Twitter’s top ten political moments of 2014
Twitter is becoming an increasingly critical communications tool for politicians and political organisations, and so it is fitting that the social platform has released the top ten Twitter political moments of 2014. The most-shared political Tweet was the first Tweet by the CIA, whilst the biggest government and politics topic was ISIS – with over five million Twitter mentions.
Reading Shakespeare? It’s actually just the Facebook and Twitter privacy policies
A new report by MPs has likened reading social network data policies to “engaging with Shakespeare”, adding that these are “not fit for purpose”, and make it almost impossible to understand how members’ data is being used. The Commons Science and Technology Select Committee has called on the government to create new voluntary guidelines explaining data usage by the likes of Facebook and Twitter in concise, simple terms.
Spanish newspapers exile Google News, then decide they want it back
With newspaper corporations continuing to search for alternative means of monetisation as consumers’ media habits become ever more online-centric, Spanish newspapers are trying to reconcile their relationship with Google News. Having played a pivotal role in introducing a new law that would have required Google to pay newspapers if it linked to their articles – prompting Google to announce it was closing its Google News service in Spain – the Spanish Newspapers’ Publishers Association has now called on the Spanish government and European competition authorities to stop Google from shutting down the service, recognising that, given Google News’s dominant position, the move would have a negative impact on citizens and Spanish businesses.
ASA rules that vloggers must clearly tell fans when videos are sponsored
If you’re planning on creating communications campaigns involving vloggers, make sure you take into account a new landmark ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority stating that companies working with independent editorially based YouTube channels will have to ensure any videos with their products are clearly labelled as marketing communications at the beginning of the video. The judgement comes after the ASA banned an Oreo YouTube campaign for not making the commercial purpose of the videos clear.
Look out for LinkedIn’s new homepage design
LinkedIn is rolling out a revamped, pared-down homepage to all users to encourage greater interactivity with the platform. The new homepage will be a lot less busy, with your personal profile analytics at the top of the page, followed by simplified tiles inviting you to look at relevant news content, maintain relationships, and build new contacts. The new homepage will use anticipatory computing be more context-aware, so that members can easily and quickly use the platform to meet their professional goals.
