COVID-19 Isn’t the Only Thing Spreading: The Misinformation of Social Media

by | Mar 23, 2020 | Industry Insights

In times of severe economic, political, or social change, information is vital. With roughly 1.73b individuals actively using Facebook, 788.4m on Instagram, and 284.3m active Twitter users, social media platforms can act as the first source of information for the ever-growing number of users from around the world. Up from 47% in 2018, 55% of U.S. adults are often or sometimes getting their news updates from social media. Providing them insight on what’s going on, what to expect, and how to prepare in times of crisis.

Social Media’s Sickness

The power of being connected with millions of people around the world in real-time can provide a sense of community in times of confusion. Yet, while many individuals use their platforms to share personal experiences and opinions, what happens with the information being circulated is simply not true? As we navigate the case of COVID-19, where the uncertainty ahead requires fast action and thorough communication, misinformation can spread just as quickly as the virus itself.

In the age of “fake news,” many have become accustomed to looking at social media with a skeptical eye. However, in times of local, national, and global emergencies, the desperation for information creates a dangerous environment for those looking for any relief to their concerns. The power of social media comes with the access it provides to real-time updates and resources through platforms like Twitter and Facebook, which are among the earliest sources of accurate COVID-19 information. However, these outlets run off algorithms that simply pull posts that are getting the most engagement, whether they are true or not. With many already on edge, misinformation and sensationalism online will often spread quicker due to their often emotionally-charged and shocking content. With headlines such as “Surge of Virus Misinformation Stumps Facebook and Twitter” and “One Dangerous Coronavirus ‘Self Check Test’ is Circulating on Social Media,” many (but not enough) are beginning to realize that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram may not be the safest places for finding information. 

Preventing the Spread

The spread of COVID-19 over the past few months has only helped to heighten the risks of misinformation, and have most platforms scrambling to find ways to slow the spread. In a joint statement released earlier this week, social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit along with other tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and YouTube banned together to promise to combat the spread of inaccurate news by “elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world.” These platforms also have begun taking extra measures towards adding new information to help make them more reliable outlets to gain updates, as well as keeping an eye out to ensure advertisers are also behaving. While some advertisers may try to capitalize on the new normal, they are advised to be careful about coming off too strong by exploiting the current situation to their benefit. As always, these platforms have protections put in place to ensure that misinformation is not spreading through social advertisements as well and are even adding more preventative measures to keep users safe and informed. 

As a part of these added precautions to prevent misinformation, Facebook recently began rolling out a COVID-19 Information Center, which will appear at the top of users’ news feeds and will contain live updates on the virus as well as helpful details on how to prevent the spread of the virus, and how to best support local communities. Twitter has also made moves to update its safety rules to require users to remove tweets that increase the chance of someone contracting or transmitting the virus. Local and national governments have also begun to join the fight against the spread of harmful or dangerous information by creating their own social media graphics that share proper health practices to offset the spread of COVID-19, and are encouraging users to share them on their social platforms. Despite these moves to help keep social media users properly informed, however, the mass quantity and speed at which information is posted, continues to create barriers.

Snapchat’s Success

While most platforms are making moves to try to prioritize accurate information, they still struggle due to their open-source news feeds which require constant surveillance on all content, making it nearly impossible due to the sheer volume of content being shared. As hopeless as it sounds, social media users can find solace in the fact that one platform is not only well-equipped and ready to share dependable and trustworthy information but is fundamentally built differently from the rest, preventing the uncheckable spread of misinformation. Snapchat.

With disappearing messages, Snapchat decreases the possibility of lasting harmful messages, while the absence of a centralized news feed with content created by users outside of one’s personal network prevents the spread of misinformation to a mass audience. Outside of celebrities, almost all interactions on the app are between a user and their close personal network. Those that are not directly between a user and a friend will most often take place in the Discover tab, where users are able to find stories, videos, and news regarding just about any topic. 

So, how does this make Snapchat so different from other platforms after all? Simply, the Discover tab is not an open news feed. All year long, content is carefully curated with only a select number of publisher partners, providing a very controllable environment. All partners and content are carefully vetted prior to being added to the Discovery tab, and users sharing content that deceives or deliberately spreads false information are prohibited. Though Snapchat generally uses these year-round to protect against ad fraud, they have now turned these practices towards ensuring their partners include trusted news outlets such as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal who are sharing the latest updates on COVID-19 along with public health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) explaining the safest practices during these times. The White House has even taken to the social media platform with a message from the President as well as more information on how to stay healthy and keep others safe throughout the next couple of months. With 218m daily active users,  Snapchat is certainly taking proactive measures towards making sure accurate information is being distributed to its audience.

Though the Discover Tab is where most users can go to get information, Snapchat, of course, recognizes that many organic conversations are going on as well. In a recent blog post shared addressing coronavirus, Snapchat released the most popular conversation topics on the platform which show a clear concern for health and safety during the COVID-19 outbreak with language surrounding “hand washing,” “hazmat suits,“ and “coughing” showing up amongst the most frequent terminology. To help further educate users, Snapchat has begun working with partners such as the WHO to create educational filters and bitmojis that can be viewed, used, and shared by the millions of Snapchat users. 

What Does This Mean for Advertisers?

As advertisers learn more about COVID-19 and the spread of misinformation, many are using social media as a place to share information of their own. Many brands and companies are utilizing these channels to share with their consumers what they are doing to prevent the spread of the virus, and how they are adapting their business practices to navigate this time. Others are using social media to spread messages of hope and unity, as seen in Guinesses’ St. Patricks Day ad. The issue at the forefront of most brands’ minds right now, is to maintain their business as much as possible, without being seen as insensitive or like they are taking advantage of the current situation. Brands like KFC, Hershey, and Coors Light have recently pulled campaigns or scrapped their plans altogether. Twitter has even stepped up to provide advice on how and when businesses should use social media to share information on the virus and how it is affecting their operations, identifying scenarios when companies should and should not take to the platform to share news. Though advertisers now may have to consider a few more elements of their campaigns, the best advice is to stay informed on what’s going on, avoid getting involved in the spread of information that does not directly relate to your brand, and consider how campaigns will be received and interpreted by the general public in this current climate.

With COVID-19 proving its weight as a worldwide epidemic, causing millions of users to look for answers from all sources, it is not only important but necessary to ensure the information you are taking in is reliable and correct, especially from social media. Though many may see social channels as somewhat unreliable in this field, new efforts, practices, education, and leadership from tech giants, governments, and industry experts alike are working hard to combat that perception, especially during these pivotal moments of uncertainty.

Mike Seiman

Mike Seiman, CEO & Chairman, is the founder of Digital Remedy, a digital media solutions company leading the tech enabled marketing space he co-founded while still a college student at Hofstra University in the early 2000s. The company has grown quickly and is now a major player within the crowded digital advertising landscape. The rapid growth of Digital Remedy, formerly CPXi led to its inclusion on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing privately held advertising/marketing companies in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014. Mike was selected as a semi-finalist in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year initiative in 2010 and 2013 and as a finalist in 2009 and 2014. In his free time, Mike serves on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Hofstra University. He also focuses on numerous philanthropic initiatives including sitting on the boards of the H.E.S. (Hebrew Educational Society non-profit community center) and Children International, where he spearheaded the development of community centers in both Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2010 and Barranquilla, Colombia in 2014.

David Zapletal

Before graduating in 2005 with degrees in Retail and Consumer Science (with an emphasis in eCommerce) and a Minor in Public Business Administration at the University of Arizona, David Zapletal had already successfully grown a start up ad network from serving an initial 1 million impressions per day to over 10 million impressions per day. It was his deep understanding of internet advertising during the industry’s beginning stages that led him to another start up at the time, CPXi. More than 8 years that have passed and Zapletal currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Digital Remedy. In that role he continues to help grow and implement optimization tactics across various ad serving platforms, oversee daily operations of the account management and trafficking groups and maximizes ROI for Direct Response advertisers as well as for Publishers. Outside of Digital Remedy, Zapletal commits his efforts to an organization called Camp Dream Street, a camping program for children with disabilities, where he serves on the Board of Directors.

Jeff Reitzen

Jeff has worked in multiple facets of the online industry, from sales to operations as well as consumer engagement, content analytics and most recently in data optimization. His career began as a wedding, bar mitzvah, and Sweet 16 DJ where he learned the delicate balance of crowd energy management. Quickly, this skill made him incredibly successful in managing online sales for Geico. He joined CPXi at its startup stage as employee number 4 and has been a key driver of continued growth. His unique knowledge of what converts in the digital ad space, the application of data, and how to optimize platforms for efficiency continues to be invaluable to Digital Remedy clients. Today, Jeff is responsible for innovating and optimizing all Digital Remedy offerings including platforms, systems, tools, and internal processes—ensuring the organization remains on the precipice of the marketplace.

Mike Juhas

Mike Juhas, has over 13+ years of experience in ad tech client services, working with brands, agencies, and publishers ranging from top 10 advertisers to small regional organizations, to rep firms, holding companies and independent shops. An integral member of the Digital Remedy team, Juhas leads all client relationships, including facilitating onboarding and integration, establishing relationship protocols, overseeing Quarterly Business Reviews and status meetings, navigating financial coordination, and overseeing 24/7 team support. His specialties include consultative services, planning strategy, and account management disciplines. Juhas lives in New Canaan, CT with his wife and two daughters, and their dog, Perry–the unofficial company mascot.

