The new release of the iOS app (U.S. and Canada only) includes private meme groups, support for GIF memes and new templates for top memes.

Facebook NPE Team (the NPE stands for New Product Experimentation) product lead Vasu Srinivasan and product manager Brad Kowalk said in a blog post, “We’re also working with some of your favorite meme creators to supercharge Whale’s creation experience. If you like creating and discovering memes about what’s happening in pop culture, Whale is now the place for you.”

They added that Whale makes it easy for users to create, discover and join groups with relatable content and, with the update, users can create private groups to share inside jokes with friends.

This marks the seventh year of the event.

Facebook also revealed the new name for its AR and VR team, Facebook Reality Labs, which was previously used as the name of the research division for its AR and VR teams.

Those research teams will continue their work under the name FRL Research, led by chief scientist Michael Abrash.

Facebook Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth said in a blog post, “Facebook’s work in augmented and virtual reality spans a number of breakthrough technologies and touches industries ranging from entertainment and gaming to education and beyond. Oculus lets people defy distance with cutting-edge VR hardware, while Portal helps friends and families stay connected and share the moments that matter in meaningful ways. Spark AR powers AR experiences for Facebook’s apps and devices. Our research teams invent and iterate on novel technologies that break exciting new ground. And through it all, we’ve drawn inspiration from the legacies of Bell Labs and Xerox Parc as groundbreaking models of centers for innovation.”

He concluded, “Much like Facebook’s recent corporate rebranding, our emphasis is on clarity—visually identifying us as a part of Facebook while looking toward the future of the next computing platform that puts people at the center.”

New “Popular” and “Best seller” labels are being tested on Product Pins so that Pinners can see which products are trending based on what other Pinners have been buying.

Updated sale prices will also be added next to the original prices on Product Pins so users can spot deals.

And Pinterest is testing the addition of product ratings and shipping information alongside Product Pins, helping users in the decision-making process. The company said aggregated product ratings will come from retailer websites.

Finally, the Shopping Spotlights section has been updated with more editorial options, including detailed information on articles so that publishers and influencers can lengthen article descriptions and better organize stories into sections and types of products.

With schools beginning to start up (virtually or otherwise), Pinners can shop back-to-school products curated by the Pinterest team for kids, teens and college students.

Pinterest said searches on its platform for homeschool desk ideas work stations are up 26 times year-over-year, while searches for kids desk chair are up four times and comfy school outfits are up five times.

Join the foremost brand marketers, such as Marc Pritchard of P&G, Brad Hiranaga of General Mills, Kory Marchisotto of e.l.f. and more, for Brandweek Masters Live on Sept. 14-17. Secure your pass today. Early-bird rates expire 9/1.

Voting in America is aimed at giving Redditors access to information from experts on voting laws and voter rights, as well as clarity on the process of voting for the first time and voting absentee or by mail.

The list of participants, thus far, includes:

• Ari Berman, former senior contributing writer for The Nation and fellow at The Nation Institute, as well as author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, TBD.
• Benjamin Hovland, commissioner, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission charged with developing guidance to meet Help America Vote Act of 2002 requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration, Tuesday, Sept. 1, in r/politics.
• League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy, TBD.
• Justin Levitt, scholar of constitutional law and the law of democracy and former deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, Thursday, Sept. 15, 1 p.m. ET, r/politics.
• National Task Force on Election Crises, which aims to ensure a free and fair 2020 presidential election by recommending responses to a range of election crises, TBD.
• National Voter Registration Day, which was first observed in 2012 and has seen almost 3 million people register to vote on the specific day each year, Sept. 22 (National Voter Registration Day 2020) in r/politics.
• Steve Simon, secretary of state, Minnesota, and Kim Wyman, secretary of state, Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. ET in r/politics.
• VoteAmerica, a nonprofit organization founded by a small team of elections and technology experts (including the founders of Vote.org and Vote.gov) who have come together to drive voter turnout, TBD.

