Brian Meert's Blog, page 118

Authorization to Run Political Facebook Ads: A Timeline

May 18, 2018
Anna Hubbel

Here’s a timeline of the changes in #Facebook political advertising. #facebookads #politicalads #advertising
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Starting this month, Facebook will implement its new authorization process for advertisers who want to run political ads. The company provided a timeline for US advertisers only, with plans to introduce the authorization process to other countries in the future.

The new authorization process prevents the misuse of Facebook for political purposes during the elections. Since the public discovered that Russian troll accounts distributed politically divisive ads during the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook has been revealing other ways its platform has been misused for political purposes, such as in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In response, Facebook has been announcing new ways it plans to crack down on misuse and improve transparency across pages and ads.

The first step of the authorization process has already taken off. On May 7, Facebook required authorized advertisers to label their ads. This means all ads will include a “This is a political ad” label, which advertisers must use to let users know their ad contains political content. Here’s a timeline of the changes in political advertising.

May 22: Political Ads Archive Available to the Public

Although political ads are already being logged into a political ad archive, this archive won’t be available to the public until May 22. Once it’s public, ads in this archive will contain a “paid for by” disclaimer.

May 22: Political Ads Must Have Labels

Advertisers must adhere to all of Facebook’s authorization requirements and include labels on political ads that clearly and transparently indicate that they are political ads.

May 22: Political Ad Labels Become Visible to the Public

Users will be able to see the political ad labels. If a user reports an ad that contains political content but does not have the label, Facebook will review it and, if deemed political, disapprove it and move it to the archive.

May 22: Political Ads Become Publicly Visible in the Archive

Users will be able to see all ads in the political ads archive. All ads include those made since May 7 and going forward. Ads in this archive will be searchable until seven years after creation, at which time they will be removed from the archive.

June 4: Facebook Continues to Review Running Ads

Facebook will conduct an ongoing review to ensure that ads meet the new standards. Advertisers will be advised if their ad does not comply, and they will be expected to recreate it accordingly. Until the ad is changed to meet the new standards, it will simply be disapproved and moved to the political ad archive.

“We’re committed to increasing the transparency of advertising on Facebook,” Facebook’s business team says in its email to advertisers that provides the timeline for the new authorization process. “With your partnership we believe that these steps will help protect the integrity of elections and political advertising on Facebook.”

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How to Download Your Instagram Data and Delete Your Account

May 17, 2018
Anna Hubbel

Suppose you want to take all your Instagram data, delete your account, and save it somewhere safe and accessible. How do you do that? It’s simple.

You don’t have to delete your account to acquire a downloadable archive of your Instagram information. However, you do want to retain the archives to know the exact information Instagram has on your social activity. Either way, it’s nice to have the option to see all your data in one organized place and to delete your account if you decide to end your Instagram relationship.

The Information Instagram Gives You in the Downloaded Archive

Here’s a list of the data Instagram gives you when you download the archive of your information:

All of your phone contacts
Your profile information
Your search history
Your connections and who you follow
Posts you’ve liked
Direct messages you’ve sent
Videos and photos you’ve posted
Stories you’ve shared

According to a CNBC article, when you download an archive of your information on Instagram, data about your interactions with ads on the platform is not included. That doesn’t necessarily mean Facebook doesn’t have it logged away somewhere (it most likely does), but it does mean you are unable to download it.

How to Download Your Archived Instagram Data

To download the data Instagram has stored away about you, here’s what you do.

Step 1: Go to Instagram.com on your desktop and navigate to your profile.

Step 2: Select the gear icon next to the “Edit Profile” button.

Step 3: In the box of options that appears, select “Privacy and Security.”

Step 4: Navigate down to “Data Download.” Select “Request Download.”

Step 5: Enter the email address you want Instagram to send the download link to. Then select “Next.”

Step 6: Enter your Instagram password to verify your request, then select “Request Download.”

It can take up to 48 hours or less than 30 minutes to receive your download link. It all depends on how active you are on Instagram. After you click the link and everything is downloaded, the zip file opens as a folder containing files of photos, Stories, videos, and text formats for data related to searches, settings, messages, etc.

How to Delete Your Instagram Account

Before you get into the groove of getting rid of your Instagram account altogether, make sure you are fully willing to do so permanently because when you delete your account, it is, in fact, gone for good.

If you do decide to delete your account for good (instead of temporarily deactivating it), here’s what you do:

Step 1: Navigate to Instagram’s “Delete Your Account” page. Indicate from the dropdown the reason you are deleting your account.

