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The Big Story

What everyone’s talking about today.

Meta is rolling out new restrictions for certain websites and apps using its Business Tools, starting in early 2025.

Meta will categorize data sources based on topics like health, financial services, and politics, and if your brand is in one of these categories, you will face some limitations in data sharing.

For example —and this is the huge one— the Conversions API (CAPI) will no longer function for you.

Is my brand affected?
Maybe. If you are, you should get an email from Meta, along with a notification in Ads Manager about any affected ad sets. (If your brand is categorized as “health and wellness” you’ll see this notification in your Events Manager.

Our brand isn’t one of those categories
Then you should be fine. But if you find your brand wrongly categorized, you can appeal. If you’re rejected (which seems to be happening a lot with Meta these days), you’ll have to wait 30 days to appeal again.

Why are they doing this?
They say it’s to “improve transparency” and reduce misleading advertising claims, but the real reason is probably more to do with rising legal challenges than anything else. It’s likely a response to increased scrutiny and lawsuits against brands using its platform.

The Top Three

The industry’s most important stories today.

1
OpenAI admits it’s planning to drop ads into its results soon. The company got $6.6 billion in a funding round in October and has been scooping up ad executives and engineers from Meta and Google more

2
Wait what? Google's iOS app is now adding clickable search links to text on web sites (like your brand’s site!). Google says this will help users more quickly find more information about mentioned topics, but obviously this will encourage people to leave your brand’s web site. You have 30 days to opt out. more

3
Online sales on Black Friday were up almost 15% over the previous year — but in-store sales couldn’t even crack a 1% increase. Jewelry, electronics and apparel were the top purchases. more

Today’s Other News

Everything else that matters.

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Advertising 📣

• For the nerds: Meta has pulled the curtain back on “Andromeda,” a new system it says will show more personalized ads faster by using the power of laaasseeerrrsss!!! (actually, advanced neural networks and special computer chips). They say it’ll improve ad targeting. more.

• Here’s a great roundup of the AI-generated ad campaigns that sparked controversy about job displacement and creative authenticity this year. And some big players are on this list: Coca-Cola, Netflix, Meta, Google, Toys R Us, Baggu, Apple, and Levi's. more

• Meta will require financial advertisers in Australia to verify their identity and licensing starting February 2025 to combat celebrity scam ads targeting users online. more

Search 🔍

• Bing is testing a new shopping card format in search results, similar to Google's recent e-commerce card design, showcasing product information at the top of search queries more.

• Barry Schwartz has been covering the SEO space for 21 years, as of today. His SERoundtable.com is one of the best sites to follow for developments. more

Social Media 📱

• The SKED 2025 Social Media Trends report is out — some excellent information in here for social media managers Download

• I spotted a report on social media that Instagram is removing the ability to add music to Stories for “Creator accounts.” This would mirror other platforms’ handling of music, which limit commercial use to a limited catalog of songs.

• TikTok is adding new safety features like mental health support, filter restrictions for teens, and blocking of accounts that don't meet age requirements. But these will only apply in the EU. More.

• 55% of consumers find holiday gift ideas on TikTok. 69% rely on unboxing videos and product reviews to make purchasing decisions. The data came from a survey from marketing agency MGH. more

• YouTube rolled out updates to Shorts, Community Posts, and BrandConnect, adding AI image generation, quiz improvements, and easier creator-brand connections more.

Bluesky 🔵

• Andrew Hutchinson has a great piece up about the upstart Bluesky platform, which — while growing quickly — is facing challenges with funding, moderation, and European regulations. All while trying to avoid traditional advertising. more.

• “While Bluesky has the potential to be a great ‘replacement’ for X, and the audience is coming, it’s not yet in a mature enough state for some of the big brands we work with to be active…” more

• In another sign it’s trying to grow up fast, Bluesky now requires parody and fan accounts to clearly label themselves to prevent impersonation More.

• GoBlue, a new iOS app, helps Bluesky users track their stats like followers, comments, likes, and reposts through an easy-to-use dashboard more.

• Threads now (finally) displays alternate feeds at the top of its main feed, allowing users to switch between Following and For You easier. And they totally didn’t do this because of Bluesky’s growing popularity, guysss…. more.

  

Commerce and Analytics 🛒

• The popular game platform Roblox has launched a closed beta test of Shopify integration (!), letting a handful of game developers set up in-game stores. More.

• A great piece in the New York Times reports on the struggle small businesses are having with rising credit card transaction fees, which now consume a significant portion of their revenue. more.

• Google has a post up today about its Gemini AI, and how they say it helps retailers personalize shopping, automate customer service, enhance marketing, and all the other blah blah more.

• Google Business Profiles will stop tracking food order performance metrics starting in June 2024, though customers can still place orders through Search and Maps. More

• Adding pressure to tip may seem effective, but it can discourage customers from returning to businesses, potentially harming long-term customer relationships. more

Agencies and Hires 💼

• Agency holding companies like Publicis and Omnicom are riding high momentum in 2024, with strong performance likely to continue through the final fiscal quarter. more.

• Adobe hired Lara Balazs as its new chief marketing officer, filling a position vacant since February 2023 after Ann Lewnes' retirement. More.

Infrastructure 🚧 

• Meta is planing a $10 billion subsea cable project spanning from the U.S. to India via South Africa, then to the U.S. via Australia more.

LOL 🤣

• Can someone explain why ChatGPT suddenly stops working when users type specific names like David Mayer, Jonathan Zittrain, and Jonathan Turley? Because the conspiracy theories are freaking me out… more 

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