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TOP OF THE WEEK

Thanks I Hate It: Twitter Starts Testing Out 4,000 Character Tweets

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Quote:

That hyper-long tweet might be a bug—or maybe it’s a feature. In Musk’s new Twitter-verse, maybe the sky is truly the limit on post-length. It’s hard to know, because, again, Twitter dissolved its PR department shortly after the billionaire’s takeover and the company has since become a black box. Gizmodo has no obvious way of contacting Twitter and getting clarity on what may or may not be the new character limit.

Regardless, it’s clear that Twitter is testing out longer tweets among its paying users. Even prior to this recent emergence of long tweets, other experiments were underway.

Commentary:

I look forward to ignoring every single long tweet and blocking people who use the feature. (seriously, it’s not personal, but i’m not subscribed to your blog for a reason)

THE TRIVIA QUESTION

The Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl. How heavy is it?

Answer at the bottom.

HITTING THE LINKS

Link #1: Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search — CEO Satya Nadella explains why

I am watching this with great interest. A great interview.

I’m coming to you from Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, where just a few hours ago, Microsoft announced that the next version of the Bing search engine would be powered by OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT. There’s also a new version of the Edge web browser with OpenAI chat tech in a window that can help you browse and understand web pages. 

Link #2: Where Will Traffic Come From Now?

I am concerned about this.

If an A.I. arms race within social has turned every platform into a video platform and is turning our search engines into chatbots, how do you get people to look at your website? Not even just for little guys like me (lol), but even for big publishers.

There is simply no path forward for a news outlet of any meaningful size trying to support itself on social and search traffic.

Link #3: Instagram expands access to Reels-focused tipping feature, Gifts

It’s really fascinating to watch Meta/FB scramble both to keep up with TikTok and keep pace in the VR arms race. This is its latest attempt at the former.

Instagram announced today it’s expanding access to a new monetization feature called Gifts to more creators across the U.S. The feature, which first began testing last year, allows fans to provide a favorite creator with direct monetary support in the form of themed virtual gifts. The gifts are purchased in the Instagram app using the virtual currency Stars and can cost anywhere from just 10 stars to several hundred stars.

THE FUNNY PART

@itssherifield @itssherifield

My son just asked me if I say don’t talk to strangers then how do we make friends so I enrolled him in law school.

6:01 PM ∙ Feb 8, 2023

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Trivia Answer: Seven pounds