This past week has brought some news from around social media and digital marketing, but I don’t think we need to wrry (too much)…
Embedding Tweets is Copyright Infringement!!!! Don’t Worry…
A recent court ruling said that embedding Tweets (or even some links) can be considered copyright infringement. That sounds frightening- can I be sued for embedding a Tweet in this blog? The reason I’m not worried is that it seems the bigger issue is the proliferation of infringing content, rather than sharing primary content itself. There is likely some lawyerin’ to be done about copyright and sharing, but I think at some point further clarifications of Fair Use will be forthcoming…maybe.
This article, posted a few months before the ruling, does a good job of laying out the complexity of the issue. I’m not worried, but I won’t be posting any Tweets with Tom Brady photos here, just to be safe.
Twitter Won’t Let You Do Stuff That is Pretty Dumb to Do Anyway So Don’t Sweat It.
As one small part of larger efforts to combat account spam on Twitter, users will now be unable to post the same content simultaneously from multiple accounts. I can understand that some folks want to do that, but I can’t imagine any self-respecting, experienced corporate social media director recommending identical posts from multiple accounts. If they do, they’ll have to stop.
Anyway, I reacted on Twitter, for what it’s worth:
I have absolutely no problem with this. The implications for marketers I see is it forces some of them to be less stupid. https://t.co/jqrlPkk1xP
— Doug Haslam (@DougH) February 21, 2018
Also- frankly, the inability to post to multiple accounts in TweetDeck will save me from doing some Very Dumb Internet Things that I am shocked I haven’t done (more often).
Facebook Usage Declines – To the Lifeboats (But Don’t Worry)!
Is it a problem that Facebook usage went down? The companion question is: at what point does Facebook reach full saturation? Did they hit it? Is this a bad thing? I think that next year’s numbers will tell us more about the future of Facebook. One number is a fact- 2 or more makes a trend. I doubt anybody is panicking yet.Still, this is significant. Even if it’s not a negative (I, as usual, have my doubts), the Maturity of Facebook is something we should take note of.
Twitter Pruning Fake Accounts. Boo-Hoo (But It’s OK)
I know we are supposed to see the zapping of fake Twitter accounts as some sort of post-Russian-bot cleanup, but Twitter used to do this more often in earlier days. However, if people were selling their influence based on inflated numbers of purchased followers, perhaps repeated cleanups by Twitter can convince those who buy “influence” that follower numbers are not all that (and I don’t mean just for conservative trolls).
Celebrity Wipes Out Snapchat Market Cap: This is Insane, and Also Normal
So, celebrity Snapchatter Kylie Jenner went public with her dislike of the new Snapchat updates, and the stock tumbled, sending the value of the company down over a billion dollars. That’s insane, but it says a few things to me:
- If Snapchat’s fortunes are tied to people beholden to the word of a surface-level celebrity, I assume they are examining how they can diversify their user base. If not, we can add them Of course, that could be what the latest interface changes are aimed at, but don’t know.
- The stock market is a crazy combination of all of our real money and the fickle tastes of investors who, as a group, are either stuffing or pillaging our 401ks, depending on the day. What a world we live in.
- This is either a proof point for the efficacy of influencer marketing, or a frightening symbol of the impending end of the world. I’m ready for either.
Spam Posts? Facebook is on the Case!
The Birthday Spam scourge has been eradicated.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10160259563125105&set=a.10150357572160105.576485.727785104&type=3&theater