#TheDailyThree - April 3, 2018

Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts.

Facebook has added a small feature that will have big rewards for brands + made further attempts to dispel the spread of false news from perpetrators both domestic + abroad.

1. You can now send HD videos (720p) + 360° photos through Facebook messenger. This may seem like an extremely small feature addition, but with the way brands are utilizing bots + messenger ads, this is a great way for creative teams to enhance that experience.

2. Furthering their attempts to dispel the spread of false news, Facebook has rolled out details on news stories to users including info on the publisher, the history of the article + related topics. Not a bad move + I'd like to see this across other networks.

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3. Speaking of which, Zuckerberg today announced in a post on his Facebook page that they've deleted over 270 pages + accounts operated by a Russian organization called the Internet Research Agency. Furthermore, FB also revealed examples of content the IRA created.

#TheDailyThree - March 27, 2018

Welcome to another edition of #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. While I continue to believe that Facebook's troubles are a part of a passing storm, they're still dominating the news cycle so we're going to talk about it.

1. CNN reports that Zuckerberg will testify before congress regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The House Energy + Commerce Committee looks to Zuck for detailed info on how Facebook dealt with the firm during the period it collected the data in question.

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2. Another day, another lawsuit for Facebook. A civil rights group is alleging that Facebook allowed advertisers to exclude gender, family makeup + race in housing ads which goes against the Fair Housing Act. Facebook says they will defend themselves "vigorously."

3. I can't help but think how excited Google, Facebook's primary competitor, must be right now. The first month or so of the year saw YouTube getting unfavorable news coverage night after night + it's all but vanished after Facebook's scandal took over.

#TheDailyThree - March 26, 2018

Happy Monday! Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in tech + a few thoughts. Today Twitter is getting out of the cryptocurrency game, the FTC is getting into the Facebook game, and you don't have to look at your ex's friend request anymore.

1. Following Facebook + Google, Twitter will now cease to allow cryptocurrency ads on it's platform, explaining that the move is meant to protect its users from fraud and/or deception. Important to note that less than 1% of crypto sales come from digital ads.

2. The FTC confirmed that they're investigating Facebook's privacy policies after news of their role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Recent headlines have had an adverse effect on the brand w/ their stock plummeting & public trust at an all time low.

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3. Meanwhile, Facebook continues to make changes to try and make the experience on their network better. Today they have started automatically deleting friend requests over 2 weeks old in an attempt to "assist people with managing unwanted friend requests."

#TheDailyThree - March 23, 2018

Happy Friday! Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Closing the week out with three stories on, what else, Facebook.

1. Elon Musk has inexplicably deleted the Facebook pages for SpaceX + Tesla, abandoning a combined 5.2M users. He tweeted that he wasn't even aware that there was Facebook pages for them, which honestly is hardly believable & I'm not sure what this accomplishes.

2. A few advertisers decided to pull Facebook ads w/ Mozilla leading the pack + Sonos following suit (just for a week, according to them.) Again, not sure what this accomplishes other than being a PR stunt. The less advertisers the better for brands sticking w/ it.

3. Facebook's been hit w multiple shareholder lawsuits citing "violations of federal securities laws, unfair competition + negligence." I truly believe that they'll weather the storm but also that there'll be significant company-wide changes in the next 6 months.

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#TheDailyThree - March 22, 2018

Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today Instagram and Snapchat have launched a new features, plus an updated algorithm for Instagram’s newsfeeds.

1. Instagram has finally allowed users to put clickable hashtag + profile links in bios, allowing users to visit profiles + hashtags directly. Combined w/ the new ability to follow hashtags, this is an opportunity to refresh branded hashtag campaigns.

2. Snap has launched a new feature called Map Explore which allows users to easily see where their friends are + have been, creating a new take on the newsfeed. One has to wonder about privacy concerns though, especially w/ what FB is dealing with at the moment.

3. Instagram updated their algorithm to show new posts higher in the feed, seemingly in response to criticism they’ve received from users sick of seeing days old content. It feels like somewhat of a compromise to those harking back to the days of chronological.

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#TheDailyThree - March 20, 2018

Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts.

We're talking Facebook, today. C'mon.

