Posts by Sean

It’s Yorkshire Day! To celebrate, Intelligency has looked at the history of our office’s location – Dean Clough Mills. Dean Clough, formerly known as Crossley Carpets, is rich in its history, spanning over 22 acres and has 16 Grade II listed buildings.

Having been the largest carpet manufacturer in the late 1800s and early to mid-twentieth century the mills boast unique architecture and fragments of its history, we have collected some of the earliest photography and provided pictures of the current day to demonstrate the evolution of Dean Clough.

Intelligency Director, Sean Walsh, said:

“Relocating our operations to Dean Clough Mills in Halifax signified our entry into a venue with a deep historical resonance. This location stands as a colossal testament to the town’s history, and its continued relevance is echoed by the groundbreaking, leading-edge companies that call it home.

As a business owner, there’s a profound satisfaction in selecting an office environment enriched by such a deep-rooted history, thriving community, and distinctive features. Dean Clough Mills exemplifies the revitalizing spirit of Northern companies, as they infuse these old mill buildings with renewed vitality and purpose. These establishments might otherwise have lain dormant or faced demolition in favor of less remarkable structures. Our decision to move here was significantly influenced by the sustainable benefits of such adaptive reuse.

Incredibly, despite the Mills undergoing significant transformations in recent years, including the attraction of diverse businesses and a feature in Marvel’s Disney+ show ‘Secret Invasion,’ the exterior remains largely unaltered. Preserving this architectural integrity is vital, acting as a tangible connection to the past while embracing the present and future.”

Historical image source: A Livermore (1932)

Good Afternoon and welcome to the Intelligency Digital Roundup. Providing you with the latest digital trends, news, and insights.

This week, Twitter rebranded, Threads received an update based on user feedback, and OpenAI abandoned its AI-written detector.

Let’s get into the stories.

Twitter rebrands under ‘X’

The biggest news from this week comes from Twitter. On Monday, the iconic blue bird icon, which is unanimous with Twitter, was removed. Instead, a white X on a black background has taken its place, signifying the change to Brand X.

Not only does it show that Elon Musk is done with the Twitter brand, but it also shows that he wants to change it to be more like an “everything app”. The best example of an everything app is an app such as WeChat.

What Twitter/X has said

Linda Yaccarino had this to say about the change from Twitter to X

“It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square,” “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

Upon branding the Twitter website to X, Musk also tweeted this (notice the X in the top right corner)

Clearly, the senior staff are excited about the change.

What the change means for users and marketers

For users of X, there’s no doubt that the vocabulary of the brand will change. People will go from “tweeting” to “X-ing” as they get used to the change. TweetDeck will become XDeck for instance, and you’ll be able to see recently X’ed users.

The biggest changes will undoubtedly be felt by advertisers and digital marketers though. Primarily the change in content regulation, after all, Twitter/X recently had issues with hate content. Twitter/X has also been going through ad revenue troubles.

SEOs reactions

SEOs speculated that the brand change may break embedded tweets among other issues. Here are some SEO reactions in an embedded tweet format (or image if you’re an email reader)

Threads receives new feeds with an update

Meta also updated its latest social media app, Threads, this week. Following user feedback, Meta has added some highly-requested features.

In a nutshell, Threads now has:

• Separate feeds
• A translate feature
• More organised notifications

Let’s learn some more about each

Follower and For You feeds

Users familiar with Twitter/X will welcome this highly requested. Before the update, the only feed users had was a main one with threads from accounts they do and don’t follow.

Now there are two feeds to choose from, a Follower feed, which you can filter to see by chronological order. There’s also the main For You feed, which is similar to Twitter/X’s For You feed.

Organised notifications

Notifications for Threads are also able to be organised now. You can choose to receive exclusive notifications from accounts you follow, or you can choose to receive notifications from accounts you don’t follow.

Translation

If you see a thread in a language different to yours, you can translate it into your preferred language in the bottom right corner of the post.

All of these changes have been designed to improve the user experience on the app. It underlines the importance of aligning user needs with app functionalities.

OpenAI shut down written-by-AI detector

Our final story this week is from OpenAI. The ChatGPT creators shut down AI Classifier, a tool which claimed that it could detect if an AI had written a piece of text. Unfortunately for anyone relying on the tool, OpenAI shut it down due to a “low rate of accuracy”

You’d think that an AI would be able to tell if a piece of writing was written by another AI or not, but it seems like this isn’t the case. Some pieces of writing have an obvious tell, but it’s an unreliable method of catching AI because language models are getting so advanced.

Techcrunch tested a variety of AI-detection tools and none of them performed well. Seven generated pieces of text were provided, and OpenAI’s classifier only detected one.

OpenAI stated this about the discontinuation of AI Classifier:

“We are working to incorporate feedback and are currently researching more effective provenance techniques for text”

Is this proof that AI models are getting too advanced? Or does it just show that companies should be putting more effort into AI detection Who’s to say?

As always, thanks for reading!

Good afternoon, happy Friday, and welcome to another instalment of the Digital Roundup!

This week, Twitter faced more issues with ad revenue, adding to its growing list of problems. Meta also improved videos on Facebook for users and creators, and learn about TikTok Music.

Let’s get into the stories!

