Hello and welcome to what is set to be a jam packed edition of our weekly Digital Digest, what a week it’s been! Of course we’re going to be talking about the controversial Instagram changes, along with Google news and drama from Facebook HQ.
A whole new world for Instagram
So unless you’ve been totally disconnected this week or hiding away in a secluded part of the world without any 4G signal, you will have seen (link: http://blog.instagram.com/post/144198429587/160511-a-new-look text: Instagram’s makeover). Earlier in the week the photo sharing giant unveiled their new look to the world and of course received mixed reviews. Users saw an updated logo which says goodbye to the retro camera icon they have been sporting since their launch, and hello to a simple graphic of a camera laid over a colour gradient, which some critics have claimed is “fresh from the 90’s”. As well as this they have also updated their icons for their creative partner apps Layout, Boomerang and Hyperlapse.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/insta-logos.png alt: insta logos)
They have also made some significant aesthetic changes to the (link: https://medium.com/@ianspalter/designing-a-new-look-for-instagram-inspired-by-the-community-84530eb355e3#.agcgzrng6 text: in-app design) as well, creating a much simpler more consistent design that puts more focus on user’s photos and videos, without changing the navigation. The company set to reduce the colour and noise from the user interface as they believed *“While the icon is a colourful doorway into the Instagram app, once inside the app, we believe the colour should come directly from the community’s photos and videos.” *
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/insta-new-app.png alt: insta new app)
Despite Instagram’s best efforts and intentions there has been lots of backlash online about these changes, with streams of memes, GIF’s and angry tweets, oh the internet can be a cruel place. Here at Superdream HQ we have also been divided when it comes to these changes so we’re just going to leave our favourite GIF here….
Analytics for Insta brand pages
This week along with all the aesthetic changes to our favourite photo editing app, Instagram have also announced the (link: http://blog.later.com/first-look-instagram-new-analytics/ text: introduction of analytics) for business profiles, releasing the first screenshots of these news profiles. The analytics will include the most popular days and times that your followers are on the app, as well as follower demographics and post impressions. This is the first time Instagram have provided analytics directly from the app, as opposed to users having to use third-party apps. These changes are only in the testing stage at the moment, but we’re excited to see how they unfold.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/insta-analytics.png alt: insta analytics)
Bad day for payday lenders
Google announced this week that they (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36272031 text: plan to ban ads from payday lenders), to limit what they call a “harmful industry”. This will only affect loans due within 60 days or with an interest rate of 36% or higher. This is a huge blow for the industry as many payday lenders rely on internet searches to generate their customers. The Online Lenders Association are of course not happy with this decision, calling it “disappointing” on the grounds that Google is supposed to be a site created to help give users full access to information. This isn’t the first time Google have banned ads from certain industries. In the past they have banned ads for counterfeit goods, weapons, explosives, tobacco products and hate speech.
Controversy at Facebook HQ
This week, social networking giant (link: http://fortune.com/2016/05/12/facebook-and-the-news/ text: Facebook has been the centre of controversy). The Guardian published leaked and highly confidential Facebook internal guidelines in their Trending Topics feature, leading to the question of how much influence Facebook actually has over the news that billions of users see every day. A piece from tech news site ‘Gizmodo’ first sparked all of this controversy by looking at how journalists working on the Trending Topics were treated and what they were expected to do. It became clear in the article that these people could see Facebook didn’t care much about journalism, and that certain sites and topics were routinely kept off the Trending feed. This has led to criticism that there is bias against right-wing sources.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has (link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/zuckerberg-denies-facebook-bias-invites-conservatives-talk text: denied all the allegations) claiming they have found no evidence that this report is true and “If we find anything against our principles, you have my commitment that we will take additional steps to address it.” He plans to invite leading conservatives to talk with him about the accusations, encouraging them to share their point of view.
A busy week for Google
### Gboard app
Meet (link: https://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/gboard-search-gifs-emojis-keyboard.html text: Gboard), the latest app from the search giants for iPhones. It allows you to search GIF’s, emojis and more, directly from your keyboard. This means that you no longer have to exit your message, open google, find what you want, copy it, open your message, paste it and then send (phew!). Gboard cuts out all of this faff saving you heaps of time, hallelujah. Unfortunately us Brits have to wait for the moment, as it is currently only available in the US.
### Emojis from working women
This week Google engineers have been super busy (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36265455 text: designing a set of 13 emojis) that represent women in the working world and have presented them to the body that approves and standardises emojis. They are set to better reflect professional women and empower young females, who are the main uses of emojis. Professions that’s have been in the proposed new emojis are: doctors, lawyers, scientists and rock stars.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/working-women-emojis.jpg alt: working women emojis)
### Google is always listening…
Google have hinted this week that they may be bringing (link: http://searchengineland.com/voice-search-reporting-coming-google-search-consoles-search-analytics-report-249054 text: voice query reporting) to Google’s Search Console’s Search Analytics report, although exactly when this may come about is unclear.