Today in Digital Marketing - Search Engines Fight AI-Generated Article Spam With… [checks notes] Uh… Wait…

Starting point is 00:00:01 It's Monday, March 27th. Today, those search results you're getting may not be real. Pinterest shoehorns commerce into its shuffles app. LinkedIn now helps you spam your friends. TikTok's new platform. And why Uber Eats is dropping thousands of brands from its app. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today, digital marketing. Pretty much since the dawn of this whole generative AI phase, marketers were both excited by and hesitant of its ability to write content by itself. Sure, the technology can write blog posts now for us, complete with SEO-tweaked headings and keywords,

Starting point is 00:00:36 but that also means the results we get from the search engines like Bing and Google will increasingly be articles written by AI without human review. And as we all know, AI gets things wrong a lot of times. For their part, the search engines have tried to reassure us, nah, we'll keep a close eye on it. We won't let that stuff pollute the results. So that's good. Except for this development. Now, at least one search engine has decided to write its own text and insert that into the results. That engine, Microsoft's Bing. In some searches, Bing will now create AI-generated stories showing users a small multimedia presentation

Starting point is 00:01:13 about the topic of their search with text, images, and videos. These are similar to stories on Instagram or Snapchat. Bing stories feature a progress bar indicating when the next slide will appear. Users can also unmute the story and listen to a voice reading out the text along with background music. The feature will be available in multiple languages like English, French, and Japanese, but not every search will display a story. The company also upgraded its Knowledge Cards, which appear to the right of search results to support generative AI. Now the cards can include their own stories, as well as timelines about a country, city, or event's history.

Starting point is 00:01:52 Pinterest has a few new updates as it pushes for more brands to list their products on their platform. First, the company is adding new features for retailers to enhance their pin profile when they upload their product feed into the app. Now, when merchants connect their catalogs, Pinterest makes their products discoverable and shoppable via pins, ads, and videos. Pins created via catalog upload also get access to shopping features like Virtual Tryon, Pinterest Lens. Retailers also receive a Shop tab on their profile. The company is also capitalizing on its separate Shuffles app, which lets users create collages of product images primarily sourced from Pinterest by making these collages shoppable in the app. The new update will display pin detail on products displayed in collages.

Starting point is 00:02:36 Consumers will be able to view other collages that include the same item. The company also plans to build brand and price comparison tools for displayed products. And finally, Pinterest is expanding its Prime Placement Premier Spotlight ads to more businesses. These ads, which we previously reported on, occupy the top position on the platform's search page. LinkedIn has a new way to initiate conversations by sliding into professional DMs. With the new multi-send posts as messages feature, you can choose several recipients when sharing a feed post. You have the option to either send the post to each person separately or create a new group chat with the selected users. You can also add a personal note to your message. The move comes as more platforms work

Starting point is 00:03:25 on expanding private engagement options as users increasingly shift from public posting. More ad automation is coming for Microsoft campaigns. Say goodbye to manual bidding as it will be discontinued for new campaigns next month. Starting on April 24th, all existing image and feed campaigns on a manual cost-per-click bid strategy will transition to Enhanced CPC. With Enhanced CPC, you set your ad group bids, and then Microsoft automatically adjusts your bids in real time. The move is expected to be finalized by April 28th, and any remaining campaigns using cost-per-click will be converted to enhanced CPC. The update does not impact video campaigns using manual CPC or campaigns with manual cost-per-view or CPM bid strategies. The change only affects image and feed campaigns with manual CPC.

Starting point is 00:04:30 An impending doomsday isn't stopping TikTok from releasing new products for marketers. The company today launching a new product called Branded Effects, which lets brands collaborate with effect creators to design custom effects that include specific features like calls to action or custom audience targeting. Brands can use these effects to engage consumers and promote their products in various ways, including virtual clothing and makeup try-on, adding stickers or frames to videos,

Starting point is 00:04:54 and unlocking animations by scanning real-life objects. TikTok says branded effects also lets businesses expand their content to a broader audience using paid branding traffic solutions and placing their effects in premium placements on the effect panels trending tab. Marketers can also select which brand safe videos appear on an effects detail page so that only appropriate or positive videos are displayed when users browse the effect on the app to see how others are using it. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Uber Eats is cracking down on restaurants

Starting point is 00:05:53 that are catfishing consumers. The Wall Street Journal reporting today that the company is removing thousands of online-only virtual brands from its platform due to concerns about the app being overrun with restaurants listing multiple delivery options with the same menu, but under different brand names. The number of virtual brands has quadrupled on the app to more than 40,000 this year compared to last, accounting for nearly a tenth of Uber Eats restaurants listed in the U.S. and Canada.

Starting point is 00:06:23 The explosion of online storefronts has created a kind of Wild West situation where many eateries are competing for space on the app, adding that some customers are seeing 12 versions of the same menu. The company also said it would introduce new guidelines tomorrow requiring that more than half of a virtual brand's menu differ from its parent restaurant. The app will also require online brands to list five photos of unique items on their menus, and virtual restaurants with less than 4.3 stars will be removed. Media investment company Magna has lowered its forecast for U.S. advertising growth this year from 3.7% to 3.4%, following a record 6% gain last year.

Starting point is 00:07:12 But this will still result in an all-time high of more than $325 billion for the U.S. ad market. The firm predicts that ad spend will grow by more than 5% this year, after a 7% increase last year, while digital advertising is expected to grow by 5% this year after a 7% increase last year, while digital advertising is expected to grow by 9% this year. And finally, Elon Musk has said for months now he plans to open source at least part of Twitter's underlying code. Well, it seems someone has done that for him. Someone has leaked part of Twitter's source code on GitHub. The New York Times reporting that despite Elon's claim of wanting the code out there, Twitter lawyers had the leaked code pulled from GitHub. It's not clear how long the source code was available before being removed,

Starting point is 00:07:58 but some people think it may have been months. Twitter also submitted a court filing to find the culprit and get information on anyone who downloaded the data. According to the report, Twitter executives suspect a former employee may be responsible for the leak. The name of the user who uploaded the data? Free speech enthusiast. Nothing to say here. Thank you for listening. I'm Todd Maffin. See you tomorrow. Now, a computer for women.

Starting point is 00:08:28 How did the idea come about? I had the idea in a dream, originally. And that became the Petticoat 5? Yes. It's a computer made by women for women. Let's take a look at it. Now, the first thing you notice is the shape of the keys. They're designed to make it easier to type with long nails. Well, that is a good idea.

Starting point is 00:08:47 And what is this? Well, that's a place to put your rings. And on the side here, we have a tissue dispenser. And over here is a vanity mirror, which pops up when you press this button. And the space bar is an emery board. So I suppose you could fix your makeup while you work. Well, yes, you could.

Today in Digital Marketing - Search Engines Fight AI-Generated Article Spam With… [checks notes] Uh… Wait…

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