Frenemy Report: Not My Data

The Facebook data fallout continues with "improved" privacy, and sibling Instagram is starting to limit how much data developers can collect from its API.Snap makes its TV (commercial) debut, positioning itself as a camera company to a much larger demo. Speaking of ads, YouTube is expanding its TrueView ad options with shorter, skippable ads.How to win? Crack a joke, crack a smile... people are more likely to share content that strikes an emotional cord, according to research from Canvs and Turner.Facebook is cutting third-party data providers out of ad targeting to clean up its act [Recode]More specifically, Facebook says it will stop using data from third-party data aggregators — companies like Experian and Acxiom — to help supplement its own data set for ad targeting.Facebook plans crackdown on ad targeting by email without consent [TechCrunch]I asked if Facebook would scan uploaded user lists and try to match them against a database of suspicious data, but for now it sounds more like Facebook will merely require a written promise.Facebook Messenger can now send HD videos and 360-degree photos [The Verge]Facebook released a small update to Messenger this morning that makes the app a bit better for sharing photos and videos. Most notably, it’s adding support for 720p video. Why Brands Should Care About Emotion on Social Media [Ad Age][Guest Post by Jared Feldman founder & CEO of Canvs] Turner and Canvs, the industry leader in measuring emotion, partnered to better understand the value of emotional reactions to branded content. As a starting point, Canvs analyzed all public branded content posts in Q4 2017 by two of the leading categories on Facebook: cultural news and sports publishers. For this analysis, Canvs focused on the primary Facebook page of each publisher. The data surfaced a few key takeaways.‘Roseanne’ Ratings Not Whole Story As Ad Buys, Social Media Trend Up [Deadline]Canvs, a firm that gauges viewers’ emotional reaction to TV across social media platforms, tallied 105,996 emotional reactions, meaning about 45% of all tweets conveyed some form of emotion. The company said few scripted shows crack the 100,000 level in terms of emotional reaction. The most popular reaction was “love,” at 27.2%, followed by “excited” at 15%, “enjoy” at 12.6% and “funny” at 9.7%.Instagram is limiting how much data some developers can collect from its API — and cutting off others altogether [The Verge]While developers might not be happy with the unexpected change, it makes sense. Facebook — and apparently Instagram — is looking hard at all of the ways the two services share data with outsiders as part of the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal that rocked the company last month. Instagram has already said that it was planning to scale back its Platform API, just not this early. The company originally told developers it would start to sunset features of the API beginning this summer, and to move everyone over to a more limited API by “early 2020.”Publishers that mastered fleeting news feed video views try to master appointment viewing [Digiday]Call it the pivot to appointment viewing. Many publishers see their future in video, but one reason video won’t become a big business for a lot of them is the difficulty in not just grabbing people’s attention for a few seconds in their social feeds, but creating TV-like content that engenders loyalty.Shorter, skippable ads will be coming to YouTube [TechCrunch]The company says the addition will expand advertisers’ options with TrueView ads. Depending on campaign objectives, advertisers can opt for TrueView for Views (standard) ads, TrueView for Action, or TrueView for Reach – all of which are skippable after 5 seconds. “TrueView for reach brings our popular in-stream format built on user choice together with the simplicity of CPM buying,” says YouTube, in an announcement. “Optimized for efficient reach, this format can help you to raise awareness among a broad set of customers — and do so within our 95% viewable and 95% audible environment.”Facebook Under Fire: How Privacy Crisis Could Change Big Data Forever [Variety]In the near term, Facebook and other tech companies will be forced to comply with stricter European privacy protections. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which goes into effect May 25, requires companies to obtain consent before collecting data from consumers. It also gives consumers the right to learn what companies know about them and even ask a company like Facebook to delete photos or any other data it may have. Noncompliance can be expensive: The maximum fine is up to 4% of a company’s global revenue, which would be $1.6 billion for Facebook, based on the company’s 2017 results. Technically, GDPR applies only to services offered to EU residents. But given the global nature of many online services as well as the increased focus on privacy, it’s likely that some of the new rules will be implemented for U.S. users. It’s also worth noting that GDPR, first drafted in early 2012, passed despite heavy lobbying against it by big tech companies.Study: Most YouTube influencers still don't disclose sponsored deals [Engadget]But according to a new Princeton University research, most YouTube and Pinterest influencers still don't add proper disclaimers to the content they produce. The researchers analyzed over 500,000 YouTube videos and over 2.1 million unique Pinterest pins from August to September 2017 for the study. They found that 3,472 videos and 18,237 pins in the bunch had affiliate links, but only 10 and seven percent, respectively, contained written disclosures.YouTube and Genius team up to tell the stories behind your favorite songs [Fast Company]The new program lets fans fall down musical rabbit holes with their favorite bands, learning how their favorite songs were made.Snapchat Tries Explaining Itself To The Masses In First TV Commercial [Tubefilter]The clip covers the app’s various use cases — from taking family portraits to toying with its popular Lenses feature to checking out user-submitted Stories from across the globe. “It’s a camera for talking,” a narrator explains, “because a Snap says more than a text. So yeah, Snapchat is a camera, where how you feel matters more than how you look.” The tagline could be a dig at competitor Instagram, notes The Drum, which has stunted Snapchat’s growth after pilfering its Stories feature, and which is also known for prizing aesthetics. In addition to the TV component, Snap is also launching a website, whatis.snapchat.com, in a bid to educate consumers.BuzzFeed Names Former Meredith Exec Melinda Lee Its First Chief Content Officer [Tubefilter]When Lee joins BuzzFeed late next month, she will be tasked with growing the BuzzFeed Media Brands division, which includes the viral recipe hub Tasty, according to Business Insider. Other brands within this portfolio include fashion-focused Nifty, beauty-centric As/Is, healthy food platform Goodful, and Playfull — a joint venture with NBCUniversal that targets millennial parents.