ICYMI, here’s what happened in digital marketing in July.

• Depreciation of Facebook’s ‘Premieres’ Video Viewing Option
• Facebook Launch ‘Creator Collaborations’ Feature
• Yoast SEO Premium and IndexNow Integration
• FCC Tells Google and Apple to Remove TikTok
• Twitter Adds Back Nofollow Attributes to Links
• TikTok’s Response to Allegations of Unsecured User Data
• Microsoft’s New Merchant Promotions Coupons Feature
• Meta’s ‘No Language Left Behind’ AI Can Now Translate 200 Languages
• New Shopping Features for Pinterest Merchants
• Twitter’s Initial test of ‘CoTweets’ Collaborative Tweets
• >Possible Facebook and Instagram Blackout in Europe
• Twitter’s New ‘Unmention’ Safety Feature
• TikTok Delays Privacy Policy Switch in Europe
• Custom-Built Timelines on Twitter
• Netflix & Microsoft Partnership for Ad-Supported Subscription Plan
• Initial Launch of Instagram’s ‘Creator Marketplace’ Discovery Platform
• Instagram Adds In-Chat Payment Feature
• New Instagram Searchable Map Feature
• Microsoft ‘Cloud for Sovereignty’
• LinkedIn Business Manager Rolls Out in Public Beta
• New Instagram Videos Posts Features

Depreciation of Facebook’s ‘Premieres’ Video Viewing Option

Meta has recently alerted its users about the ‘Premieres’ communal video viewing option getting deprecated. As you can see in this screenshot, Meta is removing its ‘Premieres’ option as of August 22nd.

The feature first came into existence in the year 2018 where it allowed publishers to showcase any type of content that had been pre-recorded and then shown via Facebook Live.

Facebook Launch ‘Creator Collaborations’ Feature

Facebook has launched a new ‘Creator Collaborations’ feature, which will enable creators to collaborate with others on content to expand their reach. This will enable multiple creators to be listed on a single Facebook post, providing both additional brand awareness, through the tag, and expanded reach to the combined audience of both collaborators.

Facebook adds that: “With this tool, a creator can invite a second creator to publish a single piece of video content together. If the second creator accepts, the post will publish on both collaborator’s pages. Collaborators will share the same distribution for the content, and be able to view shared insights, such as reach and engagement, within Creator Studio“.

Yoast SEO Premium and IndexNow Integration

Yoast SEO has finally launched IndexNow integration, the Microsoft-backed protocol to submit content to search engines. This is available in the premium version of Yoast SEO version 19.2.

The IndexNow protocol is a new way of keeping search engines in the loop about your content by pinging the API as soon as you publish or update a page.

FCC Tells Google and Apple to Remove TikTok

ICYMI: A leader of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said he has asked Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores over China-related data security concerns. The request is due to the social media app’s “pattern of surreptitious data practices”.

Brendan Carr, shared via Twitter a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. The letter pointed to reports and other developments that made TikTok non-compliant with the two companies’ app store policies.

Twitter Adds Back Nofollow Attributes to Links

Twitter has added the nofollow link attributes back onto Twitter links. The link update was spotted last Friday, right before the 4th of July weekend. It is unclear if Twitter added this attribute back on purpose or not.

TikTok’s Response to Allegations of Unsecured User Data

TikTok has responded to allegations of unsecured user data by denying that sensitive user information was accessible to China-based employees. TikTok offered a rebuttal over a news report alleging unsecure handling of sensitive U.S. user data.

In response to the news article, nine U.S. senators sent a letter to TikTok asking for answers, prompting the CEO of TikTok to provide a full explanation.

Microsoft’s New Merchant Promotions Coupons Feature

Microsoft will launch Merchant Promotions Coupons that will allow advertisers to promote products directly from the Microsoft Shopping Campaigns inventory with special offer tags. The tags will appear at the bottom of the product listing and will display a “special offer” link.

The Merchant Promotions Coupons feature is going to be automatically enabled on July 10th.

Related: Everything you need to know about Google Analytics 4

Meta’s ‘No Language Left Behind’ AI Can Now Translate 200 Languages

Meta has launched its ‘No Language Left Behind’ AI model that can translate 200 different languages. The company is open-sourcing the project in the hopes to improve its systems and democratise technological access.

The AI model is part of an ambitious R&D project by Meta to create a so-called “universal speech translator,” which the company sees as important for growth across its many platforms — from Facebook and Instagram to developing domains like VR and AR.

New Shopping Features for Pinterest Merchants

Pinterest has announced that it’s rolling out new merchant features, including product tagging on Pins and a Pinterest API for Shopping designed to make it easier for merchants to create engaging shopping experiences for users.

With the new Pinterest API for Shopping, merchants will get access to new catalogue management and product metadata features to enable more efficient data quality for merchant products.

