Friday Wrap #174: Facebook's friends/family focus, searchable stickers, cynicism of CEO activism, "calm design," and more

The Friday Wrap is my weekly collection of news stories, posts, studies, and reports designed to help organizational communicators stay current on the trends and technology that affect their jobs. These may be items that flew under the radar while other stories grabbed big headlines. As always, I collect material from which I select Wrap stories (as well as stories to report on the For Immediate Release podcast, along with stuff I just want to remember to read) on my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow. If you want to make sure you never miss an edition of the Wrap, along with extra material only for subscribers, sign up for myweekly email briefing.

News

Facebook News Feed change favors friends and family—A major adjustment to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm will pull posts shared by friends and family to the top of the feed, pushing brand and publisher posts farther down. Facebook has been upfront about the fact that this will reduce the reach publishers have been enjoying.The takeaway: The dynamics here are fascinating. Facebook has been aggressively pursuing publishers to use Facebook as a primary distribution channel. At the same time, engagement has dropped as people do more reading of news and less sharing of personal content. Studies show people have come to rely on Facebook (and Twitter) for news, but people also complain that they don’t see enough of the more shareable friends-and-family content. See the next item for Facebook’s explanation. Read more

Facebook explains News Feed’s “core values”—In the wake of the change to its News Feed algorithm that favors friends and family over publishers, Facebook has revealed the “core values” behind the tweaks it has made over the years. At the top of the list: Family and friends come first. Facebook also wants to connect people with ideas and stories they find meaningful, but not choose the issues to which the world should pay attention. Authentic communication means the algorithm tries to distribute genuine stories rather than hoaxes and “misleading, sensational and spammy” content. The final two values: You control your experience and constant iteration. The takeaway: With the volume of content that flows through Facebook, no News Feed will ever be exactly what you want, which makes the “constant iteration” value so important.Read more

US Customs wants to know visitors’ social media identifiers—U.S. Customs and Border Protection is proposing a change to forms completed by visitors to the country that will ask for details about their “online presence.” The field on the forms will be optional for travelers but could be used to vet people coming into the country. “Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set with analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case,” according to the proposal. The takeaway: Optional or not, why would someone with nefarious intentions provide accurate information? How many people have answered “yes” to the question on employment forms about whether they’ve ever used illegal drugs? Read more

Google announced next Android version’s name on Snapchat—Some of us have been waiting anxiously for the announcement of what the “N” in Android N will stand for. The announcement was came on Thursday, with Google revealing on Snapchat (yes, Snapchat) that the public naming process (a first) picked Nougat. (All the Android names are based on sweets. I was pulling for Nerds.) The takeaway: Crowdsourcing is getting to be a bigger deal, along with Snapchat. The naming announcement might have gone unnoticed if it had been made on Google Plus. Where is your company making its announcements? For non-material announcements that require compliance with Reg FD, you might want to consider a non-traditional platform.Read more

Twitter introduces searchable stickers—Twitter has unveiled stickers that are searchable when tapped. Upload an image to Twitter, select some stickers to add to the image. When you post the image, the stickers become interactive. When someone taps one, it will work much like a hashtag, delivering relevant results. (That is, you can’t designate where it will take people, nor can you create your own stickers; only Twitter can do that.) The takeaway: Among other things that are cool about this idea, you could conceivably use a sticker instead of a hashtag, freeing up the character count the hashtag would have cost you. Read more

Google’s My Activity page displays your web and app history—A new Google feature dubbed the “My Activity Page” gives you a searchable history of nearly everything you do online. That includes the Netflix shows you’ve watched, websites you’ve visited, stuff you’ve searched for, and activity on products (assuming you’ve done it all over a Chrome browser). The takeaway: If you’ve ever wondered what kind of data your online activities produce—data that can be used to target ads to you—the page is a treasure trove of information. It’s also just plain fascinating to see your activities summarized like this. Read more

Twitter Dashboard streamlines engagement for small business—Twitter has introduced a dashboard app that businesses can tailor to show tweets about their category or business, combining mentions and keyword searches to connect you with people talking about your company or brand. The takeaway: Use this tool, along with the other free data analysis tools offered by Facebook, Google, and other social platforms. They’re giving it away, for heaven’s sake. Read more

