ICANN rejects sale of .org to private equity firm citing public interest
In a dramatic chain of events, the ICANN Board unanimously blocked its consent for Internet Society (ISOC) to change ownership of the non-profit Public Interest Registry (PIR) to the private equity firm Ethos Capital.
Shopify launches Shop app to better compete against Amazon
The new Shop app by Shopify consolidates stores into a cohesive shopping experience. Unlike its competitors, Shopify made the service only available as a native mobile app, which is reminiscent of Quibi’s recent launch.
Facebook app and Instagram start exposing locale of users and Pages to help protect U.S. election
Posts from high-reach Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts outside of the U.S. will now list the account owner’s primary country location at the top of the post.
Facebook Messenger policy update requires businesses to respond within 24-hours
At the beginning of March 2020, Facebook instituted new response time rules for businesses using Messenger. The policy changes coincided with record Messenger usage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chrome 81 breaks the ability to bold system fonts on Macs
A style bug in version 81 of the Google Chrome browser was discovered before it was released, but a decision was made to not fix it until the next version. Sites that default to the system font can no longer fully bold text for users on macOS Catalina.
Speedtest VPN adds paid tier and now supports iPadOS
Ookla ended beta testing of its Speedtest VPN and added a $4.99/mo unlimited data plan. The newest release now supports iPadOS in addition to iOS and Android.
COVID-19 makes Google Ads delay controversial changes to its Partners badge program until 2021
Agencies unhappy with the upcoming changes to the Google Partners badge program received a temporary reprieve from Google Ads. Google emailed its partners to inform them that the new changes were delayed until 2021 because of the impact coronavirus has had on businesses.
LinkedIn Conversation Ads: How they work and should advertisers use them
The new messaging-based ad format by LinkedIn, which is similar to Facebook Messenger Ads, allows advertisers to target prospects with personalized messages based on audience segments.
Facebook giving $100 million in grants to SMBs impacted by coronavirus
The $100 million earmarked for Facebook’s SMB Grants Program includes cash grants and ad credits for small businesses around the world.
Mozilla launches Firefox Better Web, a service that removes ads and tracking from news sites
Mozilla debuted a new subscription service with Scroll that provides an ad-free experience on partner sites and enhanced tracking protection with its Firefox web browser.
Is it Time to Get Your Brand on TikTok? A Quick Primer For Advertisers
TikTok was the second most downloaded app last year with 738 million installs, giving advertisers more reason to pay attention to the short-form video platform.
Analysts expect the 2020 election to generate over $1 billion in digital ad revenue
To keep ad campaigns running smoothly, political advertisers will need to stay informed on social media ad policy updates and verification processes.
Most web developers are using inaccessible number inputs on forms and here is how to fix it
A common form input type that's used by most web developers to make filling out numbers on forms easier isn't fully accessible. The GOV.UK Design System team published the correct way to make entering numbers accessible for everyone.
Fastmail is beta testing more powerful email Rules and Filters
Fastmail customers that have opted into using beta features can now access more robust email Rules and Filters. The upgrade includes the ability to block individual emails or entire domains and allows more actions per Rule.
Twitter is testing disappearing Tweets called ‘Fleets’
Twitter enabled a new feature called Fleets in Brazil. Fleets capture fleeting thoughts, and they disappear after 24 hours, similar to Facebook and Instagram Stories.
Digital ad industry braces for impact as coronavirus disease causes economic downturns
Industry experts forecast digital ad revenues to drop in the wake of the coronavirus, but no one can say the degree to which ad spend will be affected.
Email tracking privacy concerns may force email service providers to change what they report
All major email service providers (ESPs) track message open rates and link clicks. There are now renewed concerns by some privacy advocates that this practice equates to spying on users.
The CCPA is reducing Facebook Ads retargeting reach but there may be a workaround
The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) went into effect on January 1, 2020, and appears to be affecting Facebook Ads retargeting campaigns. However, there may be a simple workaround to restore campaign performance.
Amazon Lightsail offers cheap WordPress hosting in the cloud
Webmasters can host WordPress sites for as cheap as $3.50/mo using the Amazon Lightsail cloud platform. While Lightsail is marketed as easy-to-use, it’s still significantly more complicated to set up and maintain than using a managed hosting provider.
Google Ads is forcing agencies to use its recommendations or risk losing their Google Partners badge
Google Ads is changing the requirements for its Google Partners badge program by the end of June 2020. One change, in particular, requires partners to adopt a high percentage of recommendations that are made by Google’s machine learning or risk losing their badge. Agencies are claiming Google’s optimizations are ignoring their expertise and don’t make sense for their clients’ campaigns.
