Our industry has always been plagued by controversy over social media privacy settings, especially its real-world implications. Thanks to being primed by pop culture and real life, we all knew this was going to happen eventually. You know the classic “Has technology gone too far?” trope, but now we’re seeing it more prevalently in all aspects of our lives – security issues, political influences, Black Mirror episodes, etc. It’s hard not to worry about the consequences of a technology boom like the one we’ve had in the past ten years. Now with social media’s technological ramifications looming over our quotidian lives, we’re getting closer and closer to the world of Black Mirror.

In case you missed it…Facebook was rocked by a social media privacy settings data breach scandal two months ago. How bad are we talking? Oh, they just lost $80 billion because the incident affected 50 million users bad. Man, that’s really bad. And it’s not just that there was a data breach, it’s the fact that this data was sold to Cambridge Analytica (although it was prohibited by Facebook) to manipulate targeting for elections, including Trump’s campaign. All of this scrutiny comes with the territory of being the most popular social networking app, and this recent snafu has proved what many naysayers were already thinking: we can’t trust social media.

Critics are using this opportunity to call for an overhaul of social media privacy settings, if not an entire cleanse. Facebook said in a statement a week after the scandal, “The last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies, and to help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data.” In response to the breach, the networking titan has promised to unveil new tools to see and access the data they collect on its users. In the subsequent fall out,  the world saw Facebook in crisis mode, scrambling to regain their footing. People were disgusted that Facebook is just another money-grubbing company willing to sell out their loyal users; you can imagine that major trust was lost. While the data breach may not have impacted you directly, its implications touch all users of any online platform. This could happen (if it hasn’t already) to any app you’re on that you’ve given your personal information to.

So how does this affect our vocation? Well, social media is our business. As a millennial, I live and breathe this stuff. It was hard enough to convince my mother that the social media agency I work at is a legit opportunity. I love being on social channels because it makes me feel closer to my friends and loved ones than I’ve ever been. That’s why it was easy for me to gravitate towards working in this field – I felt comfortable helping brands online build their persona through community management and content creation. So while the Facebook Cambridge-Analytica affair may not have affected me or my clients directly, it harms the reputation of this channel we’re using daily that’s been formerly beloved in the industry. What I’ve seen in the two months following the incident are updated privacy policies from most, if not all of the social channels I use. These other social competitors have watched and learned from Facebook’s errors, because it could’ve been any of them. Yet I’m wondering just how much users really care, as no one I know will take the time to peruse privacy policies of all the apps and websites they give their information to. After all, how many times have you clicked “Agree” on the iTunes terms and conditions without reading the pages and pages of text? If we’re being pessimistic and assuming people are leaving Facebook, how can I reach an audience that isn’t there? Will people post online less, or delete their profiles entirely? If people don’t trust a platform tied to our livelihood, then we won’t be winning that Narcos money any time soon. We expected better from The Zuck because Facebook has been around for 14 years. But ultimately I believe that (to borrow the lyrics of Big Sean) the social company took an L but they’ll bounce back. Facebook is recovering, slowly but surely. Let this incident be a lesson to all platforms out there: transparency is key. The online world needs to translate to the real world, otherwise that discrepancy will alienate its users.

Ashes to ashes, dust to snapstreaks.

While a eulogy might be premature, it’s safe to say 2018 has been a whirlwind for the popular social channel Snapchat. In February, the app rolled out a controversial update to a majority of its users. An update that, to say the least, was very unpopular among the vast global userbase the app had built in the 5 years it has been live.

Boasting 187 million daily active users worldwide at the end of 2017, Snapchat was touted as one of the most important social networks among its younger audience. It is a platform for individuals to both connect directly with their friends and consume media via the app’s branded “Discover” stories. Users share short (up to 10 second) photos and videos – or “snaps” —with their friends, either directly or through the ‘stories’ feature. Living for either the duration of the snap, or 24 hours, respectively, snaps provided an authentic way to both share and view authentic views into friend’s daily lives.

In the prime of its life, Snapchat made changes in the hopes to capitalize on the popularity of its platform. And that’s when it all went horribly wrong.

Fundamental changes to how the app works, such as the displacement of where and how users see images and videos their friends send them, a new “discover” page showcasing brand content, global stories and influencers’ posts, and difficulty finding and viewing their friends’ stories were among the many complaints. Updated features, such as the introduction of Explore on the app’s “new and improved” snapmap, which uses GPS tracking to show users a live view of where their friends are in the world, were also ill-received. Individuals overwhelmingly saw the feature as more of an invasion of privacy than a way to better connect, and opted to switch to “ghost-mode” – making themselves invisible on the map. The intense and widespread anger felt by Snapchat’s audience fueled thousands of 1-star reviews in the app-store and even led to an official petition on change.org for the company to reverse its update. To date, over 1.2 million individuals have signed the petition, demanding that the app revert “back to the basics, before the 2018 update”. Positive changes, such as improved text features and the introduction of Bitmoji Deluxe, were noted, but vastly overshadowed by the negative sentiment.

As if the reaction among its users wasn’t detrimental enough, Snapchat also received a number of celebrity backlash that further tarnished its name and credibility.

