Facebook News Updates

Facebook makes Group Privacy more Clear – Instead of public, closed or secret groups can now choose their membership and visibility. This adds transparency to how groups are setup.
Facebook Stops Group Chats to Limit Spammers – Launched a year ago, group chats allowed people to chat within a group. This was too much temptation for spammers, so the feature has been disabled in August.
Facebook Rebrands Instagram and What’sApp to be “From Facebook” – Facebook announced that they are adding “from Facebook to the other brands they manage. This increases the reach of the Facebook brand and clarifies ownership for those who may not follow it.
Facebook Page Insights will now include Stories – If you want to view your entire Facebook Page performance including Stories, they will now be included in Page Insights. This could result in higher results for some pages.
Facebook Reminds Businesses of Targeting Restrictions – Coming in to effect soon are restrictions for credit, housing and employment to prevent discrimination.
Multi-Image Stories become Easier with Slideshows – Right now to add multiple images you have to add them one at a time. With slideshows you can easily add multiple photos at once.
Facebook Removes Outdated Targeting – Things like old movies or cultural references will be removed. It isn’t likely that many businesses use these, but just in case.

Instagram News Updates

Post from Desktop – This is huge – you can directly post from Facebook Creator Studio (in business manager) to Instagram…. It doesn’t appear to support Stories, but posting directly from desktop is a game changer.
Spark AR Available on Instagram – This allows all Instagram users to add AR effects to their Instagram Stories.

Twitter Launches 6 Second Viewable Video Ads – Taking a page from YouTube, Twitter is launching 6-second biddable ads. The ads can be over 6 seconds which allows for longer videos.

LinkedIn Insights Hub Launches with Audience Data – This is a collection of data (not a self-serve tool about your audience) that shares specific insights by vertical. Could be worth a look to see what you can learn about your vertical audiences.

Google Says Dates on Articles Allow it to Identify Evergreen Content – This is important, as many businesses that struggle to create fresh content have removed dates. Google uses the date to identify high-quality evergreen content, so your date doesn’t necessarily work against you.
Google Puts Playable Podcast Episodes in Search – This could increase podcast listening, but may be problematic for analytics.
Google Analytics provides Unified Web + App Analytics – If you have an app this makes it easier to aggregate your data.

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