Daily Minute Master Series – November 4, 2019

Social Media

Pinterest Officially Announces New Pin Format Release

After it was spotted by several users over the last few weeks, Pinterest has now officially confirmed the roll out of its updated Pin format, which includes some minor functional tweaks, and separates each Pin element for more specific focus. The update will increase the size of the main Pin image, and give it increased focus, with minimal borders. That’s more specifically aligned with vertical, mobile viewing, and in some ways, mimics the presentation of Stories on other platforms. The change aligns with Pinterest’s updated business profile format, which it announced in September – the new business profile layout will enable brands to use custom images, or even video, in their header section, and will include a new ‘Shop’ tab. It’s taken a few months for Pinterest to make it official, but now, the platform says that the new format is in the process of being rolled out to all users.

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Facebook Launches New Work Groups to Connect with Coworkers on the Platform

Facebook has launched a new groups option called ‘work groups’, which, Facebook says, will help people “connect with their coworkers more easily”. The option seeks to reduce the need to connect with every person you work with, and let them into your more personal interactions. By creating a specific group only for work colleagues, you can keep the two elements separate, with only your work-related information showing up in your work group profile. The option also enables work group members to send messages to each other, without needing to be Facebook friends. It seems like a fairly minor option, but it does cater to a need to better protect user privacy, while also facilitating connection through the app. This option provides a new way to utilize the functional capacity of such connection, while still maintaining some boundaries. 

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Facebook to limit number of ads Pages can run simultaneously

Facebook announced on Thursday that it will be implementing a limit on the number of ads a Page can run at the same time. To prepare advertisers for the limitations, coming mid-next year, the company is releasing a new version of its Marketing API that includes an Ad Volume API to show the volume of ads running or in review in an ad account. The company said it will share more details about the limits early next year. Currently, the Ad Volume API will show how many ads a Page is running across accounts, and in the future, will include how many ads a Page is permitted to use. Facebook said future ad limits will only affect a small percentage of advertisers. You’ll have a better sense of whether you’ll be impacted when Facebook releases additional details. The change will not go into effect until mid-2020.

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Marketing

Google ramps up investment in wearable technology, enters deal to buy Fitbit for $2.1 billion

Google parent Alphabet is buying fitness tracker and smartwatch maker Fitbit in a deal that values the company at $2.1 billion. Android Wear devices have not kept up with the Apple Watch, which dominates the wearables market (along with AirPods). Google will use the acquisition to build next-generation wearables according to Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices & Services. He said in a blog post that the company sees “an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market . . . By working closely with Fitbit’s team of experts, and bringing together the best AI, software and hardware, we can help spur innovation in wearables and build products to benefit even more people around the world.” Google Assistant is becoming the focus of the Google cross-platform user experience and with it the conversational UI. BERT‘s importance thus comes into sharper relief as a key technology/tool for understanding more and more spoken commands and queries. And though “voice search” hasn’t lived up to the hype (yet), it’s the key interface that links experiences across Google’s growing array of connected devices.

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