Analysis Archives | Page 3 of 4

LinkedIn share algorithm tips on the best way to get engagement on posts

5 March 2024

LinkedIn has shared some really useful tips that could help your posts get better engagement. Here are three important, but really easy things, to know.

1. It’s all about how the algorithm perceives the relevancy of your content to your followers

The timing of the posting, post length and other ‘trends’ don’t matter that much.

For example, if you read a lot of posts from an individual, or like posts about a certain topic/niche, LinkedIn will show you that more often in your news feed – or even as a ‘suggested post.’

“If you can just share knowledge into the world, I guarantee you things are going to work out. They won’t always work out for every single post, but over the length of your posting, it is going to work out for you”

LinkedIn editor-in-chief Daniel Roth

“Right now, content lives and dies on the newsfeed very quickly. We’re trying to collect the sum total of professional knowledge on our platform, and make sure it surfaces whenever you need it”

Tim Jurka, senior director of engineering at LinkedIn

2. Don’t try to ‘game’ the system

I’m sure you’ve seen the post with the teasing/appealing first lines, then you expand the post and it’s something completely different. Or a post that resembles an essay (oh…)

LinkedIn say the algorithm will recognise if lots of people move on quickly from a post, even after tapping on ‘read more’.

3. It’s about targeted, focused reach, not mass reach

The pair say people have always been complaining about ‘reach’, but it’s all relative.

For them, they want to help users connect to a smaller group of people in their industry “who can make a meaningful difference”.

This is from a chat between Daniel, Tim and Jason Feifer of Entrepreneur magazine.

The key takeaways from the Charlesbye report into UK news habits

28 February 2024

“Twice as many young people get their news from TikTok than the BBC”, shout the BBC’s rivals today – it’s the headline from a report by Charlesbye into the nation’s news habits.

In fact, it has similar findings to the Ofcom news consumption report from 2 years ago: more people, especially younger people, are getting their ‘news’ from social media than, say, sitting to watch the Six.

I say ‘news’, as what is new, informative and interesting can vary upon personal interest – and it isn’t restricted anymore to a selection of stories delivered in a newspaper, homepage or TV bulletin.

The coverage of this report is slightly misleading too – Instagram is still the most popular platform for 18-24 year olds to get their ‘news’, despite Charlesbye branding one of their audience segments ‘Generation TikTok’. And Facebook is still king, overall.

Working with influencers: why authenticity and credibility are key

16 February 2024

Should the government be working with influencers on TikTok and other social platforms?Yes, of course – and they have been for years (but it’s all been going on behind the scenes, so you may not have noticed.)

I talked to ITV News about the topic for a report for their Evening News programme this week.

Go to where your audience is – and get help if it’s a hard to reach group

Gone are the days of posting and hoping on Twitter – you now need to go directly to where your target audience is, and for a lot of them, especially younger people, they’re on TikTok.

And they’re unlikely to want to hear from government ministers – but they’re more likely to stop scrolling if it’s something being said by someone they like watching videos of, or can relate to.

And with any contractual relationship with influencers or celebrities, the buyer retains control over the messaging and the finished product before it’s posted.

And the issue is more complicated by the government banning departments from being on TikTok, or having the app on HMG-issued devices.

So, in principle, it makes sense.

Some will take the money, regardless – but others will be more concerned if it fits their brand

The tricky part is whether these influencers want to work with them – particularly on the controversial issue of stopping migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.

The leak of government plans, including some names being considered, caused a backlash – on tricky topics, you prefer to do this enquiring privately – but I used to regularly target a range of big name influencers and opinion-formers on Twitter with posts from the Department for Education that I thought they’d be interested in and would possible engage with for free, not for payment.

The authenticity and credibility of what influencers are saying is vital

But crucially, you need to have confidence that the people you approach will be warm to the idea – is it something they believe in or have publicly supported?

And just as important: will their followers believe what they are saying in their content about your topic or campaign? Are they talking about an issue which they’ve talked about before, have credibility in and are people who are relatable to the target audience?

Already, a couple of names have distanced themselves from the Home Office plans.

Anyone can adopt an influencer strategy

Any organisation or campaigner can adopt this approach: it just needs a bit of careful thinking and planning, and putting yourself in the shoes of the influencer: why would they want to talk about this issue or story?

If you need some help and advice on how to work with influencers, especially on small or no budgets, get in touch!

Here’s what young people think of as ‘news’ on Instagram

19 January 2024

“That’s not news” is still a familiar reply under social posts from news organisations.

But what is ‘news’ nowadays? We know what it used to be – a selected series of stories to be printed in a newspaper once a day, or a handful handpicked for a 30 minute TV bulletin.

But the internet, and especially social media, has transformed our definitions of news, based on algorithms, personal interests and generally a shift in power away from traditional news sources and journalists.

And I’ve always been curious, if slightly wary, when reading reports and surveys about where young people ‘get their news’ from, when the term has evolved so much over recent years.

So I was fascinated by this research by a couple of Dutch academics into what 16-25 year olds in the Netherlands saw as news on Instagram.

We’ve seen how Instagram is now the top social platform for this age group in the UK for news.

Being an academic paper it’s a bit heavy going, but you can read it here. I’ve tried to distil and report the key findings below.

News feeds have greater importance in their lives than traditional news – but they can feel ‘bombarded by content’

We’ve read a lot about how news feeds across all platforms have gone from friends, family and those you follow to a more algorithmic-based approach. In Instagram’s case, it’s still a bit haphazard with the seemingly random posts inserted into my feed as I scroll – even more so with the Explore feature.

We know how it’s not in chronological order, or order of importance like a newspaper, TV bulletin or website/live blog.

As the academics call it, we’re bombarded with a “cacophony of content”, so we scroll quickly, giving most posts a very cursory glance. And we check it frequently through the day.

What is ‘the news’ on Instagram to young people, anyway?

The researchers also coined another useful phrase: “media hybridity” – it’s increasingly hard to distinguish news and information from other types of content on social media.

We now consume the widest ever range of sources of information through our feeds – for example, journalists and news organisations, friends and family, sports clubs, influencers, celebrities – or just random accounts we never knew of before popping up.

And we can treat these news sources differently, such as if we feel strong emotional reactions to them, or the content themes resonate with us, or if the algorithm shows them more prominently.

This is even more true for younger people, who aren’t so wedded to the same traditional news values that older generations or journalists have grown up on.

In this study, they generally regarded ‘news’ as new, relevant and trustworthy. But some had very narrow conceptualisations – a TV news bulletin or newspaper, but nothing else.

Instagram also encourages, directly and indirectly, a different way of creating and consuming information online. It’s more visual, vertical and imposes a limited ability for captions and links.

I still see many publishers keep their posts short and with little context, expecting users to ‘tap the link in the bio to find out more’, which seems to be a big ask unless you really feel compelled.

The way the platform allows you to more subtly indicate that a post is sponsored means that the blurring between editorial and commercial, particularly with newer publishers, can be very hard to distinguish.

Content that feels like ‘news’ is treated as such – be it the user it comes from, the traditional format and/or look or if it, or the themes.

Other factors are if it feels like it’s appealing to a very broad audience, or perceived to be of high importance. But increasingly news organisations are adapting their approach and range of stories to feel more native to the platform.

Some may explicitly announce something as NEW or NEWS to make their posts look more appealing – while politicians and those at the centre of a public storm may try to take advantage of this confusing state of ‘news’ by dismissing reports as ‘fake’ or pronouncing them as ‘not news’.

The bombardment of different types of information on Instagram, the platform’s characteristics and what young people feel and react to means that they don’t necessarily equate it to what they’ve been taught to regard as news or journalism.

It’s not a surprise that there’s been confusion over whether Instagram is a ‘news’ platform.

