Sherrilynne Starkie
In this week's top 5 must-know social media news, we see major social networks rolling out initiatives to protect privacy and increase transparency. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest are all featured
Fast on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the world's biggest social network is making changes to how third parties can access data. These include changes to several APIs, Login, search, text history and more. This initiative will allay some fear among users and investors.
Small and independent retailers take note. Pinterest has hired Facebook's Matt Hogle as global head of small business. The number of small businesses advertisers on Pinterest has increased by around 50% year-over-year and it looks to continue to refine a kind of hybrid strategy that mixes platforms and interactions with real people to entice those businesses.
Social media platforms are trying to clean up their acts. Twitter has suspended 1.2 million accounts for terrorist content and has increased transparency on withheld content. The company says its committed to increasing the health, openness and civility of public conversation around the world.
Facebook is rolling out a new feature to provide more context about stories and content so users can decide for themselves what they want to read or share. It provides information from publishers' Wikipedia entries, related articles, engagement metrics and more. So far, this roll out is limited to the USA; it's sure to come to Canada before long.
LinkedIn has published its own biannual transparency report which includes information about how and when governments ask for member data. On the whole such requests are on the rise. The USA leads the way with 191 requests over six months. The Canadian government made only one request.
