Welcome to "#SocialStocks," The Fly's weekly recap of Wall Street's reactions to social media stock news.
ZUCKERBERG TO TESTIFY AGAIN: On October 9, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced that Facebook (FB) Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the Committee at an October 23 hearing. Zuckerberg will be the sole witness at the hearing, which is entitled, "An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors."
THREADS FOR INSTAGRAM: Facebook said in a blog post on October 3 that it is launching Threads from Instagram, a new camera-first messaging app that helps users stay connected to their close friends. "Over the last few years, we've introduced several new ways to share visually on Instagram and connect with people you care about - from sharing everyday moments on Stories to visual messages on Direct," Facebook said. "But for your smaller circle of friends, we saw the need to stay more connected throughout the day, so you can communicate what you're doing and how you're feeling through photos and videos. That's why we built Threads, a new way to message with close friends in a dedicated, private space. Threads is a standalone app designed with privacy, speed and your close connections in mind. You can share photos, videos, messages, Stories and more with your Instagram close friends list. You are in control of who can reach you on Threads, and you can customize the experience around the people who matter most." Threads rolled out globally on October 3.
MORGAN STANLEY UPGRADES SNAP TO EQUAL WEIGHT: On October 4, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak upgraded Snap to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $17, up from $14. The analyst acknowledged that in the year-to-date he underestimated Snap's stronger execution and ability to drive growth. Multiple new products and offerings that are improving agencies and advertisers knowledge about how to spend on Snap are leading to faster new advertiser growth and increased spend per advertiser, Nowak wrote. He also has growing confidence that Snap's management is "laser focused" on reducing costs and improving efficiency.
TWITTER APOLOGIZES FOR DATA MISUSE FOR ADS: On October 8, Twitter (TWTR) announced on its website, "We recently discovered that when you provided an email address or phone number for safety or security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) this data may have inadvertently been used for advertising purposes, specifically in our Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences advertising system...We cannot say with certainty how many people were impacted by this, but in an effort to be transparent, we wanted to make everyone aware. No personal data was ever shared externally with our partners or any other third parties. As of September 17, we have addressed the issue that allowed this to occur and are no longer using phone numbers or email addresses collected for safety or security purposes for advertising. We're very sorry this happened and are taking steps to make sure we don't make a mistake like this again."
Ticker changed to META
+1.41 (+0.79%)
Snap
-0.04 (-0.28%)
-0.46 (-1.16%)