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 Anthropic, Claude AI, TikTok, WhatsApp, Meta, Google.
🗞️ News 1: Anthropic Launches Claude 3.5 Sonnet; Outperforms GPT-4o & Gemini
Anthropic has announced the release of their new AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet. This mid-tier brand model not only outperforms their top-end model, Claude Opus, but also surpasses ChatGPT Omni, Gemini, and other prominent AI models in the market. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is described as their strongest vision model yet, and it’s available free of cost for all users, even on the free plan. As a personal favorite, I’m excited to test out Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
🗞️ News 2: TikTok Releases ‘Symphony’ Suite of Ad Tools Powered by Generative AI
TikTok has joined the league of platforms like Meta, LinkedIn, and Google by releasing new advertising tools powered by Generative AI under the brand name Symphony. The standout features of this launch are digital avatars and AI dubbing. Users can create stock avatars using paid actors available in over 30 languages, or custom avatars tailored to represent individual creators and advertisers. AI dubbing enables automatic detection, transcription, translation, and dubbing of videos in more than 10 languages, making it particularly beneficial for non-profits and ministries.
🗞️ News 3: YouTube Now Allows People to Add ‘Notes’ to Videos, As An Experiment
YouTube is experimenting with a new feature that lets users add their own notes to videos. This pilot will initially be available on mobile in the U.S. and only in English. Selected contributors can write notes on videos they watch, and viewers will have the option to rate these notes’ helpfulness. This initiative aims to add extra context to videos, capitalizing on community-driven validation.
🗞️ News 4: WhatsApp Adds New Audio & Video Call Features Including Screen Sharing
WhatsApp has enhanced its call functionalities, which is especially useful for ministries and non-profits. Now, users can have up to 32 participants on a video call, regardless of the device being used. Additionally, the new speaker spotlight feature makes it easy to identify who is speaking, similar to Zoom. The most significant update is the addition of screen sharing with audio, perfect for sharing sermons, messages, or Christian movies, all while maintaining end-to-end encryption.
🗞️ News 5: Meta’s Cannes Lions 2024 Announcements: AI Chatbots, Messaging & More
Meta made several significant announcements at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity 2024. The top three highlights are:
1. Messenger AI Chatbot: This chatbot will automatically respond to common questions from your audience, enhancing customer support with AI.
2. Paid Marketing Messages on Messenger: You can now send paid marketing messages to your Messenger list, provided they have opted in to receive such communications.
3. API for Threads: Threads, a part of Instagram, is getting an API, enabling integration with various third-party tools.
News Source Links
🗞️ News 1: Anthropic Launches Claude 3.5 Sonnet; Outperforms GPT-4o & Gemini
Source: Anthropic
🗞️ News 2: TikTok Releases ‘Symphony’ Suite of Ad Tools Powered by Generative AI
Source: TikTok
🗞️ News 3: YouTube Now Allows People to Add ‘Notes’ to Videos, As An Experiment
Source: YouTube
🗞️ News 4: WhatsApp Adds New Audio & Video Call Features Including Screen Sharing
Source: WhatsApp
🗞️ News 5: Meta’s Cannes Lions 2024 Announcements: AI Chatbots, Messaging & More
Source: Meta
Author of The Connected Church. Social Media and Digital Marketing Consultant for Nonprofits, Faith-based Organisations, Churches, and Ministries.
