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#MidweekMinute 12/4/19: now with extra jazz hands!
Facebook photo exports, reducing ad discrimination; Instagram vibration?; Twitter nested threads, Business Calendar, Brand Surveys & Privacy Center; YouTube culls duds.
Where were you for The Great Thanksgiving Facebook & Instagram Blackout of 2019?…
Facebook is going to start allowing users to transfer their photos more easily to third party partners, starting with Google Photos. The feature is being rolled out to Ireland first, with the rest of the world expected to follow in early 2020.
Facebook’s cracking down even further on preventing discrimination via ad targeting, expanding the rules to include every possible place one could purchase ads on the platform (not just within Ads Manager) and expanding the public ad library to make housing ad targeting more visible.
Instagram’s testing making your phone vibrate when you like a post. This was uncovered by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong, who also discovered that Twitter is working on nested replies (like Reddit).
Wondering what to Tweet? The new 2020 @TwitterBusiness Calendar highlights upcoming events and how to Tweet about them.
Twitter has released Twitter Brand Surveys as a way to measure ad recall.
Twitter has also introduced the Twitter Privacy Center, a hub for all privacy-related information, features, and releases.
Don’t freak out if your YouTube subscriber count is down: YouTube is removing closed accounts.
#MidweekMinute 9/11/19: "Likes" ain't nothing but a number...
Facebook Dating, location security options, possible like-count-hiding test; YouTube hides follower counts; Facebook and Instagram in-ad checkout; “Private” Instagram posts not so private; no more text-to-tweet (for now); Twitter Agency Playbook.
Politics and vulgarity aside, one important user lesson on social media is to know who you’re dealing with.
(#TeamChrissy)
Moving on to more universally applicable social media news…
Let’s be real; you’re going to Facebook-stalk your online date anyway (I MySpace-stalked mine, back in 2006!). Why not just find them on Facebook Dating to begin with?
Facebook is tightening up location security on mobile, allowing for greater nuance and defaulting to whatever the user’s most restrictive settings are (device settings and app settings are often at different levels) unless otherwise specified.
Facebook’s also considering a test to hide like counts on posts, following a similar test by Instagram still in progress. YouTube has also recently removed follower counts from accounts with over 1,000 followers.
Facebook and Instagram are stepping up their ecommerce game, working on in-ad checkout functionality on Facebook and the ability to turn an organic shopping post on Instagram into an ad.
Watch those “private” Instagram posts - they’re apparently easy to access and share via web browser. (Whoopsies!)
If you’ve been posting your Tweets via text, you’re out of luck for a bit - Twitter is temporarily suspending that function after CEO Jack Dorsey was hacked via a SIM card swap.
Twitter doesn’t want to be a mystery to you; they want you to succeed (and thus keep using them). Hence their latest Agency Playbook, full of basic - yet key - tips on what’s proven to provide the most engagement on the platform. Helpful, right?
MORE INFO ON ALL STORIES:
#MidweekMinute 7/3/19: Ms. Gritmon if ya nasty
Facebook Ads stop discriminating; Instagram “Chat” sticker, Explore ads, and layout tweaks (bye-bye, scroll); Twitter t tests layout changes, visual themes, and auto-mute; LinkedIn shifts towards relevant content, adds Company Page features, and adds ad retargeting; find me on Girlboss.
I simply cannot imagine what public figure’s Tweets might inspire such a content warning…
Taking its recent advertising anti-discrimination regulations a step further, Facebook will now make advertisements for housing, jobs, and credit searchable by all users, regardless of income, geography, or other targeting features that might be deemed discriminatory.
New Story sticker alert: Instagram has officially added the rumored “Chat” sticker, which adds those who click it into a DM group.
Instagram is also adding ads to the Explore tab, and has rolled out a new profile layout (in case you’re wondering where scroll view went).
Twitter’s got a new layout in beta - and it’s making your Lists easier to access on mobile, just a quick swipe away from your home screen.
Twitter may soon allow you to customize the appearance of the site to your own liking. You’ll be able to better customize content, too; they’re testing an auto-mute feature that will preemptively prevent certain content from appearing on your feed based on accounts you’ve blocked in the past.
If you thought LinkedIn had been showing you more posts in your niches of interest, congrats, you’re correct; the algorithm has shifted to prioritize “people you know, talking about things you care about.”
LinkedIn is also beefing up Company Pages, including your choice of Calls to Action, mobile editing, and the ability to engage with hashtagged conversations as your page entity, and they continue to roll out upgraded advertising functions; the latest news is that audience retargeting is coming soon.
Girlboss is the new online professional network for women supporting women (started, of course, by Nasty Gal founder Sophie Amaruso).