Welcome to Social Media Buzz Weekly, your weekly bulletin of the latest social media updates. With the social media landscape evolving with each passing day, it can be challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments. Well, not anymore, as we have taken it upon ourselves to keep you abreast of every happening in the social media space.
So, without any further ado, let’s look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. Meta Retires Celebrity-Styled AI Bots
Meta has decided to retire its celebrity AI chatbots, with several of them going offline in recent days.
Meta paid out millions to create chatbots in the likeness of Kendall Jenner, Charli D’Amelio, Chris Paul and more. Celebrity-styled AI bots were introduced by Meta as a way to enhance user engagement by providing interactive and entertaining experiences. These bots, powered by artificial intelligence, used the voices and personas of famous celebrities to interact with users, offering a unique blend of technology and entertainment.
When first launched, celebrity-styled AI bots were met with enthusiasm. Users enjoyed the novelty of interacting with AI versions of their favorite celebrities, and businesses saw potential in using these bots for marketing and customer engagement. The AI bots were capable of handling customer inquiries, providing product recommendations, and even engaging in small talk, all while maintaining the charm and personality of the celebrity they represented.
2. Meta Explores Celebrity-Voiced AI Chatbots
Meta Platforms Inc. is offering Hollywood celebrities millions of dollars for the right to record and use their voices for artificial intelligence projects, according to several people familiar with the negotiations.
Meta is in discussions with Awkwafina, Judi Dench, and other actors and influencers for the right to incorporate their voices into a digital assistant product called MetaAI, according to people with knowledge of the talks, as the company pushes to build more products that feature artificial intelligence. Apart from Ms. Dench and Awkwafina, Meta is in talks with the comedian Keegan-Michael Key and other celebrities, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are private. They added that all of Hollywood’s top talent agencies were involved in negotiations with the tech giant.
3. Meta Removes Detailed Targeting Exclusions From Ad Campaigns
Meta has officially removed detailed targeting exclusions from all new ad campaigns, marking a significant shift in how advertisers can refine their audience selections.
While the change had been anticipated for some time, Meta only recently confirmed the update, which was quietly implemented earlier this year. Meta’s detailed targeting exclusions enabled advertisers to exclude people from their ad audience based on demographics, interests and/or behaviors. The option gave advertisers more capacity to refine their ad audience, but Meta has found that, over time, these exclusions actually limit ad effectiveness, despite advertisers believing that they would improve performance.
4. Facebook Offers First-Time Rule Violators a Way To Avoid Penalties
Meta’s looking to help creators avoid penalties by implementing a new system that will enable creators who violate Facebook’s rules for the first time to complete an education process about the specific policy in question in order to get that warning removed.
Upon completion of the course, the warning will be removed from the user’s account. It’s basically that same as the process that YouTube implemented last year, which enables first-time community standards violators to undertake a training course to avoid a channel strike. Though in both cases, the most extreme violations will still result in immediate penalties.
5. TikTok Announces Inaugural ‘Visionary Voices Africa’ Group
TikTok has announced its inaugural “Visionary Voices Africa” list, with 15 top African region creators selected for the program, as part of its continued effort to highlight emerging creators from different communities in the app.
The group includes creators, small business owners, and “Industry Disruptors,” providing a cross-section of creative talent from the broader African community. TikTok says that the selected creators showcase the spirit of African creation through their work. TikTok’s Visionary Voices initiative, through which it’s also highlighted creators of various other backgrounds, provides a platform for creators to showcase their work and get it in front of a broader range of users in the app.
6. TikTok Shuts Down Incentive Program in Europe
TikTok is shutting down its “TikTok Lite” rewards program in Europe, after the EU Commission launched an investigation into the specifications of the initiative, which offered cash incentives for in-app activity.
Back in April, the EU Commission called on TikTok to provide more information on the make-up of the TikTok Lite program, which allocated rewards points to users based on actions undertaken in the app. TikTok had launched the program in France and Spain on a limited basis, before it got the attention of EU officials, who raised concerns that the scheme may violate the DSA. TikTok then suspended the program shortly after and has now committed to scrapping the initiative entirely, in order to avoid penalties.
7. TikTok Launches ‘Spotlight’ Promotion Option for Film and TV
TikTok has introduced a new feature called "TikTok Spotlight" aimed at entertainment brands, providing them with a more direct way to capitalize on the buzz generated within the app around movies and TV shows.
The tool offers a comprehensive method for engaging fans and driving them to purchase links more efficiently. The process will enable producers and publishers to work with TikTok to identify the right creators to partner with, while also developing incentives to encourage creation and participation around launches and events. Spotlight campaigns can also include gamified calls-to-action to the creator community to create related TikTok videos in order to unlock custom in-app elements.
8. Instagram Tests New Reels Filter for Posts With Notes
Instagram is testing out another way to lean into the popularity of Notes, with some users now seeing a new feed filter labeled “Notes” within the Reels tab, which will then show you only Reels that have Notes included.
Some users are now able to access a specific “Notes” listing, in addition to their “For You” and “Nearby” feeds. That will then display Reels with Notes from your friends, providing another way to drive Notes engagement. Instagram rolled out Notes on Reels earlier this month, which enables users to leave comments and remarks on Reels (and feed posts too) that their connections are then able to see.
9. X Launches Reply Sorting Options on Posts
X has rolled out its new reply sorting options for post reply stream, which will provide another way to focus your time and engagement in the app
X users now have three ways to sort the order in which replies are displayed beneath any post. The options available are Trending, Most Recent, and Most Liked. It’s not entirely clear how “Trending” is ranked in this context (presumably the replies which have sparked the most overall engagement of their own), but the other two options are pretty straightforward, providing you with more ways to customize your X experience, and access the most engaging discussions related to any post.
10. X Removes All Ads for Premium+ Subscribers
X is looking to help users avoid ads entirely in the app, with those paying for X Premium+, its most expensive subscription package, now set to get a totally ad-free X experience.
No ads has always been a part of X’s Premium+ package, but that didn’t actually apply to all places that ads can be displayed. So while Premium+ subscribers were paying for an ad-free experience, they’d still see ads in search pages, on profiles and (most importantly) within post replies. X does note that Premium+ subscribers might still “occasionally” see sponsored content outside of X’s standard ad inventory. But for the most part, ad-free now means exactly that, with those paying top dollar to use the app now able to largely remove all ads from view.
11. X Confirms It’s Moving Out of San Francisco HQ
While Elon Musk had already announced that he was looking to move the company out of San Francisco, X CEO Linda Yaccarino has now sent out an all-staff announcement, explaining that the company is set to vacate its iconic Market Square location.
Last month, Elon vowed to move X out of San Francisco in protest against California Governor Gavin Newsom signing new legislation that will stop school districts from notifying parents if their child starts using different pronouns or identifies as a different gender than what’s on their school record.
12. LinkedIn Will Now Enable Brands to Sponsor User-Generated Newsletters
After launching sponsored newsletters for company pages last month, LinkedIn is now expanding this to newsletters created by other users in the app, so brands can now put their branding on popular newsletters created by thought leaders in their niche.
The option enables brands to promote their newsletters to a broader audience via paid boost. Sponsoring a newsletter provides more exposure opportunities, though at an ongoing cost.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next week with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!
If you want to read more on the latest developments taking place in the social media space, take a look at ClickInsights’ Social Media Buzz, wherein we bring to you monthly reports on everything going on in social media, ranging from platform updates to policy changes that influence the way we market.
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