Facebook's data management challenges remained the main news on social networks during 2018. The constant flow of Facebook user privacy scandals has left no attention for other social platforms, but some have made a statement. Twitter focused on election integrity and did a massive sweep of bad user accounts.
While Facebook and Twitter focused on cleaning, Snapchat, Pinterest and LinkedIn continued to create their promotional offers.
Almost all platforms have released new rules regarding advertising, and you will not be able to open the application without encountering them. In his spare time, Facebook did its best to attract more YouTube video blogs. Its creators have more opportunities for monetization. And Instagram has launched its video platform.
Feedback on user data processing
This year was not the first year that Facebook was subjected to rigorous analysis for improperly handling user data, but it was the first time that a company had to take serious action against companies that had access to it.
This year, Facebook assumed full responsibility for not being able to protect its users, but Twitter also had to do it. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took part in a 45-minute live broadcast in March, answering questions about the spread of misinformation and abuse on the platform. At that time, the CEO stated that Twitter’s main task was to determine how it could measure the performance of the platform so that it was public and accountable. Four months later, the company continued to focus on the serviceability of the platform - suspending other work initiatives to focus on efforts to ensure the integrity of the elections. Google, whose data collection network covers virtually every corner of the Internet, has remained virtually unscathed.
Facebook has suspended applications, restricting API access to user information and deleting third-party data brokers, Twitter has deleted thousands of accounts, changed the way that conversations were conducted on the platform and, trying to curb spam, made it difficult for brands to search for identical messages. Twitter also restricted access to its API.
Marketers were forced to consider privacy issues with the launch of the EU GDPR in May
Snapchat, Pinterest and LinkedIn focused on building their advertising business in 2018. The number of Snapchat users has declined, but this year advertising revenue has increased. The company began the year with the opening of its advertising API for all advertisers. By the 3rd quarter, Snapchat reached a record revenue growth after launching several new ad products, including an advertising platform for Discover partners, e-commerce advertising options, commercials and AR lenses in the Advertising Manager, sponsored Snappables and location-based ad targeting tools.
This year, Pinterest hired its first SMO, as the company's desire to expand its advertising business has increased. In 2018, Pinterest released a number of new promotional offers - from advertising of the promoted merry-go-rounds and the updated ad manager to widescreen video ads and new categories of Pinterest marketing partners. He also increased his audience to 250 million active users per month.
LinkedIn has completely updated its Campaign Manager, rebuilding it to better serve advertisers managing large accounts. The social network advertising management tool was rebuilt to target, with new personalization options, one-click campaign breakdown for reports and new search options for advertisers. LinkedIn also added dynamic ads to its promotional offers.