#5Things: This Week in Social

#5Things: This Week in Social “Slow Jamming the News” 10/09/23

Joey Scarillo: Welcome to the Five Things: This Week in Social. This is the Webby Award-winning podcast that looks at five stories you may have heard whispers of from the world of social data, analytics, content, and tech. To give you the full rundown of what you need to know, this. Very. Week. If you're a marketer, an advertiser, or a creator or anyone who makes a living using social platforms, then you, my friend, are listening to the right podcast.
Today we have two pros of the pod, if you will. First up, it's the one and only Alix Black. Hello, Alix.

Alix Black: Hello, Joey.

Joey Scarillo: Question for you. The time is here. Are you a pumpkin spice fan or not?

Alix Black: I was a hater for a long time. It was a never have I ever answer but I have very much converted and it's here to stay.

Joey Scarillo It's so good. I'm so happy for you. Alright, and now returning to the pod, it's Jessica Womack. Hello Jess.

Jessica Womack: Hello? Hello.

Joey: I wish I could say I'm asking you the same question, but I want to know, are you into Candy Corn?

Jessica Womack: Whoa. I would argue. That candy corn is a lie and not actually candy,
Joey Scarillo: Or corn

Jessica Womack: or corn. It's a complete fallacy, so no, I am not Team Candy Corn, thank you very much.

Joey Scarillo: Well, I'm Joey Scarillo, and I am neither a pumpkin spice or a candy corn fan, but I do love an apple cider this time of the year.
Okay, here are the five things.
First up, Alix tells us how TikTok and Meta are floating, the idea of platform subscriptions to access ad-Free scrolling. Then Jess dives into a recent story about how social media platforms may be tanking traffic to news sites.
Then Alix tells us how Chat GPT developers have extended capabilities to real time surfing to the live web up to the minute.
Next Jess asks, will the real Tom Hanks please step forward as the actor cautions the use of ai.
And finally, Alix explains X going premium with Paris Hilton partnerships and streaming for gamers.
Alright, friends, let's dive right in. Alix, tell us about TikTok and Meta floating platform subscriptions to access ad free scrolling.

Alix Black: I would love to. So on previous episodes we've talked a little bit about X's subscription plans and what they're going for, and we'll talk a little bit more about their premium plan and what's coming up later. But now Meta and TikTok are following suit. I know that Meta has talked about an ad-free subscription service since posting on walls was mainstream.

And it's not surprising that TikTok is also on a spot to try it out. A lot of these are driven by stricter advertising by stricter advertising regulations, and we're seeing that the betas are currently rumored to start in the EU for Meta and for English speech, English speakers outside of the US for TikTok.

When thinking about the pricing structure too, for X, right now it's $4.99. For Meta, specifically Instagram, it will be $14 a month to have it on your phone. Mobile and about $11 for desktop, but who really uses it on desktop, but on the other side. Yep. Pretty wild. So that's something that I'm really interested in, but it makes sense looking at the way that streaming services have continued to be popular enough in rising prices. but it is risky as advertisers depend a lot on social ads, and people are looking to spend less time on these platforms and easily swipe past the ads.

Joey Scarillo: Jess two weeks ago on the show, as Alix mentioned, we talked about paying for X last week. We talked about an out. Outrageous price for premium Tinder. Would you pay for TikTok, Instagram or Facebook?

Jessica Womack: Listen, you can't lump all those things together cause would I pay for Meta? Absolutely not. But would I pay for TikTok? Oof. That's tough. That is tough because I think I actually would consider paying for TikTok. I think there are so many instances where I'm on that app and I am like, dang, I can't believe this is free, and that suspicion was accurate. So, no, I would not pay for a Meta subscription. I already know what my aunt thinks about Starbucks and her views on the world. I don't, I don't need to pay for that. But for TikTok, for memes about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce that's premium content right there.

Joey Scarillo: So you're scrolling and you're just thinking, this is so good. I should be paying for this.

Jessica Womack: Oh, a hundred percent. If you're not Joey, we gotta work on your algorithm.
Joey Scarillo: Here's the thing. I mean, we can talk about what this means for us as consumers all day. I think the bigger question here that I wanna know, Alix is what do you think this means for marketers and for advertisers?

Alix Black: I think people are gonna be mad, but it's it's definitely going to push us to be smarter, I think, on some of the counts. Accounts even I work on, there's a huge focus on organic, which obviously is only going to be bigger thing with these types of regulations. So between organic and influencers, those are only going to become more important, and it'll probably push us to also try to be everyone's favorite buzzword, more authentic.

