Ofcom reveals British online habits
Ofcom released its annual Online Nation report this week, detailing how we’re using the Internet in the UK.
To nobody’s surprise, Twitter/X is seeing dwindling use, but it’s not alone – Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest also experienced circa 1.5 million users dropping off. On the other hand, TikTok continues to flourish, with a remarkable YoY increase of 4.6 million users. While I question how many of these are daily active users, it’s another undeniable sign digital marketers cannot ignore it.
Platform usage has also undergone some shifts; despite losing users, those who continue to use Twitter/X are actually spending more time on it, suggesting drop-offs were more casual users. However, other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram did mostly see drops in daily use.
Regarding search, for the third week in a row I’m writing to tell you that Bing is worth watching, with a 13% increase in reach on the previous period, which Ofcom says was driven by Bing AI. Given that 23% of UK internet users said they have used generative AI, that’s probably not a surprise.
But, with all of that said, Google still monsters over everyone else, with 86% usage. Speaking of Google…
Google gives forums an upvote
Google’s latest update has significantly influenced how search results display discussion forums and social media platforms. This directly addresses the growing issue of optimised, machine-generated content that undermines the usefulness of search results. Google wants to prioritise user-generated content and focus on first-person perspectives.
To achieve this, Google has introduced key features such as the “ProfilePage markup” which showcases creator profiles directly in search results, and the “DiscussionForumPosting markup” which enables better recognition and indexing of conversations from online forums and Q&A sites. This aligns with Google’s broader strategy to stay ahead of other platforms during a time when AI tools may disrupt the ecosystem. All of this means it’s going to be a lot more important for brands to monitor Reddit and its peers, as results from here are likelier to usurp other websites.
Otherwise, this week Google’s Public Search Liaision told us that the best way to rank highly on SEO is to focus on user satisfaction, rather than focusing on metadata and other technical aspects. Given that this is what content and SEO-focused marketers have been saying for years, this probably isn’t the silver bullet you were hoping for, but it’s a good way to ensure a good all-round customer experience.
LinkedIn unveils ad platform enhancements
My relationship with LinkedIn’s ads platform has been turbulent. 5-10 years ago it was infuriatingly far behind competitors, and yet the targeting made it an essential part of any B2B marketing mix. Now however the platform has caught up, with features to rival Meta and competitors.
This week it unveiled easier event-tracking via CAPI, a post-GDPR friendly version of the Insight Pixel. This enables you to connect activities on your website with your LinkedIn advertising. Previously to track any button-based (or even non-button) conversions often required tedious event-tracking and time-consuming setup platform-side; now, this has been simplified. If complexity was putting you off from tracking website actions previously, it need not now.
Otherwise it also announced upgrades to its Document Ads this week, enabling people to access whitepapers etc. in-feed, in exchange for a few details. The changes are largely designed to help you with retargeting and moving prospects down the funnel. This is where LinkedIn was once lacking, but now looks increasingly competitive.
Further reading
Reddit announced a major rebrand as it attempts to create distance from the boycotts earlier this year. No doubt a change of font and colour scheme will solve that.
Meta have produced an interesting guide on how to maximise advertising during the post-holiday season (by which they actually mean mid-December to mid-January).
Finally, there was plenty of AI WTF around this week. Firstly, an agency created an AI model who earns up to $11,000 a month because it was tired of influencers ‘who have egos’. Yikes. Meanwhile, Dazed & Confused (who else) have written a piece studying what happens when people lose their AI girlfriends.