Apple change the privacy settings of iPhones back in April with it’s ” App Tracking Transparency policy/”  This caused an estimated $9.85bn of revenues to evaporate for SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as their advertising businesses were targeted by the new rules. The new rules forced apps, not just the social media apps, to ask for permission before they tracked the behavior of users to serve them personalized ads.  Most users have opted out, leaving advertisers trying to figure out how to target them. Advertisers have responded by cutting back their spending and diverted their budgets elsewhere- in particular to Android phone users and to Apple’s own growing ad business. Advertisers are now getting less bang for their buck on iPhones, by forcing them to spend more and doubling their audience sizes.

Then of course, there’s Facebook, revealing the new name and sub-brand, “Meta.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s effort to remove “negative associations” between Facebook and its parent company may be undermined by his decision to front the launch of its rebranding as Meta.

Facebook’s CEO announced the change last Thursday, revealing that the name Meta would encompass the social media network, Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus.

Experts have questioned Zuckerberg’s heavy involvement in Meta’s launch, suggesting it could immediately saddle the brand with baggage associated with his primary venture. The timing of the rebrand has also been questioned. One expert suggested Facebook should be listening to criticism rather than taking dramatic leaps.

Instagram has announced that it’s expanding the link-sharing feature in Stories to all its users. The company started testing this feature in June and replaced the swipe-up links with it in late August. Since the latter was only available to accounts that are verified or have more than 10,000 followers, Link stickers will enable more users to share external URLs through Stories irrespective of their accounts’ verified status and follower count.

Additionally, Link stickers will allow Story viewers to reply to it and engage with the account, unlike the swipe-up link Stories, which didn’t allow any interaction.  If your account doesn’t have it, it should in a week, unless you violated it’s community standards- then you will not be allowed to use the sticker.