Hey, this is Chia from Brand24 - welcome back to the SocialRecap - our rundown of all the
latest highlights and trends in social media & digital marketing news. And -
bonus, if you’re a fan of digital tools who’s always looking for recommendations,
just comment below to find out which tools are the top contenders in our
weekly tool test! So, what’s new this week? Well, it looks like Facebook’s
still making headlines, especially with their CEO Mark Zuckerberg having been called
on to testify before Congress. That, plus all the additional changes that
FB is planning for its users. Let’s recap: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
appeared before Congress just a few days ago, for a 5-hour Q&A session about
how the social network could have allowed political data-mining firm .
Cambridge Analytica to “inadvertently” access data for up to 87 million users.
So, while Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear in even more testimonies, this
initial hearing has clarified a few facts about FB: Rumors have been
long circulating about the effectiveness of FB’s ad targeting as a result
of eavesdropping on its users through their mobile devices. The CEO went on
public record with a firm ‘no’ when asked if there was any truth to this.
And, in light of the controversy regarding data security and targeted ads, when
questioned about the possibility of creating an ad-free, paid version of
Facebook, Zuckerberg informed Congress that there would always be a Free
version of FB, suggesting that a Paid version isn’t out of the question.
And a big topic of interest that has arisen from the whole Facebook
& Cambridge Analytica scandal, is one of regulation. But how do you regulate
something like Facebook and the protection of user data? During his
testimony, Zuckerberg fielded questions like: How does FB acquire user
data? And how long does it keep that data? While important, these questions
show us that there is still much for the public to understand about social media
and data protection. And how do you regulate something that isn’t
fully understood? That's the question. So, how else has
FB been cleaning up after its data security issue? Well, last week, we
mentioned how the platform suspended nearly 300 accounts and
pages linked to Russian mis-information agency, the IRA (you can
watch ep. 6 for a quick Social Recap). And, now, Canadian data firm,
AggregateIQ, has also been added to the suspension list. This is due to
allegations of affiliation with SCL, parent company of Cambridge Analytica.
Plus, Chris Wylie, one of the whistleblowers from the data scandal,
implicated AggregateIQ’s involvement in his testimony before a Parliamentary
committee just last month, stating that the firm had used data from Cambridge
Analytica to help Britain’s “Vote Leave” campaign sidestep political spending
limits. So, AggregateIQ has denied having any affiliation with both Cambridge
Analytica and SCL. FB, however, is taking extra precautions in the
aftermath of its data security issue. Especially since now, it seems as if
Cambridge Analytica might have had access to even More data from FB
than everybody realized. So, if you or any of your friends ever logged into an app
called “This is your digital life”, then Cambridge Analytica would have been
able to access: data on your public profile, see what Pages you liked, when
your birthday is, and your current city. However, even if you never downloaded the
app, but any of your friends did, here’s the kicker: they could have chosen to
share more info, giving Cambridge Analytica access to their
newsfeed, their timeline, their posts, their hometown, and even private messages
on FB Messenger. So, if you ever sent this friend any private messages on
Messenger, they may have been accessed by Cambridge Analytica.
If you think this doesn’t affect you, remember that it would only have taken a
tiny number of people to download the app, for the data mining firm to harvest
data from an exponentially larger number of users. Which is why Facebook has been
reported to data protection authorities in several European countries.
In Norway, the Norwegian News Agency recently confirmed that just 17
Norwegians downloaded the fake quiz app. Which means that up to
37,550 Norwegians might have had their data
harvested. Which is why the Norwegian Consumer Council decided to file a
complaint on Facebook with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority.
And, consumer organizations in Belgium, Greece,
Italy, Portugal, The Netherlands, and Spain have also followed suit.
Now, a burning question is: how do you know if you’re one of those people whose data has been
collected by Cambridge Analytica? Well, Facebook has started the process of
notifying all 87 million users who may have had their data scraped by the data-
mining firm. 87 million is a rough estimate. It’s actually based on the
MAX number of friends that a user may have had at the time when the
fake quiz app was actively harvesting user data.
Unfortunately, FB doesn’t keep logs dating that far back, so it’s hard
to verify the accuracy of this number. And different sources offer
contradicting information. Chris Wylie, one of the whistleblowers from the
Cambridge Analytica scandal, believes the number to be greater than 87
million, with most of the data stored in Russia, as Aleksander Kogen, a former
data scientist with the data-mining firm, traveled frequently to Russia while
working on the fake quiz app. Cambridge Analytica, on the other hand,
states that it had collected data on Just 30 million Facebook users. Facebook
‘has been’ & ‘will be’ implementing a series of changes in response to its
data security issues, which you can learn more about in ep. 4 of the
Social Recap. But what about other changes for active Facebook users?
So, we might be able to thank TechCrunch for the next feature update. After they reported that
Mark Zuckerberg had been deleting some of his private Facebook messages on the
down-low, Facebook stated that an “Unsend” feature will soon be available to All Messenger
users. Happy coincidence? I'm not sure.
So, Facebook Stories is a feature that has found limited success, especially when compared to FB Live videos,
which, on average, generate 6X More engagement than Non-live videos.
Despite this, the platform has high hopes for Stories and is testing 3 new
ways to make it easier for users to find and share FB Stories.
The first method shows recent images from a user’s camera when they go to the
Status Update field from FB Mobile. The second method makes FB Stories
the default way to post from FB Camera. The third method displays
large image preview tiles for FB stories, right above
the News Feed. Making it really obvious for users to find. Most of these tests
will only be available to a small group of global users, except for the second
method, which will first be tested in the Dominican Republic.
Users will ultimately decide which method is the most effective, and which
strategy will be taken globally. Now, even though Facebook has been in the
spotlight lately, it’s not because other platforms haven’t been up to anything.
Here are a couple feature updates that are Not about FB:
If you use LinkedIn, you might be one of the few users in the small test group who was
forced to use hashtags in your latest post. The test was designed to help
the platform better understand the value of using hashtags in a post. Not a bad
idea, but suggesting that users add hashtags instead of forcing them might
have been a better strategy. In any case, don’t be surprised if you notice more
hashtags on LinkedIn - it’s all part of the test. And Snapchat went through a
redesign a few weeks ago - parts of which we talked about in
previous episodes of the Social Recap. Most users didn’t really like it.
Basically, Snap was showing people non chronological Stories in their feed,
which prioritizes Snap users who post frequently, even if you don’t interact
with other users. But now, they’re bringing back chronological Stories so
Snap users can see Stories from friends that they actually talk to or
interact with. Even if they don't post that frequently. So, this might make it
harder for social media influencers and brands to get their content seen on
SnapChat, but most hardcore Snap users are pretty happy to have a more
personalized feed. Well, that’s it for this week’s Social Recap! Don’t miss out
on the latest trends in social media & digital marketing news. Subscribe to the
Social Recap and get all caught up in a matter of minutes. And if
you’re a fan of social media & digital marketing tools who’s watching
this on FB, just comment on this post and our Messenger Bot will tell you
about a couple of our favorite tools. With all those feature updates on images,
stories & videos this week, you can bet that these are going to be tools for
creating high-quality videos, and, of course, they’ll show you how to track
the performance of your videos after they go live. So, now we’re
all caught up for this week. Thanks for watching & listening - thanks
for tuning in to the Social Recap - see you next week! Bye!