Social Media
YouTube Launches Updated Desktop and Tablet App Layout
YouTube is rolling out a new desktop and tablet app update which utilizes an updated presentation style, and provides additional control options. The updated format provides more room for each preview panel, enabling additional context on each from the main screen. In addition to this, YouTube has also added an ‘Add to Queue’ option, which will make it easier for users to quickly build video playlists. And YouTube’s also adding its ‘Don’t Recommend Channel’ option to the desktop version. The feature was launched on mobile earlier in the year, providing an additional way to control the content recommendations that YouTube provides. The changes are relatively small, in a broader sense, but they add extra functionality to YouTube on desktop, which will help improve navigation, while also better showcasing content from the main screen. That could also provide some additional considerations for marketers, depending on where the majority of your YouTube traffic comes from, though the impacts in this sense are minimal.
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Marketing
WhatsApp rolls out SMB product ‘Catalogs’ to support local discovery and commerce
Facebook is now formally rolling it out in selected markets including Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, UK and the U.S., with more countries coming soon. Catalog allows businesses on WhatsApp to showcase products and services and share them with customers via the app’s messaging function. Consumers can also discover businesses and see and browse products directly on the business profile. It’s not entirely clear but it doesn’t appear that businesses will be able (at this point) to sell directly on WhatsApp. But they can link to pages where products can be sold or other conversions can happen. hatsApp is positioning itself as a complete commerce platform for small businesses. Although transactional capabilities are currently not present, I would expect them to be introduced in the future.
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Salesforce launches hybrid Content Management System built to integrate with other platforms
Salesforce launched a new content management platform on Thursday, the Salesforce Content Management System. By entering the CMS space, Salesforce aims to give content marketing teams a tool anyone can use — “from novices to experts” reads the announcement — and capable of creating personalized content powered by Salesforce CRM data. Salesforce calls it a “hybrid” CMS, meaning users can create, manage and deliver content on the platform, and then distribute to other digital platforms not powered by Salesforce by using the company’s Experience Builder or Commerce Page designer tools. Marketing teams already plugged into Salesforce’s CRM will now be able to create more personalized content at scale via the company’s new content management system. And, if the CMS is as user-friendly as it is being billed to be — and actually does integrate with other platforms — teams won’t be limited based on their design resources, nor will the content be restricted to the Salesforce ecosystem.
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New Report Examines the Impact of Instagram’s Hidden Likes Experiment on Influencer Engagement
This week, influencer marketing platform HypeAuditor has released a study of content from more than 154k Instagram influencers, each of whom sees at least 30% of their following coming from users in the regions in which Instagram’s hidden Like counts test is currently running. For context, Instagram’s hidden like counts test is currently live for users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, Japan and New Zealand. The results here are not definitive – while they do reflect an overall reduction in Like activity in regions impacted by the change, HypeAuditor’s categorization (influencers with 30% of their following in the test regions) does leave a few questions around the specific methodology. But the data does show that the removal of total Like counts is seemingly having some impact on overall engagement stats for influencers. So, if you’re an influencer, you may well see a reduction in your Instagram engagement – but then again, that wouldn’t definitively impact reach, or even engagement on balance. The data provides some interesting, yet non-definitive, insights into the Instagram Like test. Hopefully, Instagram will soon be able to provide more clarity around the impacts that it’s seeing and recording within the test regions.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 14, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Releases New Overview of Content Removals, Fake Profiles and Enforcements
The Social Network has this week released its latest Community Standards Enforcement Report, which outlines all the content removals and actions it’s taken as a result of posted material that breaks its established rules. Facebook says that it has significantly improved its detection methods, enabling it to remove more content than ever. It’s also improving its capacity to detect content which violates its rules around child nudity and the exploitation of children. This, in particular, is a key area for Facebook, and it’s good to see ongoing improvement in its automated detection systems – which, ideally, will also save manual, human moderators from having to view such content. Also, while its systems for detecting fake accounts have improved, the number of fake accounts on the platform has ramped up in recent months. Facebook also estimates that around 5% of its user base is still made up of fake profiles. With more activist groups looking to use the platform to spread their messaging, this remains a key area of concern.