On February 23^rd, reality TV star, makeup industry mogul, and avid snapchat user, Kylie Jenner tweeted “sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad” to her 21+ million Twitter followers. What would have seemed a relatively benign tweet from anyone else, prompted her large following to voice their frustrations and intents to leave the app as well. Snapchat Inc. stock reportedly closed down 6% on that day, immediately plunging an estimated $1.3 billion off the company’s market value. While many factors could have impacted these numbers, the correlation to Jenner’s statement is interesting to note.

Only a few weeks later, Snapchat was part of its next celebrity scandal. Iconic, global celebrity artist, Rihanna criticized the app for approving and hosting an advertisement making light of domestic violence. An ad for a mobile game called “Would You Rather” featured photos of Rihanna and Chris Brown and asked whether players would rather slap her or punch him. The thinly veiled reference seemingly mocked the infamous incident in 2009 when her then-boyfriend, Brown, physically assaulted her. Even following a formal public apology from Snap, Inc, claiming the advertisement was wrongly approved, Rihanna turned to her social audience to denounce the app. Among other statements, she turned to Instagram saying “Shame on you…throw the whole app-ology away” and “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb.” The artist encouraged her “Rihanna Navy” to delete the app, and her following dutifully obliged. Snapchat, Inc. shares continued to plummet following the outcry, dropping by 5% and decreasing by an estimated $807K.

To add injury to injury, celebrity personality Chrissy Teigen shared her own disapproval of Snapchat, tweeting “I stopped using snap. The update, the constant complaints of people not being able to find me, plus the Rihanna poll…no bueno,” to her 10 million Twitter followers.

Further among the backlash from big names in the entertainment industry, the decreased usability and popularity of the app is leading top content creators on the platform to leave and turn to other ways to share their message, such as Snapchat’s main competitor – Instagram stories.

Though it is still too early to claim what the platform’s fate holds, it is clear that unless Snapchat combats the negative publicity it has been receiving and responds to users’ complaints, it could quickly join platforms like Friendster, Myspace and Vine in the social media graveyard.

2017 is already a big year for social giants Facebook and Instagram. For users there are many new features that make both platforms engaging and fun to use. These changes will have a deeper impact for brands and marketers.

Facebook

In-Stream Video – With the Audience Network launch last May, Facebook now runs In-Stream Videos which allows Facebook’s 4 Million Advertisers to reach more people with pre-roll and mid-roll placements. This also includes Facebook Live. In-Stream Video has proven to increase overall CPM results and continuing to show potential as the popularity of video increases. If you have quality video to share, this may be an option for your next campaign.

Messenger Advertising – Facebook Messenger has changed extensively in the last few months. Some say it has officially emulated SnapChat with the use of filters (and stories). However, The good thing about Facebook Messenger in terms of business is the ability to interact with fans in real-time and has changed the ecommerce space entirely. For example: Jasper’s Market – The user has clicked on the call-to-action button which started a messenger chat including the 20% offer. From there a real-time conversation can begin.

Instagram
Carousel Photos and Videos – For a few weeks now, social marketers and users alike have been excited with the carousel photo and video feature that is now available on Instagram. The Carousel Ad has been in the Advertising space for a awhile but now the Carousel option lets you create a single Instagram post with a slideshow of up to 10 images and/or videos. Users can scroll them. You can tag users on individual slides within the post and marketers can upload their product catalog to the mix. This will allow for users to click on items within the photo, see how much it costs and purchase the item in just a few steps. Amazing!

Instagram Stories – With 300 million daily viewers and 500 million monthly viewers, Instagram is leagues ahead of Snapchat when it comes to the ability of advertising reach within stories. At first, Instagram only allowed 30 brands to participate in advertising within the new feature and now it is a placement option for all with access to Business Manager and Power Editor. Of course, this option should be used only if you have quality imagery and video to connect with appropriate target market.  Airbnb was one of the first brands to capitalize on this awesome feature. As the year continues, look for many new trends with video content, advertising and metrics. Remember, don’t be afraid to try new objectives to fully optimize your social campaigns.

Instagram has been all over the news the past weeks with changes to its algorithm, influencer marketing news, and recently, an announcement about its new business manager platform. This tool, although primarily a funnel to get businesses to promote their content, will provide some much needed data on a channel that to-date has been a bit erratic.

Here is what you need to know:

This is the first in what’s to be a recurring series on “Context Over Dogma”; posts marked #NoFilter are brutally candid assessments of social media trends, best-practices, and industry watchdogging. Call it “truth-to-power”, call it “playing the fool”, but these are the places in which the team from Pandemic Labs will wax politically incorrect (read: more truthful) than an agency probably should.

Today’s topic comes from the recent news that Instagram will roll out an algorithmically-ranked newsfeed, forsaking the reverse chronological order that has, to date, ruled the user experience. Under the new system, which won’t roll out fully for at least another 6 months, posts with more relevance to a user (according to Instagram’s algorithm) will appear more prominently in the newsfeed, upon opening the app. So, the stuff you are more likely to engage with, or find interesting, is to appear at the top of your feed. A few things: