Social Media Weekly Roundup 04.12.20
Supermarket brands unite against racism in Channel 4 ad break takeover
The UK’s biggest supermarket brands have united to show solidarity and take a stand against racism in a pioneering Channel 4 ad break takeover. Tesco, Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Co-Op, Iceland, M&S and Waitrose & Partners joined forces alongside Sainsbury’s, whose Christmas ad was faced with racist backlash on social media earlier this month. The ad break, which aired on the evening of Friday 27th November, saw Channel 4 broadcast the supermarkets’ ads one after another - something which the rival supermarket brands would usually avoid at all costs - in an effort to put competition aside and show unity for a greater cause.
Google Maps launches new “Community Feed”
Google Maps has taken a leaf out of Facebook’s book with the launch of its latest feature: the “Community Feed”. The feature is essentially a news feed which includes posts from a local area, but shows many similarities to Facebook’s newsfeed, particularly that it is vertically scrollable and users are able to “Like” posts by tapping on a thumbs-up icon. The feed is designed to make it easier for users to find the most recent news, updates and recommendations from trusted sources, including posts by business owners created through Google My Business.
YouTube introduces new feature to tackle toxic comments
YouTube has announced the launch of a new feature that will encourage users to reconsider posting comments that contain hateful, offensive or hurtful content. The feature appears when users are about to post something deemed offensive in the comments section of a video, warning them to “keep comments respectful” and check the Community Guidelines for more guidance on what is and isn’t acceptable on the platform. A filter is also being tested that would allow creators to avoid having to read through hurtful comments on their channel. Both features are a response by YouTube to address the longstanding issues of hate-spreading and bullying on the site which have been flagged by creators and other users for many years.
Facebook News is due to be expanded internationally
After the success of Facebook News in the US, the social media giant has announced that it will be expanding the feature to its international users. The feature is a personalised in-app destination for users to access news as well as help publishers to reach new audiences. Facebook News will be available in the UK in January 2021 and, as in other countries, will pay news publishers to ensure their content is available via the feature.
Instagram Fundraisers will now be publishable directly in-feed
Instagram Fundraisers will soon be available to create and share fundraiser events for non-profit organisations directly in-feed. Previously, fundraisers have only been publishable via Stories or Live video, with donations securely processed via Facebook Pay. The feature was announced on Tuesday as part of Facebook’s #GivingTuesday which encourages people to support small businesses and donate to nonprofits.
Spotify releases its annual Wrapped data to users
Spotify has released its popular annual Spotify Wrapped data for its users and artists. This year, Spotify’s personalised round-up featured a mini quiz for users to try and guess their own listening habits alongside the usual rankings of users’ top songs, artists and genres as well as how many minutes they spent listening to music. This year, thanks to a rise in the popularity of podcasts, Spotify also included a podcast segment in many users’ Wrapped, listing their top five podcasts and time they spent listening to podcasts.
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