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LinkedIn Brings Back Option to Invite Connections to Follow a Company Page
LinkedIn is re-introducing an option which will enable Page admins to invite their connections to follow their LinkedIn Company Page. The feature was apparently available some years back, but was removed due to spam, then it got re-introduced as an option in May this year. Then it was removed again – but now, according to reports relayed via social media expert Matt Navarra, it’s coming back once again, with all company pages set to have access to the option by next month. There are a few restrictions on its use which may help limit overenthusiastic invites. With these restrictions in place, it could be a beneficial addition, and another way to grow your LinkedIn company page audience. We would definitely advise that you use it with caution, and in a targeted away – and no doubt you are going to get some super keen admins flinging random invitations your way as a result.
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Marketing
Google starts new Search Console training series on YouTube
Today at SMX East, Daniel Wasiberg a Search Advocate at Google, announced a new YouTube series aimed at training users on how to get the most out of using Google Search Console. The series covers everything from the basics, such as getting started, verifications, reports and settings. The series will go through how to monitor your site traffic, fix numerous issues reported by Search Console, as well as help searchers find your web site on Google search. Google Search Console offers a critical set of tools that should be mastered by everyone in the SEO space. It should also be a toolset used by developers, webmasters, publishers and site owners. This video series should help everyone learn more about how to use Google Search Console through tips and advice from a Googler, Daniel Waisberg, who not only gets search but deeply understand analytics and the publishing world.
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Reviews platform GatherUp acquired by martech holding company ASG
In a transaction announced Thursday morning, reputation and reviews platform GatherUp has been acquired by Alpine SG Partners (ASG), a SaaS holding company. GatherUp began as GetFiveStars in 2013 and rebranded in September 2018 to reflect a broader focus on the customer experience in addition to review monitoring and management. ASG already owns Grade.us, a similar reputation management platform but which serves slightly different audiences. Reputation is an explicit part of the Google local algorithm and something that all SMBs and enterprises alike must monitor and nurture. Consumers rely heavily on reviews across product and service categories to help make purchase decisions — so much that there’s been significant growth in review fraud across Google, Facebook and Amazon. Reviews and customer feedback are also at the core of the broader notion of “customer experience” management. It will be interesting to see how the “reviews space” evolves and potentially combines with other forms of customer analysis and machine learning in the next phase of local marketing and commerce development.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 13, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Rolls Out Facebook Pay to the US, Expanding On-Platform Payments
Facebook has announced the roll-out of Facebook Pay to US users, which will facilitate on-platform payments, in-stream, making it easier for people to buy products on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Initially, Facebook Pay will be available as a payment option for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments, purchases from select Pages using Facebook Checkout and businesses on Facebook Marketplace. Facebook says that it hopes to expand Facebook Pay to more people and places, including use across Instagram and WhatsApp, over time. Even without Libra, Facebook is able to move ahead with its payment tools, and that could open up a whole new world of opportunities for businesses. Instagram, for example, launched Instagram Checkout with selected partners earlier in the year. Facebook is taking extra care to ensure that people are aware of the safety measures it has in place, while it’s also moving to distance Facebook Pay from the Libra project.
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Instagram Goes After TikTok with New ‘Reels’ Mode
Instagram has launched a new feature which aims to replicate the key functionality of rising app TikTok. But rather than taking on parent-company Facebook’s usual tactic of launching a separate app, Instagram is adding its new ‘Reels’ feature as an element within Instagram Stories, using the app’s scale to try and beat TikTok at its own game – and blunt its potential to take away younger users. Reels will enable users to create short videos which can be shared and remixed – just like TikTok. Those videos can include music, utilizing Facebook’s expanding music library, while Reels also includes a range of creative editing options, like variable playback speed and ‘ghosting’ which enables users to create more seamless scene transitions. The new mode, which will initially only be available to users in Brazil, will be available within the Stories Camera.
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Facebook Expands its ‘Breaking News’ Tags to More Regions
Facebook has this week announced that it’s going to give more publishers in even more regions access to its ‘Breaking News’ post tags. Facebook says that its breaking news tags will now be made available to selected publishers in Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. Facebook will also give more publishers in regions where the tags are already available access to the tool. The expansion of Facebook’s Breaking News labeling may also link into the roll-out of Facebook’s dedicated News tab, which is now being tested among selected users in the US.
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Marketing
Google Adds Local Ad Options Ahead of the Holidays, Including Google Maps Listings
Google is rolling out three new local ad tools to help businesses reach consumers within their vicinity. First off, Google is adding a new way to showcase your store locations in Google Maps with business icons and markers highlighted when people conduct a local search. In addition to this, Google is also adding new catalog-like listings to Display Network ads. The option expands your opportunity to connect with audiences through Google’s Display Network, showcasing more of your products with a mini-website like feed, in-stream. And lastly, Google’s adding more options to list your local store pick-up options within Local Inventory Ads. Local Inventory Ads highlight your product and store information to nearby shoppers via search – you can read more about the option here.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 12, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Adds Option to Control Your Navigation Bar Icons and Notifications
Over the last few days that Facebook has rolled out a change to its lower navigation bar, in order to better align the displayed icons with the on-platform functions which you actually use. TechCrunch has confirmed that this update also includes a new capacity to more easily change your listed icons, and get rid of those sometimes annoying red dot notifications on each. Aside from personal preferences, Facebook has also traditionally used the lower navigation bar to promote its latest options – like Facebook Watch or Marketplace. Now it seems that Facebook’s going to give more control back to users on this front, which could help it encourage more activity. Giving users more control over their shortcuts and notifications seems like a good move, and it’ll be interesting to see if the added personalization actually gets people tapping across to other areas within the app.
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Twitter Outlines Policy Plan for Identifying Deepfakes in Tweets
Twitter has now released its draft rules for handling such content on its platform, and addressing concerns with digitally manipulated content. Deepfakes have become a major focus for online providers in recent times, with both Google and Facebook also launching new research initiatives to help them detect and action the same. Twitter’s looking to get ahead of the game by ensuring that it has clear policies in place for dealing with deepfakes before they become a bigger concern. Right now, deepfakes – or digitally altered videos/images which appear to show a person doing or saying something they didn’t – seem to be more like a novelty, an interesting experiment, they don’t seem to be a major privacy or security issue. Research has shown that people will look to share content which supports their own beliefs, and will therefore be less likely to fact-check the same. While it doesn’t seem like a major issue right now, it’s clear that deepfakes will become a problem, which is why its good to see Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, moving to get ahead of it now.
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Marketing
DuckDuckGo joins World Wide Web Consortium
DuckDuckGo has joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the search engine announced on Monday. As a member of the international organization, DuckDuckGo says it will contribute to “global standards with privacy in mind as part of our mission to raise the standard of trust online.” The addition of a privacy-focused company, like DuckDuckGo, may influence the direction of future standards as well as future revisions of existing standards. More emphasis on privacy within future web standards may also mean less data for marketers that use vendors and platforms that adopt those standards.
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Chrome May Warn Users of Slow Pages Before They Click
Google Chrome announced a plan to introduce badging as a way to encourage publishers to improve site speed. Google proposed a contextual menu on links that will tell users, before they click, that a site is slow. The goal is to reward fast sites. According to Google, the purpose of the badging is to “reward” fast sites and to warn users of slow sites as a way to provide value to them. A warning about a slow site experience before a user clicks through may cause users to abandon the click and opt for the faster loading site. Page speed has always been important. From the earliest days of the Internet it was known that faster pages converted at higher rates. A fast loading site is important regardless of anything Google does.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 11, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Instagram Will Begin Hiding Total Like Counts for US Users from Next Week
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced that the platform will be extending its test of hiding total like counts to users in the US. Instagram’s hidden like counts test has sparked much debate in the social media industry, with some seeing it as a major win for platform health, and others questioning the impacts it will have on engagement, influencer marketing, etc. While the test has been active for some five months, we still don’t have any data from Instagram as to how platform usage has or hasn’t changed as a result, nor do we have any insight as to what the platform is looking as a measure of success for the now expanding test. The fact that Instagram is expanding the test to American users would suggest that it is generating results, but what those results are exactly, and what their extended impacts will be, we don’t know as yet.
