Bonded Bitesize – Your Midweek Roundup
Bonded Bitesize – Your Midweek Roundup
Bonded Bitesize – Bringing you your midweek roundup of the latest in digital and media.
Stay connected with recent updates from Microsoft, Google, Meta & many more!
Microsoft launches global rollout of Bing Chat, and announced new features such as Chat History, image responses and multimodal search
Microsoft has announced that its AI Chatbot, Bing Chat, is being rolled out globally, whilst also revealing several new upcoming features. Firstly, Microsoft shared that Bing Chat will soon be able to respond to queries with relevant images - as well as be able to answer queries that use both images and text in their input. The chatbot will also have the ability to create charts and graphs when fed the right data, refine generated images with follow up prompts and allow support for plugins.
TikTok is launching a new premium ad placement alongside its most popular content, called Pulse Premiere
TikTok is expanding its Pulse Ads offering which it first launched last May, with a new premium ad placement known as ‘Pulse Premiere’. According to TikTok, “Pulse Premiere gives brands the control to choose where their ads are placed, adjacent to content from our premium publishing partners in lifestyle & education, sports and entertainment categories for specific tentpole events as well as evergreen, ongoing content”. To do so, TikTok has partnered with Buzfeed, Conde Nast, DotDash Meredith and Hearst Magazines among others.
Meta claims it is on track to double amount of AI recommendations in user feeds
Meta has shared new insights into its evolving use of AI-based content recommendations - showing its increasing reliance on machine learning to populate user feeds. According to Meta, over 20% of the content displayed on users Facebook feeds has been recommended by AI, rather than relying on a users own social circle. Similarly, on Instagram AI recommendation accounts for 40% of content shown.
Snapchat has announced new ad options including Spotlight ads, promoted links in My AI and First Story ads
Snapchat has announced several new upcoming ad options. Firstly, a new ‘First Story’ offering will enable ad partners to ensure that their ad is the first to be shown between friends' stories in the app. Snap claims that this premium placement will have the potential to reach over 50 million users. Secondly, Snap is also launching ads in Spotlight, its TikTok-like feed of short clips. The company has set up its new ‘Snap Star Collab Studio’ initiative to help facilitate brand/creator partnerships, pairing up creators with brands for campaigns. And finally, Snapchat is experimenting with placing promoted links in its AI chatbot, My AI.
Reddit has shared new tips to help SMBs create more resonant ad campaigns on the platform
To celebrate National Small Business month, Reddit has shared some new Reddit ad tips specific to small businesses. These top tips include:
- Communicate your brands vision and value proposition
- Don’t be too formal
- Tweal copy to include humour or cultural references
- Reddit like a Redditor
- Experiment with longer headlines, but don’t overdo it
- Strike a balance of copy and creative
Read the full post here.
Amazon’s TikTok-like shopping feed, Inspire, is now available to all U.S. customers
Amazon’s new Inspire feed, which shows short-form videos and photos to aid product discovery in-app, is now available to all customers in the United States. Users can access this feed via a new light bulb icon on the app's navigation bar, which presents a vertical video feed with a similar scrolling experience to TikTok. Creators must be enrolled in the Amazon Influencer Program to post in this feed, and will be eligible for commission when customers shop through their content.
LinkedIn experiments with generative AI prompts for feed posts
Having recently introduced AI generated profile summaries and job descriptions, it seems LinkedIn is now testing AI feed posts too. In a screenshot shared by app researcher Nima Owji, the AI update assistant prompts users to share their ideas to then get suggestions for a post draft, Whether this will help generate more interesting posts on the platform, or rather create an air of inauthenticity - we will just have to wait and see.
Meta has announced new AR Reels, Shopping Ads, and Reels Ad options
Meta has previewed some new AR and Reels ad options at IAB Newfronts, including AR Reels, product carousels in Reels and larger CTA buttons. Meta has worked with beauty retailer Sephora to test these AR Reels ahead of their launch - running an ad that had users press their thumb to the screen to generate their best fitting fragrance. According to Meta, over half of the ad’s audience was Gen Z users - suggesting that these new formats will be useful for engaging younger audiences.
Google is launching blue checkmarks for verified brands in Gmail
Google has announced that it is implementing its own blue checkmark system in order to help users identify approved brand profiles within their inbox. To be eligible for this checkmark, businesses must adopt Google’s brand verification process which requires registration of a company logo with a VMC and a higher level of account security.
YouTube is adding several new Shorts ad placement options to facilitate more promotional opportunities
YouTube is adding several new ways for brands to advertise on the platform via their short-form content, YouTube Shorts. Firstly, YouTube is adding Shorts into Video Reach campaigns, which uses AI to place ads in order to improve reach and efficiency. YouTube is also adding in-feed video ads to Reach campaigns as well as adding Shorts placement to YouTube Select - its premium ad presentation option.
Twitter has reinstated free API access for public service providers in the app
Twitter has announced that public utilities will be able to re-access Twitter’s API for free - including those posting weather alerts, transportation information and emergency warnings. Free access to the API was believed to be removed due to OpenAI’s ChatGPT using Twitter’s data to inform its learning model, though its removal led to a range of Twitter tools, info bots and supplementary services including scheduling apps having to shut down.
TikTok is expanding its Creativity Program to provide more monetisation opportunities for creators
TikTok has announced a new expansion of its Creativity Program, providing monetisation opportunities for more creators, Initially launched back in February with a select group of creators, the program is now expanding to let any U.S. creators join - given that they meet certain requirements including having at least 10k followers and 100k authentic video views. The Creativity Program was designed as a step up from TikTok’s former Creator Fund, which was regularly criticised for not paying creators fairly.
Instagram is testing a new generative AI sticker creation process in-app
Instagram appears to be testing a new process that would enable users to create custom stickers in-stream, powered by generative AI. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, commented on the company's increasing reliance on AI, by noting “I think there’s an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful. I expect these tools will be valuable for everyone from regular people to creators, to businesses.” With this, it seems AI stickers are just one of the new AI tools we are likely to see coming from the company.
Twitter is exploring new ways to display video content, including dedicated tab in user profiles
Twitter is working on ways to update its display of media and videos on the app. An example shared by Twitter designer Andrea Conway shows the media tab in an Instagram-like grid showcasing both still images and videos. Musk has also hinted at a separate video tab coming soon to profiles to enhance the video experience. In addition, the platform is also looking to roll out in-line images within longer tweets - making them more like blog posts.
Meta adds new feedback options on Reels to better align with user preferences
Meta has added new simplified feedback control options to its Reels interface, letting users select the content that they want to see more or less of within their feeds. TikTok has also employed a similar feedback loop with the aim of guiding their algorithm to be more in sync with a users interests - which is especially important given that 20% of the content displayed in users Facebook feeds has been recommended by AI.
