Social Media
Facebook May Soon Hide Total Like Counts on Posts, Mirroring Instagram’s Test
Amid testing of hidden like counts in seven countries on Instagram, Facebook is now also considering the same in its main app, according to reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong. As noted, Instagram began its test of removing total Like post counts for Canadian users back in April, then expanded it to Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand in July. The idea of removing Like counts on Instagram relates to that company’s broader focus on user wellbeing. The removal of public like counts, according to Mosseri, could reduce social comparison, and its associated negative impacts. The expansion of the program to Facebook would be a major step. Facebook, with 2.4 billion active users, is the largest social media platform in the world, by a significant margin, and while users have most definitely made their opinions known about Like count removals on Instagram, Facebook is going to hear a lot more about the same if it is extended to the main app.
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Facebook Highlights Page Stories in Feed Separate Panel, Expanding Opportunity for Brand Exposure
Facebook Stories may not have taken off the way Stories have on Instagram, but it is slowly gaining momentum. Facebook remains confident that Stories are the future of social sharing. And as such, the platform continues to test out new ways to promote Facebook Stories, and boost interest in the option. Facebook’s latest test sees it showcasing Stories from Pages, specifically, in a new, in-Feed panel. That could provide expanded promotional opportunity – already, the top of feed placement of Facebook Stories makes it a great potential option for getting in front of users, but a specific listing of Page Stories amplifies that even further. If you’ve been considering Facebook Stories for your promotions, or even cross-posting your Instagram Stories, this may be another prompt to get you moving in that direction – which is no doubt Facebook’s aim here, but definitely, it could prove valuable.
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YouTube Will Roll Out Abbreviated Subscriber Counts in September
After initially announcing the coming change back in May, YouTube has confirmed that it’s new, abbreviated public subscriber counts will come into effect next month. That makes sense from a consistency perspective, but it could also negatively impact some creators. That may lead to creators losing sponsorship opportunities, as they could be overlooked in favor of larger channels, despite their channel actually being much closer to parity. It’s also put the onus onto the creators themselves to share their actual subscriber count – channel owners themselves will still be able to view the full, real-time count in their analytics – but some may lose opportunities outright because of the shift. Worth noting too that the changes relate to YouTube’s API usage also, meaning that any app which uses YouTube subscriber counts will lose access to the full, detailed listing. That will impact analytics tools which display subscriber counts and changes over time. The actual impacts will be relative to each individual account, but it’ll be interesting to see whether there are any significant shifts because of the update, and/or opportunities lost due to altered perception.
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Facebook introduces new policies for political, social issue ads ahead of 2020 elections
Facebook has updated its ad policies for political advertisers and anyone running electoral or social issue ads. The new policies, which include new disclaimer requirements for political advertisers and updates to the company’s list of social issue topics in the U.S, were introduced on Wednesday and apply to ads on Facebook and Instagram. Beginning mid-September, any advertiser running political, electoral or social issue ads will need to give Facebook more details about their organization. Facebook is also updating its labels for political, electoral and social issue ads. Now, when a user taps the “i” icon that includes either the “Confirmed Organization” or “About this Ad” language, they will see the information Facebook has confirmed. For example, a “Confirmed Organization” label will show the EIN or FEC number provided by the advertisers. The “About this Ad” label will include the organization’s phone number and email address. These updates apply not only to marketers managing ad campaigns for political candidates, but also anyone overseeing ads for an organization attached to political causes that may be running social issue ads. As we near the 2020 U.S. election cycle, the number of political, electoral and social issue ads will only increase — which means more ad dollars being allocated to Facebook. Marketers responsible for running political, electoral or social issue ads on Facebook and Instagram will need to stay on top of the company’s ad policies to make sure their ad campaigns run smoothly.
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Daily Minute Master Series – September 10, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Tests New In-App Shopping Ads for Both Facebook and Instagram
Facebook is testing out two new shopping ad options, both of which are aimed at streamlining the path to purchase, and keeping users in-app, as opposed to filtering them off to other websites. First off, on Facebook – The Social Network is testing out a new, Dynamic Ad ad option which would enable users to order an advertised item direct from the News Feed ad itself. In order to do this, users do need to have a payment option attached to their Facebook account, which, given Facebook’s more recent privacy issues, may not be an ideal option for some. In addition to this, Facebook is also testing out the capacity for brands to turn their Instagram Shopping ads into paid promotions. Instagram has been slowly rolling out its Shopping Tags to more businesses, but thus far, they have only been available within organic posts. The expanded options would keep users on Instagram, while also facilitating quick purchases via targeted ads – a win-win for both Facebook and the relative brands.
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Now you can easily find negative keyword conflicts in Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns
Negative keywords are a key piece of effectively managing Shopping campaigns to help ensure the right products are showing on the right queries. With a mix of match types, negatives applied to specific campaigns and lists applied across multiple campaigns, inadvertent blocking can occur. On Monday, Microsoft Advertising released a new product negative keyword conflicts report in the web interface to address this problem. In addition to helping with general negative keyword management, this can also be a useful feature if you’re managing product catalogs that change regularly. Perhaps you added negative keywords for products that weren’t sold on your site but have since been added to the catalog. This will help you identify those opportunities that are currently being blocked. Microsoft Advertising already has negative keyword conflict reports for Search campaigns. This brings that same functionality to Shopping.
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Marketing
The old Google Search Console is no longer available
Google has announced it has shut down the old Google Search Console. Google is redirecting all attempts to reach the old Google Search Console into the new Google Search Console interface. There are several legacy reports that are still not migrated over or replaced in the new interface. Those reports will be accessible via an option in the new Google Search Console named “legacy tools and reports.” You will be able to access those legacy tools and reports via the links. This is a big change for a lot of SEOs who were familiar and comfortable with the old interface. Google removed features slowly from the old interface, but some SEOs continued to hang on to it. By now, you should be used to the new interface and check out the new option to see some of the legacy reports.
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Advertising
Google Ads Introduces New Policies for Certain Types of Medical Ads
Google is introducing a new policy to prohibit ads for unproven or experimental medical techniques. Examples of such techniques, as stated by Google, include stem cell therapy, cellular (non-stem) therapy, and gene therapy. This new policy will prohibit ads selling treatments that have no established biomedical or scientific basis. In addition, ads for treatments with insufficient formal clinical testing will also prohibited, even if they’re rooted in basic scientific findings. This policy will continue to be evaluated and further updates may be made in the future as new findings come to light.
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Daily Minute Master Series – September 9, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
YouTube Launches New, Dedicated Fashion and Style Content Hub
With fashion and beauty content seeing significant increases in viewership across its platform, it makes sense for YouTube to give beauty and style videos their own dedicated focus, in order to better showcase what exactly it has on offer. This week, YouTube is rolling out YouTube.com/Fashion, “a single destination for style content on YouTube”. YouTube Fashion gathers together a range of content from popular platform creators, fashion professionals, publishers and the fashion houses themselves. YouTube’s hoping to harness this popularity, and drive even more views, by bringing all of these videos into one place, while it’ll also present new opportunities for advertisers and marketers in the beauty sector by giving them a more specific focus for promotions. The true value of such will, of course, depend on the popularity of the option, but if YouTube Fashion takes off, it may present significant potential for those looking to reach interested viewers.
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Facebook Dating Launches in the US, Along with New Dating Features
Earlier this week, we reported that its desktop refresh is now going live, and now, Facebook Dating is finally being launched in the US market, in addition to the current 19 regions where the option is already available. Facebook Dating is, as it sounds, a match-making tool within Facebook, enabling users to create separate Dating profiles in order to keep their regular profile information separate. Facebook can then use its vast data banks to help match you up with relevant Dating users – and given what Facebook knows about people and their habits, it actually makes a lot of sense, and could, theoretically, provide better matches than other dating apps. Facebook, with 2.4 billion users, has access to the largest database of personal insights ever created, and as research has shown, Facebook data can reveal almost everything about your personality and psychological leanings.
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Marketing
Google Makes Changes to GMB Listings With Distance-Based Service Areas
Google is going to automatically apply changes to Google My Business listings with distance-based service areas. The last remaining distance-based service areas are going to be removed. Going forward, service-area businesses currently based on a distance will be automatically converted to the closest named areas. Google is making this shift in order to accommodate businesses that provide service outside of a set distance from where they’re physically located. This change is also ideal for businesses that do not serve customers at their physical location. This change should not affect how listings appear in search results. Though it would be wise to review Google’s changes in order to ensure your listing still shows up in the area where you serve customers.
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Advertising
Microsoft opens responsive search ads beta to all advertisers
All advertisers can now start testing responsive search ads in their Microsoft Advertising accounts. With responsive search ads (RSAs), first introduced by Google last year, the ad systems automatically serve up a combination of headlines and descriptions provided by the advertiser. Advertisers can input up to 15 headlines and four description lines in each ad via the web interface, Editor, the bulk API, or you can import existing RSAs from your Google Ads campaigns. The ads are served dynamically in combinations of up to three titles and two descriptions. With Google and now Microsoft enabling, and promoting RSAs, expect the machine-learning powered format to eventually become the standard. RSAs are the direction that text ads and ad testing will continue heading — with the ad systems dynamically determining creatives at the time of auction and adjusting based on historical performance.
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Daily Minute Master Series – September 6, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
LinkedIn Adds Auto-Generated Alt-Text Tags to Uploaded Images
LinkedIn has expanded its alt text capacity with its new automatic alt text generation process. With LinkedIn adding alt text for all images, whether you’ve added them in or not, will give the platform more data points to refer to when displaying relevant content. How accurate those auto captions are, and how exactly LinkedIn is looking to use that data, are both obviously significant factors here, but it would make sense for LinkedIn to use the alt text field as an extra qualifier for search matches where possible. We don’t know for sure if LinkedIn is looking to use these tags beyond improving user experience, but there are some pretty good reasons why you should be checking in on your LinkedIn image tags, and ensuring the automated notes match the context of your updates.
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Twitter’s Testing New Tabs for Lists and Bookmarks, New ‘Topics’ Shortcut
Social media expert Matt Navarra spotted two new Twitter tabs in testing – one which links straight through to your tweet bookmarks, and another to make it easier to view your lists. There are two new tabs added onto the end of the display, which, if rolled out, would be a major update, given that Twitter has maintained its simple, four tab display since basically its inception. The fact that Twitter’s testing a 50% increase in those tabs underlines just how much it’s looking to improve tweet discovery, and raise awareness of the real-time discussions flowing through its app. In addition to this, Navarra has also noted that Twitter’s testing out a quicklink to list creation within the Lists tab, and a new ‘Topics’ sidebar, another way to connect you through to more tweet content.
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Google’s Assistant-everywhere strategy reminiscent of old site search playbook
Google’s current effort to distribute the Assistant across an ecosystem of third party devices is reminiscent of the Google site search strategy. At CES this year, Google announced a range of third party appliance and electronics manufacturers that are adding the Assistant into their devices as a voice-enabled controller and UI. Thursday it added to that growing list of manufacturers incorporating the Google Assistant (e.g., TVs, smart displays and headphones). Google has struggled to gain market share in the U.S. against Alexa with direct device sales. Alexa still maintains a dominant share of about 70% in the smart speaker/display market. But third party device and appliance integration can and will increase Google Assistant’s reach and ubiquity. The drive for Google Assistant ubiquity gives the company more reach and an arguably broader array of options to generate revenue, beyond direct device sales, including audio ads, sponsorships and transactions.
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Marketing
Google adds new movie structured data
Google now officially has new developer documentation for structured data around movie markup. The new documentation shows you how to markup your movie lists with structured data so users can explore movies through Google Search. This new documentation outlines that title of the movie, director of the movie, and an image of the movie are the item properties supported in this markup. Image and name are required, whereas aggregate rating, dateCreated, director and review are recommended but not required. If your web site has details about movies, you may want to consider adding this markup to your movie listings. You should review this documentation and add the relevant markup.
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Daily Minute Master Series – September 5, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
YouTube Announces Changes to Data Collection and Ad Targeting on Videos Aimed at Children
YouTube has announced a range of new measures to better protect children using its platform, reducing data collection on content aimed at kids, and the capacity for advertisers to target young viewers through ads on such content. These are significant changes, both for advertisers and content creators. Now, brands looking to reach younger users will not have access to the same levels of data they’ve had up till now, while for creators, losing notifications will likely be a blow to their awareness efforts. The noted four-month threshold is designed to give creators and marketers time to adjust their strategies in turn, but even with that lead time, the changes will be big. That said, they are likely necessary, given reports of how YouTube’s systems have been misused in this respect.
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Facebook Releases New White Paper on Considerations for Increased Data Portability
Facebook has released a new white paper on the challenges of data portability as it looks to establish a better way forward to provide choice for consumers who wish to take their information to another platform. Data portability has become a more significant consideration of late, with Facebook coming under more scrutiny over how it operates, and keeps users locked into its network. In alignment with existing regulations, and the shift towards portability, Facebook’s white paper outlines the various challenges in detail, seeking to prompt discussion from related groups. Data portability is an important element, and one that will only become more pressing moving forward, so it’s good to see Facebook looking to advance the discussion. Now we need to wait and see what other industry groups put forward in response to Facebook’s white paper, and where the focus turns to from here.
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LinkedIn Launches New Course on Building a LinkedIn Presence and Utilizing its Ad Tools
LinkedIn has launched a new course designed to educate people on how to make best use of the platform for brand-building and marketing, covering all aspects of LinkedIn’s on-platform tools. The course, titled “Marketing on LinkedIn: The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide”, is available on LinkedIn’s LinkedIn Learning platform, which does require a monthly fee, though a free trial is available, if you want to check it out (note: LinkedIn says that this course itself is also freely available). With LinkedIn usage rising, and driving more referral traffic, it’s worth considering if and how your business can tap into that growth, and where LinkedIn might fit into your broader social media marketing strategy. And even if you don’t end up using these tools, the course still provides a good overview to help you make that decision, and may give you some additional considerations to think over.
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Marketing
Google selects canonical URLs based on your site and user preference
Google may select a canonical URL based on your site’s perceived preference and the URL that is more useful for the user, Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller explained on the September 9 edition of #AskGoogleWebmasters. Mueller explained. “We try to pick the canonical URL by following two general guidelines: First, which URL does it look like the site want us to use; so, what’s the site’s preference? And secondly, which URL would be more useful for the user? For all these, we consider the factors involved for each potential canonical URL and then pick the one where more things come together.” For all these, we consider the factors involved for each potential canonical URL and then pick the one where more things come together.” Using the rel=canonical attribute and consolidating your signals by standardizing URL and linking practices across your site helps you keep duplicate content under control and may also help to ensure that search engines point users to the pages you intended.
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Daily Minute Master Series – September 4, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Updates Face Recognition Permissions to Provide More Control
Facebook is looking to provide more control and reassurance to users in regards to how it utilizes your image. In a new update, Facebook has announced that it’s removing its current ‘tag suggestions’ setting, which relates to the prompts it generates based on people it can identify in an uploaded image, and improving its face recognition permissions, enabling users to opt-out of the process with one click. Normally, when Facebook has made changes like this, it has continued to track such data, but kept it from public view when such settings are switched off. In this instance, Facebook says that when you switch off face recognition, it will delete your face ‘template’ entirely. That’s an extra privacy step – Facebook says that it has been working with privacy experts, academics and regulators in order to determine the best way forward with its face recognition technology.
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Facebook Begins Rolling Out Updated Desktop Layout
Facebook has now started rolling out the new experience to users, with a prompt notifying them of the change. The new layout aims to make it easier to navigate to your favorite elements, with tabs along the top of the screen, and a more compressed view. Given the rising use of more private spaces, it makes sense for Facebook to give them more dedicated focus, and to more clearly separate each, which may help boost engagement. The refresh also reduces the presence of the iconic Facebook blue color scheme, which could also be part of an effort to shift perception, leaving the more recent scandals behind and starting anew.
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Marketing
Google Search Console adds auto-DNS verification
Google announced that site owners can now verify their web sites with Google Search Console in a new way, auto-DNS verification. This works with a select number of domain name service providers and can help simplify the process of getting your website verified within Google Search Console. Google said the company has “collaborated with various domain name registrars to automate part of the verification flow.” There is now a new flow that “will guide you through the necessary steps needed to update your registrar configuration so that your DNS record includes the verification token we provide,” Google said. This will make the verification process a lot easier. Adding more methods to verify your web site in Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools helps SEOs, webmasters and site owners understand the health of their web sites in Google and Bing’s search results. It helps with communication, debugging, reporting and the necessary daily tasks any SEO takes for a website they maintain.
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HubSpot partners with Supermetrics, adding multi-portal analytics and reporting
HubSpot will partner with marketing data engine Supermetrics, a partnership that the company hopes will help address reporting challenges for its users. With the new Supermetrics partnership, HubSpot users can access, analyze and report data from across their HubSpot portals. Data can be imported and viewed in Google Sheets, Google Data Studio and Excel. The “manual” processes involved in consolidating siloed data can be a tedious, and often attested part of an organizational reporting strategy. HubSpot users should be able to consolidate their data with other marketing data for cross-channel analysis and reporting, thanks to Supermetrics’ data engine.
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Daily Minute Master Series – September 3rd, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook May Soon Hide Total Like Counts on Posts, Mirroring Instagram’s Test
Amid testing of hidden like counts in seven countries on Instagram, Facebook is now also considering the same in its main app, according to reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong. As noted, Instagram began its test of removing total Like post counts for Canadian users back in April, then expanded it to Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand in July. The idea of removing Like counts on Instagram relates to that company’s broader focus on user wellbeing. The removal of public like counts, according to Mosseri, could reduce social comparison, and its associated negative impacts. The expansion of the program to Facebook would be a major step. Facebook, with 2.4 billion active users, is the largest social media platform in the world, by a significant margin, and while users have most definitely made their opinions known about Like count removals on Instagram, Facebook is going to hear a lot more about the same if it is extended to the main app.
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Facebook Highlights Page Stories in Feed Separate Panel, Expanding Opportunity for Brand Exposure
Facebook Stories may not have taken off the way Stories have on Instagram, but it is slowly gaining momentum. Facebook remains confident that Stories are the future of social sharing. And as such, the platform continues to test out new ways to promote Facebook Stories, and boost interest in the option. Facebook’s latest test sees it showcasing Stories from Pages, specifically, in a new, in-Feed panel. That could provide expanded promotional opportunity – already, the top of feed placement of Facebook Stories makes it a great potential option for getting in front of users, but a specific listing of Page Stories amplifies that even further. If you’ve been considering Facebook Stories for your promotions, or even cross-posting your Instagram Stories, this may be another prompt to get you moving in that direction – which is no doubt Facebook’s aim here, but definitely, it could prove valuable.
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YouTube Will Roll Out Abbreviated Subscriber Counts in September
After initially announcing the coming change back in May, YouTube has confirmed that it’s new, abbreviated public subscriber counts will come into effect next month. That makes sense from a consistency perspective, but it could also negatively impact some creators. That may lead to creators losing sponsorship opportunities, as they could be overlooked in favor of larger channels, despite their channel actually being much closer to parity. It’s also put the onus onto the creators themselves to share their actual subscriber count – channel owners themselves will still be able to view the full, real-time count in their analytics – but some may lose opportunities outright because of the shift. Worth noting too that the changes relate to YouTube’s API usage also, meaning that any app which uses YouTube subscriber counts will lose access to the full, detailed listing. That will impact analytics tools which display subscriber counts and changes over time. The actual impacts will be relative to each individual account, but it’ll be interesting to see whether there are any significant shifts because of the update, and/or opportunities lost due to altered perception.
