Dec 23 2024
17 Expert Tips For Content Writing In 2025 via @sejournal, @beacarlota17

Let’s face it: Creating content that makes an impact has gotten a lot harder.

With AI becoming more sophisticated by the day, it’s no wonder there’s a looming fear of machines replacing humans.

And as if that weren’t enough, Google’s Helpful Content Update has reshaped the game entirely, favoring people-first content over mass-produced AI-generated material.

Add to that the ever-present demand to produce fresh, engaging copy to satisfy the ever-shifting consumer behavior.

If your work doesn’t grab attention or offer something authentic, it’s already buried in the algorithm’s dustbin faster than you can hit “publish.”

Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone.

That’s why we tapped into the brains of these seven content marketing pros to learn their best strategies and actionable tips.

The wisdom they shared is a valuable resource for writers seeking to deliver real value, rise above the AI chatter, and create content that moves the needle.

Read more: Why Content Is Important For SEO

Beyond Words: How To Demonstrate Value

Businesses don’t want writers who just churn out words – they need strategic thinkers who can align content with their vision and audience.

So, how can you deliver value and provide content that resonates? We turned to our experts, and here’s what they had to say:

1. Understand Audience Personas

For Betts, the key to demonstrating value is simple. “Persona plus topic is the formula I use for providing reader value,” he explains.

The success of any content lies in its relevance to the audience.

Betts believes, “Understanding personas ensures readers get personal value and relevant information. This means really (going deep) and considering consumer psychology, demographics, and knowledge levels to sculpt appropriate tone, detail, and advice in your outputs.”

He also stresses the importance of asking these two questions before writing anything: “Why should I write this, and why would readers care?”

“If you can’t answer these questions confidently, don’t proceed,” advises Betts.

“Without generating emotional or some type of audience connection and establishing trust, you’re just adding noise to an overcrowded content ecosystem,” he explains.

2. Add Depth With Quality Research

Instead of rushing to cover the latest AI developments like most content marketers, Betts deliberately avoids chasing trends.

While many rush to publish first, he believes this approach typically produces low-value content.

Alves agrees, stating that “it’s more important than ever to ensure every piece of content is high-quality – written for the benefit of the intended audience – and reads how humans naturally speak.”

Providing an insight into his process, Betts explains that his focus is on quality and depth rather than speed.

“I step back, gather data, and analyze existing coverage before creating authoritative content with actionable takeaways.

My research process involves reading at least 20 articles spanning from the past year to the present day. This covers topic evolution, relevant statistics, influencer opinions, and user-generated content. The goal is to add genuine value rather than repeating existing information.”

Building on the importance of thorough research, Ross Hudgens encourages writers to dig deeper.

“Get curious about the topic,” he advises. “Once you’ve done your initial research, review your work and ask questions (who, what, where, when, why) about any claim that’s made. Find ways to include this additional insight into your writing.”

Alves also points out the importance of having expertise when it comes to effectively demonstrating value to your audience. “Content marketers must truly understand the topic they’re writing about rather than leaving the research and drafting up to the machines.”

3. Make Content Relatable

According to Hennesey, “Providing value in content goes far beyond simply analyzing the SERPs and hitting the right SEO notes.”

For him, true value comes from forming a deeper connection with clients. “We actually discuss with our clients the issues they are struggling with, what topics they care about, and what they’d like to see from us,” he shares.

“We weave real-world examples into their content with relevant storytelling, case studies, and lessons learned.”

Hudgens urges writers to make their content stand out from what’s on the SERP. He believes that this difference should be clear right from the introduction.

“The intro sets the tone, and you can immediately tell if it’s going to be a basic SEO article written by AI or if it has a human element that will add value,” explains Hudgens.

Foster also underscores the gap between AI and human creativity, noting, “At this time, AI technology is still not able to effectively capture the nuance and originality of human storytelling.”

Foster expands on the human-centered approach, highlighting how content writers can demonstrate their impact by “effectively capturing brand voice, crafting unique stories, and injecting real-life examples into the content.”

“The best way to provide value to readers is to make the content relatable to their genuine concerns, needs, and lived experiences,” she notes.

