This sounds appealing
Congrats on making it to the last week of October! And while most of us will be busy planning our Halloween costumes, the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and Google are expected to testify at a U.S. Senate meeting about the spread of hate speech and misinformation on their platforms (sounds scary 😱).
In (less scary) social media news...
Facebook and TikTok seek to clarify content removal
Snapchat outperforms expectations
Twitter temporarily removes pure "Retweets"
And we take a look at some 2021 social media predictions
This and more in today's e-newsletter. Read on ⬇️
Just to clarify...
If you've ever bothered to read the replies on tweets sent by Instagram or Facebook, you'll notice that many people are just trying to find out why their content or account has been removed. It's almost as if they've struggled to get an answer from the social media companies directly 😏. We'll, there is some good news. Facebook has created a new process that will allow users to appeal their case to an Oversight Board. TikTok has also clarified a few things about content removal. Here are the details...
FB's Oversight Board gets to work
Last week, Facebook announced that anyone who has had their content removed from Facebook or Instagram, and has used up all of their appeals, can now take their case to a new Oversight Board. The Board is made up of 10 woman and 10 men, including a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, a former prime minister, constitutional law scholars and human rights advocates. The implementation of the Oversight Board comes two years after FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg first talked about building an appeals process and independent governance and oversight.
In order to make an appeal:
You must have an active account
Facebook/Instagram must have already reviewed their initial decision
Content decisions must be eligible for appeal (this is country-specific)
Appeals must be submitted within 15 days of Facebook or Instagram providing an update on its final content policy decision
So essentially, once you have exhausted your appeals with Facebook and Instagram, you'll receive a Reference ID that you can take to the Oversight Board website. (Good luck 🤞).
TikTok clarifies content removal
It's not just Facebook and Instagram users who are confused by content decisions. On TikTok, you will occasionally see a video with a comment" "reposting this because the last video was taken down." To help reduce some of the confusion, TikTok announced it has been experimenting with a new notification system "to bring creators more clarity around content removals." So, now when a video is removed for a policy violation, the Creator receives a message about which policy was violated, and is given the ability to the appeal the decision. In cases where self-harm or suicide is referenced, TikTok will also provide resources for help.
Instagram says sorry Speaking of content decisions, Instagram apologized last week after it incorrectly flagged posts tagged with the #EndSARS hashtag as false information. The hashtag refers to an anti-policing brutality movement in Nigeria (SARS stands for the Special Anti-Robbery Squad). "Yesterday our systems were incorrectly flagging content in support of #EndsSARS, and marking posts as false. We are deeply sorry for this. The issue has now been resolved and we apologize for letting our community down in such a time of need." Glad to see this was fixed!
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ICYMI
Snap to it
For those of you who are wondering if Snapchat is still a thing, the answer is YES! Snapchat just posted its best Q3 since 2017 (thank you, Gen Z!) blowing past analysts' expectations. Parent company, Snap, said the social media messaging and media app generated $678.7 million in revenue (up 52% year on year) and added 11 million new users in Q3. (It now has close to 250 million daily active users.) This good news caused Snap's stock to jump by more than 30%. So why the big bump? Snap makes its revenue off brands, and in this time of COVID when businesses need to reach consumers, digital ad spending is trending up. Social distancing also means more time spent on apps. And after reading this if you're still wondering whether Snapchat is relevant, a recent report found that teens prefer Snapchat and TikTok over Instagram.
Don't quote me on this
Twitter unveiled a few changes last week in an effort to prevent the spread of misinformation in the run-up to the U.S. election on Nov. 3. The most controversial change was temporarily removing the ability to just "Retweet" a tweet. Now, when you hit the Retweet button, it's really a "Quote Tweet" where you would typically add a comment before posting. But Twitter says if you don't want to leave a comment, just leave it blank and hit Retweet. However, artists says this option provides less exposure to their work, according to a report in The Verge. The good news — the change is temporary, and will end after election week. In another update, Twitter has added a prompt that asks you to "Read before you retweet" an article. (We can get behind this).
So trendy
We're just a few months away from 2021, and for social media folks, it's never too early to start thinking about what the bigger trends are for next year. A report from HubSpot and Talkwalker outlines 10 trends to watch for. Social Media Today has provided this helpful infographic. We'll talk about three of the trends here, but you can download the full report (you'll have to provide your email, of course).
Trend #10: Remixing is the new UGC — Thanks to platforms like TikTok that allow you to create posts by remixing your content with other people's videos (aka Stitch) this is becoming more popular than just sharing other people's content (known as User-Generated Content, or UGC).
Trend #5: The line between social media and gaming will blur — We're already starting to see that happen. U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has a huge social media following, jumped on popular live-streaming gaming platform Twitch last week to play the game Among Us while trying to get out the vote. It was one of the most popular streams in the service's history.
Trend #1: Audiences will be more socially conscious — 2020 has been a watershed year in so many ways, from battling disinformation amid a global pandemic and U.S. election, to #BlackLivesMatter and the BIPOC movements. As audiences, we should all be demanding more of brands, and asking them to take a stand.
NEWS-LIKE
🔴 Quibi is Shutting Down Nearly Six Months After Going Live [Wall Street Journal]
🔴 Facebook and Twitter CEOs to Testify Before Congress in November on How They Handled the Election [TechCrunch]
🔴 Why Washington Hates Big Tech [New York Times]
🔴 Pakistan Lifts TikTok Ban After Just 10 Days [The Verge]
🔴 Facebook Dating Finally Arrives in Europe [Mashable]
🔴 TikTok Tightens Crackdown on QAnon, Will Ban Accounts That Promote Misinformation [NPR]
STATS-LIKE
More than 50% of humans (roughly 4 billion people) use social media, according to a new Global Digital Report. And while it's no surprise that Facebook is clearly dominating this chart of most-used social platforms, we're a little shocked at Twitter's low numbers. It's also worth mentioning that while TikTok is still well below some of the heavy hitters, the short-looping video app only became available to global users in 2018 (in comparison, Facebook has been around for 15 years).
HAPPY-LIKE
Congrats to TikTok influencer Alicia McCarvell of Halifax, who recently announced she's going to be a full-time Creator. We love her body-positive messages, and clearly, so do her 1.2 million followers. Keep going, girl. 👏
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