Social Media
Back in June, at its 2020 Partner Summit, Snapchat previewed its upcoming ‘Snapchat Minis’, which are essentially micro-versions of full apps, built within Snapchat.
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TikTok Faces More Challenges, Pausing Expansion Plans in UK and Dealing with Penalties in South Korea
While there’s no doubting the popularity of TikTok, as reflected in the apps rapid, ongoing growth around the world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what the future holds for the app, with various investigations and considerations in play that threaten to stop the platform in its tracks, and relegate it to the history books with various other short-term hits. And while questions over TikTok’s Chinese ownership, and its potential links to the Chinese Government, have always been present, they do seem to have gained momentum recently, with global tensions rising, and nations looking at ways in which they can hit back over economic sanctions, and even military incursions, putting TikTok, once again, in the firing line.
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While Facebook continues to up its efforts to remove COVID-19 misinformation, various reports in recent weeks have suggested that it’s not doing anywhere near as much to halt the spread of other types of misinformation across its network, raising questions as to the role Facebook plays in such, and what its motivations are, exactly, for taking a more ‘hands off’ approach in certain contexts. The latest report comes from Popular Information, which has today published an account of one specific piece of climate change denial literature which, despite being found by Facebook’s fact-checking partners to be ‘partly false’, and labeled as such as per Facebook’s policies, eventually had that tag removed, seemingly after intervention by Facebook management.
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Marketing
How to Use AI to Provide Seamless Email Journeys for Your Customers
You probably had your first dose of artificial intelligence (AI) through Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi films that depict robots coming to life and gaining control over the world. Though this is still a distant dream, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if such advancements actually came true in the near future. As the world is moving at breakneck speed, the concept of AI is receiving a mix of emotions from all around the world. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates referred to AI as a “holy grail” in the realms of computer science and technology that would go a long way in making lives easier. Now looking beyond the scenario of robots taking over the world, AI has arrived in the business landscape transforming critical operations and processes for tons of businesses worldwide. Marketing, particularly email marketing, is one such practice that stands to receive the most out of artificial intelligence.
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Adapt or Die: 5 Predictions for the Workplace of the Future
In a matter of months, Covid-19 has caused an historic, radical transformation in how we think about the time-honored act of going to work. The CDC recently issued restrictive occupancy guidelines; companies like Twitter and Shopify have suggested their employees may work remotely forever; NYC is re-opening, yet only 10-15 percent of office workers have actually returned.
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When it comes to ad targeting and attribution, Connected TV (CTV) beats traditional TV in every way. From an advertiser perspective, however, the challenge has been one of scale. That now appears to be changing rapidly. CTV, including OTT (over the top streaming), has been growing steadily for years. But COVID-19 has accelerated everything significantly.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 22, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Instagram Launches Personal Fundraisers to Provide Assistance for Businesses and Causes During COVID-19
Instagram is rolling out a new personal fundraisers option to help people and businesses raise money for selected causes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Snapchat Adds 9 Million More Daily Active Users in Q2, Reports 17% Increase in Revenue
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US Bans TikTok on All Government-Issued Devices Due to Concerns Around Connection with China
In another concerning sign for TikTok, the US House of Representatives voted on Monday to have the app banned from all Government-issued devices, due to concerns around data collection and potential spying by Chinese authorities.
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Marketing
Google Delays Mobile-first Index Rollout – 5 Reasons Why
Google announced that mobile first indexing will not be rolling out as promised. Mobile-first indexing is delayed by eight months. These are the reasons why.
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Two Things You Need to Turn PPC Campaigns into Winners
How do you set yourself apart in PPC when Google and Microsoft are continually adding more automated capabilities that effectively level the playing field? We believe there are a few critical factors that can tip the scales back to your advantage: Better strategy and better execution, tied together with an awesome process. On the surface, these factors may seem like common sense, “Business 101” tactics, but the real challenge comes into play when businesses attempt to build the processes that closely tie strategy to execution. We believe that companies with a great process will be the ones best positioned to deliver successful results. When your process enables you to be nimble and adapt to new strategies quickly, and you can quickly get your whole team to shift into execution mode on the new strategy without dropping balls left and right, that’s when you win.
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Martech Training Options Expand Under COVID
On June 30 Microsoft unveiled a new learning platform for Microsoft Teams, adding to the expanding list of software training courses available to a public that is dealing with the worst unemployment numbers in over a generation.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 21, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Snapchat Launches Meditation Tool from HeadSpace, the First of its New Mini-Apps
Back in June, at its 2020 Partner Summit, Snapchat previewed its upcoming ‘Snapchat Minis’, which are essentially micro-versions of full apps, built within Snapchat.
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TikTok Faces More Challenges, Pausing Expansion Plans in UK and Dealing with Penalties in South Korea
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Investigation Finds Facebook has Removed Fact Check Markers on Some Climate Change Denial Posts
While Facebook continues to up its efforts to remove COVID-19 misinformation, various reports in recent weeks have suggested that it’s not doing anywhere near as much to halt the spread of other types of misinformation across its network, raising questions as to the role Facebook plays in such, and what its motivations are, exactly, for taking a more ‘hands off’ approach in certain contexts. The latest report comes from Popular Information, which has today published an account of one specific piece of climate change denial literature which, despite being found by Facebook’s fact-checking partners to be ‘partly false’, and labeled as such as per Facebook’s policies, eventually had that tag removed, seemingly after intervention by Facebook management.
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Marketing
How to Use AI to Provide Seamless Email Journeys for Your Customers
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Adapt or Die: 5 Predictions for the Workplace of the Future
In a matter of months, Covid-19 has caused an historic, radical transformation in how we think about the time-honored act of going to work. The CDC recently issued restrictive occupancy guidelines; companies like Twitter and Shopify have suggested their employees may work remotely forever; NYC is re-opening, yet only 10-15 percent of office workers have actually returned.
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COVID is Accelerating TV Advertising’s Transformation Into an Addressable Medium
When it comes to ad targeting and attribution, Connected TV (CTV) beats traditional TV in every way. From an advertiser perspective, however, the challenge has been one of scale. That now appears to be changing rapidly. CTV, including OTT (over the top streaming), has been growing steadily for years. But COVID-19 has accelerated everything significantly.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 20, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Twitter Outlines Specific Detail of Recent Hack: 130 Accounts Impacted, Personal Information Compromised
As its investigation continues, on late Friday night, Twitter provided an update of the latest information about the recent hack which targeted the accounts of several high profile users. To recap the situation, at around 1pm on Wednesday, several celebrity accounts began tweeting out similar, odd messages regarding a Bitcoin giveaway.
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Facebook Shares New Insights into Effective Brand Messaging [Infographic]
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Top YouTube Searches This Year
The top 100 YouTube search queries of the year are revealed in a study examining the search volume of over 800 million keywords. YouTube does not provide this data officially, but Ahrefs compiles a report each year based on data in its Keyword Explorer tool. Top queries in the report are broken down by searches in the US and searches performed worldwide. First let’s take a look at top US searches.
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Marketing
How to Check for Duplicate Content During an SEO Audit
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Interactive Martech Supergraphics Have Arrived
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Four Digital Marketing Areas To Focus On During Crisis Recovery
Many business owners and marketers are finding themselves in a similar situation today. The pandemic has caused many challenges, put previous marketing ideas on hold and even changed the ways we operate. As we look to get our businesses back in gear, your target market needs to know you’re still there. Marketing is vital for getting the word out about your business and what you have to offer. It wasn’t an option prior to Covid-19, and it certainly isn’t now. With consumers taking to the internet to find what they need, the right digital marketing campaign can help you to reach your audience and draw people in. Most importantly, you can keep your customers informed about your latest status.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 17, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Instagram’s TikTok-Like ‘Reels’ Functionality will Be Launched in the US Next Month
In a move that will surprise no one, Instagram has confirmed that it will launch its TikTok-like ‘Reels’ functionality in more regions next month, including the US, as TikTok itself faces more questions over its future, and TikTok users seek out alternatives as a result.