Twitter Loses Almost Half Its Ad Revenue.

This week, Elon Musk revealed that Twitter has lost almost half of its ad revenue since he bought it in October 2022. In the statement, Musk stated that while the company didn’t see the forecasted revenue it expected in June, July has been “more promising”

When the Tesla CEO took over in 2022, he fired over 7,000 employees in order to cut costs. As well as the ad revenue trouble, Threads, the rival platform to Twitter, now has 150 million users. The potential for Threads users is huge due to the fact it’s connected to Instagram.

If every user who was on Instagram created a Threads account, there would be close to two billion users.

Musk also stated the cash flow for Twitter is currently negative as well, adding to the list of troubles. Here’s the tweet he put out:

What people have said

An investment director called Lucy Coutts told the BBC that she thought Musk could turn Twitter around, but it’s going to take longer.

“But unfortunately he has got $13bn of debt to pay by the end of July so we may see more pressure on the shares in Tesla if he has to sell more of his stake in that company.”

Musk expected Twitter to be on track for £2.29bn in 2023, which is down from Twitter’s $5.1bn in 2021. Despite cutting costs with employees and cloud services, it’s still not enough. A significant amount of advertisers left Twitter after content moderation rules were changed.

Interestingly, Meghana Dhar, who’s the former head of partnerships for Snaps and Meta told the BBC

“Elon and Twitter are in a candidly tough position right now,” “To be fair to Elon though, we’ve seen that decline in Twitter revenue and growth in revenue since pre-Elon – there’s been kind of a steady decline.”

Is Twitter still a sustainable platform, or is it the end of days for the renowned platform? Whatever the outcome, you’ll find it in a roundup!

Enhanced video features for Facebook

Meta enhanced the video features on Facebook this week in order to make it easier to edit, view, and engage with videos.

The update transfers some features of Reels into the main Facebook feed. Dynamic video capabilities have been enabled to simplify video creation and sharing.

Facebook released details of the update in an announcement:

To sum it up, the new features include:

• Upgraded video editing tools
• A new, dedicated video tab
• Trending video discovery
• Reels integration

But let’s learn more about each feature.

Upgraded video editing tools

The first new feature is an enhanced video editing suite for Reels. Users can use a combo of audio, music, and text to make an engaging video. This is similar to how TikTok allow you to do that in their editor.

Users are also able to slow down or speed up clips, reverse them, or swap them out. Additionally, on the audio front, you can mix songs, record a voiceover, and kill background noise.

If HD isn’t to your liking, you can also swap out the format to HDR if you want to provide a clearer picture.

Video tab

What was previously known as Facebook Watch has been rebranded to the video tab. This tab places Reels, live streams, and long-form videos in one place. The goal is to help users find and interact with content that’s to their liking.

Meta explained the tab:

“The Video tab will look familiar – you can scroll vertically through a personalized feed that recommends all types of video content – but will also feature new horizontal-scroll reels sections that highlight recommended reels, so you can quickly jump into short-form video.”

Trending video discovery

To further help users find interesting content, the Explore feature for videos has been updated too.

The explore section now uses hand-picked recommendations as well as algorithms to recommend relevant and popular videos.

Reel Integration

The main new feature is the integration of Instagram Reels onto Facebook.

This feature allows a user to watch and engage with an Instagram Reel on Facebook, without the need of switching between apps.

Meta’s goal with this feature is to help Instagram creators reach even more users, by putting their Reels on Facebook.

The company is currently undertaking efforts to bring both services close together for Creators:

“We’ll continue developing more tools for creators so they can express themselves, build an audience and earn money, along with the discovery and personalization features that give you more control over your experience.”

TikTok launch TikTok Music in Austalia, Mexico, and Singapore

Social media giant TikTok is taking on the music scene this week by launching a subscription-only music service called TikTok Music. It has been launched in Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, and Indonesia so far.

Users who subscribe are able to link up their existing TikTok accounts (if they have one) and listen to, download, and share music. Big record labels such as Universal Music, Warner Music, and Sony Music have added catalogues to the service so far.

Who can access TikTok Music?

The full service hasn’t launched yet, it’s still in an invite-only closed beta phase, users who are invited will need to download TikTok music from the App or Android store. If you receive an invite, then you’ll also get a free three-month trial.

A subscription will probably cost £6.99 for UK users when it’s eventually rolled out here as prices in the other countries range from $6.86 to $7.48.

TikTok hasn’t released any details of when the service will come to the UK or US just yet, but the company has promised to share more details soon. The emails sent to users from TikTok stated

“TikTok Music is a new kind of music service that combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a music streaming service offering millions of tracks from thousands of artists,” “We are now beta testing TikTok Music in Australia, Mexico and Singapore, and will have more news to share on the launch of TikTok Music in the coming months.”

TikTok is already used as a search engine by the younger generations, and users also use it to discover new music. It can even help songs rise in popularity if it’s featured as popular audio. By entering the music space, TikTok is competing with Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

TikTok Music features

Subscribers will be able to access full versions of viral TikTok songs, receive music recommendations tailored to them, see lyrics, create playlists, import music libraries, and search for new songs. One of the biggest features is similar to Shazam and will allow users to discover a song they’re hearing in real-time.

