In 2016, brands spent $570 million on social influencer endorsements on Instagram alone. This recode article takes a looks at how much influencers with certain followings can command, and whether they’re worth the investment.
And don’t overlook the legal issues associated with the use of social media influencers; the FTC just settled its first complaint against social media influencers individually. The case involved two online gamers who posted videos of themselves promoting a gaming site that they failed to disclose they jointly owned.
In a precedent setting opinion, the European Court of Human Rights held that the right to privacy of a Romanian man, Bogdan Bărbulescu, was violated when Bărbulescu’s employer, without explicitly notifying Bărbulescu, read personal messages that Bărbulescu sent from an online account that Bărbulescu had been asked to set up for work purposes.
In other European news, the attorney general for England and Wales, Jeremy Wright, MP, has begun an inquiry into whether that jurisdiction needs to impose restrictions on social media in order to help ensure criminal defendants there get a fair trial.
More than half of Americans 50 or older now get their news from social media sites, Pew Research Center’s 2017 social media survey shows.
Celebrities who promote initial coin offerings (ICOs) on social media risk violating laws that apply to the public promotion of securities.
Facebook developed an artificial intelligence robot that can express emotion by making realistic facial expressions at appropriate times.
A college student has sued Snapchat and the Daily Mail for alleged defamation and invasion of privacy arising from the use of the student’s name and image on Discover, Snapchat’s social news feature, under the headline, “Sex, Drugs and Spring Break—College Students Descent on Miami to Party in Oceans of Booze and Haze of Pot Smoke.”
Is the threat of artificial intelligence disrupting a slew of industries less imminent than we thought?
Google created a website that uses fun illustrations to show which “how to” queries its users entered into the search engine most.
The popularity of online videos that viewers can appreciate with the sound turned off has led to striking similarities between early silent film and modern social video.