Instagram “Overfocused” on Video, Facebook’s Impending Demise, and ChatGPT…

Every once in a while, we try and share our thoughts on subjects we find timely and relevant to our field of Integrated Content Marketing. There are a lot of changes happening with both Social Media and written content, and in the past few months there have been some stories summarizing those changes. Let’s dive in.

Instagram “Overfocused” on Video

Here’s the big quote on this story:

“In the same Story, Mosseri said that Instagram “overfocused” on video last year and that now the platform will go back to balancing the amount of photos and videos shown to users. In one example he gave, Instagram will consider how often a person likes and comments on photos versus videos to determine which content will appear first in their feeds.”

We know why Instagram shifted its focus from photos to videos. One word (sort of) with two syllables. TikTok.

TikTok is now a dominant force in the Social Media landscape that seemingly came out of nowhere. Instagram already had the right age demographic on their platform, so over the last year or so, they’ve tweaked the entire purpose of the App to compete with TikTok. Video, video, video. Or should I say Reels, Reels, Reels?

“Short-form, vertical video”. That’s what Instagram and TikTok have become. And part of Facebook, too. And some of YouTube. (There might be a bigger trend afoot here…) The problem with Instagram going whole-hog into short-form, vertical video is that most Instagram users liked the platform for sharing photos as well. Facebook is still a place where people can see what their friends and family are up to. YouTube is still the dominant force in ‘between-ness’ short, medium, and long-form user and brand-generated video content. Essentially, neither of those platforms become entirely different environments while also competing with TikTok. Instagram unfortunately, does.

It’ll be interesting to see what changes Instagram makes in 2023 and if they make good on their plans to ‘balance’ photo and video content.

Facebook’s Impending Demise

Yep, Facebook isn’t growing anymore. Does that mean the platform is irrelevant?

The important segment:

“This exodus will have a profound impact on digital advertising. Facebook has long been the go-to platform for marketers looking to reach young people, and its targeting capabilities are unrivaled. But with Facebook no longer growing, and with users increasingly spending less time on the site, businesses will start to look elsewhere for their digital advertising needs.”

Short answer: Facebook is still VERY important to a lot of people. 1.97 Billion to be precise at the time of this writing. The Social Media behemoth is not relevant to the next generation of users, that’s all. And what does this mean for Content Marketing? It means we have to keep our eyes on Facebook as well as the up-and-coming networks where new users are flocking. Facebook will continue to be a platform to push meaningful content to brands for a long time to come, but it has little to do with future generations as their social spheres do not find Facebook important.

ChatGPT Isn’t Coming For Your Job

My favorite part:

“Out of curiosity, I asked the tool ‘Will ChatGPT replace content writers?’. Here is its answer:

“ChatGPT is a powerful language model that can generate text, but it is not intended to replace human content writers. While it may be able to assist with tasks such as generating ideas or researching information, it cannot replace the creativity, nuance, and critical thinking that human writers bring to their work. Additionally, it’s not capable of understanding the context and the intent of the content as a human can, which is crucial to make a content relevant and valuable.”

I don’t think I could have said it much better myself.”

Written content matters. The news-world has been abuzz since Microsoft’s substantial investment in ChatGPT suggesting AI was going to somehow replace writers overnight. It’s incredibly complicated. Just like with AI Art Generators, we are amazed with ChatGPT’s ability to write so well it could be mistaken for a human - doing things that might take a very long time for a human in a few seconds. But simply put, all of its input came from humans. Again, just like AI Art Generators.

My take, along with many others, is that ChatGPT will be an incredibly useful tool for writers, but will not replace them anytime soon. Maybe the tool helps a writer collect preliminary research without needing to perform a series of Google searches…perhaps that’s why Microsoft has invested so much time and money into the platform…

It’s a tool. Use it, embrace it, but know what it is and isn’t: it’s just a tool.