So how can you make your news appealing to young people on Instagram?

In short, make your story selection more relevant and appealing to your target audience. If you’re targeting young people, use your insight to focus on their interests and passion points.

Emotion, or stimulating a reaction of some kind, as we’ve seen across social media, is key. This younger audience felt that news needed to “be close emotionally” to them. It’s why subjective posts, such as activism and passion-based interests appeal, as they resonate more with them.

Also, avoid seeing it as a dumping ground for lighter and ‘celebrity’ news – of course there’s interest in those topics, but they still have to got to be relevant and connect with that audience.

And it’s not just relevance – trust is vital too. If a user sees you as a news organisation, they expect to believe what they read, and for it to have some journalism and authority behind it, rather than just speculation. If they lose that feeling, that could be damaging across all of your platforms.

As this study by NP Digital showed, captions and covers are key to making it clear to this audience why they should stop scrolling (you can read more about their analysis here.)

Use the native formats – it shouldn’t necessarily ‘feel’ like the news as we have seen over the past decades.

Don’t try to get users to go to the ‘link in the bio’ – tell them what it is there.

But of course there’s also the challenge on how you monetise being on Instagram, though…

Is more and more content really the answer to journalism’s problems?

9 January 2024

News publishers plan to post more video than any other type of content, according to a Reuters Institute survey

The respected Nic Newman spoke to hundreds of editors, CEOs, and digital executives for the new Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report, ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2024’.

Understandably, they’re worried about the drop in referral traffic and are looking to whatever they can do to attract and retain audiences (and make money).

But I’m not sure the answer is committing to making even more videos, more podcasts and more newsletters than last year, as they reveal in the survey. I don’t know about you, but I’m reaching saturation point!

Most publishers are still focussing on maximising attention than being respectful of their audience's time, according to this Reuters Institute survey.

Even more worryingly, over half of respondents admit their companies “are mostly focused on maximising attention rather than being more respectful of their audience’s time (37%)”.

As the BBC’s Naja Nielsen recently said, “I think we’re competing with everything you can do on your mobile phone.” We’ve got to have smarter approaches, especially with the rise in news fatigue.

Hopefully we’ll see greater use of technology and data to produce more focused, relevant and engaging content, and organisations being inspired by some great native content creators on the different social platforms.

The study also notes the huge interest in the use of WhatsApp for distribution, but the efforts I’ve seen so far have mainly been link spamming, with little incentive to tap on the post, let alone forward it to friends and family.

The issues facing journalism could also be applied to organisations’ communications challenges too – make it worth your audience’s time to stop and read or watch what you’re sharing. If you don’t, the chances are that they’ll be less likely to do so again.

It’s worth reading the Reuters Institute report on ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2024’ in full – tap or click to go to it.

Why Channel 4 is changing to appeal more to younger audiences

7 December 2023

“I’ve maybe heard of E4 – that’s probably about it. I don’t really watch anything on it. I think there are comedies or something on it… Probably my mum watches”
Channel 4, the dramas. (Girl aged 14, England)

I’ve always thought that Channel 4 was a channel with attitude, an innovator and did well at appealing to their younger audiences. Hey, look at their funny Threads account! But I’m 41.

In some fascinating, but underreported, research carried out by STRAT7 Rainmakers for Ofcom, these more youthful target groups appear to not feel the same way.

It’s the same issue that all broadcasters – and organisations with communications strategies – are facing. It’s why Channel 4 is looking to make changes to its licence as it transitions from being mainly linear to more of a digital outlet.

Younger audiences are typically less engaged and aware of what Channel 4 does

Of the 18-24 year olds surveyed, it appears they didn’t tend to watch Channel 4 on TV, or check out its streaming platforms – preferring Netflix, Disney, YouTube and TikTok for their entertainment.

They were aware, when prompted, of some of the content on its platforms, but they didn’t clearly associate them with Channel 4, but accidentally with rival services instead.

