The Top 10 Comms News in 2013

As part of our Top 10 Top 10s, I’ve compiled a list of major comms news stories which have been curated via @CisionUK Twitter account over the year. Read my pick and let me know your thoughts!

1.      Twitter announces IPO 
The microblogging giant followed Facebook by filing for an initial public offering in September 2013. The announcement was made via their official Twitter account and the company started trading in the New York Stock Exchange on 7 November with an initial pricing value of $14.2bn.

  via the Guardian

2.      Yahoo! acquires Tumblr for $1.1bn
One of the mega deals of the year was Yahoo agreeing to buy the popular blogging platform for $1.1bn in May 2013. Yahoo’s President and CEO Marissa Mayer promised “not to screw it up”and let Tumblr operate independently. Another memorable deal of the year was Bebo’s founder Michael Birch buying back the failing social media network of the 90s for $1m.

 via the Guardian and The Independent

3.      Instagram launches 15 second video sharing feature 
In 2013 Instagram managed to establish itself as one of the top social media networks. The photo sharing app made headlines in June when it announced its new video sharing feature. The company was the first online photo-sharing site to allow users to publish videos with 13 filters and a ‘Cinema’ stabilization feature. The move also opened the doors for brands to use the platform for marketing and advertising. The first ever teaser trailer for a film, the biopic of Steve Jobs, was unveiled on Instagram in July. Michael Kors was the first brand to advertise on the site in November, after the brand announced that ads would be filtered in users’ newsfeeds.

  via The Wall Blog

4.      Vine tops 40 million users
Major social media networks have continued to grow in 2013. Instagram’s biggest competitor, mobile video sharing app Vine, which launched in January 2013 announced in August that it has over 40 million registered users. Another social networking site, LinkedIn, also grew significantly in 2013. The company now has 259 million monthly active users, up from 238 million in the previous quarter and 187 million a year earlier.

  via Mashable

5.      Facebook agrees to review controversial and hateful content and causes a stir over allowing beheading videos on the site
“Internet trolls” or incidents of online abuse were highlighted in the media in 2013, which caused many social networking sites to review their policies on reporting abusive behavior. In a blog post in May, Facebook announced that it would begin rolling out changes immediately after it became “clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like”. However, a new scandal emerged and online safety advisers were alerted in October when it was revealed that the site allowed decapitation videos to be posted and shared by its users.

  via The BBC

6.      The Syrian Electronic Army hacks… everyone
The group of computer hackers acting in support of the Syrian government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continued their cyber-attacks on various news outlets in 2013. The group’s targets in the past year include  Sky, Financial Times, BBC Twitter accounts, the National Public Radio service, the Guardian newspaper, and the Associated Press.

  via The Next Web

7.     Apple releases iPhone 5s with a fingerprint scanner
Apple unveiled its latest smartphone featuring a Touch ID – a fing
erprint sensor which allows users to access their phone without the need to remember a password, in September 2013. The biometric technology ignited discussions around mobile security but was also seen as a pivotal moment for the whole industry.

  via The BBC

 8.      Google introduces its biggest algorithm change since 2010
Google’s Hummingbird algorithm in September made PRs and online publishers rethink their press release writing style and online distribution strategies. In simple terms, Google’s move meant that press releases which try to manipulate search rankings through hyperlinks, would be ruled out of its link analysis algorithm altogether.

  via the Guardian

 9.      Twitter opens its adverting doors to small businesses in the UK
Twitter announced in November that it would allow small- and medium-sized businesses in the UK, Ireland and Canada to make use of its self-serve advertising platform. Twitter’s suite of ad products include Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Trends.

 via The Next Web

 10.   Google & Microsoft announce child porn clampdown
Internet search engines Microsoft and Google have agreed to block search results for child abuse following a campaign by Prime Minister David Cameron. The move will see as many as 100,000 search terms return no results containing illegal material and will also trigger onscreen alerts that such content breaks the law.

  via The Drum