Last week in social media: The Paragone Social News Update

Last week was a busy one in the social media world, and we want to keep you updated! Here’s your quick update on 5 of the biggest news stories in social media from last week, and what they mean for you as a social advertiser.

1. Facebook took major steps towards preparing for GDPR

This involved pushing opt-in notifications to European users, in preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), coming into force on 25 May 2018. The new regulations have big repercussions for digital marketing and advertising everywhere. As part of Facebook’s preparation, they will be asking all of their more than 2 billion users worldwide to opt-in to a series of privacy choices. European users reported getting notifications giving them the opportunity to make decision around:

• Ads based on data from partners:

  Targeting for these ads is build from data collected from websites that use tools like the Facebook Like button as part of their user experience. Users seeing these opt-in notifications will have the opportunity to review information about this type of advertising and decide whether to let Facebook use data from partners to target them with ads.

• The information in their profile:

  Users who have shared political, religious and relationship information in their profiles will have the opportunity to either delete it or continue letting Facebook use this data to tailor the user’s experience. It’s important to note that this potentially more sensitive information is not made available to advertisers for targeting, but some aspects of the user experience on the Facebook platform itself can be personalized based on this information. Users have the option to delete this information if they no longer want to share it.

• Facial recognition technology:

  Facebook looks to making the most of this opportunity, to ask users to opt-in to facial recognition technology to European users. Although Facebook has been using this technology in many parts of the world, for example to suggest tagging friends in photos, courts in Canada and the European Union previously ruled that Facebook’s photo-tagging system violated privacy law.

For more on the GDPR, and its likely affects on social advertising, listen to our recent interview with Matthias Matthiesen of AIB Europe – available now on the Paragone podcast.

2. Facebook hopping aboard the pre-roll video ads bandwagon

Having previously resisted implementing pre-roll video ads on their platform, Facebook looks to be enjoying the success shown in tests of this video ad format, which started in early 2018. Mid-roll ads have been a popular video ad format for some time, but advertisers across the web love pre-roll and Facebook has heard their cry. The Facebook tests of pre-roll video ads will now be expanding to places where people seek out videos, like in search results or on a Page timeline, according to a Facebook statement. While this format is not yet available in the News Feed, this placement could also be on its way. With Facebook ramping up its Watch section, and keen to ensure video on Facebook is worthwhile for all parties involved, keep an eye out for a number of new video ad formats in the months to come.

3. Selected Snapchat advertisers can now sell things from sponsored lenses, thanks to shop-able AR

Sponsored Lenses, which have been available to brands since 2015, are becoming shop-able, meaning users can purchase products and services directly from the lens. The new feature will allow Snapchat advertisers to add call-to-action buttons to their lenses, taking users to a website to look at a product to buy, an app to install, or a video to watch. Around half of Snapchat users engage with Lenses every day, so advertisers should take note! While the shiny new toy is only available to a few of Snap’s media partners for the time being, it shouldn’t be too far away for everyone else. It’s hoped the new ad option will increase user engagement with brands and products, as well as reduce friction associated with buying, downloading, or watching something through Snapchat.

4. Snapchat is putting new ads (that look like ads) into the camera experience

As the camera company, Snapchat is looking to the central feature of it’s app to drive ad revenue. Snapchat announced last week that they will be launching ‘direct response ads’. These are ads that drive users to take a specific action, like app download or product purchase, and Snap has been offering a version of these ads in other parts of the app for some time. But now they’re being added to the very throne-room of Snapchat itself – the camera. When users pull up a brand’s sponsored lens, advertisers will be able to add a call to action button right above the app’s record button. The ads will include prompts like Shop Now or Install Now, depending on the advertiser’s goal. This new ad product seems to be a marked change for Snapchat, whose other ad formats (like sponsored lenses) tend to have a much more native look and feel.

5. Snap last week launched new features for lens studio

These include 7 new templates for the creation of face lenses. Before last week, ‘World Lens’ creation was the only format available to everyone within Lens Studio, meaning developers were not able to overlay AR experiences on user’s faces. Now, developers can create Face Lenses, with 7 different templates to choose from. These include Face Paint, which focuses on face substitution and 2D object, which works the same way as Snap’s famous dog ears filter. Here is a full list of all seven new template options.