Have you fallen victim to Social Media ‘sensationalism’? Find out why this rising phenomenon is causing waves online, and how to navigate the hype to stay ahead of the game in State of Social’s 10th edition! Lead by Chris Walts, Social Strategy Director at Ogilvy UK, we explore the effect of sensationalism and what it means to marketers. Plus, the latest format updates from all the major platforms and a look at some best-in-class creative from the last quarter.

1. Powered by
What’s Next:
State of Social
Session #10
January 2019

2. Welcome
José Arteaga
Creative Digital Strategist
Ogilvy Consulting
Chris Walts
Strategy Lead, Social
Ogilvy

3. Tell us
where you
are dialing
in from!
What’s the weather
like in your city?

4. Do you
want this
deck?
It will be available for download
shortly after the webinar on:
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The recording is up on
facebok.com/OgilvyConsulting

5. State of Social
Session 10
Chris Walts
Strategy Lead, Social

6. 1
LATEST PLATFORM
UPDATES
2
CREATIVE
INSPIRATION
3
THE SENSATIONALISM OF
SOCIAL
AGENDA
SOMETHING TO
WATCH
4

7. STATE OF SOCIAL #10
THE SENSATIONALISM OF SOCIAL

8. THE SENSATIONALISM OF SOCIAL
What it is
• "The internet has begun to fragment our collective reality. Based on any number of factors (our age,
location, political beliefs, search history), our digital window to the world can give a very different view
than someone else’s.”
– The Webbys’ Trend Report
• Researchers have found that false information is retweeted significantly more than true information and
that falsehoods reached 1,500 people an average of six times faster than truth. – MIT Laboratory for
Social Machines
• With fake news, trolling, abuse, and bullying coming to the cultural forefront it has become apparent
that ‘Move Fast and Break Things’ isn’t the greatest motto making their users happy.
• Facebook lost 1 million users (both daily and monthly) in Europe and held flat at 185 million daily active
users in the US/Canada where 70% of its revenue comes from.
• The ‘anything goes’ days of the major platforms seem to be behind them. 2018 was the year they
vowed to kick their old sensationalism ways and make their platforms healthier.
• As user happiness is linked to increased dwell time, it’s also the key to growing revenue.
• We’re now starting to see green shoots in terms of accountability and platform design.
Why it matters
• Authenticity and transparency is becoming more important than ever as people are no longer trusting
what they see.
• Governing bodies are increasingly getting involved and looking to legislate against social media
platforms, in particular around data usage and sensationalism. In response platforms are simplifying
targeting options potentially meaning campaigns become less personalised.
• Sharing is shifting to private chat as people become more conscious of internet permanence and
receiving backlash / online bullying.

9. WHERE PEOPLE ARE GETTING THEIR INFORMATION
Source: YouGov

10. CHECKING AUTHENTICITY
Bot Sentinel is a service that exists as a direct response to the fake news
epidemic. Source
Online reviews have long been ripe for falsified information and bot-driven
commentary. Source
Start-ups are using algorithms to track when images are edited—from
the moment they’re taken. Source

11. PLATFORMS ARE ADJUSTING TO SENSATIONALISM
AND WELLNESS
Facebook and Instagram have rolled out a time spent dashboard. Source
Facebook has tweaked how stories spread through the News Feed, going
after posts that are “sensationalist and provocative.” Source
Facebook is giving advertisers a behaviour score card. Source
Zuckerberg is planning public tech discussions Source
WhatsApp limits message forwarding to 5 individuals or groups to curb
spread of misinformation.. Source
5
Twitter now shows if a tweet was deleted for policy violations. Source

12. FACEBOOK’S AD LIBRARY

13. STATE OF SOCIAL #10
LATEST PLATFORM UPDATES

14. PLATFORM UPDATES: FACEBOOK
Facebook expanded Watch Party to Pages and
people. Source
Facebook Stories is now available to
Groups. Source
Advertisers can now extend eligible lead ads
campaigns to Marketplace on mobile. Source

15. PLATFORM UPDATES: INSTAGRAM
Users can now share IGTV videos to their Instagram Stories. Source Instagram has made several updates to their shopping
functionality. Source
Users can now easily add people to live video chats with
gesture. Source
Instagram now lets users post to multiple accounts in one tap.
Source

16. PLATFORM UPDATES: TWITTER & YOUTUBE
Twitter is relaunching the reverse-chronological feed as an option
for all users. Source
YouTube is testing ad pods – two ads stacked back to
back to match new user behaviours. Source
YouTube is rolling out its Instagram-like Stories feature to
more creators. Source

