From algorithms to privacy – and everything in between – the social media landscape is continuously changing. And keeping up with the latest can be tough. To help ease the burden, we’ve created a monthly recap of the most significant social media updates.
Here are the top 5 stories This Month in Social Media: January 2020 edition.
- Facebook Refuses to Ban Political Ads – Despite pressure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Facebook reaffirmed its policy on political ads earlier this month, saying it won’t ban them, won’t fact-check them and won’t limit how they can be targeted to specific groups of people. Instead, Facebook will offer users slightly more control over how many political ads they see and make its online library of political ads easier to browse.
- Pinterest Surpassed Snapchat as No. 3 Social Media App – Pinterest overtook Snapchat to become the third-most-popular social network in the U.S. behind Facebook and Instagram, eMarketer said in a report. Pinterest’s user base grew 9.1% to 82.4 million last year, surpassing Snapchat’s growth of 5.9% to 80.2 million. Unlike Snapchat, which is primarily used by teens and young adults, Pinterest has a more universal appeal than Snapchat. eMarkerter also estimates that Snapchat’s market share will remain flat in 2021, but Pinterest will gain slightly.
- Twitter adds video to Promoted Trends takeover ads – Twitter has expanded it’s promoted trend takeover ads to include video. The Promoted Trend Spotlight placement pairs “the power of video with the premier real estate of Twitter’s Explore tab.” Twitter says it’s Explore tab – the app’s collection of trending topics and hashtags – is where people go to see what’s happening, “making it a prime location for advertisers to connect with people and conversation.”
- TikTok Owner Seeks US CEO to Potentially Oversee Apps Advertising – The new CEO would oversee TikTok’s “non-technical functions,” which include advertising and operations. Current TikTok chief Alex Zhu would continue to manage the majority of product and engineering out of China. The search for a US CEO comes after the company opened a new 120,000-square-foot office in L.A. for their now 400 US employees.
- Instagram Drops IGTV Button – Instagram is removing a button on the home page of its app that directs users to their video streaming feature – IGTV. Most users discover IGTV content via previews in the main apps feed or the Explore tab’s dedicated IGTV channel versus the stand-alone button. Since June of 2018, IGTV’s app has only received 1.1 million downloads – compared to 80.5 TikTok downloads.
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