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Facebook Rolls Out Screen-Sharing in the Messenger App
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Google Search Allegedly Boosts YouTube Results Ahead of Competitors
Google prefers ranking content from YouTube over other video sources, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. When Facebook and other competitors host a video that also appears on YouTube, Google will allegedly push the YouTube result ahead of others in search results. The Wall Street Journal claims tests show YouTube ends up first in the Google Search video carousel more often than not. Further, YouTube results frequently take up most of the slots in Google’s video carousels.
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Marketing
5 Tips to Use Content Marketing During a Downturn
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Google’s John Mueller: “Search is Not a Science”
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Back to Basics: How to Manage Your Brand Through a Crisis
Managing a company’s brand, even during “normal” times, can be challenging depending upon your niche, your competition and the current circumstances. And of course, most of us have heard of (but hopefully, never experienced) instances in which a misstep by a business created serious reputation issues for the brand. When circumstances are severe, however, such as the tremendous upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a host of new pitfalls can present themselves. Let’s discuss some of the special risk factors you may be facing, the many things that can change both the company’s approach to business and that of its customers, and offer some possible opportunities to protect – and even greatly improve – the reputation of your business during a crisis.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 16, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Several High Profile Twitter Accounts Hacked in Massive Security Breach
With the US Presidential election only months away, this is an especially concerning incident. From about 1pm on Wednesday, a range of celebrity and brand accounts started tweeting out a message promoting a crypto giveaway, in which funds sent to a specified bitcoin wallet would send back double the amount to the user.
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Snapchat Adds Brand Profiles as it Looks to Expand its Business Appeal
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Facebook’s Adding New Information Prompts to Dispel COVID-19 Myths
With COVID-19 cases spiking once again in several regions, Facebook is launching two new initiatives to help boost awareness of preventative measures, and dispel some of the pervading myths about the virus. First off, Facebook is expanding its top of feed alerts, in both Facebook and Instagram, which will remind people to wear masks when out in public.
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Marketing
Google Adds New Features to Responsive Search Ads
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Google Discover Now Shows Large Images for Non-AMP Pages
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How AI and Video Marketing Can Work Together in the Time of COVID
“While early adopters of AI are still bullish, their competitive advantage may be waning as barriers to adoption continue to fall and more creative use of the technology grows.” Those are the words of Deloitte AI Institute Principal Nitin Mittal in the “State of AI in the Enterprise” survey released yesterday.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 15, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
LinkedIn Continues to Add More Quick Creation Option in the Post Composer
Over the past few months, you may have noticed LinkedIn’s post composer quick links growing, with more options to help guide what you post about on the platform.
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Facebook Publishes New Report on the Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on SMBs
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YouTube Adds Data on Other Videos Your Viewers Have Watched and New Audience Retention Metrics
Last week, YouTube previewed a coming addition to YouTube Studio which will provide creators with a listing of other videos that their viewers have watched on the platform, not created by them, adding a new level of context to their audience research efforts.
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Marketing
Over 25% of People Click the First Google Search Result
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Do We Have the Math to Truly Decode Google’s Algorithms?
This article shows how SEO studies that claim how to decode Google and other search engine algorithms are based on poor data and bad science.
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Agile Estimation Techniques Help Marketers Manage Workload
“After working with many teams in both software and marketing there’s a fundamental difference I’ve observed – most marketers don’t estimate their work. I’ve also noticed that marketers are more deadline-driven and over-stretched compared to their software counterparts. While estimating work can feel like an upfront drag, I’ve seen it drastically improve project completion predictability and workload that a team can take on. This is one area where marketers can learn a lot from software teams.”
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 14, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Byte, the Second Coming of Vine, is Seeing a Surge in Downloads Amid Debate About TikTok’s Future
With India moving to ban TikTok, and other nations reportedly also considering outright bans of the app due to its potential exposure to the Chinese Government, last week, Byte, which is the second coming of Vine, saw a massive surge in downloads in the US, even reaching the top spot on the App Store charts on Thursday last week, according to Sensor Tower.
