Want to know what’s brewing in social media this week? Dig in and find out what TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are up to.
Pinterest Confidentially Applies For Stock Listing
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Pinterest has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a stock market listing.
Why it matters: An initial public offering is expected to add significant monetary value to the company.
The details: Per The Wall Street Journal, the company is seeking a late June listing that would be underwritten by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. At the moment, Pinterest hosts 250 million monthly active users and makes its money from serving as a platform for online shopping and offering advertising options but it’s not clear how well those efforts have been paying off. The stock, however, will value the company at $12 billion or more, The Journal reported.
TikTok To Launch Biddable Ads
According to Adweek, TikTok is working on a biddable advertising option on the platform.
Why it matters: Biddable ad feature, in which advertisers will be bidding against one another for the ad impressions, will make the platform accessible to more marketers.
The details: At the moment, TikTok offers only advertisers direct IO (insertion order) buys, meaning an advertiser works directly with the platform to buy and place ads. TikTok began testing ads in the U.S. in 2019, and will be offering four different ad formats, Adweek reported: in-feed video ads, brand takeover ads that appear when a user first opens the app during the takeover period, banner ads that would inspire TikTok users to participate in brand-designed video challenges, and branded lenses that a TikTok user may select to use in their own videos.
Travel Marketers To Increase Spending On Facebook and Instagram Ads in 2019
A survey, conducted by Qualtrics for a tech firm Sojern, showed that in 2019, 55 percent of 611 marketers surveyed worldwide intend to increase spending on Facebook and Instagram above all other media.
Why it matters: Millennials and Gen Z’s wanderlust has been covered extensively. Right now, the best way to reach these audiences is via, arguably, the most aspirational platform, Instagram, or the most popular one, Facebook.
The details: According to the survey, many travel marketers will employ new Facebook audience targeting options within destinations, hotels, and flights. Jackie Lamping, vice president of marketing at Sojern, told Skift, “It used to be several years ago that Facebook and Instagram were just branding plays. Whereas now you can use them to target new audiences and deliver personalized messages and drive direct bookings and do retargeting and also do brand-building.” Other tools travel marketers plan to get busy with include Facebook Travel Ads, Facebook and Instagram Stories and a photo- and video- montage. It is also important to mention that according to the survey, marketers intend to shift more of their dollars to Instagram to target younger audiences who favor the photo app over Facebook.
Marc Zuckerberg Discusses Targeted Advertisements With Harvard Professor
Harvard Law Today reported that Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Harvard Professor Jonathan Zittrain had a 100-minute discussion about encryption, “information fiduciaries” and targeted advertisements on February 11, as a part of Harvard’s Techtopia series.
Why it matters: During the discussion, Zuckerberg touched upon many users and marketers’ pain points and concerns, including target advertising, “Clear History” feature and his take on Facebook’s potential ad-free subscription model.
The details: According to Harvard Law Today, when discussing advertising with Zuckerberg, Zittrain said, “I imagine it might be possible to issue me a score of how much I’ve earned for Facebook this year. It could simply say ‘this is how much we collected on the basis of you, in particular, being exposed to an ad,’” which in Zittrain’s opinion, could lead to a conversation about an ad-free Facebook subscription model.
To which Zuckerberg, replied, “Are we going to let people pay to have different controls on data use than other people? And my answer to that is a hard no.” Facebook’s CEO then described an upcoming feature, “Clear History,” which would let users delete some of the data that Facebook accumulates about its users for ad targeting purposes.
Zuckerberg and Zittrain’s conversation transcript can be found here.
Digital Ads Will Surpass Traditional For The First Time
As reported by Forbes and Washington Post, eMarketer predicts digital advertising will overtake traditional for the first time this year.
Why it matters: In a natural shift, marketers have been spending more on programmatic, social and digital media. Amazon looks to benefit quite a bit.
The details: According to the report, advertisers will spend $129.34 billion on digital ads this year compared to 109.48 billion on traditional advertising. Traditional ad spend will reportedly decline from $114.84 billion in 2018 to $104.32 billion in 2021. During that same period, digital ad spending will climb up from $108.64 billion to $172.29 billion.
As per eMarketer, Amazon is seeing strong results, even though it ranks No. 3 in digital ad revenue share. Amazon’s ad business will surge by 50 percent, and it is closing the gap between itself and Facebook (22.1 percent).
LinkedIn Is Developing Intelligent Hiring Experience
Ebn reported on Wednesday that LinkedIn will merge its LinkedIn Recruiter, Jobs and Pipeline Builder features into one product—the Intelligent Hiring Experience—in summer 2019.
Why it matters: The new upgrade should make both hiring and applying process more convenient and organized.
The details: The service will allow messages between recruiters and potential talent to be shared with HR professionals and hiring managers, as well as let the recruiter and corporate hiring teams exchange notes on each candidate. The new AI will also take into an account previously suggested candidates’ hiring status, as it modifies its personalized algorithm.
YouTube Introduces One-Time Warning
In the report published on YouTube Creator blog, the company announced that it will impose new penalties for creators who violate the company’s Community Guidelines.
Why it matters: The company is introducing opportunities for the users to better understand the policies, a consistent penalty for each strike, and better notifications to create a safer environment on the platform.
The details: Starting February 25, all channels will receive a one-time warning the first time they post content that violates guidelines, with no penalties to their channel (the content, however, will be removed). In total, YouTube will give the violators three strikes, which expire after 90 days. On the first strike, the ability to upload content to the platform freezes for seven days; the second strike prevents the violator from posting to YouTube for two weeks; the third strike terminates the channel.
Facebook Wants To Develop Its Own AI Chips
According, to the report from The Financial Times, Facebook has plans to develop its own artificial intelligence chips to compete with the products that are currently available on the market.
Why it matters: With this technology, Facebook will be able to provide faster computing and implement new AI innovations.
The details: In his interview for The Financial Times, Facebook’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, implied that Facebook is currently working on developing its own custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chips to support its AI software. “Facebook has been known to build its hardware when required—build its own ASIC, for instance. If there’s any stone unturned, we’re going to work on it,” he said in the interview.
Twitter Announces First International Markets To Receive Political Advertising Checks
Twitter reported on Tuesday in a blog post that the company is expanding checks on political advertisers outside the U.S. to include Australia and India, as well as all the member states of the European Union.
Why it matters: With this policy, Twitter aims to support its goal of protecting the health of the public conversation on their platform in addition to providing transparent context around all political bodies using Twitter’s advertising products.
The details: The policy will be enforced starting March 11th in Australia, India and EU. This means that after the enforcement, only certified advertisers will be allowed to run political ads on the platform. Political advertisers can apply here and complete the process of certification.
Snapchat Will Provide The NHL Highlights Through A New Show And Curated Stories
Variety magazine reported on Tuesday that Snapchat and National Hockey League have struck a new multiyear deal.
Why it matters: “What’s special about Snapchat is their users skew younger,” said NHL chief marketing officer Heidi Browning. The pact with Snap is “an important way for us to connect with our core fans but also to reach new fans…. Snap is always innovating, and they recognize that the generation that uses their products demands new feature sets.”
The details: The NHL, in partnership with Disney Streaming Services, will be delivering a new weekly show on Snapchat, highlighting the top 10 plays of the previous week and in addition, will be creating Curated Stories on the platform for select games and marquee events. The NHL content will be available to Snapchaters worldwide.
