The Latest in #Digital

In a move to become more personal, photo-sharing app Instagram has updated its Explore function to show users you may want to follow. 

Under the Explore tab, there is a new People section that highlights new and engaging accounts to follow, with a preview of three of their photos. Personalised to each individual user, these accounts are based on how often they post, who you follow, and who your friends follow. There are also editorial suggestions. As this new function is created via an algorithm to personalise it to each user, it won't create the instant Insta-celebrities like the previous versions, which showed similar accounts to all users.

A quick look at mine showed a selection of distant friends, a few re-made accounts that I used to follow, and some celebrities and clothing chains.

Hacked screenshots of Facebook Messenger's code reveal the development of an in-built friend-to-friend payment option. Discoverd by security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski and explored by a student developer named Andrew Aude using iOS app exploration developer tool Cycript, the hack revealed Facebook's possible intention to take on money-sharing competitors PayPal, Square Cash and Venmo.

As Halloween steadily grows into an international celebration, the opportunities it provides for brands increases as well. Often acting as an exhibition of what's in popular culture that year, it allows businesses to tap into what's trending or enduring horror classics, and add their own ghoulish/inventive twist. In honour of this event and its ever-increasing popularity in Australia, here are four awesome PR campaigns that circulated this October.

Editor's note: At the time of publishing this article, it appears as though Space Ark! has exceeded its CPU limit. So if you choose to view the site itself, it may not currently work and you'll need to try again later.

Here at Margin Media, we spend a lot of time giving advice to clients about what can make or break their websites. But sometimes you need an example to work from. Starting today, we'll be showcasing a bad website once a month. This month, we're focusing on Spark Ark! - a site for the novel written by Nathan L. Carnes. The novel was released in 1999, something of which is perfectly illustrated in the clip-art heavy, bright fonted website.

Fitbit has announced it plans to take Apple Watch head on. Released via responses on Fitbit customer forums, the smart watch firm confirmed they had no plans to integrate with Apple's newly released Health app, instead focusing on developing their own competing wearable device. 

So you've created a Twitter profile for your business. That's great. Twitter can be beneficial for business marketing purposes, real-time updates, and creating personal communication channels with 271 million accounts. However, as with any strategy, it can be difficult to manage it correctly straight away. Here are five steps any business can take to maximise their presence on the platform.

As with any major technological change, new industries and professions infiltrate the workforce. In the case of new media and social networking, this is no different. YouTube, due to its media rich nature and abundance of user-generated content, has become the newest 'must have' social media profession, whether for individual creators or big brands.

For many brands, 'content marketing' is a serious-sounding marketing buzzword that can seem difficult to execute. However, what these brands do not realise is that if you are creating any kind of copy for your brand, particularly online, then you are already engaging in some form of content marketing. As it can substantially improve your website's search engine ranking and exposure online, it is vital for businesses to embrace it whenever possible. Here are five simple ways to utilise content marketing, many of which your business may already be using in one way or another.

As dozens of brand newsjack Apple's 'bendgate' disaster for their own personal gain, the discussion of newsjacking in public relations comes into play. With Heineken, KitKat, and direct competitor Samsung throwing shade at the design-flawed iPhone 6 Plus, it can be questioned just where exploiting a firm's bad news for your own gain falls on the moral compass.

Despite this, when done well, it can generate a lot of buzz and business for your brand, as well as re-establishing your company's relevance in the fast-moving newsphere.

For thousands of not-for-profit organisations, the key revenue they generate is through collection stalls in shopping centres. Blinded by the illusion that digital campaigns need excessive money or education, these organisations are missing out on desperately needed funding by not embracing a digital profile. However, for a number of savvy charities, incorporating a digital media platform in their marketing mix has provided incredible results, enabling their important messages to be shared worldwide. Here are five great examples of not-for-profits that have excelled at digital public relations.