Weekly Digital Roundup (9.3.13)

Facebook, Facebook, Facebook . . . No, there’s no scratch on the record, just several significant updates from our social media friend last week. We threw in other goodies from the digital feed to change the tune, from Twitter conversation tracking to digital tattoos. Without further ado, here’s what we found to be the biggest news, so you may comfortably remain snuggled under a rock.

Free Images for Facebook Ads

In an effort to appeal to small businesses, Facebook is giving advertisers access to millions of high-quality, engaging photos from the Shutterstock library. These images will be searchable and accessible directly within Facebook’s ad creation tool. Upside: Lower cost for businesses. Downside: Ads have the potential to get lost in the shuffle when they all look the same.

Facebook News Feed FYI

With over 1,000 different factors determining what type of content shows up in news feed, brands could use a little light in the darkness—and that’s exactly what Facebook gave them this week. They’ve outlined new rules for what qualifies as high quality content, including a stance against asking for likes from users in posts, and classifying memes in the low quality category. Aww, Sad Keanu. Read the other updates here.

Facebook Eliminates the Middleman

Speaking of Facebook (again), they made a big leap and eliminated the rule requiring promotions be administered through apps. Prior to this change, brand pages were only allowed to run contests through Facebook apps, spawning platforms such as Offerpop and Wildfire to offer paid services for brands to build and execute contests through the social channel. Now, brands are allowed to administer contests directly on their page and collect entries through likes, comments, messages, and shares.

Blued Lines

You can now track conversations happening on Twitter with a helpful blue line. The line connects up to three tweets in a sequence, and users can tap on the thread to check out the entire conversation. The new feature debut saw mixed reviews, with users outraged, excited, and confused. Many are asking the question: Doesn't this defeat the purpose of following tweets in real-time in the Twitter feed? However, tracking conversations could be a helpful tool for users wanting to join in past conversations . . . or idly listen. Have you seen the blue lines in your feed yet?

New Biz Big’ns for Agencies

LinkedIn reigns supreme when it comes to new business for ad agencies. On the flip side, SlideShare didn’t do so hot in this category. Can you agree? Read the research behind it.

Digital Tattoos

Would you get a digital tattoo? We’ll stick with ink for now, but this novelty is worth a peek, if you can handle the gore.

Oh hey, it’s Tuesday. That’s rad.