Hennesey echoes the importance of incorporating unique stories, further suggesting that marketers can help brands showcase value by “not being afraid to write outside the bounds of traditionally over-structured SEO content.”

By embracing authenticity, content writers can deliver content that addresses real pain points and builds trust.

“A writer who can put themselves in a reader’s shoes and seamlessly weave this perspective into the content is miles ahead of AI,” Foster adds, reinforcing that the human touch is irreplaceable in producing meaningful content.

4. Listen To Your Customer’s Pain Points

Lloyd-Martin shares Hennesey’s emphasis on connecting with your clients but takes it a step further.

She believes that “understanding your customer’s pain points, questions, and unique needs helps you answer the question, ‘How can I fully connect with my reader and provide truly unique, useful information – and not the same stuff that’s regurgitated on 1,000 websites?’”

When writing sales pages, one of Lloyd-Martin’s favorite ways to learn about her audience and their needs is by watching recorded sales calls.

“Those Zoom calls are gold,” she says.

“As you listen to the conversation, pay attention to what’s being said, how the prospect says it, and how the prospect reacts. By doing so – and tracking trends across calls – you can gain an excellent sense of your readers’ pain points, needs, and objections.”

She recalls when the prospect went from undecided to “I’m ready to sign.”

“I wrote down what the salesperson said and wove it into the content,” she shares.

For those without access to sales calls (or sales emails), Lloyd-Martin suggests checking out Reddit and other forums (especially highly specific forums, for instance, Facebook groups for Honda Fit owners).

According to her, these spaces offer insights into what people are talking about, their questions, and what they like and dislike about current solutions.

“If you’re ever wondering, ‘What questions can we answer in our blog to showcase our value and expertise,’ forums provide a wealth of cool content ideas,” she notes.

Hudgens agrees, also recommending to “look at forums (like Reddit), comments on YouTube videos, social media content and comments (LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, etc.) to get a feel for gaps in current ranking blog content.”

Tapping into real-world conversations helps build trust and authority.

“These people are having a more honest conversation about real-life applications that you can incorporate into your writing to add credibility and make it more helpful,” he explains.

5. Bring Your Experience And Expertise To The Table

Riemer argues that, while it’s a powerful tool, AI falls short when it comes to giving expert advice, sourcing it, and sharing how it applies to real-life situations.

“AI makes assumptions that a source is real and is also related to a specific question, topic, or answer,” he says.

For Riemer, creating content should involve human expertise and intervention.

By drawing on their experience and knowledge, content writers can find credible sources and validate their accuracy – something that is not possible for AI to do on its own.

Once the groundwork is laid, Riemer points out the benefits of integrating AI into the process:

“AI can make the writing more digestible and set the proper tone, and make sure it is easy to absorb. It can also help with formatting sections. Then, a human edit to make sure it is still factual is a perfect balance of quality content that provides a great user experience and knowledge sharing.”

Lloyd-Martin also highlights the importance of adding the human element to content, stating that its unique value stems from the experience and expertise content writers (or clients, if freelancing) bring to the table.

“In a world of AI-generated content and boring B2B writing, opinionated content with a brand voice and point of view stands out,” she explains. “Don’t be afraid to showcase what you know – that’s what your prospects want to read more about.”

Read more: What Is A Target Audience And How Do You Find It

Turning AI Noise Into Clarity

Can AI replace writers? The short answer is no.

Sure, AI-powered writing tools can research topics in seconds, whip up basic content drafts, and even suggest SEO-friendly keywords.

But they fall short where it truly matters: Accuracy, creativity, and depth that elevates writing from good to great.

Our experts revealed how they use AI in their writing workflows and shared their top tips to help you rise above the AI noise.

6. Treat AI As Your Writing Assistant

“I’m an AI writing tools convert. When ChatGPT hit the streets, I couldn’t see the appeal. I mocked it incessantly,” Lloyd-Martin admits. However, her perspective on using AI tools as a writing assistant has since shifted dramatically.

She shares, “Now, I use it daily. I’m starting an AI/SEO writing community for business owners and B2B companies, and I teach other companies and writers how to do the same thing. Never say never.”

