Welcome to the Connected Church News!
Top 5 latest Digital, Social Media, AI & Web3 News in 5 minutes, to help your ministry stay on top of industry trends.
This week, we have news about OpenAI, ChatGPT, TikTok, Instagram, AI, Google, X.
🗞️ News 1: OpenAI Launches its GPT Store with Custom Versions of ChatGPT
OpenAI kicked off 2024 with a much awaited announcement about their GPT Store. This is an app store kind of a setup within OpenAI that lets you browse through custom versions of ChatGPT. Basically they opened up ChatGPT and they said without coding you can easily develop your own chatbot. We actually reported that in our Connected Church News and some of you might have already created your custom GPTs. So if you’ve done that, that’s awesome. Congratulations. And even I tried playing around with it. It was so much fun. Already more than 3 million people have created GPTs. That’s what OpenAI says. So if you’ve not checked out the custom GPT option, then I highly recommend you check it out. Or if you’ve already created a custom GPT, you would have got an email from OpenAI, look out for that email on next steps on what you’re supposed to do to be showcasing your GPT on the store.
🗞️ News 2: TikTok Videos to Get Big Screen TV Views with New Chromecast Support
TikTok entered 2024 with the announcement that they are supporting devices that have Google Chromecast built into it. For example, most smart TVs have Google Chromecast built into them, and if you have one of those smart TVs, you can now Chromecast your TikTok feed and your TikTok videos on a bigger television instead of watching it on your phone. Basically this is TikTok’s way of grabbing some audience who are more interested in the bigger screen. As we’ve heard from many players, including YouTube, audience seem to prefer watching even vertical videos on bigger television. That is one of the fastest growing means of consumption or screens of consumption. A good move by TikTok for 2024. And if you have TikTok videos that you’ve posted for your nonprofit or ministry, then make sure you verify that your TikTok videos look good on a bigger television screen.
🗞️ News 3: Instagram Announces New Initiatives to Protect Teens on the Platform
Instagram enters the new year 2024 with the announcement that they are bringing in multiple initiatives to protect teens on their platform. Instagram and Facebook have been facing media criticism about being unsafe for younger audience in certain circumstances. So they have been taking steps and addressing this issue with new initiatives. Some of the items in the announcement include hiding of certain types of content for teens on Instagram and Facebook based on expert guidance, they say. They’re also saying that they will automatically place all teens into the most restrictive content control settings. So teens are by default going to have restricted content access. Apart from this, Instagram says that there are 30 new tools and features and resources that they have developed to protect teens and also to support the parents of teens. So if you are in any kind of a teens or young adults ministry, then this is something you might want to make a note of.
🗞️ News 4: Google Releases Multiple New Features and Tools in CES 2024
At CES 2024 Google made multiple announcements about the release of tools, features, and products. Some of the new features announced are ones that are already popular with Apple users, but are missing in the Android ecosystem. Airdrop-kind of a new sharing feature and there’s also a feature that lets you pair Android devices very quickly, like fast pairing option. Google also mentioned that they are working with hospitality and health care providers to integrate Chromecast, which means next time you check into a hotel, you will most probably have a TV that is Chromecast enabled, allowing you to cast your YouTube or TikTok directly on TV. But my favorite announcements were about Android Auto features that are coming, because I love automobile and tech, and also Google Home, smart home features that they are bringing to the Google ecosystem. We will link to all the details in the show notes.
🗞️ News 5: X Makes an Announcement that it is “Now a Video-First Platform”
X platform started 2024 with an interesting announcement that it is “now a video first platform”. In a blog post last week, the company announced that they are going to focus on video in 2024, especially short vertical video format. Sounds like TikTok and Instagram. Because they say that video is now part of more than 8 in 10 user sessions on the platform. They have seen video views increase almost 30 percent year on year, and now more than 100 million people watch vertical video on X every day. 2024 is obviously going to be a year of short videos across platforms. If you as a ministry are not focusing on short videos, then this is a good wake up call. And if you are not focusing on videos at all on X platform, then this is a good time to start experimenting with short videos, or your Reels, or the Shorts that you produce for YouTube being cross posted on the X platform.
News Source Links
🗞️ News 1: OpenAI Launches its GPT Store with Custom Versions of ChatGPT
Source: OpenAI
🗞️ News 2: TikTok Videos to Get Big Screen TV Views with New Chromecast Support
Source: TikTok
🗞️ News 3: Instagram Announces New Initiatives to Protect Teens on the Platform
Source: Instagram
🗞️ News 4: Google Releases Multiple New Features and Tools in CES 2024
Source: Google
🗞️ News 5: X Makes an Announcement that it is “Now a Video-First Platform”
Source: X Blog
Author of The Connected Church. Social Media and Digital Marketing Consultant for Nonprofits, Faith-based Organisations, Churches, and Ministries.
