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July 2019.

It’s been a bumper month for social media platform owners with Facebook, Twitter, Snap, Alphabet (YouTube) and Microsoft (LinkedIn) all posting better than expected quarterly results. At the same time, Facebook was fined a record $5billion for violating consumers' privacy and the US justice department announced an antitrust review of Big Tech. Unfettered growth is finally being reined in. As social media users, we’ll no doubt see improvements. As marketers, we may be frustrated! Here are July's top stories.

5 ways to build social media engagement

Instagram's experiments with hiding "likes" encourage users to find other ways to engage. Here's how to make the most of this new reality. (My blog)

Why Heck Sausages caused a Twitter storm

Yorkshire-based Heck Sausages invited Boris Johnson for a photo shoot so they could feature in the local paper. They didn't tell their Twitter followers. The backlash showed why joined-up comms are so important. (PRWeek)

I nstagram has a new plan to fight bullies

The photo-sharing app has released two features to curb bullying: a warning when you try to post an abusive comment, and a ‘Restrict’ function. (TNW)

Pinterest introduces "compassionate search"

Tech giants are under pressure to temper users' addictive behaviour. Amid growing concerns for mental health, Pinterest's new feature is timely. (Wired)

Was Twitter's retweet button a bad idea?

Chris Wetherell led the team that built the retweet button in 2009. The button is now fundamental to Twitter, but Wetherell says it’s time to fix it. He says social media is broken. And the retweet is a big reason why. (BuzzFeed)