This Week in Social (Weeks of February 23)
This Week in Social is a weekly digest of some of the biggest stories in social media marketing news. These stories are the show notes for the Brave Ad World Podcast. Each story is discussed at a deeper level on the podcast.
Pinterest Planning New Ad Unit (Read more at Digiday)
Pinterest is in the process of developing a new ad unit called a multi-pin carousel that will feature several images in a single promoted pin. According to Pinterest, many new types of Promoted Pins are in testing at any given moment.
Of course, Pinterest is constantly testing new types of Promoted Pins. What’s interesting is how this news comes only a week after Facebook announced Product Ads, which allow retailers to feature multiple images in a single ad. For its part, Twitter has allowed multiple photos in a tweet for some time. This also comes after news surfaced that Pinterest has been working on a ‘Buy’ button.
This is going to be a huge year for Pinterest and one that sets the tone for how it monetizes further. Ads on the platform make a lot of sense and have the potential to be useful for users. It’s just whether or not brands see the benefit that Pinterest hopes.
Facebook Has 2 Million Advertisers (Read more at AdWeek)
Facebook has now reached the 2 million advertiser milestone, according to a video announcement from Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. The two thank small and medium sized business owners for being a huge part of Facebook’s advertising partners.
The announcement comes after Facebook made a huge push to grow its base of small and medium-sized businesses. Last year, it added 500,000 new advertisers.
Facebook has turned its ship in a big way in terms of attracting smaller businesses. There was a time when Facebook was for big brands and e-commerce players. But thanks to Facebook’s targeting capabilities and ad options that are focused on more tangible business benefits, Facebook has done what it needs to do to attract many smaller businesses. Facebook’s also made digital marketing, which includes specialized targeting, segmentation and other sophisticated aspects of marketing that are not small business owners’ core competencies easy to handle.
All of this has paid off for Facebook, which has reaped the benefits in the form of ad dollars.
Twitter Expands Program to Get Rid of Trolls (Read more at The Twitter Blog)
Twitter has made new improvements to help minimize users’ safety concerns. The new improvements include a system that will use phone numbers to prevent repeat offenders from creating new accounts.
In the past, Twitter could remove trolls’ accounts, but there was nothing stopping them from quickly creating new accounts and continuing their behavior. Now, Twitter will track their phone numbers and prevent them from creating new accounts.
Currently, phone numbers are optional when creating accounts on Twitter. However, Twitter will start locking down user Twitter accounts of trolls until they provide their phone numbers to ensure Twitter gets the necessary information. In addition, bystanders to troll behavior, not just the victims, can now report self-harm, impersonation and the sharing of private information. The support team behind all of this has been tripled in size.
This is great news by Twitter. The network knows it has a serious problem on its hands, and it appears to be serious about eradicating it or at the very least making it much better.
News Quick Hits
- Google has established deals with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile and acquired technology behind the digital wallet Softcard. The acquisition gives Google intellectual property from Stoftcard, while the deal with the three wireless carriers will place Google’s mobile payment system Google Wallet on new Android Devices. (Read more at AdAge)
- Belgium’s Privacy Commission has declared that Facebook’s updated terms of service and data policy are unlawful in Europe. The report issued by the commission claims that Facebook “places too much burden on its users” by requiring them to use too many disparate options to maximize privacy. Also, adequate information is not provided to users. Facebook has stated that its policies are clearer than they were before and that it is within the law. (Read more at The Guardian)
- Facebook has introduced new ad targeting categories for The Academy Awards, Cricket World Cup and Asian Americans. This gives advertisers more options to target people of various ethnic backgrounds as well as interests. (Read more at SocialTimes)
- Reddit is placing new restrictions on explicit content starting March 10. It will no longer allow nude photos or photos of sexual acts without subjects’ consent on the website. During last year’s leak of celebrity photos, Reddit forums were a primary place where the photos were posted. The move is significant because Reddit traditionally left rules like these to forum moderators. (Read more at The Verge)
- Twitter has released its first official plugin for WordPress. It brings added functionality for websites, including making Twitter Cards for pages, enabling analytics, embedded videos and creates a tweet button to posts. (Read more at The Next Web)