Author Archives: Greg Hine

Rogue Twitter Employee Deactivates President Trump’s Twitter Account

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Trump’s account disappeared at around 6:45 p.m. ET Thursday, when visitors to the page were met with the message, “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!”

By 7 p.m., it was back, and the Twittersphere began joking about the short-lived window of history without @realDonaldTrump.

“The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored,” the statement read. “We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again.”

But two hours later, the company admitted that the deactivation wasn’t an accident at all: A preliminary investigation revealed that the account was taken offline “by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day.” Twitter said it was conducting a full internal review.

Early Friday, Trump blamed a “rogue employee” for pulling the plug.

Why it’s hot!

  • Social Media security is always a priority for brands but incidents like this prove that there is always an element of control that is missing.
    • While most community management teams employ strict security protocols, there was no way to prevent this from happening on the brand’s side.

Instagram SUPERZOOM

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The world of social is an ever-changing landscape with various platforms trying to beat each other to market with new functions in hopes that they’ll drive more daily uses of their platform. Instagram’s latest attempt on that front is SUPERZOOM. It is especially important for Instagram to invest in new Instagram Story functions as a way to keep up with its arch nemesis – Snapchat.

Superzoom enables users to zoom in on a single object in a video, with dramatic music in the background, and create three-second Superzoom videos

Why it’s HOT

  • While this may seem like just a small update, the introduction of new functions can help to keep users engaged on the platform.
  • Instagram found a way to tap into a user behavior that they were seeing and leverage for a new function.

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Diversity in Advertising – Does it count if it’s not sincere?

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Diversity and Inclusion, specifically with regard to race, is increasingly becoming a top of mind consideration for brands as our melting pot of a country continues to diversify. Additionally, sensitivities around race and ethnicity are extremely high and brands must be cautious whenever launching any D&I initiative.

Gucci recently launched its pre-fall fashion week campaign on Instagram. It’s a series of audition videos that features ONLY black talent.  This is a pretty clear and stark change for the brand as it typically only ever features one token(or two) black model among a larger white troupe.

While the campaign itself is a noble effort, publishers are questioning the motives behind the initiative. Is Gucci making this move because this is a part of a creative vision? Or are they just another brand trying too hard to be diverse?

Why this is hot:

  • Diversity is important for all brands trying to be relevant in the social space.
  • Brands have to be genuine when making strides to becoming more diverse.
  • People just want to see representation among the larger group so D&I campaigns aren’t always the answer. There’s a happy medium and it’s our responsibility as marketers to find it for our brands.