According to Lloyd-Martin, the key to AI tools is to “treat them like a smart (but inexperienced) writing intern.” She explains, “You know they aren’t going to get it right every time. You have to give it very specific and step-by-step instructions to get the best possible work.”

With proper guidance, AI tools can help writers save time and see their writing in an entirely new light.

For instance, Lloyd-Martin loves to set ChatGPT loose when coming up with headline variations.

“It can create a decent customer persona that you can test ideas against,” she notes.

“When I’m tired on Saturday night and need to write the run report for my weekly 5K parkrun group, I have a ‘make it perky’ parkrun prompt that turns my yawner base text into something perkier. I edit the heck out of it, but it’s like going back and forth with an assistant.”

But she draws the line at relying on AI to create original content without substantial editing.

“Would I use AI for original content without heavy editing? Nope. I haven’t seen that perfect paragraph (or headline) yet.

I can say that the writers who embraced AI – even grudgingly – found that they could offload at least one annoying task to our robot overlords.”

7. Balance AI And Human Input

Riemer finds AI tools useful for improving efficiency and helping “alleviate the stress when writer’s block kicks in.”

AI helps him whenever he needs the inspiration to stay within a topic entity, use alternative words or phrasing, or condense a large sentence or paragraph.

He shares, “Other times, I have to write the steps to accomplish something, and it can shrink it to become absorbable while keeping the instructions helpful.”

Hudgens uses AI as a starting point.

“AI can be helpful for creating a baseline of information,” he notes. “It can aid in primary research on an unfamiliar topic, help you build out an outline, and, in some cases, write a junior-level draft 1 of a post.”

But Hudgens emphasizes the need for a human touch to refine content, “A strategic eye is needed to apply SEO best practices, include topic expertise, provide a unique point of view, and add value throughout.”

Hudgens also advises, “If you find yourself coaxing an answer out of AI (rewriting your question multiple times to get a better or more accurate response), it’s probably time to find a different avenue to research the topic.”

Echoing this sentiment, Hennessey advocates for a balance between human and AI-generated input.

“We mainly rely on human writers to write our content,” he says. “AI has its place – such as in creating content outlines, generating headline ideas, etc. – but is often devoid of the unique storytelling and real-world scenarios provided by human writers.”

Hennesey adds, “The best content is content that connects a concept to a real pain point that a reader is experiencing. AI content can often read as generic, and then you’re at risk of blending in with other brands.”

8. Focus On Differentiation

“It’s more evident than ever if and when writers are using AI for content creation,” Alves observes.

“Think of words and phrases you’ve seen recently that have gained traction over the past few years. Some of these might include ‘delve into,’ ‘furthermore,’ ‘revolutionize,’ and more.”

For content to stand out, Alves advises focusing on originality – a quality that remains beyond AI reach.

“To rise above the AI noise requires creativity, differentiation, and using humans to draft text. AI hasn’t yet surpassed human writing capabilities, and it’s now easier than ever to spot.”

9. Set The Limits Of AI In Content Creation

Foster approaches AI tools with caution, strictly using them for specific tasks like content outlines, SOPs, and templates.

“My clients have high standards when it comes to capturing their voice and stories, which are not easily replicated by AI,” she explains. “Also, the risk of the content getting ‘flagged’ as AI and subsequently hurting their rankings is not worth the risk.”

That said, Foster doesn’t dismiss AI entirely. “Though I certainly understand that AI content has its place, and I don’t vilify anyone who uses it,” she acknowledges.

10. Maintain Your Own Creativity And Direction

According to Betts, “This is the biggest content marketing conundrum there has ever been.”

While he’s a massive advocate of AI for broader insights and automation, his approach to AI in writing is selective.

“I use it for research, generating ideas, and expanding angles – but not for automated content creation,” he clarifies. “Why? I spend more time correcting and editing, disrupting my creative flow, and burying key messages in unnecessary fluff.

When you have an important message, you should convey it in two clear sentences, not two paragraphs of AI-generated content.”

