influencers
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Social media ads for vaping must include nicotine warnings, FTC says
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned a handful of "e-liquid," or vape, companies that they -- and their social media influencers -- must follow the same advertising rules as everyone else. Specifically, ads for vaping products that contain nicotine must include warning labels, as nicotine is an addictive chemical. The FTC and FDA issued letters to four companies stating that posts made by social media influencers must include those same warnings.
Tfue's lawsuit against FaZe has been a long time coming
Turner Tenney is the most popular Fortnite player in the world. He plays as Tfue on YouTube and Twitch, where there's a small red logo for FaZe Clan, the esports organization he signed with in April 2018, built into the border of his selfie box. At 21, Tfue has earned millions playing Fortnite. He has more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.65 million followers on Twitter, where his bio says simply, "Professional athlete."
Unsecured database exposed thousands of Instagram influencers (updated)
A database containing contact information for what was originally thought to be millions of Instagram influencers was reportedly found online, exposing info like phone numbers and email addresses for celebrities, influencers and brand accounts. According to TechCrunch, the database was hosted on Amazon Web Services and left without a password. Original reports claimed it contained as many as 49 million records, but Instagram has since confirmed that the database contained records for about 350,000 accounts.
Instagram lets you buy what Kim Kardashian wears right from the app
With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram sees a major opportunity to disrupt online shopping. And, over the past year or so, the company has been working hard to make shopping a cornerstone feature of its app. Just last month, it started allowing users buy products from a select group of brands without leaving the application, and now it's taking that one step further by opening up these features to celebrities, athletes and influencers. Starting next week, Instagram will make it easy for you to shop looks from your favorite creators: They'll now be able to tag products in their posts, giving you the ability to buy whatever they may be wearing (from apparel to cosmetics) directly from the app.
Patreon’s 3 million supporters are good news for independent creators
Patreon has had one clear goal since it launched in 2013: to help artists, influencers and internet creators make money by letting them offer membership services directly to their fans. And that effort seems to be paying off. Today, Patreon announced there are now over three million people supporting creators on its site, of which there are more than 100,000 to date. What's also notable is that the company was able to accomplish this milestone in a rapid manner, going from two to three million supporters (aka patrons) worldwide in just one year.
Instagram plans to give influencers DM filters and follower stats
Instagram is testing a new type of account for high-profile users (such as celebrities, artists and influencers) that should give them more control over how they use the platform. The so-called "creator accounts" give users direct message filters and stats on their followers.
Influencer Luka Sabbat sued for not shilling Spectacles on Instagram
Luka Sabbat, a social media influencer with 1.4 million Instagram followers, is being sued for failure to, well, influence. According to a lawsuit filed by PR Consulting Inc., Sabbat breached a $60,000 contract he signed to promote Snap Spectacles on -- wait for it -- Instagram. The public relations agency said that, as part of the deal, he was supposed to post three Instagram Stories and one picture on his account. But, as it turns out, Sabbat didn't fulfill his end of the deal: PR Consulting Inc. claims he only made one Instagram story and that the post he put up on his feed wasn't submitted to it for approval.
Creator of doomed Fyre Festival gets six-year prison sentence
Billy McFarland, the founder of the disastrous Fyre Festival from 2017, has been sentenced to six years in a federal prison, The New York Times reports. The 26-year-old was found guilty of defrauding investors, an act he admitted to earlier this year. McFarland told prosecutors then that Fyre Media got $26 million from lenders by lying and forging documents, for what was then billed as "the cultural experience of the decade." As we know now, though, Fyre Festival ended up being the completely opposite of that, leaving attendees stranded at airports and eating sad cheese sandwiches instead of the five-star meals McFarland and his group promised them.
Mental health and the relentless YouTuber life
Jacques Slade was spending a week at the beach recently, away from the internet and his responsibilities as a full-time YouTube creator, where he's about to reach 1 million subscribers. It was supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy life. But being stress free, even on vacation, doesn't come easily for him. Slade, who makes videos about sneakers and technology, said he couldn't fully enjoy it because he was worried about not having anything to post on YouTube when he returned. "I don't have content for the next four or five days," Slade worried. "What's that gonna do to me? What's that gonna do to my bottom line? When I come back, are people still gonna watch my videos?"
Study: Most YouTube influencers still don't disclose sponsored deals
It's been almost a year since the FTC warned social media influencers that they should "clearly and conspicuously [disclose]" if they're being paid for a post or video. But according to a new Princeton University research, most YouTube and Pinterest influencers still don't add proper disclaimers to the content they produce. The researchers analyzed over 500,000 YouTube videos and over 2.1 million unique Pinterest pins from August to September 2017 for the study. They found that 3,472 videos and 18,237 pins in the bunch had affiliate links, but only 10 and seven percent, respectively, contained written disclosures.
