ITV

Category: Social Media

  • WhatsApp adds new feature, allows only admin to send messages in group

    WhatsApp adds new feature, allows only admin to send messages in group

    MUMBAI: Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has recently announced that the app will now have a feature in the group settings, which will allow only admins to converse in a group chat.  The company announced the update in a Friday blog post. WhatsApp is trying out a number of small additions to give admins greater control of their respective groups as the company was recently spotted testing a feature that allows senior group admins to strip newer admins of their status in the settings option.

    Members will not be able to participate in any group discussions or chats after the feature has been enabled by the admin. None can respond to the messages but they can only read the message sent by the admin. Until now the feature was in works, WhatsApp has now officially launched the feature for all, including users India.

    “Today, we’re launching a new group setting where only admins are able to send messages to a group. One way people use groups is to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools, community centres, and non-profit organizations. We’ve introduced this new setting so admins can have better tools for these use cases” reads the blog.

    To enable the setting, WhatsApp users on Android and iOS have to update their apps to the latest version. Then they can open a group chat and click on “Group Info,” tap Group Settings and find the “Send Messages” option and then select “Only Admins.” This will allow only group admins to converse while other participants will receive a footer which reads that the admin has disabled others from chatting in the group.

    Over the last few months, the company has added new features that improve the groups’ experience. Some of these include group descriptions, a catch up feature, and protection for people who are being added repeatedly to groups they’ve left.

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    WhatsApp’s 200m users catalysed ASCI’s digital initiative

  • Cryptocurrency ads back on Facebook

    Cryptocurrency ads back on Facebook

    MUMBAI: Get ready for bitcoin ads in your Facebook feed once again. Social network platform Facebook that had banned cryptocurrency ads in January 2018 has now permitted the advertisement of cryptocurrency on newsfeed.

    At the time, Facebook announced that it will prohibit ads that promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency. Facebook product management director Rob Leathern in a blogpost had said, “This policy is intentionally broad while we work to better detect deceptive and misleading advertising practices. We will revisit this policy and how we enforce it as our signals improve.”

    Now, after nearly six months since the announcement, Mark Zuckerberg led company has allowed “some ads” around the digital currency while it is working to ensure that they’re safe. Starting yesterday, the network has updated its policy to allow ads that promote cryptocurrency and related content from pre-approved advertisers.

    However, that doesn’t mean that you will see a flood of content from over 1600 cryptocurrencies in the world. Facebook wrote in a blog post that advertisers will still have to get Facebook’s consent and approval by submitting an application that includes any licences they have obtained, whether they are traded on a public stock exchange, and other relevant public background on their business. 

    Given these restrictions, not everyone who wants to advertise will be able to do so. But the social network giant is willing to listen to feedback, look at how well this policy works and continue to study this technology so that, if necessary, it can revise it over time.

    However, Facebook will continue to prohibit ads that promote binary options and initial coin offerings. Users can report content that violates the advertising policies by selecting ‘report ad’ in the upper right-hand corner of any advertisement.

    While Facebook, Google and Twitter banned cryptocurrency ads, Facebook is the first one to partially roll back. 

  • Yahoo Messenger to shut operations from 17 July

    Yahoo Messenger to shut operations from 17 July

    MUMBAI: The emergence of new messenger apps in the smartphone era has brought down the closure of decades-old instant messaging application, Yahoo Messenger. Verizon subsidiary Oath, operator of Yahoo, recently announced the wrap up of Yahoo Messenger with its services coming to an end on 17 July. 

    One of the earliest messaging app, it started its journey in 1998. Yahoo Messenger, once a very popular player witnessed its declining user base eventually due to several new services including smartphone chat apps such as Whatsapp, Skype, Facebook Messenger among others. Existing users now have six months in hand to download their chat history before the service becomes unavailable. 

    In a statement issued on Friday, Yahoo said, “There currently isn’t a replacement product available for Yahoo Messenger. However, we are constantly experimenting with new services and apps, one of which is an invite-only group messaging app called ‘Yahoo Squirrel’ which is currently in beta form.”

    While avoiding any specific reason behind the shut down of the Messenger, Yahoo said, “As the communications landscape continues to change over, we’re focusing on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs.”

