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Twitter’s been the target of a cybercrime attack, Pinterest have updated their algorithm and TikTok is rumoured to be on it’s way out. If you haven’t been keeping an eye on social media news this week, buckle up for a full review…
Before we jump into this week’s blog, check out previous This Week In Social’s here and follow Ventura on social media for daily updates!
On Thursday morning we woke up to the news that celebrity Twitter accounts had been hacked in a Bitcoin scam. For those who are unaware, the general message in the tweets was that if users sent money to a certain Bitcoin address, they would receive their money back in double. An example is the tweet hackers sent from from Apple’s account which read, “We are giving back to our community. We support Bitcoin and we believe you should too! All Bitcoin sent to our address below will be send back to you doubled!”. The hacked tweets were sent from the Twitter accounts from the likes of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Joe Biden and Kanye West (to name just a few). What was Twitter’s response? It has been reported that the network were quick to react, disabling verified accounts from being able to tweet at all for a period of time. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that they were “diagnosing and will share everything when we have a more complete understanding”, and Twitter Support have been providing updates. Find the latest from that thread here.
This week, Facebook is considering banning all political ads. The US election is getting closer, and ahead of the November vote Facebook is considering banning any advertisements with political messages. The decision remains undecided, but it is being seriously discussed following the accusations that Facebook aids the spread of misinformation and hate speech. Zuckerberg has previously stated that Facebook will not police political activity on the platform, therefore removing politically fuelled ads completely from the site would cause less harm. However, it is no secret that a large amount of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from political advertising. So, watch this space…
Facebook have released a blueprint on how to get started with Facebook and Instagram Shops. The new Shops feature for Facebook and Instagram is rolling out in more regions, making the e-commerce process easier for businesses. Firstly, any business looking to set up Shops will need to add to their inventory via a Commerce Manager, and from there the option is available to customise how the shop will look. For a full step-by-step breakdown of the process, click here.
Pinterest updates feed algorithm to boost specific content types. There is now a better balance between the types of content users will be shown on Pinterest’s home feed, displaying a wider range of content opposed to relying on engagement data as it has before. Pinterest’s homepage will be a collection of content, relative to different goals such as displaying a higher number of culturally diverse users or video content. Pinterest engineer Yaron Greif explains, “Every day millions of Pinners visit the home feed to find inspiration on Pinterest. As a member of the home feed ranking team, it’s my job to not only figure out what relevant pins to show Pinners but also to make sure that those Pins will help maintain the health of the overall Pinterest ecosystem.”
YouTube have added data on other videos your viewers have watched and new audience retention metrics. These are valuable features for creators and marketers, providing an insight into their audience’s viewing habits alongside helping to identify key trends. Engagement is what gets channels featured on YouTube’s Trending page – the highest honour in the online video community – and these new features will allow creators to provide their audience with content they are interested in. Knowing where your viewers are dropping off is also insightful, as creators can improve how they approach their content.
Snapchat tests a new TikTok-style interface. This week Snap Inc. confirmed they are testing a new navigation tool which allows users to move through Snapchat’s public content with a vertical sweeping motion. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s similar to the app navigation popularised by TikTok. The timing of the test is suspect as TikTok suffers bans from different nations globally, but Snapchat state “We’re always experimenting with new ways to bring immersive and engaging content to out mobile-first Snapchat community”.
As we reported last week, TikTok’s future is uncertain. As India ban TikTok other nations might be set to follow suit, but this is good news for Byte, the second coming of Vine. Byte saw a huge surge in it’s number of downloads in America last week, even reaching number one in the App Store. It will be interesting to see what happens between these short-form video apps…
