Twitter really can’t go a day without releasing new products. But if you’re running an account for a business or a public figure, its latest addition might capture your interest. Soon, businesses and creators will be able to opt into “professional accounts,” giving them additional tools to distinguish their profile, quickly promote content through ads […]
Senators slam Facebook, say it’s using Big Tobacco playbook to hook kids
Facebook “has weaponized childhood vulnerabilities against children themselves.”
Facebook grilled in Senate hearing over teen mental health
Last night, Facebook published two annotated slide decks in an attempt to contextualize the documents that the Wall Street Journal published this month, which reported evidence that the company is aware of its negative impact on teen mental health. These documents were released in anticipation of today’s Senate hearing on the mental health harms of […]
TikTok’s new ad products invite users to interact with taps, swipes, likes and more
TikTok this week presented its new plan to ramp up advertiser investment in its video platform with the expansion of e-commerce, a new promise of “brand safety” and the launch of several new and interactive ad formats, ranging from clickable stickers to “Choose Your Own Adventure”-type ads to “super likes” and more. The additions, the […]
Congress grills Facebook exec on Instagram’s harmful effect on children
Senators highlighted research revealed in the Wall Street Journal showing how the photo app could affect girls’ body image and self-esteemAntigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, faced a grilling before the US Congress on Thursday in a hearing…
TikTok Shopping expands with more partnerships, LIVE Shopping, new ads and more
TikTok is expanding its investment in e-commerce. Earlier this year, the video platform began piloting TikTok Shopping in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, in partnership with Shopify. The deal allowed Shopify merchants with a TikTok For Business account to add a Shopping tab to their TikTok profiles and sync their product catalogs to the app […]
Google adds news ways to shop, like turning a website’s photos into shoppable products
Google today introduced new ways to shop through its platform, including both online and via its Google Search mobile app. In an update coming soon to the Google Search app for iPhone, the company will begin to leverage a new machine learning model using on-device processing to recognize the products found in images on a […]
Social media firms serve as gateway for scammers, says finance watchdog
FCA threatens action unless platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram do not toughen up against fraudstersSocial media sites such as Facebook and Instagram serve as a “gateway” for fraudsters, the City watchdog has warned, as it demanded they t…
TikTok reached 1 billion monthly active users
TikTok announced in a blog post today that 1 billion people use TikTok every month. That means that on this big rock in space that we call home, about one in seven-and-a-half people are regularly watching short-form videos of dancing, dangerous “milk crate challenges” and even actual educational content. For context, Facebook said that in […]
Facebook pauses work on Instagram Kids after teen mental health concerns
Move follows WSJ revelations that Facebook-commissioned research showed Instagram could affect girls’ mental healthFacebook has halted work on its Instagram Kids project after revelations about the photo-sharing app’s impact on teen mental health.Insta…