Tag: Instagram

Over two thirds of women led businesses in Ireland using AI

Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a routine part of how women‑led businesses operate, according to new data from Network Ireland released ahead of its national International Women’s Day event at the Limerick Strand Hotel this Saturday.

The survey of 1,400 members of the country’s largest business networking organisation for women shows that 68% of respondents now use AI in some form, most commonly in marketing, finance or HR. The trend is set to continue, with 72% planning to increase their use of the technology this year, despite two out of three respondents saying they are worried about regulatory or ethical issues linked to AI.

Rising operational pressures are also evident. 76% say costs have increased this year, driven primarily by labour (32%), energy (17%), taxation/compliance (15%), supply‑chain input (13%), insurance (4%) and commercial rates (3%).

Inflation pressures (38%) remain the biggest risk for 2026, followed by a domestic economic slowdown (29%), global instability (21%) and access to finance (5%). Customer demand trends are mixed, with 47% reporting stronger customer demand than in 2025, 31% saying it is unchanged and 22% reporting weaker demand.

LinkedIn and Instagram remain the most important platforms for business growth, with eight in ten business owners posting regularly. The main objectives for social media use are brand awareness (42%), lead generation (30%), community building (14%), direct sales (12%) and recruitment (2%).

Network Ireland’s International Women’s Day event will be headlined by entrepreneur and social innovator Sonya Lennon, who will join speakers from fashion, global sport and enterprise to discuss what it takes to build resilient brands in competitive markets. The programme will also explore the concept of brand wellness, ensuring that as organisations scale, the people behind them remain supported.

The event is supported by AIB, Limerick City and County Council and Enterprise Ireland. Down Syndrome Limerick, the President’s chosen charity partner, will be represented by speaker Annie Conway.

Karen Ronan, Network Ireland President and CEO of Galway Chamber, said the survey findings underline the importance of this year’s International Women’s Day theme.

“Building bridges is about creating access to opportunity, to confidence and to leadership,” she said. “Women are adapting to new technologies and new market realities at pace. Our role is to make sure they have the networks and support to grow with confidence.”

Mayor of Limerick, John Moran, commented, “International Women’s Day urges us to turn celebration into action, ensuring that equality, respect and opportunity are not aspirations, but realities for all. Network Ireland continues to champion women who lead, innovate and uplift others. I particularly want to commend Limerick native Karen Ronan for her work as President of Network Ireland, while wishing Barbara MacCarthy the very best of luck in her term as Limerick branch President throughout 2026.”

Geraldine Casey, Managing Director of Retail Banking at AIB, said, “At AIB, we believe that when women in business thrive, our communities and our economy thrive with them. International Women’s Day is a powerful reminder that progress happens when ambition is supported by access to finance, to networks and to opportunity. AIB plays a vital role in creating those connections, and we look forward to continuing to champion female entrepreneurship, leadership and sustainable growth across Ireland.”

Sarah Walker, Senior Executive, Enterprise Ireland, said, “Enterprise Ireland is focused on increasing the number of women who start, lead and grow businesses, and we are delighted to support Network Ireland in hosting this year’s International Women’s Day event. Through our investments and initiatives, including the Going for Growth, NextWave, WeBuild, WeGrow and WeScale Shared Island programmes, we aim to give women the skills, networks and funding routes they need to scale. When women succeed in business, the benefits are felt across communities and the wider economy.”

Established in 1983, Network Ireland supports more than 1,400 female entrepreneurs, SME owners and senior professionals across sectors ranging from multinational business to non-profits, the arts and the public sector. Visit networkireland.ie for more.

Influencers, retailers and pubs breach consumer laws – CCPC

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has today published details of 18 new enforcement actions taken against traders in Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Mayo and Offaly for breaches of consumer protection legislation.

The measures are the result of inspections and investigations carried out in-store and online by CCPC officers.

Influencers 

  • Conor McGregor was issued a compliance notice for failing to disclose the commercial nature of content posted to his Instagram account @thenotoriousmma (CN)
  • Suzanne Jackson was issued a compliance notice for failing to disclose the commercial nature of content posted to her Instagram account @sosueme_ie (CN)

Retailers

  • Circle K Holding Ltd t/a Circle K, Nassau St, Dublin 2: two fixed payment notices for failing to display product prices (FPN 1, FPN 2)
  • Ard Services Ltd t/a Circle K, Tallaght, Dublin 24: fixed payment notice for failing to display product prices (FPN)
  • The Flannels Group (ROI) Ltd t/a Flannels, St Patrick’s St, Cork: fixed payment notice for failing to display product prices (FPN)
  • Midlands Retail Investments Ltd t/a Leavy’s Centra, Tullamore, Co. Offaly: two fixed payment notices for failing to display product prices (FPN 1, FPN 2)
  • Western Flower Wholesalers Ltd t/a Temptation Jewellers, Claremorris, Co. Mayo: compliance notice for failing to display a notice about hallmarking (CN)
  • Euro General Retail Limited t/a Eurogiant, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal: three fixed payment notices for failing to display unit pricing (FPN 1, FPN 2, FPN 3)
  • The Dublin Mint Office: three compliance notices for

Pubs

  • Perfect Pubs 3 Ltd t/a The Auld Dubliner, Dublin 2: compliance notice for failing to display a price list (CN)
  • The Temple Bar Tavern Ltd t/a Fitzsimons Temple Bar, Dublin 2: compliance notice for failing to display a price list (CN)
  • Widestar Ltd t/a Dakota Bar, Dublin 2: compliance notice for failing to display a price list (CN)

Patrick Kenny, member of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said,

“Whether you’re a retailer, a publican or an influencer, you must comply with consumer law. Our officers carry out hundreds of instore and online inspections, sweeps and investigations every year, assessing thousands of products and transactions to make sure consumer rights are upheld across the economy.

“CCPC teams will be actively monitoring compliance by these traders. Failure to obey a compliance notice is an offence, and we will prosecute those who do not correct their practices.

“We look forward to the introduction of direct fining powers for the CCPC. The ability to issue significant fines is an essential addition to our enforcement toolkit.

“Consumer reports to our helpline and industry intelligence help us to identify patterns of non-compliance, and we’re grateful to everyone who takes the time to share valuable information with us.”

In addition to the enforcements published today, last month saw the CCPC successfully prosecute Brown Thomas Arnotts for breaching sales pricing legislation and car dealer Ionut Nitulescu for misleading a consumer.

Create, Share, and Play in the Meta AI App with Vibes

Meta AI app has launched across Europe, and has now introduced Vibes – a brand-new feed for creating, remixing, and sharing short-form, AI-generated videos.

Vibes puts creative media sharing and AI-powered features at the heart of the Meta AI experience, marking a significant step forward in their mission to empower self-expression and fun for even more people.

Putting media generation at the heart of the experience, you can create your own videos using imaginative prompts, or remix what’s already been shared. There are options to add new visuals, layer in music, or adjust styles to match your individual taste.

This is an inherently social and collaborative creation experience, where you’re encouraged to remix, co-create, and build stories together with friends. Videos and content can be shared and posted directly to the Vibes feed, sent to friends, or cross-posted to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels.

Key highlights of today’s launch:

  • Vibes Feed: Create, remix, and share short-form, AI-generated videos. Explore a dedicated feed that becomes more personalized to your interests over time.

  • Collaborative Creation: Remix and co-create with friends, share content directly to the Vibes feed, or cross-post to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels.

  • Powerful AI Tools: Building on Meta AI’s availability across the apps you already know and love: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp – you can now naturally with your Meta AI assistant to generate and animate images, and edit photos with advanced AI-powered tools – all in one place.

Since launching in the US, Vibes has inspired over 20 billion images made with our AI tools, and media generation in the app has jumped more than tenfold and are now excited to bring this creative energy to Europe.

Please find the full blog post here

Appeals Centre Europe’s First Transparency Report Shines Light on Social Media Mistakes

The Appeals Centre’s first Transparency Report (covering November 2024 to August 2025) highlights the urgent need for independent review of social media decisions. The report shows that where platforms make mistakes, people pay the price: from unjust account suspensions cutting people off from family and friends, to vital health information being removed, or hate speech against vulnerable communities being left online.

More than three-quarters of our decisions overturned Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube – either because we disagreed with their decision after reviewing the content, or because the platform did not send us the content and we ruled in the user’s favour. The majority of these decisions promoted freedom of expression by recommending that a user’s content or account be restored. 

Across the EU people are standing up to social media companies by challenging their decisions:

  • We received nearly 10,000 disputes about decisions by Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
  • These came from every single EU country, covering content in more than 50 languages.
  • Of these, more than 3,300 disputes were within our scope, for which we have already issued 1,500+ decisions, with the rest expected in the coming weeks.
  • Since November we have expanded to account suspensions and new platforms (Instagram, Threads, Pinterest) to allow more people to use our service.
  • We received the most eligible disputes from Poland, followed by France and Italy.
  • We saw an upwards trend in case numbers, with the number of eligible disputes received increasing by more than 500% from December 2024 to August 2025.

Under EU law (the Digital Services Act), social media platforms must engage in good faith with dispute settlement bodies like the Appeals Centre and tell their users about this new option.

  • Today, however, dispute settlement bodies are Europe’s best-kept-secret. Most people don’t know we exist and some platforms seemingly want to keep it that way. This needs to change. Social media platforms should clearly tell their users about this new option on a dedicated help-page and as part of their internal appeals process.
  • More generally, co-operation with platforms has been mixed. Progress with YouTube, in particular, has been very slow. We have received no content from the company, meaning that – by the end of August – we had made decisions on just 29 of the more than 340 eligible YouTube disputes submitted to us. As such, we are concerned that people and organisations using YouTube in the EU are being denied meaningful access to out-of-court dispute settlement.

The CEO of Appeals Centre Europe, Thomas Hughes, said:

“Decisions by social media companies have very real consequences: from denying people a say in important debates, to cutting off a crucial source of income. But – as our Transparency Report shows – they don’t always get it right. If you’re in the EU, you can challenge the platform’s decision free-of-charge to the Appeals Centre and get an expert, impartial review.”

Appeals Centre Europe Starts Reviewing Social Media Account Suspensions

From today, if your account is suspended by Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube – and you are in the EU – you can challenge the decision to Appeals Centre Europe. 

Every day, people find that their social media account has been suspended. So often these  decisions are automated, and users are not told what they have done wrong.  

Being banned from social media affects people’s lives: from losing touch with friends, to  losing precious memories and – in some cases – cutting off a crucial source of income.  

Recently, however, the EU’s Digital Services Act has given people a new right to refer  account suspensions to certified, independent bodies like the Appeals Centre.  

A New Way to Challenge Unfair Account Suspensions 

If you are in the EU and Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube has suspended your  account, you can challenge the decision to the Appeals Centre free-of-charge. If we do not  think you broke the rules, your account may be restored. 

  1. Click on this link and create an account on the Appeals Centre website.  2. Start a new dispute in our online portal.  
  2. Select “The platform suspended an account that I want restored” 4. Provide basic information, like your username and when your account was suspended.  5. Submit your dispute.  
  3. We request the last piece of content you posted which supposedly broke the rules.  7. Our expert team make a decision and send it to you and the platform. 8. While our decisions are non-binding, platforms are required – under EU law – to  engage in good faith with the Appeals Centre. 

In addition to account suspensions, you can also challenge a social media platform’s  decision to remove your content, or their decision to leave harmful content online that you  think should be taken down.  

What’s Next?  

So far this year, we’ve issued our first decisions, appointed new Directors from across the  EU, co-founded a new network of dispute settlement bodies and expanded our scope to  cover Instagram. This summer, we will publish our first transparency report – with new insights into the cases we have received and the decisions we have made. We will also  expand to other social media platforms later this year.  

The CEO of Appeals Centre Europe, Thomas Hughes said: 

“Losing your social media account is more than an inconvenience, it affects people’s lives in  fundamental ways. Yet – for too long – those with suspended accounts have been stuck  between a rock and a hard place. Before now you could either appeal the decision to the  platform – which often sticks with its original decision – or go to court at great expense.  

Today, however, there’s a new option which is independent of platforms and free-of-charge:  Appeals Centre Europe. So, if your account has been unfairly suspended, do something  about it. Submit a dispute to the Appeals Centre and make your voice heard.”  

Facebook and Instagram most identified by public for featuring fraudulent adverts

In advance of International Fraud Awareness Week, research commissioned by Bank of Ireland has shown that 90% of the population believe fraud is a big problem in Irish society, with fake online purchase scams being the most common way for consumers to lose money.

One third of those surveyed said they had been targeted by a fraudulent advert on a social media platform. When these respondents were asked to identify the platform, 65% identified Facebook, 28% identified Instagram, with X at 13%, TikTok at 11%, and Snapchat at 4%.

In addition, almost half (47%) of citizens aged 18+ have seen adverts for investments or crypto currency on a social media platform featuring a well-known personality, politician or musician. The impersonation of well-known people and media organisations is a tactic used regularly in fraudulent ads to trick consumers into fake crypto investments, bond purchases, or savings products.

This can include impersonation of individuals such as President Michael D. Higgins, An Taoiseach Simon Harris, An Tánaiste Micheal Martin, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Denis O’Brien, Dáithí Ó Sé, Brian Dowling and Tommy Tiernan.  Adverts can also include links to fake websites impersonating RTE, the Irish Independent, Forbes, The Irish News, BBC News, the Irish Mirror, and many others.

Nicola Sadlier, Head of Fraud, Bank of Ireland said: “Fraudulent adverts are a blight on social media platforms. These adverts are all about one thing – the theft of money from consumers and businesses by criminals. They cause harm to people, the financial services system, and the economy. 

“Much more needs to be done. One common sense step would be to ensure that online platforms check that adverts are from companies that are regulated to sell financial products and services. The current approach, which is allowing fraudsters run fake ads that impersonate celebrities, politicians, and legitimate media organisations – all with the aim of stealing money – is clearly broken. 

“That’s why Bank of Ireland is calling for legislative change at European Union level so that online platforms will have to verify that advertisers of financial services are regulated to sell those services.”

Findings from the Red C poll among the Irish general public include:

  • Fake advertisements were most commonly seen on Facebook and Instagram followed by Twitter/X (13%), TikTok (11%) and Snapchat (4%).
  • The majority of people (66%) report fraud to their bank, followed by the Gardai (17%)
  • When asked to select all parties they believe responsible for protecting people from fraud in Ireland 66% selected Banks and Financial Services companies, along with the Gardai (51%), mobile phone (39%) and social media companies (39%).  60% of the population believe they themselves have a role.

The research was conducted as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness among Bank of Ireland customers and the general public around the danger of fraud to their personal finances and how to safeguard against the main causes of fraud. International Fraud Awareness Week runs from Monday 18 November, with a series of communications planned by Bank of Ireland to further raise awareness among the general public around fraud protection.

GoFundMe and Instagram Team Up to Supercharge Charity Fundraising with Game-Changing Social Features

GoFundMe and Instagram are launching innovative and new social sharing features to supercharge charity fundraisers and help raise more money for charities.

GoFundMe and Instagram’s new integration introduces a range of enhanced features designed to make fundraising more effective and engaging. Charities and fundraising organizers will benefit from enhanced sharing capabilities that allow their fundraisers to stand out in social feeds, making it easier to capture attention and build support. The integration also provides seamless sharing across Instagram and Instagram Stories, giving fundraisers a wider platform to reach followers and engage their communities. With native donation experiences built directly into Instagram, users can now donate without leaving the app, simplifying the process and increasing conversion rates. Additionally, real-time dynamic progress bars and a newly designed donate button will inspire immediate action by showing the live impact of contributions, encouraging more people to give and share with their networks. This integration is set to supercharge fundraising efforts, bringing greater visibility and engagement to causes that matter most.

Speaking about the new integration, GoFundMe CEO, Tim Cadogan says, “Ireland is the most generous country on GoFundMe and that extends to charity. Around one in every five GoFundMe pages in Ireland is for a charity. This integration will unlock powerful new channels for Irish people to raise millions more for charities – and give organisations the tools to inspire a new generation of supporters to make a difference for the causes they care about.”

These new features on Instagram are set to officially launch on 31st October, allowing charities and fundraisers to start leveraging the enhanced social sharing and donation tools in the run up to Christmas. With this integration, charities will be able to raise more funds by engaging with their Instagram communities in a seamless, user-friendly way. Additionally, Facebook will soon follow with similar enhancements, expanding the reach of fundraising efforts across both major platforms. This dual-platform integration will maximize the impact of every fundraiser.

“We are thrilled to introduce new features that will help connect more people with charity fundraisers shared on Facebook and Instagram,” said Allison Hartnett, Director of Central Social Impact at Meta. “We have heard from our charity partners that fundraising on their platform of choice is important, and are excited to be working with partners like GoFundMe to expand our offerings for nonprofits.”

To enable these new fundraising features, charities will need to ensure they meet a few key requirements. First, they will need to have a Facebook business page, which acts as the foundation for linking their social media presence with the fundraising tools. Next, they’ll need a professional Instagram account that is linked to their Facebook page. This connection is crucial as it allows the charity to seamlessly integrate GoFundMe fundraising with Instagram’s sharing and donation capabilities. Finally, charities must be enrolled in Facebook’s fundraising tools. This enrolment ensures that the necessary infrastructure is in place to process donations directly through Instagram. Once these steps are completed, charities will be able to leverage the enhanced sharing tools, real-time donation tracking, and dynamic donation options to boost their fundraising efforts and engage with their communities more effectively.

About GoFundMe:

GoFundMe is the world’s leading crowdfunding platform dedicated to helping people help each other. GoFundMe has helped raise over $30bn for people and charities.

For charities to leverage the new enhancements, they will need the following

  1. You’ll need a Facebook business page
  2. You’ll need a professional Instagram account, linked to your FB page
  3. You’ll need to be enrolled in Facebook’s fundraising tools

Methods of promoting a page on Instagram in 2022

Instagram is gaining more and more popularity every year. In 2022, it has almost 1.5 billion active users! A huge leap occurred in the period from 2019 to 2021, when the number of users increased by as much as 383 million! For a better understanding: experts predicted such an increase in active users already for 2024. In general, nobody doubts the crazy popularity of this platform. Instagram literally breaks all records. So this is a great chance to promote your own blog on this platform. In this article we will look at both free promotion methods (mutual likes, subscriptions, comments) and paid ones (such as targeting and the ability to buy Instagram followers) 

Where to start?

It is  recommended starting with simple free promotion methods. First, share a link to your new blog in your personal account and ask your mates, co-workers and relatives to subscribe to you. So you will have the first few dozen subscribers.

Then you can start mutual liking, commenting and subscribing. We recommend using these methods of promotion only at the earliest stages of the development of your blog. Unfortunately, they take a very long time, and their positive effect is much lower than that of paid promotion methods. In addition, if you are not developing your own small business or a small blog about life, but want to promote the account of an entire company, then it is better not to consider this method at all. And go straight to paid promotion methods.

What paid methods of promotion are there?

Many famous bloggers say that they used the opportunity to buy followers Instagram. Such subs will like, watch stories and publications, as well as be active in your profile in every possible way. Among other things, this method of promotion saves a huge amount of time that you can spend on topics and schedule of publication of posts, good quality photos of your blog and thinking through options for interactions with your audience. Such people work effectively with companies for a reward. Many advantages! Of course, in this case, the most important thing is to choose a reliable and proven company.

After that, it will be quite effective to use targeting. Just remember that your advertising should attract potential customers and subscribers. They should want not just to follow the advertising link, but also to stay in the profile, and in a perfect case scenario — to use your services. For this, as it might seem, not only advertising is important. We at techbuzz do not pay any form of money for followers etc it has to be noted. 

Of course, a high-quality bright professional photo, a clear font, attractive, honest and understandable offers will certainly hook people. But an equally crucial aspect is the correct understanding of your target audience. You should clearly understand who your potential client is — a man or a woman, a young or a more mature person, in which city they live and what they are interested in. Don’t try to reach absolutely all Instagram users! Target only those who will really be interested in your product.

Spare no time for careful planning of your profile development strategy, and everything will definitely work out!

Instagram launches new fundraising tools for Earth Week

Instagram is launching a new fundraising feature within Instagram Reels to give people a new way to do this. Now available in more than 30 countries, including Ireland, people can donate and create fundraisers for important environmental causes directly from Reels. Globally, more than 4 million people have donated over $150M (c. 140M EURO) to date through Facebook and Instagram Fundraisers to combat climate change and support environmental protection.

Most popular Earth Day related emojis and hashtags in Ireland

  • Emojis:
    •  (Green heart)
    •  (Globe)
    •  (Honeybee)
    •  (Deciduous tree)
    • ️ (Recycling symbol)
  • Hashtags:
    • #earthday
    • #climatechange
    • #earthdayeveryday

Learn More About Climate Change and Make an Impact for Earth Day:

 Here are some ways you can help tackle climate change across Meta technologies, whether that’s leading the charge on fundraising for a cause on Instagram Reels or just learning more about climate issues:

  • Visit the Climate Science Centre: We’re adding new features, including highlighting everyday actions people can take and showcasing new data that shows country-level emissions. More than 200 million people have visited the Climate Science Centre, now available in 150 countries.
  • Shop second-hand on Facebook Marketplace: Currently in Ireland, there are over 3,500 zero-waste, recycled or up-cycled items listed on Facebook Marketplace. You can use Marketplace to buy, and sell secondhand items in your local community — from bicycles and plants to clothes and home decor.
  • Show support for the environment: 
    • On Instagram, we’ve collaborated with illustrator Ping Zhu to create stickers that encourage people to express their support for Earth Day and the environment. When someone uses one of the stickers in a story, they’ll get added to a multi-author story that shows up in the first spot of the Stories tray at the top of Instagram.
    • On Facebook, we’re adding profile frames that let people show their support. 
    • On Messenger, we’re releasing a custom sticker pack and 3D avatar stickers built just for Earth Day. We’ve also partnered with Ellen DeGeneres to bring an Earth Day-friendly version of her mobile game Heads Up! to video calling on Messenger and Instagram.
  • Explore environmental VR content on Quest: Immerse yourself in conservation experiences across the globe with virtual reality apps and experiences from Meta Quest. Encounter endangered mountain gorillas in the volcanic jungles of northern Rwanda and walk with giant pandas rescued from the wilds of China, or sit with the children of Cabo Pulmo to learn how overfishing is impacting their local reef and livelihood.

Commitment to the Environment

We’re sharing new efforts towards our goals of net zero emissions across our value chain and accelerating the renewable energy transition which you can read on our latest Newsroom Post https://about.fb.com/news/2022/04/make-an-impact-for-earth-day/