Users can connect with other music lovers, and also comment on songs too, similar to Soundcloud.

When TikTok Music launches in the UK, we’ll let you know!

Thanks for reading this week’s digital roundup!

Good Afternoon, welcome back to the Digital Roundup, offering the lowdown on the latest Digital Marketing news and insights.

This week, Elon Musk announced a company to discover the secrets of the universe- while also blocking any links to Threads on Twitter. Google also launched an AI-powered note-taking assistant.

Let’s get into it!

xAI: The key to unlocking the secrets of the universe

Elon Musk announced via Twitter this week that he’s forming xAI, a new AI company.

xAI‘s mission statement is to “understand the true nature of the universe”. Musk also mentioned a “truthGPT” in a tweet, perhaps xAI will release a ‘truthful’ chatGPT alternative.

So what is xAI?

Well, xAI’s website states that it’s an independent company from X Corp, however, he plans for xAI to work with other companies Musk is involved with. These companies include Teska and X (Twitter).

xAI’s team is well-staffed with AI experts from big companies such as Deep Mind, OpenAI, Microsoft Research, and Google Research. The experts he’s hired have all helped to discover optimisation methods and breakthrough AI systems such as GPT-4.

What’s trending on Twitter about xAI?

The staff at xAI, as well as Musk’s fans on Twitter all shared excitement about the possibilities coming from xAI.

xAI’s cofounder, Greg Yang, encouraged theorists and mathematicians to reach out to him via DMs.

Yang had previously worked at Microsoft Research for more than five years, but left in May for the “next adventure”.

One of xAI’s first tweets asked an interesting question:

“What are the most fundamental unanswered questions?”

Over 12,000 users replied to the tweet, including Musk:

Musk’s future with AI

Intelligency will definitely be keeping an eye on xAI to see if they develop a product more powerful and relevant than OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

More information about xAI will be shared today in a Twitter Spaces conversation, where users will also be able to meet the team.

For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

NotebookLM- the AI note-taking assistant from Google

This week, Google revealed NotebookLM, an ai-driven notebook, which was previously discussed at Google’s I/O event this year as Project Tailwind.

NotebookLM is Google Labs’ approach to note-taking software, and it’s powered by a robust language model. It’s Google’s solution to students and academic workers being overloaded with ideas and facts from a vast amount of sources online.

Forming connections between these facts and ideas can be time-consuming, so Google wanted a tool which can assist users in making the connections quicker using their preferred sources.

An AI-driven assistant

NotebookLM combines the potential of various language models and user content in order to deliver quick and important insights to users.

Think of NotebookLM as a virtual research assistant, it can summarise facts, explain a complex idea, and also help you form new connections from the information in your sources.

Here’s a screenshot of what the interface will look like:

NotebookLM will function differently from other chatbots such as ChatGPT or Bard. This is because users can “ground” the AI in the notes or sources it uses.

As of now, you can incorporate NotebookLM into a Google doc of your choice.

The features of NotebookLM

The features of NotebookLM include:

• Summary Generation– Once a Google doc has been added, it can generate an overview, key topics, and questions.
• Questions- Users can ask specific questions about uploaded materials.
• Idea generation- More than just Q&A, it can help users generate creative ideas.
• Hallucination free- Each Ai response is accompanied by source citations so you can fact-check.

If you want to sign up for NotebookLM, there’s a waitlist you can add yourself to.

Twitter blocks Threads links

Twitter is blocking links to its new rival from Meta, Threads. The reports started to surface on Monday that Twitter was intentionally blocking links to Meta’s latest social networking app. Although some users stated that select links work, the majority do not.

Unfortunately, this means that it will be harder for users to track down tweets and conversations about Threads.

Why Twitter has done this

Threads launched on the 5th of July, and has now broken records, becoming the fastest-growing social media app in history. It also regularly trends on its rival, Twitter.

Social media marketers and experts believe that Twitter is blocking Threads links in order to try and keep users on the platform, rather than letting them move to its rival.

People’s reactions

Andy Baio, an American technologist, was one of the first to notice the block. He used a search query using the “url:threads.net”, which didn’t serve any results.

Here’s the Threads post which Baio made:

When press outlets have asked Twitter for a response about why they’re doing it, they got this response back:

Musk has addressed the tense rivalry between him and Mark Zuckerberg with a simple tweet “Zuck is a cuck”, and proceeded to state in another tweet that he and Zuckerberg should have “a literal d*ck measuring contest”.

There’s a comparison between Threads and Twitter’s traffic levels if you want to see how they’re comparing.

Good Afternoon, and welcome back to the weekly digital roundup.

After a brief break, we’re back reporting on the latest digital marketing news and trends. This week, YouTube ads were found to be violating the terms of service. Also, there was a huge leak of user credentials for Chat GPT, and new shopping features were added to Bing and Edge.

Let’s learn more about each.

YouTube Ads violating the terms of service

The famous American newspaper The Wall Street Journal investigated YouTube’s ads this week. It was found that around 80% of the ads that YouTube serve violated its own terms of service. This would make the ads subject to refunds.

Unfortunately for Google, this could end up costing them billions, which is adding to the already existing list of troubles the platform is facing. Troubles include TikTok and AI rivalling searches and two antitrust lawsuits.