Joey Scarillo: We love authenticity here on the five things. Alright, well obviously these are a continuation of stories and if they come out with, you know, real prices and this actually goes, we'll definitely talk about it here, but let's jump over to another story here. Jess, we, we got word that social media websites might be tanking access to news sites. Can you explain this?
Jessica Womack: Yeah, for sure. So, according to data from SimilarWeb, traffic from top global news sites from Meta and X, formerly known as Twitter. I also side note, cannot stop laughing at the fact that we refer to X as formerly known as Twitter in the same way that we used to talk about I think that's kind of messed up. I just think that Prince is rolling over grave right now that Elon Musk, his, uh, his swag anyway.

So according to data from this site traffic from the social media platforms has collapsed over the past year as something like a 53% drop for the top, a hundred news and media sites. Particularly for Meta and X, they saw an over 50% reduction on both platforms just in the last year or two alone. A lot of people are saying that this is because social media platforms are pulling away from news due to various like policy proposals. So for example, Meta said that it'll block the sharing of news links on Facebook and Instagram and Canada because Parliament passed a bill that requires tech firms to pay news publishers for content that appears on their platforms.

So basically, if you are reading a New York Times article on Meta in Canada, this bill now says that Facebook has to pay the New York Times because it is a, it's an intellectual property. Issue that the New York Times wasn't getting sort of like that, that payment, for instance. So in response, Meta's like, forget that I'm not paying that.

And they're blocking the sharing of news links in Canada, they've threatened to do the same in California since state lawmakers are considering the same proposals, the same policy. And as a whole, Facebooks they have like Facebooks, whoa, I sound like my grandma. Facebook, the singular Book, has pulled their pulled funding for their news tab, which was like their main newsfeed, uh, hub that made it really easy to share links, uh, to various news articles.
So a lot of people are saying that these things combined is what has resulted in this huge drop in traffic from social media to news sites. But there's a couple of other things that could also be causing this. For instance a lot of news platforms are relying really heavily on paid subscription models and reducing the number of free articles that consumers are able to get. So there's a chance that there's a consumer behavior there that's not clicking on the links because they don't wanna have to pay a fee. There's also a huge over-reliance that these news companies have on this traffic that's also driving a lot of behaviors that is leading people. Basically leading people back to, social media when there could be a number of other things.

News consumption as a whole could be going down since the global pandemic era. People could be looking for more entertainment and moving away from news. There's a whole bunch of things that could be causing this decline in traffic but it's definitely certain to say that the activity from Meta and X are playing a big role.

Joey Scarillo: Alix, let's put on our cynic hat for a second. I know you're such an optimistic person. But let's put on our cynic hat for a second. Do you think that there's any way that maybe some of this, uh, traffic slowing down from these social media sites has anything to do with the fact that, you know, a lot of these sites haven't had, like Meta X, a lot of them haven't had good headlines for the past year or two.

Do you think that there could be any like, manipulation of what news people have access to through their websites from the Zuckerbergs and the Musks.

Alix Black: Joey, I will take any opportunity to be cynical, so thank you so much for this prompt. I think that that's absolutely true. There were many studies, especially around the elections of how people worked off of headlines for their information and wouldn't even click in to read the whole story. So headlines are definitely a major piece. Clickbait is something that we all gravitate toward, I would say with the Incoming election, we might see more of that coming up because that influences not only politics, but social issues and the way that we converse. So even with that, I, I'm conflicted about this situation generally because it does, we've, we've seen on social media that people. People use these articles for misinformation, but on the other side, to your point, it does also block real information. So we'll see how it progresses, but I definitely am more worried about the block of information, both as a consumer and a normal person. So we'll see how it goes, especially in this next year.

Joey Scarillo: Jess, do you think this means we're gonna have a less informed. With the election coming up, for example, less informed voter base, or do you think people are just sort of over the fake news?

Jessica Womack: think there is already a less informed voter base. I know that's not, I know this podcast is not about, you know, societal issues, but I think the defunding of public schools from the wild drop in media literacy and the wild drop in interest in civic engagement. We already have a not super educated voter base. I think that I agree with the, the earlier statement that this is gonna to a lot of misinformation. Just because it's so much easier to get your news from media sites. They're shorter, they're typically easier to read. The vernacular is a lot like a, what is the word? The vernacular is a lot more accessible. I think unfortunately a lot of people rely on media for news and now that they're pulling away from like quality sources, and there's a lot going up against it, we're gonna see more and more just like opinions being shared, uh, as hard facts. It's not looking great. wish I had had a more optimistic answer to that now that I say.

