
The A+P Weekly Digital Digest - W/C 8th Nov
Facebook Announces the Removal of Thousands of Ad Targeting Categories
Detailed targeting options will be changing from January 2022. This announcement comes as the platform tries to evolve its privacy regulations to align with the EU’s more stringent consumer data protection laws (GDPR).
You will no longer be able to focus your campaign based on sexual orientation, health or political beliefs. While this is likely to have a big impact on healthcare organisations, political parties and cause-based marketing campaigns, Facebook says that brands will still be able to use Custom Audiences to reach people who’ve liked their page or watched their videos for example and Lookalike targeting will still be available. Learn more about the changes here.
Instagram Tests New 'Take a Break' Feature

In a bid to help users to be more mindful about their social media engagement, Instagram is testing a new wellbeing option called ‘Take a Break’ which will enable users to set reminders to take some time away from the app after a certain period of activity – either 10, 20 or 30 minutes. You can learn more about this new feature from Adam Mosseri here.

A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)
Facebook Announces New Group Tools
At their Communities Summit last week, Facebook announced new features to help group admins build the community they want, strengthen group culture and manage and sustain their communities. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new:
- A warmer welcome. Welcome posts are getting a redesign, providing more opportunities for connection with new group members, and Facebook is increasing the tagging limit for welcome posts to 500 so that admins can connect with more newcomers at once.
- A more personalised experience. Admins will be able to choose new colours and format options for posts as well as select a custom set of emoji reactions for their group.
- All-new ‘Community Awards’ let group members give ‘Insightful’, ‘Uplifting’ or ‘Fun’ awards to posts and comments that they find valuable. A step up from a basic engagement prompt, the awards also improve post and comment visibility, which could be a simple way to better surface the most relevant conversations and improve interaction in groups.
- A new sub-group option within groups will allow admins to separate elements of group discussion into more specific categories or create paid subgroups to allow members to subscribe for exclusive access to content. Monetization like this and fund-raising features are being tested to help admins sustain their efforts and advance the purpose of the group
- Community Chats is coming soon to Facebook and Messenger, offering an immediate, interactive connection option in groups. The ability to host recurring events within this feature will help groups get together regularly and share audio, video and visual content.
YouTube Dislikes Count Now Private
After an experiment earlier in 2021, YouTube has announced that it’s making a change to the way dislikes are displayed on videos. In order to limit misuse or coordinated ‘dislike attacks,’ the dislike count will now be made private for only the creator to view.
Learn more about the update and the learning from YouTube’s experiment here.
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