NORDIC MONITOR - TikTok has stated that the company is fully cooperating with Turkish authorities in complying with a restrictive law regulating Internet publication, which many believe was enacted to silence opposition voices on social media. TikTok also announced that it had established a specific communication channel for requests sent by Turkish courts to remove content and ban accounts.
TELECOMPAPER - The German Federal Court of Justice has ruled that social networks cannot force users to use their real names online. The decision relates to a case involving blocking a user's account who used a pseudonym as a social network personal profile.
VSN - Dennis Yu, CTO of BlitzMetrics, believes there is incredible opportunity to generate growth through Facebook and Instagram advertising. Acquiring leads through cheap app installs or $1-3 CPM traffic is not longer viable due to common privacy settings. A more sophisticated and targeted ad campaign approach is needed. Businesses must learn to utilize URL parameters and the conversion APIs built into marketing automation systems to acquire actionable data. Dating sites must register and have their creatives preapproved before use. Dennis Yu provides a wealth of knowledge on leveraging Facebook and Instagram marketing for online dating platforms in the latest video in the LTR Conference series.
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.
KRASIA - ByteDance is now beta testing a metaverse social media app after investing in multiple companies that operate in this space. The app, called Party Island, allows users to create avatars, join virtual events like concerts, and chat with other participants. It is now under beta testing and is available in app stores but only open to a small number of users who have invitation codes.
TECH CRUNCH - Reddit is testing a feature that would allow its users to set any NFT they own as their profile picture - not only its own Ethereum-based NFTs, called "CryptoSnoos," released in limited quantities last year. Reddit explained this particular NFT test is in very early stages and hasn't been made available to public users on the site.
EURACTIV - EU Commission sent a letter to WhatsApp asking how its new privacy policy meets the EU consumer protection requirements and clarifications on the exchanges of personal data with the parent company Meta. The letter results from a complaint filed by BEUC in July. The consumer organizations considered the messaging app unfairly pressured consumers with aggressive pop-ups to accept its new terms without adequately explaining how their data would be processed.
AFP - The German government is considering a ban on Telegram after it was repeatedly used as a channel for spreading anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and even death threats. With parliament due to begin debating compulsory vaccination, authorities fear that the controversial issue could risk firing up another wave of rage. With this in mind, politicians have set their sights on tighter controls on Telegram.
GO BANKING RATES - While Apple remains the most valuable brand with a valuation of $355B, TikTok is now the world's fastest-growing brand with an incredible 215% growth. TikTok's brand value has increased from $18.7B in 2021 to $59B this year. TikTok has claimed the 18th spot among the world’s 500 most valuable brands and is the highest new entrant on the list.
SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY - LinkedIn posted strong results for the quarter, with overall revenue up 36%, driven by increased demand for LinkedIn ads and a resurgence in the job market. LinkedIn has also reported that its Sales Solutions business, led by its Sales Navigator platform, which now has over 1M paying users, reached $1B in revenue for the year, the first time it's reached that milestone. LinkedIn events are also on the rise, with the platform now seeing ~24K events created and 1.5M RSVPs every week.
VSN - Trust & Safety Connect (TSC) is on Wed 2nd February starting 12 noon EST (New York) and for this quarterly online event we're focused on 'user verification.' How can we make sure we have real people, who are who they say they are on our platforms? We have a half hour of networking on virtual tables, then a 50 minute panel with four world-class panelists from HubPeople, RealMe and FaceTec, and moderator Norman Petty, who is head of Trust & Safety at The Meet Group. 1.5 hours all-in.
ENGADGET - Twitter is still working on a feature named "Flock" that will give away to blast tweets that can only be seen by the friends that are chosen. It might be called differently if it gets a wider release. Its current iteration will let users add ~150 users to the list, and they'll be the only ones who can see and respond to tweets you send to the group.
TECH CRUNCH - TikTok is building several new features, including Bitmoji-like avatars, keyword filtering for the For You Page, group chats, audio-only live streams, screen sharing on live streams, and Twitch-like subscription features that allow creators to make subscriber-only emotes and subscriber-only comment sections.
TECH CRUNCH - In a letter published by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the executive suggests the video-sharing platform may embrace Web3 technologies, including NFTs, as a means of helping YouTube creators make money. Wojcicki referred to the innovations taking place in the Web3 world as a "source of inspiration to continue innovating on YouTube."
ACCESSWIRE - Qilindo.com, the social network for investors and entrepreneurs, is announcing the launch of a beta version of its platform, which serves as a stage for startups to promote and present their businesses to connect with investors and other collaborators. Qilindo allows direct communication between investors and startups and does not charge fees or commissions. Qilindo lets the two parties create the deal that best suits them on their terms and conditions.
THE HILL - Trump's social media Truth Social asks social media influencers to "reserve" their spots on the social network. On behalf of Truth Social's VIP department, the representative had reached out to influencers like Jeremy Jacobowitz and Gillie Houston, popular foodie Instagrammers, to see if they want to reserve their "preferred username for when we launch in late February/early March."