Step 2: Enter your password to verify your request, then select “Permanently delete my account.”

Now that you have the know-how on how to obtain your Instagram data and delete your account (if you so choose), you have more control over your online presence than you did before.

Before you go on to delete your Facebook account as well, you should first review the seven reasons why you may not want to do that quite yet.

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Facebook Cracks Down on Clickbait and Low-Quality Websites

May 16, 2018
Anna Hubbel

The company has been informing its advertising partners that it’s expanding its efforts to reduce clickbait and misleading links to low-quality websites. These unhappy experiences include ads that lure users with a deceptive headline or link users to a website that does not live up to expectations.

Facebook laid out its plan to reduce links to low-quality web page experiences last year in attempts to improve users’ experiences with the platform. But in light of recent investigations placing the platform in a negative light as far as digital experiences go, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the manipulation of politically divisive messages by Russian troll accounts during the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook is putting its foot down. The company told the AdvertiseMint team in an email that this crackdown is intended to generate and promote more informative, high-quality posts.

Chad Kramer, partner manager for Facebook and Instagram, re-emphasized best practices the company advised last year to avoid clickbait ads and poor website experiences to prevent decreased engagement or ad delivery. Those best practices are as follows:

Avoid a Disproportionate Volume of Ads Relative to Content: This includes advertisements but not legally required disclosures or logins to private content, such as paywalls.
Refrain from Using Pop-Up Ads or Interstitial Ads: These types of ads unpleasantly interfere with the user experience.
Make Sure All Landing Pages Comply with Facebook’s Advertising Policies: Facebook’s Advertising Policies prohibit sexually suggestive content, shocking content, and pages that contain malicious or deceptive ads.
Refrain from Distributing Content That Leads to Negative Web Experiences: Negative web experiences include unexpected content experience and clickbait ad content.

According to Kramer, any content rolled out during the months of April and May directing users to landing pages matching the above descriptions will see reduced distribution or will possibly be disapproved altogether. This crackdown took effect starting April 5 for content containing both clickbait ad copy and substandard web experiences. Starting May 9, however, that crackdown has expanded to content containing either one of these deceptive practices.

Facebook has been giving tough love to advertisers lately, including its decisions to improve its privacy tools and manually review ads with sensitive topics.

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Google Requires Political Advertisers to Provide an ID

May 16, 2018
Anna Hubbel

This month, Google is updating its political content policy and implementing new transparency rules for US election ads. The most noteworthy change is the requirement to provide proof of US identity to ensure there is no unlawful use of Google advertising during US elections. This verification process will take effect starting May 31, 2018.

“To be verified by Google, you’ll have to provide proof of your identity and information about where you’re based, as well as confirm that you’re a US citizen or lawful permanent resident, and are legally permitted to run these ads,” the Google AdWords Team says in an email to advertisers who may be affected.

According to a blog post by Senior Vice President Kent Walker, Google is also requiring advertisers to clearly disclose in their ad who is paying for it. Additionally, over the summer, Walker says Google will release a new Transparency Report with a special focus on election ads.

“This Report will describe who ​is ​buying ​election-related ​ads ​on ​our ​platforms ​and ​how ​much ​money ​is being spent,” Walker explained in his post.

A searchable library is also in the works, which will allow users to locate all election-related Google ads and to see who bought them.

“As we learn from these changes and our continued engagement with leaders and experts in the field, we’ll work to improve transparency of political issue ads and expand our coverage to a wider range of elections,” Walker said in the same post.

This recent advanced focus on election ad transparency online comes in light of discussions about the misuse of the Facebook platform during the 2016 US presidential election. The aforementioned changes by Google resemble those Facebook has made to improve transparency for pages and ads. For example, Facebook too is rolling out a searchable political ads archive this summer that allows users to see the political ads that exist on Facebook and the people who paid for them.

Since Google is not only a social platform but also a search engine experience with limitless uses, the company intends to make the platform secure from every angle, not just advertising.

“Our work on elections goes far beyond improving policies for advertising,” Walker added in his post. “We’re investing heavily in keeping our own platforms secure and working with campaigns, elections officials, journalists, and others to help ensure the security of the online platforms that they depend on.”

Verification appears to be the trending idea for platforms that are trying to boost security. Facebook recently said it will soon require advertisers to verify whether customer email addresses for ad targeting use were rightfully attained.

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What Is YouTube Advertising?

