Welcome to the 74th edition of our Digital Digest. Stories this week include the first ever AMP conference, call extensions from Adwords, Facebook dislike button and the use of chatbots. Let’s get started!
**Adwords account-level call extensions are rolled out**
We announced back in January that Google were planning to roll out (link: http://searchengineland.com/google-adwords-call-only-ads-call-extensions-updates-270809 text: automated call extensions). They have now confirmed that this has been rolled out. The process, in which Google pulls out phone numbers that are featured on landing pages, is an automatic roll out, meaning that if you already have call extensions set up, you don’t need to worry about setting up.
**Reports announce that half of all websites are now encrypted**
With Google continuously reminding us that moving a site from http to https has beneficial ranking factors, reports have announced that about (link: http://mashable.com/2017/02/22/half-web-encrypted-https/#swfdlQvt2qqG text: half of all websites are encrypted.) Moving your website to HTTPs not only boosts rankings within search engines but helps protect users from tracking and malicious activity.
**First AMP conference held in New York**
Google have held their first ever (link: http://www.dmnews.com/e-commerce/google-conference-aims-to-amp-up-amp-initiative/article/642940/ text: AMP conference in New York this week). The AMP initiative is owned by Google, publishers and brands and GitHub, with the goal to speed up experiences on mobile web. The conference was used to bring together companies and publishers alike to celebrate the success of the AMP roll out and where the AMP technology is going next.
**AMP rolled out to more people in Asia**
Following on from the AMP conference story above, it has been announced that search engines in (link: http://searchengineland.com/amp-accelerated-mobile-pages-roll-1-billion-people-asia-270681 text: Far East Asia) are adopting the feature meaning around 1 billion more people in Asia will be introduced to the initiative.
**Facebook to trial eagerly anticipated ‘Dislike’ button**
Facebook have announced plans to (link: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-dislike-latest-button-trial-first-time-social-media-network-photos-a7613246.html text: trial a dislike button) on the social media site after high demand from users. Currently the trial has been rolled out to a select bunch on the Messenger app with the option to dislike individual messages. After initial worries about the ‘dislike’ button being ammunition for online bullying and being unpopular with big brands, it seems like Facebook are listening to the users at last.
**Chatbot that overturned parking fines is helping refugees**
A chatbot which was created to help overturn more than 160,000 parking fines is now being adapted to help (link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/06/chatbot-donotpay-refugees-claim-asylum-legal-aid text: refugees claim asylum). The chatbot will use Facebook Messenger to help refugees fill in immigration applications within the US and Canada to help those in need find the safety they are looking for. In the UK, the bot helps refugees apply for asylum support.
That’s it for this week’s Digital Digest, join us again in a couple of weeks’ time for another edition of digital happenings from around the world.