This winter season is seeming to fly by. From the hustle and bustle of the holidays, to the celebrations (and regrets) of New Year’s Eve, it feels like the end of 2018 was here and gone in the blink of an eye. With everything going on outside of the normal day-to-day, it’s easy to miss out on some of the exciting things happening in the digital world.
But fear not!
We’ve put together some quick recaps about the most interesting and important updates to hit the digital world over the last few weeks. Go put on a warm sweater, make yourself some hot chocolate (or a hot toddy – we won’t tell), and check out our top 4 digital updates.
1. It’s a New Year for WordPress
That’s right. WordPress has rolled out its largest update in the past fifteen years: WordPress 5.0. This is huge.
This new version allows for drag-and-drop capabilities on the back end, which means users won’t need to know how to code to create stunning pages.
On the not-so-great side, this wonderful update can go horribly wrong, and has seriously broken some major sites around the world. We highly recommend that you contact a professional to help you upgrade your site. Once you click that button, there’s no going back!
For more about this update, check out our comprehensive WordPress 5.0 blog and our latest podcast episode!
2. Instagram is Facing Feed Flukes
Some of you probably noticed this one. For anyone who uses Instagram, it was hard not to see the huge shift in interface that launched mid-December. All of a sudden, users found the familiar infinite scroll morphed into a story-like, click-to-view set up.
Needless to say, users were not excited about the substantial change, and Instagram rolled it back nearly immediately, calling it a “fluke.”
The only problem? The fluke in question was that everyone saw what was supposed to be a test. Industry experts are expecting this test to continue, which means that Instagram could change to a story-like system very soon.
The downside to this is that users will have to click to view content, which will likely drive down engagement drastically. Who wants to have to click through photos to get their daily dog fix, anyway?
3. Google Says, “Ban It!”
As one of the leading ad platforms, search engines, and browser platforms in the world, Google has a significant say in what can and cannot exist on the internet. This time, Google has decided that it will begin globally banning ads that don’t adhere to the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA)’s standards.
This means that, starting in July, Google platforms won’t show ads that flash, pop-up ads, massive banner ads, and more. The intention behind this ban is reportedly to encourage other ad providers to grow and rethink the way that they deliver content.
There are twelve different kinds of intrusive ads in total that Google will be doing away with. That means you won’t be getting any more prize offers for being the 5,001st visitor to a shady site any time soon.
It also means that if you’re already following best practices, and not leveraging annoying or sketchy tactics, you’re probably okay.
4. Facebook’s Got It Covered
No, literally. Despite all of the controversy surrounding Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s privacy policies, the social media giant has been rolling out some exciting updates for users.
Businesses can now change their cover photos from one static image or a video to a slider. This shows multiple different photos when users click through it, which means a world of possibilities when it comes to marketing. It’s essentially your own, personal, mini billboard.
All of these updates offer some amazing new opportunities for digital marketing. Not sure where to get started? Connect with us to start competing digitally.
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