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Twitter’s Testing a New Option Which Would Enable You to Switch Accounts in Tweet Replies
Twitter is testing out a new option which would enable you to switch accounts within the tweet reply process, making it easier to manage multiple account interactions on the go. Some users have noted that the functionality has been available to them for some time, while others are not seeing it. We don’t have any word on who, exactly, has access to the reply switching option at this stage. But what’s interesting about that is that Twitter has been looking to add various TweetDeck-only features into the main app in recent times. Just last month it was reported that Twitter has been testing out advanced search filters based on engagement into the main app, which is already possible through TweetDeck. By adding more advanced tools into the main app, Twitter could improve its overall functionality, which could provide a significant boost for social media managers who are looking to action things on the go.
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Facebook Launches Military and Veterans Hub to Improve Digital Skills for Those Who Serve
Facebook has launched a new resource hub to help military members and veterans in improving digital literacy, and expanding their opportunities. Called the ‘Military and Veterans Hub’, the new mini-site will help those who serve to find job opportunities, enhance their digital skills, and provide online safety tips to improve their digital understanding. The mini-site aims to further Facebook’s connection with the military community – according to Facebook, more than 900,000 people in the US participate in more than 2,000 groups for military members, veterans and their spouses on Facebook. Facebook’s also looking to help military veterans expand their career opportunities, and translate their skills, with a new a 12-month career development pilot program focused on AR/VR for veterans with backgrounds in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or Computer Science. The announcement coincides with Veteran’s Day, and as noted, seeks to solidify the role that Facebook plays in connecting these groups.
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Marketing
Google’s John Mueller On Blocking Robots.txt Files From Being Indexed
Google’s John Mueller recently provided some advice on how to block robots.txt and sitemap files from being indexed in search results. Mueller said the x-robots-tag HTTP header can be used to block indexing of robots.txt or sitemap files. If you’re running into the problem where your robots.txt file is ranking in search results, blocking it using the x-robots-tag HTTP header is a good short-term solution. But if that’s happening then there are likely much larger issues to take care of in the long-term, as Mueller suggests.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 8, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
YouTube Launches Updated Desktop and Tablet App Layout
YouTube is rolling out a new desktop and tablet app update which utilizes an updated presentation style, and provides additional control options. The updated format provides more room for each preview panel, enabling additional context on each from the main screen. In addition to this, YouTube has also added an ‘Add to Queue’ option, which will make it easier for users to quickly build video playlists. And YouTube’s also adding its ‘Don’t Recommend Channel’ option to the desktop version. The feature was launched on mobile earlier in the year, providing an additional way to control the content recommendations that YouTube provides. The changes are relatively small, in a broader sense, but they add extra functionality to YouTube on desktop, which will help improve navigation, while also better showcasing content from the main screen. That could also provide some additional considerations for marketers, depending on where the majority of your YouTube traffic comes from, though the impacts in this sense are minimal.
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Marketing
WhatsApp rolls out SMB product ‘Catalogs’ to support local discovery and commerce
Facebook is now formally rolling it out in selected markets including Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, UK and the U.S., with more countries coming soon. Catalog allows businesses on WhatsApp to showcase products and services and share them with customers via the app’s messaging function. Consumers can also discover businesses and see and browse products directly on the business profile. It’s not entirely clear but it doesn’t appear that businesses will be able (at this point) to sell directly on WhatsApp. But they can link to pages where products can be sold or other conversions can happen. hatsApp is positioning itself as a complete commerce platform for small businesses. Although transactional capabilities are currently not present, I would expect them to be introduced in the future.
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Salesforce launches hybrid Content Management System built to integrate with other platforms
Salesforce launched a new content management platform on Thursday, the Salesforce Content Management System. By entering the CMS space, Salesforce aims to give content marketing teams a tool anyone can use — “from novices to experts” reads the announcement — and capable of creating personalized content powered by Salesforce CRM data. Salesforce calls it a “hybrid” CMS, meaning users can create, manage and deliver content on the platform, and then distribute to other digital platforms not powered by Salesforce by using the company’s Experience Builder or Commerce Page designer tools. Marketing teams already plugged into Salesforce’s CRM will now be able to create more personalized content at scale via the company’s new content management system. And, if the CMS is as user-friendly as it is being billed to be — and actually does integrate with other platforms — teams won’t be limited based on their design resources, nor will the content be restricted to the Salesforce ecosystem.
