This Week in Social and Digital (Week of July 24)
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.
Facebook Working on Listening Assistant
Facebook is rumored to have a listening device of its own in the works to compete with the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple Homepod. Facebook’s will be more in line with the Echo Show in that it will feature a 15-inch touchscreen.
It makes sense for Facebook to go after the listening device market. After all, it plays into Facebook’s goal of connecting people, and the fact that it has a screen lines up very well with Facebook’s original programming and live video initiatives. Facebook will more than likely play up the connection it can create between its users through the device as well as the ability to feature all the content users upload to the website, particularly photos.
Where Facebook may fall short is in privacy. Only Apple has come out with a clear focus on not monetizing user data. Amazon and Google have their privacy trust issues, but Facebook far and away carries a great deal of baggage in this area. That will be the challenge for Facebook to overcome, in addition to its less than stellar track record of launching hardware. Remember the Facebook Phone?
Twitter Users Decline in US with Daily Active Users Up
Coming off of a surprisingly strong earnings report last quarter, Twitter couldn’t continue the momentum. Wall Street was waiting for Twitter to show some sustained momentum and continue to grow its user base, which sits at 328 million monthly active users worldwide. Monthly active users in the US actually declined from 70 million to 68 million. Twitter also saw revenue drop 4.7%, which included a 7% drop in US ad revenue.
On a brighter note, 12% more users are using Twitter on a daily basis.
Twitter still hasn’t found its stride in growing users. Last quarter, following the election, Twitter showed promise in growing its presence.
Its role on the world stage has certainly been amplified as of late, and the impact it makes, for better or for worse, is certainly there based on the tweets from President Trump. It may be the case that the same thing that is driving Twitter’s prevalence on the world stage is also what’s driving people away. Still, the daily active user growth is encouraging as a clear indicator that engagement on the platform is up, and the utility it plays in the lives of users it does have is powerful.
Six-Second Video Ads Coming to Facebook
Facebook’s taking some inspiration from YouTube’s bumper ads it looks to launch six-second ads.
The move is in line with how Facebook has encouraged advertisers to deliver creative which is to create content that delivers a message quickly and gets the brand out there in six seconds or less. Facebook’s found that the shorter the ads, the better the performance from a brand metrics standpoint. And after looking at where Facebook’s revenue is coming from, the move makes sense.
The $9.2 billion it brought in through ad revenue was led my video, particularly mobile video. Users are in a short and sweet mindset.
There’s another factor as well. The longer the video, the fewer the opportunities Facebook has to deliver impressions to users because they’re spending time with singular pieces of content instead of looking at multiple, shorter assets. There’s definitely an aspect of this that involves Facebook wanting to increase its ad inventory and impressions it can deliver.
Video ads have become a mainstay for advertisers leveraging Facebook, and if Facebook wants ads a certain way, it will make sure the ads that comply are the ones that perform. In many ways, this makes sense based on how users put their mobile devices to use in the consumption of content.
From a creative standpoint it is a difficult challenge, but the rules remain the same. Deliver your message in the upfront as quickly as possible, and if there’s more story to tell after that, encourage users to continue to watch. But that key takeaway must be made right away.
Twitter Launching $99 Subscription
Twitter is currently in the process of testing a $99 per month subscription program that will promote the accounts and tweets of those who pay. Those who subscribe will also receive a report on how things are performing.
Currently, the program is being targeted to small and medium-sized businesses, and instead of being a campaign-driven effort, it serves as an always-on way of supporting a brand’s Twitter presence. It’s basically a set-it-and-forget-it situation, which could be put to use by businesses as well as individuals who have benefited from increased exposure on Twitter.
This move has been rumored to happen for some time, so it’s not a complete surprise. That being said, this could have some negative implications. For example, a set-it-and-forget-it approach could mean a lot of less targeted tweets and accounts making their way into feeds.
In addition, this is cheap enough that a user who just wants to spread their message and maybe even become an “influencer” could pay to have their tweets show up. All of that could mean driving other users away from the platform. A less curated feed would be anything but desirable.
News Quick Hits
- The Media Rating Council (MRC) may be getting tougher on its viewability standards. Currently, it requires at least 50% of an ad to be visible to count as a view. Soon, it may be requiring 100% of the ad to be visible to count. It may also be getting tougher on video as it's under pressure to have every pixel of a video ad appear on screen for at least half the purchased time or 30 seconds. Currently it requires half of a video to be viewable for at least two seconds. The MRC has been under pressure from Group M.
- YouTube is shutting down its built-in video editing tools, citing “limited usage” as the reason. Instead, users are directed to rely on other video editing programs.
- Nielsen has officially announced that it will include Hulu and YouTube streaming audiences in its commercial ratings. However, due to the way YouTube and Hulu handle their ads for live and on-demand content, GRPs will not be calculated. Still, the move is an important one as it marks the first time digital video has been calculated in the same way as television.
- Facebook has acquired Source3, a company dedicated to recognizing and analyzing intellectual property that shows up in user-generated content in an effort to flag that content and protect the rights of its original creator. The move is meant to make Facebook more attractive for content creators to share and distribute their work without fear of unapproved repurposing of their content.
- Google saw a 21% rise in revenue in Q2 earnings to $26 million after riding its dominance in search advertising, YouTube and digital advertising. Still, Google’s troubles with the European Commission, which includes a fine for antitrust violations brought share prices down in after-hours trading. That being said, ad revenue was up to $22.7 billion, up from $19.1 billion from last year. That’s significant, considering this quarter was highlighted by brands pulling ads citing brand safety concerns.
- Twitter Notifications have gotten a bit more crowded. Now, Twitter is aggregating users tweeting about trending topics, those sharing links or when other users follow new people. This tab used to be relegated to the activities of users’ own activities, including retweets, favorites and new followers. According to Twitter, it’s working to highlight interesting content, but the consensus of users is it’s notification overload.
- Facebook’s original shows are about ready to make their debut. The videos will live within a new video section on the platform and will offer a mix of both scripted content from Facebook and its publisher partners as well as user-generated content. The videos are expected mid-August.
- Facebook’s Q2 earnings report showed ad revenue of $9.16 billion, up 47% over last year. This beat analysts' expectations, and the success was driven, unsurprisingly by mobile, which makes up 87% of Facebook’s ad revenue. It now has 2.01 billion users, 1.32 billion of which are daily users. One thing analysts will continue to watch is this quarter marked a deceleration in overall revenue. That may be something that continues to happen unless Facebook can successfully grow its inventory and draw users into its other products.
- LinkedIn just launched Website Demographics. The tool is meant to help brands get data on who is visiting their websites, including job title, industry, seniority, job function, company, company size, location and country. From there, advertisers can create ads targeting users who reflect those visiting their websites.
- Facebook Messenger received five new CTA buttons (Shop Now, Get Support, Get Updates, Play Now and Get Started) along with desktop support for extensions and the ability to process payments within the application. The goal of the new CTA buttons, which brands can feature on their Pages, is to make it clear to users what their conversations with a bot will actually entail.