Social Media Roundup: Rethink PowerPoint Presentations With Sway
Microsoft releases a preview of its new presentation app. Plus: a refreshing spin on your Instagram photos.
Tired of years and years of PowerPoint presentations? Microsoft’s latest app takes a new, mobile-friendly approach to digital presentations, and you can get a first look at it in today’s Social Media Roundup.
Introducing Microsoft’s Sway
"Now anyone can take a crack at creating a Sway" #Neowin http://t.co/HpgOoH2nsP pic.twitter.com/tBNwIZ0Egz
— Office Sway (@sway) December 17, 2014
We all deal with PowerPoint, and let’s face it, Microsoft’s presentation-building standby feels a little dusty these days.
Sure, there are plenty of alternatives to the ubiquitous program, and we’ve even speculated about whether meetings would be better without PowerPoint altogether. But the program and the presentations that come out of it remain relatively unchanged, despite the changing tech landscape.
But now, Microsoft has introduced Sway, a new app to revamp what PowerPoint does with a particular focus on mobile devices.
“Docs and PowerPoint were originally designed with an eye toward emulating an analog form of content: A piece of paper for a document. A flip chart for a presentation,” David Alexander, Sway’s senior product manager, told Time. “We wanted to create a new, digital-oriented output that doesn’t try to emulate a paper-based environment.”
Sway is now available to the general public in a preview form, which can be downloaded right here. And for some examples of Sway presentations in action, explore the universe or animal migrations. Check out the debut video for the app below. (ht @sway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw-g6IuBVJE
Fresh Filters for Instagram
https://twitter.com/hunterschwarz/status/545225256479518722
Instagram faithful, rejoice! There are five new filters for the wildly popular photo-sharing site, which means brand-new ways to make your personal or branded moments look way more artistic. Take a look at each of them below:
Credit: Instagram
Instagram has rolled out the new filters and a new filters interface for both iOS and Android users. And for those who may be rolling their eyes at the social network, consider its sheer number of users (300 million and counting) and new metrics that show just how huge its engagement potential is for organizations. (ht @hunterschwarz)
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