Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Meme Machine
Considering all the fuss over Facebook’s content moderation (as in, the lack thereof), it makes sense why Meta pushes out a quarterly “integrity update.”
These updates include Meta’s Community Standards Enforcement Report and Widely Viewed Content Report, which are meant to serve the dual purpose of assuring critics that Facebook is removing unsafe content (like misinformation) while also bragging about the content that’s driving engagement on the platform.
Ironically, and unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of overlap.
In second place is a link Facebook had to take down because it violated Meta’s “Inauthentic Behavior” policy. (That’s the case for five of Facebook’s top 20 links. You can’t make this up.)
And get this: The top viewed link on Facebook this quarter was … tiktok.com.
“The most popular content on Facebook is often awful, recycled generic memes,” the MIT Technology Review reports. Well then.
While not all of Facebook’s top content is dangerous or misleading, the volume of meme content does say something about Facebook’s content algorithms: They’re designed first and foremost to drive as many clicks as possible.
On Location
In response to an FCC request, the top 15 mobile carriers in the US have shared information about their location data privacy and retention practices.
It turns out that none of the nation’s top mobile carriers allow people to universally opt out of location tracking, which typically has to be done on an app-by-app basis. And the amount of time mobile carriers retain location data varies wildly.
For example, Verizon retains cell tower location data for up to one year, and at least one of its apps (the vehicle-monitoring app Hum) retains location data on driving history for up to five years.
T-Mobile retains what’s known as “timing advance data” (the time it takes for a signal to travel from a mobile device to a cell tower) for only 90 days, but it retains cell tower location data and emergency call location data for up to two years.
AT&T, meanwhile, retains device location data for a maximum of 13 months, but it saves call records, which include cell tower location data, for up to five years.
The mobile carriers maintain that they use location data to improve the customer experience and that location data is essential to their operations. But what benefits are users really getting that justify retaining data on their every move for up to half a decade?
(h/t @TonyaJoRiley)
Mixed Messages
Alternative currencies are making it to the big screen.
National CineMedia (NCM), an in-cinema ad platform, just selected iSpot as its latest measurement partner.
Now that post-pandemic moviegoing is picking back up, NCM has been busy building up its first-party data sets for targeting to help offset pandemic losses. Audiences may be cutting the cord, but they’re also still going to the movies. Or at least that’s what NCM claims.
With iSpot on board, the goal is to drive – and measure – incremental reach.
NCM’s plan is to integrate iSpot data within its own data intelligence platform to help its advertisers plan and measure incremental reach across TV and streaming.
NCM’s clients will also use iSpot data for frequency and attribution, Variety reports.
Still, measuring the cross-channel incremental impact of in-cinema ads comes with its own challenges. TV networks, like Paramount, for example, are still busy figuring out how to balance streaming releases and theatrical windows without derailing box office sales. Godspeed.
But Wait, There’s More!
Amazon shoulders its way into the influencer marketing hype … [Insider]
… and is already getting rid of Amazon Care telehealth unit. [WSJ]
Anyway, here’s what Amazon’s recent acquisitions could mean for advertisers. [Ad Age]
Can a YouTube ad change your mind about disinformation? (Maybe for a little while.) [The Verge]
A primer on which social media platforms will be running political ads during the US midterm elections. [Marketing Brew]
Google will now clearly label facilities that provide abortions on Search and Maps. [TechCrunch]
