Category: SOCIAL MEDIA

Meta has published its latest overview of content violations, hacking attempts, and feed engagement, which includes the regular array of stats and notes on what people are seeing on Facebook, what people are reporting, and what’s getting the most attention at any time.

For example, the Widely Viewed content report for Q4 2024 includes the usual gems, like this:

Less than awesome news for publishers, with 97.9% of the views of Facebook posts in the U.S. during Q4 2024 not including a link to a source outside of Facebook itself.

That percentage has steadily crept up over the last four years, with Meta’s first Widely Viewed Content report, published for Q3 2021, showing that 86.5% of the posts shown in feeds did not include a link outside the app. 

It’s now radically high, meaning that getting an organic referral from Facebook is harder than ever, while Meta’s also de-prioritized links as part of its effort to move away from news content. Which it may or may not change again now that it’s looking to allow more political discussion to return to its apps. But the data, at least right now, shows that it’s still a pretty link-averse environment.

If you were wondering why your Facebook traffic has dried up, this would be a big part.

The top ten most viewed links in Q4 also show the regular array of random junk that’s somehow resonated with the Facebook crowd.

Astronauts celebrating Christmas, Mark Wahlberg posted a picture of his family for Christmas, Neil Patrick Harris sang a Christmas song. You get the idea, the usual range of supermarket tabloid headlines now dominate Facebook discussion, along with syrupy tales of seasonal sentiment.

Like: “Child Asks Santa Claus to Help Mom Instead of Asking For Toys”.

Sweet, sure, but also, ugh.

The top most shared posts overall aren’t much better.

If you want to resonate on Facebook, you probably could take notes from celebrity magazines, as it’s that type of material which seemingly gains traction, while displays of virtue or “intelligence” still catch on in the app.

Make of that what you will.

In terms of rule violations, there weren’t any particularly notable spikes in the period, though Meta did report an increase in the prevalence of Violent & Graphic Content on Instagram due to adjustments to its “proactive detection technology.”

This also seems like a concern:

Also worth noting, Meta says that fake accounts “represented approximately 3% of our worldwide monthly active users (MAU) on Facebook during Q4 2024.”

That’s only notable because Meta usually pegs this number at 5%, which has seemingly become the industry standard, as there’s no real way to accurately determine this figure. But now Meta’s revised it down, which could mean that it’s more confident in its detection processes. Or it’s just changed the base figure.

Meta also shared this interesting note:

“This report is for Q4 2024, and does not include any data related to policy or enforcement changes made in January 2025. However, we have been monitoring those changes and so far we have not seen any meaningful impact on prevalence of violating content despite no longer proactively removing certain content. In addition, we have seen enforcement mistakes have measurably decreased with this new approach.”

That change is Meta’s controversial switch to a Community Notes model, while removing third party fact-checking, while Meta’s also revised some its policies, particularly relating to hate speech, moving them more into line, seemingly, with what the Trump Administration would prefer.

Meta says that it’s seen so major shifts in violative content as a result, at least not yet, but it is banning fewer accounts by mistake.

Which sounds good, right? Sounds like the change is better already.

Right?

Well, it probably doesn’t mean much.

The fact that Meta is seeing fewer enforcement errors makes perfect sense, as it’s going to be enacting a lot less enforcement overall, so of course, mistaken enforcement will inevitably decrease. But that’s not really the question, the real issue is whether rightful enforcement actions remain steady as it shifts to a less supervisory model, with more leeway on certain speech.

As such, the statement here seems more or less pointless at this stage, and more of a blind retort to those who’ve criticized the change.

In terms of threat activity, Meta detected several small-scale operations in Q4, originating from Benin, Ghana, and China.

Though potentially more notable was this explainer in Meta’s overview of a Russian-based influence operation called “Doppleganger”, which it’s been tracking for several years:

“Starting in mid-November, the operators paused targeting of the U.S., Ukraine and Poland on our apps. It’s still focused on Germany, France, and Israel with some isolated attempts to target people in other countries. Based on open source reporting, it appears that Doppelganger has not made this same shift on other platforms.”

It seems that after the U.S. election, Russian influence operations stopped being as interested in influencing sentiment in the U.S. and Ukraine. Seems like an interesting shift.

