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T witter Location, Pepsi’s Error? and Mastodon

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Nick Cotton Apr 7, 2017

Here’s the news we’re talking about around the Zbra Studios water cooler. We’ve provided key bullet points from each article for the speed readers out there. For those looking to dig in, click on the links for the full story.

Twitter lets brands use location data in direct messages
By KEN YEUNG from VentureBeat
  • “Within direct messages, businesses can now ask for or share location data, which should help guide people to nearby retail stores. This feature is available through Twitter’s developer program to partners offering customer service tools for brands.”
  • “The entire process is by permission only, and users have complete control. “
  • “Support for location data comes days after Facebook announced that live location could be shared with friends and contacts within its Messenger app. But unlike Twitter, Facebook allows this information to be available for up to an hour. Twitter did not specify how long the location data would be accessible.”
Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad: Mistake or subversive strategy?
By Jessica Roy from LA Times
  • “Despite the millennial-friendly motifs, the commercial’s unveiling didn’t play out well on Twitter, where it was roundly scorned — including by Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter — and subjected to Photoshop mockery.”
  • “That was followed by a conspiracy theory: Did Pepsi do this on purpose?”
  • “He estimated that Pepsi has gotten somewhere between $300 million and $400 million in free media coverage out of the controversy.”
A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the hot new open-source Twitter clone
By Megan Farokhmanesh from The Verge
  • “Mastodon is a fast-growing Twitter-like social network that seeks to re-create the service’s best parts while eliminating its whale-sized problems.”
  • Motherboard has an excellent deep dive on Mastodon that discusses how the service works, and how it’s a ‘Nazi-free zone.’”
  • “Mastodon has yet to establish its personality, and it seems like its culture may depend on which instance you call home. If you’re not looking to outright replace Twitter, or are interested in helping a community expand, this platform is for you.”

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