You can always count on insightful analysis of the latest digital marketing headlines in the news roundup segment of each episode of the EDGE. The latest features host Erin Sparks and Creative Studio Producer Jacob Mann along with special guest Britney Muller, Senior Search Scientist at MOZ. Here’s the news roundup from Episode 346 of the award-winning EDGE of the Web podcast:
Google My Business COVID-19 Instructions: Businesses Affected Should Update Listings
From Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Roundtable we learn that Google My Business COVID-19 Instructions: Businesses Affected Should Update Listings. Google posted in the Google My Business help area that it wants businesses affected by COVID-19, the coronavirus, to update your profile to provide the most accurate information. This might mean updating your business hours or more, Google said.
- Erin Sparks: Businesses are encouraged to update any information in their GMB profile to reflect COVID-19 impacts, whether it’s hours, the phone number, and so on.
- Britney Muller: This is important because doing whatever we can to prevent unnecessary interactions between people is going to help slow the spread of the virus. Google should be as preemptive as possible around all of this.
- Erin Sparks: Keep you GMB information up-to-date so people know what’s happening with your business.
Twitter applies its new “manipulated media” label to video retweeted by Trump
According to Catherine Shu on TechCrunch, Twitter applies its new “manipulated media” label to video retweeted by Trump. A video retweeted by Donald Trump is the first to be marked with Twitter’s new “manipulated media” tag. The company formally unveiled a new policy last month that said media that has been “significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated” is likely to be labeled if it is determined to be deliberately misleading.
- Erin Sparks: The video in question is one of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. It makes it sound like he’s calling for the re-election of Trump. What’s interesting is that the footage itself is not fake. Those words came out of Biden’s mouth, but he misspoke and then corrected himself, but the retweeted video is clipped in such a way so it just looks like Biden said that, with no self-correction. But it’s pretty common for political ads to pull content out of context in this way, so Twitter’s reaction feels a bit heavy-handed.
- Britney Muller: I have mixed thoughts. How trustworthy is the manipulation detection? Some deep fakes are practically impossible to detect. This one is an issue of editing or trimming in a particular way. And yet it’s important that Twitter be proactive around misinformation. I’d rather see them try to do something than do nothing at all.
- Erin Sparks: It’s the “manipulated” label that feels a little heavy-handed. Twitter has come out strong by not taking any money for political ads, but is this just another way for it to come back around and still be involved in the political content of its platform? How deeply will they wade into political content to make these kinds of judgments? Feels like a slippery slope.
- Britney Muller: That’s true.
COVID-19 Affecting Search Marketing Conferences
On Search Engine Journal, Roger Montti reports COVID-19 Affecting Search Marketing Conferences. Conferences across industries are being postponed. The search marketing industry is no exception. Pubcon Florida 2020 announced they are postponing. What about other search marketing conferences?
- Erin Sparks: There’s a real slew of marketing conferences being canceled. SMX Munich was postponed. What about SMX Advanced in Seattle?
- Britney Muller: It’s really bizarre right now. There are all kinds of shortages for products like hand sanitizer and toilet paper. The drastic measures are all to try to slow the spread of the virus, which is the priority.
- Erin Sparks: Yes, and we’re not used to these kinds of things in a developed first-world nation, so people are really struggling with the issues and the actions and the guidance that they’re supposed to be following. But there’s a big economic impact to canceling these conferences, so to have some canceling so far in advance seems crazy.
- Britney Muller: It may be hard to understand if you’re not in a hard-hit place like Seattle, but it brings a whole new perspective. In my opinion, traveling to a conference any time soon would be incredibly selfish and a waste of resources and risking the further spread of the virus. And remember, it’s all to prevent spreading the virus to people who it could kill because they’re more vulnerable.
Connect with Britney Muller and Moz
Twitter: @BritneyMuller (https://twitter.com/britneymuller)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britneymuller/
Britney’s articles on Moz: https://moz.com/community/users/514135
Moz Twitter: @Moz (https://twitter.com/moz)
Moz Website: https://moz.com
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