May 15, 2018
Anna Hubbel

Here's everything you need to know about #youtubeadvertising. #youtube #digitaladvertising #googleadwords
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People flock to YouTube on a daily (even hourly) basis to see the next viral video. US audiences aged 18 and over spend, on average monthly, more time watching YouTube than any television network. Those aged 18 to 49 watch more YouTube videos than the top 10 primetime shows combined in the United States, and that’s just on mobile. Users are even more attracted to YouTube because anyone can watch a video at no cost. If this is the case, where does the most popular social video site in the world get its revenue? You guessed it: advertising.

How Does YouTube Advertising Work?

Much like many self-served digital advertising platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, YouTube advertising all occurs online in Google AdWords. You create your videos and upload it to Google AdWords, choosing the ad targeting and placement for your ads. You bid to display the ad, paying any amount that is within your budget. Once viewers watch your ad, you pay. Once your YouTube and runs, you can view the analytics from Google AdWords. You can run, pause, and stop ads at any time.

What Are the Benefits of YouTube Advertising?

Increasingly more small- and medium-sized businesses are taking their advertising to YouTube. In fact, that number has doubled, and it’s not surprising why. There are various benefits of YouTube advertising, all of which circle around to the most important benefit: a huge audience. YouTube ads have the opportunity to appear across a platform that boasts 1.5 billion monthly viewers. Other benefits include the following:

Real-time insights about views
The ability to show an ad before a viral video
Creative freedom for a video ad
Various ad format options
The ability to identify purchase intent
Increased ad exposure through social media sharing
Various audience targeting options

How Do I Start YouTube Advertising?

First, you must create a Google AdWords account and link it to your YouTube account. When doing so, you much choose the general settings of your account, for example, setting your desired daily budget. Next, you must choose the location where you want your ad to appear. You have the options country, region, city, ZIP code, and IP address.

To run an ad, you must select a video from your YouTube account to promote. When creating your ad, you can choose your targeting options, including device type, demographics, and keywords. After you’re done, you can submit the video ad to YouTube.

Types of YouTube Ads

Often before, during, or after viewers watch a video, they will have to watch a video ad. The ad could be a TrueView In-Stream Video that plays automatically or an Overlay Ad that hovers unobtrusively at the bottom of the video screen or a Discovery Ad that appears within the search results. Whatever the format, ads appear everywhere on the platform. There are a few types of YouTube ads available.

TrueView In-Stream Video Ads: These ads appear on YouTube watch pages, videos from partner sites, and apps in the Google Display Network. They can be no longer than three minutes in length and have the “Skip ad” option after about five seconds. TrueView in-stream ads can play before, during, and after videos. They’re particularly great for creating buying intent.

 

TrueView Video Discovery Ads: Appearing as a thumbnail image, these ads appear on video search results, alongside YouTube videos, and in the YouTube mobile homepage. This format is great for product and brand consideration.

Bumper Ads: An unskippable ad, this format is less than six seconds long and plays before, during, or after a video. Bumper ads appear on YouTube videos, videos on partner sites, and apps on the Display Network. This format is particularly great for brand awareness and reach.

Non-Skippable Video Ads: The least popular format among YouTube users is the non-skippable video ads. Before users can view a video, they must watch the non-skippable ad for the entirety of its 15- to 20-second duration. However, if created uniquely and captivatingly, these ads can be greatly beneficial when you want to ensure that viewers receive your message from beginning to end.

Overlay Ads: Ads in this format can be as simple as a basic text or as colorful as an image complete with a logo and slogan. Overlay Ads appear as a small banner across the bottom of a video screen with the option to either close the ad out of view or click it to be directed to your website. Viewers can still watch their video, as these ads are very unobtrusive. Overlay ads are great for directing web traffic when you don’t necessarily need or want to create a video ad to do so.

Cards and Sponsored Cards: Similar to Overlay Ads, Cards subtly display while the viewer’s chosen video continues to play in the background. Unlike Overlays, Cards appear as small, interactive call-to-action buttons that only expand when clicked. Sponsored Cards are even less intrusive, displaying simply as a small information icon in the top right corner of the video screen. You can also choose to have call-to-action text appear when the icon hovers over. When viewers click the “i” icon, ads chosen by you appear, directing to the landing pages of your choice when clicked.

Whether you realize it or not, TrueView ads are the ones you probably see the most. These are typically the in-stream video ads that play for a few seconds before a button appears that says “Skip ad.” They also come in the form of Discovery Ads, which are thumbnail images (more on that later). One of the best parts about TrueView ads is you only have to pay when viewers watch your ad for at least 30 seconds or if they click on the ad.

