Meta Launches Threads App – The Threads app is a Meta competitor to Twitter. It just launched today and is off to a strong start. 2 million users in the first hour! Stay tuned to see if this network sticks, but likely a great alternative to those wanting something different than Twitter.
Meta Announces Future Plans for Reels and AI – The new plans aren’t overly specific. They did say that Reels ads and brand safety in the environment are a priority. Also, AI will start integrating throughout the apps. Surprisingly when it comes to social media AI, LinkedIn has been quick to add features (more on that later).
Meta Launches AI Music Creator – You can use text to create music. To be honest, the songs in the demos aren’t great, but as with an AI, you need to train it and become a prompt expert to get great results.
Instagram News Updates
Instagram Tests AI Chatbot in DMs – This brings the power of AI right into the platform. It is only in test mode (stay tuned to see if it goes anywhere), but this could be interesting. SnapChat already has a similar integration. You can check out to see how it functions.
Pages Messaging – This is a great opportunity for businesses to connect with customers. As long as it doesn’t get abused by sales reps, this could be a great tool. Look for it on your Page (and make sure you have a plan to monitor it).
Thought-Leader and Conversation Ads – These new ad formats are launching in July and will give you more opportunities to get better results from your ads. Specifically, thought-leader ads allow you to “sponsor” content from employees. Conversation ads are basically messenger ads that start a conversation via DM.
Audience Insights API – LinkedIn is launching the Audience Insights API that will give more data about audiences. This can help you plan campaigns better and learn more about your target audience.
LinkedIn Tests AI Posts – Users have seen AI suggestions on LinkedIn when they create posts. This is a great opportunity for those struggling with writing or just needing fresh ideas. There isn’t an official announcement or rollout yet – so you may or may not see this.
LinkedIn Test AI Assistant for Inboxes – With so much spam and sales pitches, LinkedIn inboxes are becoming more of a hassle than a benefit. This is also in trial mode, with no official announcements from LinkedIn yet, but stay tuned.
YouTube Launches Thumbnail A/B Tester – This is really cool. You can automatically test different thumbnails to see what performs best. Great thumbnails are highly linked to standing out and generating views, so this feature is likely to drive more video views if you use it well.
Google News Updates
GA4 is HERE (and integrated with AdSense) – Google officially switched over to GA4 – an arguably inferior product. While it is difficult to use and still gets some bugs ironed out, it is here for good. Spend time getting to know it, as you now have no choice 😉
Digital Marketing News Updates
Adobe Launches Firefly – This is an AI image generator. It is worth checking out if you use a lot of images. Adobe made news this month by saying they’ll pay for any copyright litigation that comes from using their tool.
Publicis Group Joins Human vs. AI Group – The group, C2PA, aims to differentiate between human and AI content. They want to “authenticate” human content. Interestingly, Google doesn’t care if the content is AI or not, so it is unclear the impact that authenticating content would have.
