iPhone X, Google, Facebook, and More — Digital Roundup | # 29

Published in

re.vision

5 min readOct 3, 2017

Apple released the iPhone X, Google is adding video, Facebook is giving you time away from friends, and much more. Tune in below.

Local Guides

Google’s Local Guides Program allows people to share reviews and connect with other reviewers that have similar interests at meet-ups. With the latest update, Local Guides can now share 30-seconds of video with their Google Maps reviews.

Google silently rolled out the video addition to Local Guides’ reviews, but recently emailed those enrolled saying it would be making the feature public in coming months. Currently the video feature is only available on Android phones, but will be coming to iOS very soon.

The addition of video may seem small, but imagine reading reviews and being able to not only see pictures but also watch clips showing you the ambiance, experience, and different facets of the location. For Google Maps and local businesses this could be a game changer.

iPhone X

Ten years later, we get the iPhone X (ten).

With glass wrapping both the front and back of the edge-to-edge 5.8-inch OLED display, Apple claims the new phone is sealed for water and dust resistance. It comes in two finishes: space gray and silver, and is said to be the most durable iPhone.

The newest and most buzz-worthy feature is FaceID. The new phone will not have a home button, so they way into your phone is with your face. The depth-sensing front camera will unlock the phone by detecting your face, and claims to not be susceptible to trickery, meaning it will not open to a 2D picture of your face. It has to be the real deal.

To check out the other new features, head here.

Snooze 😴

You may have seen Facebook’s “unsubscribe” feature, which allowed you to hide all activity from a Facebook friend without unfollowing them. Now, Facebook is testing a Snooze feature instead which allows you to temporarily “snooze” friends, Pages, or Groups for 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days.

The benefit to the Snooze feature seems geared more toward businesses than anyone else. Businesses track impressions, engagement, etc., so the Snooze feature allows you to temporarily hide a business campaign (for example) that you’re not that into, but still follow and engage with other posts that you are interested in.

The feature was set in place to deter users from unfollowing, and instead hide certain posts, but it will hopefully also make companies more aware of what they post so they’re less likely to get snoozed. Tip: Don’t post things no one cares about 😉.

See if you have this functionality yet and let us know what you think!

Ad Activity

Have you ever seen a Facebook ad you were interested in, clicked through to the page, got distracted, and were never able to find it again?

It happens. We find things we like but life gets in the way and sometimes it can be difficult to get back to the page, or find what you had been interested in. Facebook recently created a solution to the problem.

Now, “Recent Ad Activity” can be found in your options side bar. That article you started reading but weren’t able to finish, or pair of shoes you clicked on will all be right there so you can bounce right back into what you were doing.

Finally, right? 😏 The feature could be a great opportunity for Facebook advertisers that seek to be remembered. “Recent Ad Activity” gives people the option to go back and make a purchase or click through to a site which will also make advertising on Facebook more attractive than other sites.

Google Ad Fraud

Victims of ad fraud through DoubleClick Bid Manager, a place where marketers can buy digital ads through Google, will soon be getting something unexpected — full refunds.

Previously, Google was issuing refunds to advertisers whose ads reached bots instead of humans, but only for the cost of fees, not the whole cost of wasted ad spend. The type of fraud they experienced was new to Google and not something they were prepared for or even aware could happen.

Since the issue, Google has increased transparency so marketers know when invalid traffic is detected in their campaigns before they bid, as well as after the ad is served to their intended audience. Google is also working hard on their end to prevent this type of fraud from happening again as well as any other type they’re able to protect against.

That’s all for this week’s digital roundup. Be sure to catch up on last week’s if you haven’t yet, and we’ll have more for you next time!