Audiences expect a better quality streaming service

“40D is atrocious..honestly, it’s slow, you can’t fast forward from one segment to another, if you do then you’ve got to watch 3 minutes of adverts and if you want to watch a programme halfway through you’ve got to watch loads of adverts. It crashes, it’s not user friendly, you can’t look at recently released by category – It’s not user friendly it’s old… it’s like internet explorer before it was Edge.” (Female, London, 22-34, ABC1, medium C4C user)

Channel 4’s streaming services have undergone some transformations over the years, from 4OD, to All 4, to Channel4.com.

It’s no surprise that those surveyed are watching more of its content digitally, but they view it more of a catch-up service than a streaming service, where they would be ‘inspired’ by the selections on offer.

And the Channel 4 platforms were seen as “off-putting”: harder to browse, suffering from more glitches and too many ads, compared to its streaming rivals.

It’s a challenge to Channel 4, whose income solely comes from commercial revenues. Younger audiences are reported to find the ads repetitive, too frequent and the breaks too long. Being digitally native, they’re not brought up on ad breaks on commercial TV like us older lot have been.

They didn’t regard Channel 4 Entertainment as a go-to destination on YouTube as they prefer to consume content differently, through algorithms and recommendations. But they like to watch clips of popular shows.

Channel 4 appears less appealing for younger audiences

“Disney+ is where I watch most of my series and TikTok. If I ever have a free
minute that’s what I spend time scrolling on.” (Female, Belfast, 18-21, C2DE, light C4C user)

Like other Public Sector Broadcasters, it tries to appeal to all audiences, which is important from a regulation perspective, but tricky for a brand.

Although most of those surveyed saw its target audience as ‘younger’ (around mid-20s upwards), some of the youngest who took part in the study saw it as more for their parents’ generation.

A longer-term concern was that 10-15 year olds did not proactively consider Channel 4 to watch content.

A brand identity issue?

Of the PSBs, Channel 4 was traditionally seen as being more boundary-pushing, progressive, diverse and innovative. But that’s coming under threat from other streaming services pursuing similar values, particularly with the aim of appealing to younger people.

But the research said Channel 4 “would be missed if they no longer existed”, being seen as less establishment, championing diverse and challenging viewpoints, providing gritty and authentic news and documentaries, and offering a wide range of good quality, British-made programmes for free.

And there was particular support for, and brand association with, its Paralympics coverage, reflecting its values of diversity and inclusion.

And Channel 4 News was praised for how it connected with its viewers, holding power to account and the way it reported events in the UK and around the world. Although over-30s were more likely to watch its appointment to view shows, mainly the 7pm programme, it’s received acclaim (and awards) for its social and digital output, where younger generations are more likely to get their news.

It appears its request to remove its lunchtime bulletin and reduce TV commitment to current affairs would allow it to divert those resources into its digital content.

Not just a Channel 4 issue

“Channel 4 remains a key part of the UK’s broadcasting ecology”, notes Ofcom, being rated highly by audiences and “[continuing] to deliver content promoting new and diverse voices and perspectives and to play a crucial role in supporting the creative economy outside London.”

The issues the broadcaster faces are ones similar to the BBC, ITV and other brands and organisations – look at Ofcom’s report on the BBC needing to do more to appeal to working classes.

It’s why Channel 4 has asked for changes to some of its existing licence obligations to invest more in its digital growth and transformation (while also providing for those who still watch their programmes in the more ‘traditional’ TV way.)

You can take part in the consultation to its proposed changes on Ofcom’s website.

We’re all having to change the ways we reach and engage our audiences – for some target groups, it’s a matter of urgency. If you’d like to chat about how I can help you navigate through these unsettling times, get in touch.

7 practical takeaways from Ofcom’s Online Nation report

29 November 2023

How have our online habits changed this past year? Ofcom have done a thorough exploration of this, with their latest Online Nation report.

