The rise in infographics on Instagram
If you are familiar with the social media app Instagram, you will know that its main purpose has been, traditionally, to share selfies and snapshots of one’s lifestyle. But there has been a significant rise in the use of educational infographics flooding everyone’s news feed, particularly in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Let’s take a look at how this has changed the way we use Instagram and how it promoting societal change for the younger generation.
What is an infographic?
An infographic is defined as ‘graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.’
Instagram offer an image carousel with a maximum of 10 slides, which you can fill with whatever you like.
Users can take advantage of this feature, posting tailor-made graphics, with bold text, to explain elements of bite-sized concepts. They have proved to be a successful tool for education and spreading awareness, considering most young people consume most of their news on social media rather than on traditional news outlets.
The catalyst: Black Lives Matter
The trend of the Instagram infographic really came to the forefront following the tragic murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in the United States. Our newsfeeds filled with selfies quickly turned into mini slideshows packed with cries for justice and equality, to define relevant words and phrases, and resources on how to support the Black Lives Matter movement. This trend was picked up by not only the everyday users but also celebrities and influencers who had vast followings on the platform.
Since then, the infographic had been adopted by other causes and is used frequently all over Instagram as a way to circulate information and educate on specific subjects or topics. They seem to spike when explaining especially complicated/heated political or social topics, such as for sharing the experiences held by women of sexual harassment in the light of the Sarah Everard case, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here are some examples of how infographics are being used as an activism tool on Instagram at present:
@SophJButler posts a weekly ‘Sunday School’ graphic educating readers on specific issues regarding disability.
View this post on Instagram
@everydayracism_ Graphics to educate on the subject of racism and how it can be challenged.
View this post on Instagram
@theslowfactory Frequently upload carousel posts on a variety of topics using tailor-made graphics and citing sources along the bottom
View this post on Instagram
How the infographic can be used for your business
The infographic is a brilliant way to condense a fair amount of information into a singular social post, which can be beneficial to a business selling any kind of product or service.
For example, Brigstock Skin & Laser who post infographics to their Instagram account to promote their monthly offers or to provide information surrounding their expertise.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Infographics can be utilised as a tool to answer frequently asked questions at a glance. This lessens the likelihood of a user dropping off because it has proved to hard to get the answers they needed.
Each slide of the infographic can be posted as an individual story for more exposure and saved to a highlight reel for future users to find.
The infographic tool allows a brand to share snapshots of what they are offering, without wordy, lengthy and frankly overcomplicated posts. Providing a call to action in the final slide or in the caption will allow users to find further information on your website, thus promoting traffic and hopefully leading to greater conversions.
How to get started with infographics
- The free tool, Canva, is going to be your best friend. It is a library of pre-made, fully customisable, social media content – including premade carousals and infographics! The great this is, you don’t need any prior experience with graphic design to get the most out of Canva.
- Customise your posts to reflect your branding and stick to your own colours and fonts. If Canva does not have your font in-built, you can upload it manually. Likewise, you can upload your own icons, images and logos.
- Keep the information concise, with a clear message, keeping to your brand’s tone of voice.
- Do not overpack each slide with text. It is best to make use of the 10 slide maximum to spread out the wording. Whilst you can download ready-to-go infographics with the text included, it is best to edit them so that people don’t recognise it from elsewhere and so it reflects your company’s mission.
- Put a small watermark on each of the slide, so that others cannot repost your content without crediting your business. This could be with a logo or with your Instagram handle.
Whether this is your introduction to infographics or you wanted to find new ways to make your infographics more effective, one thing is for sure, they have made a huge impact in all corners of the digital world and every marketing and social media professional should be embracing them – as they are clearly here to stay.
What Loss in Sport Can Teach Us About Resilience & Mental Health
In the aftermath of the England men's football teams loss in the final of Euro 2020 last night, our client, and founder of mental health charity stem4, Dr. Nihara Krause shares the following advice:
Sport is one of the best ways for young people to learn about building resilience since it provides an opportunity to experience failure, and learn to deal with set-backs. Whilst it is important that sportspeople themselves learn to move away from being self-critical and harsh when they face a set-back, supporters can also play a role in building their resilience by avoiding placing unnecessary criticism and blame.