Types of Ad Targeting Options

As with other forms of social media advertising, there are multiple targeting options to choose from so you can reach your target audience with your YouTube ads.

Demographics: Target users according to their age, gender, parental status, or household income.

Interests: Target users already interested in certain topics, users that are more tailored to your brand, users that like products and services similar to yours, and life events.

Video Remarketing: Target users that have interacted with your business’s videos in the past.

Placements: Target other YouTube channels, videos, apps, websites, and placements within those websites.

Topics: Target specific topics on YouTube and the Google Display Network.

Keywords: Target specific keywords related to a YouTube video, YouTube channel, or website.

Give careful consideration to which targeting options will deliver the best results for your company. You may also benefit from testing different targeting options and observing the results of each to better inform your campaign.

What Do You Need to Advertise on YouTube?

Getting started in YouTube advertising is simple. The number one thing you will absolutely need is a Google AdWords account and, of course, a YouTube account. Once you have these two prerequisites, all you need is the following:

A skilled video creation team (or person, depending on the size of your business or your creative needs)
Familiarity with YouTube’s video specs
A computer with plenty of storage for your video ads and any complex graphics (e.g., company logo)
Someone to monitor ad insights (to measure the success of your campaigns)
A budget dedicated to YouTube advertising
Compelling and effective ad copy or scripts

You will also want to become familiar with YouTube’s Terms of Service to ensure that all ads you put out there are in compliance. You wouldn’t want your video ad removed because you violated the platform’s terms.

Tuft & Needle’s founders (from left to right) Daehee Park and JT Marino. Photo courtesy of Pheonix New Times
A YouTube Advertising Success Story

The mattress company Tuft & Needle, which started with just two best college buddies, used YouTube videos to market its brand. The company used a compare-and-contrast approach to demonstrate the high quality of Tuft & Needle mattresses. The company says video ad targeting made it easier to reach customers most likely to buy their product, based on things like website visits or “best mattress” word searches.

“We’ve definitely seen an impact with YouTube,” Tuft & Needle founders Daehee Park and JT Marino say in their YouTube testimonial. They began with just $6,000 but earned $100 million in sales. “Starting on a budget of just $50 to $100 a day, we now dedicate half of our Google advertising to YouTube—it gets results,” the testimonial concludes.

It will be daunting at first, putting your creations out into the big, wide world of YouTube. But if you’re willing to put your creative capabilities to the test, it will be well worth it.

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How to Create a Snapchat Ad the Easy Way

May 14, 2018
Anna Hubbel

Create a @snapchat ad in 3 easy steps. #digitaladvertising #snapchatads #snapchat
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Photo Courtesy of filecluster

If you have a phone, you can make a Snap ad. It’s that simple.

Snapchat for Business recently published a short YouTube video that gives the simple step-by-step steps for making a Snap ad with the new Snap Publisher tool. And yes, as long as you are in legal possession of a phone or mobile device where you have the Snapchat app and a Snapchat account, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

If you’re hesitant about advertising through Snapchat, I strongly advise that you overcome your skepticism quickly and give it a go. Snapchat has become one of the most popular social media apps amongst Millennials and Gen Zs. It’s fun, spontaneous, and addictive. You can start with a simple Snap ad to test the waters, and then if you like what you see (i.e., your ad drives great results for your campaign), you can explore other products Snapchat has to offer.

So how do you get started?

Step 1: Think of Your Message

When creating your message, make sure it is concise, clear, and to the point.

It should be concise. Your audience isn’t going to sit through your bumbling attempt to convey your message. You need to get your message across succinctly, avoiding wordy, confusing verbiage.
It should be clear. Your audience shouldn’t wonder what your ad is about. Keep it simple and obvious.
It should be to the point. This element goes hand-in-hand with the first two. Get your point quickly in the ad, and don’t make your audience guess what it is. Frankly tell them what you want them to know.

Step 2: Record Your Ad Using Your Phone

Now we’re getting to the good stuff! When you have your idea, you can record content for your Snapchat ad. To begin, you must open with a hook. This is where you demonstrate your unique value to consumers. These first few seconds are crucial to holding your audience’s attention.

Don’t worry about recording a polished video. Instead focus on creating an ad with a clear message, an ad that you would want to watch on your phone.

Step 3: Open Snap Publisher on Your Computer

First things first: Before you throw your hands in the air and say “I’m out,” you’d probably like to know that Snap Publisher is free. That’s a relief, am I right?