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New Report Examines the Impact of Instagram’s Hidden Likes Experiment on Influencer Engagement
This week, influencer marketing platform HypeAuditor has released a study of content from more than 154k Instagram influencers, each of whom sees at least 30% of their following coming from users in the regions in which Instagram’s hidden Like counts test is currently running. For context, Instagram’s hidden like counts test is currently live for users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, Japan and New Zealand. The results here are not definitive – while they do reflect an overall reduction in Like activity in regions impacted by the change, HypeAuditor’s categorization (influencers with 30% of their following in the test regions) does leave a few questions around the specific methodology. But the data does show that the removal of total Like counts is seemingly having some impact on overall engagement stats for influencers. So, if you’re an influencer, you may well see a reduction in your Instagram engagement – but then again, that wouldn’t definitively impact reach, or even engagement on balance. The data provides some interesting, yet non-definitive, insights into the Instagram Like test. Hopefully, Instagram will soon be able to provide more clarity around the impacts that it’s seeing and recording within the test regions.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 7, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Expands Access to Brand Collabs Manager, Adds New Insights to Creator Studio
Facebook has announced some new additions to its publisher tools, including expanded access to its Brand Collabs influencer discovery and connection database, and new metrics within its Creator Studio dashboard. Brand Collabs Manager is a database of potential Facebook and Instagram influencers which your business can connect with in order to arrange promotional partnerships. In addition to this, Facebook is also rolling out some new data insights to Creator Studio in order to help publishers and creators better understand how their content is being engaged with, and maximize that interaction. Facebook is also adding some new Instagram tools to Creator Studio, making it easier for publishers to manage their Instagram presence, and their broader Facebook presence overall, from a single dashboard. The new changes are being rolled out now, though they may not be immediately available as Facebook works to bring them to each respective region and group.
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Twitter Launches New Option to Follow Specific Topics, in Addition to User Accounts
Twitter is now launching its new Topics option, which will enable users to follow specific topics, and have those tweets appear within their Twitter stream along with the specific accounts they follow. The idea is to improve tweet discovery, and boost engagement on the platform. By highlighting more relevant content, rather than putting the onus on users to find the key accounts to follow themselves, Twitter’s looking to make it easier for users to stay in touch with conversations of interest – while also cutting out some of the superfluous junk that flows through the tweet stream.
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YouTube Adds ‘Super Stickers’, Option to Add @Mentions in Video Titles
YouTube is adding a new element to its Super Chat streamer payment tools with ‘Super Stickers’, a set of cartoonish character depictions, some animated, which add to your Super Chat options. The stickers will stand out more clearly in comment streams, which could make them an enticing option for those looking to get the attention of the broadcaster. According to YouTube, there are now over 100,000 channels which have received Super Chats, and some streams earn more than $400 per minute. That’s a lot of potential cash to be made by YouTube creators for broadcasting to their fans. It’s an interesting addition for YouTube, which again, follows the model of live-stream monetization established within the Chinese market, where streaming has become a major industry. That could help facilitate influencer marketing and brand partnerships, generating more exposure for partner brands via the main listing. Tagged profiles will recieve a notification of the mention, alerting them to the same.
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Marketing
Uber Eats readies ad sales for restaurants
Ads are coming to Uber Eats. TechCrunch reported that Uber is seeking an executive to help develop and run a new ads business. Restaurants have been conditioned by other ad platforms, including Google and Yelp, to pay for placement and exposure. And Uber is under significant pressure from investors to generate more revenue from more sources amid growing skepticism about the company’s capacity to turn a profit. Uber Eats competes primarily with GrubHub, DoorDash and Postmates – although Google My Business also offers food ordering, as does Yelp. According to one estimate, Uber Eats has 20% share of all restaurant delivery sales in the U.S. DoorDash has 34% and GrubHub has 30%, while Postmates has 10%. Uber’s revenue from its primary business, ride-sharing, was $3.1 billion in the second quarter. Accordingly, Uber Eats could become a significant business and contributor to revenue. The more interesting question from a market and marketer perspective is whether Uber Eats could ultimately become a destination for restaurants generally and rival Google and Yelp over time as a platform for restaurant promotion and advertising.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 6, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Has Discovered Another Data Access Issue, This Time Within Groups
This week, on the Facebook Developer blog, the company has revealed that a flaw in its Groups API may have enabled up to 100 app partners to access group member information, like names and profile pictures, in connection with group activity. Facebook made significant changes to its APIs to limit access in April 2018. As a result, Facebook says that up to 100 developers may have been able to access this information since it announced restrictions to the Groups API. Facebook says that the apps which could have accessed this information were primarily social media management and video streaming apps. Trust in Facebook is already at all-time lows, and every time there’s another issue like this, it not only reminds people of Facebook’s previous issues, but it also raises the specter of what else could be. If they’ve just now detected yet another flaw, surely there are other ways developers are still able to extract Facebook data.
