Instagram Tests New ‘Expand Your Image’ Feature That Uses AI To Adjust Pictures on Stories

Have you ever noticed how uploading images from a smartphone to Instagram can be a struggle? We’re talking about making sure the picture fits into the desired aspects and outline of the app.

Since you’re mostly clicking using your smartphone’s camera, the dimensions are different from the platform's classic 4:5 aspect ratio. Instagram needs you to fulfill this requirement before publishing. Hence, it’s not always easy to make sure the picture looks good and no visible borders are seen.

In case you don’t do it yourself, the app crops or includes white borders to ensure everything is good to go in the FIT option. To be honest, many users were complaining and it looks like Meta has listened to feedback.

Now, users will soon be able to benefit from AI-based photo expansion, thanks to this new feature. The popular platform is testing Expand Your Image which uses generative AI for expanding photo edges to fill up Stories. Pictures get analyzed before uploading and undergo expansion using the right content.

But the question on many people’s minds is whether it will work seamlessly in all scenarios or not? As per experts, the answer is sadly no. Who knows, it just might thanks to rapid developments in the world of AI.

The feature is definitely worth a watch but in other news, the app is already using AI for editing pictures. For instance, there is a Restyle feature where users get to reimagine pictures by adding visual styles described. You can transform clicks through prompts such as watercolor. Similarly, you can use effects like collage styles from magazines or a newspaper with added torn-edge effects.

There will be another Backdrop feature that alters how a scene or background is witnessed through a prompt like ‘put me in front of a rainbow’ or ‘surround me with rose petals’. It’s amazing how much creativity is included thanks to AI. However, if and when you do plan on using assistance from AI, the image will feature watermarks towards the bottom left-hand side. This makes users differentiate AI from content designed by humans.

For now, this expand your image feature is in testing but we’ll let you know once it goes live so stay tuned.

Image: Sam Sheffer / X

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• Is Your Mindset Holding You Back? Find Out with This Simple Eight-Question Quiz!
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Is Your Mindset Holding You Back? Find Out with This Simple Eight-Question Quiz!

Scientists from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have introduced a test to measure growth mindset in people. They put forward a reliable eight question scale which measures growth mindset according to beliefs of the individual on learning, efforts and persistence. The scientists tested this scale on 723 participants from ages 16-85 and found that it is reliable and gives accurate results.

Growth mindset has become an important term across all areas of life. People with a growth mindset have an ability to put their mind and efforts to grow in their life and to achieve their goals. On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset believe that their basic life qualities cannot be changed with some effort. The "eight statements" determine an individual's beliefs and thoughts about growth and developing mindset by asking them to agree or disagree with the statement.

The statements ask individuals if they think they can improve their skills and knowledge through efforts, if they are able to change their influence and development, if they can change their skill and knowledge through practice and statements related to it. The participants who took the test were asked if these statements define them, or if they are like them or not very like them.

The growth mindset questions.

1. I know that with effort I can improve my skills and knowledge

2. I can influence and change my development in general

3. I can change my skills and knowledge through practice

4. I like to take challenges and try new things

5. I see learning as my goal

6. Effort makes me stronger

7. I have faith in my own skills and my possibilities

8. I want to spend more time/work on an area to develop my skills/knowledge

The most interesting thing about the study was that men scored higher (4.36 out of 5) than women (4.27 out of 5). The researchers say that this might be due to gender gap or difference in their brain chemistry. This scale is very helpful in understanding a person's mindset and it is very useful in today's time when growth mindset is being regarded as a good quality.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Under Pressure From Climate Advocates To Demonetize Environmental Disinformation

Search engine giant Google is under pressure from climate advocates to help stop the growing number of inaccuracies published about the environment.

As per reports from civil society groups, the company is getting told to rigorously enforce policies that demonetize such kinds of disinformation online. There are so many ads put alongside inaccurate climate posts that keep popping up.

Now this is not the first time that the Android maker is getting called out for the act. The company did pledge to bring an end to the growing trend but despite its efforts, content of this sort is on the rise.

Recently, a new open letter was rolled out to the head of Google Sundar Pichai. Endorsed by so many signatures, they’re asking for quicker and stricter implementation of the act. The news comes as a growing number of weather concerns rocked the country recently.

Hurricanes are on the rise in the US, which gave rise to mountains of disinformation. This was just a short while before the much anticipated UNCOP29 climate summit was set to occur.

We are already aware of Google rolling out another policy in 2021 that stopped ads against content of this kind which ignored climate change. Anyone wishing to make money by lying on leading platforms wouldn’t have the content monetized. And YouTube was a part of the list.

Meanwhile, another letter from a number of groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists confirmed that monetization hasn’t stopped and it’s still on the rise. This is why regulators are now speaking up against the issue and want Google to take immediate action before it’s too late. A lot of communities keep getting affected.

The letter also acknowledged Google’s efforts on this front and how some ads were stopped but others continue to align with misleading content related to climate change. Last month, another round of scrutiny against Google for the same reason arose. The campaign dubbed Global Witness saw $1.5M in revenue generated for the Epoch Times on the website in the past year.

Video streaming giant YouTube enabled monetization of such content where influencers were given high payrolls to promote the fake news. So it’s like doing wrong and getting masked with Google ads that reward the creators with huge sums of money, the reports show.

