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Users leave trails of data when they create accounts. Such things like name, DOB, address, etc. Sometimes, companies share users’ data with third-party entities, often without users’ knowledge or consent.

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Social media users' concerns about their privacy have spiked in recent years. Incidents of data breaches have alarmed many users and forced them to rethink their relationships to social media and the security of their personal information. The dramatic story of the consulting agency Cambridge Analytica is a case in point. The firm exploited the private information of over 50 million Facebook users to influence the 2016 American presidential election. This example and others have steadily deteriorated public trust and resulted in many users wondering if they have lost control over their own data. According to a study conducted by the Pew Trust, 80 percent of social media users report being concerned about businesses and advertisers accessing and using their social media posts. These growing privacy concerns have prompted advocacy for tighter regulations. In addition, they have placed companies responsible for safeguarding personal data under greater scrutiny.

Given today's social media privacy issues and concerns, skilled cybersecurity professionals will play a vital role in protecting social media users' data and personal information. Those interested in gaining the expertise needed to launch a career in cybersecurity would do well to consider earning an advanced degree in cybersecurity management.

Learn More About a Master in Cybersecurity Management

Understanding Social Media Privacy Issues

What are social media users worried about? Are their concerns justified? Typically, these concerns stem from the ubiquitous presence of social media in people's lives. Forty-five percent of the world's population uses social networks. That means a staggering 3.48 billion people connect to some form of social media, according to data collected by Hootesuite. These connections can leave users vulnerable in several ways. When personal information falls into the wrong hands, the consequences can be damaging. According to the Pew Trust, 13 percent of Americans have had their social media accounts taken over by an unauthorized user. Such hacks can result in stolen information and forced shares that redirect followers to malware, among other things. In general, social media platforms, which collect and store huge amounts of personal information with limited governmental oversight, serve as attractive targets for bad actors seeking to use that data to perpetrate fraud and theft.

Another rising concern, exacerbated by Cambridge Analytica's breach of Facebook data, centers on how bad actors access private data from social media platforms and elsewhere and use it to manipulate opinions for the benefit of a few. For example, the Russian operation Internet Research Agency is accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential election of 2016 by using social media to spread disinformation that stirred up conflict and distrust.

Threats to Privacy on Social Media

Criminals are adept at tricking social media users into handing over sensitive information, stealing personal data, and gaining access to accounts users consider private. Following are typical social media threats.

Data Mining
Everyone leaves a data trail behind on the internet. Every time someone creates a new social media account, they provide personal information that can include their name, birthdate, geographic location, and personal interests. In addition, companies collect data on user behaviors: when, where, and how users interact with their platform. All of this data is stored and leveraged by companies to better target advertising to their users. Sometimes, companies share users' data with third-party entities, often without users' knowledge or consent.

Phishing Attempts
Phishing is one of the most common ways criminals attempt to gain access to sensitive personal information. Often in the form of an email, a text message, or a phone call, a phishing attack presents itself as a message from a legitimate organization. These messages trick people into sharing sensitive data, including passwords, banking information, or credit card details. Phishing attacks often pose as social media platforms. In August 2019, a massive phishing campaign targeted Instagram users by posing as a two-factor authentication system, prompting users to log in to a false Instagram page.

Malware Sharing
Malware (malicious software) is designed to gain access to computers and the data they contain. Once malware has infiltrated a user's computer, it can be used to steal sensitive information (spyware), extort money (ransomware), or profit from forced advertising (adware). Social media platforms are an ideal delivery system for malware distributors. Once an account has been compromised (often by obtaining passwords through a phishing attack), cybercriminals can take over that account to distribute malware to all of the user's friends or contacts.

Botnet Attacks
Social media bots are automated accounts that create posts or automatically follow new people whenever a certain term is mentioned. A large group of bots can form a network known as a botnet. Bots and botnets are prevalent on social media and are used to steal data, send spam, and launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that help cybercriminals gain access to people's devices and networks.

Social Media Privacy Issues in 2020

The attacks outlined above will continue to pose privacy threats in 2020. In fact, as the 2020 presidential election draws near, these attacks will likely increase. Earlier this year, Politico reported that wide-ranging disinformation campaigns aimed at Democratic candidates had already begun. Attackers employing the same tactics as the trolls from Internet Research Agency are now using social media data to wage a disinformation "war" designed to confuse and polarize Americans. The cyber-propaganda is often disseminated via bot accounts, which use mined data to target preferred audiences. The full impact of social media attacks on the 2020 state, federal, and presidential elections is hard to predict.

