Colin Daileda says, “”We are committed to building a community where people can feel safe making their voices heard.” That’s how Facebook’s deputy chief privacy officer opened his public policy announcement on Monday, in a declaration aimed at users who fear that Facebook and others are mining their social data to track their behavior. “Today we are adding language to our Facebook and Instagram platform policies to more clearly explain that developers cannot ‘use data obtained from us to provide tools that are used for surveillance,'” wrote Rob Sherman,... [...]

Sophia Bernazzani says, ““If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” This is a lesson Facebook has perfected over the last year as it continues to launch products to compete with Snapchat, the app it tried and failed to purchase back in 2013. The battle over the disappearing social media story continued yesterday with Facebook’s launch of Messenger Day. Messenger Day works like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories, and WhatsApp Status: Users share photo and video messages embellished with text, drawings, filters, and emojis with friends that disappear after 24 hours. As of yesterday, the... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “According to recent reports, 70% of Facebook Messenger chatbots are failing to fulfil user requests. Consequently, the social network is set to scale back its AI efforts, instead focusing on a more simplistic system to ensure success. But will this spell the end of the current chatbot trend? And what does it mean for brands that have already invested? Here’s a bit more on the story, as well as few examples of the latest brand bots to appear. What went wrong? A number of businesses jumped on board the chatbot bandwagon as soon as the system was announced last year.... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Facebook is finally phasing out Atlas, the ad server and measurement platform that it acquired from Microsoft in February 2013 and has been folding into Facebook since last fall. Over the next year, Facebook will move Atlas’s existing measurement capabilities and its remaining clients to Facebook-branded products like Business Manager, the company announced on Tuesday. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the Atlas brand will be eliminated as a result of the transition. The announcement signals Facebook’s final steps in dissolving Atlas into Facebook, four years... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Facebook is opening up its video ad revenue stream to more publishers and creators, though it’s not giving advertisers any more control over or insight into which videos include their ads. On Thursday, Facebook extended the ability for certain Pages and Profiles to insert mid-roll video ads within their Facebook Live broadcasts, and at the same time, the company officially announced that it has started testing these mid-roll ads, which it calls “ad breaks,” within non-live videos, as was reported last month. Facebook also expanded in-stream video ads to all eligible... [...]

Emma Hinchliffe says, “Sending money on Facebook is finally international. A new bot released on Facebook Messenger on Sunday lets users send money to and from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia or Europe. Powered by TransferWise, the bot completes money transfers and guides users through the process. TransferWise customers on the company’s own app already send and receive almost $1 billion a month. The app boasts that it allows transfers without the usual fees charged by banks or hidden in exchange rates. Instead, TransferWise uses the current exchange rate and... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Last week, Facebook formally entered the recruiting market. The company announced Jobs on Facebook, a new tool for small businesses (and large) to post jobs and find employees. The company’s blog post focuses on the small business market, but larger companies will certainly test and use the new functionality. For the time being, it’s available in the US and Canada. Jobs appear on company Pages, but also on a jobs page that includes a range of filters for would-be employees. Users can filter by industry and by full or part-time, among other criteria. Facebook users... [...]

Bloomberg team says, “Facebook Inc. agreed to submit to audits by the media industry’s measurement watchdog, the Media Rating Council, a move that could appease some advertising executives who had become skeptical of the social network’s metrics. Facebook had come under fire recently after a series of missteps in which it disclosed several mistakes in reporting metrics to partners and advertisers. The company conducted its own review of practices and vowed to be more transparent about errors in the future. According to plans for the next year laid out in a statement Friday, Facebook... [...]

Kerry Flynn says, “Remember the days when we talked about how Facebook and Snapchat are competing for these things called views? Yes, we cared about the overall number of three-seconds versus one-millisecond of time people spent on the apps. Forget about those meager numbers. Facebook wants your eyes to be glued for much longer than three seconds. Why? Television has more dollars. On Thursday, Facebook announced longer videos watched through will be given a higher priority in the ranking of the News Feed. Hidden within a jargon-filled, 411-word News Feed FYI (a blog dedicated to publishers... [...]

Freia Lobo says, “Facebook is now making it easier to keep your information private and secure. As part of Data Privacy Day on Jan. 28, Facebook is launching a new version of its Privacy Basics page to help people understand how to take control of their information on the site. The new site is mobile-friendly and redesigned based on user feedback. Facebook is also partnering with state attorneys general, privacy experts and others to help users understand how to manage their privacy online. There are 32 guides in 44 languages on the site, covering topics like managing your privacy, customizing... [...]