Social Media Daily News Roundup 2.09.2019

Today’s social media news, rounded up in one place so you don’t have to go anywhere else. 

😃Hackers gain access to the Twitter account of platform CEO Jack Dorsey, tweet offensive content

😃 US says it plans to create fake social media accounts to monitor immigrants

😃 How should brands measure success on Instagram if ‘likes’ are no longer relevant?

😃 YouTube Kids relies on poor math skills to keep children safe

Hackers gain access to the Twitter account of platform CEO Jack Dorsey, tweet offensive content - Social Media Today

With Twitter working to improve its data and security measures, this is probably not a great endorsement of its evolving tools.

On Friday afternoon, at around 1pm, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey started tweeting out some unusual updates.

The tweets then escalated into a stream of offensive, racist updates, which Social Media Today decided not to share.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the hack was seemingly carried out by a group calling themselves 'Chuckling Squad', which has also claimed responsibility for a range of recent hacks of online celebrity accounts, including YouTubers James Charles, Shane Dawson, Amanda Cerny and King Bach.

US says it plans to create fake social media accounts to monitor immigrants - Fox News

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers can now use fake social media accounts to monitor immigrants seeking visas, green cards and citizenship.

The new plan is a policy change from July that reverses a Homeland Security Department ban that cited privacy issues.

A statement from USCIS said the agency will use the fake accounts only “to access social media content that is publicly available to all users of the social media platform,” adding its personnel will respect users' privacy settings and won’t "friend" or "follow" users.

How should brands measure success on Instagram if ‘likes’ are no longer relevant? - The Drum

You have probably heard the news. In July, Instagram announced their test of hiding “likes” on posts just expanded to more markets around the globe, including Australia. Instagram says the reason for the new feature is to have users concentrate on their posts and interacting with the app, rather than likes.

However, the big question is, how will this affect a business that is purely built on social media marketing and relies on social proof? Our first thought - a massive change for the business.

Likes are one of the most recognisable elements of social proof, and a core element to engagement metrics of a brands’ social platforms. If not engagement, what social metric will drive business results at top? Nonetheless - the new era is here, and we believe it will be defined by personalised content.

YouTube Kids relies on poor math skills to keep children safe - Mashable

YouTube Kids is here to protect all the children who can't do basic math. 

The current version of the kids app comes with a set of parental controls meant to ensure adults can both track what their children watch and set boundaries for age-appropriate content. The only problem is that the parental-control lock is easily bypassed. And yes, it's so easy even a kid could do it. 

YouTube has been accused of allowing disturbing content on its platform for years. Earlier this week, Google announced a new standalone YouTube Kids website and additional parental controls in an attempt to make its app more kid appropriate. Which, again, would be good if they weren't so easily defeated. 

At issue are two key points: YouTube Kids' "content settings" and "clear history." The app allows parents to decide what online content is appropriate for their precious bundle of joy in three categories: 4 and under, ages 5 to 7, and ages 8 to 12.