76% View Journalism as Essential for Combating Misinformation, with Social Media Seen as Top Culprit

Trust is in demand. Three-quarters of Brits value trusted journalism now more than ever. Why? Fake news floods social media, government power faces little resistance, and regions are gaining new control – a reality that makes journalism indispensable.

In this survey of 2,000 people, over 70% identified social media as a breeding ground for misinformation. Not surprisingly, they want action. Nearly eight in ten believe tech firms should face hefty fines if they allow fake news. Sixty percent think advertisers should pull back, or even stop, if these platforms don’t step up.

Jo Allan, Newsworks CEO, sees this as heartening: people are waking up to journalism’s irreplaceable role in their lives. With politics topping both national and global agendas, journalism remains the check against unchecked power. And in a world where facts are blurred, credible news sources stand stronger than ever.

There's another issue: tech companies and AI. Six in ten respondents want copyright protections preserved, requiring clear permission before using journalism to train AI. Owen Meredith, NMA’s chief, believes this is a pivotal moment. Copyright laws that have fueled the UK’s creative strength must stay robust.

Following Labour’s landslide win in July, nearly two-thirds say journalism’s role in scrutinizing power grows crucial as the majority grows. And with more powers moving to local authorities, 66% of respondents see local journalism becoming essential to represent communities fairly.

This survey, by Newsworks with OnePoll, brings a simple truth to light: Britons value journalism because it holds up a mirror, a watchdog, and a steady hand in a turbulent world.

Read next: iPhone 15 Dominates Q3 2024 Sales as Apple and Samsung Compete for Premium Market Supremacy
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

OpenAI's Orion Won't Be the Game-Changer You Expected – Here's Why

AI has come a long way, with each new model raising the bar on what’s possible—more power, more intelligence, more ability to understand and even mimic human thought. But now, OpenAI, one of the field’s front-runners, is facing something new: progress is slowing down. Their upcoming model, Orion, isn’t expected to deliver the same jaw-dropping improvements we’ve seen in the past. Instead, it’s likely to be a smaller, more measured step forward.

Reports from early testers suggest that while Orion does show improvements, it doesn’t have the same wow factor that took us from GPT-3 to GPT-4. And in some areas, like coding, it might not be noticeably better than what’s already available. This suggests a shift—not necessarily an end to progress, but maybe a different pace, one less about massive breakthroughs and more about incremental gains.

OpenAI seems to be adapting. They’ve created a new foundations team whose job is to find ways to push AI forward, even with limits on new data to train these models. One of their big ideas is to use synthetic data—data generated by other AI models—instead of relying exclusively on vast new troves of human-created content. This approach, along with some focused fine-tuning after the main training phase, might be the key to keeping AI progress on track.

It’s a practical move, especially when the traditional playbook—more data, bigger models, faster machines—isn’t delivering the same gains it once did. For years, AI has ridden a wave of ever-expanding resources, but with limits in sight, the industry is making a choice: pursue meaningful improvements, even if they aren’t earth-shattering, rather than chasing flashy leaps that may no longer be possible.

• Also read: ChatGPT In The Spotlight: Popular AI Tool Transforms Into Revenue Powerhouse During October 2024

This shift in approach doesn’t mean AI’s potential is dwindling. There’s still room to make an impact in healthcare, finance, and beyond. But the days of major jumps in capability with each release might be ending, at least for now. OpenAI hasn’t yet announced a release date for Orion and has denied any plans to launch it this year. Still, the shift toward synthetic data and targeted refinements signals a fresh kind of progress—not about being the biggest or fastest, but about becoming more efficient, more purposeful.

In many ways, this is a moment for AI to mature. Instead of relentless ambition for power, it’s about focusing on real-world impact, designing systems that are practical, ethical, and well-suited to their roles. It’s a new kind of progress—one that, perhaps, better matches the needs of the industries and people these technologies are meant to serve. And maybe, in a world so often fixated on speed, a little patience and recalibration is exactly what’s needed.

Read next: Study Reveals LinkedIn Videos Generate Five Times More Engagement Than Text Posts, Personal Flair Boosts Reach
by Asim BN via Digital Information World

Study Reveals LinkedIn Videos Generate Five Times More Engagement Than Text Posts, Personal Flair Boosts Reach

A new study by Caroline Giegerich published in Adweek finds that video posts on LinkedIn get five times more engagements than posts with only texts. Giegerich did a 90 days analysis and found that even her video with lowest engagements had three times more reach than her highest performing text posts. The average views her video posts got was 250,000 views, while her most successful video had 774,000 views on LinkedIn.

