Political Social Grab Bag – December 2022

Political Social Grab Bag

Editors Note: I will be taking vacation from December 14- January 5 and then flying directly to my first training of 2024 so there will be no regular newsletter on Jan 1. 

Trainings & Webinar Alerts

Using Data to Win: Digital Analytics Training– Feb 26 & 27 in person, Washington DC (co facilitated with Emily Patterson of Bee Measure)

Look for applications for our return to in person Digital Bootcamp and other trainings, both in person and over zoom in mid-late January. And if your organization is looking for additional training, now is a good time to reach out as we work to finalize our schedule for at least the first half of 2024.

What am I reading?

Social media algorithms can be redesigned to bridge divides- here’s how – Just read this one

High court struggles on whether officials may block social media critics – Looks like we might finally get some guidance in the interaction between elected officials and the public on social platforms with regards to officials blocking the public from commenting on their posts

Platform Updates

Meta Platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger & WhatsApp)

Facebook: ICYMI: New rules about the use of AI in Political Ads and disclosure of such

Facebook: Just read this one

Facebook: Now rolling out a/b testing for Reels

Facebook: There’s finally a Stories API for 3rd party posting of Stories!

Threads: Theads now lets you actually post well Threads (as opposed to single posts)

Threads/Instagram: When Threads first dropped, many folks were a little freaked out that you couldn’t delete your Threads account w/out also delete your Instagram account and I’m happy to share that your fears were in fact only temporary because you can now delete your Threads account w/out also deleting your Instagram account

Threads: Looks like some form of hashtags are coming to Threads soon

WhatsApp: Every other platform around “Welp looks like audio really was a pandemic fad”…WhatsApp: Look you can now use audio in your WhatsApp channels”

Fediverse (Blue Sky & Mastodon)

Mastodon’s Android version now lets users create lists (for once we Android users get something before Apple users!)

Don’t look now but Mozilla seems to want to get in on the fediverse action by creating a …wait for it…new social platform

Last month we shared the news that Pebble (formerly T2) was shutting down…now it looks like it is reinventing itself as a Mastodon instance

Other Platforms

Twitter Circles are no longer

Part of the plot to save Twitter now includes a plan to sell of abandoned Twitter handles– suggestion- if you deactivate on Twitter, keep your user handle and just log in once a month so they can’t profit off of you or your organization’s name

Twitter last month: No more link headlines. Twitter this month: Bring back link headlines.

YouTube will start requiring disclosure of the use of AI in video creation

All not Facebook Platforms: New rules in Europe require platforms to build ad disclosures similar to the Facebook Ad library for all political ads

Don’t Try This At Home

If you have been to one of our trainings you’ve heard us talk about the importance of not getting cut off…this is a destined to be a cult classic (h/t Kristina K!)

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