Facebook and Instagram issue rallying cry for social media marketers to meet customers on their terms, Shell investigated over "drive carbon neutral" claims, UK 2020 Budget and what it means for marketers

Welcome to this week's news roundup, where we're taking a look at a couple of important social media updates, a key investigation into a fossil fuel company's bold "sustainability" claims, and what the UK 2020 Budget could mean for marketers both within the UK and internationally.

IGTV re-sharing live videos update

Breaking the 60-second limit, Instagram’s IGTV - the vertical video platform for influencers, brands and fans alike - has made headlines this week.

After a rocky start (who wants to be the first to produce an hour of content for their followers?), Instagram has made a number of strategic decisions to increase IGTV traction. By introducing IGTV previews into users’ Instagram feeds, it attempted to bridge the gap between…

Coronavirus impacts business operations across the globe, a swathe of marketing events have been canceled or moved online, ASA addresses volume of gambling ads, impressive new O2 campaign makes customer “Headline Act”

You guessed it - the theme of the day is coronavirus! You may be fed up with hearing about it but it’s here to stay; impacting global the economy as well as businesses' operations. Elsewhere, we’re seeing marketing summits and conferences from the likes of Google and Adobe scrapped or moved online in the wake of the spread of the virus. We’ll also take a look at the ASA’s attempts to curb the negative effects the gambling sector may be having on the advertising industry as a whole. There’s also a new campaign by mobile network giant O2 that does everything right when it comes to continuing the brand’s focus on customer experiences.

Businesses seek to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus

With Coronavirus spreading…

Low confidence in tech companies stopping political influence, LinkedIn testing Stories, Facebook bans coronavirus ads, Pinterest launches Lite app globally, Facebook sues for data misuse

This week has brought with it a lot of social media news, including the fact that most Americans don't trust tech companies like Facebook to stop misuse of platforms in the run-up to the US presidential election. In other social media news, LinkedIn has announced that it is currently testing its own version of Stories. Facebook has made the decision to ban adverts on the platform that seek to profit from coronavirus. Pinterest has launched the Lite version of its app globally and Facebook has lodged a new lawsuit for misuse of data. We've got all the details in this week's news roundup:

Lack of trust in tech companies being able to stop political manipulation

Almost three-quarters…

Facebook told to conform to EU regulations, Snapchat launches mental health feature, Amazon advertising budgets to increase, LinkedIn Sales Navigator Gmail extension shutdown, New Twitter Threads feature

This week has seen Facebook's calls for lighter regulations rebuffed by EU regulators who have told the platform it needs to fall in line. Snapchat is hoping to improve wellbeing on its platform with the introduction of a new feature. [si_blog_banner_cta] Advertisers on Amazon are set to increase budgets this year as the platform saw strong revenue growth in 2019. LinkedIn is to shut down its Sales Navigator Gmail extension in March. Finally, Twitter has introduced a new feature for Threads but people are still moaning about the lack of an 'edit' feature for tweets. We've got all the details in this week's news roundup:

EU regulators tell Facebook to conform to standards

Facebook has been told that it needs to work in-line…

Adverts have 'positive impact' on society, LinkedIn hits new records, Google announces new chatbot development and Facebook sees income slow

Although last year saw confidence in advertising take a tumble, it seems as though the UK public believes that adverts can have a positive impact on society. In positive news for LinkedIn, the platform has reported a new record in terms of total members, as well as huge increases in engagement. The news isn't as positive for Facebook though, as it has seen net income fall following a number of privacy scandals. Finally, Google has announced that it is working on a new chatbot system that better matches and understands human speech, which could transform the chatbot industry. We've got all the information on each of these news stories below. [si_guide_block id="98899" title="Download our Individual Member Resource – Paid media and digital advertising playbook" description="This paid media planning guide will provide marketers with a structured…

Google has changed search listings related to featured snippets, e-commerce to grow by over 30% in five years, Google urged to rethink third-party cookie blocking, Netflix named favourite UK brand

Google has dominated the news this week following its announcement that it has changed search results to deduplicate listings that appear as featured snippets. Find out how it could affect your strategy by reading the full story below. New research has suggested that e-commerce is going to account for a fifth of all retail by 2024, as consumers turn to convenience rather than heading to the brick and mortar high street. [si_blog_banner_cta] In other Google news, it has been asked to rethink its decision to block third-party cookies by 2022 due to the impact it could have on digital advertising. Finally, Netflix has taken the top spot away from Aldi to be named as the UK's favourite brand while a couple of brands have taken…

Google phasing out third-party cookie support, Facebook under fire for political ad refusals, Instagram testing web DMs, Grindr reported for GDPR breach, YouTube "should demonetize climate denier videos"

We're a bit late with our usual Friday news roundup, but the stories we've covered are no less important. First up is the news that Google will be phasing out support for third-party cookies over the next two years - a huge move that will drastically affect the digital marketing industry. Facebook is continuing to come under fire for its refusal to stop allowing micro-targeting when it comes to political ads, with IPA saying that digital advertising has been "weaponized" for political reasons. [si_blog_banner_cta] In some good news, Instagram is testing DMs for its web-based app, meaning its messenger service could be a lot more accessible in the future. Grindr and Twitter have had some issues due to potential GDPR breaches, which were uncovered in an official report. Finally,…

Media and entertainment business need to reinvent business models, TikTok's ban on misinformation, Facebook proposing deepfake videos ban and Twitter removing Audience Insights

With most people only getting back to work after the New Year break this week, marketing news is still fairly slow. However, this week has seen a few interesting announcements that we think you need to know about - which is why they are included in our latest news roundup. First up is the revelation that 50% of media and entertainment executives don't think they can continue with traditional business models, with the failure to reinvent putting the future of businesses at risk. TikTok has announced an update to its community guidelines in a bid to stop the spread of misinformation on its app ahead of the 2020 US Presidential election. Facebook has proposed a partial ban on deepfake videos after facing further pressure to curb misinformation on the platform. Finally, Twitter…

Messenger now requires Facebook account, US military bans TikTok, YouTube adds new copyright feature, Facebook and Twitter announce latest account removals

Welcome to our first news roundup of 2020! Unsurprisingly, things were fairly quiet over the festive and New Year period, but there are still a few interesting updates we believe its worth knowing about. To start with, Facebook has now removed the ability to sign up for a Messenger account without an associated Facebook account. [si_blog_banner_cta] The end of December saw the US military follow in the US navy's footsteps and ban personnel from adding TikTok to government-issued devices due to data security concerns. YouTube is making it easier for creators to deal with any content that becomes subject to copyright claims with the launch of a new feature. Finally, Facebook and Twitter have announced the latest work undertaken to remove accounts that have been found to be involved in political manipulation on the platforms. Get…

Facebook admits to location data tracking, digital advertising needs a watchdog says CMA, Facebook advertising price rises, Instagram anti-bullying tools, new Snapchat interactive ad and change to Twitter lists.

2019 is almost over but there's enough time left before we close ready for Christmas for one last news roundup. First up is the news that Facebook has admitted that it tracks user location data even if individuals have opted out of Locations Services. The CMA has said that there is a strong argument for the creation of a digital advertising watchdog to monitor the online ad space. [si_blog_banner_cta] Almost half of marketers are concerned that they could be priced out of Facebook advertising as costs have increased by 90% year-on-year. Instagram has seen some success with its anti-bullying tools and is now rolling out an extension for one of them. Snapchat has launched a new interactive ad type and is currently using it to advertise film trailers. Finally,…