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    Snapchat partners four IPL teams

    YouTube web series to showcase road safety awareness across India

  • YouTube web series to showcase road safety awareness across India

    YouTube web series to showcase road safety awareness across India

    MUMBAI: YouTube is launching a novel web series in India called That Good Ugly Day which it claims isn’t like any other in terms of creativity and disseminating social messages. The series is said to have shocking incidents with zero fiction plotting. The first episode which will focus on road safety awareness is scheduled to be launched in this coming month.

    The web series is lead by Ajay Rajpal who leaves no stone unturned to showcase how the road rage turns a good day into bad when something unusual, unexpected and unwanted happens all of a sudden, and how it becomes a turning point for the rest of our life.

    Rajpal says, “Road rage is a menace. Inconsiderate driving, bad traffic and the daily stresses of life can transform minor frustrations into dangerous road rage. Far too many drivers are losing themselves in the heat of the moment and lashing out in ways that could turn deadly. Through the first episode of the series, we have ensured that how critical road safety is, and we need deliverance from road rage.”

  • Joyee Biswas joins Facebook as APAC head of sports partnerships

    Joyee Biswas joins Facebook as APAC head of sports partnerships

    MUMBAI: Despite losing the Indian Premier League’s internet and mobile rights to Star India last year, despite a bid of Rs 3900 crore, the company is upping the ante for sports in the APAC region. It has roped in Joyee Biswas as head of sports partnerships APAC. With over 15 years of experience in the media industry, he will lead the team that manages partnerships with APAC-based leagues, teams, athletes and media.

    He will start his new professional journey from late May. Prior to this position, he served as ESPN’s head of Southeast Asia, APAC. He also worked as the managing director for Eleven Sports Network in Asia. At his new position, Biswas will report to Facebook head of global sports partnerships Dan Reed.

    “His background in broadcasting, in particular, will be invaluable as we continue to partner with broadcasters to help them reach new audiences, experiment with new forms of production and monetise their content,” the company said in a release.

    Recently, the company elevated India media partnerships head Saurabh Doshi to look after entertainment partnerships for APAC. Doshi’s core focus is to manage strategic relationships with some of the biggest media organisations and public celebrities in the region along with working closely with studios, TV networks and creators in the entertainment space, leveraging the Facebook platform to maximise specific objectives and increasing engagement on the platform.

    Also Read :

    RoW, APAC revenue grows fastest for Facebook in 2017

    Facebook’s Q1 ad spend on 4C grows by 62%

  • Facebook’s Saurabh Doshi takes over as head of entertainment partnership – APAC

    Facebook’s Saurabh Doshi takes over as head of entertainment partnership – APAC

    MUMBAI: The Mark Zuckerberg-headed company has recently reportedly elevated its India media partnerships head, Saurabh Doshi, to a wider APAC role. Based out of Singapore, he will have oversee entertainment partnerships for all of Asia Pacific, including South East Asia, Japan, Korea, China and ANZ.

    Even as no external announcement has been made, Doshi has been seen more out of India than in India recently. We reached out to the company but received no comments; however, some of his clients indeed confirmed the promotion to Indiantelevision.com. From India to Asian responsibilities is a jump that Martin Sorrell’s WPP and Unilever have often given to their executives in the past and this could be an interesting trend in the digital world going forward.

    Sources reveal that Doshi’s core focus will be to manage strategic relationships with some of the biggest media organisations and public celebrities in the region along with working closely with studios, TV networks and creators in the entertainment space, leveraging the Facebook platform to maximise specific objectives and increasing engagement on the platform. Given all the success YouTube has had with creators, this will be an important space

    The appointment comes as an important step for the social media platform since APAC today is the fastest growing and the most happening market for most digital companies and is super critical for growth and the future.

    Doshi joined Facebook in 2014 as the head of media partnership driving growth in videos and time spent on content on the platform and has been credited with various achievements since then. Some of them have been in unique product offerings in India, especially focused on video and instant articles, which a client mentioned have been two products on the forefront for India given the growth in the ecosystem here.

    A source mentioned focus is on the media side, especially solving language content problems given its importance and the mega $600 million bid for IPL by Facebook. Recently, there has been news of a deep partnership with the launch of Vice in India.

    Facebook globally has been partnering deeply with news publishers and the same has been the case in India looking at media case studies published on its website which Doshi has been leading along with his team.

