—
Instagram protects its Community from bullying comments
Starting May 1, Instagram will filter bullying comments intended to harass or upset people in the Instagram community.
“To be clear: we don’t tolerate bullying on Instagram. Our Community Guidelines have always prohibited bullying on our platform, and I’m proud to announce this next step in our ongoing commitment to keeping Instagram an inclusive, supportive place for all voices.”
Old AdWords interface will be phased out by year-end
Google announced Monday that the old AdWords interface will hit the dustbin by the end of the year.
Last year, Google rolled out the new interface, which it calls the new AdWords experience, to all advertisers and has continued to add new features. Advertisers have been able to toggle back and forth between the two.
Magazine publishers with video ambitions see YouTube as safer bet than Facebook
Sometimes, being reliable goes a long way — and for smaller publishers looking to grow sustainable video businesses, that means focusing on YouTube.
Facebook’s decision to devalue media content within the news feed — the latest and most seismic change in a constant series of changes to Facebook’s algorithm and video strategy — has forced many publishers to make tough decisions on where to look for video distribution. Some bigger publishers are producing and selling shows for streaming platforms; others are eyeing streaming TV bundles; and even more are taking a closer look at Twitter and Snapchat, both of which have also been wooing publishers with better monetization and distribution options.
WordStream sells to Gannett for $150 million
Gannett Co., Inc. announced earlier this month that it entered into an agreement to acquire WordStream, Inc. for $150 million. The purchase price is $130 million in cash, net of cash acquired, plus up to an aggregate $20 million earnout payable in 2019 and 2020 based on achieving certain revenue targets. The transaction builds upon Gannett’s existing data-driven digital marketing services, ReachLocal and SweetIQ.
Facebook suspends ~200 suspicious apps out of “thousands” reviewed so far
Did you just notice a Facebook app has gone AWOL? After reviewing “thousands” of apps on its platform following a major data misuse scandal that blew up in March, Facebook has announced it’s suspended around 200 apps — pending what it describes as a “thorough investigation” into whether or not their developers misused Facebook user data.
Instagram gives email-like messaging tools to businesses
A few weeks ago, Instagram unveiled a major update, including new email-like messaging tools that will make it easier and more efficient for any brand with an Instagram business account to communicate with people who want to reach it.
YouTube now has over 1.8 billion users every month, within spitting distance of Facebook’s 2 billion
YouTube is even bigger than Gmail, and nearly as big as Facebook, with over 1.8 billion monthly logged-in users. The absurdly high user number was announced by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki earlier this month during the company’s annual Brandcast advertising event, according to Variety.
StumbleUpon shuts down after 16 years
Content discovery platform StumbleUpon is shutting down on June 30th, after 16 years in operation. StumbleUpon accounts will be transitioned into Mix over the coming months.
Facebook and Instagram launch US political ad labeling and archive
Facebook revealed that it’s chosen not to shut down all political ads because that could unfairly favor incumbents and candidates without resources to buy pricey TV ads. Instead, it’s now launching its previously announced “paid for by” labels on political and issue ads on Facebook and Instagram in the U.S. and its publicly searchable archive of all these politics-related ads that run in the U.S. That includes ads run by news publishers or others that promote articles with political content.
Airbnb’s new Travel Stories feature lets users show off videos from their trip
The increasingly popular “stories” format has infiltrated yet another app: Airbnb. The company quietly launched a new feature called Travel Stories that allows guests to create and upload video sequences in order to show off highlights from their trip, as spotted by TechCrunch,
