Umpf / Blog / Friday Social: Covfefe, BBC’s Twitter Election Coverage, and Ackley Bridge on Snapchat

Friday Social: Covfefe, BBC’s Twitter Election Coverage, and Ackley Bridge on Snapchat

  • 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

Trump’s fake followers

While Trump has continued to make (and break) his reputation across Twitter, eagle-eyed tweeters spotted this week that things might not be what they seem…

https://twitter.com/NivenJ1/status/869548584362016768

Although there’s been no sudden spike in followers like originally believed, it seems that around half of Trump’s followers are fake.

https://twitter.com/PatriciaIvans/status/869629373493673985

Twitter relaunches trend-tracking digital campaign

Ahead of the upcoming General Election, Twitter is relaunching its out-of-home campaign that looks at trending topics across social media.

Twitter’s EMEA Marketing Director, Niamh O’Reilly, told Campaign: “We ran our first [brand] campaign [by Lucky Generals] in March 2016 and it did a great job of telling the story, but it didn’t show the experience in real time. With this [current] campaign, we can demonstrate Twitter’s ability to track stories as they grow.”

Ads will also be run across YouTube and Spotify.

BBC partners with Twitter

Twitter and the BBC are working together to stream five election specials in the run up to the big event on 08 June.

The specials can be viewed via bbcelection.twitter.com and using hashtags #bbcdebate, #bbcqt, and #bbcelection.

The BBC Election Debate on 31 May was the first to air. Subsequent specials will include the Question Time Leaders Specials on 02 and 04 June, the Newsbeat Youth Debate on 06 June, and the Election Night Results Special on the big day, 08 June.

Ackley Bridge drama uses Snapchat

The production company behind new Channel 4 drama Ackley Bridge and social agency That Lot are using Snapchat to generate interest in the show.

Using exclusive content airing ahead of the first episode (31 May), characters from the show will be introducing themselves and their stories over the photo and video-sharing platform.

Head of Marketing for Channel 4, James Walker, said: “At Channel 4 we are always looking to innovate with how we promote our programmes. This Snapchat series, aimed at reaching millennials on the device they use most, offers young audiences a way to engage with the world of Ackley Bridge and extend their viewing experience in a way that feels authentic to the platform whilst perfectly complementing the TV viewing experience.”

Twitter adds new DM filters

Twitter is this week introducing a new ‘Requests’ Direct Messaging feature which, if your DMs are open, filters messages from people you don’t know.

The new tool is the most recent step in Twitter’s fight against trolls and abuse on the platform. Twitter’s Support page notes that deleting a message request will not stop that person from messaging in the future, but users can be blocked or reported.

And finally, on another Trump-related note…

Covfefe. Need we say more?

It’s worth noting that while we’ve got no doubt the typo was a genuine gaffe (although Spicer is convinced it’s a code of sorts…), we’ve all been busy giggling about covfefe while news has broken that Trump will most likely be pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, reversing the Obama administration’s climate change efforts and pitting the US against the majority of other nations on the green front.