You can read all of Meta’s latest enforcement and engagement data points in its Transparency Center, if you’re looking to get a better understanding of what’s resonating on Facebook, and the shifts in its safety efforts.

As Meta continues to push its AI models into more elements, and X promotes its latest Grok 3 AI model, this new report from Pew Research comes at an interesting time in assessing the likely impact of AI on the workforce.

Pew Research surveyed 5,395 U.S. adults to find out how they feel about the potential impacts of AI, and whether they’re using AI tools in their day-to-day activities.

And the results show that the majority of workers are “worried” about AI’s impacts in the workplace, as opposed to seeing AI tools as a means to maximize productivity.

As you can see in this overview, 52% of respondents indicated that they have concerns about the future impact of AI use in the workplace. In addition to this, 32% believe that AI will lead to fewer job opportunities in future.

Which makes sense. Big businesses are looking at ways in which they can replace human labor with AI tools, while even the U.S. government is exploring AI tools to streamline its operations.

It seems inevitable that a portion of roles will be replaced, or reduced by AI systems, though in most cases, generative AI tools as they currently stand at least, are no replacement for human expertise and knowledge.

They can complement that expertise, and improve efficiency as a result. But in order to get the most out the current wave of AI tools, you need to have an understanding of the outputs, and the potential flaws and errors that AI systems can make. If you know these, then you refine and improve those outputs into a more functional, reliable working order, as opposed to relying on them blindly.

Though that’s unlikely to stop businesses from leaning into potential cost savings as a result of AI integrations, which is also reflected in this question related to future job opportunities.

As you can see, just 6% of people believe that workplace AI use will lead to more job opportunities for them in the long run. 32% believe that it will lead to fewer opportunities, while 31% believe it won’t make much difference.

You can see, too, that lower income workers believe they’re most likely to be impacted, as businesses look to use AI logic to eliminate more binary tasks.

And as you would expect, younger users are the ones most likely to be making use of AI tools already:

Workers aged 18 to 29 are the most likely to use AI chatbots at work, while those with higher education levels are also more likely to be using AI in their process.

The trends make sense, and it’ll be interesting to see how AI impacts the future of work as these younger, AI-native audiences filter into the workforce, and whether the use of AI chatbots increases efficiency, or decreases knowledge.

That’s a key concern, that while tools like ChatGPT can give you the answers, that doesn’t replace real understanding and experience. Which could lead to more people being able to get the right result, but not necessarily knowing why, nor how to improve or refine such.

And that may actually make real experience and knowledge even more valuable in future.

Either way, some interesting notes on the state of the AI shift.

You can check out Pew Research’s full AI in the workplace report here.

LinkedIn has added two new metrics for newsletter creators in the app, with “email sends” and “email open rates” now available via your newsletter analytics page, providing more ways to measure the performance of your communications.

LinkedIn has long provided data on overall article views, as well as new subscribers gained. But this week, it’s added two new metrics to its newsletter data set:

• Email sends – The number of subscribers that have received an email for this article.
• Email open rate – The percentage of subscribers that have opened the email sent for this article. This number is an estimate and may not be precise.

These are valuable additions, which could help LinkedIn newsletter creators better target and optimize their approaches, by providing more insight into what’s resonating with their email list.

LinkedIn newsletters continue to gain traction, with the platform reporting last July that newsletters had seen a 47% increase in engagement over the preceding year, while there are now more than 184,000 newsletters being published in the app.

That could present new opportunities for professional outreach and branding, while you can also now pay to promote your newsletter, or to sponsor a creator’s LinkedIn newsletter send.

The additional data points will facilitate more planning and strategy on this front, adding to LinkedIn’s existing data points, which also include insights into impressions, engagements, subscriber demographics, and more.

It’s a good update, which could be of significant value to the many LinkedIn newsletter creators.

You can learn more about LinkedIn’s newsletter metrics here.

LinkedIn has announced some updates to its ad targeting and attribution elements, in order to help marketers reach the right audiences with their ads, and demonstrate ROI from their efforts.

Which, given increased usage of the app, particularly among professional audiences, could provide significant benefit in your outreach process.

First off, LinkedIn has enhanced its Conversions API (CAPI) to enable easier data integration from your CRM.