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Facebook introduces new policies for political, social issue ads ahead of 2020 elections
Facebook has updated its ad policies for political advertisers and anyone running electoral or social issue ads. The new policies, which include new disclaimer requirements for political advertisers and updates to the company’s list of social issue topics in the U.S, were introduced on Wednesday and apply to ads on Facebook and Instagram. Beginning mid-September, any advertiser running political, electoral or social issue ads will need to give Facebook more details about their organization. Facebook is also updating its labels for political, electoral and social issue ads. Now, when a user taps the “i” icon that includes either the “Confirmed Organization” or “About this Ad” language, they will see the information Facebook has confirmed. For example, a “Confirmed Organization” label will show the EIN or FEC number provided by the advertisers. The “About this Ad” label will include the organization’s phone number and email address. These updates apply not only to marketers managing ad campaigns for political candidates, but also anyone overseeing ads for an organization attached to political causes that may be running social issue ads. As we near the 2020 U.S. election cycle, the number of political, electoral and social issue ads will only increase — which means more ad dollars being allocated to Facebook. Marketers responsible for running political, electoral or social issue ads on Facebook and Instagram will need to stay on top of the company’s ad policies to make sure their ad campaigns run smoothly.
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Daily Minute Master Series – August 30, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Announces New Business Tools for Messenger Interactions
Facebook has announced a range of updates for its business tools on Messenger, adding in new lead generation automation options and appointment booking options in-stream. The biggest element of the update is the launch of Messenger lead generation templates, which Facebook first previewed at its F8 conference back in May. Tew lead generation flow, when integrated with your CRM, can provide more nuanced responses based on user feedback, and then track relevant leads for response at a later date – like when the desired item is back in stock. Another feature announced at F8, Facebook is now also adding integrated appointment booking options direct in Messenger. The option enables businesses to integrate their Messenger response flow with their existing calendar booking software, facilitating the full process within the app. Facebook is also updating its Standard Messaging response window for those using Facebook’s Send/Receive API to 24 hours only – as opposed to the current “24+1” setting.
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Google now showing competitor ads on local business profiles
Google has been slowly ramping local search monetization over time. It introduced local search ads in early 2017, which put ads in local packs, and began putting ads in local Knowledge Panels roughy two years ago. Now, the company is starting to show competitor ads in local business profiles. art of Local Campaigns, the ads are designed to drive visits to local businesses and retail locations. These fully automated units run across Google properties, including search, Maps, GDN and YouTube. There’s a sense that the GMB profile is “owned” by the business. However that’s not correct; it’s Google’s property, just as Facebook owns and controls local Facebook Pages. This is something that businesses should be sober about. However, Google must also be mindful of too-aggressive monetization of local. Some SEOs are saying this is such an example. It’s probably better that businesses can’t pay to remove these ads because that would be perceived as a form of “extortion,” something Yelp has been accused of — it’s advertisers don’t have competitor ads on their profiles.
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Marketing
Google Removes Some Filters from Image Search Results
Google appears to have removed the ability to filter image search results by “minimum size,” “exact size,” and “full color.” This change was made quietly, as there has been no official word from Google about removing the filters. Apparently, the filters are still available in the “advanced search” section which is accessed from the settings drop-down menu. However, the fact that the filters have been removed from the main UI is an indication they’re being deprecated. Google removing frequently-used features from image search is a pattern that hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Time will tell how many more features get removed from Google’s image search results in the future.
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Advertising
Bing Webmaster Tools allows site verification via Google Search Console
Bing has launched a beta feature that allows site owners to import their sites from Google Search Console to its own Webmaster Tools. After logging into Bing Webmaster Tools, site owners may be presented with an option reading, “Already verified on Google Search Console? Beta Skip verification by importing your site.” Although Bing’s share of the search market pales in comparison to Google, it is still the world’s second-largest search engine. For larger brands that are sensitive to the slightest of traffic fluctuations, having the tools necessary to address SEO issues as efficiently as possible may directly impact revenue. Being able to import your sites from Google Search Console decreases the friction (or inertia) involved with monitoring for those potential issues on a second frontier.