One major element of resilience and our ability to ‘bounce back’ is acceptance and compassion. In sport there is always going to be a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser’- and there is comfort in knowing that, high or low, this will always be a shared experience. In those times of loss, whilst sportspeople should learn to practice self-acceptance and self-compassion, supporters can also help by practicing ‘other-acceptance’ and kindness. In order to do this, both sportspeople and supporters need to learn to balance their thoughts and emotions.
Our emotions are very powerful. One emotion that is particularly hard to deal with is disappointment because it contains within it two very powerful emotions – sadness and hurt (which can often show as anger). Suppressing these emotions doesn’t work, so the first step is to find a way to express them in an effective and safe way. This might mean sharing feelings with friends, writing down how you feel, or doing something that’s self-soothing. Social media is not a good way to express emotion – it’s so immediate that it doesn’t provide the time for self-reflection, makes you lose control and spreads fast. So, talk with friends, or write things down the old-fashioned way with pen and paper for you to re-visit and re-read later. Expression helps reduce the strength of emotions and gives a ‘handle’ on being able to think differently.
The second step is to start exploring different perspectives. Is getting to the final goal the only achievement the team can make, or can you focus on all the other achievements that happen along the way? According to Winston Churchill, ‘success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.’
The third step is to catch the ‘negative thinker’ within you, and redirect your energy and focus onto all the positive solutions that are possible in the future. Disappointment can strengthen and lead to even greater strength and effectiveness. Let’s celebrate our English team and thank them for helping all of us learn that, although disappointment is inevitable, being discouraged and defeated is a choice.
Dr Nihara Krause, Stem4
Image Credit: Thomas Serer
How I went viral on TikTok
For those who are unaware of the social media platform of the moment, TikTok is a video-sharing app which saw a boom in users in 2020. The format is 15 to 60-second videos, with the front page having a ‘For You’ page in which an algorithm guesses what you would want to see and a ‘Following’ page which is only content from accounts that you follow. The primary users of TikTok are teens and young adults, but it is a place where anyone and anything can go viral overnight.
The boredom of lockdown inspired myself and my partner, Reece, to create a TikTok channel called @blindandblonde. For context, Reece is visually impaired, and we run the account together. We post both comedy and informative content about disability and living as an ‘interabled couple’, a term neither of us were aware of before TikTok.
A few weeks ago, I thought going viral on TikTok was something that could only be achieved once in a blue moon through sheer luck. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to why some of the videos we posted stalled below 200 views, and why some climbed a bit higher. The ‘For You’ page seemed so oversaturated with content already - how could we possibly get a video seen by more than a handful of people? Well, I’ve now discovered that there’s a lot more science behind it than I had first thought.
The first of our videos which amassed over 100,000 views in only a day was most certainly an accident. But since then, having achieved similar success with multiple other videos in the space of a couple of weeks, I have been able to pinpoint the things that can be actively done by a content creator to maximise the potential for going viral on TikTok. Here are some tips.
Authenticity and a USP
Another motivation for starting the page was seeing other visually impaired and blind creators in the space. But what really inspired our content, was the comments on said creators’ posts. They were infuriatingly stupid, with the likes of, “how do you know you are alive” being asked to one blind woman. Instead of going down the route of trying to educate people on blindness, we decided to flip it on its head and poke fun at the ridiculous questions and comments we saw on TikTok and that Reece is often posed with in everyday settings. We posted ‘Blind Morning Routine: Stereotype Edition’ as a response to this frustration, never expecting nearly 500,000 views, 125,000 likes and thousands of followers to come of it. The key to this success was the USP. Other creators were not successfully providing a comedic take on disability and many found the authenticity of the content to be refreshing.
