Google’s November 2024 core update is complete
Google’s latest core update has finished in time for Christmas. The November 2024 core update passed the finishing line on Thursday (5 December) after a 24-day rollout period.
Back in November, Google said: “This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.”
TikTok’s in-app sales soared on Black Friday
TikTok’s “Shopping Season” proved to be a big hit after sales in the app tripled on Black Friday. The social media platform made a big push for in-stream shopping this year with live content and celebrity appearances. And it worked.
Data shared by TikTok shows that in-app sales topped more than $100m in just one day, as Black Friday-inspired content with the #tiktokshopblackfriday tag attracted over 4bn views. TikTok says makeup, skincare, personal care items, menswear, and fitness items were among the most popular categories.
Google allows searchers to opt out of personalisation
Google has added a “try without personalisation” button in search results. It says it wants to give users the chance to “explore” non-personalised content and offer more control over these settings.
Google claims it doesn’t overly personalise results anyway—accounting mainly for just region and location, and the immediate query beforehand. However, the new change will provide transparency on when this type of personalisation happens.
Threads tests analytics for individual posts
Threads is testing lots of new metrics for users to track the performance of individual posts on the platform. This is a change from the previous aggregated metrics available in the analytics hub.
In a post, Threads said: “People in the test can sort posts by the highest or lowest number of views, likes, and replies. People in the test can also see the breakdown of views and interactions (likes, replies, reposts, and quotes) by followers and non-followers for a specific post, and the number of new follows that resulted from it.”
Meta believes it’s moderated too much content
Former Lib Dem leader and current Meta chief Nick Clegg says the company over-moderated its platforms and mistakenly removed too many posts. Clegg says moderation “error rates” are still too high and has vowed to increase the accuracy of its efforts moving forward. The issues have resulted in “harmless content” being removed from Facebook and Instagram.
BeReal gets ads in the UK
With all the buzz about Bluesky and Threads, it’s easy to forget that BeReal—once hailed as one of the hottest social apps—is still alive and well. The French platform got ads for the first time this week, though their arrival didn’t go down too well with its user base.
The new ad service went live in the UK and the EMEA region, with several big-name brands on board, including Nike, Pepsi, and Netflix.
Oxford’s Word of the Year is ‘Brain Rot’
Finally, Oxford University Press has named its Word of 2024: Brain rot. Oxford defines it as the deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state after consuming too much unchallenging or trivial content. Brain rot, which was first used back in 1854, is incredibly apt for today’s world of constant engagement with low-quality content.
