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Meta is developing an AI search engine, to be embedded in its Meta AI chatbot. The company has reportedly been indexing the web for at least eight months. 

Meta AI currently uses Google and Bing’s search engines when it fetches users answers about current events, financial markets, and sports.

This highlights a few things:

  • Search is no longer a platform, it’s a feature.
  • Users want answers, not necessarily options.
  • Google will not be replaced by a copycat. It will be chipped away at by new, novel alternatives and user dispersion across other channels. (and maybe by antitrust)
  • Meta continues to reduce reliance on other companies wherever it can. The true realization of this will be a hardware platform, likely in the XR space.
  • For brands / creators, having your content on the web—preferably on a platform you own—where it can be crawled is once again the path to relevance. (see: Gwern)
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Meta’s plan for growth among younger demos:

  • Discovery
  • Utility

Surface content like an entertainment app (social media is basically TV now).

Do the classic “Meta experience upgrade” on things like marketplaces, forums (Groups), and events.

Network effect + massive infrastructure = advantage

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More than 40% of leading brands secure 10% plus of their annual e-commerce revenue from holiday shopping events like Black Friday and Singles Day

Whilst the leading brands secure a significant proportion of revenue from holiday shopping events, 25% of laggards don’t even participate. The brands that capture revenue typically forge deals and partnerships, build inventory, align on promotions, and secure both budget and head count ahead of the shopping season.

This of course compounds as consumers wait for expected deals on shopping days, shifting more of their shopping activity there. Increasing the % of total revenue brands derive from smaller time frames.

via Marketing Tech News

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Been doing this thing with TV ads lately where I unmute for the last second or, at most, two seconds (the now normalized ad countdown makes this easy), and seeing — that is, hearing — what makes the final sonic impression, and then trying gauge the extent to which advertisers are doing anything in that final moment to catch the ear of and appeal to vigilant ad-muters

Great test not just for ad-muters but to use the peak-end rule.

What are you leaving on? What’s your last moment? What’s your goodbye?

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Some homework from Steven Soderbergh:

Just looking at something and going, I like that, and then trying to break down, why do I like that?

What is it about that… that I like?

What do I steal?

What can I repurpose or tweak to make it fit what we’re trying to do?

He steals like an artist. We can steal like marketers.

Pay attention to the messages and artifacts you encounter. If something resonates or stands out, figure out why. Use it in your own work.

via Austin Kleon

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Everything is TV Now

Last year the flip happened, people spent more time on TikTok than watching TV.

There was an interesting article from Caroline Mimbs Nyce of The Atlantic, and the title was titled, You're Looking at TikTok All Wrong. The app is basically just broadcast TV now. It does seem like people are treating social media more like televisions, the share of time spent on social media where people are watching video has gone from, I think it was about a third before the pandemic to about two-thirds now.
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Small improvements in our systems translate into large improvements to the customer experience.

Everything is customer service.

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cranes are a proxy for construction and infrastructure investment. Since both are closely and positively correlated with a growing economy, seeing many cranes along the skyline is a simple but reliable heuristic to know if an economy is doing well or poorly.

In your field of work, what are your cranes on the horizon?

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I might start including this in all analytics reports and dashboards.

Goodhart's Law comic by XKCD

via XKCD

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U.S. Media Reactions Report finds people overall are being more receptive toward advertising. Nearly half (47%) of people surveyed say they have a positive feeling towards ads in general.

The report also points to a “misalignment” in the way marketers are spending their dollars.

“It’s notable that marketer dollars don’t necessarily follow where consumers want to see advertising, nor do they always follow the exposure opportunity,” the report says.

The theme persists

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The most surprising thing I found about business was the large concern for finance and low concern for service.

–Henry Ford

Not being concerned about service is a great way to make finance concerning.

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What sticks out attracts attention. Which is kind of the point.

Don’t smooth the edges of your marketing.

Polished surfaces are hard to hold onto.

from Luke Geddes via Austin Kleon

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This is handy

Here is a quick look at the differences in post life on some of the major platforms:

  • TikTok:  0-2 minutes
  • Twitter:  15-18 minutes
  • Facebook:  5-6 hours
  • LinkedIn:  24 hours
  • Instagram:  48 hours
  • YouTube:  20 days
  • Pinterest:  4 months
  • Blog Posts: 2 years

(The page does not load properly for me on mobile. I recommend desktop or using the Wayback Machine to grab a cached version.)

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Ben Thompson on Meta:

Market = time & attention

Differentiation = horizontal services that capture more time and attention than anyone

This is what makes the Zuck’s Bucks machine run.

It also means whatever captures attention and increases time spent gets rewarded.

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The Chick-fil-A Play app will launch on Nov. 18 and will feature a variety of content, including an original animated series, scripted podcasts, games, recipes, and e-books — all designed to entertain families

“We’re not looking for heads-down, solo screen scrolling,” said Dustin Britt, Chick-fil-A’s executive director of brand strategy. “Everything on the Chick-fil-A Play App is designed to encourage more talking, laughing, and playing together both online and in-person.”

I still don’t know what to make of this, but it could become a trend for major brands.

Streaming splintered the media landscape (and Netflix has won). Could the next wave of entertainment platforms be brand extensions vs standalone brands?

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The differences between the most and least productive companies can be startlingly high. By one estimate, in the US alone the most productive firms in a sector can be more than two to four times more cost-effective than the least productive ones.

No company is owed an ongoing existence simply for existing before.

With each interaction, it is earned or lost.

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I’m always looking for ways to do keyword research “better,” so I like this

A simple technique for more search traffic:

  • Find a subreddit related to your business.
  • Pop the subreddit link into Ahrefs (our go-to keyword generation tool) and look for the keywords that the page ranks for.
  • Take the list of keywords and use them to optimize your content.
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If a jacket is made by Patagonia or a piece of hardware is made by Teenage Engineering, you can probably tell who made it the first time you see it, even without a logo.

When your brand has fingerprints, don’t do things that require you to wear gloves.

-Seth Godin

Build a brand that doesn’t need explicit branding.

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From Forked Lightning:

the U.S. economy added 19 million total jobs between 2013 and 2023 but lost 850 thousand retail sales jobs.

Retail sector employment is shrinking.

Based on the two graphs below, I’m guessing e-commerce is a big reason why. Along with in-store automation.

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This quote from Ben Thompson triggered a thought

distinct nation-states, with their own languages.

This is basically what fandoms are.

The nation-state of Taylor Swift.
The nation-state of Formula 1.
The nation-state of Tolkien.
The nation-state of Star Wars.
The nation-state of Disney.
The nation-states of sports.