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Facebook’s Testing an Improved Facial Recognition Process for Identity Verification
Facebook is reportedly developing a new process for a facial recognition system which would enable users to confirm their identity by sharing a video selfie. The new process would guide users through a process of angling their head around in different angles, in order for Facebook to get a full record of what the user looks like. As noted by TechCrunch at the time, the option could be particularly helpful if you’re unable to receive a two-factor authentication SMS, or if you lose access to your email account, adding another way to verify your identity and unlock your Facebook profile. But then again, it does feel a little creepy, especially given Facebook’s current reputation around personal data use and sharing. There’s no word on whether or when this feature will be released, but as noted, Facebook has been working on it for years, and from the screenshots, it does look fairly well along in its development.
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Facebook Launches Next Steps in Full Messaging Encryption Plan
Facebook looks set to push ahead with its plan to add end-to-end encryption in all its messaging apps, with the company planning to announce the next phase of its process at a tech conference in Lisbon this week. The new section of the Messenger website provides simple overviews on how to use the various Messenger privacy functions, while it also includes links to Facebook’s policies and documentation on platform rules and systems. By raising awareness of such tools – specifically the existing encryption option – Facebook will be hoping to increase usage, and subsequently move further towards enabling full encryption in all messaging interactions. The next step then will be to integrate Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram messaging into a single, cross-connected platform, Facebook’s next big messaging play.
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Marketing
Google extends Shopping ads to more YouTube inventory
Google is expanding the visibility of Shopping campaigns on YouTube. Showcase Shopping ads are also going more places and opening up to more categories. Finally, sitelinks are coming to TrueView for action ads, the company announced Tuesday. Shopping ads can now show on the YouTube home feed and YouTube search results. On mobile, users will be able to scroll through a carousel of “Suggested Products” that will appear between videos on the home page or at the top of the search results. Google has long made the argument that users display shopping intent on YouTube just as they do on Google Search. It first introduced TrueView for Shopping and Shopping ads on YouTube in 2015. The company says it has seen watch time for “holiday shopping” videos on YouTube increase by more than 4X in the past two years, for example. These announcements are further indication of the power of Shopping ads and Google’s eagerness to keep finding more places to show them.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 5, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
TikTok’s new SDK enables video uploads from other apps, services
TikTok released its first-ever software-development kit (SDK) on Monday, which will allow users to upload video content to the TikTok platform through third-party apps. Additionally, TikTok named Adobe Premiere Rush as an initial integration partner, giving users the ability to edit using Adobe’s rich features and share instantly to TikTok. Premiere Rush allows users to capture videos and edit content on any device using a range of tools and effects, such as speed changes, aspect ratio editing, advanced color and audio control, transitions, and more. The SDK provides developers and third-party apps with the ability to diversify content channels based on the users’ preferences, which could help drive more accurate targeting and reach for brands on the platform which has more than 500 million users.
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LinkedIn Adds New Language Translation Settings to Broaden Usage Capacity
LinkedIn has this week added two new language translation options in order to better facilitate on-platform communication. In Language Settings, you’re able to manually set the language you prefer, as well as your default translation language and any additional languages you speak, for which you don’t require translations. This will help LinkedIn better understand your content preferences, which will also enable it to show you more relevant posts. As noted, LinkedIn is expanding its global footprint, now with more than 660 million members worldwide. And while the US is still LinkedIn’s highest member nation, it’s increasingly becoming a global platform. As such, translation tools like this can serve significant purpose. It’s a relatively minor update in general terms, but an important addition nonetheless.