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Daily Minute Master Series – August 29, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Pinterest Will Limit Search Results for Vaccine-Related Queries to Content from Official Health Outlets
After rolling out a ban on anti-vax content in Pins earlier in the year, Pinterest is now taking another step to halt the spread of vaccine misinformation on its platform, limiting its search results for vaccine-related queries to Pins from officially-recognized health organizations only. A search for vaccine information will now only surface results from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Vaccine Safety Net (VSN). That, along with the aforementioned ban on anti-vax Pins, will significantly limit the spread of any false information around the topic on the platform. Pinterest says that it’s taking stronger action because the anti-vax movement has become particularly damaging, with the CDC recently confirming that the U.S. is experiencing the greatest number of measles cases reported since 1992 – a virus that was declared “eliminated” in the region in 2000.
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Facebook’s Testing a New Screen-Sharing Option for Messenger
Facebook is testing a new Messenger video option which would enable you to share your phone screen in a Messenger chat, as opposed to using the camera. There’s a range of ways this functionality could be used – you could run real-time walkthroughs on-screen, quickly share a range of photos or videos from your phone, or discuss documents for work/study-related chat. The function would enable viewing of video content from beyond Facebook. Facebook already has communal video viewing options available (which are popular among video piracy groups), but this option would expand the capacity of the same to any video type that you can play on your phone. Set up a full-screen broadcast of the latest pirated movie, or other controversial content, and you have your own small cinema, with a group of your friends able to watch together and discuss.
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Marketing
Google moves to simplify, standardize content policies for publishers
Google is reorganizing how it presents publisher content policies, and standardizing its content policies and restrictions across AdSense, AdMob and Ad Manager. Google content policies will soon be divided into two categories: Google Publisher Policies and Google Publisher Restrictions. The Google Publisher Policies page will outline the types of content that cannot be monetized and the Google Publisher Restrictions page will outline specific content types that do not violate policies, but may not be appealing to all advertisers, such as alcohol or tobacco-related content. Brands and marketers have long been pushing for digital ad platforms to create more transparent and brand-safe environments. In the process, many of the content policies from ad platforms have been difficult to follow and understand for publishers — knowing what content cannot be monetized versus the types of content that can be monetized, but may not fit an advertiser’s branding standards. With this update, Google is making it easier for publishers to follow the rules.
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Advertising
Google Ads Introduces Seasonality Adjustments for Smart Bidding
Google Ads is rolling out seasonality adjustments for smart bidding for search and display campaigns. Smart bidding strategies set bids automatically to help advertisers improve the performance of their Google Ads campaigns. Smart bidding is already designed to take seasonality into account, but sometimes there are occasions outside of regular seasonality patterns when an advertiser may want to spend more on ads. Google recommends using seasonality adjustments only if major changes to conversion rates are expected, because Smart Bidding already manages seasonal events such as holidays. Seasonality adjustments are currently available only for Search and Display campaigns. Support for Shopping campaigns is expected later this year.
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Daily Minute Master Series – August 28, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook is Testing a New Listing of Post Reactions in Your Notifications Stream
Facebook is testing out a new way to highlight Reactions to your Facebook posts, with a new notification format within your Notifications listing that would display a small tile of the post, with respective Reactions overlaid. That could help spur engagement and response – for one, the more visual notifiers stand out, though you would expect the effect of such would diminish over time. But they might also show a Reaction you weren’t expecting, or signify posts that are seeing a lot of response. It would be a small addition, in relative terms, but you can imagine it having the desired effect – while for brands, it could help to highlight key posts that are sparking emotional response, and get you responding faster to maximize that engagement.