@blindandblondeHow sighted people think I spend my mornings as a ##blind man 👨🏻🦯 ##spoof ##parody ##comedy ##fyp ##blindtok ##visuallyimpaired ##morningroutine ##vlog♬ Night & Day - Instrumental
Maximise Interactions
After reading through the comments on our first ‘viral’ post, we noticed the trend for users commenting about things that were not necessarily pointed out by us, but encouraged interaction, such as the toaster being plugged in next to Reece pouring water all over the counter when making tea (oops!). It is also the case that the more comments you have, the more the in-built algorithm will push your content out to peoples ‘For You’ pages. Therefore, we added subtle things to subsequent videos, such as saying “Alexa, play Stevie Wonder”, triggering viewers Alexa devices who found it so amusing we amassed hundreds of comments related to this. This certainly helped us to appear on the For You page and gain the same level of virality.
@blindandblondeHow sighted people think I spend my evenings as a ##blind man 💤👨🏻🦯🛌 ##spoof ##parody ##blindtok ##nightroutine ##comedy ##fyp ##visuallyimpaired♬ Night & Day - Instrumental
To maximise engagement on posts, we found that replying to comments and building up a relationship with viewers was key and very much encouraged people to hit the follow button. It has proved well to ask a question in the caption to invite comments. On our 'Gifts I’ve Bought My Blind Boyfriend' video, I wrote a caption which asked for people to give me more ideas – to which I received a number of comments with suggestions for accessible gifts.
@blindandblondeGive me some more gift ideas 🎁🥺🙏🏻 ##lockdownlove ##valentinesday ##blindtok ##blind ##couple ##giftideas ##fyp ##interabledcouple♬ Memories (In the Style of Maroon 5) [Karaoke Version] - Instrumental King
Analytics
A great feature of TikTok is that anyone can switch their account to a ‘Creator’ account in the settings. Doing this will allow you to see the analytics behind your account as a whole, as well as your individual videos. Here you can see the gender and location percentage of your followers, the average watch time on your videos, whether your video was seen mostly by followers or on the For You page and when your audience is most active.
Having this insight enabled us to pick the best time to post a video, according to when our followers were most likely to be scrolling, and to take into account our growing viewership from the USA. It is a great motivator for posting consistent and on-brand content that we know our audience will interact well with.
Overall, going accidentally viral has been an excellent introduction to the workings of TikTok. Unlike other platforms, you don’t necessarily need a fanbase already in place – it is more reliant on authentic and consistent content. When we started in January, we had 40 followers, and now we are approaching 8,000 just a month later. Whilst I’m certainly not being invited to Dubai to promote Sugar Bear Hair anytime soon, it’s been a fun experiment to distract from the monotony of lockdown.
See what our clients have to say about working with us.
How to make sure your Zoom call is really lit
Our friend Martin Kempton, an award-winning Lighting Director and Designer who worked on a range of high-profile shows at the BBC (everything from Eastenders to Top Of The Pops) recently took to Facebook to share his top tips about home lighting for Zoom calls. We could all do with a bit of help in this area, so with his kind permission, we're sharing them here:
Martin says, "A long time ago I used to do a bit of lighting for TV. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to write this but – after nearly a year of looking at appallingly-lit people on Zoom – here are a few suggestions:
- Make sure the camera is as near eye level as possible. If you are looking down you will have a saggy neck and your eyes will be in shadow. Some TV presenters insist that their camera is above eye level – they know what makes them look good.
- Make sure the background is neither too bright nor too dark. Your computer exposes the camera to an average light level so your face will look far too bright if the background is very dark and vice versa.
- Following on from the above point – avoid seeing windows in the shot. Even on a dull day, any window will appear to be incredibly bright. Same with any lights – turn off or dim down to minimum any lights that the camera can see.
- Now the portraiture bit! Your key light should be slightly above eye level and slightly to one side of the camera. The most flattering form of light is soft – that means it produces a soft shadow, not a hard one. You can use a proper LED fixture (something like this one) or maybe a table light with a soft shade, (not a coloured shade obviously.) You could also bounce a desk light off a white wall or piece of card. If this sounds a bit too much then it’s to make you look good. No point in putting on nice makeup or combing your hair if your lighting makes you look old, tired and knackered.
