Social news
TikTok's New Social Networking Ambitions 🆕
TikTok, the viral video platform, is hinting at a shift towards more social networking features. Over the past week, the company has posted several job listings that suggest a keen interest in enhancing its social networking and private messaging capabilities.
What's the Buzz?
Inside TikTok, there's a growing concern. Users are sharing TikTok videos on other social media and messaging apps when they want to chat about them with pals. By keeping user engagement within TikTok, the company could expand its offerings beyond just video entertainment, perhaps venturing into realms like live shopping.
Details to Note
TikTok's new job listings reveal the company's intent to hire engineers and product managers for a dedicated social interaction team. This team's mission? To craft new social engagement features. One of the job descriptions mentions the aim to create a platform that allows users to "meet and interact with their real-life friends seamlessly on TikTok."
Between the Lines
While TikTok currently has a direct messaging feature, it's pretty basic. One of the job postings even acknowledges that TikTok's messaging experience is still in its "infancy." The company aims to explore and implement diverse social solutions, adapting to the unique features of various countries and regions.
The Bigger Picture
Originally, TikTok was all about viewing and posting viral videos. Its unique algorithm, which prioritized viral content over user connections, set it apart. But this focus on virality meant users often shared TikTok content on other platforms where their social networks were already established, like Instagram.
Comment: While TikTok continues to brand itself as an "entertainment platform," it's clear that the company is exploring ways to enhance user discovery and engagement on its platform. Investing in more social functions could be a game-changer for TikTok, especially as competitors evolve their offerings.
axios.com
AI news
Canva plugin now available for ChatGPT 🖼️
Users with a ChatGPT Plus account can use the Canva plugin to make selection of templates and creation of designs both easier and quicker.
See Tips for a guide on how it works in practice.
Zoom launches AI Companion 🤖
Zoom is stepping up its game with the introduction of the AI Companion, designed to boost productivity and enhance team collaboration. This new feature, previously known as Zoom IQ, is now available at no extra cost for those with a paid Zoom account.
What's the Buzz About?
Zoom AI Companion is a generative AI assistant integrated into the Zoom platform. Its primary goal? To help users be more productive, foster better connections with teammates, and refine their skills. Here's a glimpse of what it offers:
Chat Assistance: AI Companion aids in composing chat responses, ensuring they're apt in tone and length.
Meeting Summaries: Missed a bit of your meeting? No worries. The AI Companion can provide a quick recap of discussions.
Smart Recordings: Post-meeting, it can segment cloud recordings into chapters, highlight vital info, and suggest next steps.
Email Composing: Soon, it'll assist in crafting emails, ensuring they hit the right note.
Chat Summaries: Expect a feature that'll summarize chat messages, giving you a clearer picture of discussions.
Meeting Scheduling: It'll detect meeting intents in chat messages and offer a scheduling button for convenience.
Brainstorming Aid: Need to brainstorm? The AI Companion will soon help generate ideas on a digital whiteboard.
Zoom envisions AI Companion evolving into a conversational interface, assisting in a myriad of tasks. Imagine it helping you prep for meetings, summarizing prior Zoom interactions, or even fetching relevant documents from third-party apps.
Zoom's Commitment to AI
Zoom emphasizes its commitment to responsible AI. It assures users that their data, be it audio, video, chat, or other forms of communication, isn't used to train Zoom's or any third-party AI models. Plus, users have control over AI capabilities, deciding which features to turn on or off.
Diverse AI Approach
Zoom's unique approach combines its own large language model with others like Meta Llama 2, OpenAI, and Anthropic. This ensures users get the best of all worlds in terms of quality and performance.
Ready to Dive In?
If you're on a paid Zoom plan, you can start using AI Companion right away.
Comment: The integration of AI into communication platforms like Zoom signifies the growing importance of AI in enhancing user experience. With AI Companion, Zoom is not just a communication tool but also a productivity enhancer. As AI becomes more integrated into our daily tools, it's crucial for companies to prioritize data privacy and user control.
zoom.us
New features
Join the LinkedIn Waitlist for verification 🪪
Whilst it's only available in the USA, Canada and India at present you can now join a waitlist for identity Verification. Unlike Meta and X verification LinkedIn are not planning to charge.
Thanks to John Espirian for the heads up.
linkedin.com
Tips
How to use the new Canva plugin for ChatGPT 🤖
In ChatGPT's prompt box, users can describe the visual they wish to create. ChatGPT will then generate a list of visual options from which users can choose their favorite. They can further refine and edit these visuals in Canva and, once satisfied, download them directly for immediate use.
Here's how:
Describe your the design you want:
In ChatGPT’s prompt box, explain what you need to create. For example, type, “I own a tech news site. Create social media templates for me to use on LinkedIn.”
Choose from options: ChatGPT will provide LinkedIn templates based on your description.
Edit in Canva: Click on your chosen option to open it in Canva. You can make final adjustments, download and publish to LinkedIn.
Social Mind: Social and AI Insights
Welcome to Tuesday's update and today's social media news 🙌
Today I will mainly be resting my leg!
There's a chance I'll be OK for the Great North Run on Sunday.
But of course, plenty of content creation too.
Have a great day!
Best wishes
JP
All my links📞Call/WhatsApp on 029 2078 9139