Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Joe.
1. Evil Facebook
Another bad week for Facebook as a Wall Street Journal article reported on how toxic Instagram is for teenagers and how Facebook is very aware of the damage that the platform is causing to many youngsters.
The WSJ article needs a subscription, but the negative conclusions of the report are:
- Instagram make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.
- Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression. This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.
- Social comparison is worse on Instagram than on TikTok and Snapchat.
- The Explore page, which serves up photos and videos curated by an algorithm, points users toward particularly problematic content.
- More than 40 percent of Instagram users who reported feeling “unattractive” said the feeling began on the app.
- Sharing or viewing filtered selfies in stories made people feel worse.
- Because Instagram is built to share “only the best moments” and perpetuates “pressure to look perfect,” teens are sent “spiralling toward eating disorders, an unhealthy sense of their own bodies, and depression,” according to March 2020 internal research.
- While teen girls are notably suffering, Facebook’s research shows that 14 percent of boys in the U.S. said Instagram made them feel worse about themselves. And 40 percent of teen boys experience negative social comparison.
Not exactly a positive review of the impact of Instagram on the wellbeing of teenagers. The most damaging aspect? The fact that Facebook is very aware of the damage and is ultimately putting profit in front of the mental health of millions.
Currently developing an ‘Instagram for Kids’ version of the platform for those under the age of 13, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed, at a March 2021 congressional hearing, that, “The research that we’ve seen is that using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental health benefits”. As the WSJ piece highlights, this is far from unanimously true for all teenagers.
2. Really?!!!!
I don’t really know why, but I used to have a bit of a soft spot for Prince Harry.
Note the use of past tense as, to be honest, he now strikes me as a fairly idiotic character who seems hellbent on a very selfish lifestyle. I was therefore bemused to see the following news this week:
"In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know. They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle," writes @chefjoseandres #TIME100 https://t.co/2Cg39BKj1B pic.twitter.com/FhFmAW9UH1
— TIME (@TIME) September 15, 2021
Not only was I scratching my head about what the word ‘opine’ meant, I simply could not believe how Time can declare that they run towards the struggle!
Errrr, is this not a Harry who has shown a total lack of compassion to those closest to him (his family) and fled the UK to a celebrity life in California? I would agree that they do opine (endlessly!) but I cannot say that I share the respect that Time is giving them. Judging by some of the comments in the Twittersphere, I am not alone.
3. Improved competitor insights on LinkedIn
There is some welcome new functionality on LinkedIn that gives you a much better view of what your competitors are up to on LinkedIn. It is rolling out in the analytics tab of company pages:
I have only just started playing with it, but it looks good. You can choose which competitors you want to benchmark yourself against but then get a much better understanding of how you are all doing at attracting new followers on the platform and how well particular content is performing.
Definitely one to try out if you manage a company page on LinkedIn.
4. A storm in a tea cup
In my humble opinion, biscuits are made to have with a cup of tea.
They are also extremely controversial if this week’s social storm is anything to go by. Macmillan Cancer Support published the following ‘research’:
We've rated the nation's most loved biscuits, so you don't have to… ?#MacmillanCoffeeMorning pic.twitter.com/EVGcXkrGKY
— Macmillan Cancer Support (@macmillancancer) September 15, 2021
Cue a predictable outpouring of rage from the Twitterati as arguments raged over which biscuits are best. As pointed out above, I personally feel that biscuits are a cup of tea’s natural bed partner and have to agree with those that question the inclusion of Weetabix. Certainly not the first choice for this particular Joe….
What is certain is that Macmillan did a good job of triggering reactions from thousands and I expect the engagement metrics of this campaign will be smashing targets.
5. And finally…
We have a very unofficial tradition of sharing cat and dog photos in My Five posts.
I want to break with tradition today, but couldn’t resist sharing a Tweet that brought a smile to my face this week:
Good morning world ??
Happy Thursday ? pic.twitter.com/9b3Owec7wB— Uli Schorer (@USchorer) September 16, 2021
Thank you Uli for brigtening up my Thursday :-)
Have a great weekend everyone.
