Social news
Elon Musk says X will charge users ‘a small monthly payment’ to use its service 🤦
Elon Musk, the owner of the social network X (previously known as Twitter), has proposed the introduction of "a small monthly payment" for users of the platform. In a live-streamed discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk expressed that this move is aimed at addressing the bot issue on the platform. He believes that imposing a fee would deter the creation of bots as each bot would require a new payment method.
Musk explained, "It's the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots. Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny, but even if it has to pay a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high."
While the exact subscription fee hasn't been disclosed, Musk described it as a "small amount of money." He also shared that X currently boasts 550 million monthly users, producing 100 to 200 million posts daily. It remains uncertain if these figures include automated accounts.
Since Musk's acquisition of the platform, there has been a push for users to subscribe to X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue), priced at $8/month or $84/year. This subscription offers features like post editing, reduced ads, and extended post lengths. However, reports suggest that X Premium hasn't gained significant traction among X users.
Comment: Elon Musk says a lot of things but if brought in, surely this would be the end of X?
techcrunch.com
AI news
Breaking: Bard's newest model just released 🤖
Bard has this morning released their most advanced model yet. This version promises enhanced intuition, creativity, and responsiveness.
🌐 Bard Integrates with Google Apps Bard now seamlessly integrates with Google Maps, YouTube, Hotels, and Flights. This feature, enabled by default, allows users to fetch real-time information, streamlining the ideation process. It's all about making information gathering and planning more efficient.
📧 Bard Meets Gmail, Docs, and Drive You can now invite Bard into your Gmail, Docs, and Drive. This feature ensures you can summarise and query across your personal content. Rest assured, your Google Workspace data remains private and won't be used to train Bard's public model.
🔎 Introducing Google It v2 for Bard Enhance your trust in AI-generated content with the revamped [G] button. Powered by Google Search, this feature allows users to verify Bard's responses, ensuring accuracy and confidence in the information presented.
🔄 Shared Bard Conversations Inspiration often stems from others. With Bard's new public link sharing feature, you can continue conversations shared with you, fostering collective creativity and innovation.
🎨 Expanded Features Across Languages Bard now supports image uploads via Google Lens, offers Google Search images in responses, and allows customisation of its responses in all supported languages. This ensures a tailored and enriched user experience, amplifying your creative endeavours.
Comment: Bard's continuous upgrades highlight the potential of AI in enhancing our daily tasks and creative processes. As AI tools become more integrated with popular platforms, it's crucial for users to stay updated and leverage these features for optimal results.
New features
WhatsApp is widely rolling out its Telegram-like Channels feature 📢
WhatsApp is expanding its "Channels" feature, similar to Telegram's channels, to over 150 countries. Initially introduced in June, it was available only to select organizations in Colombia and Singapore. This feature allows users to receive updates from creators, organisations, and brands from a single channel. Instagram had launched a comparable feature named "broadcast channels" earlier this year.
With this global rollout, WhatsApp has introduced several enhancements:
An improved directory to filter channels based on countries. Options to sort channels by newness, activity, and popularity. Emoji reactions to posts within channels. Admins can now edit their updates for up to 30 days before deletion. The platform is also adding "thousands" of new channels, including those managed by Olivia Rodrigo, the MLB, and Mark Zuckerberg. WhatsApp plans to continually refine the Channels feature based on user feedback and aims to allow anyone to create a channel in the upcoming months. If users haven't seen this feature on their app, they can join a waitlist to be notified when it becomes available.
Comment: With the global expansion of the Channels feature, WhatsApp is positioning itself to compete more directly with platforms like Telegram. The added enhancements and the inclusion of popular figures and organisations indicate a strong push to make this feature a staple for users, potentially increasing engagement on the platform.
theverge.com
Social Mind: Social and AI Insights
Welcome to Wednesday 🙌
I'm presenting my first ever ChatGPT/AI course this morning and really looking forward to it. There's so much potential for AI in marketing.
Book onto a future session to learn how to improve your marketing and social media with AI.
A busy day tomorrow with training in Port Talbot in the morning and Cardiff in the afternoon.
Best wishes
Jonathan
Chat with me on Threads📞Call/WhatsApp on 029 2078 9139