The Friday Five: Google Updates Helpful Content System, 1 in 4 Brits Give False Info, And, Is Instagram Dead?

Deck the halls people! Christmas has arrived, welcome to another edition of The Friday Five. We've got five firey news stories from the weird and wonderful world of digital marketing for you. This week's edition has some particularly important stories about Google and their algorithm so be sure to keep your eyes peeled!

It's been a busy week here at Embryo servicing our fantastic clients and beginning to get excited about our Christmas taking place next Friday.

Anyway, intro aside, let's get stuck in!

1. Instagram, Over? Surely Not, Right?

'Does she have Instagram? Does anybody?', is how this Atlantic article examining the apparent death of Meta's social media platform starts. Brutal right?

The piece, which is linked below, doesn't get much more optimistic. The writer, Kate Lindsay, details all the ways in which the once-dominant social media platform is now wilting and waning in the face of TikTok.

From the ever-changing main feed that is now a combination of Reels, recommended posts you maybe didn't ask for, and 'the occasional picture from a friend that’s finally surfaced after being posted several days ago' to the lack of identity that the app has. It's trying to be TikTok but what people want, is Instagram (remember #MakeInstagramInstagramAgain ?).

As well as more intangible criticisms around identity are cold hard facts. Lindsay points out the fact that the aforementioned Reels - supposedly Instagram's shining city on the hill - is dwarfed in usage when you compare it to TikTok. Per day, people spend 17.6 million hours watching Instagram Reels, not bad right? When compared to TikTok this tens of millions of hours fly by. Daily, people on 'the other app' spend 197.8 million hours watching the content on that platform.

There are also a couple of case studies of IG influencers who now use the platform to direct their audience to other websites (Substack, for instance, is mentioned a few times).

For Instagram to thrive once more, could it really be as simple as just letting us see pictures of our friends and family? Who knows.

Read this excellent piece here.

2. AI Chat Bot Becomes Talk of the Town, Surpassing One Million Users

Capable, allegedly, of holding a conversation and helping to solve people's problems, chatbots have been heralded as the future and a key component of Web3.

This week it appears that there has been a breakthrough in the world of chatbots that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to communicate with regular folk. Catchily titled 'ChatGPT', this bot was introduced to the world on Wednesday by OpenAI and in just three days has surpassed one million users!

In order to improve its responses, anything AI-related has to learn and the best way to do that is to have conversations, intake data, and improve.

Talking in this way, has, according to OpenAI, allowed ChatGPT to admit when it's wrong, challenge people's beliefs and biases and say no to inappropriate requests.

What has made ChatGPT so interesting is what it doesn't say. Often, chatbots scrape the internet and find all the worst parts of it, as well as the good of course. This leaves them vulnerable to being used to say offensive and disparaging things. ChatGPT doesn't seem to have fallen into that rather rude trap.

ChatGPT is a further development in this space, coming after Google's own chatbot - Lamda - was considered sentient by a former employee. Yikes.

Learn more in this BBC news article.

3. Google's Content Helpful Content System Updated and Has Gone Global

Back in August Google launched a significant new update titled the Helpful Content Update. In a nutshell, the idea was that it would help promote content that was written for users, rather than algorithms.

Now renamed slightly to a system as opposed to an update, it has undergone its biggest update since it was launched a few months back. Essentially, the update has gone global in the last few days and can now impact virtually every language.

'Released the December 2022?helpful content update , which improves our classifier and works across content globally in all languages. The rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.' said Google .

The effect of being able to read content in multiple languages will be further promotions and demotions of content that is deemed helpful or not. As well as this, Google said the update contained further signals that allowed them to judge helpful content better.

The quality of your content will determine whether or not you benefit from this latest update, if you're traffic or rankings are hit, it might be time to rethink your content strategy.

'This update clearly indicates that Google wants people to 'up' their content game. Weak and thin content will certainly be targeted,' said our Head of Organic Andrew Holland .

He added, 'Google is sending out the signal that expertise matters, and so does original content. SEO's and business owners need to listen, or they'll likely see rankings and organic traffic take a huge hit.'

Its been a busy week for Google, as well as this update they also introduced continuous scrolling on desktop and the ability to use filters in the SERP . These are restricted to US users at the moment but expect that to change in the coming weeks.

For more info head over to the below article.

4. Customer Data, Take It with a Pinch, or a Handful, of Salt? New Survey Shows 1 in 4 Give Falso Info

In a move that could send shivers up marketers' spines, a new study and Treasure Data has discovered that 25% of UK shoppers intentionally give brands that they buy from false information and a third (34%) don't give their primary email address.

With data being so essential for brands in almost every facet of marketing, the idea that a quarter of it could be completely made up is something that's almost not worth thinking about. This is especially true when margins are so tight and misfiring campaigns and strategies can be costly.

'It’s imperative that brands demonstrate accordingly the importance of data sharing – and the value Brits will receive in return for doing so – through personalised, helpful content,' said Andrew Stephenson of Treasure Data.

Digging deeper, the data shows that young people are the most secretive with their data with around 45% of 18-34-year-olds not using their primary email addresses. A Black Friday, as well as being a time for revenue increases, is also a fruitful data exercise with many users signing up for email lists and downloading apps to take advantage of offers.

The report highlights just how short a shrift UK shoppers have for marketing that they deem irrelevant to them.

'What’s also clear from our research is that there’s an uphill battle for marketers...' you can say that again Andrew.

Get more reaction here.

5. LinkedIn Providing Greater Insight into Followers and Posts

LinkedIn is where it's at for a vast majority of businesses, especially those in the B2B environment. A solid presence on the platform can generate new leads, boost brand awareness and provide a platform for some stellar recruitment.

Posting daily on the platform is a very effective way of getting in front of decision-makers and key players across virtually every industry. In recent months LinkedIn has offered up analytics for creators to allow them to judge how successful their efforts have been.

In the past week, LinkedIn has released more analytics features, allowing greater visibility on performance. The first new feature is follower growth over time - which, as the name suggests, allows you to track the number of followers you acquire over a chosen period. Discover which content caused spikes in followers and use that to make future creative decisions.

'This information can help them determine if a conversation topic, new visual format, or speaking opportunity may have influenced their follower growth, helping them inform their strategy moving forward,' said LinkedIn in a statement.

Secondly, you can now view which posts performed well. Currently, you can only view up to three of the most successful over a selected date range.

How will you use these new features? Check out more in the below blog.

Have a great weekend everyone, we'll all be cheering on England hoping they can conquer France. We'll see you here next Friday for another red-hot edition of the Five!