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Hello there!

Hope you had a great month. Here we are again with a round-up of all things social in our seventh edition of the DrumUp monthly social media digest. As usual, the social media sphere has been buzzing with activity. At Twitter, it was updates galore in August as the social media network made some big changes to their Direct Messaging feature. Facebook and LinkedIn weren’t far behind either with each rolling out some awesome updates. Here at DrumUp, we have introduced a cool new feature that helps you save even more time. More on that below. Drop us a line if you would like to share your thoughts on DrumUp, or if you just want to say hello! We love getting fan mail!

1. Twitter rolls out desktop notifications for Direct Messages

Twitter recently announced a new feature that sends a desktop notification when you receive a Direct Message. The control is entirely in your hands and you can decide whether you want to receive these notifications on your desktop by changing the settings on twitter.com/messages. Twitter is rolling out this new feature in batches, so it might be a while till you see the feature in your settings. With this move, the social networking website is trying to make its desktop version more useful. Get to know more about the upcoming Project Lightning which will also transform the Twitter web platform.

2. Twitter removes the 140-character limit for Direct Messages

Twitter finally bid adieu to the 140-character limitation in Direct Messages two weeks ago. It can now compete with the other services that offer messaging without any sort of limitations. Twitter seems to be making a lot of changes to the way users send Direct Messages. They also launched the group direct messaging feature in January this year. But, there have been no changes made to the 140-character limit for public tweets. The changes have been implemented on iOS and Android apps, and will continue to roll out worldwide.

3. Facebook Moments now lets you create music videos

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You can finally fulfill your dream of featuring in your very own music video. Using Facebook Moments, you will be able to compile your favorite photos into mini music videos as long as a minimum of 6 photos are selected. There is an option of changing the order of the photographs, and the app also lets you pick your own soundtrack from a choice of 11 tracks. Facebook moments bunches together photographs from the camera roll on your phone based on when and where the photos were taken. This is done using the same technology that is applied for photo tagging. Find out if the music-video feature is available for your device.

4. Facebook introduces a ‘Donate Now’ button for NGOs

Facebook has introduced several features this year that have helped businesses and organizations increase sales. After launching a Shop Now button on retailer’s pages last month, Facebook has introduced a ‘donate now’ button for NGO’s that can be used on both link ads and Pages. After clicking on the button, users are notified that the organization is not affiliated or supported by Facebook. The page is then redirected to the organization’s main website where donors can complete the process. The feature is yet to be rolled out to all users. Here’s the full story on TechCrunch.

5. LinkedIn brings changes to company pages

LinkedIn has changed the size of the icon image that can be uploaded on the profiles of company pages. Previously, the size of the icon was 100 x 60 pixels, which is now being replaced by a more standard image size of 400 x 400 pixels. This will allow you to upload images with higher resolution. This change was brought around to ensure that the logo’s appearance remains consistent across all of LinkedIn pages and products. Here is how you can edit your icon on your company page.

6. LinkedIn now allows users to share content

Similar to Facebook, you will now be able to share content on LinkedIn and also decide whether you would like to share it publicly, with only your connections, or just specific people. You can also delete or edit your status messages before they are seen publicly. LinkedIn has brought in these changes to encourage users to easily share interesting information with their peers and colleagues. The sharing feature also helps you keep your LinkedIn pages active and relevant. Check out LinkedIn’s official blog to see a complete list of features.

7. Social selling index, available to LinkedIn users

Save time managing your social media accounts

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LinkedIn users can now really understand how and where LinkedIn plays a role in their marketing activities. With social selling index – a metric that LinkedIn introduced in 2014 – you will be able to see how you are placed in comparison with others in your industry and line of work. Social selling index was only available to businesses or individuals with a Sales Navigator account on LinkedIn. However, starting this month, it has been made available to all users on LinkedIn – individuals and businesses. Here’s more on how you can make the social selling index work for you.