Name: Top 5 Digital, Social Media, AI & Web3 News: Threads, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Meta
Uploaded: 2023-11-08T19:00:44+05:30
Channel: Natchi Lazarus
Description: Connected Church News: Week 2, Nov 2023 - News from and about Threads, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Meta

Welcome to the Connected Church News!

Top 5 latest Digital, Social Media, AI & Web3 News in 5 minutes, to help your ministry stay on top of industry trends.

This week, we have news about Threads, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Meta.

🗞️ News 1: X’s Paid Subscribers to Get Early Access to xAI’s New Chatbot (Grok)

Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI seems to be ready to release their AI chatbot that will potentially compete with the likes of ChatGPT, Bard and other chatbots out there. This chatbot is going to be powered by a model called GROK. Last week, Elon Musk tweeted saying that “this is going to be released to a select group of users first”, his tweet also said “in some important respects, it is the best that currently exists”… of course, he has to say that. But if you look at the team behind xAI, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes the best AI chatbot available out there. I can’t wait to test it. Later, Elon Musk also added a few more details about Grok model saying that “Grok model will have real time access to the information via the X platform, which is a massive advantage over other models”. He also said it will be “unbiased, it’ll be witty, it’ll be humorous”.

🗞️ News 2: Meta Launches New ‘Reels’ Features Including an Option for A/B Testing

Meta has announced that they are releasing multiple new features for Reels, including an A/B testing option for Reels. When you post Reels from your mobile, you will now be able to test four different captions, or four different thumbnails, and see which performs better. What Meta will do is it will show these options to various users. Depending on which performs best, that is the option they will showcase on your profile. I’m a big believer in always testing what your audience like, because you may think “this is what they like”, but when you do a test, that is when you really understand what your audience wants. In this announcement, Meta seems to be heavily promoting the professional dashboard feature, which is the analytics feature inside Instagram, which is a good thing because once you know what is working, it is much easier for you to make decisions on the type of content you create.`

🗞️ News 3: YouTube Adds Safety Features & Product Updates to Protect Teens

YouTube adds new safety features and product updates to protect teens and younger audience on their platform. The announcement says, “teens are more likely than adults to form negative beliefs about themselves, when they see repeated messages about ideal standards in content they consume”. Basically YouTube is saying they will limit content recommendation for certain categories when it comes to teens and younger audience. The content that may be limited includes content that compares physical features like fitness levels, body weights. All these are good things when it comes to protecting young minds and teens. There are a few more announcement and feature changes. We will link to all this in the show notes. If you are in the teens ministry or in a young adults ministry or you are a non profit focusing on these areas, then pass this on to your social media team.

🗞️ News 4: Instagram Threads Releases New Features & Updates to the Web Version

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced that the Threads app on the web is getting additional features. I like this announcement because as a nonprofit or a ministry, many of us have teams that actually use a desktop to post on social media and to manage social media conversations. So any updates to the web versions of social media is helpful. There are three updates. You can now adjust your alt text for videos and photos when you post from the web. This is good because the more description you add in the alt text, the better it is from an algorithmic perspective and also for visually challenged users. Copy and paste or drag or drop media attachment to your posts. Just drag and drop and you will be able to post on threads. And the final useful feature is add multiple posts to a thread before publishing. If you want to be a thought leader and if you post lots of threads, then this is a feature that you might want to consider using more often.

🗞️ News 5: LinkedIn Crosses 1 Billion Members & Adds AI-Powered Premium Features

LinkedIn made a couple of important announcements last week. The first is a big one about the growth in user base. They say they have crossed 1 billion members. And the second news is about the AI powered features that they are releasing to select group of premium users. If you are a premium user, then you will start seeing pop ups and notifications that are powered by AI. And the announcement says that “these notifications will be personalized takeaways, nudges, suggestions for the skills you should build, and also suggestions on what professionals in your network you need to reach out to, if you have specific questions”. And it’s also powered by ChatGPT, obviously, so it’s not like just suggestions in terms of just text suggestions or just pop ups, but it’s actually a chatbot. So you look at a suggestion, you ask more questions and lead it in whatever direction you want to.