I’ve gone through this fascinating study to pull out what their findings mean for you – and how you can be inspired to better reach and engage your audiences.

1. Do you have a good YouTube strategy?

Ofcom Online Nation report survey: YouTube is Top social media services among UK adults

For too many, YouTube is still seen as a dumping ground for TV ads and other unloved videos. But it should really be a cornerstone of your digital comms strategy.

YouTube is now the most popular social or digital media platform among UK adults, overtaking Facebook.

Think about how you can provide helpful and engaging content on your most popular or searched for topics, with clear video titles that include relevant keywords, and interesting thumbnail images.

It’s no surprise that TikTok is popular among younger adults, with 18-24 year olds using it for an average of 55 minutes a day on there, but Snapchat is proving remarkably resilient too, with its users spending nearly an hour a day on there.

It feels too early to make any decisive views on Threads, but despite aggressive promotion on Meta’s other platforms, it’s not quite caught on so far. Like many of us, I’ve dipped in and out of it. But Channel 4 is doing a good job on there!

Don’t write off Twitter (or X) – although its usage has declined overall, it’s still the main place for breaking news, sport and other live events, if that’s what your audiences are interested in, and journalists and opinion formers are still active there.

2. The one size fits all social approach doesn’t work anymore

Overall, we’re seeing an increasing fragmentation of social media, with different groups of audiences using a wider range of channels. Just plonking the same post and content on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram is unlikely to work as it may have done before.

You need to examine what is working on what channel for you – even if it contradicts the general findings of this report – and even be bold about focusing on fewer of them.

Diversify your forms of engagement and communication too – we’ve seen how a whim of a social media giant or tweak in the Google algorithm can have a serious impact.

Also, think what you’e trying to achieve – is it to provide information and drive awareness, where social can be beneficial, or is it driving people to your website, which is becoming trickier through these platforms without paying?

Tailoring and optimising content and messaging is so important as well. Generally, we have less time and patience than ever before – if your caption or first few seconds don’t interest them, it’s likely to struggle.

I’ve proven this theory wrong, with some 16:9 videos on TikTok getting hundreds of thousand of views, but the content has to really resonate with, and engage, your followers.

And with the general shift to more algorithmic-based feeds, look into an organic promotion strategy to help boost the visibility of your posts – this doesn’t mean just influential voices, but your own staff too!

3. Is your content and site optimised for mobile?

This may sound silly in 2023, but we are using our phones more than ever to go online, with computer and tablet usage declining, according to Ofcom.

Even though those aged 55+ use smartphones the least, this still accounted for the vast majority of their time spent online.

The irony wasn’t lost as I tried to read Ofcom’s PDF-only report on my phone…

4. Consider reaching and engaging your audiences on WhatsApp

Apparently, we have an average of 36 apps on our phones – having culled a load recently from my phone that I hadn’t used in ages, this surprised me!

Meta-owned apps were the top ones used by adults, with WhatsApp still the favoured app of the nation.

Have you thought about creating a broadcast channel or explored whether you can gain access to Channels?

Success on there so far has been a bit hit and miss (my assessment is: less link posts, more native chat and content.)

5. Think about how AI can help your teams do their jobs better and provide a better service and experience for your audiences

I was fascinated to learn that as many as three in ten UK internet users had tried out a generative AI tool, such as Chat GPT, DALL-E or Snapchat’s AI. There’s an apparent willingness for people to use them, if they’re clearly labelled as such

But as Microsoft discovered, great care is needed when using it to avoid undermining customer confidence in what you do.

AI is also being used to provide great benefit to comms jobs – Buckingham Palace used AI-driven software to help assess the notoriously-tricky-to-measure online sentiment to the recent royal visit to Kenya, and Whitehall is testing their own in-house tool to see how it can help improve tasks such as in press offices.

I recommend following Peter Heneghan who’s doing exciting work in this space.