Betts notes that the challenge becomes more complex in larger organizations:

“While AI can help small businesses scale content production when used properly for insights and assistance, larger organizations face significant process challenges. It exacerbates the ‘too many cooks’ problem – suddenly, every reviewer becomes a content marketing expert, sending edits from Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI tools.”

He adds, “As the final owner, you waste time editing a mishmash of inputs that miss the original message and goal.”

Looking ahead, Betts sees that this productivity versus counter-productivity battle will be a major issue for large organizations to solve in 2025.

His advice is clear: “Success lies in using AI as a supportive tool while maintaining your own creativity and direction. Own it all, basically!”

Read more: The 10 Best AI Writers & Content Generators Compared

How To Succeed As A New Content Writer

To thrive alongside AI, trends, and algorithms, content writers must lean into their unique strengths – skills that machines can’t replicate fully – and that’s where they win.

How can beginner content writers break into this competitive space? Here’s our experts’ advice.

11. Rely On Your Knowledge

“Don’t let AI write your content or do your research,” Riemer advises. “It will respond in a very confident way, but it is not accurate.”

AI, though advanced and sophisticated, is not without its flaws.

Riemer explains, “AI makes assumptions and has biases. It also modifies like a social media algorithm to make you happy and meet your personal needs. That does not mean it is good, high quality, or factual.”

Rather than leaning too heavily on AI, Riemer encourages content writers to rely on their expertise. “Use your brains, talents, and knowledge, and then have AI tidy up when you get stuck.”

12. Stay Curious

For Alves, curiosity and continuous learning are essential.

“Always stay curious,” she advises. “Content marketing and SEO best practices are constantly evolving, and so too must writers.”

To stay up to date on the latest best practices, Alves suggests reading credible industry-related publications, attending events, registering for webinars, and reading books from renowned authors.

“It’s a fast-paced industry where expertise and continued education are a must,” she explains.

13. Identify Your Strong Suits

Foster advises writers “to identify their strong suits and learn how to communicate that to prospective clients.”

Leveraging what you already know is key.

“If you are a retired medical professional and are skilled at writing medical content, go in on that. If you have a quirky, conversational approach, you might be better matched to web copywriting for more creative brands,” she suggests.

Finding your distinctive writing style also matters.

“Generalism is a killer in such a competitive space; don’t try to do/be everything and anything,” Foster warns. “Find the one to three things you are best at, then find the prospective clients that are looking for that type of content or writing style.”

14. Become A Subject Matter Expert

Hudgens believes that content writers need to position themselves as subject matter experts to succeed in the industry. He explains, “The more you write on a topic, the more you can start connecting the dots and leveling up your examples.”

He also recommends following industry experts on LinkedIn, reading competitor content, subscribing to newsletters, and generally immersing yourself in the industry.

To make sure your writing sounds natural, Hudgens encourages reading your content out loud.

He further notes that AI models tend to keyword stuff, include a lot of repetition, and lack personality in their writing.

“Be sure that your writing avoids these faults and is easy for a reader to follow and understand,” he suggests.

15. Use Your Experiences To Your Advantage

Betts offers timeless advice: “Always start with what you know.”

Reflecting on his career that began in search sales 25 years ago before moving to marketing, Betts shares that he wasn’t a writer initially, but his accumulated knowledge led to writing opportunities that snowballed.

“Don’t pretend to be an expert on unfamiliar topics just because AI can provide information. This is especially crucial in niche industries with specific terminology and nuances,” he advises. “One misused concept will expose you as a novice.”

To refine your craft, Betts recommends reading extensively before writing and studying different writers across industries to develop a unique style.

“Build your own formulas and incorporate others’ opinions, but ensure they’re objective and supported by data,” he says. “Avoid becoming a ‘screenshot content marketer’ who prioritizes attention over substance.”

Betts also encourages content writers to start with short articles and gradually build to longer-form content.

“Messaging is fundamental,” he notes, suggesting the creation of simple message houses before writing. He recommends this exercise: “Take a 1,500-word piece and condense it to 50 words. This teaches you to identify and build key messages effectively.”

Over time, you’ll gain valuable personal insights and experiences as you write more. Betts urges writers to use these to their advantage and not to hesitate to decline briefs that don’t align with their expertise or vision.