Snap Publisher is a new tool that gives you Snapchat-tested templates designed with your campaign objective in mind. It allows you to easily and creatively experiment with different ideas in a matter of minutes.

Once you opened Snap Publisher, you can embellish your recording with graphics and text.

Once you finished decorating your Snap ad, you can run it immediately on Snapchat with Ad Manager. At this point, there are just three things left to do:

Set your budget
Choose your audience
Go live

Boom! You’ve launched a Snap ad campaign. If you decide you like this type of advertising, you can explore other Snapchat advertising products, such as Deep Links or the Snapchat Pixel.

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6 Steps to Hosting a Successful Instagram Contest

May 13, 2018
Carolyn Wilman

One of the best ways to garner engagement on any channel is a sweepstake. When executed properly, your followers and fans will spread your message far and wide, consequently increasing brand awareness and social followers. Here are the six steps you need to take to ensure your Instagram contest is a success.

Step 1: Have a Goal

Why do you want to host a giveaway? What do you hope to achieve? What results do you expect? Do you want to increase social followers, garner engagement, get brand recognition, or promote a new product or service? Your answers will determine the steps you will take to reach your goal, shape the promotion, and find the actions you need to take afterward.

Step 2: Plan It Out

Have you ever shown up at the airport, plunked down your credit card, and said, “Book me on the next flight south”? You don’t do it. You have too many moving pieces in your life: money, time off work, sitter for the dog and kids, neighbor to get the mail. You plan your vacations so when you go, it’s a success.

Marketing is no different. You don’t come into the office in the morning and decide to launch a major campaign by lunch. You know if you did that, the campaign will fail. Instead, look at your goals and create a plan around them. No successful giveaway was ever created on a whim. Even flash giveaways are pre-planned.

Step 3: Have Official Rules

Did you know the official rules are a court actionable, legal and binding contract between you and the entrant? Did you know a poorly executed giveaway could cost you more than just legal fees if things go awry? Include a shortened version of the rules and a link to the full official rules in your post.

When writing your official rules, make sure to include information about eligibility, the start and end date of the contest, and any other requirements such as how the prize will be given to the entrant or how the entries will be judged. Here’s an example of a short contest rule:

The winner will receive one (1) $50 Amazon gift card. Open to residents of the United States and Canada. Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 5, 2018.

Step 4: State the End and Start Date of Your Contest

Like New Year’s resolutions, your marketing and social media planning should begin in January. Because social media is a fast-paced platform, do not host long giveaways. I recommend no more than two weeks for any social sweepstakes.

When creating your contest, make sure to explicitly state when the contest starts and ends. I constantly see users on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram asking sponsors when the contest ends.

You can avoid confusion by writing clear contest rules. If your rules are clear and easy to understand, the contest will be easier to manage. Plus, you will avoid fielding questions from confused entrants or receive entries that don’t properly match your entry requirements.

Step 5: Be Consistent

Consistency is key in marketing messaging. You do not what any part of the message to be disjointed. When planning out your contests, ensure there is a flow between one promotion and the next.

When people see consistency, they feel they can rely on you. Think of your friends. Who can you rely on no matter what? Why? They have offered you a constant stream of support over time. Now think of the flaky person you know. Would you call on them? No. Why? Exactly. Do not let your marketing present you as the flaky person on your Instagram contests.

Step 6: Announce Winners Publicly

If you don’t announce your winners publicly, your prospective entrants may feel a bit leery to enter your next giveaway. They may even start to think it’s a scam. Announce your winners publicly because it gives you something else to post, and participants may not read the announcement if you post it in the comments section. Additionally, a separate announcement reinforces your message and publicizes you. Plus, if you use new hashtags for each post, you could attract new followers outside of what you perceive to be your target market as you will appear in different recommendations under Search.

Creating an Instagram contest requires advance planning. If you provide consistency, honest contest rules, and winner announcements, your contest will be successful.

About the Author

Carolyn Wilman (aka @ContestQueen) is a digital marketing strategist and sweepstakes specialist. She works with companies to create and viral market winning promotions, maximizing their ROI and increasing their loyal customers while teaching others how to find, organize, enter, and win giveaways.

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Why Can’t I Edit or Create Facebook Ad Campaigns?

May 11, 2018

Anne Felicitas

If you find yourself, to your utter surprise and horror, unable to create or edit a campaign, do not be alarmed. Well, perhaps you should be alarmed, but take comfort in the knowledge that this event is not an unanticipated glitch. In fact, this day was predicted to come since March.

