WebProNews

Tag: Social Media

  • High-Profile Companies Join Facebook Advertising Boycott

    High-Profile Companies Join Facebook Advertising Boycott

    Multiple high-profile companies have joined the ranks of those boycotting Facebook advertising over racist and violent content.

    Facebook has been under increasing pressure over what many perceive as a tolerance for racist and violent posts and groups, which Facebook says fall under free speech. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, and the renewed focus on equality, Facebook’s policy of non-interference isn’t flying with other companies.

    The movement comes following the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) calling out Facebook for tolerating posts and groups that promote racism and violence. A quick search by ADL researchers showed major companies’ ads side-by-side with content many would deem offensive.

    “Facebook has been claiming that it is effectively addressing hate on its platforms. ADL and others, however, have continued to expose egregious examples of online hate, misinformation and extremism across the company’s products, particularly on Facebook and Instagram,” reads the ADL’s open letter. “Whether or not these posts technically violate Facebook’s complicated guidelines around hate speech, as a result of the platform’s casual placement of ads, paid advertisements run a risk of being placed next to divisive (and sometimes blatantly hateful) content. Indeed, even a cursory investigation conducted by ADL’s analysts immediately surfaced examples of prominent brands’ advertising displayed on newsfeeds next to hateful and conspiratorial content. Although we have not spoken to these companies, we can assume that their intentions when buying advertising on Facebook did not include being displayed alongside such content.”

    As a result of the ADL’s open letter, company after company has pulled their advertising from Facebook and Instagram. Coca-Cola, The Hershey Company, Levi Strauss & Co, Verizon, Mozilla, Upwork, REI, Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, The North Face and Eddie Bauer are just a few of the organizations that have joined the boycott.

    The lost revenue appears to be having an impact, as Facebook has started announcing changes to their policies in response. Whether these changes will go far enough remains to be seen.

  • Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Social Media Companies

    Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Social Media Companies

    President Trump signed an executive order targeting social media giants, following a spat with Twitter.

    Once the darling of the president, and his preferred platform for connecting with his supporters, the social media company drew his ire when it fact-checked him Tuesday on two of his tweets. In one of the tweets in question, Trump claimed “there is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” prompting Twitter to pair the tweet with a link to more information about mail-in ballots.

    As a result, Trump claimed the company is stifling free speech and has signed an executive order designed to weaken the protections social media and like companies enjoy.

    The order is unlikely to have any real impact, at least for the time being. In case after case, the courts have so far refused to side with individuals who have claimed social media is biased against them.

    At the same, the situation could help stifle innovation. Recent years have not been easy for social media companies, with them alternately being accused of not doing enough to curb offensive hate speech and then having a president issue an executive order when they fact-check his posts.

    With that kind of ‘rock and the hard place’ situation, it may give some entrepreneurs pause before focusing on the field, or trying to create the next great thing in social media.

  • Twitter Experiments With Language Warning System

    Twitter Experiments With Language Warning System

    Nearly everyone has had the experience of saying something they don’t mean, and Twitter is working to help prevent it.

    Twitter has struggled with an increasingly toxic environment as trolls and abusive individuals have hijacked the social media platform. It’s not uncommon for well-known and highly visible individuals to take breaks from the platform as a result of the vitriol they experience. Over the last couple of years, Twitter has experimented with a number of options in an effort to fight it.

    The latest endeavor is a warning system that will prompt an individual when they are preparing to publish a tweet containing harmful language, giving them the option of editing it first.

    The measure was announced via a tweet from the Twitter Support account:

    When things get heated, you may say things you don’t mean. To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful.

    — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) May 5, 2020

    Based on many of the comments, many of which have exactly the kind of language the feature is designed to help weed out, it’s safe to say this measure is going to be fairly controversial.

  • Facebook Launches Messenger App for macOS and Windows

    Facebook Launches Messenger App for macOS and Windows

    Facebook has announced the release of a native Messenger app for both Windows and macOS.

    While users could access Messenger via their web browser, the new apps will allow users to benefit from a desktop environment, including larger screens and multitasking. As an added benefit, messages sync across mobile and desktop devices.

    “Now more than ever, people are using technology to stay in touch with the people they care about, even when physically apart,” writes Stan Chudnovsky, VP of Messenger. “Over the past month, we saw more than a 100% increase in people using their desktop browser for audio and video calling on Messenger. Now with apps for MacOS and Windows, the best of Messenger is coming to desktop, including unlimited and free group video calls.”

    Facebook hopes the new apps will make it easier for people to stay in touch at a time when social media and digital connections are more important than ever.

  • Disappearing Messages Coming to Instagram

    Disappearing Messages Coming to Instagram

    Instagram is finally working on a feature that its competitors have had for some time: disappearing messages.

    Jane Manchun Wong, a researcher who specializes in reverse engineering apps, was the first to discover the feature.

    Instagram is working on “🙊 mode” where messages disappear

    It seems to be in an early barebone version but I tried my best to demonstrate how it might work

    — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) 3/19/20

    Wong reached out to Instagram and they confirmed it was a feature they were working on, but that it had not yet reached external testing.

    We’re always exploring new features to improve your messaging experience. This feature is still in early development and not testing externally just yet!

    — Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) 3/19/20

    Given Snapchat’s success, it’s a safe bet this feature will be extremely popular once Instagram rolls it out.

  • Facebook Horizon Enters Closed Beta Testing

    Facebook Horizon Enters Closed Beta Testing

    Facebook is accepting applications for a closed beta test of its Horizon virtual reality (VR) environment.

    Horizon is the company’s attempt to merge social media with VR. Horizon offers “an ever-expanding VR world where you can explore, play, and create in extraordinary ways.” The environment is designed to grow with the creations and contributions of its inhabitants.

    In addition to contributing to the environment’s growth, the social aspect comes into play in the form of competition, as well as teamwork. Participants can engage in 1v1 contests, or work together to accomplish goals.

    It’s obvious that Facebook is trying to establish a positive culture right off the bat, and avoid the toxic culture that has plagued many social media platforms. The company defines a Horizon citizen as someone who “is friendly, inclusive, and curious. They are open to new adventures and take advantage of the limitless possibilities of this world. There are many ways to play and create here – and Horizon citizens are enthusiastic of the countless kinds of fun to explore.” Horizon will also offer “Locals,” community guides whose job it is to welcome users and assist them in their endeavors.

    With Horizon scheduled for release on the Oculus Quest and the Rift Platform in 2020, Facebook is accepting applications for closed beta and encourages users to sign up.

  • Clearview AI Caught Lying About Who Can Use Its Software

    Clearview AI Caught Lying About Who Can Use Its Software

    The hits keep on coming: Clearview AI has been caught lying about who can access its controversial facial recognition software.

    Clearview has amassed a database of billions of photos, scraped from millions of websites, including the biggest social media platforms. The company then makes that database available through its facial recognition software. Since The New York Times broke the story in January, Clearview has faced ongoing criticism from lawmakers and privacy advocates alike who say the company represents a fundamental threat to privacy.

    To make matters worse, Buzzfeed discovered documents proving the company plans to expand internationally, including with authoritarian regimes. Following that, Clearview’s entire client list was stolen, showing its international expansion has already begun.

    Amid the scrutiny and controversy, Clearview has tried to reassure critics that it is responsible in its use of its database. In fact, in a blog post on the company’s site, Clearview says its “search engine is available only for law enforcement agencies and select security professionals to use as an investigative tool.”

    Similarly, the company’s Code of Conduct emphasizes their software is for law enforcement and security professionals, and that they hold themselves to a high standard of ethics, integrity and professionalism.

    There’s just one problem: it’s not true, if the NYT’s report is accurate. According to the report, the NYT “has identified multiple individuals with active access to Clearview’s technology who are not law enforcement officials. And for more than a year before the company became the subject of public scrutiny, the app had been freely used in the wild by the company’s investors, clients and friends.

    “Those with Clearview logins used facial recognition at parties, on dates and at business gatherings, giving demonstrations of its power for fun or using it to identify people whose names they didn’t know or couldn’t recall.”

