appear.
Apple iOS users can now back up and sync full-size pictures. So, you can save and back up images on-the-go as you take them.
Google+ is also rolling out new features for its "Auto Awesome" photo editing tool, including:

• Action, which creates images with a strobe effect.
• Eraser, which can take a sequence of photos and erase blurry objects, creating a cleaner image.
• Movie, which automatically produces highlight reels from your photos and videos -- complete with effects, transitions and an audio soundtrack.

The photo and video improvements will be available this week, Google says. The Auto Awesome features work on certain devices with Android 4.3.

Instagram Success: These Types of Images Drive the Most Engagement (Infographic)

For many, picking the right Instagram filter can be an agonizing task. With so many options, it's tough to discern what's going to look the best and grab the most attention. But now, thanks to extensive data analysis, one company says it has the hard numbers on what makes a photo virally successful -- or not.
Curalate, a Philadelphia-based visual analytics and marketing firm, says it created algorithms to determine how more than 30 factors -- including color, lightness and saturation -- can effect an Instagram post's performance. For its insight, the company says it analyzed more than 8 million images from the mobile photo-sharing platform.
"By making a few small tweaks, brands looking to connect with consumers on visual sites like Instagram can see their engagement skyrocket, resulting in increased customer loyalty and more importantly, sales," Gupta says. "Likes on Instagram, while incredibly valuable, are hard to come by with 65 percent of Instagram images garnering between zero and 10."
Based on Curalate's findings, which are expected to be announced this week, here are some basic tips to help businesses kick their Instagram presence into high-gear. For more, see Curalate's infographic below.

Keep it cool: 

Photos dominated by blues and other cool colors tend to garner more likes while photos with warmer oranges and reds do worse.

Master monochrome: 

The more dominant a single color is on an image, the more likes it could get. Pictures dominated by a single hue receive 40 percent more likes than those that don't.

With color, less is more: 

It can be tempting to ratchet up the vibrancy, flooding your image with color to make it stand out. But in today's overstimulated world, bright and vibrant colors can get lost. The proof is in the data: Curalate says less saturated images receive 18 percent more likes than their mover vibrant counterparts.