As of now, Google has yet to respond to all the allegations on this matter.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Study Reveals Positive Creator Emotions in Video Thumbnails Boost YouTube Viewer Engagement

The face-focused thumbnails have become a widespread trend on YouTube. But new creators are confused about which type of face to show on their YouTube video thumbnail. Should they look happy, sad or shocked? What type of pose should they make? Kapwing teamed up with a marketing agency NeoMam Studios to find the answers to these questions.

They used AI facial recognition technology to categorize common thumbnail faces of biggest YouTube creators. The thumbnails were categorized into six groups: sad, surprised, fearful, happy, confused and calm. These categories were then calculated according to the highest to lowest thumbnail faces used. MrBeast is the one who started the trend of face-focused thumbnails and study found that his thumbnails contained all six emotion categories. PewDiePie and KSI were also among the YouTubers with thumbnails in all categories.

Some creators were also using only some specific face focused thumbnails. For instance, all of Mark Rober’s thumbnails are calm and happy, while Ludwig’s thumbnails show happiness, confusion and fear. Overall, most of the thumbnails by YouTube creators were showing happy emotions, with surprise and happiness being used mostly. Calm faces in the thumbnails came at third spot, followed by sadness. The Stoke Twins also frequently used fearful emotions in their thumbnails.

It was thought that angry or sad thumbnails would get more views, cofounder of Kapwing Eric Lu said. But it turns out that happy or surprised thumbnails gets the most clicks and views. It means that viewers like consuming positive content.

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57% of Small Businesses Leverage AI in Marketing; Facebook Leads Channels with High Satisfaction in Ads

Small Business Marketing Trends Report by LocaliQ explored different marketing trends among SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses), their growth and what challenges small business owners are facing nowadays. The report was based on a survey of 730 small businesses. The report highlights the marketing channels and tactics SMBs are using nowadays. 52% said that they are focusing on social media marketing, 47% are using social media ads and 40% are search advertising. SEO and email outreach isn't as popular among small businesses.

The survey also found out what social media channels small businesses are most interested in nowadays. Facebook (76%), was the top social media channel used by SMBs, followed by Instagram (63%) and LinkedIn (43%). Facebook makes sense as it has the highest number of users among social media channels, but LinkedIn being this popular among SMBs didn't make sense.

76% of SMBs said that they are very satisfied with the results they get by search advertising. 74% were satisfied with video marketing, 75% with content marketing and 73% were satisfied with the results of social media ads. Even though only 29% SMBs use video marketing, it still came second for the most satisfactory marketing tactic. 58% SMBs said that they are very interested in using social form videos for marketing. 48% and 30% also want to try influencer marketing and podcast marketing respectively.

SMBs were also asked if they have tried AI for marketing or not. 57% answered with yes, while 33% said no. 10% said that they are not sure about AI. 61% said they are using AI to save time while 50% are using it to generate ideas. AI is mostly being used for content creation (52%), social media management (39%) and chatbots (34%) by SMBs.

Take a look at the charts below for more insights:

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LinkedIn's Data Scandal: The Alarming Truth Behind Your Information and Targeted Ads

Popular networking platform, LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, was accused of targeted advertising by Ireland’s Data Protection and therefore fined a staggering amount of money as punishment.

The company was said to be involved in the processing of users’ personal information to target them accordingly with ads on the app. This penalty will come with an investigation into how fair and lawful the practice was when data was processed.

It all began with a complaint from the French non-profit La Quadrature company a few years back. As per the DPC, the app failed to meet the standards to get the consent of users. The list of articles the company breached was also outlined as per the GDPR. This includes failing to get third-party consent, using its legitimate rights and overtaking users’ rights, invalid data processing, and not being transparent about its activities. It also violated fairness principles by processing data in a way users didn’t understand.

This is why it’s now getting orders to be more transparent about its workings so they are compliant with the EU’s legal requirements. This will come with a whopping $335M fine (or €310 Million to be exact).
 
As a whole, LinkedIn was fined with three administrative fines. The full decision would be published later on and entails all details regarding the app’s data practice findings.

LinkedIn tried to respond to media outlets’ requests for comments. It spoke about assuming they were in compliance with the GDPR but now after seeing all of this, it’s changing its practices. It will work on bettering ad systems so it’s more compliant with the regulation.

The company’s spokesperson says it was never aware that it was violating the GDPR but it hopes to bring changes as outlined by regulators before the stated deadline.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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A Long-Awaited WhatsApp Update Just Made Reactions So Much Easier!

WhatsApp beta for Android update 2.24.22.16 is here and now users will be able to react to messages using recent emojis. WhatsApp had been working on a feature that would enable users to react with emojis they have recently used. This feature is helpful for users to react quickly to messages with their recently used emojis. This feature is now available for beta users and will be soon available on Google Play Store.

Previously, users had to react to a message by choosing an emoji on the reaction tray. All the emojis were commonly used but if someone wanted to use a different emoji, they had to search for it in the tray (ugghh a lot of those extra taps). With the addition of this feature, all the recently used emojis will be available in the reaction tray which will make it easier to react to messages. Thank you whatsapp engineers and Meta platforms🫡.

When the reactions were first introduced on WhatsApp, they only consisted of six emojis. WhatsApp then updated this feature and made all emojis available for users to react. Now this new feature is also going to prove itself useful. In other news, WhatsApp is also rolling out a video autoplay feature for channels for beta users. It is going to be available to more people soon.

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