Twitter’s Initial test of ‘CoTweets’ Collaborative Tweets

Twitter has started testing a new “CoTweets” feature that lets users co-author tweets. Select accounts in the U.S., Canada, and Korea now have access to the feature. Twitter says it’s testing CoTweets for a limited time to learn how people will use the feature.

Twitter notes that you can invite another account to share ownership of a tweet with you. If they accept, a CoTweet will be created showing both of you as co-authors. In addition, since only two authors can appear on a CoTweet’s header at once, you can only invite one co-author per CoTweet.

Possible Facebook and Instagram Blackout in Europe

The Irish Data Protection Commission has informed its counterparts in Europe that it will block Facebook-owner Meta from sending user data from Europe to the US. The DPC confirmed that a draft decision on the legality of Meta’s EU-U.S. data transfers has been sent to other data protection agencies to review.

Meta has warned a stoppage will likely leave it unable to offer significant services such as Facebook and Instagram in Europe without a new transatlantic data transfer framework.

Twitter’s New ‘Unmention’ Safety Feature

Twitter has rolled out a new safety feature across the platform that will allow people to ‘unmention’ or remove themselves from conversations they don’t want to be a part of. All users can now select the three-dot menu next to a tweet to pull up a prompt offering to “get you out of this conversation”.

When you unmention yourself from a tweet, your Twitter handle will turn gray, which will indicate to others that you’ve opted out of the conversation and can’t be tagged back into the thread.

TikTok Delays Privacy Policy Switch in Europe

TikTok suspended changes to its privacy policy for targeted advertising, a day before they took effect. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said the “pause” follows “engagement” between the oversight office and the tech giant yesterday.

TikTok confirmed they are pausing the changes to its privacy policy in Europe but defended its plans for targeted advertising, saying that “personalised advertising provides the best in-app experience for our community and brings us in line with industry practices, and we look forward to engaging with stakeholders and addressing their concerns”.

ICYMI: Everything you need to know about Google Analytics 4

Custom-Built Timelines on Twitter

Twitter is testing a new method to customise user timelines that will display content curated by Twitter or third-party sources. These are topic-focused timelines users can swipe or click on from the main feed, so users can scroll through the conversation about a specific subject.

Content in the custom timelines will be algorithmically served, but there’s no option right now to switch to a reverse chronological feed.

Netflix & Microsoft Partnership for Ad-Supported Subscription Plan

Netflix announced Microsoft as its new technology and sales partner for its first ad-supported subscription service. Netflix says that Microsoft will be able to support all of its advertising needs for the new, more affordable streaming option.

Unlike Google, which owns YouTube, and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Microsoft doesn’t operate a competing streaming service to Netflix. Marketers looking to Microsoft for their advertising needs will have access to the Netflix audience and premium connected TV inventory. All ads served on Netflix will be exclusively available through the Microsoft platform.

Initial Launch of Instagram’s ‘Creator Marketplace’ Discovery Platform

Instagram has officially started testing its new ‘Creator Marketplace’, a hub designed to help brands discover and reach out to creators about partnerships and campaigns. The marketplace is currently available to brands on an invite-only basis.

Through the new Creator Marketplace, brands will be able to manage the full campaign process, in partnership with their chosen creators, including details like desired deliverables, payment, and other information.

Instagram Adds In-Chat Payment Feature

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is launching a new “payments in chat” feature on Instagram. With this new feature, users can purchase products from small businesses and track orders via direct messages on Instagram.

This feature allows buyers and sellers to communicate, request or collect payments, and track orders directly from an Instagram chat.

New Instagram Searchable Map Feature

Instagram has introduced a new searchable and dynamic map experience allowing users to explore popular tagged locations and filter location results by specific categories, including restaurants, cafés, and beauty salons.

The company says the new searchable map allows users to have a more immersive experience when finding popular locations and businesses around them via tagged posts, stories, and guides. Users can also find relevant locations on the map when searching certain hashtags.

Microsoft ‘Cloud for Sovereignty’

Microsoft has announced the launch of the Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, a new solution for public sector customers — who need to be able to guarantee that their users’ data is stored and processed in a given region.

Microsoft said they are beginning the private preview of the Cloud for Sovereignty in select locations and will offer more details over time.

LinkedIn Business Manager Rolls Out in Public Beta

LinkedIn has launched its ‘LinkedIn Business Manager’ to help users manage multiple accounts to streamline their LinkedIn marketing process. LinkedIn Business Manager will enable users to feed in multiple accounts and manage them all in one dashboard.

Users can also share ‘Matched Audience’ data across ad accounts, providing a streamlined way to utilise custom audiences and related info across profiles.

New Instagram Videos Posts Features

Instagram has announced that all new video posts shorter than 15 minutes will now be shared as Reels to offer a more immersive and full-screen experience. Videos posted before this change will remain as video posts.

Instagram has also introduced a new “dual” feature that lets users simultaneously record content and their reaction. Users can record using their phone’s front and back cameras at the same time to share another perspective using the Dual feature in the Instagram camera.

Thank You for Reading

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