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Facebook Detects Three New Russian-Based Networks Attempting to Interfere with Foreign Politics

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facebook detects three new russian based networks attempting to interfere with foreign politics

This is a concern, as we head into the final stretch of the US Presidential election campaign.

This week, Facebook has reported its discoveries of three new Russian-based networks that have been attempting to use Facebook to interfere in foreign political debates.

The three networks are as follows:

  • 14 Facebook users, 35 Pages, 18 Groups and 34 Instagram accounts which Facebook has traced back to the Russian military
  • 1 Page, 5 Facebook accounts, 1 Group and 3 Instagram accounts linked to the Russian Internet Research Agency (the group behind the majority of Russian-based interference operations during the 2016 US Presidential campaign)
  • 23 Facebook accounts, 6 Pages, and 8 Instagram accounts that have been linked back to Russian intelligence services

Cumulatively, around 74k people followed these Pages on Facebook, 9.5k had joined their associated groups and around 15k followed the profiles on Instagram. So in terms of scale, the impact is not massive – but then again, impact can’t be measured in initial audience size in this respect, as it only takes a small group to plant a seed that can then become a much bigger point of debate and division among Facebook audiences.

In assessing their purpose, Facebook found that these operations were mostly focused on distributing content around local elections and geopolitical conspiracies, and included reports on COVID-19 misinformation, foreign trade sanctions, police brutality and more. And all of them gave at least some focus to the US election and Presidential candidates. 

Facebook post example

Of course, it’s no major surprise to see Russian-based operatives looking to influence the US election, as they did in 2016, but it’s concerning to see such activity ramping up just 40 days out from the poll. 

How you view the findings then comes down to perspective. On one hand, these new discoveries show that Facebook’s efforts to detect and remove these clusters are working, as they’re finding more of them as time goes on.

But are they detecting all of them? Are these just the ones that Facebook has caught, and other groups are still using The Social Network to influence voter opinions?

We can’t know the full extent of such operations, but the findings show that foreign groups are certainly not going to stop trying to use The Social Network as a tool to incite voter action, in order to influence the final result of the November poll.

Hopefully, Facebook’s improved initiatives are detecting the majority of these groups before they can have any impact.

The next month will be the biggest test of Facebook’s detection systems to date.  

Socialmediatoday.com

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YouTube Adds New Analytics Cards, Simplifies its ‘Product Drops’ Feature

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YouTube Adds New Analytics Cards, Simplifies its ‘Product Drops’ Feature

YouTube’s making some updates to its Product Drops feature within live streams, while it’s also adding some new analytics cards, and testing a new format for its TV app.

First off, on Product Drops. YouTube’s changing the requirements for Product Drops in live streams so that more creators will be able to include drops to highlight their items.

Up till now, Product Drops have only been available to creators who’ve connected their Shopify stores, or have access to Google Merchant Center, while creators have also had to plan Product Drops in advance, and schedule them via Live Control Room. But now, YouTube’s giving more creators more ways to access the feature.

As per YouTube:

“Any creators who have connected to their first party stores, or are participating in the YouTube Affiliate Program can set up Product Drops in the live control room on YouTube. This means that more creators will be able to use Product Drops to boost sales and engagement on their live streams.”

YouTube will also now enable creators to implement Product Drops at any time during a live stream, eliminating the pre-planned requirement.

“This will give creators more flexibility to react to the moment, and drive excitement in real time.”

YouTube says that many creators have seen good response to their Product Drops, with the interactive, engaging process helping to drive hype, and spark more response from viewers.

Product Drops are available via the Live Control Room in YouTube Studio. You can read more about how they work here.

YouTube’s also updating its Community Posts creation flow, in order to simplify the process, and ideally get more channels posting text-based updated in the app.

Community Posts remain a lesser element, though YouTube’s been working to make them a bigger focus throughout the year, by adding additional engagement elements like pollsquizzesdisappearing updates, and more.

Simplifying the creation process is another step in boosting awareness, and potentially driving more interaction with you YouTube audience.

YouTube’s also adding some new revenue analytics cards, including “Total Members” insights (which includes subscriber data) and “Where Members Joined From”, which will provide more insight into what’s driving channel growth.

YouTube’s also adding new data on why users have canceled their membership within the insights tab in YouTube Analytics.

YouTube analytics cards

As you can see in this example, the new card will show the reasons why people have opted to stop their subscription to your channel, based on responses provided in the cancellation flow.

Finally, YouTube’s also experimenting with a new format for its TV app, which will make it easier to access different elements.

YouTube TV app

As you can see in this example, shared by 9t05Google, the new format will include bigger buttons to access different elements, and further customize your YouTube experience on the bigger screen.

Connected TV is the fastest growing viewer segment for YouTube, with more and more people now looking to consume YouTube content on their home TV set. As such, it makes sense for YouTube to roll out more updates aligned with big screen viewing in order to feed into this usage.

Some handy updates, across various elements, which are worth noting as you go about managing your YouTube presence.

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Musk regrets controversial post but won’t bow to advertiser ‘blackmail’

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Elon Musk's comments at the New York Times' Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence

Elon Musk’s comments at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Slaven Vlasic

Elon Musk apologized Wednesday for endorsing a social media post widely seen as anti-Semitic, but accused advertisers who are turning away from his social media platform X of “blackmail” and said anyone who does so can “go fuck yourself.”

The remark before corporate executives at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence.

Earlier, Musk had apologized for what he called “literally the worst and dumbest post that I’ve ever done.”

In a comment on X, formerly Twitter, Musk on November 15 called a post “the actual truth” that said Jewish communities advocated a “dialectical hatred against whites,” which was criticized as echoing longtime conspiracy theory among White supremacists.

The statement prompted a flood of departures from X of major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Comcast and IBM who criticized Musk for anti-semitism.

“I’m sorry for that tweet or post,” Musk said Wednesday. “It was foolish of me.”

He told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin that his post had been misinterpreted and that he had sought to clarify the remark in subsequent posts to the thread.

But Musk also said he wouldn’t be beholden to pressure from advertisers.

“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money?” Musk said. “Go fuck yourself.”

But the billionaire acknowledged that there were business implications to the advertiser actions.

“If the company fails… it will fail because of an advertiser boycott” Musk said. “And that will be what will bankrupt the company.”

Musk, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel earlier this week, insisted in the interview that he holds no discrimination against Jews, calling himself “philo-Semitic,” or an admirer of Judaism.

During the interview, Musk wore a necklace given to him by a parent of an Israeli hostage taken in the Hamas attack on October 7. The necklace reads, “Bring Them Home.”

Musk told Sorkin that the Israel trip had been planned earlier and was not an “apology tour” related to the controversial tweet.

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TikTok Encourages Creators To Make Longer Videos, With Focus On Ad Revenue 11/30/2023

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TikTok Encourages Creators To Make Longer Videos, With Focus On Ad Revenue 11/30/2023

With a need to expand its advertising business, TikTok is now fully focused on the output of long-form videos.

A new report by The Information shows the company’s recent efforts to convince
creators to put out longer videos in order to provide more room for ad placements.

According to the …



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