However, Google refutes the claims made in WSJ’s report, stating that the “methods are inaccurate”

Ad policy scrutiny

If you’re an advertiser, you pay YouTube to display video ads either before, during, or after a video by a creator. However, Adlytics found that about half of the ads don’t show on the platform.

When you bid for an ad, YouTube also states they’ll show the ads on the “Google Video Partners” program. Google say that these websites (which are third-party) provide the same ad experience as YouTube. This translates to audio-enabled, visible ads which can be skipped.

But when Adlytics investigated, it found that ads on Google partner sites were muted 80% of the time and were hidden off-screen, and unable to be skipped. So advertisers are paying YouTube for ads to display, and YouTube isn’t delivering on the exposure it promises.

The financial consequences of this could be astounding if YouTube is found to be violating the terms of service. Advertisers pay approximately $100 for every 1,000 views an ad gets on a third-party site for high-quality ad placements.

Adlytics found that instead of high-quality placements, lower-quality placements were being used instead, which sell for $5 for every 1,000 views. So to summarise, advertisers are paying top dollar for high-quality placements, but are only receiving sub-optimal placements on non-YouTube properties.

Ads on low-quality sites

The investigation from Adlytics studied over 1,100 brand marketing campaigns between 2020 and 2023.

The brands with inappropriate placements included Disney+, American Express, and Samsung among others. Even US government organisations such as Medicare were impacted.

In addition to being placed offscreen, they were on sites full of misinformation or spreading pirated content. Again, this goes against Google’s pledge of only placing ads on high-quality sites. Advertisers are obviously quite upset about this and are attempting to get their money back.

Unfortunately for Google, this could seriously harm its reputation with key advertisers on the platform, as well as damage its credibility.

The global chief media officer at UM Worldwide, Joshua Lowcock, had this to say

“This is an unacceptable breach of trust by YouTube. Google must fix this and fully refund clients for any fraud and impressions that failed to meet Google’s own policies.”

But how did Google respond?

Google’s response

Google refuted Adlytics’ claim with its own statement.

In the statement, Google stated the report used “unreliable sampling, and proxy methodologies” and also that the claims about GVP (Google Video Partners) were “extremely inaccurate”.

Google wishes to clarify that a majority of YouTube ads are found on YouTube, and not GVP.

GVP is smaller than YouTube and is a separate network, and can be used to increase reach by over 20%.

Advertisers have total transparency and control over GVP campaigns according to Google. Advertisers can also opt out of GVP campaigns at any time, or exclude specific websites and also get real-time reporting.

GVP was defended by Google, stating that the quality and viewability were well above the industry average.

We’ll have to see how Adlytics’ report affects Google’s advertiser relationship and credibility going forward. If there are any developments, you can trust the roundup to deliver them!

Huge Chat-GPT credential leak

In a first for the popular generative AI tool, more than 100,000 usernames and passwords have leaked for OpenAI ChatGPT accounts. The credentials have been found on malicious dark-web marketplaces and span from June 2022 to May 2023.

Group-IB found that the credentials could be found in logs of stolen information sold on underground cybercrime platforms.

A worldwide effect

The credential leak has affected users across the world, India saw the most credentials leaked, with 12,632 being traced back to the country.

This shows that India has rapidly adopted the usage of ChatGPT, many customer service companies or tech companies use it to improve productivity and customer service.

Various other countries come close to the number of Indian account leaks. The countries include Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt, Vietnam, The U.S., France, Morroco, and Indonesia.

Again, this shows that ChatGPT is popular in many different cultures.

Who steals information?

Information stealing is a growing crime role in the world of cybercrime. This is because an information stealer isn’t restricted to email addresses, they could gain access to cookies, passwords, or even credit cards.

Unfortunately, if you don’t practice good data security such as two-factor information or unique passwords, then your accounts will always be at risk.

If an information log is stolen, there’s a high chance it will be traded on what’s essentially an internet black market, located on the dark web.

Due to different factors such as VPNS or proxies, law enforcement agencies struggle to track down cybercriminals who are good at what they do.

Risks and secure practices

Group-IB’s Dmitry Shestakov noted, “Many enterprises are integrating ChatGPT into their operational flow,”.

While it shows that many businesses are willing to adopt AI to increase productivity, it does show that new risks are also being introduced.

Shestakov recommends that users follow standard data protection procedures such as long-form passwords and two-factor authentication. This will reduce the risk of account takeover attacks.

It’s worth noting that you should change your ChatGPT password ASAP, as your account may already be compromised.

Always stay vigilant of threats to your accounts!

Easier shopping with Bing and Edge

Our final story for this week covers Microsoft. The company has added some new AI-powered tools in order to improve shopping on Bing and Edge. Microsoft wants shopping online to be easy for users.

Typical pet peeves for shoppers include finding good deals, determining real reviews, and difficult navigation.

The new tools from Microsoft have been designed to address these pain points. Bing, Edge, and Outlook have all seen the inclusion of these new tools. Accessible shopping is the key focus.

Let’s learn some more about each new feature:

Buying guides

Bing and Edge now offer a buying guide, aimed to help users purchase products even when they’re unsure of what it is they want.

In the video, the user searches for “college supplies”, and receives a customised set of product recommendations such as headphones or laptops which are the best options.

