Tag Archives: Social Media Today

Facebook has announced a new set of brand safety controls, which will give brands more control over their ad placements across Facebook’s various ad streams. The new options have been in testing with selected partners over the last few months – back in November, Facebook outlined a range of coming options designed to better enable advertisers to control where their ads appear across Facebook’s various ad delivery networks. The main element here is the expansion of publisher whitelists, both for Audience Network and in-stream ads. Whitelists enable advertisers to select specific publishers and content types against which their ads can be shown – as opposed to block lists, which eliminate certain placements outright. […]

After it was spotted in testing last month, LinkedIn has now officially launched its new native polls option, providing another way to gather feedback, and boost engagement on the platform. As you can see in the video, LinkedIn polls function pretty much the same as they do on other platforms – you select the ‘Create a Poll’ option within the post composer, type in your question, and enter up to four answer options. You then choose the poll’s duration (between 24 hours and up to two weeks), add a note to your post, then publish. LinkedIn polls can be shared with your connections (subject to LinkedIn’s algorithm), specific groups, or to […]

Instagram has announced some new tools to give users more control over their on-platform experience, and reduce the impact of trolls and abusive actions within the app. First off, Instagram’s rolling out a new bulk comment removal process, which will make it easier to manage your post comment streams. As explained by Instagram: “We know it can feel overwhelming to manage a rush of negative comments, so we’ve been testing the ability to delete comments in bulk, as well as block or restrict multiple accounts that post negative comments. Early feedback has been encouraging, and we’ve found that it helps people, especially with larger followings, maintain a positive environment on […]

You may have noticed this in your retweet display over the past few weeks, but now, Twitter’s making it official – on iOS at least. From now on, your retweet count will include both basic retweets AND retweets with comments, and you’ll also be able to see which is which in a new listing within the tweet detail. As noted, Twitter’s been testing the new listings over the past few weeks, with the update looking to address a commonly noted annoyance with Twitter’s displayed engagement stats. Up till now, Twitter has actually considered a retweet with comment to be a unique tweet in its own right, so it deliberately hasn’t included […]

With the COVID-19 lockdowns forcing more events to be canceled, many event organizers are opting for digital functions instead, where you can replicate much of the same information sharing – though, of course, without the benefit of in-person connection. Catering to this, LinkedIn made its Events option available for all company pages early last month. And now, LinkedIn’s looking to add more capacity for hosting professional events, by adding LinkedIn Live into the events stream, which will enable the full broadcast of your virtual functions direct on the platform. As explained by LinkedIn: “We’ve accelerated our product roadmap to bring you a tighter integration between LinkedIn Events and LinkedIn Live, turning […]

With audiences now unable to attend in-person events, Google has announced an expansion of its Grow with Google training and education courses, with a new series of online sessions designed specifically to meet increased need during the crisis. As explained by Google: “We’ll offer digital skills training, interviews with career experts and programming from partners including Merit America and the National Congress of American Indians. Topics will include “How to manage your business remotely in times of uncertainty” and “How to improve your resume with four practical strategies.”  The schedule of courses, which you can see above, could provide some valuable insight for those looking to get a better understanding […]

A common question we’ve been asked about TikTok usage for brands is whether businesses can add whatever songs they want to their TikTok clips, free of constraints or costs. And the answer thus far has been yes, as such usage was seemingly built into TikTok’s existing agreements with music publishers, many of which stemmed from back when it was called Musical.ly. But now, that appears to have changed, which could alter your brand approach to TikTok marketing. According to Dave Jorgenson, a video producer for The Washington Post, TikTok has quietly altered the rules around commercial usage of popular music, which will stop verified brands from using popular tracks, referring […]

While Facebook Watch hasn’t yet become the next big digital video platform, or a YouTube rival, as such, usage of, and interest in, the option has been steadily growing, with several shows building significant audience followings, and bringing more viewers across to Facebook for longer and repeat sessions. Last year, Facebook reported that Watch is now being used by 720 million people each month, and while the details of that figure are somewhat questionable (the official wording is “720 million people spend at least one minute in Watch each month”), that is still a significant audience, which has also grown further during the COVID-19 lockdowns. And this week, Facebook has sought to provide […]

Among the many tragic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities around the world have reported significant increases in cases of domestic violence, with many victims now stuck inside with their abusers, limiting their means of escape. The increases have been reported in almost all regions – Brazil estimates that it’s seen a 50% increase in domestic violence cases, New Zealand police and support agencies have seen calls regarding family harm jump 20%, while a UN-commissioned report estimates that a 20% increase in domestic violence cases stands across all of its member states. It’s a frightening, and horrendous side-effect of the broader mitigation efforts, and while the lockdowns will improve the safety of the […]

In order to help facilitate contact-free shopping options amid COVID-19, Google has added a new ‘curbside pickup’ listing option for businesses, via both local inventory ads and Google My Business profiles. As you can see in the left screenshot above, businesses can now access a new ‘Curbside Pickup’ label that will be added to local inventory ads for relevant businesses in the top feed. That could help attract more business, and facilitate related queries without users having to click through on the ad, providing another promotional element. Google says that the option is currently in beta, and available to advertisers in the regions where local inventory ads have launched, and […]