Welcome to My Blog

Twitter announced today the latest of its effort to fight platform abuse and maintain authenticity on its network.

This week, wrote Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead Vijaya Gadde in a statement, Twitter will begin removing locked accounts from users’ total follower counts, potentially causing these numbers to drop significantly for some.

You should be confident that the follower numbers presented across Twitter are meaningful and accurate. We’re introducing a change to follower counts as part of our work to make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation.  https://t.co/A2ZEGHjOZ8

— Vijaya Gadde (@vijaya)
July 11, 2018

An account becomes “locked” when Twitter detects some sort of sudden suspicious activity from it, like tweeting a high number of out-of-context mentions or several links to false content.

In these cases, Gadde explains, the network lets the account owner know about the activity, and requests that it be revalidated with a new password. Until that happens, the account remains locked and the owner is unable to log in.

Now, these accounts will be removed from total follower displays for all users globally.

The majority of users, says Gadde, will lose a maximum of four followers — but those with a significantly higher following, like celebrities or major verified brands, might see a major reduction in these numbers.

These changes will take effect over “the next few days,” writes Gadde — starting as early as this Thursday, according to the New York Times. 

The announcement comes after a recent report from the Washington Post that Twitter is suspending roughly one million suspicious accounts each day since about May.

Twitter’s stock price fell the business day after the story ran, but since rebounded — and has held steady in the hours following today’s announcement.

Source: Google

Most of this recent activity from Twitter — from its sweeping removal of suspicious accounts to removing locked ones from total follower numbers — are part of its ongoing efforts to improve the “health” of the social network.

In March, Twitter posted an official request for proposals from the public to conduct a comprehensive study of the social network’s ability to maintain, as CEO Jack Dorsey put it, “collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation.”

Along with such other Big Tech counterparts as Facebook and Google, Twitter has come under fire for not only failing to sufficiently fight platform abuse — but also, for allowing the network to be weaponized by foreign actors with the spread of false and divisive content to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Some public figures have been especially outspoken about their dissatisfaction with Twitter’s response to this ongoing crisis of communication — and according to our own survey data, skepticism of the company’s ability to truly resolve these issues is somewhat widespread.

 Data collected using Lucid

If and how this latest move from Twitter will have a significant, lasting impact on the network’s health remains to be seen — but as for its impact on users, some are likely to experience more setbacks than others.

“Follower counts have always been a controversial metric,” says HubSpot VP of Marketing Jon Dick, “but it’s the main way marketers assess the reach and influence of someone on social media.”

“Follower counts have always been a controversial metric.”

– HubSpot VP of Marketing Jon Dick

“The people who will be most impacted are the ‘influencers’ who have tried to buy their way to the top,” Dick explains, who might see more of a drop in follower counts than those with a more authentic Twitter audience.

“Many influencers have built genuine audiences through high quality content, and they shouldn’t have much to worry about,” he continues. “The rest … watch out.”

Welcome one, welcome all to another Wednesday: the day that marks the halfway point — almost — to the weekend.

As the summer continues to progress and the days are hot and sunny, we know there isn’t a ton of time to spend on pouring over news. So, in keeping with tradition — we’ll keep this week’s “Unriddled” quick.

It’s our Wednesday tech news roundup, and we’re breaking it down.

Unriddled: The Tech News You Need

1. Facebook Is Testing Ads in AR

Wouldn’t it be nice if — upon seeing a picture of an outfit, accessory, or pair of shoes you like online — you could see what it might look like on you, without having to try it on? Now, Facebook is testing ads that allow users to do just that.

Source: TechCrunch

At F8, the company’s annual developer conference, both augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) took center stage, with Facebook promoting its various products and features within both. That’ll soon be extended to ad partnerships with a handful of brands — including Michael Kors and Sephora, for example — that allow users to “try on” different products through AR. Anthony Ha of TechCrunch has more.  Read full story >>

2. YouTube’s New Fight Against Fake News

Following the spring launch of the Google News Initiative, YouTube (which is owned by Google) has announced new efforts to curb less authentic video content — e.g., that concerning conspiracy theories — and promote high-quality journalism. The video-streaming giant says it will do so in part with a $25 million investment to build partnerships with such media companies as Vox, as well as filling new support roles to help news publishers better leverage the platform. Read full statement >>

3. Groupon Is Seeking an Acquirer

Daily deal site Groupon is looking to be acquired. According to Recode, the company has been courting public companies to gauge interest — and pay up. Groupon went public in 2011, when it was valued at $16 million — now, that number has dropped to $2.4 million. Read full story >>

4. Sonos Files for an IPO

Sonos, which among competition from Google and Amazon has made something of a name for itself within the smart speaker market — filed for an initial public offering last week. The audio electronics company will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as “SONO,” and according to both The Verge and SEC filings, is in a strong financial position to do so. At the end of Q1 2018, Sonos said it sold 19 million products in about 6.9 million households globally, and at an average rate of three speakers per customer. Read full story >>

5. Scooter-Sharing Is a Big Deal, but No One’s Heard of It

Following announcements of Uber’s major investment in electric scooter-sharing company Lime, it’s clear that this “trend” is becoming more than that. And, this isn’t the first of the attention its earned from folks in Silicon Valley, including venture capitalists. But our research shows nearly two-thirds of people haven’t heard of it. How will this latest transportation trend go mainstream? Read full story >>

6. Twitter’s Sweeping Account Suspensions

The week did not start out well for Twitter, who was the subject of a report from The Washington Post on its massive account suspensions, which are recently averaging in the millions. But even with the social media company making a point of promoting its efforts to curb platform abuse, our survey data says over a third of users are skeptical. Read full story >>

That’s all for today. Until next week, feel free to weigh in on Twitter to ask us your tech news questions, or to let us know what kind of events and topics you’d like us to cover.

Featured image credit: Facebook