The Pursuit for Conversational Health

November 01, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Trends

2018’s put one big spotlight on the power of social channels to influence us. Abuses of personal data like Cambridge Analytica aside, we’ve woken up to the fact that using platforms like Facebook and Twitter as intended affect us negatively, both psychologically as it decreases our self-esteem and culturally as it emphasizes filter bubbles and drives us deeper into our tribes.

That’s a big reason why social platforms have put a major emphasis on platform health. In other words, they want their offerings to enrich people’s lives, not make them worse. That, of course, is being heavily balanced with the fact that these companies want to, in no way, hurt their financial performance.

Privacy's on the Platforms

May 10, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Data

46% of US Facebook users (on average) say they are very concerned with their privacy. That means one out of every two people are nervous about how their personal information is being handled online. Despite all of this Facebook increased revenue year-over-year by 50% in its latest earnings report. And after Cambridge Analytica misused the data of 87 million Facebook users, 64% of them still use Facebook at least once a day.

What is going on?

What Facebook's Breaks Up with Third-Party Data Means

April 04, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Data, Facebook

Facebook’s changing things up in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy. The social network is under more pressure than ever to take a stand on user data and privacy, and that means its making waves—waves that are going to affect how advertisers approach the Facebook platform.

There have been a lot of changes to Facebook over the past couple of weeks, but arguably the biggest change so far for advertisers at least is the removal of “Partner Categories.” The tool allows advertisers to tap into third-party data from partners like Acxiom and Experian to target users based on factors including buying behaviors, household demographics and so on. Needless to say, it's a pretty powerful and incredibly useful tool that advertisers can use to augment their own data short comings.

Brave Ad World Podcast - Episode 316

April 02, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Podcast

Episode 316 of the Brave Ad World Podcast is ready for your ears!

This week’s headlines: Instagram Updates Algorithm to Emphasize Recency, Snapchat Adds New Features to Snap Map, Facebook Implements Massive Changes in Wake of Controversy and Snapchat Seems to Be Launching Connected Apps.

The week’s news quick hits: Facebook Expands Local News Initiative to All Countries, Snap Launches Location-Based Advertising Features, HQ Lands First Sponsor, Facebook Removes ‘Interested In’ Ad Targeting, Apple Slates New Shows for Next March, FTC Announces Investigation into Facebook Privacy Practices, Google Acquires Tenor, Turner Sports Launches New Streaming Service, Apple Launches iPad for Students, LinkedIn Brings Video Ads to All Advertisers, Business Chat Shows Up in iOS 11.3 and Snap Has Another Round of Employee Cuts.

Get this episode and many others in the podcast section, and be sure to subscribe via iTunes.

This Week in Social and Digital (Week of March 26)

April 01, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in This Week in Social

This Week in Social is a weekly digest of some of the biggest stories in social media marketing news. These stories are the show notes for the Brave Ad World Podcast. Each story is discussed at a deeper level on the podcast.

The Data Reawakening

March 27, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Data

The world is in the midst of a data reawakening. People are waking up to an idea that advertisers have known for a long time. These digital platforms that connect us aren’t free. The price users pay is they become the product, and what a product we are! 26% of Americans are online “almost constantly,” and 77% of Americans go online daily. Users are a product that gets better and better over time.

Newton said it best. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We’re in the midst of that reaction now.