    This is just the latest example of the irresponsible and unethical way Clearview has conducted business.

  • Twitter Testing ‘Fleets’: Disappearing Tweets

    Twitter Testing ‘Fleets’: Disappearing Tweets

    In an effort to better compete with Instagram and Snapchat, Twitter is testing a new feature called “Fleets.”

    Twitter has been working to compete with newer social media platforms that have eclipsed it, in terms of monetizable users. Twitter has also received its fair share of negative press in the last couple of years, with many critics saying the company doesn’t do enough to stop trolls and online harassment. The company has been experimenting with a number of features designed to help users retake control of the conversation and give them the tools to fight trolls.

    Starting Wednesday, Twitter is testing Fleets, tweets that disappear after 24 hours. Fleets are currently being tested in Brazil, but the company hopes to expand them to other markets if they prove successful.

    Twitter Product Lead Kayvon Beykpour explained the new feature in a series of tweets:

    “We’ve been listening to this feedback and working to create new capabilities that address some of the anxieties that hold people back from talking on Twitter. Today, in Brazil only, we’re starting a test (on Android and iOS) for one of those new capabilities. It’s called Fleets.”

    — Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) 3/4/20

    “Fleets are a way to share fleeting thoughts. Unlike Tweets, Fleets disappear after 24 hours and don’t get Retweets, Likes, or public replies– people can only react to your Fleets with DMs. Instead of showing up in people’s timelines, Fleets are viewed by tapping on your avatar.”

    — Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) 3/4/20

    “We’re hoping that Fleets can help people share the fleeting thoughts that they would have been unlikely to Tweet. This is a substantial change to Twitter, so we’re excited to learn by testing it (starting with the rollout today in Brazil) and seeing how our customers use it.”

    — Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) 3/4/20

  • Twitter Rolls Out ‘Hide Replies’ to Developers

    Twitter Rolls Out ‘Hide Replies’ to Developers

    Twitter’s Hide Replies feature is now available to developers as an API that can be included in their own software.

    Twitter, as well as most social media platforms, have been under fire for not always doing enough to combat trolls and online harassment. Back in November, Twitter unveiled the Hide Replies feature, giving users more power over the discussion in their threads.

    Now the company is making the Hide Replies API available to developers so they can include that same functionality in their tools. According to TechCrunch, “these sorts of tools will be of particular interest to businesses and brands who maintain a Twitter presence, but whose accounts often get too many replies to tweets to properly manage on an individual basis. With Hide Replies now available as a new API endpoint, developers can create tools that automatically hide disruptive tweets based on factors important to their customers — like tweets that include certain prohibited keywords or those that score high for being toxic, for example.”

    Twitter worked with a small group of developers prior to the API’s launch and the company says it is making improvements based on their feedback. It remains to be seen if the feature will be a success or not, as some critics worry it could create as many problems as it attempts to solve if it ends up being used to censor speech.

  • Twitter Crosses $1 Billion a Quarter Threshold

    Twitter Crosses $1 Billion a Quarter Threshold

    Reuters is reporting that, for the the first time ever, Twitter has brought in $1 billion in revenue in a single quarter.

    The company has had a difficult few years as it grappled with the balance between free speech and the spread of misinformation. With an upcoming election, the company has rolled out new policies designed to tackle these problems. The company has also taken steps to fight trolls and online abuse, as well as focus on relevant and useful content.

    The end result has been an increase in the “average monetisable daily active users (mDAU), or users who see ads when logged in through twitter.com or Twitter applications,” according to Reuters.

    As a result, Twitter’s stock closed at $38.41 a share, up 15%.

  • Clearview AI Expanding Internationally—With Authoritarian Regimes

    Clearview AI Expanding Internationally—With Authoritarian Regimes

    In further proof that Clearview AI can’t be trusted, BuzzFeed News is reporting the facial recognition firm is planning on selling its services to authoritarian regimes.

    Clearview claims to have scraped over 3 billion photos from millions of websites, including the major social media platforms. The company then makes those photos available, in a searchable database, to hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country.

    According to BuzzFeed, “a document obtained via a public records request reveals that Clearview has been touting a ‘rapid international expansion’ to prospective clients using a map that highlights how it either has expanded, or plans to expand, to at least 22 more countries, some of which have committed human rights abuses.”

    Three of the countries are the United Arab Emirates, which is known for cracking down on dissidents, as well as Qatar and Singapore, both of which have far more restrictive human rights laws than Western countries.

    In an interview with BuzzFeed, Albert Fox Cahn, a fellow at New York University and the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, expressed concern about the implications of the software being used by oppressive regimes.

    “It’s deeply alarming that they would sell this technology in countries with such a terrible human rights track record, enabling potentially authoritarian behavior by other nations,” he said.

    Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That has been defending his company amid growing scrutiny and concern over the legality and ethics of its behavior. The New Jersey Attorney General recently enacted a moratorium on police departments using the company’s service. Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube have sent cease-and-desist letters to Clearview. Now, as lawmakers increasingly turn their attention toward the company, it’s a safe bet this latest news will not help Clearview’s case.

  • Byte Dealing With Spam Bots

    Byte Dealing With Spam Bots

    Byte made headlines when the Vine successor was released on January 24, aiming to fill the void left by Vine’s shuttering. In the intervening 36 hours, the new service has had its hands full with spam bots.

    In a blog post, founder Dom Hofmann acknowledged the problem and vowed to address it.

    “I wanted to post an update and make it clear that we’re aware of the issues with comment spam and more widely with certain types of comments,” writes Hofmann. “This is our top priority and we’re working very hard to address it. It should be noticeably better than it was 24 hours ago and should continue to improve over the next little while.”

    Hofmann also said the Byte team is working on video moderation, the ability to like comments and the ability “to block/filter/limit commenting.”

    The new features should go a long way toward mitigating the type of bots that have become the bane of social media. In the meantime, Hofmann thanked the community for the positive reception the app has received.

    “We are so thankful for the positive reception so far and I promise we’ll do right by it. Thank you for everything and please keep sharing what you’re thinking about with us.”

    As the app gains in popularity, it will be interesting to see how companies will use it to connect with customers. With its six-second, short-form videos, the new service will provide challenges and opportunities alike for concentrated communication.

  • CES 2020: Upcoming Twitter Feature Will Let You Control Who Replies To Tweets

    CES 2020: Upcoming Twitter Feature Will Let You Control Who Replies To Tweets

    Twitter announced an upcoming feature being tested that would let individuals control who replies to their tweets, according Mashable’s Karissa Bell, who was in attendance at Twitter’s presentation.

    Twitter has been struggling for years to combat online trolls, harassment and misinformation. The platform has been described as “toxic” and individuals and companies alike have often been victim of “its rush-to-judgment culture.”

    Twitter’s proposed new feature may go a long way toward changing that. According to Bell, the “upcoming feature will let you control who can reply to your tweet as you compose it, there will be the ability to limit replies to followers, people who are mentioned in the tweet, or no replies at all.”

    This will help prevent threads from being hijacked by trolls and devolving into the very kind of argument Twitter has become known for. As Mashable highlights, “for Twitter users who often become targets of abuse and harassment, the ability to limit replies could have a dramatic impact on their experience as it could prevent their conversations from getting spammed with unwanted replies. And many Twitter users were quick to praise the experiment as a welcome change.”

    The feature is still in testing and available to a limited number of users, but here’s to hoping it rolls out to all Twitter users soon rather than later.

  • Microsoft Introduces Bing Pages To Help Individuals & Companies Manage Their Brands

    Microsoft Introduces Bing Pages To Help Individuals & Companies Manage Their Brands

    First reported by MSPoweruser, Microsoft has unveiled Bing Pages, a new way “for brands to manage their public personas on Microsoft products like Bing and Outlook.”

    When searching for a well-known or popular person, company or brand, Bing will often display enhanced search results that provide far more—and usually more visually appealing—information than a standard search. With Bing Pages, Microsoft aims to bring those results to everyone. The program is currently in beta.

