This is Getting Personal

THE INTERNET IS ALL ABOUT YOU

Have you noticed that your phone seems to know you a bit better today than it ever has in the past? That’s not an accident. Nearly every major digital services company is working to create an experience that is entirely unique to each one of us, and now that AI is everywhere, that’s possible at a scale and speed we never could have imagined.

Every few years the internet changes dramatically, to the point that it’s nearly unrecognizable from its previous self. The shift to personalization may seem like a fun feature, but it is changing not only how we consume information, but how we think about marketing and community.

The idea is that it doesn’t make any sense for you to see the exact same information that I see, presented in the same way with the same designs. You have different experiences, context, and preferences. But historically, different media for different people was not just impossible, it was inconceivable. No one would have ever pitched the idea of a newspaper that was planned, written, and printed specifically for each reader, or a slate of TV shows built to mach exactly what that person liked to see each night.

Today, it is not only possible for each of us to have our own unique media experience, but that is becoming the norm.

It’s now assumed, of course, that each of our social media feeds is populated by content that some omniscient “algorithm” deems to be ideal for us, and we’re getting used to seeing that sort of curation within our streaming services, news websites, and music players. Anything that can be personalized will be, because content that is customized to match our preferences keeps our attention longer, and is more likely to keep us coming back.

So if we follow that logic, and layer in the super power that is AI, the question is: What’s next? What experiences do we take for granted as being consistent to everyone, but will become personalized?

I’ll give you a few specific examples that are currently being tested and will be appearing on your screen very soon:

Google Notes

Until now, search engine results have been somewhat objective. If you search a term and I search the same term, we’ll get pretty much the same results – the only major variable being our geographic location.

Google Notes attempts to bring more context to search results by making it possible to add your thoughts and ideas about a website directly under the generic blue link. When fully implemented, you’ll be able to read hot takes about websites from other users like you, before you click.

Google Follow

Google’s goals have expanded beyond search results, and into content discovery. It has more personal information about what you prefer than any other site (or probably person) on earth, so they’re going to start using that to serve up recommended content.

Much like the Discover tab on Instagram and FYP on TikTok, Google Follow will collect the topics that you’re most interested in and try to anticipate the content that you’ll be most interested in.

TikTok’s AI-enabled Customization

We all know that social apps are tracking every click, scroll, and pause, mining our behaviour to personalize our feeds, but now it wants us to become a part of that process.

In a yet-to-be announced feature discovered by Threads user @JonahManzano, TikTok is adding the ability for each of us to tell it what we want to see more of, what we don’t want to see, and any other prompts that we can imagine. There is very little information available so far, but it certainly seems like this will be powered by a ChatGPT-like AI assistant.

SO WHAT?

The personalization era is going to present an amazing opportunity for small marketing teams. Until now, we’ve had to compete with the biggest and baddest brands in the word for the same search engine results, and the same newsfeed placement.

When every person’s experience is personalized, super specific content that matches exactly what they’re looking for is going to win.

Example:

• If you’re launching a boutique hotel catering to fly fishing, Expedia and Marriott won’t have the type of local expertise and ability to create stuff that your fish-loving guests are looking for.

Each of us can prepare for the shift by doubling down on our own unique brand of content, and embracing our niche, because broad, generic-style marketing just isn’t going to be as relevant.

Pro tip: The moment you start to see Notes appearing in your search results, drop everything and get as many of your best customers as you can to creates notes for pages on your site. The early days of shifts like this present significant opportunities for early movers who can cement an advantage, and this could be a huge one.

LIMIT POSTS & REELS TO CLOSE FRIENDS

MORE INTERNET CUSTOMIZATION

Right now, a lot of social media users have become passive consumers of content. They might post a story here and there, and spend more time sharing to DMs or group chats because they don’t need the whole world to see their content.

However, the way that we think about posting — at least in Instagram — may change because they’re making it possible to limit Reels and Posts to close friends, the same way that we can with Stories right now.

Many people’s relationship with their newsfeed could change when they’re no longer scrolling through only highly curated content, and instead seeing the types of posts that people want to share with their inner circles.

500 MILLION PEOPLE USE WHATSAPP CHANNELS

CHANNELS SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Channels — opt-in feeds of content that come directly from a single account — are growing in popularity on Instagram, and they were recently brought to WhatsApp, with massive early adoption.

Half a Billion people are now getting news, updates, and other content about sports, politics, tech, entertainment, etc. from WhatsApp.

Does it make sense for your brand to run out and start a Channel? Maybe if you have a highly engaged community that doesn’t want to miss your next announcement, but more likely it’s just important to recognize that a significant number of people are now getting their news via Channels from sources that they trust.

It’s very likely that PR and earned media will start taking these channels seriously (if they aren’t already) and looking at Channels as important media for distribution.

X (TWITTER) IS LAUNCHING AN A.I. CALLED “GROK”

THE FIRST AI-POWERED SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNEL

There is a lot of drama happening at X these days, and I try not to wade too deeply into that mess, but this the first time that we’re going to see an AI assistant and social media fully converge.

“Grok” is what Elon has named his AI tool, and it comes with a typical Musk-style of humour and worldview.

The tool will allow you to personalize your feed, seek out information, and even give suggestions about your drafts. We should certainly expect this to be the first of many ways that AI will impact how we interact with social media.

This post from X user @HeyBarsee shares several ways that we could use Grok — and tools like it — very soon.

A FEW MORE STORIES WORTH A CLICK

STUFF THAT WILL MAKE YOU JUST A BIT SMARTER THIS WEEK

• How to show up in search engine results for “near me” searches
• Threads adds categories tags to its posts – just like hashtags, sort of
• Hootsuite tells us how many hashtags to use on a Reel (spoiler: 3-5, but there are more important elements)
• TikTok (claims to) set the record straight about how it targets ads

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting