Lately in Social Media – 4/27/18
There’s a Chinese proverb that says, “The winds of heaven change suddenly; so do human fortunes.” Based on everything going down in social media lately, Mark Zuckerberg’s isn’t the only human fortune in swing right now. Here’s what you need to know:
- Turns out Zuck’s testimony did not help to inspire user confidence in Facebook, and yet advertisers and users aren’t slowing down on the platform. Maybe we’ll all feel differently when we can unsend messages to cover our own tracks?
- Before Europe’s General Data Protection Regulations go into effect on May 25, Facebook will ask every user to review their privacy choices, regardless of where they live. It’s good news for users, but could have implications for ad targeting options down the road – we’re already going to lose Partner Categories. But maybe there’s something better for marketers in the pipeline?
- Or maybe we live in an alternate Westworld timeline where our only hope for Facebook lies with bounty hunters trying catch the black hats?
- Either way, Facebook will be working on this for awhile.
- Speaking of data collection, make sure you’ve read the updated terms of service, explored the redesigned privacy settings page, and maybe try out a bulk clean-up tool. At least Facebook is trying to make things look better on the user side, you know?
- Our favorite conspiracy theory has been disputed…but Facebook definitely read your messages.
- If your friends are spreading fake news, feel free to make them feel badly about it.
- Now you can optimize split tests for engagement, which should be super helpful since engagement is the only metric that matters to Facebook right now.
- If your advertising content leans political, you can expect disclosure terms and conditions to be different in the future. Also, large Pages will be required to follow a more intensive verification process.
- But if you’re a nonprofit, or trying to fundraise for a charitable cause, try out these new features.
- All the confusion over the news feed, the algorithm update and community standards led Facebook to release some fun little videos that would’ve been nice to have years ago when we were still figuring out how to explain this whole ecosystem to skeptical clients.
- Pre-roll ads are still rolling out in Watch, and Facebook wonders if running trailers in the news feed would attract more viewers to the shows they’re trying to make happen.
- Make Messenger more visual by sharing 360-degree photos and HD quality video, because you can do that now. Meanwhile, parents gained more controls within the Messenger Kids app.
- Finally, add some Boomerangs and 3D doodles to those Facebook Stories that no one’s watching.
- Time for me to take back the unkind things I’ve said about Twitter lately – it turns out the platform is still growing, both in terms of daily active users and profitability. And that’s without counting all the suspended terrorism accounts.
- The bots really were taking over, we just didn’t realize they were behind 2/3 of tweeted links to popular sites.
- Facebook may be having a tough time, but Instagram is doing just fine.
- Get ready to upload multiple photos and videos to your Story AT ONCE!
- If you love using carousel ads on Facebook, try using them in your Instagram Stories.
- On the off chance your smartphone doesn’t have a portrait mode, now Instagram does.
- Want to see all the data Instagram has on you? Knock yourself out.
SNAPCHAT
- Let’s try this Spectacles thing one more time.
- “Snappables” lenses let users “play games through touch, motion, or facial expressions.” Let me know how that meshes with your follower engagement strategy.
- This might be more useful from a marketing perspective: Build your own face filters! Or try augmented reality shopping ads that bring ecommerce capabilities to paid lenses.
- The unskippable 6-second ads that everyone loves so much are coming to Snapchat soon.
- Snapchat may not care that you don’t love the redesign, but you can have your Stories in reverse chronological order again, at least.
- Group video chat – for your next client meeting? Why not.
- Better yet, for your parents!
YOUTUBE
- Don’t mess with Despacito.
- Also, can you believe YouTube is 13 years old?
- More details emerged about the cesspool of content Twitter flagged and removed at the end of last year. The upside seems to be that now YouTube can act faster to remove videos before they receive hundreds or thousands of views.
- Only human moderators will be responsible for the next version of YouTube Kids.
- In a win for viewers, there’s a new short ad format that can be skipped 🙌
- Save those human moderators a lot of time by self-identifying your freaky content.
- Have you checked out the new business profile redesign? I’m digging the dynamic cover photo options and the addition of the monthly viewers statistic.
- Since Pinterest users love beauty content, it’s pretty cool that Pinterest wants to help users filter pins and products by skin tone for more personalized recommendations.
Got questions about social media marketing? Not sure how social tools could benefit your business? Let’s talk!