    Apparently, the company hasn’t decided who will step into Doshi’s shoes but the careers site shows hiring of a VP for India to head its India operations.

    Facebook has a worldwide presence, except in China. A source close to the development mentioned that FB has been focusing a lot on videos specially with its video platform WATCH, for premium shows and content in the US and it is expected this team will roll it out in APAC as well.

  • Facebook’s Q1 ad spend on 4C grows by 62%

    Facebook’s Q1 ad spend on 4C grows by 62%

    MUMBAI: Marketing technology company 4C, in its latest report, reveals that spend across major social and mobile platforms in the first quarter of 2018 increased significantly year-on-year (YoY) with the greatest revenue growth on 4C witnessed by Snapchat (234 per cent) and Instagram (136 per cent).

    The report suggests that advertisers use digital platforms to engage with audiences around large tentpole events and capture second-screen attention.

    To assess the state of the media, 4C analysed nearly $250 million in ad spend from a representative sample of more than 1,000 individual brands using its software platform. To gauge TV advertising trends, 4C’s Teletrax technology monitors 2,100 plus TV global channels, keeping track of the biggest advertisers in the UK and around the world.

    Interestingly, despite the Cambridge Analytica headlines, data shows that Facebook ad spend through 4C increased by 62 per cent YoY and specifically week-over-week during the weeks of 17 March (7 per cent) and 24 March (15 per cent) after the news broke out. This is matched in both weeks by 9 per cent increases in Instagram spending.

    4C Insights CMO Aaron Goldman said, “We’re seeing continued strength for Facebook advertising despite the negative headlines. For some time now, marketers in the UK have been actively preparing for GDPR so they are comfortable dealing with issues pertaining to data collection. In this case the main issue is not related to advertising and the repercussions such as removal of Facebook Partner Categories have not had a material impact.”

    The report further suggests that more and more media is being consumed simultaneously and TV audiences are commonly using second or even third screens. In response, brands are making their own shift to capitalise on this behaviour and adopting an audiences-first strategy.

    The consumer products sector powered ad spend across Snapchat and Twitter for the first quarter of 2018. Brands from this vertical increased quarterly spend by 78 per cent on Twitter and 31 per cent on Snapchat to reach their desired audience segments.

    Mbuy media strategy manager Carlee Benson mentions, “Gen-Z is expected to account for about 40 per cent of all consumers by 2020. Trends such as ephemeral marketing, influencer, and short-form video are favourites amongst this generation and need to be considered with a social media strategy.”

    Q1 saw seasonally relevant campaigns from the likes of travel brands Kayak and TUI, which invested in 3,310 minutes of ad time and 2,666 minutes respectively. While ongoing campaigns throughout the quarter enabled brands to dominate the airwaves, the greatest social lift was driven by brands that successfully jumped on the Superbowl, led by T-Mobile with a 46,000 per cent increase in social engagement during the 2 minutes following its commercials.

    Also Read :

    RoW, APAC revenue grows fastest for Facebook in 2017

    Facebook to ban cryptocurrency ads

    Mark Zuckerberg says ‘sorry’ for Facebook’s privacy crisis

    Mark Zuckerberg says ‘sorry’ for Facebook’s privacy crisis

  • Reliance Industries Limited announces strategic investment in Embibe to from India’s largest Artificial Intelligence (AI) based education platform

    Reliance Industries Limited announces strategic investment in Embibe to from India’s largest Artificial Intelligence (AI) based education platform

    Mumbai : Reliance Industries Limited (“RIL”) today executed definitive agreements to acquire majority shareholding constituting 72.69% (on fully diluted basis) from existing investors of Indiavidual Learning Pvt Ltd (“Embibe”), a leading AI-based education platform leveraging data analytics to deliver personalized learning outcomes to each student.

    Reliance has agreed to invest upto Rupee equivalent of US$180 million into Embibe, (including consideration to be paid for acquiring majority stake from existing investors) over the next three years.

    Embibe will use the capital over the next three years towards deepening its R&D on AI in education, as well as business growth and geographic expansion, catering to students across K-12, higher education, professional skilling, vernacular languages and all curriculum categories across India and internationally. The founder and CEO of Embibe, Aditi Avasthi will continue in her leadership role and will drive the growth of the business.