    According to the official site, “Bing Pages is a beta program that lets users manage their presence on Microsoft products such as Bing and Outlook.com….Participants who sign up for this program get their own page on Bing to highlight their contact information and social media channels. They can also promote social media posts in relevant search results–at no cost.Businesses can use Bing Pages to customize their Outlook profile with updated contact info, images, and content. These changes also appear in Bing search results.”

    The signup page is available to everyone and only requires an email address and Twitter account to get started.

  • Instagram Deploying AI to Help Combat Online Bullying

    Instagram Deploying AI to Help Combat Online Bullying

    Many a parent has taught their children to pause and count to 10 before replying, especially when provoked. Unfortunately, in the digital age, such restraint has become a rare thing. It seems that Instagram, however, is working on bringing it back.

    According to a blog post, the company has launched an AI-based tool to help identify captions on photos and videos that could be considered offensive or bullying, and give people “a chance to pause and reconsider their words before posting.” This builds on a similar AI-based feature rolled out in July that notified individuals when their comments might be considered offensive, giving them a chance to change them.

    By rolling this feature out to include photo and video captions, Instagram hopes it will further help combat bullying, as well as inform people of what is and is not acceptable.

    “Today, when someone writes a caption for a feed post and our AI detects the caption as potentially offensive, they will receive a prompt informing them that their caption is similar to those reported for bullying. They will have the opportunity to edit their caption before it’s posted.

    “In addition to limiting the reach of bullying, this warning helps educate people on what we don’t allow on Instagram, and when an account may be at risk of breaking our rules. To start, this feature will be rolling out in select countries, and we’ll begin expanding globally in the coming months.”

    As social media companies are increasingly under scrutiny for how they handle bullying and hate speech—with some accusing them of censorship and others accusing them of not doing enough—Instagram seems to be finding a nice balance.

  • Twitter Making Changes Globally to Comply With Privacy Laws

    Twitter Making Changes Globally to Comply With Privacy Laws

    Reuters is reporting that Twitter is making changes throughout its platform in an effort to comply with privacy legislation around the world.

    The company is aiming to navigate the different laws and jurisdictions impacting how it collects and uses data. The European Union (EU) passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) last year, one of the most sweeping privacy protection laws in existence. California has its own legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), going into effect January 1, 2020.

    Twitter is planning on moving accounts for users outside the EU and the U.S. “which were previously contracted by Twitter International Company in Dublin, Ireland, to the San Francisco-based Twitter Inc.” This will allow the company to experiment with different privacy features—figuring out what works and what doesn’t—without worrying about infringing on the GDPR.

    “We want to be able to experiment without immediately running afoul of the GDPR provisions,” Damien Kieran, Twitter’s data protection officer, told Reuters in a phone interview. “The goal is to learn from those experiments and then to provide those same experiences to people all around the world.

    Coinciding with these changes, the company has unveiled a new site, the Twitter Privacy Center, in an effort to keep users informed about Twitter’s privacy efforts, as well as give them more control over their data.

  • Top 5 Tools Digital Marketers Should Use for Making Video Explainers

    Top 5 Tools Digital Marketers Should Use for Making Video Explainers

    Video explainers are all the rage now, thanks to sites like Buzzfeed and Tasty.

    The format started to come into its own in 2016 and hasn’t shown any signs of stopping. As a matter of fact, all signs point to videos becoming an even more vital tool in social media marketing. This is due to how easy video creation is nowadays and the benefits it provides businesses.

    Video Explainers Simplified

    Video explainers are quite different from other marketing videos. An explainer video is short and uses attractive visuals to immediately grab the viewer’s attention. It’s informal, educational, and explains an idea in a straightforward, compelling, and engaging manner.

    Benefits of Using Video Explainers

    Explainer videos have shaped up to be effective marketing tools and provide businesses with various benefits. One such benefit is its ability to explain a business idea in as little as 90 seconds. If properly designed, the video’s call-to-action can lead the audience in the direction you want.

