Well, social media sure does keep you on your toes! More announcements this week, not least from Facebook and Twitter:
Photo by Robert Scoble
Facebook announced key updates to its News Feed algorithm on Tuesday, warning that the changes could cause reduced visibility for some Business Pages. So, what are they changing? You’ll see more content from friends and less from pages – unless those pages are ones you interact with regularly.
You’ll also see less of the ‘So and So liked this’ or ‘Such and Such commented on that’ – in other words, the voyeuristic posts. Facebook are focusing on what users have requested of course, and it means Pages need to pay more attention than ever to engagement and getting fans involved. How’s your Facebook page doing?
Twitter has announced new measures to prevent users from receiving abuse and violent threats. About time! Shreyas Doshi, Twitter’s director of product management, said identifying and limiting the incentives for trolls to send abusive messages was a priority for the site, and that it would monitor how the changes discourage abuse.
The company also recently banned its users from posting ‘revenge porn‘, updating its privacy section to state: “You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.” Users who violate the new revenge porn rules will have their accounts locked or suspended. This is long overdue and Twitter are clearly trying to improve their reputation for safeguarding against abuse.
And finally, LinkedIn just launched LinkedIn Elevate – “a new product that helps companies and employees curate high quality content, share easily to social networks and measure the impact.” It’s designed to give you and your company greater visibility. When a LinkedIn member shares six pieces of content, on average, they receive six profile views and make two new connections. But finding and sharing content takes time: in steps Elevate and Bingo! Content and visibility raised!
Anyone using Elevate yet? Would love to hear your views – on that and the Twitter changes. I’m all for the online world being made a safer and more welcoming space.
By Kate Tyler
Kate is a digital marketing expert, regular contributor to a range of publications and Managing Director of Shake Social. Struggling to maintain your own blog? We can help!
Kate Tyler is the founder of Shake Social and our long time social media expert. A regular speaker at events, Kate offers consultancy and training on a range of digital marketing topics, in particular safeguarding and using social media in an educational setting.