“Quantity is important, and quality is essential – they don’t trump each other; you can have both, but that really does become an art form, and AI needs to improve – which it will – to help scale that more in the future.”

16. Stand Out With Personal Branding

In an age where AI-generated content is all too common, Hennessey encourages beginner content writers to break through the noise by demonstrating their unique style and tone of voice, highlighting the value of storytelling over the use of generic AI content.

He points out that many brands are looking for creative, outside-the-box content. “There are also many brands that are resistant to the use of AI content and specifically want to work with human writers.”

To gain visibility, “writers can make themselves known through personal branding, a great portfolio, and an active online presence (LinkedIn seems to be the goldmine),” he says.

17. Find A Niche And Don’t Believe The AI Hype

Lloyd-Martin believes in the big thing that beginner content writers need to do to succeed: “Learn how to differentiate themselves online and be clear in their web content and LinkedIn profile on how they help clients.”

One way to achieve this is by finding a niche.

“Some writers find working within a certain niche makes that easier – if you were a vet tech in a previous work life, you could showcase your expertise by writing for the pet care industry,” she explains.

Lloyd-Martin also stresses the importance of writing case studies and asking for testimonials early in a career. “Keep asking,” she urges. “I know it feels weird to ask, but most people are happy to help. The more social proof you have that says you’re awesome, the easier it is to “sell” yourself to new clients.”

It’s also always a good idea to join a community of like-minded folks (or hire a business coach). She says, “Other people can help us untangle our brains and figure out what to do next.”

“As writers, it’s easy to get in our heads and think we can figure everything out ourselves. We can’t. Sometimes, it takes someone else to nudge us towards the answer,” Lloyd-Martin shares.

She also recommends learning everything content writers can about SEO writing, Google, and UX. “The more you know, the more valuable you are to your target client.”

Lloyd-Martin wraps up by addressing a common misconception.

“As a side note, don’t believe the hype that AI has taken over and writers aren’t making money. Writers are making money – but they also have tight and wired business models.

They charge appropriate money for their work, market themselves and their unique expertise where their target market lives, and ask for referrals.

It is harder in today’s world, and those ‘Make Six Figures Your First Year’ emails are … aspirational. But you can create a digital content business that you love and supports you.

Read more: The Top 10 Content Marketing Skills You Need (Plus Tips On How To Master Them)

Why Content Writers Matter More Than Ever

The future of content won’t settle for generic posts or surface-level ideas.

As the insights of our industry experts affirm, there will always be a need for authentic and on-brand writing that connects on a human level.

Adapt, or risk fading into the background. Think like a strategist. Tap into emotions and empathy.

And watch yourself become the kind of content writer who’s irreplaceable.

Editor’s note: All interviews have been lightly edited for clarity, brevity, and adherence to our Editorial Guidelines. The views expressed by the interviewees in this column are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent the view of Search Engine Journal.

More resources: 

Featured Image: mojo cp/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Dec 23 2024
Large Reasoning Models Speed Content Marketing

New generative AI models capable of problem-solving and complex reasoning can streamline content planning and creation. Even marketers who are reticent to publish AI-generated articles may find the new models make excellent research assistants.

Google Gemini’s Deep Research and OpenAI’s o1 represent a new category of generative artificial intelligence called large reasoning models (LRMs) or sometimes long-reasoning models.

LRMs for Marketing

LRMs are trained to approximate reasoning and decision-making based on logical sequences. LRMs “think” before generating — different from their close cousins, large language models.

LRMs assist in tasks requiring logical analysis — i.e., research — such as collecting and organizing information, which is especially useful for content marketers.

To illustrate, consider three content marketing needs for my online print-on-demand t-shirt business. I publish articles on that site to garner search engine traffic and encourage newsletter subscriptions. Then I use the newsletter to promote t-shirts.

The business needs:

  • Topic ideas,
  • Article briefs,
  • Social media planning.

Topic ideas

A content-then-commerce model such as my t-shirt shop requires nonstop publishing and hence a near endless supply of search-engine-friendly article topics.