TJ Sullivan

TJ Sullivan has over 20 years of media sales and leadership experience. His knowledge of the digital media landscape, ability to develop strategic solutions that solve brand challenges, and talent for motivating sales teams, have made him a vital member of several media and ad tech organizations. Before joining Digital Remedy, Sullivan was VP, Connections at iHeart Media, a cross-divisional group that enabled national advertisers to seamlessly work with multiple iHeart business units; CRO of Reelcontent, a video distribution company for brands; SVP of sales at AdoTube, a video ad network; and was Co-Founder and SVP of video measurement company, OpenSlate—for which he is still an advisor.

Sullivan had served as the President of 212, New York’s Interactive Advertising Club, and currently advises many early stage start-ups in the programmatic and video space. Notably, RUN (sold to Publicis in 2014), Futures Media, Transmit.Live, and Kubient.

Outside of his work in the media industry, Sullivan sits on the Board of St. Elizabeth School in Wyckoff, New Jersey and the Advancement Committee of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, New Jersey. He resides in New Jersey with his wife and four children.

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Buying Power and Quality

Let’s be honest. Your ad ops are limited by your access to only a handful of channels and DSPs. You want more reach and better prices, but don’t want to sacrifice quality in order to achieve those goals. Digital Remedy has access to a vast multitude of channels based on relationships we’ve cultivated over nearly 20 years in business. That means we get the best prices, have personal relationships, and don’t get sent to voicemail when we call.

It also means that we can execute omni-channel ad ops for better prices than an internal team, while ensuring the quality is up to industry standards. On top of access to all sorts of specific audiences we’re able to to leverage first- and third-party data across all your campaigns and pivot across platforms based on results. Any campaign, any budget, any platform, any audience. Digital Remedy backed by AdReady is restriction free ad ops….and what could be better than that?

Resources, Time, and Overhead

When was the last time you enjoyed balancing budgets, reading resumes, dealing with aggressive sales teams, or wasting years of time for small gains in performance. By partnering with Digital Remedy you get the full support of $30m in OPEX including marketing teams, sales teams, and a dedicated 24/7 ad operations team. No hiring new employees for media optimization, business development, or account management. No months of training and on-boarding. No long meetings crafting sales materials. Just your team focused on making deals, and our teams and tech focused on supporting and executing those deals in a tech-enabled, digital ecosystem designed to get the most out of any KPI.

Reporting and Support

How nice would it be to have all of your data and insights in one location. We don’t mean an excel sheet sent out once a week with complicated charts, or an XML file with pages and pages and pages of tables (what is this, 2003?). We mean a fully customizable dashboard reporting in real time, or as real time as possible. You get to decide the how, what, and when of the reporting you’re seeing. And that’s ALL of the how, what, and when’s. If you want to see breakouts of all of the individual campaigns in your system, done. If you want broad scope comparisons of all of the campaigns in the last year, done. If you want to see CTR’s for specific audiences and compare them to CPM for your best performing advertiser but limit the scope to campaigns greater than 30k, done. All of this is at your fingertips with the AdReady Dashboard, all in one place.

Jessica Cortapasso

With more than a decade of experience in human capital management, Jessica Cortapasso serves as SVP, People at Digital Remedy. After graduating from Muhlenberg College, she quickly recognized her passion for people and entered the workforce in Human Resources where she gained expertise in employee relations, designing strategic benefit plans, and the development, implementation, and curation of corporate engagement initiatives for big-name brands and small companies alike. Becoming a member of the Digital Remedy family in 2013 while simultaneously acquiring her Masters Degree in Human Resources Management and Development from New York University, Jessica has steered company culture through significant events ranging from acquisitions and a rebranding, to the development and application of our Core Values that shape our daily business practices. Cortapasso resides in Brooklyn, plays competitive volleyball, and loves spending time with her nieces.

Erez Feld

Responsible for the financial and legal practices of Digital Remedy, Erez brings 22 years of experience in precision financial analysis, growth management practices, strategic acquisition, and investment leadership. A graduate of Hofstra University, Erez began his career modeling for corporate finance, and expanded his accounting prowess in the real estate sector. Erez joined Digital Remedy in 2008 as a senior accountant, and helped to create and build an accounting department that could support the rapid growth of the company and aligned with those needs. Over the past 12 years he has evolved through various positions at the company within the finance discipline, supervising and mentoring additional finance personnel, while growing under the tutelage of Michael Fleischman, former CFO of Digital Remedy. Today, he leads the Finance Department by supporting high-level projects such as acquisitions and restructuring, and is responsible for overseeing all financial assets, establishing financial procedures, controls, and reporting systems.

