Feb 12-2024: A Recap of What Happened in The Digital Space Last Week

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To new readers, welcome to my weekly newsletter, Digital Trends and Insights, where I curate and aggregate social media feature updates, tech news, digital trends, and weekly insights to keep you updated and informed!

Here is a recap of what happened last week in the digital space. Kindly click on the hypertext links to read more from the sources

The Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 seeks to introduce fines of up to KES 1 million , a prison sentence of up to two years, or both on unlicensed entities operating robotic and AI businesses if they fail to register their organisations with the Robotics Society of Kenya

Safaricom

Mid-last week, some MPESA users reported that MPESA messages were flagged as SPAM. In my case, I had to block and unblock it to reset it to normal. Here is a statement by Safaricom PLC on the issue

Social Media Q4, 2023 in Numbers

• Pinterest is now at 498 Monthly Active? users in Q4 2023, adding 16 million more users from Q3 2024
• Snapchat is now at 414 million daily active users and 800 million monthly active users in Q4 2023
• Facebook daily active users were 2.11 billion on average for December 2023.
• Facebook monthly active users were 3.07 billion as of December 31, 2023
• Meta Family's daily active people were 3.19 billion on average for December 2023, an increase of 8% year-over-year.
• Meta family's monthly active population was 3.98 billion as of December 31, 2023.

Meta

Mark Zuckerberg overtook Bill Gates to claim the position of the fourth wealthiest individual globally, according to Bloomberg Index

#Instagram Threads is experimenting with the ability to save posts, allowing users to bookmark favourite posts to revisit them later.

#Meta is working with industry partners on common technical standards for identifying AI content, including video and audio so that they will label images that users post to Facebook, Instagram & and Threads. I think labelling AI content is good for transparency?

Meta removed the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran’s Supreme Leader for repeatedly violating our dangerous organizations & individuals policy

Meta cuts off third-party API access to Facebook Group s, leaving developers and customers in disarray. This API allows businesses to analyze customer behaviour, gather valuable insights, engage with customers, and schedule posts within Facebook groups.

TikTok

TikTok is testing Sub Space a new option within TikTok’s Live subscription tools which enables creators to set up what’s essentially a private chat room for paying members only

X formerly Twitter

X is currently experimenting with a new X articles update , which will provide a dedicated blog posting system along with a custom link preview card within the X feed

Detailed video analytics on X will be available at https://studio.twitter.com/lib

X is making it easier to revisit your Bookmarks

X has partnered with @WWE to launch WWE Speed, a new weekly video series showcasing timed matches featuring your favourite WWE superstars, distributed exclusively on X.

X will soon give you control over whether people can download your videos in DM’s by default.

Google Alphabet

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announces that Google has surpassed 100 million Google One subscribers! Google One is a subscription plan that gives you more storage to use across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

YouTube Updates You Should Know this Week

YouTube is rolling out a 1080p Enhanced option for YouTube TV and Primetime Channels subscribers. The option will be available on updated 4K-compatible streaming devices

??Audio-first podcast creators who distribute their podcasts using an RSS feed can now upload their RSS feed to YouTube. More details are here

??Creators can now go live vertically & get discovered in Shorts. To be eligible, you need to have 50 subscribers and get one-time verifications

??YouTube users can now see previews of live streams in the Shorts feed. To watch the live feed, tap on "Watch Live."

Bluesky

Bluesky Funded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is now open to everyone. Bluesky added almost a million users one day after opening to the public

AI, Generative AI

Google Bard is now known as Gemini and Google is rolling out Gemini Advanced on mobile, which can be your personal tutor, help with advanced coding, content idea generation and brainstorming

OpenAI now generates about 100 billion words per day. All people on earth generate about 100 trillion words per day. Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO.

OpenAI has formed a new team to study ways to prevent its AI tools from being misused or abused by kids. Why? Kids and teens are increasingly turning to GenAI tools for help, not only with schoolwork but also with personal issues

Grammarly is laying off 230 employees worldwide as part of a “business restructuring to focus on “the AI-enabled workplace of the future.”

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