1. Facebook is surely at a crossroads. How they handle the next 6 months will determine the long term outcome of the company. Zuckerberg + Sanders have been arguing at length on how to handle the Cambridge Analytics scandal, but neither have addressed the public.

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2. It's not going away, either. A UK parliamentary committee has asked Zuck to testify about Facebook's data handling, New York + Massachusetts are investigating them over the Cambridge Analytical debacle, and the FTC is investigating whether they broke the law.

3. While FB has claimed that they are "outraged" that they were deceived, the world is at a bit of a standstill until Zuckerberg himself makes a full-fledged on the record statement on their status. He's set to speak at Facebook's weekly all-hands meeting Friday.

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#TheDailyThree - March 19, 2018

After a short break, we're back at it with #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today features a new Instagram feature that I’m sure will takeover Stories for a while + the endless PR disaster spiral that Facebook can’t escape.

1. Instagram has launched a “regram” feature, but not for feeds. Users can now repost newsfeed content into their stories, where they can add additional commentary, extending the lifespan of content outside of the algorithm. Expect to see a LOT of this. 

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2. Facebook cannot escape its bad press, seemingly being entrenched in a new scandal daily. The most recent has been involving data firm Cambridge Analytica misusing data for the Trump Campaign, which has called into question their ability to safeguard user data. 

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3. Facebook’s negative press tour has led to the rise of #DeleteFacebook, of which they should not take lightly. Facebook’s own security chief has left the company over their involvement in Russia’s election meddling scandal. A solution does not seem to be close. 

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#TheDailyThree - March 13, 2018

Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap of three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today’s 3 include LEGO for building websites on your phone, why chronological sucks, and more bad PR for Facebook.

1. As mobile gobbles up more + more of all traffic, one company is looking to make building a full website on your phone as easy as using Instagram. Launched in 2017, Universe describes it’s product as “LEGO” for building websites + is virtually w/o competitors.

2. A rumor has been going around that Instagram is testing chronological, + that’s just what it is: a rumor. They’ve officially put a kibosh on the idea + for good reason. I couldn’t possibly explain why better than @JuiceboxCA’s thread:  

    3. Facebook isn’t just dealing w dangerous content in the US. The UN says that FB is “contributing to the spread of hate speech + ethnic violence in crisis-hit Myanmar.” They’re still on top of the world but a mass exodus isn’t out of the question in the next 5 years.

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      #TheDailyThree - March 12, 2018

      Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today’s #TheDailyThree features stories on Giphy, tweet decking and #TimesUpAdvertising.

      1. Over the weekend Snapchat + Instagram temporarily removed their new & decently popular Giphy integration due to the availability of a racist gif. Giphy explained themselves + said they’ve remedied the situation, yet as of this time it hasn’t been reintegrated.

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      2. In an effort to combat spam, Twitter has suspended multiple accounts accused of ‘tweetdecking,’ a technique where accounts w/ a lot of followers RT each other’s content to force virality. Many of these accounts are also accused of stealing content.

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      3. 180 female advertising leaders today announced #TimesUpAdvertising, an initiative aimed at bringing sexual harassment + gender inequality issues in the ad industry to a halt. The group is calling on EVERY agency to get on board via a letter released today. 

      #TheDailyThree - March 8, 2018

      Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today Snap steals a feature from Instagram, Twitter steals a feature from Facebook, and Science Magazine tells us what we all long expected.

      1. Snapchat has taken a page from IG’s playbook + added the ability to tag other users, allowing viewers to see the tagged user’s profile @ a glance. For a company so innovative, they’re  always late to add nearly every obvious feature that would improve the UX.

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      2. Speaking of taking pages from playbooks, Twitter is toying of opening verification to everyone, much like Facebook does w/ pages. Understandably, verification was a was to confirm identity but has instead been viewed as credibility. This is a playfield leveler.

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      3. In the unsurprising news of the day, Science Magazine published a paper stating that false news spreads 70% faster than real news. Contrary to what one would think, bots did not account for the stat, but rather a human emotional response. #TheDailyThree

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      #TheDailyThree - March 7, 2018

      Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re talking Snap’s layoffs, hollywood using AR to market films and a thought about voice.

      1. Snap is laying off ~100 employees, the bulk of which are part of its engineering staff. With Instagram eating up most of its core features, this is natural as Snap is in a transitional stage where they’ll attempt to reinvent themselves to stay competitive. 