I asked Gemini to create a list of topics related to Superman and current events (an odd combination, but it makes sense for the site), as follows.

Research Superman comics, television shows, and movies identifying plots and themes which are similar to current events or trends.

For each of the top five trends you discover, create three article topics for a science fiction website. These topics should reflect the intersection of the Superman plot or theme and the current event.

Screeshot of the author's prompt in Gemini: Research Superman comics, television shows, and movies identifying plots and themes which are similar to current events or trends. For each of the top five trends you discover, create three article topics for a science fiction website. These topics should reflect the intersection of the Superman plot or theme and the current event.

The author prompted Gemini to list topics related to Superman and current events.

Gemini then scoured the internet, fetching content that might have taken hours for a human. The LRM responded with a plan of action. It would find articles on the internet that described common themes in Superman stories and compare them to articles about current events:

Superman’s Reflection in Modern Times

8 Research Websites

Research Superman comics, television shows, and movies identifying plots and themes which are similar to current events or trends.

For each of the top five trends you discover, create three article topics for a science fiction website. These topics should reflect the intersection of the Superman plot or theme and the current event.

(1) Find articles and analyses discussing recurring themes and plots in Superman comics, television shows, and movies.
(2) Find articles and analyses discussing current events and trends in various areas such as politics, technology, social issues, and the environment.
(3) Compare the themes and plots identified in (1) with the current events and trends identified in (2) to find similarities or parallels.
(4) For each of the top five trends identified in (3), create three article topics for a science fiction website that explore the intersection of the Superman plot or theme and the current event.

In 3 minutes, Gemini reviewed 71 websites, analyzed them, and returned five themes:

  • Superman as a Reflection of Societal Anxieties
  • Superman in the Age of Technology
  • Superman and Social Justice
  • Superman and the Environment
  • Superman as a Symbol of Hope

Each theme included three topic suggestions. The best came from “Superman in the Age of Technology”:

  • What if Superman Had a Smartphone? (No More Phone Booths). Humorous take on a classic Superman trope and modern technology.
  • Did Superman Comics Predict the Metaverse? (It’s the Phantom Zone). Draws a parallel between a Superman concept and a current tech trend.
  • Superman’s Super-Speed vs. Elon Musk’s Hyperloop. Who’s Faster?. Pits Superman against a modern technological innovation in a lighthearted competition.

Article briefs

My content-then-commerce website retains freelance writers who receive a topic and an article brief as a guide. Yet even a brief requires a fair amount of research, so I asked Gemini’s Deep Research model for help.

First, I prompted Gemini to investigate the topic. In this case, I requested broad info on the evolution of military science fiction novels, prompting, “Research the military science fiction sub-genre from 1890 until 2001 and identify how military sci-fi has evolved.”

Gemini responded:

Here’s the plan I’ve put together. Let me know if you need any changes before I start researching.

Evolving Military Sci-Fi

Research Websites

Research the military science fiction sub-genre from 1890 until 2001 and identify how military sci-fi has evolved by:
(1) Find books and articles discussing the history of military science fiction.
(2) Find lists of military science fiction works published between 1890 and 2001.
(3) Read and analyze a selection of military science fiction works from different periods within the specified timeframe…

Screenshot of Gemini's research approach: Here's the plan I've put together. Let me know if you need any changes before I start researching. Evolving Military Sci-Fi Research Websites Research the military science fiction sub-genre from 1890 until 2001 and identify how military sci-fi has evolved by: (1) Find books and articles discussing the history of military science fiction. (2) Find lists of military science fiction works published between 1890 and 2001. (3) Read and analyze a selection of military science fiction works from different periods within the specified timeframe....

Gemini offered a broad research approach for military science fiction.

As with the topic example, Gemini offered a research plan, which I approved. About 4 minutes later, the AI produced a 3,091-word research summary backed by 25 sources.

Screenshot of a partial view of the research summary.

The 3,091-word research summary with 25 sources took Gemini about 4 minutes.

Next, I prompted Gemini to produce an article brief to provide clear, focused direction to the writer while giving him creative flexibility to craft an engaging piece.