17. LinkedIn has updated its feed algorithm to generate more engagement for
users. Source
LinkedIn has launched its own Stories, Student Voices. Source Pages have been updated to make it easier for brands to foster
constructive conversations on LinkedIn.. Source
Snapchat’s new Camera desktop camera app brings AR masks to
platforms Source
PLATFORM UPDATES: LINKEDIN & SNAPCHAT
LinkedIn Campaign Manager will be shifting towards Objective Based
Advertising. Source

18. STATE OF SOCIAL #10
CREATIVE INSPIRATION

19. AMAZON’S HIT CAR SHOW
What is it?
• Amazon broke the internet with clever marketing for the new series of
The Grand Tour.
Why does it matter?
• Most shows use hashtags in their marketing and to unite fans who talk
about the show but this campaign also tapped into internet meme
culture and all of the hashtag #fails over the years.
• It turned the marketing into a cultural moment and generated a massive
amount of organic engagement.
• The Grand Tour followed it up with very clever community management
keeping the joke alive.

20. STUDIO YES JOB VACANCIES
What is it?
• A piece of incredibly relevant ‘reactive content’ designed to drive brand
awareness.
Why does it matter?
• Although reactive content is becoming more few and far between timely
content can still generate massive reach if execution well.
• Timeliness is often more important than production values.

21. NETFLIX’S BIRD BOX LAUNCH
What is it?
• The Sandra Bullock-starring horror movie got a lukewarm reception from
critics, but since its release, it’s become a magnet for memes and racked up
the platform’s best film numbers ever.
Why does it matter?
• Netflix claimed that 45 million of its subscribers had streamed the film in its
first week of release: a record for original movie content on the platform.
• Five days later, on 2 January, they issued a public health warning around the
buzz it was generating. The service was responding to a growing social
media fad for the Bird Box challenge, in which people emulate characters in
the film who must perform every task blindfolded.
• YouTube star Morgan Adams’s 24-hour Bird Box challenge earned more
than two million views in five days.
• ABC’s breakfast show Good Morning America also engaged with the
meme when one of its anchors attempted to apply makeup to his co-host
while blindfolded.
• The films main gimmick/trope has becoming its biggest marketing driver

22. ICELAND’S BANNED TV CHRISTMAS ADVERT
What is it?
• Following a year of pushing their sustainability initiatives, Iceland
decided to do something different with their Christmas advert and
continue to raise awareness of rainforest destruction caused by palm oil
production, and its devastating impact on the critically endangered
orangutan. However, it was ruled their advert could not appear on TV
alongside other supermarkets because it was too political.
• Interesting, the content of the ad itself was not the issue that breached
the political ad prohibition in the Communications Act 2003, it was the
association with Greenpeace, which was deemed to be a body “whose
object is wholly or mainly of a political nature”. Even though the
Greenpeace badge was removed from the ad, the group had used it
extensively and that was what caused the ad to break the rules.
Why does it matter?
• The banned nature of the campaign help it garner online and print
coverage as the media covered the advert and people naturally looked
to see what the fuss was about.
• Iceland is taking their biggest advertising moment of the year, Christmas,
and directly tying it into the CSR initiatives putting their money with their
mouth is.
By mid December it was reported that the ad was viewed over 65 million times

23. INSTAGRAM PRIVACY SETTINGS
What is it?
• Wieden & Kennedy have created a series of ads highlighting the privacy
issues young people face online and showing them how to address the
problems.
Why does it matter?
• The issues of online privacy for young people are often tricky to convey and
the ads are designed to feel native to the platform, the problem and the
solution.
• They are simple, playful and make you want to stop and watch the content.

24. STATE OF SOCIAL #10
SOMETHING TO WATCH

25. SOMETHING TO WATCH: TIK TOK
What it is
• TikTok (Douyin in China) is an app for creating and sharing short
15 second videos centred around music.
• It is a leading short video platform in Asia, United States, and
other parts of the world.
• It became the most downloaded app in the US in October 2018
and is currently available in over 150 markets, and in 75 languages.
• TikTok merged with musical.ly in August 2018 and now has more
than 500 million global users across 150 countries.
• It’s becoming a birthplace for trends and memes including
lip-synced songs, and comedies. A key feature is Duets which
allows users to add their own video to an existing video with the
original content's audio.
• Ad formats include Brand Takeovers, In-Feed Native Video,
Hashtag Challenges, and 2D, 3D & AR Lens.
Why it matters
• It’s where teens are spending an increasing amount of time and is
currently generating a huge amount of monthly video views.
• It’s becoming a key place for the birth of trends / memes.
• Content from Tik Tok is being re-purposed to other platforms such as
YouTube and Instagram generating a strong content half-life.
Published in late November the 11 minute meme compilation video has over 8 million views

26. Questions?
José Arteaga
Creative Digital Strategist
Ogilvy Consulting
Chris Walts
Strategy Lead, Social
Ogilvy

27. Thank you.