Facebook Changes Business Pages, LinkedIn Acquires Drawbridge, and More Social Media News for June 2019

Also this month in social media news: Facebook releases details of its forthcoming cryptocurrency, and Instagram Pushes IGTV With Horizontal Video LinkedIn updates ad features.

Highlights:

Facebook is removing several Information sections from business Pages, while also testing a feature that lets users preview posts.
LinkedIn is increasing transparency for native advertising and boosting its data personalization capabilities with the acquisition of Drawbridge.
Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, Libra, will enable fee-free fund transfers.

This month, Facebook is dominating the headlines when it comes to social media news. On the heels of its annual F8 developer conference last month, the social media giant is making several changes to its Business Pages, removing certain info sections and reportedly working on a new “Preview” option.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn is updating its ad features in several important ways for businesses. In addition to bringing more transparency to native ads, the social media site has acquired data personalization platform Drawbridge in a push to improve its ad targeting. In the world of Instagram and video, IGTV will now support horizontal video, as the platform seeks to make its IGTV feature increasingly appealing for users. Keep reading for more on these social media news items from June 2019.

Facebook makes key changes to Business pages

Facebook marketing has always been full of constant changes, but lately, as the platform responds to the fallout from Cambridge Analytica and other confidence-shaking scandals, it’s becoming increasingly more challenging for businesses.

Information sections are being removed

This month, changes to business Pages include the removal of certain information sections, effective August 1, including Company Overview, Biography, Mission, Affiliation, and Personal Interests. Prompts to Page admins inform them of the removals and encourage them to “consider adding this info to your Page’s description.” Theories abound as to why the social network is making this change. We think it’s likely that, as Social Media Today posits, Facebook is attempting to “reduce any unnecessary data collection in order to lessen its potential tracking and targeting issues.”

New “Preview” option is being tested

Meanwhile, Facebook is reportedly also testing a new “Preview” option for business Page posts, enabling marketers to see what a post will look like before hitting “Share,” with options to view in mobile or desktop format. In the flurry of more dismal news for businesses on Facebook, this feature would be a welcome bit of good news for social media managers. Being able to see exactly what your content will look like before you post it can help optimize your efforts on the platform and give you an extra failsafe when it comes to catching errors and typos before content goes live.

Instagram announces that IGTV now supports landscape videos

It’s been just over a year since Instagram rolled out its IGTV feature, making tweaks along the way, most notably allowing users to publish previews of IGTV content in the main Instagram feed. Instagram reports that since the launch of the improved publishing feature, “We’ve seen viewers spending more time with IGTV and a surge of new original content from creators of all sizes.”

IGTV is getting another makeover, as the platform responds to user requests to be able to upload landscape videos. Horizontal videos will now be supported in addition to vertical videos, both in the Instagram app and the IGTV standalone app. Viewers will be able to turn their devices sideways and view the content full screen. This is good news for marketers, as publishing video content on IGTV just got a little easier and more flexible. Rather than needing to adapt videos for the vertical format, marketers will now have an easier time integrating content straight from YouTube, for example.

Facebook releases details of its new cryptocurrency, Libra

This month, after extended speculation, Facebook has released the official outline and documentation for its forthcoming cryptocurrency, Libra. There aren’t a lot of surprises in the release. Libra will enable fee-free transfer of funds through Facebook’s “Calibra” crypto subsidiary.

According to Facebook, “From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost. And, in time, we hope to offer additional services for people and businesses, like paying bills with the push of a button, buying a cup of coffee with the scan of a code, or riding your local public transit without needing to carry cash or a metro pass.”

LinkedIn makes two updates to its ad features

In an effort to provide to bring more transparency to ads on LinkedIn, engendering trust among users, the network is introducing a new Ads tab on LinkedIn Pages. According to the platform’s announcement, “In this tab, members will be able to view all Sponsored Content (native ads running in the LinkedIn feed) that advertisers have run on LinkedIn in the past six months.” Clicking on the ads through the new tab won’t charge advertisers, and these engagements also won’t impact campaign reporting.

LinkedIn is also upping its game when it comes to data personalization. To help businesses better reach their audiences on the platform, LinkedIn is acquiring Drawbridge, Inc. “We believe Drawbridge’s team and technology will allow us to accelerate the capabilities of our Marketing Solutions platform, helping our customers better reach and understand their professional audiences and measure the ROI of their campaigns across mobile and desktop,” says LinkedIn’s Tomer Cohen.

What social media news are you following this month?

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