Michael Fleischman

After a successful career as an accomplished Fortune 500 financial professional leading Corporate Finance and Strategic Planning at Cablevision Systems Corporation and its programming subsidiary Rainbow Media Holdings, Michael currently plays a role in the overall management of Digital Remedy including direct responsibility for all financial-related activities including accounting, financial planning, M&A, legal, insurance, real estate and banking relationships. Michael brings more than 25 years of media experience at Cablevision and Rainbow Media and during his career was instrumental in the launching and managing of a number of cable television networks including 10 Regional Sports Networks across the US, American Movie Classics, Bravo, and the Independent film channel as well as the structuring of corporate partnerships with companies including Liberty Media, NBC, Fox/NewsCorp and MGM. Additionally, he was the finance lead on a number of professional sports team acquisitions including Madison Square Garden, the successful IPO of Cablevision and a tracking stock at Rainbow Media.Michael was involved in the creation and launch of Rainbow Advertising Sales which was one of the Cable Industry’s first Local Advertising Sales Divisions.

Tony Pascal

With over two decades of experience in the design, product, and technology space, Tony joined Digital Remedy as a graphic designer in 2007. His responsibilities quickly expanded, landing him in leadership roles across multiple disciplines including creative direction, analytics, monetization optimization, and management of platform development. He continued to grow with the organization over the last fourteen years, overseeing all design, development, and execution of Digital Remedy products and platforms. In his current role as SVP, Product & Technology, Tony leads product and technology development for the company and acts as the go-to liaison across teams, ensuring alignment on all aspects of internal and client-facing technology initiatives.

Prior to Digital Remedy, Tony built and ran his own direct response company from 2002-2007 after graduating from New York Institute of Technology, where he learned the fundamentals of digital advertising and optimization strategies that still remain relevant today.

In a previous life, Tony was a ski instructor and still remains an avid skier today. When he is not leading product development, he can be found working on old cars, rock climbing and hitting the slopes.

Gayle Meyers

Gayle Meyers is an entrepreneur, venture partner, investor, and operating resource in the digital media and marketing industry, with over two decades of executive leadership experience. After launching a management consulting firm, Growthing which is focused on optimizing growth strategies for executive leaders and their organizations, Meyers has frequently been tapped for high-profile consulting and advisory positions to help marketing technology companies enhance their in-market presence.

“Gayle is widely recognized as a leading strategist with years of expertise in the ad tech space,” said Mike Seiman, Chairman and CEO of Digital Remedy. “Her career in discovering and integrating game-changing technologies in the marketing industry will serve as an invaluable resource as we continue to enhance our product suite in the months ahead.”

With expertise spanning multiple disciplines, Meyers frequently serves as a keynote speaker at industry conferences for companies such as Google, Verizon, Omnicom, LiveRamp, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Oracle. A list of her notable past clients who have benefitted from her unique insights to increase shareholder value includes Tinuiti (acquired by New Mountain Capital), Adometry (acquired by Google), MediaForge (acquired by Rakuten), Integral Ad Science (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), and Tapad (acquired by Telenor).

Matt Sotebeer

With 14+ years of experience in ad tech and emerging technologies, Matt Sotebeer brings an uniquely innovative approach in his role as Chief Strategy Officer at Digital Remedy. As CSO, Matt focuses on the intersection between the product, product marketing, tech, data, and sales teams, while fostering productive cross-functional company-wide relationships to inform and influence sales, educate clients, and optimize company performance.

Matt has an extensive knowledge in the integration of data science, creative, and media solutions to drive sustainable growth for companies, with a focus on designing customized, scalable solutions leveraging machine learning alongside human intelligence. Throughout the tenure of his career, he has successfully managed global teams aligned to common goals, encouraged collaborative problem solving, and supported talent growth for entrepreneurial companies including MiQ, Rocket Fuel, and Audience Science.

Jeremy Haft

A proven strategic, revenue, and team leader with over 20 years of experience managing and scaling revenue in the competitive ad tech landscape, Jeremy serves as Chief Revenue Officer at Digital Remedy.

Before joining the team in October 2022, he served as CRO at Channel Factory, where he reorganized the revenue team for sustainable growth and increased the sales team by 3x to drive predictable and more accountable revenue. Prior to that, he served in a decade of leadership positions. Most notably, as SVP of Sales at Amobee and as VP of North America Sales at Viant/Adelphic. At both organizations, Jeremy successfully built and scaled platform and business solutions from their infancy to achieve the desired corporate goals.

Jeremy graduated from The University of Vermont and currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling to tropical locations, dining out, cooking feasts with friends, and any new fitness trend he can get his hands on.

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