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      2. The Jurassic Park franchise is marketing its latest entry by releasing a Pokemon Go-style AR game featuring giant dinosaurs. If done well, this is a great way to keep the franchise in the consciousness of consumers right up to release day on June 22nd. 

      3. Zenith Media EVP Tom Goodwin thinks that we’re getting too caught up in voice, but is he right? Voicebot.ai issued a report saying that 47.3M US adults have access to smart speaker, a stat that will surely grow. The marketing potential is untapped. 

      #TheDailyThree - March 5, 2018

      Facebook. Facebook. Facebook. That’s what today’s #TheDailyThree is all about. #TheDailyThree is a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Let’s begin!

      1. Facebook has apologized for asking users their thoughts on pedophilia in a policy survey, calling the decision a “mistake.” The question under fire asked users thoughts on “a private message in which an adult man asks a 14-year-old girl for sexual pictures.”

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      2. Facebook is still trying to figure out original programming & they’ve tapped former Buzzfeed Studio head Matthew Henick to help. He will serve as head of content planning and strategy, calling Facebook “a storytelling platform at its core.”

      3. Facebook has added another chapter to it’s algorithm saga by adding a Breaking News tag top publishers can use to label important content 1x/day for up to 6 hours. While the tag itself will have no effect on content’s ranking, it will be a valuable visual cue.

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      #TheDailyThree - March 2, 2018

      It’s the Friday edition of #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re ending the week how we started: Vero’s wild ride. Additionally we’re talking about Instagram’s rise and what’s in store for the future. 

      1. Vero has had quite a wild week. They went from being the hot new “it” network to #DeleteVero in just a few days. Despite all that they are ending the week w/ 3M users + insisting that they are here to stay. Unless they fix their broken app, no. They’re not.

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      2. While Vero may have 3M users, Instagram now has the eyes of a third of all US adults. A Pew Research survey found that 35% of all US adults use the app, up 7% from last year. While Facebook still is the king, it definitely feels like a deep shift is happening. 

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      3. Instagram continues to become more and more robust, now confirming that they are indeed working on adding voice + video calling to the app. @IshanAgarwal24’s scoop went viral, breaking the story by finding the following icons + files in Instagram’s code. 

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      #TheDailyThree - March 1, 2018

      Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap of three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re talking Facebook and Twitter and all the things they do to drive us crazy.

      1. Businesses will now be able to advertise to users that have already interacted w/ them in Facebook Messenger using Broadcasts, a feature that will have to be used VERY carefully in order to not piss people off, let alone sway people away from Messenger entirely.

      2. Twitter seems to be FINALLY acknowledging the at times very negative impact it has had on shaping the way the world communicates, + is looking for help to fix its issues. Read all about it from this thread by @Jack himself:

      3. Facebook is pulling its Explore feed test that saw news content exist entirely in a separate area than the newsfeed, which would have been a deathblow to publishers. Pointing out the obvious, they announced that “people don’t want two separate feeds.”

      #TheDailyThree - February 28, 2018

      Welcome to a mid-week #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re talking Twitter’s new Bookmarks feature, a big casualty of Facebook’s new algorithm changes, and yet another attempt by Facebook to steal marketshare.

      1. Twitter rolled out Bookmarks to all users, allowing people to privately save tweets for later (à la Pocket) instead of having to like them, as many previously did. It may seem like a small deal but if Twitter wants to woo publishers this is a valuable feature.

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      2. Speaking of publishers, the 1st major casualty of Facebook’s algorithm change is Little Things, who shuttered today blaming a 75% drop in traffic on the social media site. This is a valuable lesson to all publishers that self reliance is the key to longevity.

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      3. Facebook is trying to do what they do best: Steal marketshare. This time the target in LinkedIn, as FB has begun to put an emphasis on job posts. Jobs now has it’s own section on the site + business pages will be able to post (and of course advertise) listings.

      #TheDailyThree - February 27, 2018

      Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap of three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re talking about the 24 hour rise and fall of Vero, Facebook’s attempt at transparency and a strange turn of events for Snapchat.