    Animated video explainers also target the consumer’s auditive and visual senses, making them more engaging and leaving a stronger recall on the brain. Aside from being informative, these videos are also great educational tools, thus making it easier to turn complex ideas into simple concepts.

    Companies who use explainer video also find that they can build brand awareness and trust more effortlessly. Developing characters that your target audience can relate to also create a strong connection with prospective clients. After all, people are more inclined to be interested and trusting if they empathize with a character.

    Probably the best benefit of using video explainers is that videos are mobile-friendly and highly visible. Startups and established companies alike either offer a mobile app as one of their main products or have developed one that links to their marketing strategy. And with most people on the go all day, mobile devices are the perfect place to showcase content. Utilizing video content also gives your company access to YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine.

    Top 5 Tools for Making Video Explainers

    Animoto

    Animoto is a user-friendly video creator that’s perfect for both regular people who want to create awesome family videos and marketers who need the right explainer for their business. The platform’s marketing video builder is relatively new and doesn’t really have a wide selection of templates. But the ease that one can add extra media or do a voice-over more than makes up for it. Users also have total control over how text from the videos can be optimized, as well as the creation of split screens and video collages.

    Biteable

    Those new to video making would do well to check out Biteable. The online video creator is so easy to use that even beginners will be able to create a memorable animation, infographic videos, slideshows, animated logos, presentations, and ads. Users can utilize any one of Biteable’s templates or choose from the hundreds of photos, live action videos, and different styles of animated scenes. Users can also add their own content, text, photos, and sound to make the video explainer more unique.

    Kizoa

    A movie maker and video editor in one, Kizoa is mostly used for making personal videos but has loads of features that would also help you create compelling explainers. Users can either start from scratch or take advantage of the hundreds of templates that the platform offers. There are also hundreds of animations, effects, and animated texts that can be used. The program also has ready to use GIFs, although users can also make their own with Kizoa’s GIF-creator.

    6 Tools to Help You Create Video for Your Business | Social Media Today

     

    Powtoon

    Social media marketers simply love this animated video tool. Powtoon enables companies to create professional-looking videos in minutes using its drag-and-drop design. The platform’s striking and colorful designs can be customized to fit a company’s needs.

    Renderforest

    Renderforest is another great tool for making video explainers. The animated video maker can also create logo animations and slideshows. The program is free and users can create and export any number of high-quality videos. The platform also offers hundreds of customizable templates, allowing companies to design event invitations, presentations, promotional videos, testimonials and more efficiently and swiftly.  

    [Featured image via videoexplainers.com]

  • Flipboard Gets New Video Ads

    Flipboard Gets New Video Ads

    Flipboard is reportedly expanding its advertising offerings with new video ads. These include short (3 to 8 second) segments aimed at getting users to watch the rest of the video. The segments are referred to as “Cinema Loops”.

    The news comes from VentureBeat, which spoke with Dave Huynh, Flipboard’s head of advertising product. Ken Yeung reports:

    Participating brands will submit their creative files to Flipboard and specify the intervals that they want in the preview clip. Flipboard will handle the processing and everything else. Brands won’t be limited to just one preview clip. As a matter of fact, Huynh said that more is actually better.

    These video ads also include a title and a quick description of what’s going on. Unlike stories, where the description is a snippet from the article, Cinema Loops really features brief descriptions. A call-to-action can be included in the description, but not in the full-length video itself.

    The ads are reportedly charged for per mer impression or per engagement.

    As the company expands its advertising efforts, it’s also doing more to improve the user experience, which should in turn help advertisers.

    We caught up with Flipboard earlier this month as they told us about new algorithmic changes including filtering based on other people’s reading behavior and a new voting system for content. They also have new analytics offerings. More on all of that here.

    Image via Flipboard

  • Slideshare Becomes ‘LinkedIn Slideshare,’ Adds Content Curation Tool

    LinkedIn announced that it is changing Slideshare’s name to LinkedIn Slideshare, and introduced a new content curation tool for it called Clipping.

