Introduction:Â
Greetings and welcome to this week's edition of 'our latest news' at Conquest Influence! As always, we're dedicated to bringing you the most cutting-edge developments that are reshaping the marketing landscape. In this edition, we'll delve into the ever-evolving world of social media platforms, explore the possibilities of personalized sharing on Threads, and discuss the future of segmented social profiles. Additionally, we'll examine the groundbreaking agreement reached by European Union lawmakers on AI regulations that promise to impact various sectors, including marketing.
1. European Union Reaches Historic Agreement on AI Regulations
Tech Crunch
In a marathon negotiation that lasted nearly three days, European Union lawmakers have achieved a significant milestone by reaching a political agreement on a risk-based framework for regulating artificial intelligence. The proposal, initially introduced in April 2021, required months of intricate three-way discussions to finally secure the deal, marking a definitive step towards the implementation of a comprehensive pan-EU AI law.
Key representatives from the European Parliament, Council, and the Commission, who are the co-legislators of the EU, celebrated the agreement as a hard-fought victory, a monumental achievement, and a historic moment during a late-night press conference.
While detailed provisions of the agreement will only be confirmed upon the release of the final text in the coming weeks, a press release from the European Parliament has highlighted several key aspects of the deal, including a complete ban on the use of AI for:
1. Biometric categorization systems that utilize sensitive characteristics (e.g., political beliefs, sexual orientation, race).
2. Untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage for creating facial recognition databases.
3. Emotion recognition in workplace and educational settings.
4. Social scoring based on personal characteristics or social behavior.
5. AI systems designed to manipulate human behavior to circumvent their free will.
6. AI employed to exploit vulnerabilities of individuals (due to age, disability, social or economic situation).
Although the use of remote biometric identification technology by law enforcement in public places hasn't been entirely banned, the agreement includes safeguards and narrow exceptions to restrict its use, requiring prior judicial authorization and strict limitations on its application.
The deal also introduces regulations for AI systems classified as "high risk" due to their potential to cause significant harm to various aspects such as health, safety, fundamental rights, environment, democracy, and the rule of law. These regulations include mandatory fundamental rights impact assessments and the right for citizens to launch complaints about high-risk AI systems.
Additionally, the agreement outlines a "two-tier" system for regulating "general" AI systems, including transparency requirements for low-tier models and more stringent obligations for high-impact models with systemic risk.
Penalties for non-compliance vary depending on the infringement and company size, with fines ranging from €7.5 million or 1.5% of turnover to €35 million or 7% of global turnover. Smaller penalties for SMEs and startups in case of infringements are also considered.
The agreement provides for a phased entry into force, with specific timelines for different requirements, ensuring a gradual implementation of the AI Act, which may not take full effect until 2026.
The European Union's efforts in regulating AI are being hailed as historic and a significant step towards ensuring responsible and ethical AI development while fostering innovation.
2. Social Media's Next Frontier: Tailored Sharing and Personalized Profiles
Social Media Today
As the landscape of social media undergoes significant shifts, an intriguing trend is emerging – the move toward segmented social profiles. This evolution aims to empower users to engage in diverse conversations without inconveniencing their followers who are interested in different aspects of their lives.
Several social platforms have already ventured into this realm. Instagram and Facebook have introduced features allowing users to create alternate profiles. These profiles serve as dedicated spaces for distinct communities, preventing the crossover of unrelated content streams.
Instagram, in particular, is exploring enclosed group sharing options, exemplified by its "Flipside" experiment. This initiative provides users with a private profile space reserved for interactions with selected connections.
This trend is likely to continue, offering users more customization options. These enhancements will simplify the process of sharing content aligned with specific interests or personas, enabling followers to choose the aspects they want to engage with.
Twitter, for instance, experimented with a similar concept called "Facets" in 2021. With Facets, users could assign different topical personas within their main profile, complete with distinct profile images. This allowed for tailored content sharing – if you're into parenting and biking, you could have separate facets for each interest. When posting updates, you could choose which persona each post originates from, granting followers the option to follow the facets relevant to them.
This approach could encourage more frequent posting, addressing the challenge of declining user-generated content. As social platforms increasingly shift toward entertainment, user engagement has evolved, with more time spent on the platforms but less original content sharing.
While this shift in user behavior isn't necessarily detrimental to social apps, it does create an opportunity for users to seek similar experiences elsewhere. Alternative profiles, Facets, and enclosed group sharing options aim to enhance the network value of these platforms, keeping users more engaged and loyal.
Introducing these features may introduce some friction, as they require careful development and implementation. Nevertheless, as users seek to share their thoughts within specific, like-minded communities, we can anticipate more such innovations in the future.
For marketers, these changes add a layer of complexity to reaching the right audience. Currently, short-form video remains a prominent medium for maximizing reach. However, the rise of more specialized, segmented groups complicates message delivery, necessitating new strategies for engaging with these audiences as their behaviors evolve.
Options like Facets align well with this shift, as they facilitate more precise ad targeting in line with specific interests. This alignment suggests that we will likely witness further developments in this direction. If platforms can devise user-friendly methods to encourage topical sharing, it could lead to novel forms of connection and community-building within social apps.
3. Meta's Threads Explores Interoperability with Mastodon and ActivityPub
Reuters
On December 13th, Meta Platforms' Threads unveiled its plans to conduct tests aimed at making posts from its microblogging platform available on Mastodon and other platforms utilizing the ActivityPub protocol. CEO Mark Zuckerberg made this announcement on Wednesday, reaffirming Meta's commitment to fostering compatibility with open and interoperable social networks, a goal set when Threads was initially launched in July.
Zuckerberg emphasized the significance of this move, stating, "Making Threads interoperable will give people more choice over how they interact, and it will help content reach more people."
Mastodon, renowned for its decentralized and user-centric structure, shares common ground with Threads as an alternative to Elon Musk's social media platform "X," formerly known as Twitter. Both platforms rely on the ActivityPub framework, which empowers users to construct independent social media ecosystems.
Meta's vision aligns with the principles of ActivityPub, as they aim to offer users the option to transition their content from Threads to another compatible service. This approach emphasizes user freedom and content portability, underscoring Meta's commitment to openness and innovation.
Threads has already garnered substantial attention, amassing over 100 million sign-ups within just five days of its launch. Furthermore, the platform is poised to expand its reach by launching in Europe in December, according to reports from various media outlets.