It was a big week for Facebook — so big, in fact, that we may not have time to get to all the announcements, additions and annulments the social platform put forth this week if we don’t start right NOW.
NiemanLab: What 6 months of the Facebook Journalism Project Has Added Up To
The NiemanLab does a nice job of highlighting all the aspects of Facebook’s busy week. But they do a particularly nice job of detailing what the Facebook Journalism Project has done, now that its in full swing. Depending on who you ask, the project is either a step towards broader collaboration between Facebook and publishers or a charm offensive by Facebook to make nice with publishers. Either way, it has led to some fundamental changes in how the platform operates, including the following…
Facebook for Developers: Facebook Pages Can No Longer Modify Link Previews
Dubbing it part of an effort to “stop the spread of misinformation and false news on our platform,” Facebook this week removed the ability for pages to modify the link previews on Facebook posts. Essentially, this means your page has lost to ability to customize the image, title or description of a third party link when you’re posting that link on Facebook.
Facebook Newsroom: New Ways to Better Understand Interactions
Facebook itself reported this week that it is rolling out several new metrics, including 1) landing page views, which will track how many people actually end up on your site after clicking a link on a Facebook advertisement, 2) a pre-impression activity breakdown, which will allow brands to track whether customers interacting with a particular campaign are new or returning, and 3) new, deeper insights when it comes to followers, page previews and recommendations.
9NEWS: Denver Librarians Use Facebook to Give Book Recommendations Based on Tattoos
In honor of National Tattoo Day, the Denver Public Library took to Facebook with a simple, fully organic campaign: #Book4Tat. This campaign asked the library’s audience to provide a photo of a tattoo along with a short backstory. Librarians then used the information to offer book recommendations. As of Thursday afternoon, the library had received over 200 tattoo submissions – and they had replied to each and every one.
TechCrunch: Facebook Is Now Letting Brands Create Groups Within Pages
This week, Facebook also launched Groups for Pages, allowing the 70 million pages on the platform to create their own distinct communities and feeds within the confines of their page audience. TechCrunch explains that this will allow a musician to run an on-site fan club, a brand to organize its ambassadors and a newspaper to discuss articles only with its top readers.
In the News
AdWeek: How Social Media Could’ve Changed the O.J. Trial
On Thursday, you couldn’t turn on a TV or peruse any sort of digital newsfeed without coming across a live feed of O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing. How we ever got here is a great question — and one for another day with (many) drinks in hand. But what about this question: What if we never got here? It’s a question that AdWeek examines in this interesting expose on what may have happened if social media had existed during the first O.J. trail.
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