It was also analyzed what makes a video get high views on LinkedIn. According to the study, a video which was under 5 minutes got the most views. Morning posts which were posted between 9-11 AM EST also get the most views. A bit of personal flair to the videos also results in high engagements. Giegerich also said that if markeers want to build connections and get sales, video posts work the best. Once you are done with this, you can make text posts which are targeted to your network you have built on LinkedIn.

The study also highlighted how limited LinkedIn’s monetization options are. The current program has consulting opportunities and sponsored posts. The creator program by LinkedIn is restricted to only 100 participants ever since 2022 and the platform doesn't provide good incentives to creators. Giegerich says that marketers need to use a mix of videos and text posts for visibility and engagement on their account.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

iPhone 15 Dominates Q3 2024 Sales as Apple and Samsung Compete for Premium Market Supremacy

According to Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker, the top selling smartphone in Q3 2024 was iPhone 15.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro took the second and third spot respectively. Apple had four spots in the top ten best selling smartphones in Q3 2024. Samsung was dominating the top ten list with five spots while Xiaomi got one spot. These positions are somewhat consistent since 2023, with Apple’s presence declining a bit and an increase in Samsung’s contribution in the smartphone market.

Many consumers want high-end smartphones now so the share gap between base and pro models of iPhones is decreasing and Apple is now driving higher-value device sales. Consumers also want newer models of iPhone which is contributing to higher-value sales of Apple. Samsung Galaxy S24 is still in the top for the third consecutive quarter. Galaxy S variant is among the top 10 highest selling smartphones for the first time since 2018. The reason why sales of Galaxy S24 are high is probably due to its GenAI features.

• Also read: Women More Likely to Leave Positive Reviews, Men More Critical, New Study Shows

Four spots in top 10 were taken by Samsung Galaxy A series because of its wider presence all over the world and having a mid-price band. Xiaomi’s Redmi 13C is the tenth best selling smartphone in Q3 2024 for the second consecutive quarter because of its affordable price and better specifications. 

Apple and Samsung are raising the bar on premium smartphone market. With Apple Intelligence and Galaxy AI, they’re not just competing—they’re setting new standards.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Women More Likely to Leave Positive Reviews, Men More Critical, New Study Shows

According to a new study published in Nature Human Behaviour, there is a gender rating gap in online reviews among men and women. Women are more likely to give positive reviews online than men. This conclusion was made after analyzing a billion reviews from different websites like Google, Amazon, TripAdvisor, IMDb and Yelp. The study was done to find out how men and women show different observations and experiences when they are asked to review the same products.

Reviews are one of the examples of User Generated Content (UGC) which are helpful for transparency in markets by sharing information about products which let buyers make their purchasing decisions easily. There are also some biases seen in reviews and surprisingly there was some gender gap seen in reviews too. After analyzing all the reviews on mentioned websites, it was found that women tend to provide higher ratings than men. This gap was consistent in different categories of reviews, different geographic locations and also across different years.

The study also found that even though men and women both frequently rate positively, men were more critical when it comes to reviews than women. Women were most likely to give five stars but men often gave lower ratings. The author of the study, Yaniv Dover, said that when they started collecting data and analyzing different reviews, they thought that women tend to give more negative reviews. It was an interesting misconception that women are more negative because in reality, they are more positive than people think.

Researchers wanted to understand the reason why men were more critical than women so they conducted a lab based study called Studies 2 and 3. For Study 2, the researchers gathered 1100 participants from the US and asked them to rate AI generated paintings. This study was done in a controlled environment and the reason behind this study was to understand how men and women rate products where they could immediately experience and check them. The results of the study showed that there wasn't much difference between private thoughts about paintings among men and women. But when both were asked to leave and review, it was observed that women left less negative reviews than men.

In Study 3, participants were asked to rate musical pieces. The results were still similar to Study 2. Another thing participants were asked in Study 3 was their fear of negative evaluation or disapproval. This question was asked to determine if women leave more positive reviews because they are fearful of negative evaluation. It was found that women indeed have more fear of negative evaluation than men which stops them from leaving a negative review. Social judgements or backlash can discourage women from posting a negative review even if they are not satisfied with the products.