Joey Scarillo: Yeah. No, it's all good. And you know, you're right, this is not a politics show, but it is. You know, we do talk about social media and so social media's role in all of this is, uh, an interesting one for sure. Okay, let's jump over to Chat GPT now. I think this is good news. In the world of, uh, ai, I feel like we always have to have a barometer.
Is this good? Is this bad? Is this, uh, gonna help us or is this gonna be scary for humanity? But Alix, tell us about Chat GPT developers expanding capabilities to real time surfing the live web up to the minute.

Alix Black: Yeah, so I am also excited for this and see it as a positive, but we've talked about how Chat GPT can now converse with us as humans with images and even voice, and there are a lot of mixed opinions about that. but it's really taking it up a notch by improving its responsibilities and being able to spit out information from reports happening up to the minute. This has been really a struggle, I think, for a lot of us, both as marketers and as consumers where Chat GPT is a very accessible way to get information, but given that a lot of it is outdated, Or can only go back So far, we miss out on a lot of really important gaps that will help us be more informed and to inform others.

Joey Scarillo: Uh, Jess, you know, we talk about of course, chap, of course chat. G p T can be an amazing tool. How do you think marketers can, uh, make something like this work for them?
Jessica Womack: I borrow a lot, or I would borrow a lot from what. Educators are proposing and treating Chat GPT less like a way to replicate work and more like a tool. there are, I saw this really speaking of TikTok, I saw this really interesting TikTok, in which a teacher was proposing that instead of spending time trying to tell whether or not your students are using Chat GPT to write their essays, You should make that the assignment and have them use Chat GPT to write the essay. And then the assignment is to grade it and figure out ways to make the essay sound more human, proofread it. having them become like literate in this tool as opposed to moving away from it. From it. And I think that that same type of innovative thinking needs to happen for marketers too. 'cause right now you're seeing a lot of people being like, Chat GPT is gonna replace copywriters.

And I don't think that that's a great approach. It's rather how do we, how does it become a tool for copywriters? How does it become a tool for project managers, for producers? and, you know, for all of our, the different roles that we serve,
Joey Scarillo: yeah, I mean, I think that's it, right? Like there's this, there's always this gonna be, this debate on new technology. Is it a tool or is it something that will be . You know, scarier, weaponized, and I think, yeah, we just have to use it to our, uh, to our advantage. Alright. Now let's talk about some scary AI stuff. Jess, tell us about what recently happened with Tom Hanks and his likeness being used in ai.

Jessica Womack: Oh man, everyone's favorite. Dad, Tom Hanks. and everyone's favorite morning co-host and best friend of Oprah, Gayle King. who has her own accomplishments in her own right. Might I add? very accomplished woman. But everyone's favorite, best friend I would argue they have separately warned their followers on social media that video using ai, likeness of them are being used for fraudulent advertisements on Instagram and Facebook. So in particular, Gayle King shared some doctored footage that showed that she was saying her DMs were. Overflowing with praise for her weight loss secret and her diet plans, and that people should follow the link to learn more when she was not.

She says that she was not involved in any such product. Nor was she informed that her likeness was gonna be used in this advertisement. And then a few days later, Tom Hanks issued a similar warning, saying that an advertisement for a dental plan using his likeness, uh, without his consent was fraudulent and based on an AI version of himself. people were not able to find footage of that example. The Tom Hanks one We are gonna believe him because he is America's dad at this point. but both of them, uh, were frustrated with platforms, particularly they were frustrated with Meta for not stopping Meta and X, for not stopping these paid ads from running, and placed a lot of blame on them, which caused a bit of a debate as far as whose responsibility, how much responsibility platforms have in Making sure that AI isn't, being used inappropriately, versus, you know, how much of the responsibility is on the marketers themselves. So, that was a, that was the, the story for that one.

Joey Scarillo: Alix, we know that actors are striking to avoid. You know, messes like this with ai. what do you think the marketing community can do to be proactive to help fight this kind of fraud? I.

Alix Black: I think that it's just not giving into it. We've seen a lot of conversations about how we use ai, whether it's in our advertisements or even in pitches, to an extent to be able to see how this would come to life. And celebrities are hard to get a hold of. They're really expensive. Our budgets are shrinking. So I can understand why people would want to kind of play in that space, but at the end of the day, these are hackers without any hacking skill, So for us to see what's going on, we have to figure out how much we believe it and be the models of doing our research using this appropriately, and not giving into the The opportunities to take advantage of it.

