Hey this is Chia from Brand24 and welcome to our latest episode of the #SocialRecap - our
weekly rundown of all the latest highlights in social media & digital
marketing news. So, this week we’re recapping the latest changes in Facebook
- changes that have affected the way others use the platform, and that may
affect the way you do, as well. So,
you've probably heard about the Facebook
& Cambridge Analytica scandal. If not, here’s a quick Recap:
Cambridge analytics is the political
consulting firm that has been linked to
using sketchy digital methods to swing the last US presidential election via
Facebook. How? Well, a now former employee at the consulting firm had created an
app for a personality quiz on Facebook.
it basically collected private data from
any users who took the quiz and due to a
loophole in Facebook's API
it was also harvesting private data from
all the Facebook friends of those quiz
takers. They were reported to be using
the data to create fake news in order to
swing votes and of course selling that
data that they had collected from
Facebook. So, while these actions
certainly had not been condoned by
Facebook itself, the main issue here is
security. A third-party developer was
able to engineer an app and harvest all
kinds of personal data from Facebook
users who interacted with it. Plus a
loophole had made it possible for them
to also mined data from the Facebook
friends of those users all without their
knowledge or consent.
It was pretty far-reaching. Facebook
users advertisers and businesses
everywhere are kind of freaking out of
them about the security breach.
Which brings us to a few major results
of the scandal. Big names like Brian
Acton and Elon Musk have seriously been
distancing themselves from Facebook
after the Cambridge Analytica Scandal.
In case you've forgotten, Facebook bought
whatsapp for, about, $19 billion
back in 2014, making their CEO Brian Acton,
a billionaire. But that hasn’t stopped him from jumping onto the #DeleteFacebook
bandwagon. And even Elon Musk has followed suit. When Acton went live and
When Acton went live and tweeted “It’s time. #DeleteFacebook.” Musk replied with “What’s
Facebook?”. A cheeky fan threw in his 2 cents with “Delete the
SpaceX page on Facebook if you’re the Man,” to which Musk responded with
“Didn’t realize there was one. Will do.” 
Shortly after this exchange, the Tesla
& SpaceX pages could no longer be found on Facebook. And a few big
brands are also following suit. Mozilla and CommerzBank have pulled their
advertising spend from Facebook, stating that they won’t be back until the social
network can ensure better protection of user data. So how has Facebook been
responding to this series of unfortunate events? One way is by reshaping the
way that their advertisers are able to target specific audiences. Just last
month, without any public announcement, Facebook low-key removed the “Interested in”
field from the relationship section in user profiles. Previously, Facebook
users could indicate whether they were interested in Men or Women, making it
possible for advertisers to target audiences based on sexual orientation.
Now, this is no longer possible. Naturally, any changes that result in less-specific
targeting will be met with mixed feelings, especially by advertisers. But
it seems to be necessary as Facebook figures out the best way to regulate and
protect their user data. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has recently apologized
for the Cambridge Analytica scandal in a very long and public post directly
from his profile on the social network, as well as in an interview on CNN,
stating: “This was a major breach of trust, and I’m really sorry this happened. Our
responsibility now is to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” They also took
out full-page print ads in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the
Wall Street Journal, and 6 other UK papers, featuring, in bold, an apology from
Facebook: “We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we
don’t deserve it.” So, from his own profile on facebook, Zuckerberg explained the
the Cambridge Analytica situation to his readers and added a basic outline of the
steps that social network HAS and WILL BE taking to ensure data security.
This includes first conducting a full audit of any apps that could have had
access to large amounts of data, prior to changes they made to their platform in
2014 to try to reduce data access.
Secondly, they’ll be putting
more restrictions on developer access to user data. For example, if you’re a
Facebook user who hasn’t used an app in 3 months, Facebook will be removing
access to your data for that app. And the app will only be able to access your
name, profile picture, and e-mail address. Other changes are coming soon. Thirdly,
Facebook will be actively reminding users about the apps that they’ve
allowed to access their data. There IS currently a way view this in your
Privacy Settings. But now, Facebook will be making this information available
from your News Feed. So you’ll be able to see which apps you’ve used, and you can
easily revoke any permissions to your data. This is all part of Facebook’s
multi-step plan designed to reduce the amount of data that is shared by users
with third-party developers. We expect to see more changes to the platform
soon - and, hopefully, they’ll result in tighter security. And, that’s enough
social media news for today. Now it’s time to take a look at some digital
marketing Tools. Our 2 favorite tools of the week are Boost Linguistics
and BannerSnack. Boost Linguistics is AI and natural language processing
software that helps digital marketers engage with their audience. By analyzing
your content for sentiment and other emotional cues, the algorithm helps
marketers get a sense of how their audience may relate to their copy.
BannerSnack is an online banner creator that helps you design and build your
advertising campaigns. It’s a tool that lets you play around with different
layouts, backgrounds, animations, colors and more to create dedicated banners for
your campaigns. It’s straightforward and easy-to-use, similar to Canva. And
that’s it for this week’s episode of the #SocialRecap! Don’t want
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So now we’re all caught for this week! Thank you for listening and
watching - thanks for tuning in to the #SocialRecap! See you next time! Bye!