As explained by LinkedIn:

“With new capabilities, CAPI enables marketers to securely connect their first-party online and offline data, and provides comprehensive insights by capturing conversions across multiple touchpoints.”

The updated connection flow enables you to easily link through your CRM data from a range of platforms.

This simplified, point-and-click interface will enable more marketers to utilize their existing client data to better target their ads in the app, and drive better results.

Indeed, LinkedIn says that:

“With Conversions API, marketers are achieving on average a 31% increase in attributed conversion, seeing a 20% decrease in cost per action, and early results show a 39% decrease in cost per qualified leads.”

Streamlined connection will enable more marketers to tap into these same benefits, without needing complex coding knowledge for the integration.

You can learn more about the updated Conversions API here.

LinkedIn has also updated its Revenue Attribution Report (RAR), which will now enable marketers to review their CRM data over an extended period, up to 365 days.

So now, you’ll be able to glean more specific insight into how your CRM data is driving actual lead generation in over time, helping you demonstrate opportunities driven by direct data integration.

These are some helpful updates, that will provide more oversight and targeting value within your LinkedIn campaigns, and could help you drive better results based on the client and prospect data that you already have in your systems.

At the same time, LinkedIn’s ad targeting systems are also improving, with its AI-based audience segmentation also helping to drive better results.

In combination, that could give you a range of ways to reach the right users with your promotions in the app.

Amid ongoing discussions about its future in the U.S., TikTok has now been reinstated for download in both the Google Play and Apple App stores in America, after both companies received official assurances that they will not be fined for facilitating access to the technically banned app.

Under the Biden-approved “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” TikTok was required to be sold to a U.S.-based owner by January 19th, or it would be banned in the region. No sale was arranged, but following his inauguration on January 20th, President Trump signed an executive order that grants TikTok an additional 75 days to arrange a deal that meets the bill’s requirements.

Though, technically, the order in itself doesn’t nullify the previously approved law. Trump has offered further assurances to TikTok’s U.S.-based providers that they won’t be penalized for violating the bill, which was enough for Oracle, which has continued to support the operations of the app, ensuring that it remains available to users who’d already downloaded it onto their device.

But Apple and Google took a more cautious approach, removing TikTok, along with CapCut, Lemon8, and other ByteDance-owned apps, from their respective stores.

But now, newly instated Attorney-General Pam Bondi has provided official, legal confirmation that both will be safe from future prosecution as a result of allowing TikTok to remain available for download.

Which means that TikTok (along with other ByteDance apps) will be fully accessible in the U.S. for at least the next 50 or so days, which is when Trump’s 75-day extension on the negotiations will run out.

The Trump Administration has reportedly discussed a U.S. TikTok deal with several big tech players, including Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon. It’s not clear what form any such agreement would take, but Trump has floated various proposals, including one that would see the U.S. government itself taking a stake in the app.

But any deal would also have to be agreed upon by Chinese authorities, and ByteDance has been working on that end to establish a compromise plan that will work for the CCP.

TikTok officials have also been in regular discussion with the Trump team, and it seems that those meetings may have resulted in this official confirmation on TikTok downloads from the AG.

So right now, TikTok is back to normal in the U.S., but there’s no word as yet on a formal agreement for its ongoing access to U.S. users. 

The expectation is that Trump’s affections for the app, on which he has over 15 million followers, will eventually facilitate a deal that will keep TikTok available. But then again, Trump did also refer to the app as “Tic Tac” several times in a press conference this week.

So who knows, really, but TikTok has till early April to work out the details. 

TikTok’s looking to highlight top-rated products for sale in the app with the addition of a new “Most Loved” tag on popular products.

As you can see in this example, TikTok’s Most Loved tag will be displayed on items that have been well-received by other TikTok users.

As explained by TikTok:

“Whenever you buy online, odds are you hope your purchase will be as described, arrive on time, and live up to its expectations. Maybe you heard a friend, colleague or family member speak highly about a product you were considering buying, or give kudos to their shopping experience. That’s what makes TikTok Shop’s Most Loved badge so valuable. When perusing the platform, shoppers can see which products have earned a vote of confidence from those who have already bought it – and are happy they did so.”

