The Week in Social: Facebook privacy, Twitter transparency, and more

The week in Facebook Privacy

Mark Zuckerberg has had a rough couple of weeks, and there is no end in sight for the world’s 5th wealthiest person. This coming Tuesday, he will undergo yet another career first when he testifies before congress. The Facebook founder is scheduled to answer questions about Facebook’s privacy policies, policy enforcement, and present what steps the company will take to proof the social channel from being used as a tool for foreign influence.

At the heart of the matter is data. To grow value, Facebook collects personal information to build profiles that match users with the desires of ad buyers. But, like AT&T, Equifax, and Uber before them, Facebook has learned the hard way their privacy policies mean precisely nothing when an outside agency gets ahold of the data.

Privacy is trending, as is transparency. And, Facebook has to keep up with the times. Zuckerberg has claimed that the coming European GDPR regulations will be applied at a worldwide scale for Facebook users. The company also announced the addition to ‘unsend’ messages, after it was revealed that the company has done this for company execs in order to protect their privacy. Be watching this week for what happens next in Facebook privacy.

Twitter’s Transparency Report

Speaking of privacy – Twitter published their 12th bi-annual transparency report. The news highlights Twitter’s effort to remove hate speech and content promoting terrorism, exemplified by the suspension of 1.2 million accounts in the last 3 years. At the same time, Twitter is safeguarding itself from government-designated censorship. In cases where regions have legally blocked certain conversations, Twitter still publishes all take-down notices. Of course, unless that region has also banned said alert.

YouTube TrueView for Reach

YouTube announced that brands can now buy TrueView ads optimized for reach. The ads can be 6-30 seconds in length, and are skippable after 5 seconds. YouTube says the ads will be “optimized for efficient reach.” The shorter content model continues to occupy YouTube’s focus, while encouraging advertisers to embrace the Three B’s. Be Brief, Be Brilliant, and Be Gone.

YouTube and Twitch

Meanwhile, YouTube still struggles with advertising policies. Recent rule changes for monetizing content have harshly punished niche content creators. Thus, many have jumped ship and set sail for Twitch. The Amazon-owned company is welcoming gamer community leaders and would-be influencers with open arms. Will YouTube find a balance without creating a barbell economy?

Snapchat brings back chrono feed

While users begged Snap to roll their redesign back, the company held firm to their new UI. Even in the face of influencers hacking chunks out of their market value, Snap kept faith with the new design. Except, this one thing. This week, some users are seeing the option to switch back to the chronological feed. The chrono-feed rewards content creators that post frequently, and users that constantly check in. But, what will happen to Snapchats casual users?

Snapchat’s Easter egg hunt

For three days, Snapchat users could take their Easter Egg hunts to the world of Snap Maps. And, hunt they did. Adults and children found more than 59 million eggs during the holiday-blitz, which was not the first effort Snap has made in ephemeral holiday activations. Preying on our latent Pokemon Go instincts was a smart move, and we anticipate platforms and brands to activate in relevant, globally appealing ways.

Google acquires Tenor

Like emojis before them, animated gifs are becoming the new constructs of conversation. Tenor is a chief competitor of Giphy, and has over 300 million monthly users. Google will acquire the company, its mobile keyboard, and it suggestion model to make better content suggestions for users. Tenor will operate under its own name for the time being.

Apple watch loses Instagram

The Apple Treadmill keeps on turning, and some big apps are falling off the back. As of April 1st, watchOS 1 apps will no longer be accepted into the App Store. This means companies must re-invest in mobile app development for an OS and platform that is barely 3 years old. Instagram, Ebay, and Amazon have withdrawn support for Apple Watch for the time being. The watch market will have to prove its worth to draw them back.

The Week in Social: Facebook Privacy, Twitter Transparency, and Snapchat