What’s MGHappening in Social Media: August 27, 2018

TechCrunch – Facebook announced last week that it is removing more than 5,000 ad targeting options that could have been misused to place discriminatory ads across the network. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has just filed a complaint against Facebook that accuses landlords of using detailed targeting information to violate fair housing laws. Facebook pointed to its policies that prohibited discriminatory practices but is also removing certain categories. Exact details of what is being removed were not given; however, they mostly relate to religion and ethnicity. The social network is also mildly expanding its compliance certification for advertisers who wish to post housing, employment or credit ads. (Full Story)

The Next Web – Facebook will no longer take a cut of revenue from Messenger games on Android. The social network is making this change to help maximize developers’ potential on the platform, as in addition to the 30 percent of in-game purchases that Facebook was charging, Google was also taking 30 percent. The significant loss in revenue does not provide great incentives for developers to make Messenger games, and Facebook hopes that by eliminating its share of revenue, developers will be better incentivized. (Full Story)

Forbes – Facebook is reportedly rating users on their trustworthiness on the basis of how often and how accurately they flag fake or offensive content. Facebook uses this system to evaluate credible reports. People who have a habit of simply reporting things they disagree with may have a lower score. Perhaps something Facebook didn’t count on is that people may soon be able to access their trustworthiness score, specifically in Europe, thanks to GDPR. (Full Story)

The Verge – Instagram is testing college community groups that will allow current college and university students to register with their specific school, add the school name and their graduation year to their profile and connect with people in that same network. There seems to be little verification (no need for a .edu email address) at present, but Instagram is expected to update the feature as the test continues. (Full Story)

Business Insider – Snapchat has added a new feature that will allow users to post musical GIFs in chat or to a Story via an integration with third-party service, TuneMoji. At present, the feature is not entirely integrated in Snapchat, and users will have to download TuneMoji to their device before accessing the content. From there, users can browse the library of Musical GIFs, in a fashion similar to how Giphy works, and then opt to share to Snapchat. TuneMoji is one of the first Snapchat partners to take advantage of Snapchat’s recently launched SnapKit developers platform. (Full Story)

Engadget – Pandora has partnered with Snapchat, and now premium subscribers of the music streaming service can share songs, stations and playlists as Snapchat cards (via both direct messages and Stories). When friends view the card, they’ll be able to listen to the shared tunes even without being a premium member; they’ll just need to also listen to a 30-second ad. While the process is a bit more involved than that of Instagram’s music stickers, it should help Snapchat to have a music sharing option of their own. (Full Story)

Variety – Snapchat has renewed a deal with the NFL that will bring an exclusive “Sunday Gameday Experience” to users via the app in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The NFL’s new “Sunday Publisher Story” will deliver news and highlights of games to Snapchat users during the season with updates at least once per hour during the NFL’s Sunday games. The content showcased on Snapchat is designed to be somewhat unique, told from a perspective and tone that matches the Snapchat audience. (Full Story)