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Facebook Launches Updated Company Logo Which Will be Included in All of its Apps
Facebook has this week unveiled a new corporate logo which will help to differentiate Facebook, the parent company, from Facebook’s various apps. The new Facebook logo will be added to all of its apps, with a clear ‘from Facebook’ tag on certain screens. Facebook will be hoping that the new additions also help to appease regulators, in order to avoid a potential break-up of its company. That lack of clarity could help to further build the case for its dismantling, in order to help consumers better understand which company is behind each platform, and the information they share within these apps.
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Marketing
Bing introduces penalty for ‘inorganic site structure’ violations
Bing is introducing a spam penalty against “inorganic site structure” violations, the search engine announced on Monday. The new penalty seeks to address tactics such as subdomain leasing, doorway content and sites that participate in private blog networks. Participating in private blog and link networks is already a violation of Bing’s link policy. “Going forward, it will be also in violation of our ‘inorganic site structure’ policy and may receive additional penalties,” the post reads. These violations may be tempting shortcuts, and, apparently, enough site owners have resorted to them as to warrant a new penalty. Regardless of what new, questionable tactic you stumble across, know that getting caught can have dire consequences for your organic visibility or may even result in delisting — and there’s no shortcut for coming back from that. As a site owner, you may also be held responsible for content hosted under your domain. “Taking an extreme case, if you offer free hosting on your subdomains and 95% of your subdomains are flagged as spam, we will expand penalties to the entire domain, even if the root website itself is not spam,” the post reads. Penalties may also be generalized for subfolders or subdirectories that Bing suspects have been hacked.
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Daily Minute Master Series – November 4, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial 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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Daily Minute Master Series – November 1st, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Announces Changes to Ad Metrics, Including Removal of 10-Second Video Views
Facebook has announced that it’s implementing some updates to its video view metrics as of this month. First off, Facebook is removing its 10-second video view metrics, which includes ’10-Second Video Views’, ‘Cost per 10-Second Video View’ and ‘Unique 10-Second Video Views’. In addition to this, Facebook is also renaming eleven of its video view metrics. Though it is interesting to note the change from ‘video views’ to ‘video plays’. After various issues with its video ad metrics in the past, Facebook’s looking to be super clear on the fact that it’s not necessarily saying people are watching your videos, even if they are playing screen. Again, how that interpretation impacts your strategy will come down to your specific approach.
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Instagram’s Testing a New Option to Make it Easier to Remove Stories Content Across Platforms
As reported by reverse engineering pro Jane Manchun Wong, Instagram is testing out a new option which would enable users to remove their Stories content from both Instagram and Facebook in one action. Having to remove content from each platform, specifically, can be problematic. As such, this seems like a logical, simple option to help better manage your Stories content – while the ‘Delete Everywhere’ tag could also suggest that you would be able to remove the same from WhatsApp as well, which is already implementing some cross-posting options. It makes sense for Facebook, and Instagram, to add in new functionalities like this to cater to such usage. It wouldn’t be a major shift, but it could be a helpful one for those regularly cross-posting.
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Facebook Announces New Updates to Help Brands Connect with Customers via Messenger
Facebook has this week released the latest version of its Messenger Graph API, which includes three new features designed to help brands establish better connection with consumers via message. The option will provide more capacity for developers to utilize its ‘Click to Messenger’ ad option, which could help them better promote their various apps. Facebook’s also adding a new ‘icebreakers’ option for brand profiles, which will enable businesses to provide a listing of common questions that users can ask them via message in order to initiate the conversation. That could make it easier to provide quick responses, which, paired with automated replies, may help save time and effort for both brands and customers. The changes are not major, but they add to the capacity for brands to utilize messaging in their customer connection efforts. And if you’re already using messaging for customer interactions, you’ve likely come across at least some of the pain points Facebook’s seeking to address here.
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Marketing
Google launches Site Kit plugin for WordPress
Google announced Thursday that Site Kit is available globally for WordPress users. Site Kit is a WordPress plugin that allows users to set up and configure Google services to get insights in their WordPress dashboards. Users can see stats from Google Search Console, Google Analytics, PageSpeed Insights, AdSense all in one place. The company released Site Kit in developer preview earlier this year and says thousands of developers have installed it. The ability to see all of the metrics about your site performance that are captured across these various Google products in one with Site Kit will give WordPress users an out-of-the-box dashboard experience without the headache of pulling data from these disparate sources.
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