Trends

How brands use Instagram—Most posting activity happens on weekdays, with Thursday and Friday the biggest days for sharing. One report found that frequent posting leads to higher engagement. Brands that ask questions achieve a 0.45% increase in engagement, and posts containing hashtags get a 0.43% bump. Using exclamation points, though reduces engagement by 0.22%. The vast majority of Instagram posts from Fortune 500 brands aren’t retouched or pre-designed, and they don’t use Instagram filters. The takeaway: For a lot of brands, Instagram is a more important channel than Twitter. It’s worth applying the habits of brands that are succeeding on Instagram, but don’t be afraid to experiment. Read more

360-degree videos are popular everywhere—The battle for eyeballs has led YouTube and Facebook to both amp up their 360-degree video offerings. There’s no clear winner, though, since people have embraced them on both platforms. “Users have uploaded more than 20,000 360-degree videos on Facebook (through February); the number of 360-degree videos on YouTube has doubled over the past three months alone.” The takeaway: I’ll just quote 360i innovation tech VP Layne Harris: “Since 360-video is a new medium, the safe bet was to distribute on both YouTube and Facebook.” Oh, and if you’re not sharing any 360-degree videos, what’s holding you back? Read more

There’s a dark side to live video—It was inevitable that bad people would ruin a good thing. While Facebook Live and Periscope were both hailed as channels for democracy after the Democratic Congressional sit-in over gun control was broadcast via live streaming after the official broadcast was halted. But just a couple weeks ago, an ISIS sympathizer live-streamed video of his killing two law enforcement officers in their Paris suburb home. Because advertising is expected to support live streams, Facebook, Google, and Twitter all have an incentive to figure out how to prevent abuse. One marketing executive said “there is no way he’d authorize any live video for his brands if it risks being associated with violence or crime. It poisons the environment.” The takeaway: This is a very real and very serious problem, but not one that should stop companies from doing their own live streaming. The risk is having an ad for your brand pop up during a violent stream or one showing illegal or immoral activity. Read more

The Internet of Things will become the channel for seamless messaging—The Internet of Things could spell the end of interruptive marketing. The concept is known as “calm design,” which uses technology woven into your day-to-day life and doesn’t require interrupting a consumer or requiring her to yank a smartphone out of her purse. “A teapot is an old-world tech example.” The whistling of the teapot lets you know it’s ready. Brands like Amazon, Google, Tesla, and Volvo are experimenting with calm design, with the Amazon Echo a leader when it comes to conversation as platform. Content on a vehicle dashboard—notably in autonomous vehicles—is another example. The takeaway: While calm design is nascent, it’s worth getting acquainted with the concept so you can at least raise it when its implementation makes sense. A google search of “calm design” delivered nearly half a million results, so it’s definitely a thing. Read more

Do branding agencies still matter?—To stay relevant in a digital world, branding agencies need to make three big changes, according to creative director Paul Woods. First, stop telling people how they should feel about a product. Show them. Second, focus more on brand marks than logos. “Digital interactions are becoming increasingly less visual and a person’s primary interaction a brand may be based upon touch, interaction, or even sound alone. This throws the idea of a logo into question.” For example, consider Siri’s voice. And third, Woods talks about “branding through the back door” in which the brand results from a product’s organic development or application. The takeaway: These principles apply to internal efforts, as well. Perhaps one reason new logo introductions are ridiculed so much is that they are superficial and don’t represent the way people view brands in the digital marketplace. Read more

Research

Brands underestimate the power of consumer relationships—At the Cannes Lions event, Edelman unveiled its second Earned Brand study that shows brands are missing an opportunity to build stronger bonds with consumers that will produce important results, including more sales and defense against competitors. The average relationship score currently stands at 38 (out of 100). According to CEO Richard Edelman, “The old way of marketing in which all assumptions are the same is out the door. The index confirms marketers have done a great job getting consumers to preference and purchase, but consumers indicated they are willing to go deeper to be committed in their brand relationships.” A committed consumer (get used to that new label) is one who drives and protects a company’s bottom line through loyalty and advocacy. Committed consumers will adopt innovation more quickly (86%), pay a premium price (87%), recommend the brand through liking and sharing (87%) and defend it against critics (88%). The takeaway: Among many other tactics, companies should focus on the 1:1 connection consumers expect via social media channels. Read more