The AI then produced a brief complete with target keywords, demographic data, a list of reader interests and concerns, several key themes to cover, and sources.

The brief is a gem because this ecommerce shop attracts shoppers via informational or entertainment intent search traffic.

Social media planning

My t-shirt business’s third need is help with publishing on X.

I surveyed top customers — men over 50 — and learned that many use X as their primary social media platform. Unfortunately, the t-shirt business did not have an X account.

Thus I asked Gemini to research the best ways to grow an audience on the platform. Following the now familiar pattern, the AI model created a plan I could accept or edit to ensure the model was on track:

Here’s a research plan for that topic. If you need to update it, let me know!

Growing an Audience on X

Research Websites

Research publisher best practices for the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform and report on the best techniques for growing an audience on the platform by:

(1) Find articles and guides on publisher best practices for X. If there are too many articles, limit to a couple that are most relevant.
(2) Find case studies of successful publishers on X.
(3) Find information on the X algorithm and how it affects content visibility.
(4) Find information on the different types of content that perform well on X.
(5) Find information on the best times to post on X.
(6) Find information on the best ways to engage with other users on X.
(7) Find information on the best tools and resources for growing an audience on X.
(8) Based on your research, write a report summarizing the best techniques for growing an audience on X.

Screenshot of the partial plan suggested by Gemini, reading: ere's a research plan for that topic. If you need to update it, let me know! Growing an Audience on X Research Websites Research publisher best practices for the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform and report on the best techniques for growing an audience on the platform by: (1) Find articles and guides on publisher best practices for X. If there are too many articles, limit to a couple that are most relevant. (2) Find case studies of successful publishers on X. (3) Find information on the X algorithm and how it affects content visibility. (4) Find information on the different types of content that perform well on X. (5) Find information on the best times to post on X. (6) Find information on the best ways to engage with other users on X. (7) Find information on the best tools and resources for growing an audience on X. (8) Based on your research, write a report summarizing the best techniques for growing an audience on X.

The option to edit the LRM’s research plan allows a human editor to ensure the AI is on track.

Content Research

LRMs are among the most recent AI tools and a significant time saver for research-heavy content. Used well, the models speed up time-consuming and repetitive tasks to get more work done.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Dec 22 2024
Study: ChatGPT & AI Tools Gain Ground In Search Market via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A new study by Previsible reveals significant changes in search behavior, with AI language models (LLMs) gaining traction as referral traffic sources.

The analysis of over 30 websites shows Perplexity and ChatGPT emerging as alternatives to traditional search engines.

David Bell, co-founder of Previsible, believes this indicates Google’s growth is at a standstill:

“Google is basically plateaued and has begun to have its search dominance degraded. The reason being is that people are starting to use ChatGPT, Claude, Co-pilot, Bing, all these different experiences to better solve their search intent.”

Here are some key points from the study. While it doesn’t provide a complete picture, it offers the best information available right now.

Key Findings

Referral Traffic

The study found that Perplexity and ChatGPT command approximately 37% of LLM referral traffic, while CoPilot and Gemini follow with 12-14% each.

Notably, the finance sector dominates LLM-driven traffic, accounting for 84% of all referrals analyzed.

In a video walkthrough of the study, Bell explains:

“Finance, in particular, has an outsized increase in traffic from language models. This could be due to Perplexity and other language models having integrations or relationships with different platforms that allow more direct access to users.”

Content Distribution

The study reveals that blog posts receive 77.35% of LLM referral traffic, followed by:

  • Homepage visits (9.04%)
  • News content (8.23%)
  • Guides (2.35%)

“Informational content still matters in the age of AI search,” Bell noted. However, he advises focusing on conversion rate optimization (CRO) and user journey, as product pages do not surface prominently in language models.

According to the study, product pages receive less than 0.5% of LLM referral traffic, suggesting challenges for ecommerce strategies.

Looking Ahead

LLM referral traffic currently represents 0.25% of total traffic for the most impacted sectors, though the study notes significant growth rates.

