Digital Digest #59 - Gen AI adoption drivers, Reddit attracting businesses, social media bots, Russian disinformation, advertisers flee X

Hi everyone,

Welcome to this week's Digital Digest! In this week's edition:

• Reddit is gaining popularity with businesses
• Bots are fueling viral posts on social media
• Russia funding disinformation from within the US media ecosystem
• The advertiser exodus from X is set to accelerate in 2025

But first, a look at the forces shaping mass adoption of generative AI (they're not what you might think) and a slew of other interesting gen AI news.

1. Forces shaping consumer generative AI adoption

eMarketer took a look at some of the forces driving widespread adoption of generative AI, which has already gone from just 6.6m people in the US in 2022 to 86.3m in 2024 - and is forecast to grow to 110.9m by 2026. (eMarketer - subscription required)

• Why it matters: The forces driving growth are interesting: Social platforms integrating AI personas and content; smart devices are incorporating AI features; AI is revolutionizing search (as we've discussed here repeatedly); and brands like Walmart and Amazon are integrating AI-powered customer service agents. Note: these drivers all go beyond stand-alone chatbot apps, which is what most people think about when you mention generative AI.

Also in generative AI news:

• A thousand autonomous AI agents are all working in Minecraft to create their own economy, government and culture (ReadWrite)
• AI-generated filing misappropriates Florida attorney’s identity (The Florida Bar)
• OpenAI hits one million paid users of ChatGPT for business (Seeking Alpha); meanwhile, Anthropic launched its own enterprise plan (TechCrunch)
• Google Photos starts rolling out Ask Photos, which uses AI to understand the context of photos in your gallery: “Where did we camp last time we went to Yosemite?” (9to5Google)

2. Reddit gaining attention with businesses

Reddit was the fifth highest-visibility domain in Google’s organic search results in July 2024, up from No. 68 in July 2023. This, plus new ad products, has the site increasingly on businesses' radars nowadays. (eMarketer)

• Why it matters: Reddit has been steadily bolstering its opportunities for businesses, with a series of new ad types. However, it is also a notoriously volatile space for businesses - a thick skin and appropriate care in targeting and execution are strongly advised.

3. Bots fueling viral posts on social media

Axios takes a look at the impact of bots on the social media ecosystem, noting the impact of bots in tricking platform algorithms (and media) into thinking that some issues are bigger than they actually are. (Axios)

• Why it matters: This is a growing problem, particularly as interested third parties increasingly seek to distort or amplify controversies to their own benefit. The article makes an interesting point - that the PR industry, by emphasizing the importance of volume in reporting, actually poured fuel on this fire. (As noted in last week's Digital Digest, social media monitoring is getting harder and harder)

4. Russians funding disinformation from within the US media ecosystem

Big news this week as US prosecutors accused two employees of Russian disinformation-spreading outlet RT of implementing a $10m influence operation to fund conservative social media outfit Tenet Media (ok, the indictment didn't name them directly but people quickly joined the dots) which then began posting divisive content about polarized political matters. (New York Times, Semafor, Forbes)

• Why it matters: As the NYT notes, this episode reflects a new level of sophistication in Russian information operations - shifting from creating inauthentic accounts to amplify divisive issues, to funding those within the domestic media ecosystem.

Also in disinformation news:

• YouTube is debuting tech to help creators detect AI-generated deepfakes and voices of themselves (The Drum, Mashable, Social Media Today)

5. Advertiser exodus from X set to accelerate

Market research firm Kantar published a report this week suggesting that 26% of marketers globally now plan to decrease their X spend in 2025, including half of marketers in Europe. (Gizmodo, The Next Web, The Guardian, The Guardian)

• Why it matters: Perhaps it's not a great idea to follow-up on telling your advertisers to go f%$k themselves and creating a moderation-free wasteland, by suing some of those advertisers.

Also in X news:

• Bluesky reported significant user growth (only to 9m users, so let's not get too excited) after X was banned in Brazil for failing to obey court orders in that country. (Mashable, TechCrunch, The Guardian)
• Racism, misogyny, lies: how did X become so full of hatred? And is it ethical to keep using it? (The Guardian)

Have a great week!

Dave