Digital Debrief | February 2023

Welcome to February's Digital Debrief. This month did not keep it short in terms of digital marketing news. From the ongoing drama at Twitter, to big moves in integrating AI-powered chatbots in search engine experiences, we have a lot to cover.

Twitter??

Twitter Blue Vs Meta Verified ?

Now that multiple social media networks are offering a paid verified program, which is the most worth it? With Meta joining Twitter and Snapchat on the paid subscription bandwagon, here is a breakdown of what their new Verified program offers vs Twitter Blue. ?

Twitter Blue members can now post tweets up to 4K characters long. ?

That's a lot of words. Longer tweets will be displayed in the main feed at standard length, with a ‘Show more…’ indicator pointing users to the remainder of the content.?

LinkedIn?

New visual display elements ?

LinkedIn is making user profiles more visually appealing through the integration of several new visual elements to personal profiles and layout updates to the Activity section that will now display images, videos, and articles in a more aesthetic display. If it’s been a minute since you last updated your profile, now might be a good time to check in! ?

Newsletter scheduling?

LinkedIn is also adding the capacity to schedule newsletters within its app. Newsletter use is up 10X year-over-year so it makes sense the network is looking to add more features for newsletter publishers. ?

Instagram??

Say goodbye to live-stream shopping??

Meta is abandoning its live shopping push on Instagram. Starting March 16th Instagram users will no longer be able to tag products while live-streaming. Live-stream shopping has been a big performer for the app in Asian markets but is not performing well with Western users. Virtually every social media network has tried its hand at live-stream shopping, but none have caught on with the exception of Chinese users.??

New feature: Instagram Channels ?

Instagram is rolling out a new feature called ‘Instagram Channels’, which is essentially an expansion of their group messaging function within the app where you can stay up to date on specific topics, brands, people, etc. In essence, Instagram Channels is a ‘broadcast chat’ that supports text, images, and polls within the Instagram direct messaging portion of the app. Once you join a channel, it will appear in your IG Direct chat list where you can read and react to messages posted in the chat – though you can’t post to the feed yourself. ?

Snapchat??

750M+ ?

Snapchat held its 2023 Investor Day and the headline was its jump to 750 million monthly active users, a big change from the 600 million announced in April last year. While growth was stagnant in North America and Europe, Snap is seeing growth and fast mobile phone adoption in India. ?

Pinterest??

Idea Pins have expanded video length to 60-seconds?

Following the lead of TikTok, Pinterest is adding longer video clips in its Idea Pins format. This provides another way for Pinterest users and creators to maximize their content on the network. With Pinterest serving over a billion video views per day via this full-screen video format, it’s a great spot to tell your story. ?

Reddit ?

Growth in financial topics?

With more than 100,000 active communities, Reddit covers a wide variety of topics ranging from true crime to finance – which a recent report shows is a growing portion of their conversation share. According to Reddit, 62% of US Reddit users say that financial brands can have a conversation with them on the platform that they can’t have anywhere else. Reddit also published a new overview of financial topic engagement. ?

Search Engines ?

Meet Bard?

Google’s answer to ChatGPT is here and we can call it Bard. Google previewed AI-powered features in search such as a ChatGPT-style search experience that generates answers directly within the search experience.

Per Google: “Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner.”?

Updates to Search, Lens, Maps and Translate ?

Google has announced many changes coming to Google Search, Lens, Maps, and translate. Multi-search added a ‘near me’ option that lets you zoom in on multi-search image and text queries via your camera but also find local results. It was also announced that since adding Google Lens to the homepage, the feature has been used more than 10 billion times. A few new Google Maps features for EVs, glanceable directions, immersive views, and indoor live views are also coming in the next few months. Google translate is getting an update to bring a glanceable screen and more accessible features to Android, the Google Lens augmented reality translation feature is now rolling out globally and contextual translation options are coming soon. ?

Bing + ChatGPT integration makes first appearances ?

Microsoft Bing is working towards integrating ChatGPT?with?GPT 4.0?into its search interface in the coming weeks and now we may have?spotted?some of those testing efforts in the wild. Owen Yin shared screenshots and a GIF of Bing integrated ChatGPT on Medium and the New York Times’s popular podcast The Daily ran an episode covering the tool’s capabilities. ?

Google alternative search results page features Bard?

A CNBC report provided more details on what an experimental search page with Google’s Bard AI-Chat Bot integration might look like. In the version of Google’s new search results page, the company replaces the iconic I’m Feeling Lucky button under the search bar with prompts for potential questions and added a small chat logo inside the far right end of the search bar. ?

Tech?

ChatGPT Plus ?

For $20 a month, users can access the paid version of the popular ChatCPT service during peak times and receive faster responses. The service will roll out to waitlisted users first and will cover: ?

• General access to ChatGPT, even during peak?times?
• Faster response?times?
• Priority access to new features and?improvements?

OpenAI also launched a new tool to detect AI-generated text called AI Text Classifier?