    Clipping lets users find and save slides from presentations to a clipboard while tapping into LinkedIn data to show more information about the person who created it for credibility’s sake.

    “There’s so much information at our fingertips today, but it’s often hard to separate the good quality content from the noise,” says LinkedIn’s Caroline Gaffney. “With Clipping, research is made easier, and Clipboards are a handy way to keep everything organized by topic. You can also share an individual slide or an entire Clipboard with your networks.”

    “We think you’ll find Clipping to be an extremely useful addition to LinkedIn SlideShare,” adds Gaffney. “But it’s only the beginning. We know building your own brand is more important in today’s professional landscape than ever before, so as we continue to integrate with LinkedIn, we will be exploring more ways to organize the content most valuable to you, make it easier to position yourself as an expert as well as identify experts you want to learn from, and give you the tools you need to further personalize your SlideShare experience.”

    LinkedIn says Slideshare is used by 70 million professionals per month, and that they’ve shared over 18 million “pieces of knowledge”.

    Images via LinkedIn

  • Will Facebook’s Dominance Of Social Ecommerce last?

    Will Facebook’s Dominance Of Social Ecommerce last?

    Facebook is (by far) the leading driver of social media referral traffic to websites and apps. That includes those selling products. While the social network completely dominates the landscape today, new research finds that other networks are growing much faster, while Facebook’s growth has become relatively stagnant.

    Are you comparable (to Facebook) benefits from other social media platforms when it comes to selling products online? Let us know in the comments.

    A new study out from Pew says, “Facebook remains the most popular social media site – 72% of online adults are Facebook users, amounting to 62% of all American adults. Growth on the site has largely plateaued. There has not been a significant change in the overall share of users since 2012. Those on Facebook remain highly engaged with 70% saying they log on daily, including 43% who do so several times a day.”

    “Usage continues to be especially popular among online women, 77% of whom are users,” it says. “In addition, 82% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, along with 79% of those ages 30 to 49, 64% of those ages 50 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older.”

    Last month, Facebook reported having 1.49 billion monthly active users. It had 968 million daily active users.

    According to the Pew study, both Pinterest and Instagram are really on the rise when it comes to people using them every day. Luckily for Facebook, it owns one of those.

    In September of 2014, 49% of Instagram users reported using the site every day. Just since then, it’s already climbed to 59%. How much higher will it be in another year?

    Pinterest has doubled its users since 2012. 27% of those use it daily. That’s up from 17% last September.

    A couple months ago we looked at research from commerce data provider Jirafe, which looked at the impact of Pinterest and Facebook across 80,000 profitable ecommerce sites. It found that Facebook visitors spent 3.5X more than the average visitors from Pinterest, and Facebook traffic converted 17% higher, though the conversion rates for both sources were still less than 1%. Still, Facebook drove much greater traffic at a ratio of 8:1.

    The study also found that Facebook drove 23X more orders than Pinterest for merchants over the first five months of the year. Across Jirafe’s merchant base Facebook also drove $32 in revenue for every $1 that Pinterest generated.

    Later that month, we looked at research from BI Intelligence, which measured the impact of social media on ecommerce by looking at conversion rates, average order value, and revenue generated by shares, likes, and tweets. It found that that social is already driving “much bigger” increases in retail traffic than any other online channel with referrals having increased about 200% between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015. It also found that Facebook continued to grow its lead as the dominant social commerce platform, accounting for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of total social revenue.

    Earlier this month, research from ChannelAdvisor come out looking at online retail trends based on a poll of 200 online retailers including 100 in the US and 100 in the UK. It also showed that Facebook is performing better than Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and others in terms of conversions from social media platforms for the vast majority of those polled. About two thirds (64%) said Facebook creates the most sales conversions for their businesses. The number is about the same in both countries. 19% said Twitter, while 9% said Instagram, and just 5% said Pinterest, which is often looked looked upon as the ecommerce darling of social media. 2% said “other”.

    Facebook is doing more than anyone to become a better means of selling products. Beyond its buy button functionality, it’s testing various features, including the ability to shop from Facebook Pages and even a new “Buy & Sell” feature from its main navigation, which will point users to places to buy (and sell) things, basically transforming Facebook into an ecommerce marketplace.