Recommendations are easily readable in side-by-side comparison charts. Currently, only U.S. users can access this feature. However, Microsoft will roll this feature out to more users in the future.

Bing Chat and the sidebar in the Edge browser are where you can find the buying guide.

Review summaries and price matching

Due to the amount of seemingly fake reviews for products, it can be hard to tell the selling points of a product you want to purchase.

However, review summaries will summarise the critical information you need to know from the reviews of a product.

Again, this feature will be rolled out worldwide by September.

Price matching allows you to track an item’s price, even after you’ve purchased it. Most U.S. retailers will allow you to price match. More countries will see this feature over time.

As always, thanks for reading this week’s roundup! Stay tuned for next week!

Good Afternoon, welcome to another weekly digital roundup on this sunny Friday.

This week, you’ll learn about the new integration between GA4 and Google Adsense. We’ve also got some information about what Instagram broadcast channels are, and how Amazon is hopping onto the AI trend.

Let’s get into the stories!

Google To Integrate GA4 and Adsense

This week, Google announced that you’d soon be able to integrate Google Analytics 4 properties with your Adsense account.

This will allow you to see Adsense data in your GA4 reports and explorations with the aim of providing you with a more in-depth view of your website’s performance.

Comprehensive website performance data

The merge between GA4 properties such as user behaviour and Adsense data provides marketers and business owners with a deeper understanding of website performance.

You’ll be able to use the data that you get to identify trends, patterns, behaviours, and insights in order to fully optimise your ad revenue.

Ad clicks, ad impressions, and ad queries will all be collected automatically if you integrate the accounts.

However, it’s worth noting that collecting these events will increase the number of billable events for 360 properties.

How to integrate accounts

In order to integrate Adsense and GA4, you’ll need to do the following:

• Sign in to your Adsense account.
• Click Account -> Access and Authorisation -> Google Analytics integration
• Click +New Link
• Select which property you want from the list
• Click Create link

That’s it! if you follow these instructions, your property will be linked to Adsense

How it works

GA4 and Adsense’s integration works through key processes. The key processes include shared IDs, data joining, and automatic collection of events.

Shared IDs make it possible for tags in GA4 and Adsense to communicate, it matches each ad impression with the corresponding GA4 event.

Inter-tag communication makes sure that logged IDs are consistent between GA4 and Adsense for a single event.

GA4 then collects specific events through the Google Tag. Then, the integration populates GA4 data with ad_impression and ad_click events.

Finally, GA4 joins its data with Adsense log files with shared IDs to match the data.

Discrepancies

Make sure that your tags are set up correctly, and allow up to 24 hours after integrating the accounts. This will allow the data to appear in your reports.

With correct tags, the data should contain very few discrepancies. iframes, security, or blocking software can however cause discrepancies.

All about Instagram Broadcast Channels

Instagram Broadcast Channels are rolling out this week worldwide according to Mark Zuckerberg.

You might find yourself asking “What are Instagram Broadcast Channels?”

Fear not, as Intelligency are here to give the lowdown about all you need to know.

What are Instagram Broadcast Channels?

Broadcast Channels are a very simple concept. They allow creators to send photos, videos, voice messages or polls to channel members. Followers and paid followers make up your channel members.

Here’s an example provided by Instagram:

You can only use Broadcast Channels on mobile.

New features for Instagram

In addition to the Broadcast Channels rollout, Instagram revealed new experimental features coming to the platform. These include:

• Question prompts for AMA content
• A dedicated channel tab in inboxes
• Broadcast expiration dates
• Guest collaborators for Broadcasts
• Content moderators
• Preview links

In a testing session, users wanted AI chatbots and image generators, maybe Instagram will incorporate these in the future.

Where are Broadcast Channels located?

You can access Broadcast Channels through your inbox. Use the search bar in the inbox to search by keywords, or view suggested channels. Channels will also appear below a creator’s bio if they’ve enabled it.

Another way for creators to let you know that a broadcast is available is to send a notification through Instagram.

How to create an Instagram Broadcast Channel

If you have a creator account, you’ll need to do the following to create a Broadcast Channel:

• Login to Instagram on mobile
• Go to your Direct Message Inbox
• Click Create a Broadcast Channel

From there, you’ll be able to set whether it’s for followers or paid subscribers, and if you want it to appear for promotional purposes or hidden.

When creating your first broadcast, make sure that you get members excited about the content you’ll be sharing in the future.

Instagram Broadcasts are a new method to reach and engage with audiences on Instagram, and we’re excited to see how creators will use it to reach new audiences in the future!

Amazon test AI-Generated review summaries

Our final story for this week relates to Amazon.

This week, the company confirmed it’s testing a new feature in the Amazon Shopping app.

The new feature is designed to help users digest how buyers feel about the products they’ve purchased and reviewed. Amazon’s AI will generate a summary of all the reviews for a product listed on Amazon Shopping.

Reviews are one of the biggest factors when it comes to a potential purchaser converting to a purchaser, and this feature could help this process. It could help because it will condense thousands of reviews into a single summary, saving the user from scrolling for hours.

Here’s an example of what the feature looks like:

Amazon hasn’t shared any more details about this feature, such as what language model it’s using for the generative AI.

