Marketing In The Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Apr 13, 2018)

Technology has become so integrated into our everyday lives that I have stopped paying attention to how and where my data is collected.  In the seemingly simple act of ordering/picking up pizza and a movie, a staggering 53+ points of data can be collected. 

How Pizza Can Cost More in Data Than Dollars

Summary: The article tracks what and how much data of your is collected as you do a simple task like ordering pizza.  From texting your friend to join, ordering through Amazon's Alexa, picking it up and using Google Maps, taking the obligatory pizza selfie, and then ordering a movie on AppleTV, your data is collected every step of the way.  At least 53 points of data to be exact. 

Opinion: I feel like my pizza should be provided for free given the amount of data being collected!  

Biggest Black Lives Matter Facebook Page is Fake

Summary: With almost 700k followers (more than double the amount of followers than the official Black Lives Matter Account, it was discovered the account was a fake one run by a middle-aged white man in Australia.  The account brought in at least $100k to support the cause but was routed to Australian bank accounts. 

Opinion: This leads perfectly into our next story on Facebook verification of large pages.

Facebook Verification For Large Pages

Summary: Facebook will now require large Pages to verify identities and locations of people and businesses managing them, which is largely meant to ward off fraudulent posts like domestic politics. 

Opinion: Although the threshold of being a "large" Page is not currently defined, the step is a positive one to curtail misuse of the platform like the Black Lives Matter account above. 

U.S. iPhone Users Spent 23% More in Apps

Summary: U.S. iPhone users spent 23% more in apps in 2017 than 2016, mostly in gaming followed by entertainment apps and music.  

Opinion: As many apps as there are, they are still a consumer hit.  The key is having a utility function for your apps to drive repeat use.  Many companies make the mistake of releasing an app just to release an app without thinking how or why the consumer would use it.  

Marketing In the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Mar 9, 2018)

Ever find yourself talking about something and then see an ad pop up on Facebook for it?  Is Facebook listening to you through your phone's microphone.  No, it just really feels like they are. 

Why It Feels Like Facebook Is Listening Through Your Phone

Summary: Mic check: Facebook has gotten so good at offline and online tracking that the ads you see feel like it has tapped into your phone's microphone.  Facebook uses a system of techniques to best suit ads to you, be it location based through your phone, pixels, or tying offline data from stores' loyalty cards to your online behavior. 

Opinion: The level of ad tracking can get creepy. I figure if I am going to get ads, though, I may as well get ones that may actually serve me well.  If you're not into that, you can go into Facebook settings, accounts settings, and turn off interest based ads.  Similar on your iPhone, settings--> privacy--> advertising--> limit ad tracking.

Snap Releasing Version 2 of Spectacles

Summary: Snap announced it will be releasing a version 2 of its Spectacles due out in fall of this year.  The new glasses will now feature two cameras with a price point of $300 (up from $130 for version 1).  This is after a $40 million loss on the first version of Spectacles, with many glasses sitting unsold.  

Opinion: When Snap changed its tagline to "a camera company," one would have expected better camera products.  That has not been the case, and this seems like an instance of throwing good money after bad now. 

Brands' Ads Unknowingly Ran on YouTube Channel InfoWars

Summary: InfoWars right-wing founder Alex Jones was reprimanded last week for claiming victims of the Florida shooting were actors.  Now, CNN discovered brand ads from companies like Nike, ClassPass, FOX, Acer, and more were running on the channel without their knowledge. 

Opinion: Keep your blacklist and whitelist channels up-to-date!  Set a calendar reminder if you have to in order to protect your brand identity and integrity.

FOX Aims to Cut Ads to 2 Minutes Per Hour by 2020

Summary: FOX Network Group's ad sales chief announced a goal of reducing TV ad time to two minutes by 2020. In 2017, the average time was ~13 minutes on broadcast and 16 minutes on cable. FOX would likely have to charge a lot more for ads given the reduced inventory.    

Opinion: This will price a lot of companies out of the market.  For those that could afford it, I imagine the effectiveness of the ad and recall would increase given the limited time.  

Facebook Signs Deal to Stream 25 MLB Games

Summary: Facebook announced exclusive rights to stream 25 afternoon games on Facebook. 

Opinion: With broadcast TV on the decline, a shift to online viewing threatens offline revenues for traditional TV even more. The shift, however, is reflective of migrating consumer behaviors.