6. We all have a duty as content creators and publishers to protect our audiences

“Attitudes to being online are complex and often ambivalent”, notes Ofcom.

It adds that “adults recognise the benefits of being online at a personal level, but less so for society overall… Although being online provides both adults and children with many benefits, the online environment also has the potential to expose internet users to harm.”

Misinformation is the biggest issue – with those surveyed claiming political or electoral content is the biggest problem. A quarter of users had also encountered hateful, offensive or discriminatory content in the past month.

Think about the steps you can take to protect followers: do you have a clear guide in place? Do staff know about it, from a professional, and also sadly, personal basis?

Worryingly, with the shift to more algorithmic-based feeds, over a third of users said their most recent harmful interaction came for just scrolling through their feeds, or the for you page.

Combined with the fact that less than half of those surveyed were aware of platforms’ rules and safety measures in place, I’d love to see a high profile campaign by these apps, government and Ofcom to raise awareness of how to report potential issues, and also improve media literacy of users online.

7. We’re more online than ever – but remember those who aren’t

UK adults spend on average 3¾ hours online – slightly more than this time last year. It’s no surprise that younger people spend nearly an hour more, and 65+ an hour less.

But what struck me was the numbers that don’t have access to the internet at home, either through desire or affordability.

It’s 7% of 16+, rising to 18% of over-65s. Over a quarter of people said this was due to cost.

Despite the race to be more and more digital, don’t forget to include all of your audiences in your communication efforts.

You can read Ofcom’s fasinating Online Nation report here.

Twitter/X axes headlines from link posts – this is what you can do

25 October 2023

After the recent changes to Twitter/X and Facebook, LinkedIn is probably the only social platform left where you can easily post external links – but even then it doesn’t mean lots of views of your article!

It’s all about a gradual shift in how social media firms want publishers, companies and other users to use their platforms.

These changes had been expected

Last night’s changes by Twitter to remove headlines from Twitter cards had been coming since Elon Musk posted in August about doing so.

He wants followers to stay on the channel, rather than go to read or watch something on a browser or an app ( the “esthetics” claim seems dubious.)

What I think people are overlooking is that he claims the algorithmic-based For You tab “tries to” prioritise posts that don’t – but whether they are able to do so is not so clear. If a post which includes a link is generating lots of engagement, I generally think it will be more likely seen in that tab than a less interesting post.

So what should we do?

Again after a change by Musk, it’s provoked frustration, slight outrage and vows to quit Twitter – but they reflect moves by all platforms to wanting to keep users where they are.

But it is also helpful to put yourself in the shoes (or hands) of the user – we generally prefer to read everything where we already are as we lazily scroll, rather than be redirected elsewhere, close the page, go back etc. And unless something really resonates with us, or captures our attention, we’ll keep on scrolling.

So we need to adapt the way we communicate on those platforms – or seek alternatives.

Like it or not, Twitter is still the place where live news and hot takes happen – the Liverpool VAR decision to the Conservative Party conference this week alone.

If we want to engage our followers, we need put more effort into thinking what our posts will look to them – and why someone would share, comment or like it, or tap on the link.

For example, do we need to rethink how we use lead images on sites and adding captions, so that the picture pulled through is more appealing and tappable?

I’ve seen some publishers manually adding an image to a post, with the link in the copy, but I’m not sure how much more appealing that is to users.

Another way is posting a headline or teaser post, with the link in the reply – but I don’t think that is any more effective; there’s little incentive to share or like a post that says ‘read more’. All the detail you need to know tends to be in the top post.

Interestingly, LADbible, who are at the forefront of social publishing, have appeared to stop doing that and gone back to link posts.

Another option to share information is in a short thread – three posts mean that all are seen in the feed and not hidden (Twitter displays the first and last two in a thread). Treat each one as a standalone post that still work if individually retweeted, with details, images/video and then possibly a link in the final one. More often than not, the first post gets the most engagement. you could space out the thread to try to get repeated hits of the top post during the day.)