Become an Expert in Cybersecurity

The importance of comprehensively addressing social media privacy issues cannot be underestimated. The challenge calls for skilled experts. Going to the next level in cybersecurity management requires the right training from top professionals knowledgeable in the field. Learn more about how Tulane University's Online Master of Professional Studies in Cybersecurity Management prepares graduates to tackle today's serious cybersecurity challenges.

Sources:
Brennan Center for Justice, "Limiting Foreign Meddling in U.S. Campaigns"
Brennan Center for Justice, "Social Media Monitoring"
EO, "How Social Media Networks Facilitate Identity Theft and Fraud"
Forbes, "Instagram Security Warning: Millions at Risk From 'Believable' New Phishing Attack"
Hootsuite, 130+ Social Media Statistics That Matter to Marketers in 2019
The New York Times, "Big Tech Companies Meeting With U.S. Officials on 2020 Election Security"
The New York Times, "How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions"
Norton, What Is Malware and How Can We Prevent It?
Pew Research Center, "Americans and Cybersecurity"
Pocket-lint, "7 Biggest Privacy Threats Online"
Politico, "'Sustained and Ongoing' Disinformation Assault Targets Dem Presidential Candidates"
Tripwire, "What Happens to Hacked Social Media Accounts"
Webroot, "Social Media Malware Is Deviant, Destructive"

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Social Media Privacy Issues for 2020: Threats & Risks

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Social media users' concerns about their privacy have spiked in recent years. Incidents of data breaches have alarmed many users and forced them to rethink their relationships to social media and the security of their personal information. The dramatic story of the consulting agency Cambridge Analytica is a case in point.

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Trump's election as sparked a controversy with Russians hacking and influencing the election. Tons of propaganda began to appear on major social media platforms

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Russia used every major social media platform to try to influence the 2016 US election, a report claims.

New research says YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and PayPal - as well as Facebook and Twitter - were leveraged to spread propaganda.

The report, released today by the US Senate, exposes the scale of Russian disinformation efforts.

Its authors criticise the "belated and unco-ordinated response" by tech firms.

The report was put together by University of Oxford's Computational Propaganda Project and the social network analysis firm Graphika.

It is the first analysis of millions of social media posts provided by Twitter, Google and Facebook to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The report suggests YouTube, Tumblr, PayPal and Google+ were all affected, with Russia adapting techniques from digital marketing to target audiences across multiple channels.

"It's a whole family of social media sites," says Philip N Howard, director of the Oxford Internet Institute. "We think the goal was to make the campaigns seem more legitimate."

The research details a vast campaign spearheaded by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) - a Russian company that has been described by the United States Intelligence Community as a troll farm with ties to the Russian government.

The report says Russia had a particular focus on targeting conservatives with posts on immigration, race and gun rights.

There were also efforts to undermine the voting power of left-leaning African-American citizens, by spreading misinformation about the electoral process.

Another report, also released today by the Senate, by the research firm New Knowledge, similarly highlights Russia's efforts to target African-Americans.

It explains how Russia's IRA were focused on "developing Black audiences and recruiting Black Americans as assets," which included encouraging activists to stage rallies.

One IRA campaign highlighted in the Oxford and Graphika paper, Black Matters US, existed across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr and PayPal. These various accounts would promote each other's posts and events.

When Facebook suspended the group on its platform, the group's Twitter account complained about the move and accused the social network of "supporting white supremacy".

"What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party - and specifically Donald Trump," the report says.

"Trump is mentioned most in campaigns targeting conservatives and right-wing voters, where the messaging encouraged these groups to support his campaign. The main groups that could challenge Trump were then provided messaging that sought to confuse, distract and ultimately discourage members from voting."

While the data used by the researchers was provided by Facebook, Twitter and Google, their findings criticise the "belated and uncoordinated response" from these companies to Russia's disinformation campaign.

The researchers highlight details that could have led internet companies to detect interference earlier, such as the use of the Russian rouble to buy advertisements and internet signatures relating to the IRA's base of operations.

The BBC has asked Russia's Embassy in the UK for comment.

The IRA was among the three companies indicted earlier this year, as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Twelve of the agency's employees faced indictment charges, as well as its alleged financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

"Social media have gone from being the natural infrastructure for sharing collective grievances and co-ordinating civic engagement, to being a computational tool for social control, manipulated by canny political consultants and available to politicians in democracies and dictatorships alike," the report says.

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Russia 'meddled in all big social media' around US election

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Russia used every major social media platform to try to influence the 2016 US election, a report claims. New research says YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and PayPal - as well as Facebook and Twitter - were leveraged to spread propaganda. The report, released today by the US Senate, exposes the scale of Russian disinformation efforts.

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This ties into the aspect of misleading information but not entirely. It's also worth knowing that apps or platforms keep track of activity and interests. A user's feed is fit to attract what the user likes, or has an interest in. This can result with a person not being aware of what is actually  happening.

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Commercial Advertising, constantly evolving through human history through different types of advertising, has now permeated into the social media platforms. Social media channels have provided not only a reservoir of opportunities to the advertisers, but it also acts as a wellspring to social media users to discover more products and services that resonate with their identity. The most popular brands have implemented suitable social media marketing strategies to ensure the most engagement from the user.

Where there are eyes, there will be an advertiser to showcase a product to them. In today's mobile-first world, social media platforms are where most viewers are where most online users can be found. Consequently, brands and advertisers have sensibly invested in harnessing the potential of such digital platforms for lucrative gains.

Social Media Advertising is getting smarter in content as well as the conduct. Yet its success depends upon user patterns and behavior. Hence, it is pivotal to evaluate and study the user preferences to capitalize on the social media phenomenon.

The factor that works advantageously for the advertiser in choosing Social Media is the levels of personalization that these platforms can facilitate.

However, brands and media advertisers mustn't fill up feeds with ads since no user likes such cluttering and might feel bothered with such overflow.

It needs to be understood how and why a particular ad type or a strategy works with the user's that a marketer can implement. Users engage with Social Media since it positively impacts their life and advertisers should learn to leverage and align their methods with this positive onflow.

Thus, advertisers can capitalize on the potential that social media provides with a little help of analytics, imparting creativity, and with a sound understanding of the target market, demographics, and user behavior.

About the Goodfirms' Social Media Ads Survey

GoodFirms surveyed users across the globe to learn about their likes and dislikes when it comes to media advertising on social platforms.

Here is the full list of Research Partners, who helped us garner participants for this survey, and insights for the research.

The survey saw a diversified group of users participating from United States (31.08%), United Kingdom (14.46%), Canada (11.08%), Australia (5.85%), India (3.38%), Ukraine (3.08%), Bulgaria (2.77%), Belarus (2.46%), Romania (1.85%), Singapore (1.85%), and other countries (22.15%).

Where 67.08% of the participants were male, 32.92% were females. Further segregation revealed that 14.46% were GenZ (18-24yrs), 66.77% were Millennials, while 18.77% constituted the GenX age group.

While the participants were mainly asked about their social media platform preferences, further questioning was on the lines of what they feel about the advertisements that they see over these platforms, their relevance, frequency of these ads, and the corresponding actions that they take.

An essential report for digital marketers, the data from this survey can also be used by brand strategists and businesses to learn the behavior and actions of users regarding social media advertising. This research would assist in formulating an approach that best suits social media marketing platforms and helps reach the target audience more efficiently.

The Detailed Findings

Advertising has made its own place within Social Media. Advertising on Social Media is thriving in the modern-day setup. One of the primary reasons it is a flourishing practice is the level of personalization it brings with it.

"Social Media Advertising has today become the most preferred marketing tool. It is one of the most advantageous methods due to its relevance based on user interactions. With the availability of demographics, this has allowed firms & users to increase their conversions and sales." said Brian Yatich, Afritech Media, a Web Design Agency located in Nairobi, Kenya, specializing in creating enhanced brand experiences.

Data is critical in the age of technology, and an analysis of advertisements is valuable for marketers. Without the right set of data, every decision seems complicated, and every human reaction appears to be fickle. However, like every other field, social media promotion also operates within the distinctions of human behavior.

84.31% of the surveyed participants were found to be positively influenced by Social Media Advertising.

However, despite such a favorable crowd, 40.92% of the users were unsure about the relevance of the advertisements being shown to them on social media platforms. Siniša Brčina, the COO at Clover Studio, felt this, and we quote, "What bothers me a lot is presenting the same ads to me even after I bought what I need. For example, I Google for sneakers, ads start showing to me on social media, and then I buy new sneakers, yet, I continue to see these ads. It would be beneficial to solve that case somehow."

There is still a blindside that marketers have to deal with to bring more personalization to the users. This research divulges into user preferences, along with underlining some of the essential aspects such as relevance, frequency, and elicited action.

The Sway Social Media Advertising Has Over the Consumer

84.31% of viewers feel that social media advertising has been shaping their buying decisions.

Social media has become such an integral part of the netizen's life that it has a pull in some or another manner when it comes to the final decisions regarding the purchase of a product. It has already been observed how users believe it has been successful in influencing their buying decisions.

As social media keeps up well with trends along with being an originating point for the same, it allows a vast platform to engage with a broader audience. Through recommendations and shared posts by family and friends, buying decisions are more shaped and persuaded than one could infer. Pack mindedness strongly enhances influence since a product used or purchased by a peer will convince a consumer more to facilitate the decision favorably for the advertisers.

67.38% of social media users are of the opinion that social media influences their buying decisions, and only 16.92% believed it did not.

Millennials (70.51%) are the most influenced, whereas the GenX (57.38%) are the least swayed age cluster.

Females (74.77%) said they are more likely to base their decisions on social media ads than males (64.22%).

More men (20.64%) are unsure than women (9.35%) regarding whether social media had any effect on their conscious purchase decisions.

While the general belief is that social media advertising influences only individual's decisions, marketers are targeting all demographics and areas of opportunity, whether personal or professional. Skela Vokzils, CSPO at The MASCC, shared one such recent experience where social media influenced the purchase decisions at her office. "Recently, we have made a large number of purchases for the development of our office via the Internet. Advertising on social networks strongly influenced the final choice of the supplier company." is what she told us. As we continue to evaluate what drives this influence, we'll try to determine the relevance, trust factor, impressions, and issues regarding the frequency of advertisements on social media.

Relevance of Advertisements on Social Media Is One of the Primary Concerns

1 in every 10 participants disagrees that they get to see relevant advertisements.

The majority of social media users in today's world use 4 social media platforms. When it comes to the relevance of advertisements on these platforms, there is a clear divide visible among the participants.

While assessing the relevance of advertisements on social platforms, users were asked to answer given with three choices: whether they find them completely relevant (agree), completely irrelevant (disagree), or aren't sure (maybe). The number revealed the following divide amongst the participants:

Most users agree (48.31%) that social media ads are relevant, while another substantial group (40.92%) is unsure, while the remaining (10.77%) are left disagreeing strongly.

More of GenZ (61.70%) feel that they see relevant advertising as compared to Millennials (45.62%) and GenX (47.54%).

About 2/5th Millennials (43.78%) and GenX (42.62%) users are uncertain, whereas, while 1/4th (25.53%) of GenZ participants are not sure if the ads they see are completely relevant.

It can be seen that advertising on social media is perceived differently by users of different ages. Identifying and understanding the needs and preferences of individual demographics bring advertisers closer to target in a better way to serve the end-user well. While the inclination among different age groups has been determined, it is important to understand how well different social media platforms are observed in this context.

How Advertisements on Different Social Media Platforms Are Faring in Relevance?

Though one or the other form of advertising is prevalent on all social media, there is distinctiveness in the approach of each platform and in how the audience perceives it. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Twitter are the usual suspects as far as popularity is concerned. These were also the hit choices as far as the relevance of ads shown on these platforms was questioned, as we can see in the results below:

Facebook (59.08%), Instagram (44.31%), LinkedIn (34.46%) fared quite well being the top platforms in terms of most relevant advertisements.

YouTube (24.92%), and Twitter (12.31%) rounded up the top 5.

At 6.15% for Pinterest, 2.46% for Snapchat, and 0.92% for TikTok, users found these platforms scored low on the relevance index.

Evidently, all three age cohorts, GenZ (59.57%), Millennials (59.45%), and GenX (57.38%) favored Facebook as being the most relevant platform.

After Facebook, GenX finds Instagram (34.43%) and LinkedIn (32.79%), Millennials - Instagram (46.08%) and LinkedIn (35.94%), and GenZ finds Instagram (48.94%) and YouTube (34.04%) more popular in terms of relevant ads.

Facebook fares exceptionally well with the men (61.01%) as compared to women (55.14%), whereas it is the opposite with Instagram with more women (50.47%) finding it relevant than (41.28%).

Facebook has remained one of the most popular social media platforms since its inception, and businesses have time and again associated with top facebook advertising companies to leverage its popularity to acquire more customers. Marketers should also explore different types of social media ads to provide more relevant content to the end-user.

Managing Director of SEO Works, Ben Foster, concurs that "Social ads are useful when they are relevant to something you are looking for, or when they show something fun or unique in an engaging way. For example, videos should be considered on social media as it will drive much more traction than standard text/image ads." Hence, through engaging social media video ads and other forms of media, a unique appeal can be generated to attract more impressions and actions.

Advertisements That Call for an Action

Popular culture is having more say in decision-making nowadays. Interests, entertainment, and learnings that a user can acquire from advertisements are redefining the rules of engagement. Best social media ads are those who call to the niche of the individual user and promise to offer an experience. While the mate's rate help wins the percentage game, viewers are now also looking for stories and entertainment to mold their choice, which we can see clearly in the statistics below:

65.23% of users engage with those advertisements that are aligned with their interests, where women (75.70%) are more inclined to engage with such ads than men (60.09%).

Adverts that inform about discounts (50.46%), teach something (50.15%), or that simply entertain (44.00%) also drive high engagement.

After coinciding interests, men (55.50%) prefer those ads that teach something, whereas women (64.49%) are drawn towards those ads more that offer a discount.

GenZ (74.47%) is enticed by ads that coincided with their interests, whereas GenX likes to learn something (63.93%) and be told a story (52.46%).

The Millennials' focus is on entertainment (51.61%) after ads that refer to their interests (67.28%).

Interests are important, but the emphasis should be on whether a product/service is reliable and capable of adding value to life. Though the core focus should be on the quality of the product or the service, consumers tend to base their final decisions on whether the advertisement was able to make a personal appeal to them or not.

To deliver the type of content that drives more user engagement, major platforms make use of data analytics. Nicolas Perret is an industry insider who explains how a tailored experience is provided to the user to influence their actions while also inviting through irresistible promotional offers. He remarks, "Facebook, its ads and its marketplace is the champion social network for targeted advertising. They show lots of ads that appeal to their very personalized content through the use of our search histories, our personal information, and the use of algorithms. The ads aim to make the user click by reacting or by displaying extremely low prices and original and intriguing products." Nicolas is a Project Manager at Sidekick Interactive, a mobile app development company based in Montreal.

Impressions and Actions Drawn By Engaging Advertisements

9 out of 10 female social media users tend to click on an advertisement.

Advertisements target consumers providing an instant or immediate benefit. This entices the consumer to interact with the product in some of the other manner. Different users take different approaches that help them decide in a better manner that if they wish to purchase the product or not.

The social media ads survey explored what users did after watching an advertisement on social media revealed interesting results:

Clicking on an ad (76.31%) is the most common action against an advertisement.

Users are also inclined to learn more about the product/service (53.54%) or the brand (48.00%).

GenZ (46.81%) and Millenials (58.06%) among age groups and females (58.88%) amongst genders think it is better to learn more about the product or the service.

GenX (55.74%) among age groups and males (51.38%) in genders are found to show more interest in the product or the company.

Women (90.65%) tend to click more on advertisements than men (69.27%).

Where men (51.38%) are more interested in searching about the brand, women (58.88%) set out to learn about the product or service.

Among other actions, people start following the brand on social media (24.62%), leaving an impression on the ad (21.54%), going ahead to avail the service (15.08%), where a very few (9.23%) resist taking any action.

Immense intelligence is available in this field, yet close to 1 in every 10 users refrain from taking any action on the advertisement they are watching. "Advertisers are becoming more and more creative when making ads," said Plamen Metodiev, a business developer at Inveitix. He shared that "They are really good to capture your attention in the first 1-2 seconds of the video with something absurd which is cool and sometimes funny, but I still do not buy it if I am not interested in the product/service."

The types of social media ads being broadcasted on social media need to ensure the levels of engagement are high to provide the best ROI for the businesses.

The All-Encompassing Factor - Trust

Social media users engage with different social sites in different respects. Hence, their impression of ads being shown at each platform too differs from one another. With a varying impression, it becomes more crucial to build trust in the minds of the user to elicit a response from the user towards the advertisement.

The GoodFirms study recorded the platforms where users find more ads showing that they can be trusted, and it was revealed that:

Participants rank LinkedIn (41.54%) way up in the trust parameter than Facebook (27.38%), YouTube (21.23%), Instagram (19.69%), and Twitter (10.15%).

Where Millenials (44.70%) put their vote of confidence in LinkedIn, GenZ (42.55%) follow the set pattern of trusting Facebook.

GenX shows a general lack of trust in all platforms with LinkedIn (34.43%) being the exception.

Male users (44.95%) show more trust as compared in females (34.58%) in LinkedIn.

With the exception of men (31.65%) putting more faith in Facebook than women (18.69%), both genders show decreasing trust in other platforms.

For social media users, sites such as Pinterest (3.38%), TikTok (1.23%), and Snapchat (0.62%) are found to be least trusted when it came to ads.

LinkedIn is a community full of professionals who are mostly analytical about their choices. Hence, it merged as a platform to be showing ads that can be trusted. It is in a business's best interest to partner with best LinkedIn advertising companies to explore the means and take advantage of this influence. Though Instagram is one of the most popular platforms today, it is swarmed with influencers trying to get users to buy one thing or the other, and could not make it to the top three. Facebook was able to maintain some level of trust, keeping certain aspects of its advertising relevant.

Users can find their social media feeds cluttered with fetching promotions and offers and it's getting harder and harder to trust these advertisements as happened with Kathryn G. A Web and graphic designer with A Dying Art Company Ltd; she was of the opinion that "I take any advertising with a grain of salt. If a brand is offering something too good to be true, it's because it isn't true."

With a fast-paced life, people turn to the Internet to seek answers, and that is also why people rely on social media ads to find services and products to fulfill their needs. However, if a certain level of trust cannot be developed between the brand and the consumer through the social platform, advertisers would find themselves back to the drawing boards, rethinking the strategy from scratch.

Is Social Media Flooded With Too Many Advertisements?

Close to 7 in every 10 users somewhat feel there is too much advertising these days.

Social Media platforms started as these immaculate digital plazas where people could virtually come to sit, share, and interact - providing a gateway to captivating advertising added to the overall appeal of these plazas. However, there has been a gradual increase in the number of advertisements shown lately.

The participants of the survey were asked to share whether they agree if there has been a rise in the frequency of advertisements on social media, and the results were intriguing:

65.54% of participants agree that there are too many advertisements on social media these days.

Millennials (29.03%) and GenX (27.87%) are in tandem in disagreement, whereas, GenZ (38.30%) disagreed that there is too much advertising.

Women (75.70%) believe there is too much advertising on social media when compared with men (60.55%).

Anthony, the Project Manager at Axora LLC, shared how too much volume of advertisements can also cause trust issues. He said, "Basically I believe that nowadays there are too many ads on the Internet. I'm distracted from my work at times by them, and I do not trust the majority of ads - especially if they are the ads from such businesses like betting, personal growth education, different motivational stuff, easy earning on the Internet and so forth."

We can see how irrelevant advertising and unappreciated frequency of ads can force the user's attention away from the advertising that was relevant and could have brought better engagement.

Are Most Popular Social Networks Following Suit in Terms of Ad Load?

After learning that social media users have a general sense of feeling that there is too much advertising these days, it is essential to determine how much each social platform is contributing to this opinion.

Popular social media sites need to look after their respective ad loads since the target audience does not need much time to build a perception. Here is what the participants had to say about the individual major platforms in terms of ad load:

YouTube (65.54%) here emerges as the platform broadcasting too many ads in which females (73.83%) among genders and Millenials (67.74%) among ages agreeing strongly.

Facebook (52.31%) and Instagram (25.54%), along with YouTube, constitute the top 3.

Amongst the leading platforms, LinkedIn (4.31%) and Twitter (5.85%) are found by people to be showing adverts with an acceptable frequency.

Other platforms such as Snapchat (5.54%), TikTok (4.92%), and Pinterest (1.85%) are also perceived to be showing minimal amounts of excessive advertising.

Nevena Jovanovic is a Digital Media Manager with EtonDigital who said, "I always take a closer look at different ads to see the logic behind them. But, since there are too many ads at the moment, it is becoming increasingly hard for both regular social media users and for advertisers." She also felt that "People are tired of seeing ads everywhere they turn, and it is definitely taking its toll - reach, and engagement rates are dropping very rapidly." The advertisers, too, would need to take care of this since encumbering a social feed might make the user miss the advertisement entirely and would result in zero engagement.

Watching the Same Advert Time and Again Effects Relevance

For an advertisement to be effective, it needs to be registered within the user's mind to enhance the visibility of the product. Thus, an advertiser is right in increasing the number a certain advertisement is played. However, there needs to be a check on the overall volume. Volume can be controlled by targeting specific time periods during the day, along with the type of ads that need to be broadcast for a certain demographic for better results.

YouTube (57.74%) leads the pack that includes Facebook (46.77%) & Instagram (24.31%) in the top 3.

Concerning YouTube, more men (60.55%) believe that the platform shows more repetitive ads as compared to women (51.40%), but when it comes to Facebook, more women (55.14%) think such is the case as compared to men (42.66%).

Twitter (8.62%), LinkedIn (6.77%), Snapchat (4.92%), Pinterest (4.31%), and TikTok (4.00%) are all well south of the 1/10th mark.

GenZ (38.30%) find less repetitive ads on Facebook, but Millennials 47.00%) and GenX (52.46%) find this platform to be showing more repetitive ads.

Though the marketers are aiming to achieve brand familiarity by increasing the frequency of a particular ad, it might pave the way to debilitate the bond between the brand and the consumer.

"Many company's ads are very repetitive. While we know it typically takes multiple touches to convert someone to a customer, those touches need to each be different and unique, not just the same ad over and over," said Tom Davis, Owner & Founder at BrandDad Digital. He also went on to add that, "The best way to do that and sell your product is personalization and being able to sell a solution to a problem, not just a product."

Thus, it becomes essential to rethink the strategy and find novel ways to represent the same brand over again without causing exhaustion in the viewer towards the brand.

Types of Media Platforms Which Are Too Up Close & Personal

Increased user screen time has opened up opportunities to exhibit more products and services on social media. With abundant analysis available combined with machine learning, social media ads statistics help marketers and social media sites to provide potential consumers with the most relevant advertisements. It has been pointed out how ads on social media have built a perception in the minds of the audience as far as trust and engagement are concerned. Based upon ads on social media sites users have seen, please find the statistics below:

At 49.54%, Facebook is considered the most freakishly personalized social networking site in terms of advertisement.

Instagram (28.31%) bagged the second spot, with fewer users believing that it showed eerily personalized content.

GenZ strongly believes that Facebook (61.70%) and Instagram (42.55%) both show commercials of targeted nature.

Men (55.05%) find Facebook to be most personalized, whereas women (41.12%) believe it is Instagram.

Users of all ages and genders agree that Facebook, Instagram, and to some extent, YouTube shows personalized ads.

Less than 10% of participants, for each platform, respectively, believe to see less personal advertising.

Sheena Rijwani had a similar experience during a recent online search. "I was looking at various hotels in the Dallas area, and very quickly, I started seeing so many ads on all my social media platforms, especially Facebook," said she. Sheena is the co-founder and also the COO at SeeResponse, a full-service marketing services agency.

Social platforms, with the aid of data collected from popular searches, help users find the most appropriate product or service. Some platforms have incorporated this tactic better than others and are able to provide more personalized service.

CONCLUSION

Advertisements are lifelines for businesses. Social media is where most viewers are. Hence, advertisers must leverage the opportunity these platforms present. Social channels have been able to capture the buyer's attention in recent times. But encumbering of social media feeds has seen an adverse impact on such advertising strategies.

Though social media users get influenced easily, most actions are entirely driven by human behavior and emotions. Hence, it's best for marketers to ensure they are broadcasting the right product to the right audience, using the right media form in the right frequency.

The correct analysis will help make the best decisions. Learning and evolving with the findings helps formulate the best strategies and tend better to sensitive areas. A balanced approach that takes care of a business's operation metrics and the end-users need is what advertisers need to deliver. If you are in search of such social media strategists, have a look at this GoodFirms prepared list of the top social media marketing companies that can develop strategies revolving around human behavior to help you reach your objectives.

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Social Media Advertising: Must Know User Preferences

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Commercial Advertising, constantly evolving through human history through different types of advertising, has now permeated into the social media platforms. Social media channels have provided not only a reservoir of opportunities to the advertisers, but it also acts as a wellspring to social media users to discover more products and services that resonate with their identity.

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Apps are capable of "shadow banning" other users or people. One's content can be hidden from the public without realizing it.

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By Josephine Hardy|May 9, 2017| Social Media Tips,

A couple of months ago Instagram users noticed that some of their tagged posts weren't showing up on the public hashtag pages - they were able to see their post, but nobody else could.

Source: Petapixel / An example of shadow banning where the photo shows up for the user responsible for posting the photo, but not for anyone else.

What is shadow banning?

Shadow banning, also known as stealth banning or ghost banning, is when a user is blocked from an online community, usually without being notified.

It happens when the community, or social network, detects something unusual in the user's activity:

Binge liking, following & unfollowing (Twitter)

Fake Followers (Instagram, Twitter)

Banned violent/hateful content (All social networks)

Overuse of hashtags (particularly popular ones)

Social networks such as Twitter, and Instagram, are spending a lot of resources on combatting bots and automated tools from gaming their system and destroying the user experience they have created. Sometimes individual users are flagged accidentally, and banned because the algorithm that detects unusual activity suspects a hacker or bot.
How to tell if your account is shadow banned

The social networks are unlikely to tell you that you have been shadow banned unless your account has been suspended entirely. There's also instances where the hashtag itself becomes black listed, and so nobody who uses the hashtag will have their post appear on the hashtag page.

In February, Instagram released this short statement, skirting around the subject of shadow banning:

If your engagement rate starts to go down, or your post doesn't generate the likes you would expect, it might be time to do some detective work. Fstoppers recommends this Instagram shadow ban analyzing tool that checks your account, and posts for a shadow ban. It searches the hashtags you've used to see if they are showing up on the public hashtag landing page. If you're using a lot of hashtags this tool saves a lot of time.
Note: If you publish hashtags en mass as a comment the above analyzing tool will likely say you have been shadow banned. That's because Instagram often blocks popular tags from being overused. Don't worry too much - it doesn't mean your account has been shadow banned, only that your post may not be appearing for those set hashtags.

What to do if you have been shadow banned

Every social network is different when it comes to shadow banning. On Reddit a user might be shadow banned indefinitely simply for publishing self-promoting content. (In which case if you still want to use the network you need to create a new account, and try not to practice the same behavior again.)

If you're an Instagram user the answer is complicated. There's no set rules for removing the ban. But here's some things you can try:

Remove the offending hashtag(s) from your post... if you can guess which hashtag it is that's flagging your account.

Don't use too many hashtags. Be more deliberate in your choices.

Don't use the same hashtags. Again, be more selective in the hashtags you're using.

Contact Instagram: Explain the problems you've been having with your posts and ask them if they can help. Don't speculate or accuse them of shadow banning you.

Are you an influencer?

Acorn, The Influence company is always looking for new talent to join its influencer network. Contact us if you think you have what it takes to work with some of the leading brands in the world.

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Everything Social Media Users Need To Know About Shadow Banning | Acorn | The Influence Company

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By Josephine Hardy|May 9, 2017| Social Media Tips, A couple of months ago Instagram users noticed that some of their tagged posts weren't showing up on the public hashtag pages - they were able to see their post, but nobody else could.

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The social media is a platform where anyone can use it and and upload anything they'd like. A good example are websites especially Wikipedia.

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Day to day activity often includes social media. It also isn't a surprise as to how many people use it. I know some kids who are not even at the age to have social media, using it.

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The share of U.S. adults who say they use certain online platforms or apps is statistically unchanged from where it stood in early 2018 despite a long stretch of controversies over privacy, fake news and censorship on social media, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted Jan. 8 to Feb. 7, 2019.

More broadly, the steady growth in adoption that social platforms have experienced in the United States over the past decade also appears to be slowing. The shares of adults who say they use Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter are each largely the same as in 2016, with only Instagram showing an uptick in use during this time period. (There are no comparable 2016 phone survey data for YouTube, Snapchat, WhatsApp or Reddit.)

Facebook - which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary - remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults in the U.S. Roughly seven-in-ten adults (69%) say they ever use the platform. (A separate 2018 Center survey showed Facebook use among U.S. teens had dropped in recent years.) YouTube is the only other online platform measured that matches Facebook's reach: 73% of adults report using the video sharing site. But certain online platforms, most notably Instagram and Snapchat, have an especially strong following among young adults.

Instagram, Snapchat remain especially popular among those ages 18 to 24

As was true in previous surveys of social media use by the Center, there are substantial age-related differences in platform use. This is especially true of Instagram and Snapchat, which are used by 67% and 62% of 18- to 29-year-olds, respectively.

Particularly for these two platforms, there are also pronounced differences in use within the young adult population. Those ages 18 to 24 are substantially more likely than those ages 25 to 29 to say they use Snapchat (73% vs. 47%) and Instagram (75% vs. 57%).

By comparison, age differences are less pronounced for Facebook. Facebook use is relatively common across a range of age groups, with 68% of those ages 50 to 64 and nearly half of those 65 and older saying they use the site.

Other demographic patterns related to social media and messaging app use are relatively unchanged from last year. Women are nearly three times as likely as men to use Pinterest (42% vs. 15%). Around half of college graduates and those who live in high-income households use LinkedIn, compared with 10% or fewer of those who have not attended at least some college or those in lower-income households. And WhatsApp continues to be popular among Hispanics: 42% use the messaging app, compared with 24% of blacks and 13% of whites. (For more details on social media and messaging app use by different demographic groups, see the bottom of the post.)

Majority of Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram users visit these sites daily

A 2018 Center survey found that some Facebook users had recently taken steps to moderate their use of the site - such as deleting the Facebook app from their phone or taking a break from the platform for some time. But despite these findings and amid some high profile controversies, Facebook users as a whole are just as active on the site today as they were a year ago. Roughly three-quarters of Facebook users (74%) visit the site daily, including about half who do so several times a day. These shares are identical to those reported by Facebook users in the Center's 2018 social media use survey.

Majorities of Snapchat and Instagram users also say they visit these sites daily, though they are slightly less likely than Facebook users to do so. The shares of young adults using these platforms daily are especially large. Roughly eight-in-ten Snapchat users ages 18 to 29 (77%) say they use the app every day, including 68% who say they do so multiple times day. Similarly, 76% of Instagram users in this age group visit the site on a daily basis, with 60% reporting that they do so several times per day. These patterns are largely similar to what the Center found in 2018.

Other platforms are visited somewhat less frequently. Some 51% of YouTube users say they visit the site daily - a slight increase from the 45% who said this in 2018.

Note: See full topline results and methodology here.

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Share of U.S. adults using social media, including Facebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018

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The share of U.S. adults who say they use certain online platforms or apps is statistically unchanged from where it stood in early 2018 despite a long stretch of controversies over privacy, fake news and censorship on social media, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted Jan.

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What is social media?
- websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking