Welcome to "#SocialStocks," The Fly's weekly recap of Wall Street's reactions to social media stock news.
SANDBERG AND SOROS: On November 29, the New York Times reported that Facebook (FB) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg asked communications employees to research George Soros's financial interests amid his high-profile criticisms of tech companies, signaling she was directly involved in the company's response to the billionaire. The Times, citing three people with knowledge of her request, added Sandberg requested an examination into why Soros attacked Facebook and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) at the World Economic Forum and whether he stood to gain financially from the criticism in an email to senior executives that was forwarded to other communications and policy staff. According to multiple reports, Facebook issued the following statement on November 29: "We researched potential motivations behind George Soros's criticism of Facebook in January 2018. Mr. Soros is a prominent investor and we looked into his investments and trading activity related to Facebook. That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook's stock."
TWITTER'S RECENT CONSERVATIVE WOES: On November 27, The Federalist said, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, that a House committee is now looking into the possibility of Twitter (TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey having lied to Congress during a hearing about the company. Related to conservatives' frustrations with the social network, Politico reported on November 29 that Fox News (FOXA) began a silent protest against Twitter on November 8 after a group of demonstrators posted Tucker Carlson's home address on the platform. The boycott, which also includes the Fox Business Network Twitter feed and other official Fox News feeds, has now entered its third week.
YOUTUBE EXPANDS COMMUNITY FEATURE: On November 29, Google's YouTube unit announced in its Creator Blog that it is expanding their new Community feature and making it available for creators whose channels have over 10,000 subscribers. Community is a feature where creators can share polls, gifs, and photos. Additionally, YouTube also rolled out YouTube Stories, similar to Snapchat and Instagram Stories, with text, music, filters, and stickers. Where YouTube Stories differ from Instagram and Snapchat is expiration time. YouTube stories will remain visible for 7 days on the mobile app. The most notable difference to YouTube's current functionality is a Community post is shared in a user's feed, as long as that user is engaged with a creator's content and not just to that channel's subscribers.
SNAP'S NEW SPECTACLES: On November 20, Cheddar reported that Snap (SNAP) is looking to debut its newest Spectacles, which have two cameras and will fetch a higher price of $350, by the end of 2018.
Ticker changed to META
+0.69 (+0.50%)
-0.16 (-0.51%)
Alphabet
-3.6 (-0.33%)
Alphabet
-5.58 (-0.51%)
Snap
+0.005 (+0.08%)
Fox Corp.
-0.06 (-0.12%)