Here’s what really happened on Twitter last week
A couple of Discord messages, some BTC, and a massive Twitter hack?
We’ve sorted through all the info on the Twitter hack last week (turns out there’s a lot). Here is, in a nutshell, what happened last week with Twitter – and what it means for you:
- A hacker, who goes by the name of Kirk – and yes, we’re guessing that’s not their real name – found a way to get access to Twitter’s internal dashboard. According to Twitter, a small number of employees were manipulated into providing their credentials. Kirk began their short-lived reign of terror by selling sought-after usernames, some of which sold for more than $10k.
- Ready to scale up their operations, Kirk set up a shady website, accessed some of the biggest accounts on Twitter, and promoted the fraud. He ended up taking away about $180k worth of BTC.
Kirk, are you reading this? If you are, there are definitely more legitimate ways to make $180k. Maybe try FB Ads?
We’re mostly back to normal now
In seriousness, the aftermath hasn’t been very complicated. Most notably, it seems that a few users are still locked out of Twitter, and Tweet carousels are still missing from Google search. The hack and its aftermath have been a wakeup call for other brands, too.
Even though the whole kerfuffle was a crazy one, there’s always a silver lining. During the hack, verified users were unable to Tweet, and safe to say, it was a glorious few hours for us unverified Twitter users out there – you know who you are.
You can check out a detailed breakdown in this New York Times article.
How to get the ball rolling with ABC Lookalikes
ABC Lookalike features are still fairly new to Facebook, and a lot of marketers are still trying to figure out how to maximize ad spend.
Fortunately, TJ Ferrara just tweeted his guide for getting ABC Lookalikes going. Here’s how to do it:
- Set up a Facebook developer account alongside your business account. On the dev side, create an app in dev mode to be used by a ‘business you own’. This is important for the approval process.
- In your app, you’ll need to ‘Add a Product’ and use the Marketing API. Go through the quick setup and make a sandbox account and generate an access token.
- Fill everything out in the Basic App Settings, and start the verification process. You’ll be taken to Business Manager, where you can complete the verification under Settings -> Business Info.
- This is where things get fun. Either with your script that you’ve crafted from the SDK, or the cURL console function, you’ll need to make sure you’re connecting to the API and getting a permissions error. Don’t try to approve until you get that error. Anything else gets denied.
- You’ll need to submit for pages_read_engagement & ads_management for the approval process. Record a loom explaining the functionality of your app, and increase the font on everything to make sure it’s viewable.
It might sound a little techy, but it’s doable! Go show TJ’s original Tweet some love and check out his full guide.
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The surprising stories data tells us
What’s a deal with a Kardashian worth to a company’s share price?
If you’re a subscriber to Chartr’s free newsletter, you’d know.
Chartr is a newsletter like you’ve never seen before, going deeper than the headlines with data-driven insights.
Chartr’s free 5-minute newsletter is jam-packed with stunning visuals and fresh insights into business, technology, entertainment & politics. Past newsletters have explored:
- Should you really buy stocks after a big market crash?
- What’s the next diet craze?
- How Michael Jordan’s NBA record compares with other greats?
- When are Twitter users happiest?
- Who profits from your morning cup of coffee?
Chartr answers these questions with data and charts.
You can listen to people’s opinions on Facebook groups. Or you can truly understand what’s happening in our world with data. Like you do with your campaigns.
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CONTENT MARKETING
The 64-point checklist to make sure your content takes off
Did you know that before taking off, aircraft pilots use a checklist to make sure that everything is ready for the flight?
That probably makes it a little easier to trust humans to pilot a plane 30k feet in the sky, right?
Same with this newsletter. We have a checklist to make sure everything runs smoothly.
But what about the content you create? Do you have a proper checklist?
If not, Jibran shared a 64-point checklist on Twitter you can use when you create content. And if you already have one, well, we are talking about 64 bullets… We bet there’s something you’ll want to add, such as:
- Don’t forget to estimate the time and cost of your content creation to be within your budget.
- Don’t forget to check out the content of your competitors.
- Don’t forget to define your content’s key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Don’t forget to optimize your media! They should be of high enough quality for at least 5+ years.
- Don’t forget to surprise your audience from time to time. All love novel insights, data, and information.
- Don’t forget to add a hook at the beginning of your content and a call to action at the end!
- Don’t forget to ask for feedback from content consumers that are not your co-workers!
- Don’t forget to send teasers, freebies, and previews to communities and channels where your audience congregates!
- Don’t forget the overall story of your content! Have something more significant to share than one-offs.
If any one of these ten points is new to you, you should definitely check the whole list.
Creating content is a serious affair. Be as meticulous as an airplane pilot!
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
SEO: According to Valentine Pletzer on Twitter, Google is beginning to roll out the tab-helper feature on desktop, which gives users in-depth SERPs for certain topics.
INSTAGRAM: Story text is about to get more exciting! Instagram appears to be testing animated text on Instagram Stories, which varies by font.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Get ready – Facebook, Google, and Apple all announced new emojis in honor of World Emoji Day. Our favorites? Beavers and dodo birds.
YOUTUBE: This study on the top 100 YouTube searches in 2020 sheds some light on what people are searching for on YouTube, and an increasing trend towards music.
SEO: Take a deep-dive into this article from Chris Long on using the URL Parameter Tool for e-commerce SEO.
BRAIN TEASER
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Let’s get cooking!
Let’s be honest: a marketer’s lifestyle doesn’t always lend itself to cooking. Between traveling to meet clients and staying up late to make last-minute changes to ad campaigns, there isn’t always a ton of time to practice your best Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen.
Pinterest’s new Chefs at Home feature is here to change that. As interest in cooking at home continues to rise, some of the world’s favorite celebrity chefs are taking part in a new Pinterest initiative to showcase easy home recipes.
As part of the new series, Pinterest is also donating $300k to the hospitality industry, which has taken a hit due to the pandemic.
We’ve got our eye on Chris Cosetino’s cacio e pepe – what about you?