The tags are much like your regular star ratings, though they’re more specifically reserved for top products, based on user feedback.  

TikTok says that a range of measurables will factor into its Most Loved badge allocations, including star ratings, but also return rates, shipping times, and overall customer service feedback. As such, users can help to improve the shopping experience for others if they leave feedback on their purchased items.

Based on these data points, and overall product popularity, TikTok may choose to allocate the tag.

It’s another step in TikTok’s broader in-stream shopping push, which it’s still trying to activate in Western markets. In-stream shopping has been a big winner for the company in China, where online shopping is a much bigger part of the consumer ecosystem (In 2023, more than a quarter of China’s consumer goods were sold online, versus 19.4% in the U.S., at much higher overall sales volume).

The local version of TikTok has been a beneficiary of that, generating over more than $US500 billion in sales in 2024 alone. TikTok, by comparison, generated over $30 billion in total sales in the same period.

But TikTok’s in-stream sales are growing steadily, especially in the U.S., and given the scope of potential that it’s already seen in its homeland, you can see why TikTok is keen to keep trying out more shopping options and display markers in the app.  

TikTok says that it’s now allocated the Most Loved tag to a range of products in the app, across a variety of TikTok Shop categories, including electronics, office supplies, books, personal care, beauty, home goods, fashion, and consumables.

It could be a good way to help guide consumers on better product purchase options, and help TikTok generate more sales in-app.

You can read more about TikTok’s Most Loved badge here.

Amid the rise of ChatGPT, and conversational search more broadly, Google is losing ground as the key discovery platform on the web.

Well, by “losing ground”, I mean that its share of the search engine market dropped below 90% for the first time in a decade last year. So it’s still by far the dominant discovery tool, but the AI shift is having at least some impact on its core business.

As you can see in this new chart, created by the team at Visual Capitalist, while Google has lost ground slightly, Bing has increased, which is presumably due to Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, which has led to Bing’s integration of more AI elements (while ChatGPT also displays Bing results).

Indeed, back in 2023, after Microsoft announced the integration of ChatGPT results into its Bing search engine, Bing downloads increased tenfold as a result.

Long considered the “other” search engine, generative AI has made Bing more relevant, though Google is working to counter that with its own AI elements.

Which, presumably, will ensure that Google remains the leader in online discovery, but it is interesting to note this shift, and to consider what the AI shift means for discovery moving forward.

Check out the infographic overview below.

Pinterest has published its latest performance update, which shows that the app reached new highs in both active users and revenue in Q4, as it continues on its path towards driving more product discovery.

First off, on users. Pinterest reached a new high of 553 million monthly active in Q4, up 16 million on Q3.

That means that Pinterest is gaining growth momentum, with more users coming to the app to search for trending products. Indeed, research shows that the majority of Pin users come to the app with shopping intent, and as its search tools continue to improve, it’s becoming a bigger part of the broader discovery and purchase process.

What’s also worth noting in this chart is that Pinterest gained significantly more users in Europe in Q4, where it had been on track to lose ground versus the beginning of last year. Its growth in the U.S., its main revenue market, is still limited, but it is gaining in all markets, based on this latest update.

That suggests that Pinterest is on the right track with its tools, though it could also be a holiday shopping bump, so it may slide again in Q1. But it is worth noting that Pinterest is holding, and gaining, in its main income segments.

On the revenue side, Pinterest brought in a record $1.2 billion million, taking its yearly revenue intake to $3.6 billion.

For the full year, Pinterest was up 19%, which is an impressive growth rate, and it seemingly still has a lot of room for improvement when you look at its revenue per user stats:

Pinterest’s income numbers outside the U.S. are not great, though that also suggests that it can make up more ground here, and with its usage growing, that should present more opportunities in the near future.

It still has some work to do on reaching advertisers in these markets, and winning them over with Pin campaigns. But maybe, this is the year that it can boost those numbers closer to its U.S. intake.

Though that’ll also require investment, and Pinterest has seemingly worked to keep its sales and marketing spend steady, rising just 10% year-over-year. Its research and development expenses rose by double that, and it might be challenging for Pinterest to maximize its opportunities without a period of significantly increased spending.

But even at more subdued spending rates, Pinterest continues to develop impressive tools, like its AI-powered Performance+ ads, and its evolving discovery tools to improve the accuracy and relevance of its search results.

Pinterest has also added functional elements, like its remixing and sharing options for collages, though it hasn’t gone the typical social platform route of adding in AI chatbots and image generators to boost engagement.

Yet.

At this stage, Pinterest has remained focused on updates that align with its core use case, as opposed to trying to be everything to everyone, and occupy more scroll time. But I expect that Pinterest will incorporate more AI elements in future, likely in the form of generative AI outfits, enabling you to create an image of what you like, then searching the app for similar product matches.

Overall, the trends here are good for Pinterest, with third-party reports also showing an increase in audience interest, aligning with its own figures. It still needs to improve its ad business outside of the U.S., and it’ll likely need to spend money to boost both this and its broader innovation efforts.

But record highs in both active users and quarterly revenue are solid indicators.  

Looking to establish a better process for tracking marketing performance, and demonstrating the actual value of your marketing efforts?

This has become a big focus across the industry, with the evolving swathe of interaction data providing more methods to track beyond the last click. Indeed, expanded conversion metrics can now more accurately reflect the scope of the modern buying journey, which often shifts across channels, across platforms, and across apps, as people explore and consider different aspects.

That’s the focus of LinkedIn’s latest research report, which looks at how B2B marketers are evolving their measurement processes to better reflect the impact of their promotional spend.

The 27-page guide incorporates input from a range of marketing leaders, who each share their own notes on best practices and approaches for the modern age. You can download the full guide here (with email sign-up), but in this post, we’ll look at some of the key notes.

First off, the guide looks at the various tracking and metric options, and how they can be applied to your marketing process.

As you can see in this example, LinkedIn’s guide provides insight into a range of tracking methodologies, which could provide you with guidance on different approaches.

Each section also includes expert tips to explain and evaluate the pros and cons of different strategies, while also providing notes on what works for them.

The guide also includes tips on each element, and how you can apply different methodologies and approaches based on the advice in each section.

There are some helpful pointers here, and again, the additional insight from top marketing minds helps to contextualize the information, so you can understand how, exactly, each element applies (or doesn’t).

Which could be valuable for your data approach, and building a more reflective, accurate trail of response insight. Which will then help to guide more accurate, valuable marketing spend, by focusing on the elements that really drive results.

The guide also includes notes on LinkedIn’s own tracking and measurement options, and how they can help at each stage.

There are some valuable notes here, and while these won’t all apply to all brands (the focus is B2B marketers), there’s some interesting food for thought either way, which could help you to focus your efforts on the right metrics.

You can download LinkedIn’s “The Future of B2B Measurement” guide here.

LinkedIn is expanding its test of a news banner in the mobile app, which highlights top stories that you may want to engage with above the main feed.

As you can see in this example, shared by social media expert Lindsey Gamble, the news banner provides a rotating headline summary of trending news stories of the day.

As explained by LinkedIn:

“The LinkedIn News banner is an easy way for you to discover and stay current on timely professional news stories and perspectives. You can access the LinkedIn News banner at the top of your Feed on mobile. If you click on the story, you will see relevant articles and LinkedIn posts, including posts from top publishers and journalists, that our editors curated for that topic.”

As LinkedIn notes, the listings are curated by its editorial team, with the banner serving as another means to encourage more contributions to trending discussion in the app.

“You can remove a LinkedIn News article that appears at the top of your Feed at any time by hitting the close icon on the top right corner of the banner, which will remove the banner from your Feed for 24 hours.” 

LinkedIn first launched the news banner in a limited test last October, but now, it’s being expanded to more users.

But not to everyone just yet. At this stage, the news banner is being expanded to users in the U.S., Canada, and India.

Which may seem like an odd test pool, with India in the mix. But India is LinkedIn’s fastest-growing market, and a key opportunity for the platform to expand its usage.

That’s especially true due to the reformation of Twitter, with X losing traction among some groups as a key news source. Which is a gap that LinkedIn can fill, and while it’s still in a relatively early adoption phase in India, now is a good time for it to try out new elements like this.

It could be a handy addition, providing more insight into trending topics in the app, which could help you boost your LI presence.

We’ll keep you updated on any expanded roll-out of the feature.