Today's News

• Google’s Got 99 Probs, but ChatGPT Ain’t 1… Yet

• Instagram’s Ghost Followers and Hashtag Phase Out

• TikTok Might Let Creators Clone Themselves with Bo …

• Google Removes Page Experience Report (Finally)

• 2025 Social Usage Trends

• Google’s Chatbot Tells Student To ‘Please Die’

Google’s Got 99 Probs, but ChatGPT Ain’t 1… Yet

Is ChatGPT really challenging Google's search dominance? While Google’s still on top, new data suggests the tides could turn.

Google reigns supreme

As of last month, ChatGPT's market search share is 4.33%, according to Rand Fishkin of audience research platform Sparktoro.

This estimate, based on data from SimilarWeb and Datos, assumes that every ChatGPT prompt counts as a “search” and combines desktop and mobile web traffic (excluding apps) from various sources.

• Google commands a staggering 83.5% market share.

• YouTube ranks second at 6.8%, ChatGPT ranks third at 4.3%.

• Collectively, other platforms like Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn account for just 3.3%, while Bing only accounts for about 2%.

ChatGPT’s slow burn

Marcus Tober from Semrush shared a projection that showed ChatGPT could close the gap, assuming a 13% month-over-month growth rate.

If this growth continues, ChatGPT could catch up to Google in four years.

Here's a projection of what this looks like over the next 4 years

— John Dietrich 🚀 (@John_Dietrich1)
12:29 AM • Nov 20, 2024

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Instagram’s Ghost Followers and Hashtag Phase Out

No more getting ghosted on reach—Instagram is now showing you how many inactive profiles follow your brand.

Now, when you view your “Followers” list, there’s a new category called “Deactivated accounts,” which flags inactive profiles, along with other categories like creator accounts and flagged profiles.

Clearing the digital cobwebs

But if those numbers still boost your follower count, why remove them?

Goodbye ghosts, goodbye hashtags

In other news, Instagram is making your brand hashtag irrelevant.

The platform is removing the option to follow hashtags, as it looks to curb hashtag spammers.

Starting December 13th, any hashtags users follow will no longer appear in their feed, and they won't be able to follow new ones either.

TikTok Might Let Creators Clone Themselves with Bots

TikTok may let brands and creators create digital doppelgängers… and they never sleep.

AIbase reports that Douyin, TikTok's Chinese counterpart, is developing a new project called “V” which will let creators generate virtual avatars that mimic their personality and thinking. These avatars can engage with followers 24/7, even when the creator is offline.

The future of digital marketing?

This mirrors Meta’s virtual avatar model, which lets creators build video versions of themselves based on their previous interactions, posts, and other info. These bots will then engage with audiences on the creator’s behalf.

Douyin, however, already has more experience on this front. The platform already has virtual avatars with many hosting continuous live-stream shopping in the app, which are now available on TikTok as well.

Douyin’s new AI-character update will allow even more types of engagement, such as responding to DMs, commenting, and chatting during live streams—all in the creator's unique style.

Google Removes Page Experience Report (Finally)

Google is officially removing the Page Experience report in Search Console, a change it first announced back in April 2023.

Now, its time has finally come—the report, which summarized Core Web Vitals and HTTPS data, will no longer be available.

Why?

Google said the decision to remove this page aims to reduce clutter within Search Console.

• While the report will disappear, the individual Core Web Vitals and HTTPS reports will remain unchanged.

• Google encourages webmasters to continue focusing on page experience and monitor site performance through these reports.

2025 Social Usage Trends

Wondering where to invest in social? As you plan your 2025 social strategy, Pew Research recently published its latest overview of social media usage.

Who’s winning, who’s losing?

The data shows that YouTube continues to lead as the most popular social media platform by far, followed by Facebook and Instagram.

• Half of U.S. adults say they use Instagram, while smaller shares use TikTok, LinkedIn, X, and Snapchat.

• X, the platform formerly known as Twitter is on the decline, but it’s not seeing a massive drop-off just yet.

• Despite being a major player, TikTok's user growth has stalled over the past year, while Pinterest has seen an uptick.

• LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Reddit have all experienced slight increases, while Snapchat's usage remains steady.

Usage trends

When it comes to who’s using social platforms, older generations continue to favour Facebook, while TikTok and Snapchat dominate younger users.

YouTube, however, holds strong across all age groups.

Google’s Chatbot Tells Student To ‘Please Die’

Back in my day, AI only tried to indirectly kill users (like telling them how to cook a poisonous mushroom), but now it’s going straight for the jugular.

Google's AI chatbot, Gemini, recently sent a student a death threat in the middle of a conversation about homework.

The bot said:

Well, that escalated quickly.

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