A little over a month ago, in an attempt to abate the public anger stoked by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook announced that it will stop giving advertisers access to third-party data. With this new ban, Facebook deprived advertisers of information provided by data brokers, information which includes numbers of credit cards owned, household income, and items bought at a store, among numerous others.

“Over the next six months, we will remove the ability to use Partner Categories,” said Chad Kramer, a Facebook representative in an email statement sent in March. “While leveraging third-party data is a common industry practice, and we’ve put good protections in place, we believe this step will help improve people’s privacy on Facebook.”

Since May 10, advertisers—and you— have been unable to create or edit campaigns with Partner Categories built on audiences from the UK, Germany, and France. However, those ads will still run until May 24.

So if you’re in any of the three aforementioned countries, and you’re running ads using Partner Categories, or third-party data, you can bid adieu to those campaigns. They may still run until May 24, but, since yesterday, they are unalterable. The best you can do is run them until their time comes.

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Snapchat to Test Non-Skippable Video Ads

May 11, 2018
Anne Felicitas

@Snapchat to test non-skippable video ads. #socialmedia #advertising #digitaladvertising
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In an attempt to increase ad revenue and restore investors’ trust, Snap Inc. will test non-skippable ads in its app, Snapchat.

As reported in Digiday and three other sources, Snap Inc. will test six-second, non-skippable ads in select TV-esque Snapchat shows. Starting May 15, these non-skippable ads will appear in five-minute shows produced by companies such as NBC Universal, Viacom, and Turner.

Despite all of its efforts, launching brand-friendly features and different advertising tools, Snapchat has been unable to increase ad revenue, disappointing advertisers and investors who closely monitor the app’s progress. In its most recent failure, Snapchat faced user backlash after rolling out a redesigned version of its app.

Although the non-skippable ads may attract advertisers, it may also further push away users who are unaccustomed to ads in their Stories. However, Snapchat representatives are confident that the ads will persevere, noting that “so much of the Snapchat generation has gotten accustomed to watching ads to get content.”

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Congress Releases All Russian Ads Circulated in Facebook

May 10, 2018
Anne Felicitas

Congress finally releases all of the fake Russian ads promoted in Facebook #fakenews #russianads #2016presidentialelection
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Eight months after the demands of an angered public, Congress finally releases all of the politically divisive Facebook ads the Internet Research Agency disseminated during the 2016 US presidential election. The hefty files, which contain thousands of ads from fake Facebook pages, date back from 2015 to 2017.

A few of those pages posing as US organizations included Black Matters, LGBT United, L for Life, Being Patriotic, and Born Liberal. These pages often promoted posts that discussed politically divisive issues such as LGBT rights, Black Lives Matter, gun rights, and immigration.

In one ad, Being Patriotic, a right-leaning political group, argued for people’s right to possess Confederate flags during a time when the ownership of Confederate memorabilia was heavily debated.

“Do not ban American history.” The red caption rested underneath an image of the American and Confederate flag crossing over a bloody United States. The relevance of the ad showed the Internet Research Agency’s keen knowledge of American culture and attitudes.

Being Patriotic promoted an ad about a controversial topic.

In another ad by Black Matters, the Russian-ran Facebook group featured victims of police brutality. “Keeping an eye on our brother’s [sic] cases and much more,” the ad said.

Because the Russian ads collectively appealed to both sides of the political spectrum, it is clear that the Internet Research Agency was attempting to intensify the divide between the political left and right. However, not all ads were political. Black Matters, for example, published an ad that quoted the song “California Love” by 2Pac and Dr. Dre. L for Life, too, posted apolitical content, in one occasion promoting a cat meme and in another a cityscape seemingly taken from Google images.

Black Matters poses as a US-based group promoting civil rights.

Apart from ad ID, landing page link, and ad targeting, Congress also released information about the ads’ performance—impressions, clicks, and total spend—giving the public an idea of the ads’ scope and influence. Some ads weren’t influential at all, garnering no impressions or clicks. Others, such as the aforementioned ad by Black Matters garnered 2,740 ad clicks.

Facebook first announced the dissemination of fake ads in September 2017. After the resulting backlash, the social media company implemented changes to prevent future foreign interference by increasing transparency for pages and ads, requiring political advertisers to verify their identities, and including an About feature for all articles posted in its platform. Despite its efforts, the public is not yet ready to forgive, especially after journalists revealed that Cambridge Analytica harvested personal information from 50 million Facebook profiles.

The ads Congress provided are only the tip of the iceberg. Soon, Congress will release 80,000 organic content posted by the Internet Research Agency.

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