- Avoid having light streaking down your face from an overhead fixture. I see this all the time. People switch on the central ceiling light and it illuminates their forehead and nose drawing attention to every tiny wrinkle and crease whilst leaving their eyes in deep shadow. It really is the most unflattering light possible! Also, make sure the sun doesn’t shine directly on you through a window for similar reasons.
- In the daytime, the best light is probably from a window behind the camera - or behind your webcam in your laptop lid. If this isn’t possible then artificial light as described above is best.
- If you can, plug your computer directly into your broadband hub using an ethernet cable, rather than relying on your home wi-fi connection. No matter how good or bad your internet wi-fi, it will make it far more reliable and will sharpen up your camera too!"
You can read more about Martin Kempton here
Next week we'll be sharing some more top tips about how to sound more professional on Zoom.
See what our clients have to say about working with us.
6 things to consider before creating your website
So you need a new website. Take it from us - you'll save yourself a lot of hassle by doing some simple research before diving into the deep end.
We get loads of people asking us where to start and what they should consider when building a website, which is great - we love working through the process from start to finish - but if you're looking to get the ball rolling quickly (or are just super-organised), we've compiled a list of what we think are the 6 essential factors you should consider.
The objective
This might sound obvious, but you need to have a clear objective for your website. Is it to create an online presence for your company? Is it for personal use, such as a blog or portfolio? Are you selling products? Is your website a place for customers/clients to contact you? Without a clear objective, it's almost impossible to get started.
Find examples
Research your competitors' websites or find websites you like the look of. Not only will this help to narrow down your website's objective, but will give us an idea of what kind of style and design you want to achieve from your new website.
Content
This is arguably the most important factor for a quick turnaround. You may already have a website and are happy with the content - that's fine, it's easy to transfer copy. If you have absolutely no content AT ALL, you need some. Whether you write it yourself or get someone to write it for you, the content helps to create a site map (a map of where everything goes on your website), which is the basis of any website. We have a brilliant copyrighter if you need some (or a lot!) of new content.
Branding
Without branding, your website has no identity. Even if your site is intended for personal use, there still needs to be an element of branding - "Joe Blogg's Portfolio" will suffice! For large companies, we're talking logos and any other branding material you may already have. Alternatively, we can design all kinds of branding material if you're looking to spruce up or modernise your current branding identity.
Colour scheme
Your colour scheme may coincide with your branding, or maybe you have a clear vision of you’re your website will look like. Colours aren't necessarily the be-all and end-all, but it definitely helps to know the “feel” you're going for from the outset. We understand that picking colours to use on your website isn't as easy as it sounds (there are SO. MANY. COLOURS) but we're pretty well-tuned at picking colours that complement each other.
Images and video
Last but definitely not least, images. Images images images. When was the last time you visited a (good) website without any images? We bet it's NEVER. Images of products, your local area, your team members, your premises, images of EVERYTHING relevant to your website/company are useful. The more personable, the better. We can use stock photos, but these aren't always a great idea, especially if you want your website to be totally individual and specific to your company (anyone can buy and use stock photos). It's also best to keep your images up-to-date, so if you're revamping an old website with old images, we'd recommend getting a professional in to take high-quality updated photos or even a state-of-the-art video. It'll be worth it, trust us!
Of course there are plenty of other factors you need to consider when building a website, but these 6 points are a great starting point. If you can nail the above nuts and bolts (excuse the pun) you're at a really great starting point. In fact, we'd say you're ready to take the plunge!
So what's stopping you? We'd love to hear from you. Just click here to get the ball rolling.
See what our clients have to say about working with us.
Email etiquette: Do you fall foul of these pet peeves?
269 billion emails were sent every day in 2017.