    At the same time, it’s facing increasing competition on ecommerce features from Twitter and Pinterest, not to mention other non-social channels.

    Long story short, Facebook looks like it’s going to be your best means of social media-generated sales for the foreseeable future, but don’t sleep on efforts from rivals, particularly Pinterest. Also, you’re going to want to keep a close eye on the tools Instagram makes available to you as it’s only becoming more of a staple of people’s everyday lives.

    Do you think Facebook continue to dominate social ecommerce by such a wide margin, or do you see the playing field becoming a bit more level? Let us know what you think.

  • Looks Like Instagram Is Going to Be A Pretty Good Advertising Option

    Looks Like Instagram Is Going to Be A Pretty Good Advertising Option

    Salesforce is sharing data around early performance and cost numbers related to Instagram advertising campaigns over the past month. The companies partner via Salesforce Marketing Cloud products like social,com, Active Audiences, and Social Studio.

    Do you expect Instagram to be a major part of your advertising efforts as time goes on? Let us know in the comments.

    “Instagram is a relatively new platform for digital advertising, but initial results show it has the potential to be a powerful one,” says Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Scott McCorkle. “Our results show that engagement on ads is high. We are excited to be working with great brands and agencies around the world to kickstart advertising to more than 300 million Instagram users.”

    According to the data, the overall click-through rate (CTR) is 1.50%, compared to a CTR of 0.84% in Q1 2015 on Facebook. Instagram has a global CPM of $6.29, Salesforce says, adding that this is an “early indicator” and about 90% higher than Facebook’s overall global CPM in Q1. The CPC for the ads is $0.42, which is two cents higher than Facebook ads.

    “The high engagement rate can likely be attributed to Instagram’s premium, large-format ad type,” a spokesperson for Salesforce tells WebProNews. “According to a recent report from eMarketer, Instagram is expected to represent over 10% of Facebook’s global revenues by 2017.”

    Instagram said last month it would make ads available to businesses of all sizes in the fall. The company’s director of marketing operations told eMarkter:

    We’ve spent the last 18 months establishing the platform for large brands. The next logical step is to empower businesses of all sizes. Being able to target narrower segments and achieve different types of objectives is essential. We want to offer a complete solution that allows businesses to purchase through self-serve interfaces and achieve the objectives they want to achieve.

    We’re testing the action-oriented formats and buying through the API now, and we will be doing that through the summer with select partners and clients. Then we’ll be opening up globally and to all advertisers in the early fall timeframe.

    Earlier this month, Instagram’s API Partner Program launched, opening the gates for much more advertising on the service. Third-party API partners include Salesforce, Hootsuite, Kenshoo, Ampush, Nanigans, SocialCode, Brand Networks, Unified, and 4C.

    A Salesforce spokesperson told us about its integration at the time, “The integration allows marketers to use Social.com for managing advertising campaigns at scale, Active Audiences to unlock and sync CRM data in Salesforce to optimize advertising and Social Studio for publishing, engagement, customer service, and analytics.”

    “Instagram is the mobile marketer’s platform of choice for a highly engaged and growing audience,” says Jesse Pujji, CEO and co-founder of Ampush. “It presents a great opportunity to deliver in-feed, mobile advertising at true scale with its user base of over 300 million monthly active users. AMP’s integration with Instagram will allow our customers to advertise across a visually dynamic environment for consumers with a highly active community. Our strategic and in-house creative expertise, paired with our marketing solutions, delivers a unique ability to bridge audience engagement with revenue.”

    Pew has new research out showing significant growth in user engagement on Instagram. Last September, 49% of Instagram users were using it every day. The number is now up to 59%.

    If you’re looking to improve your Instagram marketing efforts, check out this infographic from “social media scientist” Dan Zarrella on the “science” of Instagram:

    More on Salesforce’s findings here.

    Are you excited about the potential of Instagram ads? Let us know in the comments.

    Image via Instagram