This Week in Digital Marketing // X estimated to have lost 79% of its value

Bad news for X and Snapchat, while Meta tests ad features worthy of sci-fi

After last week’s feature-heavy edition following numerous platform announcements and updates, today’s edition features some major financial concerns for X, multiple lawsuits, and a (somewhat creepy) look at what the future of advertising might look like on Meta. Let’s get to it!

X estimated to have lost 79% of its value

It hasn’t been a great week for Elon Musk and X. First, Fidelity announced that it’s cut its estimate of X’s value by 79%. 

Yes, 79%. So, every $100 is now worth $21. You’d be distraught if your new car lost that value over several years—but when it’s a $44 billion acquisition, it must surely cause a level of anxiety unimaginable to anyone except, well, Elon Musk.

Then, perhaps less surprisingly, the FT reported that X has seen a significant decline in active users in the US and the UK.

With plenty of alternatives available and Meta rumoured to be planning on introducing ads to Threads, I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on Twitter ad spend for a little while yet.

Snapchat sent back to earth following alleged inaction on abuse

After a few months of revenue/user growth and interesting new features, it was a pretty rotten week for Snapchat. This week, the company has been under fire for issues around child safety. Worse, employees have been well aware of these issues and, well, not exactly prioritising solving them.

That said, there was some positivity, with a survey this week showing Gen Z is shopping more on Snapchat than on Instagram or TikTok. It’s hard to argue that it remains a viable option if you’re pushing the type of product where your audience lives on Snapchat. But just be watchful of further negative headlines coming out - this feels like we’re about two wrong moves away from some advertisers receiving pressure on spending there.

Meta’s testing a feature which puts AI-generated images of you in your feeds

As social media lurches more and more towards something from Minority Report, this week we learned that Meta is testing a new feature that creates AI-generated content for you based on your interests or trends. Some of these images will incorporate your face.

So, not only will you see ads for a shirt you browsed a few days ago - you might now see an AI-generated version of yourself wearing said shirt. This feels pretty next level. It’s only in the testing phase at the moment, but it’s going to open a can of worms when it nears reality. One to watch.

Further Reading

Away from sci-fi and back to reality, Meta was also fined over $100m this week for a 2019 data breach which exposed hundreds of millions of passwords.

Over at TikTok, the platform announced new ‘flip’ stories this week, meaning creators can create a second ‘side’ to each story.

Elsewhere, Bing is continuing to improve its generative search offering, which now works for informational queries (for example, “how can I run a one-on-one meeting”). These little micro-updates might not sound exciting, but they’re building up to overhauling how search works.

Pinterest is also embracing AI advertising like never before (although later than most other social networks), announcing a raft of new features this week.

The WordPress vs WP Engine situation escalated further this week, from a slightly overdramatic beef to a federal lawsuit, with WP Engine filing against WordPress alleging attempted extortion. Yikes.

That’s it! If you found this interesting, I would appreciate it if you shared it with your friends and colleagues. 

If you’re feeling particularly generous, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week!