Friday Social: Trump on Twitter, Facebook Marketplace, and Instagram Cross-Posts
- Social Media
Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days. Let us know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter – @Umpf / @GrittAlessandra
White House Unblocks Users (Reluctantly)
Following last week’s ruling that Trump violated Twitter users’ constitutional rights by blocking them on Twitter, the White House has unblocked them – while also appealing the decision.
In a statement, Jameel Jaffer – Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which is representing the Twitter users – said: “We’re pleased that the White House unblocked our clients from the president’s Twitter account but disappointed that the government intends to appeal the district court’s thoughtful and well-supported ruling.”
We’ll stay tuned to find out if the users find themselves blocked once again.
Facebook Monetises Marketplace
Everyone’s favourite social media buy-and-sell tool has finally fallen victim to monetisation. Facebook has begun testing a Marketplace ‘boost’ option in the United States, which allows users to increase the visibility of their listing.
Targeting options are limited for now, but it’ll be interesting to see if Facebook chooses to roll the feature out further. The model currently works well for Gumtree and other similar sites, so we imagine we’ll start seeing even more Marketplace ads in our News Feed soon…
Facebook Ends Trending Feature
You might have spotted in your News Feed that Facebook is finally ending its ‘trending’ feature, to ‘make way for future news experiences on Facebook’.
The feature has been plagued with issues since its 2014 introduction, from conservative news-suppressing conspiracies to promoting fake and parody news.
In a Facebook Newsroom post, Facebook Head of News Product Alex Hardiman said: “We’ve seen that the way people consume news on Facebook is changing to be primarily on mobile and increasingly through news video. So we’re exploring new ways to help people stay informed about timely, breaking news that matters to them, while making sure the news they see on Facebook is from trustworthy and quality sources.”
The feature is expected to disappear in the next few days.
Facebook Pushes Instagram Cross-Posting
Content across both platforms.
First spotted by Mari Smith, the option shows your Instagram posts as thumbnails within Facebook, making it easy to share these to your Facebook News Feed or Story.
Many people already share much of the same content across multiple platforms, so it makes sense to make it as easy as possible for them. Keep your eyes peeled for more InstaPosts in your News Feed soon.
And finally… Twitter adds more emoji
Twitter has this week added 72 new emoji – from racoons to teeth and kangaroos to cupcakes. Just what we’ve always wanted!