Finally on May 25 GDPR came into effect across the EU. With it, came a host of new privacy controls. This curated list includes important updates and insights  ( from GDPR and how digital landscape is getting prepared to the latest features introduced to improve customer experience on digital channels) from the month of May. To stay updated on the latest updates from the digital landscape, read our Digital Marketing Apple Page.

Social Media

• Facebook is testing a new search engine for influencers. According to a report in TechCrunch, "Facebook wants to help businesses find creators who can reach their target audience in an authentic way, while allowing creators a path to monetizing their Facebook content and fan base." 
• Instagram introduces mute in feed. The announcement read

The new feature lets you hide posts in feed from certain accounts, without unfollowing them. With this change, you can make your feed even more personalized to what matters to you.

• Facebook introduces new tools to support Group Admins and to keep communities safe. One of the updates is a dedicated place for admins to report an issue or ask a question and get a response from Facebook. The announcement read 

To help admins learn how to keep their communities safe and engaged, we’ve created an online learning destination. It includes tutorials, product demos, and case studies – all drawn from the experience and expertise of other admins – that can be found on facebook.com/community.

• YouTube tests an algorithm that changed the order videos appeared in users' subscription feeds. The update was made unannounced and came into light only when some users started complaining about the update. Here's how YouTube responded 

• Facebook makes reporting easier in Messenger. Users can now access the reporting tool directly from any Messenger conversation on iOS or Android by:

1) Tapping the name of the person or group with whom you’re having a conversation.
2) Scroll to Something’s Wrong
3) Select from several categories such as harassment, hate speech, or pretending to be someone else.

Read the full announcement here

• Facebook rolls out Voice Posts, Stories archive, and new cloud storage features to India first. To encourage participation from non-native speakers or the users who don't want to type, Facebook Stories will allow audio posts combining a voice message with a colored background or photo. Stories will also get an Archive similar to Instagram. It will also will let the users privately save their clips from the Facebook Camera directly to the social network. Read more about the updates here
• YouTube launches YouTube Music. The announcement said 

So what is YouTube Music exactly?
A new music streaming service from YouTube
A reimagined mobile app and brand new desktop player that are designed for music.
YouTube Music has thousands of playlists, the official versions of millions of songs, albums, artist radio and more, in addition to all the music videos people expect from YouTube.
Find more of the music you’re looking for
Remixes, covers, live versions as well as deep cuts you can’t find anywhere else – from the biggest artists in the world to freshest voices breaking through.
New and iconic videos from "God’s Plan" and "Havana" to "Thriller," "Sledgehammer," and more.
YouTube Music search works even if fans don’t know exactly what they’re looking for … we’ll find it if they describe it (try “that hipster song with the whistling”) or give us some lyrics (try “I make money moves”).

• YouTube Red becomes $12 per month YouTube Premium. Read the full announcement here
• Users can follow hashtags on LinkedIn. 

• Instagram tests a new ‘Usage insights’ tab which will show users how much time they are spending in the app. It was first reported by TechCrunch. Read the full story here
• Instagram is working on 'You're All Caught Up' Feature that lets users know when they have viewed all the unseen posts from the last 48 hours. Read the full story here 
• YouTube is testing an Incognito Mode to hide your embarrassing searches. It was first reported by Android Police.
• YouTube introduces new tools for your digital wellbeing. The announcement read

We’re launching a series of updates to the YouTube mobile app that can begin to help everyone develop their own sense of digital wellbeing. 

Time watched profile (coming soon!): To give you a better understanding of the time you spend on YouTube, we’re building a time watched profile that you’ll soon find in your Account menu. This usage profile includes your daily average watch time and how long you’ve watched YouTube videos today, yesterday and over the past 7 days, along with a full suite of tools for users who want to manage their watching habits.

Take a break reminder: This feature lets you set a reminder to (you guessed it!) take a break while watching videos. Just set the reminder to appear every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes, and your video will pause at that interval until you dismiss it or resume playing the video. This feature is “off” by default and can be enabled/disabled and adjusted in your Settings. See these instructions.