    Speaking on this strategic transaction, Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio, said “The investment in Embibe underlines Reliance’s commitment to growing the education sector in India and the world and making education accessible to the widest possible group of students by deploying technology. Reliance aims to connect over 1.9 million schools and 58,000 universities across India with technology. We are delighted to announce this partnership with Embibe, and believe that their highly experienced management team will be instrumental in enabling Reliance to realize its vision for the education sector, and strengthening Jio’s leadership position as a digital technology company.”

    Aditi Avasthi, Founder and CEO at Embibe, said “Embibe’s team has built an incredible technology platform that can deliver personalized learning outcomes in a way that is truly scalable across all education markets. With robust AI stacks focused on content intelligence and automation, behavioral recommendations and student intelligence, our products have redefined the way edtech can impact the lives of students and teachers. We are supercharging our platform with the ability to deliver both content and outcomes for every learning goal in every student’s journey, to be the leader in personalizing education for India and the world. We are excited to partner with Jio – bringing unrivalled acceleration to our growth story through data and device access. Most of all, we are delighted to partner with Reliance and share their deep conviction and visionary passion to sow the seeds of a new India with data as the new soil.”

    The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

    Citibank acted as financial advisor, AZB & Partners, Covington & Burling LLP and KPMG acted as legal advisors and Pricewaterhouse Coopers provided tax advisory and diligence services to RIL. Embibe was advised by Arpwood Capital, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Partners and Khaitan & Company as legal advisors and Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu Limited for tax advisory services.

  • Snapchat partners four IPL teams

    Snapchat partners four IPL teams

    MUMBAI: IPL 2018 fans better get ready as four of your favourite teams are coming to Snapchat. The social media platform has announced its partnership with four IPL teams–the Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and the Rajasthan Royals. The teams have joined Snapchat for Official Stories on 9 April 2018

    Snapchat has also released new creative tools for fans to support their teams and join the fun, such as custom stickers, filters and lenses. The lenses transform you into a helmeted player, with the team anthem playing in the background, and are available automatically in each team’s state or by scanning a Snapcode in Snapchat.

    “We love finding new ways to make Snapchat a great place for fans,” said Snapchat vice president of partnerships Ben Schwerin. “We are so excited for Snapchatters to be able to catch behind the scenes action by their favourite players, cheer their teams and share in the IPL 2018 frenzy with their friends and family!”

    This is Snapchat’s first partnership with India’s largest sporting event. The company is excited to give every cricket fanatic the opportunity to celebrate and support their teams better, on and off the field, through these new Official Stories. Snaps created by these official team accounts will be featured in the Discover section of Snapchat, and will provide glimpses of the action that you won’t be able to find elsewhere.

    Also Read:

    Star India lines up innovation filled IPL 2018

    Eros Now joins hands with RCB for IPL debut 

    Burger King joins hands with Mumbai Indians for IPL 2018

  • Facebook’s move to limit use of third party data brokers angers advertisers

    Facebook’s move to limit use of third party data brokers angers advertisers

    MUMBAI: As a direct reaction to Camebridge Analytical scandal, social media platform Facebook has decided to block third-party data providers from its advertising platform. 

    To regain people’s faith, Facebook is conducting a broad review of all its data practices. Many of the advertising agencies, however, have not welcomed the step very well.

    On Wednesday, Facebook announced that it would be shutting down Partner Categories. This product enables third party data providers to offer their targeting directly on Facebook. “While this is common industry practice, we believe this step, winding down over the next six months, will help improve people’s privacy on Facebook,” it said.

    The move restrains third party data brokers to obtain data which they later sell to other broker or marketers to target consumers in social media sites. The third-party data integration made it easy to spend ad dollars on Facebook but now the marketing will become less convenient for advertisers.

    According to reports, many industry insiders believe that the move is just a kind of eyewash. It will only increase Facebook’s control over data and advertisers’ dependency on it. Hence, Facebook will gain more control over its relationships with advertisers. 

    Many industry people think it will do nothing much to protect user data.

    “It feels like a knee-jerk reaction and Hail Mary to stop the bleeding of #deletefacebook – although TBD on if that’s actually making an impact – but more importantly to show Wall Street that they can protect consumer data,”, group media director for advertising agency Noble People Matt Borchard said as quoted by CNBC.

    Also Read:

    Mark Zuckerberg says ‘sorry’ for Facebook’s privacy crisis

    Facebook data fiasco gets murkier