#EndTheStigma

The sad death of Carrie Fisher inspired one of the most popular hashtags on social media this January.

The #EndTheStigma campaign involved users posting colourful badges adorned with declarative statements, with the aim of combatting common misconceptions about mental health.

Designed and created by mental health advocate, Kat Selwyn Layton, the campaign was quickly met with a flurry of positive support online. Since then, the badges have been shared over 40,000 times on Facebook alone, and the relating Facebook page now has over 37,700 likes.

 

Twitter ditches the buy button

Twitter has finally axed its buy button after the platform’s attempts to move into social commerce failed to take off.

The ‘donate’ button, which allows users to give to charities and non-profit organisation, will stay. However, as Shopify told its clients this week, users will no longer be able to include a “buy now” option on tweets.

Twitter replaces ‘Moments’ tab

Yet more news from Twitter, as the platform replaced the Moments tab on its mobile app with an Explore feature. The new tab will feature trends, news, search and live video in one place, meaning users can find new content more easily.

This falls in line with Twitter’s focus on content discovery and its aim to become the go-to place for breaking news.

Sainsbury’s kitchen dancing

Sainsbury’s started the new year with a decidedly upbeat new campaign – and a distinct move away from the discount and product-heavy ads of the past.

Featuring footage of people dancing around their kitchens, it celebrates the joy that comes with cooking rather than eating.

With a bespoke song created by UK hip-hop artist, MysDiggi (who apparently used to work at Sainsbury’s), it’s undeniably silly – but you’d have to be pretty cynical to not let it raise a smile.

Facebook updates Trending feature in US

Towards the end of January, Facebook announced that it would be updating its Trending feature to help combat the spread of fake news in the US.

Now, Facebook will no longer feature trending news topics based off a single report, and instead focus on articles that have been covered by multiple news outlets. It’s also going to stop personalising trending topics, and instead deliver the same stories to all users.

In doing so, it aims to minimise the chances of a single (and potentially untrue) news story going viral.

Know your lemons

The charity Worldwide Breast Cancer launched a clever and highly shareable campaign last month.

Labelled #KnowYourLemons, the campaign was designed to promote awareness of the various signs of breast cancer, and remind women that lumps are not the only symptom.

Using lemons to depict 12 different signs, the image cleverly gets around censoring rules, and aims to help women overcome fears about checking their breasts.

Mr. Clean’s sexy superbowl ad

We recently mentioned it in a digital news roundup, but surely the new Mr. Clean ad deserves a second look (if only for comedy purposes).

Released by P&G, the ad – set to run during the Super Bowl – features a sexed up version of the famous character doing a particularly provocative dance.

While reaction to the ad has been mixed, the overriding emotion from viewers appears to be ‘uncomfortable.’

#DeleteUber

It was a saddening end to the month, marred by news of Trump’s so-called Muslim ban and an unsurprisingly fierce reaction on social media.

People have been getting behind the #DeleteUber campaign, both in response to suggestions that Uber exploited a taxi protest against the ban, as well the CEO’s reported relationship with Trump.

While Uber has released several statements to try and stem the uproar, it only seems to be gaining traction, with several high-profile celebrities also backing the campaign.