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Instagram is testing a feature that allows users to add open-ended questions within Stories, making content on the app more interactive.Currently, the Facebook-owned app lets users post polls with multiple-choice answers. Users also have the option to direct message someone in response to a Story. By allowing open-ended questions within a Story, Instagram is aiming to create more engagement between users and is opening the door for brands and influencers to enable more public conversations with their followers.An Instagram spokesperson did confirm the app is testing the feature but could not give any further details. A user first tipped Android Police about the latest feature last week, and TechCrunch reports users in Indonesia and Spain have been able to add open-ended questions to their Stories.According to Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, the app now has more than a billion monthly active users. The CEO shared the latest user numbers during the launch event for IGTV — Instagram’s new …

Federal investigators have widened their investigation into Facebook’s role regarding ads targeting millions of its users by data firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a report in The Washington Post.Five anonymous sources told the Post that the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have joined the Department of Justice in the investigation.The sources said that in addition to determining what Facebook knew and when, the investigation will use statements from the company itself, including testimony given to Congress in April by Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.Since the news erupted earlier this year that Cambridge Analytica improperly used data from Facebook to target 87 million users, Facebook has introduced a slew of new privacy initiatives.In April, Facebook said it would conduct an independent research project meant to determine social media’s impact on elections. The company also doubled the number of employees working o…

Both user consent for data-based ad targeting and contextual advertising for non-data-based targeting may be gaining new life following the launch in May of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).Some adtech observers have contended that contextual advertising can take the place of data-based audience targeting, because it does not require consent and could cost less.In a recently released report, for instance, two UK firms reported that a test they conducted showed virtually no difference between contextual ad targeting — based on content and site type — and data-based audience targeting based on user attributes.It depends, Purch Chief Revenue Officer Mike Kisseberth told me recently.[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]The post Post-GDPR, Purch points to 70 percent consent rates and the sweet spot for contextual targeting appeared first on Marketing Land.

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Last October, digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad platform Vistar Media launched a private marketplace for US and Canadian outdoor signage like billboards, bus shelter displays and screens in taxis.Now, the New York City-based firm has launched what it describes as “the first global dedicated storefront for private marketplace deals” for DOOH that covers the whole process.The new “Deals Discovery” online storefront, CEO Michael Provenzano told me, allows ad buyers to find inventory and conduct the entire process online. Previously in the Vistar marketplace, he said, sellers’ salespeople would contact potential buyers by phone to communicate the inventory opportunity. Then the buyer would go online to the Vistar marketplace to find the exact signage, set the price and conclude the deal.[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]The post Vistar launches online storefront for complete DOOH deals appeared first on Marketing Land.

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It’s been 18 years since the launch of Adwords and it was about time for a change for Google. So many things have changed in almost two decades. Mobile has taken over our lives, social media has turned us into publishers and video content is in high demand. All the changes make businesses evaluate their digital strategies, that’s why Google has decided to rebrand its advertising, marketing, publishing platforms.The idea is to simplify advertising and marketing while making integration and collaboration as simple as possible.From now on, Google Adwords is renamed into Google Ads, DoubleClick advertiser products will be part of Google Marketing Platform, while DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange will be part of Google Ad Manager.Google AdsGoogle Ads is Google’s rebranding of all its advertising features on one platform. Adwords will retire soon in an attempt to help businesses go beyond words, as Adwords would imply, to prove that advertising has already moved away fr…

Back in 2016, my colleague Christopher Ratcliff wrote an excellent how-to guide about meta descriptions here at Search Engine Watch.Much of what is included in that article is still useful. The good and bad examples Chris analyses are still on point and you would do a lot worse than to write your own descriptions according to his takeaway checklist even two years down the line.But as is case in the world of search, things are always changing. SEO copywriters and marketers need to be adapting to an ever-evolving SERP landscape across multiple screens and taking into consideration Google’s oft-tweaked algorithm.Google is increasingly unpredictable with how it displays meta descriptions. Today, the length at which it truncates descriptions can vary significantly from result to result. Sometimes the service will auto-generate descriptions or amend them. We are even seeing SERPs with far less descriptions in use at all with the rise of other rich features such as answer boxes and carousels…

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Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.From Marketing Land:Crowdsourcing your inventory: Outsource product and empower customers
Jul 2, 2018 by Rohit Gupta
Contributor Rohit Gupta explains how crowdsourcing inventory helps companies cut costs associated with product design while keeping customers engaged.Facebook alerts 800K users that people they’d blocked may have been unblocked the 1st week of June
Jul 2, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues
Facebook blames the unblocking glitch on a bug that lasted from May 29 to June 5. This is the second bug confirmed by Facebook in less than a month.Apps must now pass review process before getting access to Facebook’s Marketing API
Jul 2, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues
In its latest updates to the app developer platform, Facebook is instituting new review processes for certain APIs, shutting down others.New Forrester report: ‘Speech analytics has found its voice with AI’
Jul 2, 2018 by…

As retail increasingly moves online and into mobile experiences, consumers are presented with ever-increasing purchasing choices, including fully customizable products that can be ordered on a whim.Today’s consumers have become accustomed to increasingly accurate recommendations as they shop, and tomorrow’s consumers will expect increasing levels of personalization and customization for the products they buy. And not just because people want to buy things unique and specific them, but because the underlying personalized digital experiences will become increasingly commoditized.To get ahead of this trend, attract new customers and keep current customers engaged, marketers can incorporate a radical new approach that crowdsources product designs and enables customers the opportunity to create and invent. It also guarantees a product will sell and dramatically reduces the risks and costs associated with internal product design.Crowdsourcing initiativesAccording to the Journal of Marketing…

For the second time in less than a month, Facebook is having to alert users that their accounts may have been negatively impacted because of a bug. According to an announcement on Facebook’s news blog, the company is notifying 800,000 Facebook and Messenger users that people they blocked may have been unblocked between May 29 and June 5.“While someone who was unblocked could not see content shared with friends, they could have seen things posted to a wider audience. For example, pictures shared with friends of friends,” writes Facebook’s chief privacy officer, Erin Egan.Facebook is sending an alert to the users via its app, letting them know the length of time the bug was active and that it has been fixed.Facebook says the bug did not reinstate any friend connections that had been terminated and that 83 percent of the 800,000 users (664,000) affected by the bug only had one blocked person temporarily unblocked — which means 136,000 users may have had multiple blocked people become unb…