Over 850,000 people passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints Aug. 16, nearly 10 times the numbers being seen in early April, when Covid-19-related lockdown orders began to take effect, Pinterest said in a blog post, citing data from the Transportation Security Administration.

However, with the pandemic still top-of-mind, Pinterest saw an uptick in searches for car-centered vacations in June compared with the same month last year, including cross-country road trip (89%) and road trips routes (248%).

The great outdoors is also trending on the platform, with searches for lake weekend up 41% year-over-year in June, while national parks were up 60% and RV camping trips skyrocketed by 1,257%.

Some Pinners are still taking to the skies, with searches for airplane essentials up 173%, while vacation spots saw a 260% jump.

Pinterest shared five tips for marketers in the sector, with examples of how some brands are already taking action:

• Help travelers imagine the future: With its parks and retail stores closed, Disney Parks used Pinterest to share recipes for some of its park treats, as well as virtual rides.
• Reassure travelers by sharing your plans for safety and trust: French hospitality brand Accor’s Ibis Hotels offered increased flexibility with bookings to give travelers peace of mind.
• Keep travel within reach: Hilton is featuring inspirational travel ideas closer to home, including staycations, getaways and day trips.

• Stay on top of the trends: When Southwest Airlines saw the bump-up in Pinterest searches for national parks, it crafted customized creative to help travelers visualize trips to those sites, including Pinterest trend badges on its series of Pins.
• Personalize your message based on people’s passions: Visit California studied Pinterest travel personas in order to ensure that its campaigns were appealing to people’s passions for travel, including wellness, spa, family, adventure and foodie experiences.

The livestream will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET Wednesday on the Purina Facebook page, where visitors can also chat about puppy nutrition and behavior with experts Annie Valuska, Purina’s senior feeding behaviorist, and veterinarian Callie Harris.

North Shore Animal League America is the largest no-kill animal shelter in the world. Senior vice president of operations Joanne Yohannan said in a statement, “This livestream is the perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of rescue and adoption and illustrate the beautiful animals just waiting for adoption at local shelters and rescue organizations. We are grateful to Purina for its commitment to our mission and its support.”

Snapchatters can only unlock the lens by putting on a mask, and the agency said the lens uses its Chicago Design System to enable people to choose from different designs related to the city, including the logos of its sports teams.

Ogilvy deputy chief creative officer worldwide Joe Sciarrotta said in a statement, “We’ve been looking for ways to empower Chicago’s younger residents to share the precautions they are taking as they confront this pandemic. We saw this lens as a perfect opportunity to help young people prove through their social networks that they are making the right choices and truly believe ‘we are all one team.’”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot added, “Our youth are smart, civically minded people. They know their personal actions help keep them and their friends and families safe. By using this fun, unique tool, we reach them where they are—on their phones, on social media—and at the point when they have a choice to make about wearing that mask.”

And Han Nguyen, digital director for the City of Chicago, said, “As a city, we’re continually looking for innovative ways to combat the virus and reach residents where they are. So, when Ogilvy and Snap approached us with the opportunity to be the first to use this new AR lens, I knew we’d be giving our younger residents an experience they’d want to capture—and that’s how we’ll get masks on more faces.”

The campaign includes an #AySauce branded hashtag challenge, in-feed ads, a bespoke music track and an interactive augmented reality experience created via TikTok’s branded effects.

Asos worked on the campaign with TikTok and marketing technology agency Byte, and it will include over 25 leading content creators in both countries, with a combined following of over 219 million, such as Jordan Fisher, Loren Gray, Holly H, Michael Le, the Neffati Brothers and Luke Trotman.

Users will first encounter the campaign when they open the TikTok application, as they will see Asos content via the platform’s TopView advertising solution, an immersive, premium placement ensuring that the video from the brand is the first thing people see and occupying the entire screen while encouraging likes, comments, shares and follows.