Snapchat gives influencers a look at how popular they really are
To date, Snapchat hasn't shown any more data to its biggest users than its everyday audience -- DJ Khaled and Chrissy Teigen probably know as much about their success as you do. That's about to change. The Snap team will offer a wide range of viewer data to the "tens of thousands" of popular users creating official Stories. That includes not only the views themselves (including how many people watched to the end), but demographics like age group, gender, regions and preferred topics. If creators are hip with the teens or have the beauty market cornered, they'll know.
Instagram opens its paid post tools to more 'influencers'
In June, Instagram introduced a new tool that makes sponsored content a little more obvious. The feature allows users posting images and stories that qualify as ads to make that clear right up top with a "Paid partnership with [brand]" tag. That tool was expanded to more users in August and now, Instagram has made it available to users with a high level of engagement and anyone with access to its Insights data -- Instagram's analytics tool for those with a business account. Additionally, those that can use the tool will also begin receiving notifications when Instagram systems detect a post that could be an ad but hasn't been tagged as such.
Social media's biggest stars are launching a streaming service
Three of the biggest social media stars (with a combined 70 million followers across platforms) are launching their own video streaming service, reports Variety. Dubbed "Zeus," the upcoming VOD outlet is the brainchild of Andrew "King Bach" Bachelor (who was Vine's most-followed personality, before the video-looping app went kaput), along with fellow digital celebs Amanda Cerny, and DeStorm Power.
UK watchdog calls out unlabelled Snapchat ads for the first time
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has its work cut out for it as the line between legitimate online content and ads gets ever blurrier. Social media "influencers" regularly flout the rules and despite the sheer volume of posts across different platforms, the ASA occasionally issues slaps on the wrists for offending Tweets and Instagram campaigns. And today, the ASA has wagged a stern finger at Snapchat posts that weren't appropriately labelled as ads for the first time.
FTC warns influencers about relying on Instagram's ad marker
Up and coming social media stars posting sponsored content may want to take a careful look at today's #Influencers101 Twitter chat from the FTC. The agency tried to clarify a number of issues cropping up around promotional material posted to social media, which The Fashion Law has compiled into a more easily-readable Q&A format. One answer that jumps out, however, is a note mentioning that Instagram and YouTube's built-in notification tools may be too subtle for the FTC's liking.
Amazon opens up its 'influencer' program to YouTube stars
Back in the spring, Amazon launched an "influencer program" that let people with large internet followings set up their own storefront for their favorite products -- and earn commission at the same time. Originally, the program was in beta and carefully vetted, but now Amazon has apparently opened things up a bit more, at least for YouTube stars. According to TechCrunch, YouTubers now have their own self-service sign-up page where they can connect their YouTube account and immediately get verified and set up their storefront.
Amazon's new show only exists to sell you more stuff
Amazon is blending commerce and entertainment again with a new show called Overhaul in which YouTube stars makeover their homes with products you can easily purchase on Amazon. The show will be on a special Amazon hub that will give viewers quick access to items featured on the show as well as inexpensive alternatives. "Amazon Home is constantly looking to innovate and find ways to bring our customers inspiration when searching for products," Amazon's director of home innovation, Kristiana Helmick, told Business Insider. "The Overhaul series is a great opportunity to provide our customers with some curation and guidance when searching through our large selection of products and we continue to look for new and different ways to do that."
YouTube stars are blurring the lines between content and ads
Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner are just some of the celebrities under the microscope for using social media to shamelessly plug sponsored products. Advertising without proper disclosures has become a growing problem with influencers that have thousands or millions of followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And it's happening on YouTube as well, where it's often hard to tell whether videos from big-name "content creators" are paid ads or genuine reviews.
Instagram gives social media influencers the benefit of the doubt
The chaos surrounding the cancelled Fyre Festival is a perfect example of how social media influencers can misguide consumers. Instagram users were led to believe they would be rubbing shoulders with supermodels like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid in the Bahamas, after both of them heavily promoted the event on their accounts without ever disclosing they were paid to do so. People who spent thousands of dollars to attend eventually realized this was far from reality. Instead, the promised "cultural experience of the decade" left some stranded at airports. This led to a long list of legal problems organizers have had to deal with since the Fyre Festival was shut down on its opening day in May. Celebrities have been getting away with this type of stealth shilling on social networks for years now, but that may be coming to an end soon -- at least on Instagram.
Engadget Podcast Ep 39: Rip Off
On this episode hosts Dana Wollman and Terrence O'Brien talk about the massive WannaCry ransomware attack spreading across the globe and Caddyshack. Edgar Alvarez stops by to fill everyone in on all the drama around Fyre Festival, Instagram influencers and the FTC. Then Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar check in from Build to give us the low down on Microsoft's plans for the future.