However, Amazon did comment and say:

“We are significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses.”

Additionally, Amazon is also going to be using more generative AI to enhance the search experience, and to generate videos and images for advertisers.

That’s it for this week, see you this time next week for more digital marketing news and insights!

In a dazzling evening filled with exceptional talent at the West Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards, our very own Eliot Ferrier was crowned ‘Apprentice of the Year’ in the Tech & Digital category. The event took place at the radiant Tileyard North in Wakefield, celebrating the immense achievements of apprentices and their employers from all over West Yorkshire.

Eliot’s journey with us at Intelligency began in September 2021. A novice in the digital marketing industry, he had no prior experience when he signed up for our apprenticeship programme. Fast-forward 20 months, and Eliot has morphed into an invaluable asset to our team, outshining all expectations. His success story includes not only completing his apprenticeship this past March but also earning his first promotion within the company.

When asked about his award-winning journey, Eliot exuded humility and gratitude, stating,

“I was really happy to be recognised for the hard work I’ve been putting in since I started my apprenticeship. It was good to have the support of my family, partner, and the company behind me, and I’m glad I was able to make them all proud.”

The waves of Eliot’s success have reached the top, as evidenced by our Director, Sean Walsh’s words. He celebrated Eliot’s achievement, saying,

“We couldn’t be prouder to witness Eliot’s hard work crystallising into this spectacular award. His journey illustrates the heights achievable through hard work, dedication, and passion. Eliot’s future in the digital world is undoubtedly bright, and we consider ourselves fortunate to have him on our team.”

Sean continued, “2023 has been incredibly promising, with the inauguration of our new offices at Dean Clough Mills, a flurry of new client wins, and a team growing in strength. Eliot’s triumph is undoubtedly the icing on the cake!”

To all the winners and nominees who showcased their talents, and the organizers and sponsors who made this event possible, we extend our hearty congratulations. It truly was an unforgettable night of celebration and camaraderie for all in attendance.

Good Afternoon,

Welcome to Intelligency Weekly Roundup! Let’s dive into the exciting world of digital tech and social media.

First, we’re looking at Meta, previously known as Facebook. The European Union handed them a whopping $1.3 billion fine for breaching data transfer laws. This ruling could force Meta to overhaul its IT systems and halt data transfers between the EU and the US​.

Next on our radar is Bluesky Social, a new player aiming to take on Twitter. Under the leadership of CEO Jay Graber and Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky plans to transform social networks to function more like email, tackling the issues of centralized control

Finally, we turn to TikTok’s latest innovation: an AI chatbot named Tako. Tako’s mission is to enhance user experience in content discovery and search. With a growing number of young people choosing TikTok or Instagram over Google for searches, Google has identified TikTok as a potential threat. Tako could potentially revolutionize the way users search, shifting from typing to chatting

Stay tuned as we dive deep into these intriguing stories.

Meta receives $1.3 billion fine from EU

Facebook’s umbrella company, Meta, has been given a $1.3 billion fine for breaching data transfer laws from the EU. This is the largest fine that the EU has penalised a company with.

The fine was issued because Meta transferred EU user data to the U.S., which is a GDPR breach. A ruling also came with the fine, Meta has five months to stop any future transfers of personal data to the U.S. As well as this, Meta has six months to stop any unlawful EU data transfers.

This is pretty huge because Facebook may have to delete huge chunks of data, as well as restructure its IT infrastructure. A precedent would also be set for any company transferring data between the U.S. and the EU.

More on the EU’s fines

The 25th of May marked the 5th anniversary of the GDPR ruling coming into effect, and 1,701 fines breaching fines have been issued in total. $4 billion has been fined in total.

Funnily enough, Meta has amassed $2.5 billion in 7 fines. Companies such as Amazon or Google only have $800 million in fines.

Interestingly, the ruling only applies to Facebook for this fine, and not Instagram.

Meta’s response

Nick Clegg, who’s the president of global affairs at Meta, stated:

“This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S.”

Stick with Intelligency to find out if there’s a new data transfer treaty for the EU and US from this ruling!

What is Bluesky Social?

Bluesky is a new, decentralised social network aiming to compete with Twitter. It’s been created by Jay Graber and Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey is on the board of directors.

Bluesky’s history and aim

Jack Dorsey tweeted multiple times in December 2019, talking about how Twitter would fund a small dev team (5 people) to work on an open and decentralised social media standard.

Dorsey wanted Twitter to be a client of said standard one day.

Within the tweets, Dorsey highlighted what was prompting this move:

• Centralised control can be challenging, and it can be difficult to address abuse and misinformation in global policies.
• How social media is shifting towards content recommendation algorithms.
• Outrage content drawing more clicks than valuable content.
• Recent advances in technology such as blockchain making decentralisation possible.

Bluesky aims to make a social network which is similar in function to emails or blogs, where content will facilitate meaningful online interactions.

The developers behind Bluesky created the AT Protocol. This protocol’s goal is to make modern social media and blogging similar to how it used to be in the early internet. Which is where anyone could make a blog.

What problems will Bluesky solve?

Most social media networks are centralised, which means that they’re controlled by a central authority which dictates user and dev permissions.

If a user then leaves the social network, they lose connections and content. When developers create new apps, they need to overcome network effects.

