Lately in Social Media – 3/30/18
There’s an old Afghan proverb that goes, “As the sun’s shadow shifts, so there is no permanence on earth.” Sounds about right for social media. Let’s dive in:
- It’s been another rough week. In that aftermath of that bad thing people are upset about, Facebook made it extra easy to find your privacy settings and exercise a little control over your data. This may or may not help regular users recover their declining trust in the platform, but interestingly they don’t blame advertisers for Facebook’s mishandling of their data.
- Also, Zuck is sorry that your data was available to all kinds of apps and companies for years, and he probably should have asked you to check a bunch of settings a long time ago. After the news broke, Facebook turned off the tool that allowed advertisers to use targeting data obtained through third parties, and momentarily prevented other apps from joining the platform while they straightened out their review process. But the damage control is not over yet. If you want to see all the data Facebook has on you, use this guide and brace yourself.
- And to set the record straight: Facebook kinda does have access to your call and text history, but that’s your fault because you opted in, okay?
- Oh, and this is all still related to the drama with Russia, for which Facebook, Twitter and Google are still being called to testify about.
- Local news is going global, as the initiative to promote more local news has now launched around the world.
- Take the reins of your group chat with new admin privileges, including the ability to approve or deny requests to join.
- If you’re taking advantage of Facebook’s AR tools, you’ll be glad to have better performance data on how people are using your lenses.
- You might have noticed a few quiet improvements in Ads Manager.
- Looks like Facebook’s music licensing deal collection is complete.
- Similar to Facebook, Twitter is testing ways to put news content first in the feed. But hopefully not fake news, because alternative facts apparently travel six times faster than the truth.
- If you’re mentioned in a group DM, Twitter will let you know.
- Annoying users are getting their accounts suspended, but you don’t have to worry about that because you’re a nice user, aren’t you?
- Speaking of which, there will be no more running cryptocurrency ads on Twitter.
- The people have spoken, but Instagram ignored them until last week, when they finally made a little tiny concession that the algorithm will soon show more new posts, if everyone would just stop whining already.
- Instagram is now allowing GIFs back into Stories!
- Now you can add a relevant hashtag to your bio, or mention another account, and it’ll appear as a real link!
- Following a yearlong U.S. debut, Instagram shopping is now available in eight more countries.
SNAPCHAT
- How much more celebrity condemnation can Snapchat take? The real lesson though: Don’t ever mock domestic violence in advertising. Perhaps these kinds of faux pas are the part of the reason why they had to cut their staff again…
- It looks like Snapchat is preparing to give users the same control over third-party access to their data that Facebook users recently demanded.
- If you use Snap Maps (Who are you? I have so many questions), those who have agreed to let you stalk them can continue oversharing with you through Map Explore. This update will enable users to share when they’re traveling somewhere new, checking in at a location or adding geofilters to their Stories. And earlier in the month, the Snap Map became available outside of Snapchat.
- Here’s something I don’t get to say often: Snapchat stole an idea from Instagram and added the ability to mention other users in Stories. Maybe their next ideas will be more original?
YOUTUBE
- To counteract misinformation without completely censoring content, YouTube announced plans to show “additional information cues” from reputable third party sources during those delightful conspiracy theory videos we all enjoy so much. (Personally I’m here for shapeshifting reptilians, how about you?) Hopefully they’ve confirmed this plan with Wikipedia by now.
- P.S. Here’s an interesting piece on why extreme content is YouTube’s bread and butter.
- It’s now easier to livestream from your desktop, without having to use additional software. Look out for a similar update coming to mobile soon.
- If you like using picture-in-picture on mobile, then you’ll LOVE using it on desktop!
- Did you get to beta test the feature that lets you change your background?
- Uh oh, it looks like 90% of affiliate ads on YouTube and Pinterest are undisclosed. The FTC doesn’t like that.
- Here’s a very expensive question a lot of advertisers are asking themselves: How many of my views are fake? And are my ads streaming next to weird, questionable stuff? 😥
- After testing with a selected retailers last year, shopping ads have now expanded to businesses.
- Enjoy browsing through a tab of pins from users you follow, in addition to your usual Explore stream.
- A nifty new feature enables users to search specifically for jobs in their network, then adds a button to the job posting that allows users to “Ask for a Referral” from one of their connections.
- A less nifty new feature: Video filters that are not exactly as fun as the ones on Snapchat.
- Get ready to repurpose your video ads for the LinkedIn newsfeed!
Got questions about social media marketing? Not sure how social tools could benefit your business? Let’s talk!