It’s no surprise that we’ve reached a point of ’email etiquette’ – unwritten rules about how emails should be written, read, and sent. The thing is, not everyone abides by these rules and it can get pretty frustrating.
So, what’s getting on our nerves about emails? We’ve listed our top offenders below.
DO “Reply to all”
Let’s say we are sending an email to person A and CC’ing person B and C. When person A replies, they don’t “reply to all”. Why?! Think about it: person B and C have been copied in for a reason, probably because they have some sort of involvement in the matter, yet when person A responds, they are ignoring those two people who probably need to know what’s going on.
The only occasion whereby you should omit the persons CC’d is if the conversation turns into something that does not involve them. Maybe they’re in Accounts and you’re now discussing design with person A – it’s perfectly acceptable to remove B and C from the conversation. Otherwise, PLEASE REPLY ALL.
NB: We should also state it’s imperative you only CC people necessary – no one wants to receive unwanted emails, ever.
No email signature
If we had a pound for every time we’ve tried to find someone’s contact details in their email signature, only to find they don’t have one, we’d be rich. Or at least £100 better off. You should make it as easy as possible for your customers or clients to be able to contact you. Adding your phone number and website address to your email signature not only achieves this but drives traffic to your website. Better yet, it’s completely free to do. It’s a no-brainer!
Clear subject lines
Remember when we said 269 billion emails are sent every day?* Think about how many emails you receive daily. Now think again – how many of these emails have a clear, concise subject line? We can’t stress enough how important a good subject line is, and quite frankly, we’re much more likely attend to an email with a clear subject line as opposed to a confusing one – or worse – NO subject line. If you deal with multiple clients/locations/stores/teams, try to structure your subject line like this: who – what – action. For example, “Wimbledon Tennis – Social media strategy – Decision needed”. Easy.
Beware of the dreaded typo.
Businesses that use anonymous email addresses
Have you ever received a generic response from a company signed off with “Sales Team” or something similar? We understand why small businesses might use this tactic – to appear larger – but wouldn’t you much rather know who you’re talking to? Even just a first name will suffice. It makes your correspondence much more personal and tells your customer/client who to contact in the future if required.
Proof-reading
Before you click “send”, take a quick glance at your email. You’ll be surprised how many emails we receive with typos and whole sentences missing. This can be extremely frustrating, especially when these are instructions that need to be followed. We use Grammarly to flag our typos and grammatical errors.
What annoys you about emails? We’d love to know. Comment below and who knows, we might even add it to our list…
GDPR: How we help you
How does GDPR affect the data stored on your website hosted by Terra Ferma Media? Yes, but it's all under control writes David Fernando.
The GDPR deadline (25th May 2018) is almost upon us. Businesses across the EU have been slowly waking up to the notion that certain things need to be in order to be completely compliant with the new legislation. If you haven’t yet got on board with any of this, the best source of information in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), specifically here.
But how does GDPR affect the data stored on your website hosted by Terra Ferma Media? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.
"Don't worry, we've got your back"
As the owner of your website, you are what’s known as the controller and owner of your customer data. By working with that data on your behalf, we, Terra Ferma Media is the processor of that data.
Here’s a few other things we’re also doing on your behalf:
- We’ll be writing to those of you who need to update any sign-up forms that may be present on your websites.
- We’ll also flag up to those of you that should have an updated privacy policy on your site (and suggest a sample for you to use which we can then upload).
- If we design and distribute e-newsletters on your behalf, the system we use is already GDPR compliant. However, we do suggest that any customers who have not opened one of your emails for some time be removed from the mailing list.
- If you host your website with us, don’t worry, you’re already covered.
Our hosting partner, WP Engine, is the world’s largest WordPress website hosting specialist, renowned for being tip-top secure (as well as fast, easy to work with and all that other good stuff). On the matter of GDPR, they state,
“WP Engine continually monitors developments in data security, privacy, and compliance around the globe, and we have invested considerable resources in preparing for EU Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) which comes into force May 25, 2018. We have always upheld the core principles behind GDPR, as evidenced by our early adoption of the EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield programs, and take very seriously the trust our customers place in us when they choose to store personal data on our platform.
WP Engine will comply with GDPR’s requirements, both as a controller of our customers’ account data and a processor of the end-user personal data our customers control. In support of our customers’ own compliance efforts, we are updating our privacy terms to reflect the obligations we have as a processor under GDPR. ”
So there you have it. If you host your website through Terra Ferma Media, the data you store will be protected in compliance with GDPR.
This is made even more secure by the fact that all sites hosted with us have SSL certificates, meaning that any data transmitted during the normal operation of your website is encrypted and cannot be accessed by unauthorised 3rd parties.
So whilst there are other areas of your business you will need to audit for GDPR compliance, at least you know that your website, hosted by Terra Ferma Media will be fully compliant.
The AI Revolution: What is it and why will it matter?
AI is the buzz word in today’s tech world. Artificial Intelligence is leaping out of science fiction and into reality. But what is it? And how does it differ from what we think it is in films and books? Web Development Manager, Adam Leone examines...
Whereas film directors like James Cameron and the like will have us believe that artificial intelligence involves legions of time travelling, Austrian flavoured robots seeking to destroy the human race – the truth of the matter is that we’re nowhere near that point and we’re unlikely to see the day that technology takes over humanity. (Personally, I’m more worried more about some of the people in power than a bunch of robots).
The reason being is that Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft have recently formed a partnership that evolves around Artificial Intelligence and its benefit to people and society. This organisation is called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society – a super catchy title if I say so myself! Their aim is to set the principals on what AI is and what it should be used for as the industry develops.
"With artificial intelligence we’re summoning the demon."
- Elon Musk
What is AI?
To answer this question as simply as possible, it’s best to understand the principals of a normal computer, which work like this…
- Input – We input some data in the form of symbols, numbers, equations…etc.
- Processing – The computer manipulates the inputted data based on a set of algorithms. An algorithm is a set of rules that we the human has set that are then followed
- Output – the result of the above symbols and processed rules on a screen, piece of paper, server or hard drive
With AI however…
- Input – input consists of sight (symbols, objects), sound (language, music, noises), touch (temperature, texture, pressure), smell (odours, minute particles) or taste (chemicals, sweet, sour, ingredients)
- Processing – The computer uses the input and uses pattern matching, logic, problem solving and knowledge representation (the key ingredient) to determine the output
- Output – The computer will react based on the above. The reaction could be anything from printing something on a screen to launching a series of nuclear warheads…
Why does AI matter?
AI matters because it’s a completely new technology and will form a whole new industry. With all new technologies and industries, it will either complement or disrupt the world in which we live. This is assuming that AI will explode into the mainstream.
According to Stephen Hawking, humanity is hindered by evolution, which is a slow process taking place over the course of thousands of years, compared to the growth in processing power outlined in Moors Law.
AI machines could soon replace jobs and history tells us that unemployment is a by product of all technological advances. Elon Musk has described the birth of AI as “summoning the demon” which in its self is a very telling indictment. Essentially what he means is, we don’t know what we’re dealing with.
Alternatively, if artificial intelligence is in fact, artificial (fake intelligence) based on what we, the human race, tell it – does this mean that AI will lack the ability to innovate? In which case, the moveable definition of what a robot is will become no more than a convenience item for every home. Wouldn’t it be great if all of the things that take up time in our lives (like cooking, cleaning, ironing, washing…etc) could be done by a machine, based on a lifestyles.
What do I think?
I’ve only done some light research for the purposes of this article and it’s safe to say that there’s swathes of documentation on AI and it’s potential to the human race, be it good or bad.
I haven’t yet made up my mind on whether AI is something that should be explored or stifled.
If AI does form a new industry, I believe that it should be more regulated than other technologies. We should keep on top of developments in Artificial Intelligence so that it doesn’t lead to the destruction of mankind.
Is that really too much to ask?
Is social media targeting ads based on our conversations?
