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Wednesday June 5

June 05, 2024

FEATURE

Meta confirms it is testing un-skippable ads on Instagram

The "ad break" on Instagram displays a countdown timer while the regular content feed is frozen and the ad is displayed. The test has unsurprisingly been criticized for creating a poor user experience. And a TikTok study earlier this year found trying to force people to watch ads hurts engagement and brand perception.

“We’re always testing formats that can drive value for advertisers,” a Meta company spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we test and learn, we will provide updates should this test result in any formal product changes”.

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MORE HEADLINES

Perplexity can now create Wikipedia-style content

Instead of only chat-based replies, Perplexity is creating AI-generated web pages with images, citations, and sections. Users themselves are unable to edit the text directly and need to rewrite the prompt to modify the content.

‘Pages’ are already ranking in the organic search results in some instances.

TikTok is not preparing a U.S. copy of the app's core algorithm

Last week, a Reuters report claimed TikTok engineers are cloning its recommendation algorithm to operate independently from ByteDance. However, TikTok shot down the claims and doubled down on plans to fight the divestment ruling in court. A hearing will take place in September.

Google admits to hiccups in AI Overviews but remains bullish

In response to the criticism for inaccuracies and some bizarre results, Google is limiting user-generated content that could offer misleading advice. Google pays for access to Reddit's data to train its models, but early usage showed that presenting users’ opinions as facts can lead to misguided answers.

A group of advertising professionals have called on Apple to stop a new feature

Over 800 organizations in France have written to Tim Cook, asking him to halt the rollout of a potential new "web eraser" feature in the Safari browser. The feature would allow users to remove unwanted content from web pages, including banner ads.

Instagram said to stop using engagement hacks - then removed the video

The official Instagram Creator's account discouraged content creators from asking the audience to take actions specifically designed to boost reach with the algorithm.

Instagram shows creators how to upload longer videos, with one big caveat

The creator team at Instagram created a guide on how to post Reels over 90 seconds long. However those videos won't be eligible to appear in the Explore or Reels tab, which will limit potential distribution.

Google competitor, Brave, moves search ads out of beta

Brave Search is the default search engine in the Brave browser, which has over 65 million monthly active users. Brave positions itself as the privacy-preserving way to search online.

Google responds to search leak, confirms authenticity

Google indicated that the documents are real but added that there is missing context as to what the document is used for and warned against trying to make assumptions.

Google won’t offer more clarification to avoid spammers using the information to manipulate rankings.

TikTok pauses E-Commerce push into Europe to focus on the U.S. market

Some see this as ByteDance attempting to entrench itself in the U.S. and prove its impact on domestic commerce ahead of legal proceedings.

New York wants to restrict social media algorithms for teens

New York is planning new laws to prevent social media companies from using algorithms to control content without parental consent - the first of its kind in the U.S.

You’re all caught up 🎊