Daily Minute Master Series – August 19, 2019
Social Media
Facebook is Removing its Group Chats Feature to Limit Spammers
Facebook has announced that it’s removing the group chat functionality that it launched in October last year, which was designed to facilitate more intimate discussion between group members, separate from post comments. As noted by TechCrunch when the feature was launched, group chats are able to host up to 250 group members, who are not necessarily connected as friends, but are connected through a group. The problem here is that as people become increasingly protective of their more intimate messaging, they may not be overly happy that some random stranger who they’re tangentially connected to via a group is able to send them a direct message via this option. That’s only speculation – Facebook hasn’t provided any further clarification on the update beyond the above note, though it did provide some additional pointers to help members and Page admins manage the change.
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Facebook Marketing API to get ‘Special Ad Category’ field for housing, employment, credit advertisers
Facebook is adding the same Special Ad Category field it rolled out in Ads Manager in July to its Marketing API next month. The update, which is designed for marketers and developers running housing, employment and credit ads, limits the set of targeting options to keep marketers from running discriminatory ad campaigns. Facebook’s efforts to end discriminatory advertising practices impacts any marketer running housing, employment or credit related ad campaigns. Advertisers that don’t select the Special Ads Category run the risk of their campaigns being terminated on the platform. Once the Special Ad Category is selected, some detailed targeting options will no longer be available, such as demographics, behaviors or interests. “Special Ad Category” advertisers will also not be allowed to exclude any targeting options. The decision was part of a settlement Facebook reached with multiple civil rights groups that charged the company with allowing discriminatory ad campaigns to run on the platform.
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Instagram to Crack Down on Fake Stories Views
Instagram is reportedly working on a solution for the wave of inauthentic story views that has spread throughout the network. TechCrunch reports the influx of fake views is related to a new tactic where spammy accounts are “watching” stories to appear more real and gain new followers in the process. This growth hack sprung up after Instagram began cracking down on bots and paid likes and followers back in November. The types of accounts responsible for fake story views range from Russian models, to social media agencies, to public figures trying to grow their presence. Instagram confirms to TechCrunch that it’s aware of fake story views and is working on ways to reduce the activity. The solution will involve implementing new measures specifically for stories. Instagram did not not offer any further details. Eventually Instagram will have measures in place to thwart this activity without users having to clean up the spam on their own.
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Marketing
Google My Business adds bulk review management
Google has added the ability to see all your reviews across multiple listings on a single page. You can see this within Google My Business reviews section at https://business.google.com/reviews. This is available in location groups with 500 or fewer locations, but is not available for organization accounts. This can be very useful for those who manage more than one location or listing. You can quickly see all the reviews under your Google My Business account, and you no longer need to click into each individual listing to see its reviews. This should save you time and help you find and report on important reviews sooner.
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