Is AI bad for diversity, Twitter Search Query Ad Targeting, the secrets revealed from the Yandex source code leak, plus lots more not-to-miss news.

Is AI Bad for Diversity? 

With so much noise and excitement around AI recently, this Fast Company article is definitely a good reminder for us to step back and be cautious about how we use AI and the implications it could have. The article delves into how AI can actually perpetuate and amplify existing biases, which could lead to a lack of diversity. The article points out that if AI is trained on biased data, it will continue to make decisions based on those biases. Lot’s of important arguments to take in. Read more. 

Could Google's Source Code Have Been Leaked? Key Takeaways From How Your Website Ranks!

Oops! A former employee at Yandex, the 4th biggest search engine, allegedly leaked a source code repository, part of which contained more than 1,900 factors used by the search engine for ranking websites in search results. It's important to note that Yandex isn't Google, but a lot of these ranking factors may be quite similar to signals Google uses for search. Many of Yandex’s ranking factors are what you’d expect to see: PageRank, link-related factors, text relevancy, content age, and freshness. But some of the leaked ranking factors have SEO professionals surprised, including the number of unique visitors, percentage of organic traffic, and average domain ranking across queries. Read more.

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Manufacturers Are Missing Out on B2B Direct Sales

Despite the benefits of direct sales for both manufacturers and end customers,  many manufacturers are reluctant to change. According to the Industry Week article, due to dependency on channel partners and worries regarding the revenue at risk, manufacturers aren’t making the shift, missing out on potential B2B direct sales. Find out more.

OpenAI Launches AI vs Human Detector Tool for ChatGPT

We’ve all read the headlines about the implications of the widely-popular AI writing tool  on things like education, with plagiarism being a huge concern. Now it looks like OpenAI is attempting to provide a solution to the very problem it created through a tool that claims to be able to detect AI-generated text. Although even OpenAI itself explains that the tool isn’t fully reliable, with the classifier incorrectly labelling human-written text as AI-written 9% of the time. Could be a lot of unjustified detections heading the way of students! Read more.

Twitter Launches Test of Ad Targeting Based Specifically on Search Queries in the App

Exciting news for all the Twitter advertisers out there! The platform is testing two new features to help boost your advertising game. Now you can target your ads based on specific search terms, making sure your message reaches the right people. Twitter has also added display targeting, so you can choose where you want your ad to show up on the platform. This gives you even more control over your advertising and is hoped to lead to better results. Read more.

LinkedIn Now Up to 900 Million Members, Continues to See ‘Record Levels’ of Engagement 

LinkedIn is killing it in terms of user engagement recently. Microsoft just announced that the professional social network now has over 900 million members and is seeing some seriously impressive engagement numbers. User sessions went up by 18% and revenue grew by 10% in the last quarter. There was even a ten-fold increase in newsletter creation on the platform. Read more.

Google’s New AI Turns Text into Music

In more “What can’t AI do?!” news: Google has announced a new AI tool called MusicLM that can turn text into music. Yep, you heard that right! It's like a personal composer right at your fingertips. Much like the AI image generator DALL-E, users simply enter a text prompt and the AI will generate a unique melody to match.  But unlike other AI ventures, Google has no plans to release MusicLM just yet - taking a more cautious approach with its latest AI tool. The company is being extra careful due to the potential risks of "misappropriation of creative content" (aka plagiarism) and cultural appropriation or misrepresentation. Read more.

Digital Platforms Marketers Are Prioritizing for Investment in 2023

A recent survey found that 46% of marketing executives are planning to pump up their investment in LinkedIn in 2023. Adding to this is the finding that Twitch, Google, YouTube, and TikTok are also in for some extra attention! Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s moves at Twitter are turning off consumers and causing advertisers to treat the platform with caution. 28% of respondents to the survey intend to decrease (28%) compared to the 19% who reported they would increase their investment in the platform this year. Read more.

Instagram Founders Return with a New Social App

The founders of the hugely popular IG are back with a brand new app promising to be the ‘TikTok for Text’. Called ‘Artifact’, the new app is said to be a combination of articles, facts and AI, designed to provide users with a personalized news experience based on their engagement and interests. It’s still in its early stages yet, but we’re excited to follow this one! Check it out.

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📝 Things to Keep On Your Radar

Ready to level up your marketing? We've put together some useful guides to help you accomplish your goals and get off to an awesome start in 2023!

https://www.steelcroissant.com/blog/the-power-of-b2b-short-form-video-marketing-an-actionable-guide

A Comprehensive Roadmap to Inclusive Marketing

Diversity and inclusion are hot topics in marketing and for good reason! Our latest article provides a comprehensive roadmap to help you create more inclusive campaigns - from creating and updating your buyer personas to the accessibility of your content. Learn more.

The Power of B2B Short Form Video Marketing: an Actionable Guide

The rising popularity of TikTok, Instagram Reels,  and YouTube Shorts in recent years has demonstrated consumer preference for short-form video. And with video content consumption on the rise in general, marketers mustn’t sit on incorporating short-form video into their brand’s marketing strategy. In our recent guide, we provide actionable tips for harnessing short-form video to produce results. Learn more.