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How to Get Started with Facebook and Instagram Shops
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Pinterest Updates Algorithm to Surface More Content Types
Pinterest is introducing a new ranking model to its home feed in an effort to surface certain types of content more often. Traditionally, Pinterest ranks content in the home feed using a click-through prediction model. Pins that a user is most likely to click on, as determined by past activity, are prioritized in their home feed While that model is effective at maximizing user engagement, it’s not the best model for surfacing a variety of content types. For example, if a user never clicks on video content then they’ll never be shown pins with video in their home feed. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t engage with video content if it were to be surfaced.
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Marketing
Google Ads to Ban Spying Products & Software
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Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic (2020): Martech 5000 — Really 8,000, but Who’s Counting?
Welcome to the 2020 edition of the marketing technology landscape. Yes, it grew once again, by 13.6%, up to a total of 8,000 martech solutions. That’s after 615 from the 2019 landscape went away, either consolidated with another martech company or simply gone defunct. If you were predicting consolidation, an 8.7% churn rate from one year to the next is pretty significant attrition to support that narrative. But the rate of new venture creation — or at least new venture discovery in our research — outpaced the forces of consolidation once again. In fact, if we first remove the 615 from last year’s 7,040 count, then the growth of new entries on the landscape was actually 24.5%. Think about that: 1 in 5 of the solutions on this year’s martech landscape weren’t there last year. That’s almost the equivalent of the entire 2015 marketing technology landscape.
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Google’s 3D Swirl Ad Format Now Available in DV360
Swirl, the mobile interactive display ad format that Google started testing last year is now available globally to Display & Video 360 customers globally. Users can rotate, zoom and expand 3D elements in Swirl ads. Brands that have been testing the ads include Purina, Nissan, Adidas and Belvedere Vodka, Google said in the announcement.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 13, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Weighs Ban on Political Ads in the Days Leading into the US Presidential Election
Despite standing firm in the face of ongoing calls for it to change approach to political content, despite criticizing other social platforms for taking action on such, and adding warning labels to comments from leaders. Despite Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly stating that he believes his company is ‘on the right track’ with its political content approach, it seems that it is now seriously reconsidering its stance, with Bloomberg reporting that The Social Network is currently weighing a possible ban on all election ads in the days leading into the 2020 US Presidential Election in November.
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15 Social Media and Messaging Platforms to Grow Your Business in 2020 [Infographic]
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17 Creative Social Media Marketing Ideas to Energize Your Online Presence [Infographic]<
Are you looking for ways to boost your social media presence? Want to generate more engagement with your social media followers? The team from Red Website Design share some social media ideas you should try in this infographic.
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Marketing
Google’s Rich Results Test Out of Beta & This Week’s Digital Marketing News [PODCAST]
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How Technology Is Changing What It Means to Be an Effective Marketer
The demands and expectations of marketers continue to evolve, and increasingly, they “will be a hybrid of marketers, technologists and data analysts,” says Stephen McDonagh, director of digital & growth marketing at 1-800-Flowers.com. He discussed how emerging trends in data and technology are changing what it means to be an effective search marketer in a presentation with his 1-800-Flowers.com colleague Sara Resnick, senior director, enterprise community marketing, SEO & Social, during SMX Next.
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What’s Behind the Hype About Customer Data Platforms?
The global market for customer data platforms is expected to rise dramatically over the next few years. The CDP Institute pegged industry revenue for 2019 at $1 billion and it expects the sector to reach at least $1.3 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, ResearchandMarkets predicts the industry will grow from $2. billion in 2020 to $10.3 billion by 2025, expanding at an astounding compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.0% during the forecast period.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 10, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
TikTok, Spotify, Tinder, and Many Other iOS Apps are Crashing Again Due to a Facebook Issue
A number of popular apps and services including TikTok, Spotify, Pinterest, and Tinder are currently broken on iOS devices. There are widespread reports on social media of different apps crashing whenever they’re launched on iPhones and iPads, and there are also outage spikes for the same apps on DownDetector.com. Although the exact cause of the problem isn’t yet confirmed, early reports suggest the outages are caused by Facebook’s SDK, which apps use to manage user logins. Facebook said on its developer platform this morning that it was “aware [of] and investigating an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash.” A similar problem involving the Facebook SDK occurred in May and affected dozens of apps.