Interactive content produces more benefits than just grabbing attention—A poll of content marketers found that nearly 80% of respondents believe interactive content can be reused and encourage repeat visits. They also found that, combined with traditional content marketing, interactive content can help strengthen a brand’s message. The most commonly used interactive content includes assessments, calculators, and contests. Least common are wizards and interactive lookbooks. The takeaway: And now we have interactive video available to us. The more we can get users to interact with our content rather than just passively consume it, the better. Read more

Messaging apps are popular platforms for communicating with businesses—While most of the communicators I talk to haven’t even started incorporating messaging apps into their strategies, consumers are all over them. A survey from Mobile Messaging found that 66% of consumers have used a chat app to communicate with a business, and 74% of SMS users have connected with a company via chat. Banking leads the pack, with 33% of respondents saying they’ve sent or received a text message from a financial institution. Health messaging is also growing, with 15% of consumers saying they’ve received a message from a healthcare provider via SMS and 12% via a chat app. The takeaway: SMS and chat apps are the new normal. If your emphasis is on proprietary mobile apps or, worse, web-based engagement, you’re already behind. I know I sound like a broken record, but seriously. Even for internal communications, you need to start figuring out how chat can factor into your plans and processes. Read more

Text beats video for hard news—Yes, the trend definitely favors video, but that doesn’t mean you should forsake text all the time. A report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found web users resist online video news. Analyzing traffic to 30 news sites (17 were American and nine were broadcasters), users spent about 2.5% of average visit time on pages that included videos and 97.5% of time on pages that were dominated by text. The numbers change when it comes to big breaking news sotries, where interest in video increases considerably. The takeaway: It’s not unreasonable to assume the preference extends to hard news from businesses. Good news writing is still valued by audiences. Read more

People are cynical about CEO activism—There have been a lot of calls for CEOs to take positions on societal issues. There has been research supporting that move. But a new study from Weber Shandwick found cynical perspectives on CEO activism among the public. Thirty-six percent of respondents said CEOs took these positions to get media attention and 21% said it was an effort to build their personal reputations. Only 14% of respondents thought CEOs were stepping into political issues to “leverage their influence and financial power for good” or “do what is right for society.” A mere 11% said they were speaking up on behalf of their employees and customers. According to Weber Shandwick’s chief reputation strategist, even sincere CEOs aren’t communicating their message well. The takeaway: I still believe there is ample evidence supporting the need for companies to be a force for good in society in order to succeed. But CEOs cannot simply do an about-face and expect to be taken seriously. Ongoing communication about a company’s activities will support the perception that its culture and values provide an authentic platform for the CEOs statements. Read more

Employee data theft affects nearly 70% of companies—Sixty-nine percent of the 208 companies surveyed by Accenture have “experienced an attempted or realized data theft or corruption by corporate insiders” over the last year. The takeaway: I have been saying for several years that employee engagement should be a core focus of any internal communication effort. This report exemplifies the reason: Engaged employees won’t try to steal company data. Full stop. Read more

Another study supports social media at work—Several years ago, the University of Melbourne found that productivity goes up when workers are able to take a Facebook break between tasks. Now, a significant body of research reported in the Harvard Business Review supports the idea, stating that the key to resilience “is trying really hard, then stopping, recovering, and then trying again.” The idea of stopping and recovering contradicts the nose-to-the-grindstone approach most companies take to work. The report cites a 2014 paper that argues, “Internal recovery refers to the shorter periods of relaxation that take place within the frames of the workday or the work setting in the form of short scheduled or unscheduled breaks, by shifting attention or changing to other work tasks when the mental or physical resources required for the initial task are temporarily depleted or exhausted.” The takeaway: If productivity is on the minds of your leaders, send them this report. How they think productivity is achieved may not square with the reality. Read more