The #AySauce branded hashtag challenge will begin Aug. 31, encouraging TikTok users to showcase three outfits of their choice during their 15-second videos. An Explore tab on the challenge page will give users access to more content from Asos, and the retailers will also run in-feed ads to reach people on TikTok in their For You feeds.

In-feed ads will run in the U.S. from Aug. 31 through Sept. 14, alongside creator content on the platform.

Asos also commissioned and produced its own track with Karm and co-created a unique branded effect AR experience with Byte, the latter of which brings the campaign graphics to life via hand gestures.

TikTok managing director of global business solutions for the U.K. Inam Mahmood said in a statement, “TikTok’s format and joyful tone encourages brands to be authentic and creative in a fully immersive, no judgement world. The team at Asos has really leaned into this and shown with its campaign that it understands what makes the platform unique—community, music and creativity. We’re excited to see the results we can help to deliver for Asos across the U.K. and U.S.”

Asos brand creative director John Mooney added, “We’re always evolving our content, social media strategy and channel focus in order to ensure that we’re staying relevant to our fashion-loving 20-something customers. TikTok is a growing part of that mix, and we’re excited to see how our social content team can engage our customers in new ways through the #AySauce hashtag challenge over the coming weeks.”

And Byte co-founder Alex Miller said, “Asos is yet again leading the way with the launch of this innovative campaign designed specifically for TikTok. Developing #AySauce has involved bringing together expertise in creative, media and tech, as well as close collaboration with TikTok to create some new engaging experiences that will stand out and be very effective.”

He wrote in a blog post, “As the head of safety, my team and I work to protect our users from the things that could interfere with their ability to express themselves safely and have a positive experience on the application. In what can feel like an increasingly divisive world, one of the areas we’re especially intent on improving is our policies and actions towards hateful content and behavior. Our goal is to eliminate hate on TikTok.”

The five areas addressed by Han were:

• Evolving our hate speech policy: Han said TikTok defines hate speech as “content that intends to or does attack, threaten, incite violence against or dehumanize an individual or group of individuals on the basis of protected attributes like race, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin and more.” He added that the company works to proactively detect and remove this content before it reaches the community, carefully reviews content that is reported and consults with experts to help refine its policies.
• Countering hateful speech, behavior and groups: Han said TikTok has a zero-tolerance stance on organized hate groups and those associated with them, such as accounts that spread or are linked to white supremacy or nationalism, male supremacy, anti-Semitism and other hate-based ideologies. Race-based harassment and the denial of violent tragedies, such as the Holocaust and slavery, are also removed. Since the beginning of the year, the platform has removed more than 380,000 videos in the U.S. for violations of its hate speech policies, banned over 1,300 accounts for hateful content or behavior and removed more than 64,000 hateful comments. And if someone searches for a hateful ideology or group, TikTok removes related content or refrains from displaying results, redirecting those searches to its community guidelines.
• Increasing cultural awareness in our content moderation: TikTok periodically trains its enforcement teams to better detect evolving hateful behavior, symbols, terms and offensive stereotypes. Han wrote, “If a member of a disenfranchised group—such as the LGBTQ+, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black and Indigenous communities—uses a slur as a term of empowerment, we want our moderators to understand the context behind it and not mistakenly take the content down.”
• Improving transparency with our community: TikTok recently released a feature that notifies users who react to or Duet with videos that were removed for violating its community guidelines, and Han said the platform is working to improve its appeals process and proactively educate users about its guidelines.
• Investing in our teams and partnerships: The company added leaders with deep expertise in areas such as hateful and abusive behavior to its product and engineering teams to focus on enforcement-related efficiencies and transparency, and it continues to ger feedback from experts, such as those in its Content Advisory Council.

Han concluded, “We recognize the perhaps insurmountable challenge to completely eliminate hate on TikTok, but that won’t stop us from trying. Every bit of progress we make gets us that much closer to a more welcoming community experience for people on TikTok and out in the world. These issues are complex and constantly changing not just for us, but for all internet companies. We are committed to getting it right for our community.”