Happy Friday and welcome back to your favourite digital news update – The Weekly Download. Join us as we discuss: Pinterest’s holiday gift trends, Meta removes sensitive advertising categories and shares its latest report on bullying, and Instagram tests new ‘Take a Break’ feature, plus, some Friday Fun!
Pinterest Identifies Holiday Gifts
Ready or not, the holidays are right around the corner.
Pinterest noticed a spike in holiday-related searches this August, presumably as a result of 2020’s gathering limitations. Pinners are getting ready to make up for lost time. The rise in users and searches comes as no surprise after the platform has spent the last year rolling out new features to improve ways users can shop and explore.
They’ve broken trends down into four categories: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers with a focus on fashion, beauty, and home. From black platform boots to wooden baskets to men’s luxury watches, there’s an interesting mix of trends worth exploring.
Learn more here.
Meta Removes Sensitive Ad Categories
To avoid potential penalties, Facebook is removing thousands of ad-targeting categories that are deemed sensitive.
According to Meta:
“Starting January 19, 2022 we will remove Detailed Targeting options that relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive, such as options referencing causes, organizations, or public figures that relate to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation.”.
Examples include chemotherapy, same-sex marriage, Jewish holidays, political beliefs, etc.
Meta also wanted to clearly state that the interest targeting options they are removing “are not based on people’s physical characteristics or personal attributes,” but rather on “people’s interactions with content on our platform.” They understand the negative implications these updates may have on some businesses and organizations and have confirmed that their efforts to help small businesses, non-profits, and advocacy groups are still in place.
Learn more here, and if you have any questions about how this announcement may impact your business, reach out to our team of experts.
Meta Releases New Report About Bullying on Facebook and Instagram
This week, Meta released a new Community Standard Enforcement Report that uncovers how the company has enforced its policies, as well as their findings. The report focuses on bullying and harassment on Facebook and Instagram, hate speech on Instagram, and overall metrics for violence and incitement.
According to the report, bullying content was between 0.14%-0.15% on Facebook while Instagram showed a 0.05%-0.06% prevalence of this kind of content. These metrics don’t include the content that was reported by users.
Meta reports to have removed “9.2 million pieces of bullying and harassment content on Facebook, with a proactive rate of 59.4%,” and “7.8 million pieces of bullying and harassment content on Instagram with a proactive rate of 83.2%.”.
There’s still a long way to go in what Meta’s AI can recognize as harmful, however sharing these important benchmarks will help hold the social media giant accountable.
You can read the full report here.
Instagram Tests ‘Take a Break’ Feature
Instagram is testing a new feature to help improve the online experience of users by allowing them to opt-in to time away from the app.
When users choose to use the ‘Take a Break’ feature, they will be able to choose when they’d like to be reminded to pause use of the app and for how long. The feature will also provide “expert-backed tips on what you can do during your break,” says Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri.
Though Meta has already created similar tools on Facebook and Instagram that allow you to limit your time on the apps, there is something a little gentler about this reminder that may encourage users to make the most of their time on their app and unplug more often.
Friday Fun
What happens when one Canadian icon collaborates with another? You get TimBiebs!