Additionally, content creators can lose content when a platform changes its terms and conditions.

The AT Protocol will hopefully change this, offering a more open experience for everyone.

Bluesky isn’t available for the public just yet, but you can sign up for a waitlist for a beta code.

TikTok testing AI chatbot

TikTok is currently testing an AI chatbot in certain markets. The ai-powered tool is called Tako and is meant to aid users search and discover content they’ll be interested in.

Google recently acknowledged that TikTok is a threat to them, so it’s interesting to see TikTok test search ads and aim to improve searching.

According to TechCrunch, this is how it will appear:

“It will appear on the right-hand side of the TikTok interface, above the user’s profile and other buttons for likes, comments and bookmarks. When tapped, users can ask Tako various questions about the video using natural language queries or discover new content by asking for recommendations.”

TikTok has confirmed that right now, users in the Philippines are able to test it.

“We’re in the early stages of exploring chatbot tools with a limited test of Tako with select users in the Philippines. Tako is an AI-powered tool to help with search and discovery on TikTok. Tako is powered by a third-party chat assistant and is designed to help make it easier to discover entertaining and inspiring content on TikTok. No current plans for this beyond these early tests, but we’re excited to hear your feedback!”

Why is TikTok a threat to Google?

Last year, Google released a surprising stat. In the U.S., 40% of people aged 18-24 will use TikTok to search for somewhere to eat lunch. While not a search engine like Google, users still use it as an internal search engine, similar to YouTube.

As always, thanks for reading May’s last roundup! See you this time next week.

Good Afternoon, thanks for stopping by for the Intelligency Weekly Roundup.

This week we delve into some of the most exciting developments happening in the tech world. Our first story explores the beta version of the new chatGPT features that are revolutionising web browsing. We’ll unpack how this artificial intelligence model is changing the way we interact with digital content.

We’ll also talk about how the state of Montana is banning TikTok and the responses it’s been getting from the public and businesses alike.

Our final story pivots to Google, where the tech giant recently announced its new policy to remove inactive accounts, which could impact millions of users.

So, buckle up, stay tuned and get ready to dive into the world of digital innovations and changes in our ever-evolving tech landscape!

ChatGPT adds two new beta features for paid users

This week, OpenAI hyped up the latest version of their AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. The latest version includes beta versions for web browsing and plugins for paid ChatGPT Plus users.

GPT-4’s new features will help users and businesses use this versatile tool even more within their day-to-day duties.

Let’s learn some more about the new beta features and how to opt into them.

Enabling beta ChatGPT features

If you pay for a ChatGPT Plus membership, enabling the new beta features is fairly straightforward.

1. First, click the three dots next to your account details in the bottom right corner.
2. Next, click settings
3. Navigate to Beta Features
4. Enable Web Browsing and Plugins.

Here’s what the screen should look like once they’re enabled:

And your GPT-4 selection screen should look like this:

Web browsing

The first new beta feature that GPT-4 has is selective web browsing. Web browsing allows ChatGPT to actively use the internet to give you a better answer to a prompt.

In the past, GPT has been limited to information up until September 2021, but now you’d be able to ask it “Give me trending news stories about the UK”. It would then be able to show you trending news with different citations.

Third-party plugins

There’s also support for third-party plugins now which can be accessed via the plugin store. You’ll be able to shop, market, trade, or play games using GPT-4 plugins for the chat.

However, it’s important to note that a lot of them are still being tested, so they may not fully work. Also, you can only use three plugins at a time.

However, with further testing, the plug-ins could change the way we do a lot of things online.

Alphas and betas

In the release notes, OpenAI were transparent about how they’ll do key stages for new GPT features and releases.

The first stage, which is the alpha stage, allows a smaller group of users to try out the new features. This is then followed by a larger sample size, which is the beta group. Typically consisting of ChatGPT Plus users.

These releases allow feedback from users so OpenAI can improve features before everyone can access them.

Montana Bans TikTok

This week, in a surprising move, Monta’s governor Greg Gianforte, signed a bill to ban TikTok from the state. This is the first law like this in the US, and has drawn worldwide attention.

But what was Gianforte’s motivation?

He signed the bill and put it into law, and also plans to try and extend the ban to more social media apps going forward after addressing “technical and legal concerns” for the bill.

Unfortunately, the motivations behind the ban aren’t truly clear. But at a guess, it’s potentially because the state wants to control what’s posted on social media.

What’s included in the TikTok ban?

The bill is labelled “SB 419”, and prohibits app stores on mobiles from offering TikTok to Montana users. It will come into effect on the 1st of January 2024.

If the ban is violated, companies offering the app will face serious fines.

Implications of SB 419

The responses to the ban so far have been mixed. Some users think it’s good, because it will protect data privacy, others think it takes away from free speech and individual liberties.

Users also think it sets a dangerous precedent, wondering where the line is drawn for app bans, and have been left wondering what’s next.

TikTok’s response

TikTok haven’t officially responded to the news of the ban yet, it’s likely that they are still preparing a statement.

It’s important to note that TikTok are still facing data privacy investigations in the US, and the outcome could affect the platform’s future in the country.

We’ll have to see how this one plays out going forward, but if you’re a business in Montana using TikTok for paid social, it’s time to look at alternatives.