Mobile and Wearables

iPhones may prevent you from photographing or recording in some venues—Apple has filed a patent that could prevent you from recording or taking photos at concerts, in theaters, or at the movies. An infrared signal would be used in places that want to prohibit use of an iPhone or iPad’s tablet. This wouldn’t prevent you from taking a picture of friends at a concert, presuming your camera isn’t aimed at the stage. The takeaway: What’s worrisome is the potential misuse of the technology, to keep people from recording something an individual or organization simply doesn’t want people to see. Of course, a patent filing doesn’t mean the feature will ever be implemented. If it is, there’s a simple solution: Go Android. Read more

Huffington Post adds a Snapchat button to its website—Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks make it easy for you to add a button to your website to drive people from the site to a Facebook or Twitter account. Snapchat offers no such tool, but that hasn’t stopped the Huffington Post, which has created its own “follow us on Snapchat” widget. Clicking the button opens a Snapcode users can scan to follow HuffPo on Snapchat. The button has resulted in a 140% increase in daily average signups to the HuffPo Snapchat account. The takeaway: Brands are finding oh-so-clever ways to share content on Snapchat, which is soaring in popularity. Expect to see more cobbled-together Snapchat widgets on publisher and brand websites—at least until Snapchat offers an official widget. Read more

Send texts, prevent heart attacks—A six-month clinical trial found that patients recovering from a heart attack were more inclined to control their blood pressure, reduce body fat, and lower cholesterol levels when they got text messages about their health routines. Patients getting texts also were more likely to be active and quit smoking than patients in a control group who didn’t get the texts. The takeaway: Are you exploring the various ways you can connect with your audience in meaningful ways using text and chat? When addressing a business problem or challenge, it would be a good idea to add chat apps and messaging to the routine set of possible solutions. Read more

Chatbots

“Robot lawyer” results in dismissal of parking tickets—A chatbot called DoNotPay, created by a 19-year-old, has successfully contested more than 160,000 parking tickets in New York and London. When you activate the chatbot, it asks questions about the visibility of parking signs that could result in a dismissal, then guides you through the appeals process. It has succeeded 64% of the time. The takeaway: Do you really need to talk to a human to get this kind of help? It’s an amazing example of what a chatbot can do.Read more

Facebook Messenger is home to 11,000 chatbots—It has been less than three months since Facebook introduced its chatbot platform. Since then, more than 1,,000 bots have been developed for Messenger. Users can now rate bots from one to five stars and review them, though the public won’t be able to see the feedback, which is shared only with developers. Facebook has also added enhancements to the chatbot development platform. The takeaway: No, not every one of those 11,000 chatbots are awesome. Not even most. But that doesn’t mean people won’t be using chatbots to interact with companies more frequently in the very near future. Read more

Slack “buttons” demonstrate why apps are so 15 minutes ago—Slack users can now tap a button to take action with a third-party app rather than launch the app itself. For example, a user can approve or reject an expense report from Abacus, “assign due dates in Trello, or pay a coworker back for lunch with Current—all with one click from a Slack chat.” The new feature is a clear demonstration of how we’ll interact with tools on mobile devices without having to download and install a whole app that takes up home screen space. The takeaway: Directly from the FastCompany report: “While the hype around chatbots can sometimes get excessive, ultimately they’re just a new way to access apps, repurposed for the chat windows where users are spending increasing amounts of time.” But wait, there’s more. Read the next item to see how a brand is getting its message to users through Slack. Read more

Should you be reaching audiences through Slack?—I don’t know if I’d call this a full-blown trend, but it might become one soon. For now, we have Delta Airlines showing how it’s done. Working with ad agency Wieden & Kennedy, the airline has set up a “Go Fridays” chatbot that offers flight vouchers, museum tours, and restaurant reservations under the Summer Fridays theme to New York employees using chat at companies like NowThis, Spongecell, and Casper. The takeaway: Sheer genius. Slack is where these people do a lot of their work and they’re accustomed to interacting with bots. Targeting a regional initiative like Summer Fridays makes the messaging relevant and the perks make it desirable. If a traditional business like Delta can do it, why not your company? Read more

This week’s wrap image—a tiny copperbelly snake wrapped around a finger—courtesy ofRubberDucky53171‘s Flickr account