Every two weeks, Vanguard distills hundreds of digital media headlines into the best “byte”- sized pieces of useful information. Each edition has news ranging from the latest Facebook algorithm changes to best practices for email marketing. Share Digital Bytes with your organization to keep your digital strategies ahead of the pack.

Digital Bytes

As an (old) millennial, I personally cannot wait for the chatter about us to dwindle and move on to Gen Z. If you have some time, read Snap’s report on Gen Z for information about how this generation uses social media with a mobile-first, storytelling mindset.

In Other News …

• With the understanding that virtual assistants pose a new frontier with privacy concerns and a handy $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, a team at Stanford is trying to build a virtual assistant that won’t funnel all your data to a tech monopoly like Google or Facebook.
• Next week, Facebook is expected to make a big announcement by launching its own cryptocurrency. With backers like Uber, Mastercard and PayPal, it has the potential to transform the way online purchasing is conducted (*gulp*).
• In other Facebook news, the site is currently grappling with how to handle fake video content. After refusing to remove a heavily doctored video of Nancy Pelosi, a group of British artists created a fake Mark Zuckerberg video in a sign of protest.
• Thought you were the only one? Mary Meeker’s internet trends report shows that the vast majority (88%) of people use a second device (e.g., a smartphone) while watching television.
• Unless you are in the gaming community, you may not be aware of Twitch, which is a hugely popular live streaming platform for gamers. Recently, publishers like The Washington Post and BuzzFeed have started using the platform with mixed results. While publishers being active on Twitch is in its infancy, nonprofits and smaller organizations may soon join in to reach Twitch users that are predominately males between ages 18 and 34.

Fun Resources

• So you created an Instagram account — congrats! Now what? Read this article from Animoto about how to prioritize Feed vs. Stories content.
• Yikes! According to a new Sprout Social report, brands are seeing meager engagement rates on Facebook (0.09% per post) and only slighter better on Instagram (1.60% per post). What to do? Revamp that content strategy! Here are some tips from HubSpot.

Finally …

Calling all art enthusiasts! Artificial intelligence is being brought in by historians to solve some long-standing mysteries in the art world. Read the article in Nature to learn how this technology can be used to avoid biases and human preconceptions in the art world.