Pinterest Updates, LinkedIn Wins, TikTok Changes, AI Developments, and More!

New Experiences on WhatsApp

WhatsApp has introduced Flows which offers businesses the opportunity to provide more services. Flows allows you to create in-depth menus and custom forms relevant to your business. Without leaving a chat, people will be able to change their seats, book an appointment, or order food. UPI apps and payment methods have made it easier to complete purchases directly, with these features being rolled out around the world via WhatsApp Business in the coming weeks. Soon, businesses will also be able to become Meta Verified.

Pinterest Product and Ad Updates

Pinterest unveiled a collection of updates for users, advertisers, and agencies at Pinterest Presents, its annual global advertiser summit. There are updates coming to each part of the Pinterest experience to enhance the app’s position as a platform for finding inspiration and taking action. 

The updates include personalisation and greater measurability for businesses. Here are some of the highlights:

• Premiere Spotlight on search and home feed (exclusive brand premium ad placements for maximum visibility).
• Showcase ads (interactive ads allowing users to preview and explore a brand's content by swiping through branded images).
•  Quiz ads: Brands can engage customers by asking 3 questions per quiz to show them more personalised content.
• 5 new features added to Business Manager (making it a comprehensive hub for agencies and advertisers to securely manage employees, partners, and accounts with dashboards and automation).
• Creative Studio (giving brands a speedy way to generate lifestyle imagery for product Pins).
• Making Pinterest more shoppable (with mobile deep links and direct links to increase conversions for retailers). 
• eCommerce integrations (expanding integrations for uploading product catalogues with Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe Commerce).
• Collages (an in-app feature version of Shuffles, allowing Pinterest users to visualise and curate ideas by cutting and combining objects from Pins to create collages).

Google Gemini Set to Compete with OpenAI

Google Gemini is an AI system set to compete with OpenAI and even ChatGPT. It is being created by Google DeepMind, with reports that certain companies have been granted early access. While the release date is still unknown, the fusion of DeepMind with Google resources is highly anticipated. It is expected to be multimodal, by combining DeepMind’s AlphaGo system with language modelling capabilities in multi-modal formats. It is also expected to use tools and APIs with Pathways, Google’s new AI infrastructure. Other features include various sizes and capabilities, as well as the use of advanced chatbots as universal personal assistants.

This news comes as Meta recently released Llama 2, an open-source AI model, in partnership with Microsoft.

AI Insight Forum Exploring AI Regulation

TheAI Insight Forum was recently held, bringing together tech and political leaders together in a world-first discussion on AI accessibility, regulations, and safety. The talks saw a majority agreement that government regulation was needed for AI to be developed safely. 

TikTok Labels for AI-generated Content

TikTok creators are now required tolabel AI-generated content. These disclosures enable the use of these tools in line with responsible content practices. According to TikTok, these labels will also provide people with important context about what they’re viewing. 

The new label can be applied it to any content that has been significantly edited or created with AI, and will make it easier to comply with TikTok’s Community Guidelines' synthetic media policy which we introduced earlier this year.

The platform is also testing out tools that will label AI content automatically. TikTok is consulting with their Safety Advisory Councils and industry experts to develop effective labelling policies.

TikTok’s Transition to a Self-Attributing Network

TikTok is transitioning to a Self-Attributing Network (SAN) to enable the platform to track and attribute app conversions more accurately. This will provide brands with powerful insights by tracking and measuring campaigns across diverse online touchpoints across the marketing funnel. It is a separate MMP network integration that will provide advertisers with better visibility and true contribution and conversion rates.

TikTok advises businesses to “create their SAN integrations through their MMP support as soon as possible as we'll begin sunsetting legacy non-SAN integrations in March 2024.”

The TikTok Billboard Top 50 Chart

TheTikTok Billboard Top 50 Chart has officially launched. This weekly chart will be published on Thursdays and include the most popular songs on the platform in the US. It is based on video views, content creation, and user engagement by users in the region. It will be available on the Billboard website and to all TikTok users in the US (by pressing the round icon in the bottom corner of the screen and tapping the ‘Music Charts’ button in the top right).

Snippet Crossovers Between TikTok and Wikipedia

TikTok is featuring Wikipedia snippets and corresponding links in some search results. This reflects the app’s usage as a go-to search engine among the youth. While this feature has been around for a few months in certain areas and confirmed by TikTok, it has not been widely publicised. The Wikipedia snippets appear as users scroll in between relevant video results. This update includes other recent updates to the search functionality, including ads and IMDb links and snippets.

TikTok to Fund Black Friday deals 

TikTok is taking on Amazon byfunding Black Friday discounts. TikTok Shop will subsidise discounts for sellers in the US from 27 October in time for the holiday season according to Bloomberg. Black Friday deals on TikTok are reportedly officially starting at 8pm on November 23rd, with Cyber Monday deals on from November 28th - November 30th.

TikTok fined $379M in EU 

TikTok has been fined $379M in EU for failing to keep kids’ data safe. The decision was issued by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which also included an order to bring its offending data processing into compliance within three months or risk facing further sanctions.

In all TikTok has been found to have violated the following eight articles of the GDPR which include “breaches of lawfulness, fairness and transparency of data processing, data minimisation; data security; responsibility of the controller; data protection by design and default; and the rights of the data subject (including minors) to receive clear communications about data processing; and to receive information on recipients of their personal data” according to anarticle by Tech Crunch.

TikTok may appeal the decision. A spokesperson for the company says they respectfully disagree with the decision and level of fine imposed as it relates to features and settings dating back to 5 month period (July 31, 2020 - December 31, 2020), which have since been updated.

The platform remains under investigation for another probe which focuses on data transfers. A greater GDPR fine was handed to Instagram in the EU last year, as well as Meta’s €1.2 billion penalty for illegal data transfers.

LinkedIn’s New Branded Content Library

LinkedIn’s new branded Content Library lists all influencer campaigns. This in-app search functionality enables users to explore all affiliate marketing with new tags. This followed the rollout of LinkedIn’s own branded content tags for posts last month. Branded content partnerships in the content library can be filtered by dates and keywords. This is set to make it easier to gain competitive insights while increasing transparency on paid promotions.

The update is an obligation for all social media platforms by the new EU Digital Services Act which requires a searchable database of branded content partnerships. 

LinkedIn Gains MRC Accreditation 

LinkedIn has gained Media Ratings Council accreditation on several of its display ad metrics. This is a level of assurance for advertisers following a voluntary MRC audit. This means that LinkedIn’s processes have been verified by the independent Council, which requires measurement and reporting systems to adhere to industry standards across key areas including operations, disclosure, and delivery. 

LinkedIn received MRC accreditation for four display ad metrics: gross impression, net impression, gross click, and net click in desktop, mobile web, and mobile in-app. This accreditation is applicable to Sponsored Content Ads, Text, and Dynamic Ad formats.

Possible Paywall for All X Users

Elon Musk may create a“small monthly payment” for all X users to combat bots. Current monetisation on the app includes X Premium for $8 per month, with a verification badge offered as one of the subscriber perks.