Tuesday Tune-Up #385

Tuneup
laurenmathieson

Facebook Australia’s Face 2 Face podcast returns
Face 2 Face, one of the highest ranking business podcasts in Australia, has returned for a second season. The Facebook Australia podcast, co-produced alongside Whooshkaa and Clear Hayes, sees marketers from some of the industry’s most forward-thinking brands share their stories of success – and the occasional failure – in conversation with Jules Lund across eight regular and two bonus episodes. Also on the agenda? Purpose, authenticity, mental health and making truly creative use of data. You’ll be able to listen to weekly instalments live every Monday in the second season of Face 2 Face on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.

Digital ad revenue peaks at US $107.5 billion
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) called and the numbers are in. For the first time ever, US digital ad revenue soared to triple (billion) digits in 2018, a whopping 22% increase on the year prior. Format-wise, search captured close to half of all digital expenditure and mobile finally KO’d the dwindling desktop. Meanwhile, social emerged as the digital dark horse with a 31% increase in revenue year-on-year to $29 billion. According to the IAB, the embracing of vertical formats and the rise of direct-to-consumer brands fuelled social’s growth.

Facebook ‘presents’ Birthday Stories
Remember when you would count how many people posted ‘happy bday xoxo gossip girl’ on your wall like a full-blown narcissist? Well, according to the festive folk at Facebook, it’s about time for a revival. The solution? A double-edged sword update called ‘Birthday Stories’. The new feature has begun rolling out globally, allowing users to customise a birthday message to your loved ones with layouts, stickers and music. Despite having over 500 million users (seriously, who are you?), adoption of Stories in some regions has been slow, which means an update like this could be the gift that keeps on giving for Facebook.


Facebook co-founder spits hot fire at Mark Zuckerberg
What’s worse than an ex? An ex exec. Especially when they publicly demand a break-up via an impassioned piece in the New York Times. Facebook, who has steadily gobbled up competitors such as Instagram and WhatsApp, has come under fire by co-founder Chris Hughes in a searing personal attack on old mate Zuck. He claims that the social Goliath’s digital ‘monopoly’ is “unprecedented and un-American”, calling for regulatory action and a platform break up. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is not a fan of the idea, with VP Nick Clegg arguing that “success should not be penalised”.

Facebook launches new small business tools
To celebrate Small Business Week, Facebook announced a series of cool new advertising and engagement tools. First up, their Automated Ads platform, complete with budget and targeting recommendations, can create up to six ad variants across their various platforms. Next, new video editing tools that allow for automatic cropping, trimming and image and text overlays. Finally, a feature that lets users book appointments directly through the platform via a business profile’s ‘book now’ button. The best part? Unlike other booking platforms, it’s free… for now.

Instagram refreshes approach to tackle ‘fake news’
Following in Facebook’s footsteps, Instagram has announced it will begin using a similar fact-checking process to demote content that spreads false information. Rather than being removed entirely, the posts will have their reach lowered dramatically, including being exempt from the ‘Explore’ tab.
They will also release new guidelines that allow for the easier removal of accounts deemed to be spreading false information. Despite this, critics say that the platform isn’t doing enough, with no way for users to gauge whether an account or post has been previously flagged.

Australian politicians are deleting their old tweets
In an effort to distance themselves from surfacing scandals, Aussie pollies, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have been deleting their old tweets. Unfortunately for them, the ABC has been tracking their actions through Politwoops, a website that stores old Twitter data in the name of transparency. What did they find? Lies, spelling mistakes and distasteful slurs. Consider the poli-tea-cal goss, spilt.

A graphic depicting a politician deleting a tweet.

Avon plans to create a six million strong army of social marketers
Everyone’s favourite multi-level marketing beauty company Avon has announced a new app called Avon On. Alongside a sales management system, the new app will be home to a ‘social media hub’ containing assets, brand and product content that employees can use for marketing on social. Trialling currently in the UK, the app will roll out internationally over next few months. Watch this space.

Detective Pikachu leaks on Twitter
The man behind Aviation Gin, Ryan Reynolds, once again flexed his marketing muscles with a Twitter teaser for his latest film, Detective Pikachu.



The result? One hundred mesmerising minutes of a grooving, adorable Pikachu (in a hat). Go on, take a ‘pik’…

This Tune-Up was lovingly prepared by Lauren Mathieson, with additional reporting by Lauren Underwood.