Social Media Daily News Roundup
Today’s social media news, rounded up in one place so you don’t have to go anywhere else.
🙌 ‘Facebook is at the point of no return’: These 17-year-olds are very clear about what they love and hate about social media
🙌 New study finds that flagging false reports on Facebook may indeed reduce their distribution
🙌 Snapchat launches new, streamlined ad creation process
🙌 British Army to train cyber spies to combat hackers and digital propaganda
Generation Z has never known a world without the internet, smartphones and social media and their behavior is a constant source of fascination for companies who want to understand how to reach them with the next big thing.
The group — often described as being aged between around 8 and 22 years-old — rarely watch TV, use WhatsApp for communicating with their parents, sometimes “ghost” job offers, and are courted by the likes of Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube for their attention. Some are really not fans of Facebook despite the firm’s attempts to win teens back to the platform.
New study finds that flagging false reports on Facebook may indeed reduce their distribution - Social Media Today
Back in 2016, at the peak of the blowback related to how Facebook had been used to distribute false news in the lead up to the US Presidential Election, Facebook announced a new measure which would flag potentially misleading stories with a new warning, showing that the validity of that report had been disputed by third-party fact checkers.
Facebook partnered with a range of organisations to clarify highly shared, questionable reports, and has since continued to refine its systems as part of its broader effort to stem the flow of damaging reports before they gain full traction.
Snapchat launches new, streamlined ad creation process - Social Media Today
Snapchat is looking to lure more advertisers by launching a simplified ad creation process, which will enable brands to build and launch their Snap ads in three steps.
As explained by Snapchat:
"Today we’re excited to introduce Instant Create, an easy way for advertisers to create ads in three simple steps. Just select your objective (increase web visits, app installs, or app visits), enter your business website and finalize your targeting. Then you're ready to publish! Instant Create provides advertisers with limited resources a way to quickly get started in reaching a highly engaged audience to grow their business with Snapchat."
British Army to train cyber spies to combat hackers and digital propaganda - sky news
The British Army will adapt to better tackle the threat of cyber warfare, including hackers, digital propaganda and misinformation, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
A unit called the Sixth Division will be reintroduced as part of plans to "rebalance the Field Army… [to] defeat adversaries both above and below the threshold of conventional conflict", the MoD stated.
Troops recruited into the division will be trained in intelligence gathering and covert surveillance, as well as a range of cyber skills.
The changes come after the UK used online warfare to counter the IS message in northern Iraq, in which the terrorist group used digital resources to recruit and radicalise people across the world.