Have you ever mentioned a product in spoken conversation only to be advertised that exact product on social media hours later? We have.
There could be a number of reasons for this, but we’re going to discuss the two most plausible explanations: either algorithms are much more sophisticated than we think, or companies are listening to our conversations through our mobile microphones. So which is true?
We feed sensitive information to all sorts of hungry machines from the moment we wake up until the moment we fall asleep. In fact, some of us track what’s happening to us even whilst we sleep. Our devices and phones know where we are, the route we used to get there, who we’re likely to talk to, and can predict when we’ll be on the move again. And that’s readily available information – think about what we manually input; Do you take photos of your food? Do you track your steps and calorie intake? Do you monitor your heart rate and sleep pattern? Do you use internet banking? Technology knows a lot about us.
Over the past few years users have suspected social media platforms of listening in on conversations through mobile phone microphones. For good reason too, as with the emergence of virtual assistants (Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Home) we’re talking to technology more than ever. But here’s the conundrum: how much of this information is shared? I’m not the only one who has been targeted with extremely particular advertising on social media. So how do the likes of Facebook know what I’m talking about?
Theory one: our phones are listening to us
Do our phones listen to our conversations?
Google and Facebook categorically reject accusations that they are listening to our conversations to advertise to us. The thing is, this doesn’t mean they aren’t listening. As pointed out by Terra Ferma Media MD David, if you have an android phone, Google IS listening to and recording your conversations. It’s highly likely that Apple users have the same issue, but there’s no way to turn this off yet. So they’re listening, but both social giants insist they aren’t using this information for advertising. Facebook released a statement about this in 2016.
Google has a developer policy that all app developers must agree to that specifies apps must not breach privacy in this way (you can get lost in the policy here).
It’s also worth reminding you that Facebook owns WhatsApp and Instagram. Google owns YouTube and Google Maps. The point is these companies have a lot of information about us, whether we like it or not, and are using this information to their advantage.
Theory two: it's just a clever algorithm
Is it just a clever algorithm?
Every social media platform is governed by algorithms. Twitter is a good example of this with its trending topics; a live, fast-moving algorithm that displays the most popular topics based on a number of rules (how many people are talking about the topic, at what speed the topic arose, how many verified users are talking about it, if it’s a breaking news item, etc).
Facebook probably uses the most advanced algorithms in the game. The benefit Facebook has over other platforms is the plethora of your friends’ data. Facebook knows who your family is, who your partner is (and ex-partners), and who your closest friends are based on interactions. You and your close friends probably have a similar way of thinking, or are interested in similar topics, so Facebook will assume that anything your closest friends are talking about will be of interest to you. This also means whatever your friends are searching for, reading, liking, hiding, and following could also be of interest to you. This is how clever targeted advertising comes into play.
We also can’t ignore the fact that companies advertising on Facebook have a huge range of data available to them. They can target people living in certain locations of particular genders and ages, people who attend certain schools or workplaces, commuters, people with particular interests, and so much more. Combined, these two methods of data gathering is probably the outcome of the adverts you’re seeing. No hocus pocus.
Our advice? Keep talking.
Finally, to cover all bases, we need to mention cookies and remarketing. A cookie (apart from being delicious) is a small code left on every web page you visit, telling the website owners which pages you’ve clicked on. Take Amazon: you’ve probably browsed something on the Amazon website only to see that product advertised to you on Facebook too. This is because Amazon remembers what you’ve looked at (via a cookie) and uses their advertising space on Facebook to show this product to you again (remarketing). Even if you searched for something months ago, if Amazon wants to sell it to you, it will advertise that product to you.
So where does this leave us? Facebook and Google both deny using the microphones on our phones to listen in to our conversations for advertising purposes. Can we believe them? On the algorithm side of the coin, there are three things at play:
- Sophisticated algorithms taking data from your extended friendship groups
- Companies having excessive amounts of advertising data to target specific audiences
- Social platforms storing information about your online habits
These factors combined make a convincing case that could make you think you’re being listened to. It really is that clever.
