Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Nobody’s perfect: First Facebook, now Twitter has an ad metrics problem

By

twitter safety search replies
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Facebook isn’t the only company suffering ad metrics blunders. Now, a relatively large oversight on Twitter’s part has come to light.

The social platform inflated video advertising metrics by as much as 35 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to Business Insider. Twitter notified advertisers about the blunder earlier this week, blaming it on a bug in its Android app. It has even issued refunds to marketers for overbilling them for campaigns that ran on its platform between November 7 and December 12.

Recommended Videos

In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed the error to Business Insider. “We recently discovered a technical error due to a Twitter product update to Android clients that affected some video ad campaigns from November 7 to December 12,” the spokesperson said. “Once we discovered the issue, we resolved it and communicated the impact to affected partners. Given this was a technical error, not a policy or definition issue, we are confident it has been resolved.”

Similarly, Facebook’s recent history of metrics mishaps was kicked off with a miscalculation regarding video viewing times. It has also suffered errors in regards to its Instant Articles publishing feature on iOS.

Twitter’s advertising revenue totaled $545 million in its most recent quarter, marking an 8 percent increase year-over-year. Mobile advertising made up the overwhelming majority of that amount, at 90 percent. However, the company has previously noted that brand spend isn’t growing as quickly as expected.

Additionally, Twitter has faced its fair share of highly publicized struggles this year. Chief among them was its failed attempt at offering itself up for a takeover or merger. The platform’s stagnant user base (which currently stands at 317 million) is also cause for concern for its shareholders, with users creeping up just 3 percent year-over-year at last count.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Saqib Shah
Saqib Shah
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
Update your Twitter app right now if you’re on Android
Hand holding a Twitter phone

Twitter says it has patched a vulnerability inside its Android app that could have potentially let malicious actors view information of private accounts and take over profiles through an intricate back-end process. If a hacker managed to exploit the loophole, they could send direct messages and tweets on the target account’s behalf.

The social network claims so far it hasn’t discovered any affected user, nor found evidence of whether a third-party service has taken advantage of the bug. However, Twitter is reaching out to the people whose details may have been exposed. It’s unclear how long the vulnerability was left out in the open. The issue is not present on Twitter’s iOS app.

Read more
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more