GU Live Lunch – Ep 169

Join Nicole and Mark as they take you through this week’s Social Media news and updates.

Here are the snippets:

00:57 – Instagram is following TikTok’s lead and is experimenting with longer Reel clips, with 3-minute and 10-minute Reels now being tested internally at the app. It’s like a blast from the past with a futuristic twist! After retiring its long-form video option, IGTV, last year, it seems to be making a comeback, but with a fresh approach. This time, it promises to offer a seamless and integrated video experience, all within the Reels platform, eliminating the need to navigate to different sections for long-form content.

04:16 – X has launched an improved feature for direct message (DM) interactions, allowing users to reply to messages within a DM chain by swiping right. This feature simplifies the process of engaging with messages in a chat, complementing X’s previous introduction of direct replies to specific messages in May. Users can still reply conventionally by typing a response in the text bubble at the bottom of the screen, providing flexibility in communication. These enhancements aim to streamline and enhance the messaging experience, offering users more options to manage their conversations efficiently. Whether you prefer swiping or typing, X’s latest update caters to diverse user preferences in DM interactions.

08:42 – Meta’s Threads app achieved an impressive milestone by amassing 100 million members within just one week of its initial launch, setting a remarkable growth record. However, its user base has experienced a significant decline since then. Currently, the app has reached 128 million users, marking an additional 28 million members in the eight weeks following its full release. This equates to an average weekly growth of 4 million users, which represents a substantial drop from its initially hyped ascent.

12:38 – Threads’ average session time is also down to just 3 minutes vs. X, which currently has around 250 million daily actives, with an average session time of 25 minutes.

15:44 – Google has created a new tool called SynthID to detect AI-generated images. SynthID embeds imperceptible watermarks into images to mark them as synthetic. The tool aims to enable the responsible use of AI image generation technology. SynthID is a digital watermarking tool that operates differently from traditional visible watermarks. It integrates the watermark directly into the pixel data of an image. It employs two AI models, one for embedding imperceptible watermarks and another for detecting them. Google has fine-tuned these models to ensure that the watermarks blend seamlessly with the original image, preserving visual quality while allowing for easy detection. During internal testing, SynthID effectively identified AI-generated images even after significant editing, offering three confidence levels to indicate the likelihood of a SynthID watermark’s presence in an image.

That’s all, folks!

See you next week!