Joey Scarillo: Interesting. Well, you know, I, I, I think you're absolutely right. You know, we, there is an ethics to the use of AI and how we use these things and, and I just really hope that marketers stay on the right side of it. Maybe, maybe there's like a, a score or something that we can assign to advertisers to make sure that we're doing, uh, the right thing here.
But I, you know, definitely, worth, worth chatting about. Alright. Let's jump over to our fifth and final thing. Alix. This is a super fun one, I think. So X is going premium for Paris and for the players. Tell us about what's going on. 'cause it sounds like they actually have some like real announcements.

Alix Black: Yeah, they're definitely making moves and bringing to life Elon's idea of being the Everything app, and we saw it going small, of creating more of a curated content feed and prioritizing video, but now they're going harder on their features. Generally. I think when we heard about premium and different subscription levels coming out, it was a little bit of like, All right, well, who's gonna pay for it? Why does it matter? Even if it's ad free and they're actually building true capabilities that make it seem more That make it seem more giving than it is getting. So for example, this week there were the announcements that they will be creating a gaming arm, which will go up against Twitch and a lot of other platforms. Twitter does this really funny thing of posting announcements with videos of developers or employees playing in the app, very lo-fi. It's not this like a big, curated announcement, so enjoying that part at least. But the announcement was made of a video. Of an employee just playing and developing in the games with some information of those.

With premium subscriptions, we'll be able to access it soon, both with being able to play and stream on the other side. we have gamers, we have entertainers, and although there is an overlap, wouldn't say that Paris Hilton Is the ideal for gaming, but definitely for creators. We've seen Paris Hilton become a huge entrepreneur and really innovative in the digital space. So she's partnering with X to develop this whole other entertainment sectors that's a mix of developing and entertainment creators, as well as almost a subscription to a TV or others. To a TV service or other services. So she is on the hook for developing at least two video series a year, progressing the platform including live shopping, broadcasts, doing space audio chats, and more. Later on, we're also expecting Paris to serve as a launch partner for other new X products, services, and feature releases. So this is really to establish a stronger presence for creators and be able to see someone who is successful and wants to support creators across the board, really be a leader in social media.

Joey Scarillo: This, these announcements are really cool, but Jess, I want to ask you, not so much about the announcement, but by about the messenger. So the Paris announcement came from X's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, we haven't heard much from her since taking on the role, at least compared to her boss. This announcement seems more strategic.
The things that Elon announces feel more off the cuff. Do you think when we get these headlines from X that we should consider the messenger in, like how serious they are? I.

Jessica Womack: For sure. I think, we should definitely gauge the seriousness based on who is saying it. I think that's what my gut is saying. Actually. Because now that I say this out loud, there have been multiple instances where Elon will just kind of like say something for what appears to be funsies and then it becomes true. So I, I actually, you know what, I actually changed my whole answer. I don't think that we should really consider the messenger when news comes out about Twitter, sorry, formally known as Twitter. When news comes out about X I think that we have now been trained. To trust everything with a, take, everything with a heavier grain of salt than we normally would. because we, they have been operating so chaotically and from such an unhinged place that anything that they put out, as long as it's coming from Elon or someone from within the company, from an internal source, it could be true. And I think that that's a really Not recommended way that I would operate an organization, but you know what? It's working.

Joey Scarillo: Yeah, like I said, this feels like a real strategy and a really cool partnership that X is doing so good for them. Alright, friends, well that does it for us this week.
If you don't already, be sure to follow us. Share us. Review us like us, or write to us with your questions, comments, concerns, points of interest or complaints, or just send us a thing you want us to discuss. You can do that by emailing us at: Podcasts@Grey.com
Connect with us on Spotify by sharing your thoughts on the show! Just look for the Q&A field. The topics discussed are written and researched by the social and connections team at Grey, New York with a big thanks this week to our panel, Jess Womack, and Alix Black.
This podcast is produced by me, Joey Scarillo and Samantha Geller with Post-Production by Amanda Fuentes, Guy Rosmarin and Ned Martin at Gramercy Park Studios.
Marketing and Communication Support by Adrian Hopkins, Christina Hyde, and Jada Hinds.
Listen to the entirety of Season four of Grey Matter: A Podcast about Ideas, another podcast by us here at Grey. We speak to founders, artists, innovators, we speak to founders, artists, and innovators about the moment an idea was born. You can find Grey Matter, a podcast about ideas wherever you find this podcast.
That's it for us. Thank you, listener, and please as always, be social Grey is a global creative agency whose mission is putting famously effective ideas into the world. Check out more@Grey.com.

Jessica Womack:
Also, Gayle King, if you're listening, just know that I think that you are so accomplished and I admire you so much for all of the things that you have done independent of Oprah. And if you wanna ever grab lunch sometime, I'm so down because I admire and applaud you as an accomplished woman.