If you’ve gone online or even just had your TV on recently, chances are you know about US elections and the TikTok scandal, and maybe even heard about Apple making everyone’s life a bit more difficult. But even with all of this going on, Facebook still takes the spotlight.
We all know what happened in the 2016 US elections, including Cambridge Analytica’s data breach and how Facebook was in the epicenter of it all. Seems like this time, everyone has learned a lesson.
Last week, Facebook announced the changes they are introducing during the upcoming US election period.
The goal of these changes is to prevent misinformation, spread of hoaxes, and conspiracy theories.
Many had demanded Facebook to completely stop selling any advertisement before and during the elections. In response to this and some past mistakes, the company compromised and decided to stop accepting new political ads a week before the US presidential election. This means the political campaigners will not be able to publish any new content, whether that’s a video, image, or just text, after the 27th of October. They will, however, be able to continue advertising existing adverts that obtained at least one impression by that date.
That isn’t the only change Facebook is about to undertake. As we know, someone *cough* Trump *cough* likes to make announcements themselves, so being a forward-thinking company, along with other features, Facebook will add a label to any political candidate or campaign post that attempts to declare victory before the results are official. The label will direct users to information from Reuters as an official and reliable source.
The social media giant will also apply restrictions on Messenger that were already used on WhatsApp last year, limiting how many links one can forward on Messenger for the time being.
Besides the struggles of trying not to interfere with the elections, the company also has to deal with the new updates from Apple.
Apple is releasing a new operating system IOS14 and it will release a new Facebook SDK to ensure the platform is compatible. This version limits the data available to businesses for running and measuring campaigns. Advertisers will also have to create a new ad account dedicated to running app install ad campaigns for iOS14 users.
In a nutshell, the IOS14 update will affect Facebook’s Audience Network, essentially getting rid of all personalization. Does this mean that Facebook ads will no longer be effective?
The inability to advertise on Facebook will have a direct effect on the revenues from advertising but will also have a ripple effect on the businesses that predominantly post their ads on the platform; for some, this is the main way of spreading awareness of their brand.
In conclusion, it is too early to judge if Facebook’s way of handling the US elections is effective. One thing is clear – the lesson has been learned and the company is definitely taking some steps in helping the public make fairer and more informed decisions.
As for the disruptive iOS14 update, it won’t be too long until the Apple users start seeing the changes on their feed. This has the potential of changing the landscape of Facebook advertising. Perhaps Apple will surprise us with its own advertising network? Only time will tell.
Petra
Petra has 8+ years in digital marketing, working for companies like Square Enix, lastminute.com, Pinkberry, Blackberry, BRITA, and Fujitsu. Her expertise is mainly in paid media (social, display, Adwords), social media strategy and implementation, for which she has won a few awards as well.