Social Mind - January 2025

The latest on Social Media and AI 🗞️

Hello and welcome to the first issue of Social Mind in 2025 👋

I hope you and your family had an amazing Christmas and I’d like to wish you a Happy New Year and every success with your career or business in 2025 🙌

If you think your contacts and colleagues would find this newsletter useful, please share using the social media icons above. Thank you 🙏

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Creating quality content using AI

A complaint I hear a lot about AI created content is that it is obviously artificial, lacks creativity and value and well, sounds like AI. Last month I explained how you can ask ChatGPT to adopt your own style and tone. In this month’s Practical Pointer I demonstrate how you can not only set your tone and style but how you can use AI to create content drawing on your own or your business’ knowledge, experience and insights.

If you have any questions about social media or AI just reply or get in touch via my website.

Read on to learn how an AI persona could soon be liking your Facebook posts plus the rest of this month’s social media and AI news.

Facebook to launch AI personas? 🤖

Meta is considering introducing AI-generated personas on Facebook. These digital characters, powered by advanced AI, could interact with users in various ways, from answering questions to role-playing scenarios.

These personas, which may take on the appearance of fictional characters or even celebrities, will be designed to make interactions more dynamic and relatable.

Insights: AI-generated personas represent a fascinating development in the evolution of AI and social media. For businesses, this innovation could open up new opportunities for customer engagement, such as offering interactive customer service or personal shopping assistants. But will they be a success or just cringe? What do you think?

Followers now displayed on FB Professional Profiles 🔢

If you have a Professional Mode for Profiles - learn more - on Facebook you can now display the number of your Instagram and TikTok followers. Add your profile links to Social Links then confirm - your Followers will now be displayed.

Insights: Professional Profiles are ideal for freelancers, consultants, influencers and the self-employed. Displaying your Instagram and TikTok followers helps you build your credibility and personal brand across platforms. While you’re updating your Profile it’s worth checking you’ve added all your social links and any relevant website addresses.

Instagram's new 'Try On' feature 🛍️

Instagram is testing an AI-powered feature that allows shoppers to virtually try on clothes with just one click. This immersive tool could revolutionise online shopping by helping customers visualise outfits before purchasing. Perfect for brands, it’s another step towards bridging the gap between digital and real-world experiences.

Insights: Keep an eye out for updates as this feature rolls out - it could redefine how fashion brands engage with followers. No doubt the feature will work with or be expanded to include sunglasses, jewellery and other ‘try ons’ in due course.

Increased scam protection on Instagram mobile 🔏

Meta have added scam protection to Direct Messages (DMs). On the Instagram mobile app, go to Settings/Hidden words then toggle Hide Message Requests to ON. This setting now includes protection against scams as well as offensive and spam messages. Note that it only works on the mobile app.

Insights: Good to see increased protection against the ever increasing threat of scams and hopefully this feature will be added to Messenger too. For more advice on staying safe on social media read my blog post - How to Stay Safe and Secure on Social Media.

Meta is exploring AI video editing tools for Insta 📺

Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s boss, has announced that Meta has a new ‘Movie Gen’ feature in development. This tool allows users to transform photos and video clips into cinematic mini-movies, automatically adding transitions, music and captions. While details are still emerging, this innovation could make content creation easier and more engaging, offering creators new ways to create their stories on Instagram. In the launch video, Adam the background and clothes he’s wearing changes.

Insight: Businesses and creators could save time and and create videos with minimal effort. A development worth keeping an eye on in the New Year.

ChatGPT can interpret your screen or surroundings 🧠

ChatGPT's advanced voice mode now allows users to interact with their surroundings through their device's camera or via screen sharing. This feature lets you ask questions about objects, scenes, documents or websites without needing to describe them, making ChatGPT even more useful.