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Instagram is Developing a Separate Messaging App Called ‘Threads’
After shutting down its standalone messaging app ‘Direct’ earlier this year, Instagram is reportedly working on a new iteration of the same, which aims to put more focus on maintaining connection between close friends. According to The Verge, Instagram’s latest weapon on this front is a new messaging app called ‘Threads’ which will look to focus on building stronger, more constant connection between smaller, enclosed groups. The aim, as noted, would be to make Instagram more of a rival for Snap, in regards to keeping close friends more connected, as opposed to broadcasting in your main feed for all to see. That could help Instagram build stronger bonds with younger users – or it could, as Direct did, fall flat.
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Instagram is Doubling Down on Stories Ads
Instagram is literally doubling down on stories ads in a test that will show back-to-back ads to some users. Instead of showing the usual one ad between stories, Instagram is testing how users will respond to two ads from different brands. A spokesperson tells AdWeek that Instagram is simply gathering feedback for now, and the focus of the app will remain on the user experience. No further details were provided with regards to how many people are part of the initial test group.
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Marketing
Yelp adds new personalization features in bid to regain local momentum from Google
Yelp is betting big on personalization. Soon, new screens will allow users to select preferences and favorites that will be used by the company to offer better recommendations and personalized search results. Yelp says that it’s using reviews content, photos, business attributes and other data to match consumer interests and businesses or activities. Yelp says the new features will be rolling out soon to iOS users and in stages for Android users, with the “full experience” available early next year. The company also teases that these new capabilities are “the beginning of major product changes the company is undertaking to significantly evolve and improve the consumer experience.” Yelp faces intensifying pressure from Google and GMB’s increasing transactional functionality. The company needs to make changes that differentiate its experience from what Google is doing. It needs to regain growth and momentum or face an eventual sale, to private equity or someone else.
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Daily Minute Master Series – August 27, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Twitter Tests New, Larger Image Tweet Carousel Ad Format
Back in March, Twitter began testing a new carousel ad format for app install campaigns, which would give advertisers the capacity to add multiple, larger images to their collections. Now, Twitter is expanding its new carousel format to additional campaign types, and potentially even regular business posts. The new format includes a larger image panel, and a swipeable carousel stream. The post appears to have been created via an app called ‘Carousel-Composer’, though there’s limited information on the tool available. The new layout is more visual focused, and definitely stands out more in the Twitter stream. There’s no word, at this stage, on an expanded roll-out, but Twitter will be monitoring the results and assessing the next stages.
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Facebook’s Clear History Tool Could be Delayed in the US Due to Court Case
Here’s another interesting wrinkle in Facebook’s protracted release of its ‘Clear History’ tool, which will enable users to detach their off-platform activity from their Facebook data profile. According to Bloomberg, a US launch of the option could be delayed because it would potentially impact a pending court case in Texas. To be clear, Facebook’s off-platform activity tool has no US launch date as yet. Last week, Facebook rolled out the first stage of the tool in Ireland, South Korea and Spain, and Facebook will learn key lessons from that initial release before expanding the option to other markets, with no communicated plan for a US roll-out at this stage.
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Marketing
Google Search Console API drops more app features
Google announced it is removing some features from the current Search Console API. Most of these features are related to apps, specifically Android app search appearance types. Google also said that the Sitemaps API is no longer populating the indexing status of submitted sitemap files in the “Indexed” field. Assuming Google is still going to be developing towards the new Search Console features, expect a new Search Console API to come in the future. For now, those using any of the features (Install, App Universal and Opened) won’t be able to see data for those types going forward.
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Google testing highlighting content on-site based on the search result clicked
Google confirmed it’s testing a feature that takes the searcher from the search results page to a third-party site, then anchors them to that exact location on the site while highlighting that content. This is something Google originally did on mobile through the AMP cache, and is now being tested on desktop and Chrome browsers. Previously, this launched in 2018 for AMP mobile pages but now Google is trying it for Chrome desktop users as well. Essentially, the new feature no longer requires solely AMP content. With this, searchers may skip down past ads and/or call to actions to jump directly to the relevant content. SEOs should take measures to track if your site is doing this in Google search, and possibly replace your ads/call to actions in a more appropriate location.
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