Scheduled notification digest: This feature allows you to combine all of the daily push notifications you receive from the YouTube app into a single combined notification. Just set a specific time to receive your scheduled digest and from then on you’ll only receive one notification per day. The scheduled digest is “off” by default and can be turned off/on in Settings with these steps.

Note: With the scheduled digest, you’ll still receive all of your notifications. It combines all push notifications including live streams, upload and comment notifications. By enabling this feature, you may not see a live stream until after it has ended. 

Disable notification sounds and vibrations: This feature ensures that notifications from the YouTube app are sent silently to your phone during a specified time period each day. By default, all sounds and vibrations will be disabled between 10pm and 8am, but you can enable/disable the feature and customize the start and end times from your Settings. 

• Snapchat now lets users send their real-time location to a friend, or request theirs, which show up on the Snap Map and within their message thread. Read more about the location feature here
• Snapchat rolls out its first Lens that reacts to sound. Read the full update here
• Snapchat is secretly planning the launch of its first full-fledged developer platform, currently called Snapkit, according to a report by TechCrunch. According to the report,

The platform’s prototypes indicate it will let other apps offer a “login with Snapchat” options, use the Bitmoji avatars it acquired and host a version of Snap’s full-featured camera software that can share back to Snapchat. 

• Facebook enters the local services sector with home service professional listings from Handy, HomeAdvisor & Porch. Read the announcement here.
• Twitter shuts down its TV apps on Roku, Android TV and Xbox. 
• Facebook releases its first ever Transparency Report.
• Facebook gives Page admins more data into how their videos are performing. The announcement read

In the coming weeks, Page admins will be able to access the following new metrics in their video retention graph:
Followers vs Non-Followers: Breakdown of audience retention by people who follow your Page and people who don't follow your Page.
Audience Demographics: Breakdown of audience retention by gender.
Zoom Chart: Zoom into the chart to get a closer look at the data, so you can better visualize the engagement throughout the video to see how key moments affected viewership.

• Snapchat has started rolling out design changes for iOS devices. Snaps and Chats to be in chronological order again, with friends’ Stories back on the right side of the app.
• Instagram expands its booking and payments feature. It also launched updates that make it easier to do business on the platform. As per the announcement
   

From today, businesses will have a better way to manage their messages. Now you'll see important new customer messages in your main Direct inbox, instead of in the pending folder. You can also star and filter your conversations to come back to messages you want to follow up on. Additionally, over the next few weeks, we'll begin testing quick replies so that you can easily respond to common questions.

As more people continue to interact with businesses on Instagram and take action when inspiration strikes, we're making it easier to turn that discovery into action. Through our action buttons, people can now Reserve, Get Tickets, Start Order or Book through popular, third-party partners without having to leave Instagram.3 Take HomeState (@homestate) for example, a popular Texan restaurant, has partnered with ChowNow to use the 'Start Order' button – letting their customers order their signature tacos from their Instagram business profile.

• Facebook rolls out several new features that are focused on making it easier for publishers to go live on Facebook. The announcement read

we've rolled out the ability to use a persistent stream key with an encoder when going live on Facebook. This means if you're a publisher or creator that goes live regularly, you now only need to send one stream key to production teams, and because a Page's stream key is permanent, it can be sent in advance of a shoot — making it easier to collaborate across teams and locations for live productions. Broadcasters can also save time by using the same stream key every time they start a new Live video.

We've heard from many of our partners that crossposting helps amplify the reach of pre-recorded videos to audiences across all of their Pages, and now this is possible for live video too. With Live Crossposting, all Pages globally can seamlessly publish a single broadcast across multiple Pages as an original post. We've added this functionality to both our Publisher Tools on Pages and the Live API.

