In this weeks Canonical Chronicle we talk about Chrome Blocking push notifications by default. The original use case for browser push notifications was for services like calendars and instant messaging to act more like an all encompassing web app. However, as per usual, marketers have abused it and started to use it for advertising and highjacking your web surfing for more traffic. We also discuss the implications of Duck Duck Go being the main default search engine on all android phones after an EU ruling that Google could not offer them selves as the default search engine out of the box. Also in digital advertising news we look at the new Facebook desktop design and the new ad Formats that Twitter are now offering.
We discuss:
– When it comes to Google and antitrust, the EU are like–
– Our survey said! That’s right, they have levied the biggest fine ever on them, due to antitrust practices. That’s right, the EU have been like–
– 100 billion dollars!
– Now, five billion dollars to me and you is probably a lot of money but for Google, it’s literally a week’s operating capital. When they hear the fine, they were sitting in the office and they were going like–
– What I call them, fun coupons, you hear that?
– So, what is all this stuff over this time? Well, usually when you put Android on a phone, you’re using Google as default for absolutely everything. Watch a video, Google, get directions, Google, get every data point about your person violated, Google. Do a search, it’s now DuckDuckGo. The EU ruled that it cannot set itself as a default search engine inside of Android. So, DuckDuckGo have outbid Bing and a bunch of other providers to be the default search operator on Android, I can’t believe it’s a thing. It’s gonna be interesting to see if these changes actually changes search behavior of people in the EU, as people get more concerned about their kind of privacy-based searching. Now, I love a conspiracy theory and I have many a tinfoil hat moment, much like this internet nutter.
– I don’t like ’em putting chemicals in the water, they turn the frigging frogs gay.
– But to be honest, Google is the better search engine. Like, search needs information about you to make the results better. Now, talking about frogs, I did hear that you will turn into one if you don’t click that like button to help us manipulate the YouTube algorithm because, SEO. When it comes to social platforms making changes and redesigns, it usually leaves people like–
– I don’t like it.
– But this time, I actually think people are gonna like the changes, namely because of one feature that I personally am very excited about, Dark Mode.
– [Bane] You merely adopted the dark, I was born in it.
– The new designs will include features like, as previously mentioned, Dark Mode, more prominent stories and a mobile-like navigation and now only three columns instead of four. For digital marketers, this is important, as it’s likely to change the way your ad conversions work and the way your ads are consumed on Facebook desktop. So, all those sidebar ads that we usually kind of skip over may actually become good value for money as the size and the prominence of those ads gets larger. I mean, overall, it looks a lot more clean and fresh so I think it’s a positive step in the right direction. And do you know another position step in the right direction? That would be clicking that like button, to help us with the YouTube algorithm. I’m just gonna keep saying it until you do. Can you guess my favorite social platform? Let me give you a clue. ♪ Tweet-a-lee diddly dee ♪ ♪ Tweet-a-lee diddly dee ♪ Need another clue, okay, you can spend hours on it swiping through interesting content but you’ve gotta be really careful about fake news.
– You see this, you see what I’m doing? Not even looking, I’m swiping “yes”, “yes”, “yes”, “yes”.
– It is of course Twitter and guess what? They’ve got a new ad format in the Explore tab of the app. So, for those who do not know what Explore tab is, it’s essentially the most visited page outside of your main newsfeed and it’s where all the day’s trending topics are found. So, you can know actually get a masthead ad on that page that will give you massive amounts of visibility.
– What about you, Robert, can you see?
– Not too good.
– Twitter are already pushing it, saying that it provides much more visibility and higher dwell-time than standard promoted ads, with 113% higher ad call rate. The ad is gonna be available to most publishers on a self-serve basis globally, from this week. You know what else is available globally? The like button, which you should definitely click. Ever been on a website that has push notifications and they’re like–
– I can’t stop !
– When you’re on your browser and a website actually gives you a browser push notification, we’re all like–
– Oh, hell no!
– Well, good news fellow block-clickers, Chrome 80 is gonna automatically block push notifications in your browser. When I heard this news, I was like–
– Mind if I praise the Lord?
– [Man] Go ahead.
– There’s gonna be two scenarios for the Chrome browser blocks push notifications. So, the first is for users that constantly block notifications, which is essentially everyone. The second is for websites that have low opt-in rates on their notifications. So, it looks like the end is probably nigh for all these browser push notifications from publishers for non-essential actions but if you’re a PWA, a progressive web app, like a calendar or an instant messenger that works inside the browser and you use push notifications for non-marketing purposes, you should be absolutely fine. But you know what notifications cannot be blocked? Me asking you to click the like button, go on. Ever sit around talking with your friends about something and then all of a sudden, you get an ad for a thing that you were literally just talking about? Yeah, I know, Google and Facebook are like–
– Surprise, motherfucker.
– Well, guess what, the Google Assistant has just reached 500 million active users. That’s right, half a billion people are actively allowing a global superpower corporation to constantly listen and monitor them.
– You talk about that thing like it’s alive.
– [Man] Sh, it can hear you.
– A recent study has come out that shows that Google owns nine percent of the smart assistant market, compared to Apple’s Siri, which owns 35%. Here are some of the new tricks coming to the Google Assistant. You’ve got long-form reading, sticky notes and scheduled actions. As our lives become much, much busier and these tech assistants become much better, the smart assistants are gonna enable us to do multitasking much better and ultimately, they’re gonna save us a bunch of time. However, when it comes to long-form reading, I’m not sure I want my bedtime story read to me by some sort of Stephen Hawking kind of computer voice.
– Your theory of a donut-shaped universe is intriguing, Homer.
– That’s everything for this week’s Canonical Chronicle, please hit that like button if you liked it and please subscribe if you loved it and until next time, we will see you later.
