Facebook SG moves PR account from Weber Shandwick to AKA Asia

Social media giant Facebook has appointed AKA Asia to manage PR duties for the Singapore market. The incumbent on the account is Weber Shandwick. AKA Asia currently handles communication duties for a range of clients such as Deliveroo, Manulife Singapore, Impossible Foods and British Council Singapore, among others. Marketing has reached out to AKA Asia for additional information on its duties for Facebook.

Lately, Facebook has been making headlines in both local and international media outlets. Most recently, the social media giant unveiled Facebook Shops to empower small business owners and global brands to create a single online store for consumers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. This comes as businesses struggle to stay afloat during the pandemic and Facebook wants to help them go online. Facebook Shops can be found on a business’ Facebook page or Instagram profile, or are discoverable through stories or ads. 

Meanwhile, another new feature it introduced in April include the "Messenger Rooms" function. Users can now create a room right from Messenger or Facebook, and invite anyone to join their video call  - even if they don’t have a Facebook account. According to a press release, unlike Zoom's time restricted free rooms, Facebook's Rooms can hold up to 50 people and will have no time limit. Users can also start and share rooms on Facebook through their News Feed, Groups and Events.

Other features that Facebook has launched include a virtual date option on its Facebook Dating platform, as well as expanding its child-friendly video and messaging app Messenger Kids to more than 70 countries. Messenger Kids is currently available in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Separately, Facebook was also widely discussed among marketers when it acquired GIF-maker GIPHY to further integrate its GIF library into Instagram. Several media outlets such as CNBC and TechCrunch reported that the social media giant dished out around US$400 million for GIPHY which first established itself as a search engine for GIFs in 2013. In a blog post, Instagram’s VP of product Vishal Shah, said 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone. By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, Facebook aims to make it easier for users to find the GIFs and stickers in ‘Stories’ and ‘Direct’.

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