TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Meta launches Reels in Facebook globally, with more ads and editing features. “Meta is launching its TikTok-clone Reels worldwide on Facebook, making the feature available through the service’s iOS and Android apps in more than 150 countries. In addition to expanding access to Reels, the social media conglomerate is adding new editing features to the Facebook version of the platform and expanding advertising options.”

The Next Web: Meta’s new slogans aren’t impressing branding experts — or metaverse veterans. “If you thought the Meta rebrand was merely trying to salvage a tarnished reputation, Mark Zuckerberg has conclusive evidence that you’re wrong. The Facebook founder has unveiled a new set of ‘values’ to reflect the profound transformation of his beleaguered baby. But can the new slogans transform the company’s fortunes? We asked branding experts and metaverse veterans.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BBC: Metaverse app allows kids into virtual strip clubs. “Mark Zuckerberg thinks it could be the future of the internet – so much so, he recently rebranded Facebook as Meta, with the company investing billions developing its Oculus Quest headset. That headset – now rebranded the Meta Quest – is thought to have as much as 75% of the market share. It was one of these headsets which the BBC News researcher used to explore an app, and part of the metaverse. The app, called VRChat, is an online virtual platform which users can explore with 3D avatars.”

Input Magazine: Scammy Instagram ‘war pages’ are capitalizing on Ukraine conflict. “The accounts are what have become known as ‘war pages’ on Instagram. They gather shocking battleground footage and videos depicting violence and repost them on Instagram with little to no context, often in an effort to leverage tragedy and conflict to gain followers. (War accounts such as @waraholics, @military_footage, and @war_strikes have all gained followers since the crisis in Ukraine heated up.) Some then monetize these followers by posting advertisements, often for OnlyFans creators.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Ireland nears Facebook decision key to EU-U.S. data transfers. “Ireland’s data watchdog expects to consult fellow EU regulators in April on its investigation into Facebook’s data transfers, moving closer to a decision that could hammer transatlantic business if it bans data flows from the EU to the United States. Europe’s highest court ruled in 2020 that an EU-U.S. data transfer agreement was invalid, citing surveillance concerns.”

Mashable: Facebook crypto scammers pose as Tesla, Amazon, and even Facebook. “Earlier this month, some users scrolling through Facebook may have seen an unexpected message, apparently from CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself. Facebook recently rebranded itself as Meta, and the advertisement, which included a photo of Zuckerberg in front of a background of purple polygons, claimed to offer a chance for users to invest in a new Meta cryptocurrency….But Meta doesn’t offer any such cryptocurrency. The ads, until recently available for view in Facebook’s public ad library, were frauds that slipped through Facebook’s content moderation process, despite the use of Zuckerberg’s image and the company’s new logo.”

The Guardian: Andrew Forrest hits back at Facebook claim he signed away his rights. “Social media giant argued it was protected from liability for scam ads because mining billionaire had signed up to account terms and conditions.”

Independent: Meta launches ‘special operations centre’ in response to Russia’s ‘devastating’ invasion of Ukraine. “The company, which owns Facebook and Twitter, also rolled out extra security to Ukrainian users letting them protect their accounts. Misinformation is already spreading across social media, such as a clip taken from a video game which amass millions of views as users falsely claimed it depicted real attacks.”

New York Times: Russia says it will limit access to Facebook, a major platform for dissent.. “The Russian government said it was partially limiting access to Facebook for restricting some pro-Kremlin news media accounts, a move that could make it harder for Russians to share their anger over their country’s invasion of Ukraine.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Garbage Day: What Does A Platform Look Like When It’s Dying?. “MySpace and 4chan launched in 2003 (within three months of each other, interestingly enough), then Digg launched in 2004, Reddit and YouTube in 2005, and Facebook in 2006. The first half of the 00s was, looking back at it, actually a nonstop flurry of online activity. But, things got a lot more interesting towards the end of the decade when MySpace was starting to die. And while putting a date on the actual death of a social network is difficult, for MySpace we do have a decent time range to approximate its demise. And I think comparing the site’s final years to where we are with Meta (Facebook) now is actually really fascinating.”

The Guardian: I’ve been waiting 15 years for Facebook to die. I’m more hopeful than ever. “Facebook now has to somehow retain users who are fed up to the eyeballs with its never-ending failures and scandals, while funding a pivot to VR, while fending off overlapping salvoes of global regulatory challenges to its business model, while paying a massive wage premium to attract and retain the workers that it needs to make any of this happen. All that, amid an exodus of its most valuable users and a frontal regulatory assault on its ability to extract revenues from those users’ online activities.”

Reuters: Facebook’s Meta unveils AI projects aimed at building the metaverse. “Facebook-owner Meta is working on artificial intelligence research to generate worlds through speech, improve how people chat to voice assistants and translate between languages, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday, as he sketched out key steps to building the metaverse. Zuckerberg is betting that the metaverse, a futuristic idea of virtual environments where users can work, socialize and play, will be the successor to the mobile internet.”

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