Twitter has made some small tweaks to its platform, The CAP has announced new gambling ad rules, Google showcases plans for US location expansion and Instagram investigates bug that caused follower counts to fall
There are no big platform changes to unpick this week, although Twitter has announced three tiny changes to its platform, one to create clarity, another to make it easier to view profiles and the third is especially for Valentine's Day.
New gambling advertisement rules will come into play in April that are aimed at reducing the effect that such ads have on those under the age of 18. As well as affecting where and when bookmakers can advertise, the rules will also impact who can feature in their ads.
Google has announced its latest $13 billion expansion plans that will see it set up locations in a range of new states, helping to create thousands of construction jobs.
Finally, Instagram…
Most valuable brands across the globe showcased in a new infographic, Facebook has been blocked from using data from other sources in Germany, China stops beauty products making medical claims in advertising and Amazon posts positive fourth-quarter ad revenue results
A new infographic has showcased the most valuable brands in many of the countries across the world, showcasing some stark differences in overall value between different countries.
This week, Germany has also made a landmark ruling that will limit the types of data that Facebook can collect and assign to indvidual users, which has got the platform up in arms.
China is bringing its beauty advertising more in-line with the rest of the world by banning brands from making medical claims when it comes to their cosmetic products.
Amazon has reported some seriously strong growth in terms of ad revenue, taking some of the market away from Google.
Find out more on each of these…
Facebook sees ad revenues increase year-on-year, Google has new GDPR complaint lodged against it, Facebook "blocks" third-party apps from monitoring political advertisements and Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp set to join forces with combined chat functions
This week's news roundup is fairly Facebook-heavy as the social media platform has been fairly busy. While its ad revenues may have increased in the final quarter of 2018, it has also come under fire some recent changes that blog third-parties from monitoring political ads.
Other than Facebook, Google is now in more hot water with yet another GDPR complaint lodged against it. It has been accused of using sensitive information to target ads at users, something that it is denying.
Take a look at these stories in a bit more detail below.
Facebook reports strong ad revenue growth
Facebook may have had a particularly touch 2018 in…
Mobile ad spend set to overtake TV this year, Google fined £44 million for GDPR failures, Facebook cracking down on pages and group that break community standards and LinkedIn details skills most needed by companies in 2019
As mobile use is on the rise, so is ad spend across mobile devices. In fact, if ad spending stays on course, it's likely that mobile ad spend will overtake TV, putting it top of the list in 2019.
It has been announced that Google has been fined £44 million for failing to meet GDPR regulations after two complaints were lodged against the company. Google is currently looking into the fine to decide its next steps.
This week has also seen Facebook change its tactics on dealing with pages and groups that post content that is against community standards, meaning affiliated pages and groups could also be shut down.
Finally, LinkedIn has released a list of the…
High user volume caused Alexa to crash on Christmas Day, Google is testing new search with importance placed on streaming, Instagram launches new features for Stories and Facebook is testing 'dark mode' for its Messenger app
We may have switched off for the holidays and New Year, but it's now time to take a look at what news stories in the marketing, tech and social media worlds were missed over the last couple of weeks.
First up is the news that Amazon's smart speaker was such a popular item this festive season that Alexa crashed on Christmas Day across many parts of Europe. It just goes to show that the idea of a smart home is becoming increasingly appealing for many.
It also looks like Google is just about ready to admit the importance of streaming services, as it seems to be testing a new design for search that puts streaming higher up…
Google chief questioned by US Congress about political bias and data transparency, UK regulators banning harmful gender tropes in advertising, Marketers concerned about data freedom after Brexit and Facebook's pop-up attempt to re-build trust
One of the biggest news stories this week has to be Google being questioned by Congress about how search works, data privacy, China plans and political bias. In just under four hours of questioning, the covered a lot of ground, some of which our roundup will take a look at.
When it comes to marketing and advertisiting in the UK, the big announcement was that negative gender stereotypes are going to be banned in adverts. In a bid to avoid stereotypes causing real-world harm, new regulations are st to come into effect in 2019.
Our roundup also takes a look at the concerns that marketers have about the impact that Brexit could have on the free flow of data.…
Let us look at the rise Google Shopping
New research by Adthena uncovers the extent to which Google Shopping ads, commonly referred to as Product Listing Ads (or PLAs), have become the most popular ad format for retail advertisers, with ad spend now far in excess of text ads in retail categories.
Google Shopping ads now drive 76.4% of retail search ad spend, generating 85.3% of all clicks on Adwords or Google Shopping campaign ads. This report benchmarks Google Shopping (PLA) ad spend across 40 million ads in the US/UK. From 267,000 competitors, encompassing over 1 million search terms.
The data reveals the true extent of Google Shopping ad format adoption in the US/UK, among advertisers across retail categories such as Fashion and Apparel, Consumer Electronics and Home & Garden.
“The bigger picture here is the shift in which audiences are consuming new ad formats,” says…
Have you heard of Google Duplex yet? You know, the AI assistant that books appointments and makes reservations on your behalf? Just your next-door robot…
As you may already be aware, Google Duplex is a new technology launched by Google at Google I/O 2018, the company’s annual developer conference. Google Duplex is an AI system that is designed to accomplish real-world tasks over the phone, by mimicking human conversation. Google CEO Sundar Pichai personally demonstrated phones calls made by this digital voice assistant.
The product was demoed by showing a phone call where the AI assistant makes an appointment at the hairdresser’s, by calling them and having an actual conversation. Now chatbots and voice assistants have been around for a while now, so that probably doesn't sound all that intriguing to you. Although, what you may find really intriguing is that…
How keep your SEO strategy up to date with the latest mobile index changes
We all are living in a mobile world. Most of us pick our phones at the moment we wake up in the morning. Mobile phones have become a part of our daily routine, from reading the daily news to reviewing emails. Now, everyone knows the role that mobile-first and responsive design plays in achieving website rankings and improving traffic. Instagram is one of the best examples of mobile-first design.
Google's desktop indexing has been around since the beginning of Google Search. But, as this Smart Insights post announcing and discussing Google's Mobile First index launch shows, it is now 'abandoned' and pushed to backup status. It's no secret that Google has rolled out its new mobile-first index. Mobile-first search indexing will focus on the mobile version of your web page than that of the desktop version. So in this…