The other option, is to pay – either to be verified, or use promoted posts for carousels and other features.

Having a blue tick allows you to post much longer posts – but have you tried to read one of those? It’s hard work…

For my wrestling history account, being verified allows me to post longer videos and be more visible in mentions (and possibly the For You feed, but it’s not clear.) Monthly payouts have dramatically reduced in the last couple of months, but for me it still covers the cost of the fee.

But for many big publishers, Twitter referral traffic has been poor for a long time. Sky News’ head of digital, Nick Sutton said recently:

What about other platforms?

You may have seen how Facebook is cutting its efforts and support to news publishers – according to Axios, major news companies have suffered huge losses in traffic in the past six months.

And the much-heralded Threads still doesn’t have the ability to post links. Besides, engagement numbers appear to have fallen off a cliff (Just checked my phone and I used the app so infrequently I had to redownload it.)

Look also at Instagram and TikTok, who don’t allow links in posts (unless you pay) – I rarely feel motivated enough to ‘check the link in our bio’.

WhatsApp offers exciting opportunities – I wrote about the potential of Channels last month and Reach have been talking about the success of interest-based Communities(but I would not want 15 messages a day from a news provider clogging up my chats!)

Slowly, many have realised that they can’t rely on third party platforms to reach their audiences – and for publishers, make money.

We’ve seen a refocus on owned platforms: apps, email and memberships, which is a good thing.

So…

Experiment! Try things out, see what works and analyse the data. You can still have great success on social media, but you can’t just post a link and hope it will drive great interest anymore.

WhatsApp Channels can help you reach and engage your audience

19 September 2023

I’m really excited by the potential of WhatsApp Channels, which are slowly being introduced here in the UK.

Messaging apps, like WhatsApp and DMs on Twitter, Insta and Facebook, is where conversations are increasingly taking place, rather than publicly on news feeds.

WhatsApp Channels: Daily Mail, LBC, SportBible

How do WhatsApp Channels work?

Unlike Threads or other Twitter competitors, it uses an app already used by millions and millions of us, young and old: WhatsApp (which is owned by Meta.)

It’s the UK’s second most popular online communication platform among internet users aged 16+, according to Ofcom, just behind YouTube (Ofcom, Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes report 2023.)

There’s more details about the nation’s use of WhatsApp in Ofcom’s Online Nation report.

Ofcom research shows YouTube and then WhatsApp are most used by adult internet users - but YouTube is most popular for 16--24 year olds

You may need to update your app to get the Channels tab – it will appear on the far left of your app, under Updates (where you could update your status, if you ever bothered to.) I think this is better that having organisations flood your chats with friends, families and co-workers.

Updates on WhatsApp channels

What’s good about it, unlike Broadcasts or previous functions, is that your name, number and (depending on your privacy setting) your profile photo can only be seen by the admin – fellow users can’t see when you join or interact with a channel and your number is protected.

For organisations, there appears to be no cap on the number of followers, unlike WhatsApp for Business (the biggest channel, WhatsApp, has 11 million followers.)

Who’s on WhatsApp Channels already?

Channels allow people to follow your brand or business (seemingly all verified to prevent fraud and confusion) and get vital information, news, or just be entertained.

Examples of brands and organisations on WhatsApp Channels

A range of TV programmes, Gen Z celebrities, sports teams and news organisations are on there already: from This Morning and Good Morning Britain to Bad Bunny and Olivia Rodrigo, top Premier League clubs (Man City being the most popular with 5m followers), the Indian cricket team and Mark Zuckerberg.

In terms of UK news organisations, there is BBC News (the biggest UK-based news publisher, with 200,000 followers), The News Agents, LADbible, JOE, Daily Mail and LBC.

But I think this has huge potential for both the public and private sector, particularly for customer service, from a UK Government account posting important policy announcements or updates on the RAAC crumbling concrete crisis in schools, or practical help with benefits, to a utility company updating customers on outages or new deals.