Ultimately we don’t have the magic answer, and of course if large companies were indeed using our conversations to advertise to us, they wouldn’t exactly shout it from the rooftops.
Our advice? Keep talking. While there’s no evidence of any wrong doing, if you are being targeted with relevant ads, then what’s the harm? If you’re that worried why not start talking about the lottery and see what happens. You never know…
A phone is a phone is a phone
Andrew Marsh - one of our mid-50's Company Directors - discusses the current use of mobile phones, and its associated terminology.
We still refer to our mobile device as a phone don’t we? “Where’s my phone?” we exclaim in exasperation, frantically collecting our keys, wallets/purses as we dash out the house. “What phone have you got?” we ask when we compare with the Joneses. The truth of the matter is that with modern day usage a mobile phone is not just for calling or texting anymore, however we still refer to it as a phone.
Some generations of mobile phone users deploy their phones for, almost literally, everything except calling or texting. Yes, I know, I’m a mid-50s Dad, but can I ever get hold of my teenage kids on their phones when I call or text them? The answer is, of course, an emphatic ‘No’ even although their phones are rarely more than six inches away at all times, day and night. It transpires that my teenagers hardly ever make or receive calls on their phones. This is an alien concept to them. And when I text them they tell me to message them instead. They use their phones constantly, but then that’s on message boards, social media, taking photos, ordering takeaways or taxis with equal ease and proficiency, making or watching videos and even streaming TV programmes or films. For this generation their phones aren’t phones at all. But they still regularly implore me with the mantra known to all parents, “Dad, I need a new phone”.
So what inspired me to pick on this topic? Well, I felt that it was my moral (and technical) obligation to speak up for the mid-50s masses who still use a phone as a phone in response to my colleague Sophie’s (our resident 25-year-old Account Executive) rather scathing review about the revived Nokia 3310. See her article here.
It got me thinking. This was a typical case in point where the mid-20s and younger still use the word ‘phone’ when an actual phone is practically the last thing they need.
"a truly simple, well-designed and reliable piece of kit"
In the office Sophie was somewhat sceptical about Nokia’s re-boot of their all-time classic model mobile phone, stating (off the record, you understand) that it’s a rubbish phone and she doesn’t see why anyone would buy it. According to (25-year-old, don’t forget) Sophie, the phone in question doesn’t do this and doesn’t do that. In effect, she was zeroing in on what it doesn’t do and all the things it lacks compared to the state-of-the-art smartphones we’re all using these days. It was pretty negative stuff I thought, rather than focussing on the real raison d’être for this piece of equipment: a truly simple, well-designed and reliable piece of kit… for when all you need is a phone to actually call and text. In debating the Nokia 3310 I highlighted the fact that it seems to be a really good phone, with robust build, good connectivity, long battery life, and it’s simple and uncomplicated. And as phones go it’s also very cheap.
So all in all an excellent phone and I feel that it will have many more users than Sophie pointed out in her article: the elderly, festival goers, phone detoxers and simply Nokia fans.
Purely because it seems to be a good old phone, then yes, the Nokia will have a wider range of users than perhaps at first expected, including users who want a reliable telephone, that doesn’t store very much personal and financial data, that they can use cross-borders without the risk of confiscation and that doesn’t compromise their personal identity and security. In this age of clever hackers we shouldn’t overlook the attraction of protecting our omnipresent identities.
I’ll come back to my original conundrum: why do we still refer to our phone as a phone? So what should we call this magical piece of equipment that we port around with us everywhere we go? This all-encompassing mobile device, performing the full suite of functions of a computer, with touchscreen interface, camera, Internet access, messaging facility to (almost) the entire global population and an operating system capable of running any form of downloaded apps you could possibly choose. I think the Nokia 3310 is a phone in its traditional sense. But the kit in everyone’s hands is far from being merely a phone. Although ‘mobile device’ seems a precise descriptor, even I would agree that those are four clunky syllables rather incongruously strung together. And ‘phone’ rolls off the tongue rather more easily…