This shows that even if we are checking reviews to buy something, there is a high chance that they are not true. Social media and other websites are full of misinformation. A whole research is needed to be done on this brief study to find out the real reasons of this gender gap in reviews online.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

ChatGPT In The Spotlight: Popular AI Tool Transforms Into Revenue Powerhouse During October 2024

It’s been an incredible journey for OpenAI’s ChatGPT, now seen as the world’s top AI companion.

The success that this tool has witnessed is mind-blowing when you come to think of it, considering how it was rolled out in November of 2022. The figures soared at the start and last month was even more powerful than others. Revenue hit record-breaking figures and it’s just the boost that many at OpenAI had hoped for, making last month the biggest of them all in terms of profits.

The stats by AppFigures show the magnitude and power that AI has in today’s time, thanks mostly to ChatGPT. The platform ended October with the highest number of downloads for one month and the greatest revenue witnessed during a single month. It just reversed the entire trend linked to what apps experienced. This includes downloads hitting a new low and revenue being at a high.

As per figures quoted in App Intelligence, ChatGPT closed October with 32 million new downloads from the App Store and Google Play. It beats the old record which witnessed a 33% high. That was seen in the year before when downloads went over and above 20 million and closed with 24M for that certain month.

Similar to other games, the app’s latest downloads arose mostly from Google Play which overcame Apple’s App Store last month. Markets that led the success included the US, India, and even Brazil.

They were the ones responsible for this change of 28% figure for new downloads, which is again a different number than what’s seen for other platforms. Similar to most platforms, ChatGPT’s huge revenue arose through the App Store which was dominating in America.

A total revenue figure of 48M was generated by ChatGPT including both Google Play and App Store. Stats quoted for MoM revenue had grown 30% as per estimates. This is not the greatest seen for ChatGPT but is definitely the greatest at this level.

This really goes to show how the AI market is massive in terms of opportunities for growth and even today, people are spending close to $1.3 billion in the top 1000 mobile AI apps category since last year. Out of that, 47% arose from chatbot assistants based on ChatGPT.

That is huge so the next time when developers plan on looking down on AI assistants, they might need to think again because it’s not a huge category but it’s definitely not shrinking anytime soon. In fact, it’s the second biggest domain in terms of apps and the biggest as far as revenue is concerned.

Out of this, 25% of consumers were spending on ChatGPT, wow, no surprise there for sure!

OpenAI takes the cake and is eating all of the success together at once. We’re not sure how long this will take but the world is an open playground in terms of AI opportunities right now.

Read next: Pinterest Shares Latest Earnings Calls With Solid Rise In Revenue And Record High Usage
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Pinterest Shares Latest Earnings Calls With Solid Rise In Revenue And Record High Usage

Pinterest is on a roll as the company’s recent’ earnings report declared a solid growth in the Q3 2024 revenue with high usage.

This means it’s right where it needs to be in terms of holiday shopping as the festive season approaches. Let’s take a look at the company’s report, which is in detail below!

For starters, the popular app added 15M more people in the third quarter of 2024. This took its monthly active user figures to 537M. We must admit that the rise is significant when compared to where it stood in the second quarter where it had just added 4M more users.

We aren’t denying the fact that four million is a small figure, it’s still quite large as when you come to think of it, that many users returning to the platform for more is great. However, 15 million sounds a whole lot better, right?

The last time we saw the app make it big was during the pandemic. When people were forced to work from home and live in quarantine, figures for online shopping rose and many market analysts felt the shift would continue. However, when the pandemic was over, people got back to shopping in stores, and that really impacted this platform.

However, the app did end up recovering and solidified its foundation with more success over time. Still, one key point worth mentioning is how the growth in certain regions like the US and the EU remained still despite them being their key sources of revenue.

As can be witnessed in the charts, Pinterest continues to remain high for revenue generation in the same key regions. But it’s yet to grow potential in other places with more audience and that might affect the advertising potential.

The ad business is still on the rise so that again will help and offer more value shortly. Still, we feel more growth in other parts of the globe would be appreciated. Today, many social media platforms have hit saturation in Western markets. Therefore, these results are not unexpected. It just adds a little more pressure to come up with other opportunities.

When we look at overall revenue figures, Pinterest brought forward a staggering $898M for this quarter and that’s a massive 18% rise YoY. This is proof that sales will continue during Q4. The focus is again on more shopping opportunities and better digital matching.

Try-on options will carry major appeal to a rising figure for users as the focus appears to be on creating more tools. Remember, its goal is to transform into a valuable place where the majority of shoppers may benefit.

Hence, we think that things are definitely going in the right direction after seeing it reach record-high figures during the earnings call for the third quarter this year.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World