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Leaked Documents Show What it Looks Like When TikTok Hands Over a User’s Data to Police
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WhatsApp Adds QR Codes for Businesses, and Catalog Links to Simplify Sharing
While Facebook is slowly rolling out its new Shops feature on both Facebook and Instagram, the company is also taking the next steps into eCommerce within WhatsApp, as it looks for ways to monetize the app’s 2 billion active users. And this week, WhatsApp’s added two new features to help brands better promote their presence on the platform.
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Marketing
Google Makes ‘Swirl’ 3D Ad Option Available for Display and Video 360 Campaigns
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Stella Artois’ Dreamy New Spot Embraces Summer Personas
Stella Artois has a history of playing up positive human connections in its marketing, and this latest effort aims to similarly inspire people to enjoy summer and bring them together through a positive collective daydream during a stressful year. The daydream theme encourages people to make the best of their homebound pandemic lives by daydreaming their way into a better mood with a refreshing beer. Likewise, the partnership with TripAdvisor aims to help people make the best of canceled vacations by rediscovering their hometown.
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7 Google Ads Shortcuts for Better Paid Search Results with Less Effort
PPC can suck up some major time if you’re wasting time on elements that don’t matter, unnecessarily bloating your account, or skipping time-saving tools. Here are seven Ads shortcuts and features to help you save time. These processes can not only help you save time, but also give you insights faster so you’ll be on your way to better results even sooner.
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Daily Minute Master Series – July 9, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Less Than a Third of Consumers Aware of Facebook Ads Boycott, Gen Z Most Engaged
There are now nearly 1,000 advertisers that have formally signed on to the Stop Hate for Profit Facebook ads boycott. The organizations behind the campaign have lobbied brands to promote the boycott and its objectives, but there has been limited effort to build public awareness and support.
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Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit Raises Significant Concerns with the Platform’s Political Policy Approach
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Twitter’s Working on a New Subscription Service, Which Could Provide New Options for Prominent Users
Speculation is running wild that Twitter could be working on a new subscription-based offering for some users, after the company posted a new job listing which noted work on a team called “Gryphon”, which is focused on “building a subscription platform, one that can be reused by other teams in the future.”
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Marketing
Google Creates a New Way to Drive Traffic Via Image Search
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5 Useful Google Search Console Features You Might Not Know About
Within Google Search Console, hidden gems abound. But, there are five special hidden gems that will help make your SEO life easier. Most webmasters are familiar with Google Search Console. It is a toolbox created by Google to help uncover technical issues. If you are considering buying another analytics tool, explore GSC first. You may not need another tool at all if the issues on your site are restricted to those found in GSC. It is not the most intuitive. While many features of the old version of the tool have failed to be added to the new version (the robots.txt tester, and crawl stats, among others), it is still useful. Not quite as useful as it could be, but still good.
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How to Advance Black Leaders in Martech
The systemic racism faced by Black people in the United States has been in the news cycle consistently for the past two months, but what barriers does that throw up in the world of marketing technology? There are many barriers, and unfortunately they cannot be solved by a new application or a cool new digital platform. “Employer investment with Black employees is a popular topic right now, but in our industry it is the long-term issues that also need to be addressed,” said Peter Beasley, president of Blacks in Technology, a tech-focused community and media organization dedicated to increasing representation in the industry. “Are Black employees staying long-term? Are they moving up in the organization? Or are they quitting in frustration, or leaving to start their own business? Those are the questions that need to be asked.” For Terry Morris, national president of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a nonprofit organization of professionals in the computer science and IT industries, he also wants the focus to be on results and not talking points or corporate presentations. “The jury is still out on the results,” said Morris. “I am pleased the topic is still timely and the energy is still there. Black people have a lot of interest in the technology industry and we need the resources to match.”
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