Daily Minute Master Series – July 19, 2019

Social Media

Twitter’s Trying Out New Icons to Add More Clarity to Reply Streams

Last September, Twitter revealed that it was working on a set of radical changes to how tweet replies were presented, adding in new signals which highlighted replies from the original tweeter, identified responses from connections, and so on. And now, Twitter’s rolling out another version, using icons instead of words to delineate conversational contributors. The new icons are less intrusive, but still provide the same additional context. You just need to know what each icon means. Twitter’s trying to be more transparent, more inclusive in its testing, which has merit, but it also highlights just how long it can take, and makes Twitter seem like it’s afraid to take decisive action. But it is moving. Slow, but this latest test shows that it is getting there. It’s not perfect yet, but maybe, with the addition of color-coding for each icon or something similar, it could be right, it could fit in and help better clarify tweet replies.

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Marketing

Google closes Chrome Incognito Mode loophole to improve privacy

Google is beefing up Chrome’s Incognito Mode. The company confirmed in a blog post on Thursday that it is closing an API-related loophole that made it possible to detect when people were privately browsing in Chrome. Google explains that some publishers with paywalls had been using the loophole to “deter metered paywall circumvention.” In other words, publishers were able to detect the availability of the FileSystem API, which would return an error message in Incognito Mode. They could then potentially infer that the user was trying to circumvent paywall metering and compel the user to log-in, return to public browsing mode or otherwise prevent that person from accessing the desired content. There’s no clear data on how many users take advantage of private browsing to avoid metered paywalls, but Google acknowledged publishers would be impacted by the change. These changes may compel more publishers to reduce or abandon metering and embrace a “hard paywall.” In other words, no free content. That could frustrate searchers who would encounter more links that have registration or subscription screens, creating a poor user experience.

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Advertising

Parallel tracking for Google display ads: Mandatory as of July 31

Starting July 31, 2019, advertisers that are using third-party tracking parameters will need to have made the switch to parallel tracking. Parallel tracking helps speed up landing page load times by separating tracking parameters from the landing page URL. With parallel tracking, the landing page and the tracking functionality loads separately. No more waiting for click trackers and any related redirects to load before the user can get to the landing page. Parallel tracking will soon be the standard method for handling third-party click measurement. It will be coming to video ads later this year, Google said Wednesday.

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Paid Search Gets Majority Of Digital Budget Amid Privacy, Tracking, Ad-Blocking Concerns

It’s hardly surprising that data privacy, tracking, and ad blocking top the list of concerns for digital advertisers. A study released Thursday from Marin Software analyzes responses from more than 450 B2B and B2C digital marketing professionals in the U.S. and the UK to understand their top priorities, challenges and opportunities for 2019.  The data confirms that paid search remains the dominant digital ad channel — taking 39% of the total budget, at least among Marin’s clients, where paid social trails with 18% and display with 16%. Marketers cite three main challenges when it comes to their search campaigns. They are challenged to hit specific volumes, achieve investment and return on ad-spend targets, and integrate product feeds. Marketers cite three main challenges when it comes to their search campaigns. They are challenged to hit specific volumes, achieve investment and return on ad-spend targets, and integrate product feeds.

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