What works on WhatsApp Channels?

It’s far too early to say – I think it’s best to try a range of different content, not just post links, which some are doing. Judging crudely by the reaction emojis left behind on messages, they tend to perform the worst.

Think about what you or your audience likes getting on WhatsApp – why are you going to take time to tap on a link to a site and take you away from the platform you’re on?

It’s screenshots, images, videos that are natively posted and embedded – they don’t need to be highly produced, just easy to read within a few seconds (I think what I send to mates and colleagues.)

LADbible WhatsApp Channel

Adding more details into a post can really help – take this Daily Mail one, which explains the story, which has among the highest reactions (though it could be due to the death of someone who was on TV – followers can’t see the breakdown of the different emojis used)

Daily Mail WhatsApp Channel

LADbible are trying memes (as below shows, some are more successful than others…) I’m not sure recycling old memes is quite right; those that tap into ongoing conversations about news, topics and events that are happening right now would be more successful.

LADbible WhatsApp Channel

Admins can also send stickers, and polls. I haven’t seen anyone use followers’ comments (screenshotted or otherwise) as a way of turning this broadcast channel into more of a 2-way conversation or function.

All publishers are trying to find the formats that work and the frequency of posting. I think less is likely to be more – no-one likes the group chat that is spammed by someone posting too often, or even worse, with your notifications going crazy (hopefully many publishers have learned their lessons from push notifications. I say ‘hopefully’…)

Think about discovery of the WhatsApp Channels outside of the platform too. It was hard to find details of organisations via Google (there are a lot of worrying-looking imitation WhatsApp accounts of BBC News there) and I saw that LADbible had promoted theirs via an Insta post (though you had to go back to their bio to get the link – a joined-up Meta operation where you could add a call to action button to View Channel would be great.)

How can you evaluate success on WhatsApp Channels?

On the face of it, it is just emoji reactions, though I hope and expect WhatsApp have an analytics dashboard for admins on audiences, engagements, views and forwards and timings.

What you ideally want is followers to engage with the message and forward it onto a group or other contacts. When they do, they see the original message plus a big View Channel call to action button.

Liverpool WhatsApp Channel message forwarded on

According to the same Ofcom report, 13% of users get their news from WhatsApp. I expect this to increase as more and more people use this service.

Ofcom news consumption report 2023: One in 10 of us use TikTok as a 'news' source

Microsoft’s AI error shows how we could lose customer confidence

17 August 2023

Does a travel guide to Ottawa, seemingly written by AI, on Microsoft’s site really suggest visiting a local food bank – and doing so “on an empty stomach”?

Yes, yes it really does.

Microsoft AI travel guide article suggests going to Ottawa Food Bank "on an empty stomach"

The mistake, spotted by Paris Marx, highlights the concerns around the use of AI to produce content without having a knowledgable human editor overseeing its work.

It’s a shame as this misuse of an exciting technology can really set back confidence in it.

You can check the error for yourself here.

Interestingly, Ofcom research shows that three in ten UK internet users had tried out a generative AI tool, such as Chat GPT, DALL-E or Snapchat’s AI. There’s an apparent willingness for people to use them, if they’re clearly labelled as such.

This Microsoft AI error comes on the day that TUI have launched their own Chat GPT-style tour guide app, which also appears to have quite severe limitations, according to the Guardian:

“A test of the service highlighted its ‘experimental’ nature, as the bot struggled with a basic conversation.”

The app does make it clear its experimental and an AI bot – but if users experience faults with a service very quickly and easily, they are unlikely to want to use it again.

Ensuring sufficient testing of AI-driven projects before making them public is really important.

As a senior TUI executive points out, it can really help where real people use generative AI along with their own knowledge for tasks – such as in call centres.

We’re not at the stage where people’s jobs will be replaced by this technology – but if businesses harness this innovation, properly, it can make a real benefit to the customer experience.