The Weekly Download – June 8, 2018

Spodek & Co. Weekly DownloadIt’s Friday! After a chilly week here in Toronto we’re ready to turn up the heat this weekend. This week’s Weekly Download is a discussion of Kate Spade, Facebook’s efforts to eliminate the distribution of personal photos, Instagram’s algorithms and some Friday Fun.

Kate Spade

Tuesday, we lost world-renowned designer, Kate Spade. Kate’s unexpected suicide has sparked a meaningful and complex dialogue across social networks. Mental health can be a difficult topic to address appropriately and mindfully. Users have been responding on Twitter and Instagram to the news with great compassion as well as sharing stories of their mental health journeys.

 

Recognized artist, Kyra Kendall, posted on her Instagram that she would be selling Kate inspired illustrations and will donate all proceeds to a suicide prevention hotline.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjqGvA3ApBF/?taken-by=kendallkyra

Kate’s husband shared a very heartfelt statement with The New York Times outlining his marriage, Kate’s depression and their daughter.

Facebook Tries to Eliminate Distribution of Intimate Photos

‘Revenge Porn’ is the act of individuals distributing other people’s intimate photos over social media with the intent to harm and demean the person pictured. Facebook Safety has announced a new approach to eliminate the non-consensual distribution of private photos. Such acts are harmful to the reputation and well-being of every person and Facebook has recognized the severity of the development of their newest safeguard.

The ability to report a photo has proven to be insufficient for such serious cases of posting abuse. Together, Facebook and many other international partnerships have worked together to develop a safety process. These efforts are more specifically to protect women as they are twice as likely to be targeted and has affected girls as young as 14 years of age.

As told by Facebook:
“People who worry that someone might want to harm them by sharing an intimate image can proactively upload it so we can block anyone else from sharing it on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger:
– Anyone who fears an intimate image of them may be public can contact one of our partners to submit a form
– After submitting the form, the victim receives an email containing a secure, one-time upload link
– The victim can use the link to upload images they fear will be shared
– One of a handful of specifically trained members of our Community Operations Safety Team will review the report and create a unique fingerprint, or hash, that allows us to identify future uploads of the images without keeping copies of them on our servers
– Once we create these hashes, we notify the victim via email and delete the images from our servers – no later than seven days
– We store the hashes so any time someone tries to upload an image with the same fingerprint, we can block it from appearing on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger”

Instagram’s Algorithm

We’ve heard a lot about Instagram’s feed algorithms this year. In efforts to educate their 800-million and counting users, Instagram invited a group of reporters to sit in on an informative presentation to provide clarity.
Instagram was strategic in their new format, making sure that user is seeing 90 per cent of their friends’ posts which leads to them spending more time on the app as a whole according to Tech Crunch.

Three key components influence your Instagram feed.

  1. How interested you are in the content.
  2. How recently the content was posted.
  3. Your relationship and level of activity connected with the user who posted.

Post-configuration, there is a three-part ranking system.

  1. Your frequency on the app determines which favourite posts that are pulled for you to see first.
  2. The size of your following determines who often you will see the same person’s post.
  3. The amount of time you spend on the app determines the amount of highly-engaging posts you will see.

This algorithmic knowledge brings us back to the basics – post engaging content. Not only will it be at the top of all of your follower’s feeds, but it will be on explore pages or suggested to others.

Friday Fun 

Live From Daryl’s House – Crazy –
Hall and Oates were in Toronto this week playing the Air Canada Centre and have inspired this week’s Friday Fun. Daryl Hall hosts Live From Daryl’s House as a monthly web show and features well-known performers who jam out like a bunch of high school buddies.

Here’s Daryl, his band and Cee Lo Green:

A STAR IS BORN – Official Trailer 1

Bradley Cooper stars in his first major film as director and he sings too. But that’s not all, Lady Gaga, looking much more like Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta than her alterego, co-stars. Could new careers be in store for these two?

Line drawn peony from Spodek & Co Digital marketing site