Digital Advertisement 

• Google’s DoubleClick Bid Manager rolls out support globally for buying audio ads programmatically across Google Play Music, Spotify, SoundCloud and TuneIn, and soon Pandora. Read the announcement here.
• Google tests ads in its app Feed.  Android Police reported it first.
• Twitter to expand its programmatic offerings with Timeline Ad network pilot program. Read the announcement here
• Quora launches native image ads across the globe.  Read the announcement here.
• Facebook expands its measurement partnerships and updates what view tags can do. Here's what the announcement said

view tags will no longer be used for measurement purposes beyond counting. To count impressions, you'll be able to set up view tags in Ads Manager the same way you do today. Additionally, you can continue using Ads Manager and the Ads Insights API to view impression counts. This change will apply to new campaigns starting July 1. Campaigns running before July 1 will see the updated view tags on October 1. 

• Google to stop media buyers from using DoubleClick IDs. Read the full story here
• Google AdWords new responsive search ads can show 3 headlines. Read more here
• Facebook to roll out an updated version of Ads Reporting to make it faster and easier to analyze ad performance. The announcement read

To help you focus on the metrics that matter most to you, we’re adding a feature that enables you to drag and drop metrics to customize your report. This new Ads Reporting experience will enable you to analyze dimensions such as age, gender, placement and more to better understand how your ad performed.

• Facebook rolls out new dynamic ads for auto dealers. The announcement read

Dealers can use dynamic ads for lead generation to create locally relevant ads. By highlighting inventory in stock and enabling people to sign up for a test drive directly on the form, you can improve the quality of your leads by bringing shoppers who are interested in your local offerings closer to a sale.

• Snapchat starts showing unskippable six-second ads. The first ads promoted movies like "Deadpool" and "Adrift" and products such as Samsung's Galaxy S9 and Snapple. Read more about the ads here
• Pinterest tests a new wider-framed Promoted Video ad format. The announcement read

With Promoted Video at max. width, your video stands out to drive impact and brand awareness. The format is easy to spot; it spans wider than our standard format in feeds and in search on mobile, so people can sit back and watch your story. 

• Google announces that it has updated how it counts impression metrics within Google AdSense.
• Bing Ads introduces in-market audiences to all US advertisers. Read the full story here
• Facebook rolls out new analytics features such as omni-channel analytics, Facebook Analytics App, and other insights. Read the full story here
• Google launches a new Google My Business (GMB) API, new agency dashboard and new agency partner program. Read the full announcement here
• Facebook Stories reach 150 million daily active users. Facebook also started testing its first Stories ads in the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. The ads are 5- to 15-second video ads which users can skip. Currently, there’s no click-through or call to action now, but Facebook plans to add that in the coming months. Read the full story here

Search

• Google decreases the length of search results snippets after expanding them last December. Read the full story here 
• Google to remove secure label for all HTTPS sites. Read the full story here
• Google tests a new feature in the search results that asks searchers to submit a more detailed question to the company directly in the search results box. Read more here
• Google updates the Google Image Publishing Guidelines document.
• Google's new “amp-geo” component allows content to be served dynamically based on the visitor’s country. 

GDPR

• Google updates its cookie guidance resource, CookieChoices, to include suggestions to advertisers and publishers to prepare them for GDPR.
• Shortly after Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before the EU Parliament, Facebook rolls out user alerts concerning safety and privacy. These alerts were launched on May 24, a day before GDPR deadline ends. Read the full story here
• Programmatic ad buying falls in Europe, as per a report by Digiday. 
• On the first day of GDPR, complaints were lodged against Google and Facebook by a non-profit organization called None Of Your Business (NOYB). The statement by NYOB said 

 “The GDPR prohibits such forced consent and any form of bundling a service with the requirement to consent (see Article 7(4) GDPR). Consequently access to services can no longer depend on whether a user gives consent to the use of data. On this issue a very clear guideline of the European data protection authorities has already been published in November 2017.”

• Some publishers have cut off EU ads and users altogether. Some publishers went further by cutting off the access to EU users altogether. Websites such as Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Orlando Sentinel, and Baltimore Sun displayed the below mentioned message to the EU users. Read the full story here

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