In a world where data is king and the digital giants know as much about us as an Orwellian Big Brother, the issue of trust is a touchpaper waiting to be lit. One wrong move by the Big Tech firms – even if itās just a misunderstanding – and users can revolt. Just ask WhatsApp.
Read on.
Social Media Ā· 4 mins
WhatsApp whoops! āConfusionā over privacy update angers users.
WhatsApp suffered an exodus of users to rivals Signal and Telegram after a planned update to its terms of service left many fearing the app could share their messages with parent company Facebook.
WhatsAppās attempt to clarify its terms didnāt prevent key rivals gaining over 30 million downloads in just three weeks at the start of the year, with Signal moving from outside the 1000 most downloaded apps to the number 1 slot in just three days. WhatsApp has pushed back its new privacy policy release date, so it can clarify the āconfusionā with users.
Social Media Ā· 7 mins
Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces: the rise of voice-based social networking
In the race to be new, social media has given us messages (Twitter), photos (Instagram) and video (TikTok) so the shift to voice-based social was inevitable. Cue: Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces. Keeping up?
Clubhouse works on an invite-only model likely to create an exclusive, āinner circleā feel amongst people who share specialist interests. Hosts such as subject matter experts can create a āclubhouseā and invite delegates, who can listen and participate. Itās like an open podcast, but by invite only! Twitter Spaces is similar, though less exclusive.. Not familiar with these yet? Youāre, like, so 2020. š
Presentations Ā· 4 mins
The 7×7 rule in PowerPoint
PowerPoint was created to help presenters clarify their message – an irony not lost on anyone whoās suffered Death By Powerpoint.
Hence this useful articleās pragmatic advice to abide by the rule of seven when using the software to create presentations. In short: restrict each slide to no more than seven bullets, ideally with no more than seven words per bullet. And if you’re feeling really brave, aim for only seven slides!
Good presenters ātalk aroundā slides, showing only key headlines on screen. Brevity is hard, hence Mark Twainās oft-cited quote: āI am sorry this letter is so long; I didnāt have time to write a short one.ā
Social Media Ā· 4 mins
LinkedIn users can control who sees their posts
LinkedIn is to give users some control over who can see and comment on their posts. Restrictions can be set at the post level, which gives users the flexibility to share some posts with everyone and others with specific audiences.
Sharing options include anyone, connections only, or fellow members of a LinkedIn Group. Users can also decide if they want anyone, connections only, or nobody to respond to shares.
ALSO IN THE NEWS…
Our other (virtual) water-cooler subjects last month included Facebookās new self-styled Oversight Committee which will decide whether to allow a certain controversial ex-president back onto the platform, and the ever-increasing market share of WordPress, which now powers 39.5% of all websites.
What’s cooking?
Time for cautious optimism?
Weāre seeing lots of new marketing leads right now, while many of our existing clients and friends report a great deal of activity across global markets.
This isnāt restricted to āpandemic-proofā sectors either, but in FMCG, professional services, recruitment, technology and more. Lots of our clients are talking about rebrands and big comms projects including employer branding. Itās great to see some positivity out there in the markets. We hope 2021 is a better year for you and your business.
