Hello, reader. We hope you are doing fine amidst this Coronavirus outbreak and that this edition of finds you well. As you probably already know, this is our weekly blog digest wherein we cover some of the most relevant industry-related pieces of news and events that took place over the last 7 days (or so).
In our “March 2020: Week 3” installment, you can read about the following events:
Ok, let’s start.
Major Social & Tech Platforms to Together Combat Fake News and Fraud About COVID-19
The biggest technology players – including Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube – have joined forces in a decision (and a commitment) to together COVID-19.
On Monday evening, they all published the following joint statement:
“We are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts. We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world. We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe.”
Here’s a tweet coming from Google Public Policy:
The technology industry is working closely together in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world on COVID-19 response efforts. Read our full statement. pic.twitter.com/Xn0fhyJLXm
— Google Public Policy (@googlepubpolicy) March 17, 2020
This is clearly the period when major tech companies need to be more involved and proactive than usual when it comes to tracking and taking down frauds, hoaxes, and other similar forms of abuse.
It is yet unclear what measures exactly this joint effort may involve.
Bing Rolls Out Interactive Map to Track COVID-19
Microsoft’s Bing has put out an across the world map. The information is divided into 3 levels of data:
The map can be filtered by geographic region.
(Source: Bing)
Users can also click on individual countries/states to access relevant and up-to-date pieces of news and videos pertaining to the info and situation in that particular country.
(Source: Bing)
Support for Google Ads & GMB to be Delayed/Unavailable
Google has notified users that . Due to the ongoing situation induced by the virus outbreak, Google is currently playing with a shortened bench.
Here’s an official statement coming from the Google Ads help section:
“Important update: As a precautionary health measure for our phone and chat support specialists in light of COVID-19, some Google Ads support options may be unavailable or delayed. You can still reach us through the Contact Us form. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience. This message will be updated as the situation changes.”
Additional measures Google is currently taking include:
More information on the company’s efforts to assist with the novel virus can be found .
How (and Why) to Update Your Search Results Snippets
The latest episode of Google’s ‘Search for Beginners’ video series provides a concise and comprehensive crash course on effective search results snippet creation. This can be quite useful, especially to fresh website owners who are yet to learn the tricks of the SEO trade.
The importance of Search Snippets mirrors in the fact that it provides the primary piece of data a person uses when deciding which search result to choose and click on. It has the potential to be much more than just a plain meta description.
More information available .
YouTube’s ‘Trending’ Tab Becomes the New ‘Explore’ Tab (on Mobile App)
Web’s biggest video sharing platform is updating its mobile app (on both iOS and Android) with a tweak that turns one of YouTube’s most visited sections Trending into a sort of expanded version of the same tab called “Explore”.
, and here’s what the team behind this platform has to say:
“… with Explore, you not only have access to Trending videos, but also to destination pages for some popular content categories like Gaming, Music, Fashion & Beauty, Learning and more – all from one place.”
The features that come with the new Explore tab include:
This concludes this installment of Digital Marketing Week in Review by Four Dots. Catch up next week as well, until then – feel free to !
And remember – stay at home and stay safe.