More Social Media News You Can Use In February

Here are three of the social media and influencer marketing-related news you need to know in February. This week, Google has secured a partnership with Reddit to use its data for Google’s AI tools, Meta is testing cross-posting between Facebook and Threads, and Threads begins to mark political posts that have been fact-checked by 3rd party sources ahead of the election.

Are you looking for more like covering my favorite social media tools to use, like GoCharlie.ai. Or keys to gaining success with influencer marketing, and more deep dives on other social media or influencer marketing topics.

Google To Gain Access To Reddit Data For AI Training

Google has announced an agreement with Reddit to gain access to its content through the Reddit Data API, allegedly worth $60 million annually. Google is paying Reddit for access to its publicly available content via an API to help train Google's large language models (LLM). Google believes its company's access to the Reddit Data API will "improve its products and services..." including "...more efficient ways to train models." How will this shake out?

Some believe that Reddit could be a bad sample set for training artificial intelligence compared to literature or magazines. On a social media platform like Reddit, grammar is fast and loose, there are a lot of memes and inside jokes, it's full of misinformation, and it's predominantly male

Meta Tests Cross-Posting Between Facebook and Threads

Earlier this week, Meta launched  a new test of cross-posting between Facebook and Threads, with some users now encouraged to publish their Facebook updates straight to Threads. The feature is currently under restricted testing on iOS and will only apply to text and link posts (not video updates). 

This will make sharing updates across numerous platforms much easier for brands, given Instagram and Facebook are already integrated. However, it raises the question of whether users prefer the same content posted on Facebook and Threads or if they would instead want to create more long-form written content similar to X.

Threads Debuts Fact-Checking Markers Ahead of Elections

Meta is also implementing  fact-checking markers to Threads prevent the spread of false information during the upcoming election. These markers will be similar to indicators Meta has already used on Facebook and Instagram, which rely on a network of third-party fact-checking organizations to determine the validity of a post. As the ubiquity of AI deepfakes grows, fact-checking may become increasingly important in preventing the public from falling for false narratives. 

However, not everyone sees things this way. Elon Musk, for example, sees professional fact-checking as a constraint designed to preserve specific narratives. X chooses a crowd-sourced model, allowing app users to determine what is true and what is not. And that does not seem to have worked for Musk to date, and I expect the misinformation to be worse ahead of the election.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found these stories insightful!