      1. Vero’s popularity was short lived. News of CEO + Co-founder Ayman Hariri's dirty past came out pretty quickly as well as their questionable policy on tracking your data. It’s also impossible to delete your account. You have to request it from them.

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      2. You may have seen this pop up in your newsfeed on Facebook. They have been notifying users on specifically how they use facial recognition + if your is on or off. Facebook is at a crucial crossroads re: privacy + data, so I expect to see a lot more of this. 

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      3. In an interesting turn of events (that will surely be short lived), curiosity over Snapchat’s controversial redesign has inspired an increase of 322k app installs this week over last. W/ these new users, Snap has an opportunity to woo fresh eyes. But will they

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      #TheDailyThree - February 26, 2018

      It’s the end of Monday! You made it! Catch up on today’s news with #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re discussing the Vero craze and a few cool new features from YouTube and Facebook.

      1. The past few days have been ablaze w/ talk of Vero, an ambitious social media site promising the algorithm + ad-free experience users crave. It will eventually require paid access but they’re currently offering the 1st million users free lifetime memberships. 

      2. YouTube is rolling out automatic captions for live streams, a technology that surely will be replicated by other platforms very soon. This is the result of the way & environment in which people consume content, largely on mobile + often without wanting sound. 

      3. Facebook has added “Voice Clips” as a type of status update. This is interesting because as podcasts increase even more in popularity, short voice clips might be an interesting way for both user + brands to create content.

      #TheDailyThree - February 23, 2018

      It’s the Friday edition of #TheDailyThree, a weekday recap featuring three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today we’re closing out the week with news on Dropbox’s IPO, some interesting Snapchat ads and Twitch evolving.

      1. 10 years after launch, Dropbox is finally going public. Although the company has been losing money in each of the past 3 years, their revenue and user base have been increasing, lessening the burden more + more each year. It’s definitely a tool I use daily.

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      2. Snapchat is FINALLY developing a better ecommerce strategy.They launched an AR campaign around the new Jordans during NBA All Star weekend in LA + sold out. This is a good sign that they are conceding that business & ads NEED to be part of their game plan.

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      3. Twitch is launching it's first live game show, which shows a natural and exciting evolution in not just the platform, but game streaming in general. 'Stream On’ begins on 3/8 + will feature 14 personalities competing for 11 weeks for a grand prize of $60k, which honestly is a fraction of what many Twitch mega-stars make, which can easily surpass 6 figures annually.

      #TheDailyThree - February 22, 2018

      Welcome back to #TheDailyThree, a daily roundup of three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today’s stories include a tweet that cost Snap $1.5B overnight, plus Facebook improving their ad metrics and NOT improving their fake news problem.

      1. Snapchat’s redesign crisis got worse. They lost $1.5B in market value in just a day due to a solitary tweet from Kylie Jenner. This is a unique opportunity to see how one voice can be such a strong indicator of public opinion.

      2. Facebook Ads, while perhaps the most advanced + nuanced platform in the biz, has always struggled w/ metrics. They've announced an effort to make them more transparent, including removing 20 deemed "redundant, outdated, not actionable or infrequently used." 

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      3. Speaking of Facebook, Larry Kim exposed how they’ve done little to nothing to thwart fake news + ads by getting 5k views in an hour on fake content spending just $50. I get the feeling that a watershed moment is coming should this continue through midterms.

      #TheDailyThree - February 21, 2018

      It’s a hump day #TheDailyThree! Welcome back to a daily roundup of three top stories in digital + a few thoughts. Today’s stories are a bit drenched in politics, including an overnight Twitter purge, outcry over a trending video on YouTube + Snapchat responds to THAT petition. 

      1. Twitter caused a meltdown by deleting thousands of Russian bot accounts overnight, seemingly equating to a mass of followers being depleted from conservative power users’ accounts. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a lot of censorship conspiracy theories.  

      2. YouTube apologized profusely for allowing a video to massively trend alleging that one of the child survivors of the Parkland Shooting was a paid “crisis actor.” It is abhorrent that such grotesque propaganda can be given such attention, let alone hosting.

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      3. Snapchat responded to the Change.org petition signed by 1.2M users to reverse the redesign that has irked a large portion of their user base. They defended the reasoning behind the redesign + promised to address SOME issues w/ updates in the coming weeks.

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