Insight: Some ideas for business use would be to use it analyse text in a document, improve website design or troubleshoot technical setups. Social media managers could also use this feature to analyse visual trends or assess content before posting. There are loads of lifestyle uses I’ve been having fun with such as pointing camera at miscellaneous bottles and getting suggestions and a walk-throughs on making cocktails. I’ll be doing a YouTube video on this for NILC on this feature but in the meantime, if you’d like other business or lifestyle ideas, let me know.

ChatGPT Search goes live for everyone 🔎 

ChatGPT's AI search engine is now available to all users, offering real-time access to web information. This tool brings the best of AI and traditional search together, making it easier to find up-to-date answers without leaving the app. Results are provided in a single, streamlined experience.

Insight: ChatGPT Search allows for quick research, fact-checking and data gathering without having to jump between multiple websites. For me it’s replaced 90% of my searches using Google - it’s so much better for most searches. For how it stacks up against Google Search watch ChatGPT Search or Google Search | What is the best search engine?

Sora Text-to-Video released but there’s a catch 🎞️

OpenAI's Sora which enables users to produce AI-generated realistic video with a simple text prompt, has finally been released having been first announced by OpenAI in February last year. However, unfortunately it’s currently unavailable in the UK and Europe due to regulatory challenges. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved soon.

Insight: By reducing the time and resources needed for professional-quality video production, Sora could transform how businesses create content. If you have access, think about how it can simplify video creation for your marketing campaigns or presentations.

ChatGPT now on iPhones 📲

Apple’s iOS 18.2 update allows Siri to access ChatGPT for quick messaging. Users can now use Siri to compose smarter, context-aware messages through ChatGPT, bridging the gap between Apple's ecosystem and OpenAI's powerful natural language capabilities.

Insights: This development signals a growing trend of cross-platform AI collaborations that can only improve user’s experience of AI and digital assistants. For businesses and professionals, this link between Siri and ChatGPT will help streamline messaging.

👉Practical Pointer👈

How to Set Up a CustomGPT for Personalised Content Creation

Creating a CustomGPT is an excellent way to leverage AI for generating content that reflects your and your business’ unique knowledge, experience, and insights. By training ChatGPT on your specific style and information, you can use it to draft content that feels authentically yours. Here’s how to set one up:

Step 1: Create a New CustomGPT

1. Log in to ChatGPT: Visit chatgpt.com and sign in to your account.

2. Access the CustomGPT Section: Click on your profile picture (bottom-left on desktop or menu icon on mobile) and select CustomGPT.

Step 2: Define Your Knowledge Base

1. Upload Relevant Content: Provide documents, blog posts, or notes that showcase your expertise. These will serve as the AI's training material.

2. Refine Topics: Choose specific subjects or themes you want the CustomGPT to focus on, such as social media, your products/services or leadership advice.

Step 3: Customise the Interaction

1. Set Instructions:

   • What should the AI know about you? Include details such as your profession, writing tone and goals.

   • How should the AI respond? Specify preferences for response style, length, and structure.

Step 4: Test and Iterate

1. Experiment with Prompts: Ask the CustomGPT to create content using your data, such as drafting a blog post or writing an email.

2. Fine-Tune Inputs: Update the knowledge base or refine instructions to better match your desired output.

Tips for Maximising Your CustomGPT

• Start Small: Begin with a narrow focus and gradually expand the knowledge base.

• Review and Adapt: Regularly evaluate the AI's outputs and tweak the data or instructions as needed.

• Experiment with Use Cases: Use CustomGPT for various tasks like article writing, brainstorming or client presentations.

With a CustomGPT, you can produce content that mirrors your expertise and voice, reducing time spent on drafting and enabling you to focus on strategy. CustomGPT’s are really useful for professionals juggling multiple projects or anyone keen to scale their content creation efforts.

60% of social media users have experienced at least one form of account hacking. If your Facebook account has been hacked here’s what you can do to recover it:

📺Watch my most viewed YouTube video for NILC where I demonstrate how to use ChatGPT’s Canvas - great for any sort of content creation or editing:

Social Mind will be back on 1 Feb…

If you need any help with social media or AI, you know what to do 😃

Best wishes 🙌

JP

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