Google removing inactive accounts

In the last bit of news from this week, Google updated it’s inactive account policy.

The policy deems accounts that haven;t been active for two years to be “inactive accounts”.

This is important for you to know, and the world as a whole, because Google can delete any content from an inactive account on the following platforms:

• Gmail
• Docs
• Drive
• Meet
• Calendar
• YouTube
• Google Photos

Please note: this only applies to personal accounts, business accounts are exempt. The inactive account deletetion won;t begin until December 2023.

This means that we could see a lot of great content deleted from YouTube. The change is being introduced because inactive accounts with old passwords are more likely to get hacked according to Google.

I disagree with the change, and hope that Google will figure out a compromise. It hinders the user experience.

Good Afternoon, welcome to the weekly digital roundup. Where Intelligency analyses and reports on the latest digital marketing news and trends.

This week, Meta introduced 3 new Facebook Reels features, Google showed off some new search features, and Microsoft revealed Bing’s future.

Let’s dive in and learn some more about each.

New Facebook Reels Features

Meta added 3 new features to Facebook Reels this week. Users will be able to easily find short-form videos most relevant to them and have an easier time customising their video experiences on the platform.

Facebook Watch navigation

The goal is to make finding and watching reels easier in-app through Facebook Watch, by adding a Reels section in the nav menu. This will provide a user with quick access to short-form videos from their favourite creators, or let them discover new content that they’ll enjoy. You can also scroll between reels and longer videos with ease.

Reels personalisation

Users also have better control over the types of Reels which appear in their main feed, very similar to other personalisation tools.

You can show more, show less now. If you like a reel you’ve just watched, you can tap the options button and click show more. You’ll then start to see similar videos recommended by the algorithm.

Alternatively, if you didn’t like what you just watched, you can click show less. The algorithm will stop recommending videos which are similar to the one you didn’t like.

Additionally, there are now contextual labels for Reels. For example, if you’re seeing a Reel because your friend liked it, a label will say.

These 3 changes were announced on Meta’s blog, the changes show that the company still wants to pursue short-form video, and are taking advantage of its intelligent ranking signals. Reel integration onto the Facebook app will generate meaningful content interactions, and provide a great user experience.

New Google features shown off at I/O

This week, Google hosted its annual I/O conference and showed off several new advancements to Search.

The most significant updates which were shown off were generative AI-enhanced search results, and “Perspectives” for topics.

The aim of these changes is to enhance the search experience for users and to reshape how they discover information.

Transformative generative AI

This feature is also referred to as the Search Generative Experience or SGE. It’s a new method of delivering search results.

SGE simplifies complex search tasks and provides users with information snapshots, with a link to learn more about what they’ve searched for.

You can use SGE to compare two different parks and how suitable they would be for dogs and children. It would provide you with comparisons, suggestions, and also links for further information.

Here’s an image of what it looks like:

Shopping experiences for users will also be improved, it can deliver real-time product information, reviews, and prices without taking you off of the search engine result page. Google built this feature using Google Shopping Graph, which contains the product information for 35 billion products.

There are also safeguards in place for SGE, such as the AI not appearing for every type of search query, in order to keep a consistent quality.

If you use Chrome, you can try SGE out in Search Labs on desktop, or the Google App for Android or IOS. Please note: SGE is currently US only.

Perspectives

Google is also introducing a new Search feature called ‘Perspectives’. It can highlight videos, blog posts, images, or forum discussions in search results. The highlights are designed to help a user understand a topic through different perspectives and experiences.

An example of this is a user who searches “how do I make friends in a new city?” would get personal stories or tips through multiple sources and mediums.

See how it looks below:

The perspectives filter should improve the search results for review content according to Google.

This feature will more than likely launch in the UK at the same time as the generative AI.

The next generation of Bing and Edge

Microsoft, the creators of Bing and Edge, is launching the next generation of both platforms to transform search engine software.

Key characteristics for Bing and Edge’s future include:

• Bing becoming Open Preview
• Enhanced searches
• Multi-session productivity experiences
• Allowing developers and third parties to build on top of Bing

Here’s some more info about each change.

Open Preview Bing

As a response to the high traffic level and positive reception Bing is receiving, Microsoft announced Bing will be in open preview. This means that users won’t have to join a waitlist to try new features, they’ll just need a Microsoft account.

Enhanced searches

Bing will now provide users with easier to digest, visual information such as charts, graphs, and clearer answers for certain search topics.

The image generator for Bing now supports over 100 languages too, so images can be created in a user’s native language.

Productive searches

Users are now able to access their chat history with Bing’s AI chatbot, and can now export it and share it to different platforms.

Also, Edge is also getting a better summarisation capability for long documents and articles for websites. Edge will also allow a user to complete a task with fewer steps than normal, such as tailoring drafts, or watching specific films.

Bing’s transition from product to platform

Finally, Microsoft plans to build and integrate third-party plugins into Bing chat. This will enable developers to add new functionality to the experience.

In the future, users will be able to book table reservations, or get the answer to complex science problems using Wolfram Alpha without ever leaving Bing Chat.

Going forward, Microsoft wants everyone to try out Bing and chat to see if they like, and have promised to make weekly changes to the open preview builds.