Threads's Birthday, Instagram AI, The New App On the Block, and more!

Meta is Testing AI Influencers

What's New: Meta’s new "AI Studio" allows Instagram influencers to create AI versions of themselves to engage with their community through direct messages. 

How It Works: The AI Studio process, integrated directly into Instagram, offers various prompts and tools to help creators build their AI bots. Influencers can train these bots on different aspects of their social media presence, resulting in more lifelike replicas that can handle both fact-based queries and more creative responses that reflect the creator's style.

Access: Currently in beta testing, AI Studio is accessible to a select group of influencers and creators. Meta plans to expand this feature as it develops further, making it available to a broader audience.

Marketers and brands will be able to utilize AI versions of their brands to maintain constant engagement with their audience, ensuring that followers receive timely and personalized responses even when offline. 

However, it also raises questions about the authenticity of AI-driven interactions and their potential impact on genuine connections on social media platforms. Read more

Meet Noplace, The New Social Media Ranlinh #1 in App Stores

Rapid Ascent: Noplace, blending Twitter and Myspace, hit the top of the App Store after exiting invite-only mode. Initially viral among K-pop fans, the app leveraged scarcity and exclusivity to fuel demand.

Target Audience and Features: Focused on Gen Z, Noplace offers text-based updates, AI-driven suggestions, and extensive profile customization. It operates like a global group chat, enhancing social interaction without photos or videos.

Development and Funding: Founded by a Tokyo and San Francisco-based team, Noplace is backed by investors like 776 (Alexis Ohanian) and Forerunner Ventures, raising $15 million in a Series A1 round. Read more

1 Year,  175 MillIon Users: Threads Growth Journey

The Initial Growth: On July 5 last year, people were greeted with a surprise when they logged into Instagram – an invitation to try a brand new app for sharing text and joining public conversations – Threads. Five days later, over 100 million people had joined Threads, making it the most successful app launch of all time. One year later Zuckerberg announced it has reached 175 Million users. Although growth has slowed since the initial surge, Threads continues to expand its user base steadily.

Engagement and Retention: Much of the app’s growth is still driven by promotions within Instagram, capitalizing on their shared account system. Despite impressive user numbers, Threads faces challenges in maintaining daily active users and engagement levels. Meta has been actively adding features and running experiments to boost user retention and engagement, including testing various interface improvements, new content sharing options, and enhancing user interaction capabilities.

What Is Next? Looking ahead, Meta plans to monetize Threads by potentially integrating ads into the platform, leveraging Instagram’s existing advertising infrastructure. Read more

Quick Updates

Perplexity has upgraded its Pro Search AI research assistant. Read more

French startup Kyutai launched Moshi, a real-time AI voice assistant similar to OpenAI’s delayed Voice Mode feature. Read more

TikTok is developing a new AI chatbot named Genie. Read more

Apple's 30% fee on Facebook and Instagram ads expands to more regions. Read more

Instagram's chief reiterates that 'Sends' is now a key focus. Read more

X previews upcoming improvements to ad analytics. Read more

Recap Our AMA Session with Enrique Hoyos, CMO at Pexels (w/Canva)

We just had an amazing session with Enrique Hoyos on how to balance growth in a 2-sided marketplace, the strategies that brought them to 40 million visitors/month, and new avenues of growth at Pexels. Watch the entire session, including our notes  at this community posts, or catch up on main highlights in just 20 minutes here.

Maximize Content Output: How to Scale with AI

Shared by Mary Jane Anciete

Can you still scale content creation with AI following Google's new policies? In this video, we'll show you how to leverage AI to increase output while ensuring your content remains valuable for readers. We explore if AI can reliably generate content that will serve readers correctly and meet Google's new quality standards.

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How User Segmentation Helps PMs Improve Products

Shared by Oleg Yakubenkov

Segmentation refers to the process of grouping customers based on certain qualifications. While we generally hear about segmentation being used by marketers, this type of data can also be used by product managers to develop new product hypotheses and zero in on what will resonate with users. 

In this article, we’ll explore how different types of user segmentation help reveal questions about different parts of the product and ultimately generate new hypotheses for testing.

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Blog Content Strategy: Establishing Thought Leadership

Prompt: "Develop a content calendar for our blog for the next month, focusing on topics that position us as thought leaders in the [industry/niche]. Include a mix of how-to guides, industry news, case studies, and interviews with experts. Provide catchy titles, a brief outline for each post, and SEO keywords to target."