In the last 90 days of the study, Previsible found:

  • 900% growth in ChatGPT referrals for the events industry
  • 400%+ growth in ChatGPT traffic for e-commerce and finance sectors
  • Consistent growth across all models except CoPilot

Bell explains what this could mean for websites:

“If you extrapolate out, if you average all of these out, let’s say roughly 200% growth in organic or AI traffic every 90 days for the next 12 months, it can be up to 20% of overall traffic to a website.”

🚨 Free Tool Alert 🚨

Previsible has created a free Looker Studio dashboard to help businesses track website traffic from Language Learning Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Co-pilot, Gemini, and Claude.

You can select your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) account and a date range to view data.

The dashboard shows:

  • Organic Sessions: Total organic sessions during the selected time.
  • Total LLM Sessions: Number of sessions from LLMs, with percentage breakdowns.
  • LLM Traffic Over Time: A line graph showing LLM traffic trends, with separate lines for each LLM.
  • LLM Traffic by Landing Page: A table of top landing pages from LLM traffic, including sessions, percentages, average time on page, and comparison to site averages.

How This Helps

By analyzing this data, you can:

  • Assess the impact of LLMs on your traffic compared to organic traffic.
  • Identify which LLMs drive the most traffic and adjust your content.
  • Track LLM traffic growth over time and adapt your strategies.
  • Discover popular landing pages among LLM users and improve them for engagement.
  • Compare time spent by LLM users on each page to the site average to identify areas for improvement.

In Summary

Here are three key takeaways from the study:

  • Finance websites are seeing the strongest LLM referral activity, with blog content receiving the majority of visits
  • Product pages rarely surface in LLM results, suggesting the need for adjusted e-commerce strategies
  • Growth rates are significant, potentially reaching 20% of total traffic within a year if current trends continue

When looking at these trends, it’s important to keep a balanced approach to getting traffic and optimizing your strategies.

Don’t pursue AI traffic if it could hurt your sales.

AI language models are becoming new sources of website traffic. However, they currently make up only about 0.25% of overall traffic in the sectors that are most affected.

It will be interesting to see how this number changes by next year.

Featured Image: Koshiro K/Shutterstock

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Dec 22 2024
Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.

Later today, around 10 minutes after this email lands in your inbox, I’ll be holding my four-year-old daughter tight as she receives her booster dose of the MMR vaccine. This shot should protect her from a trio of nasty infections—infections that can lead to meningitis, blindness, and hearing loss. I feel lucky to be offered it.

This year marks the 50-year anniversary of an ambitious global childhood vaccination program. The Expanded Programme on Immunization was launched by the World Health Organization in 1974 with the goal of getting lifesaving vaccines to all the children on the planet.

Vaccines are estimated to have averted 154 million deaths since the launch of the EPI. That number includes 146 million children under the age of five. Vaccination efforts are estimated to have reduced infant mortality by 40%, and to have contributed an extra 10 billion years of healthy life among the global population.

Childhood vaccination is a success story. But concerns around vaccines endure. Especially, it seems, among the individuals Donald Trump has picked as his choices to lead US health agencies from January. This week, let’s take a look at their claims, and where the evidence really stands on childhood vaccines.

WHO, along with health agencies around the world, recommends a suite of vaccinations for babies and young children. Some, such as the BCG vaccine, which offers some protection against tuberculosis, are recommended from birth. Others, like the vaccines for pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough, which are often administered in a single shot, are introduced at eight weeks. Other vaccinations and booster doses follow.

The idea is to protect babies as soon as possible, says Kaja Abbas of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK and Nagasaki University in Japan.

The full vaccine schedule will depend on what infections pose the greatest risks and will vary by country. In the US, the recommended schedule is determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and individual states can opt to set vaccine mandates or allow various exemptions.

Some scientists are concerned about how these rules might change in January, when Donald Trump makes his return to the White House. Trump has already listed his picks for top government officials, including those meant to lead the country’s health agencies. These individuals must be confirmed by the Senate before they can assume these roles, but it appears that Trump intends to surround himself with vaccine skeptics.

For starters, Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, who has long been a prominent anti-vaxxer, has a track record of spreading false information about vaccines.

In 2005, he published an error-laden article in Salon and Rolling Stone linking thimerosal—an antifungal preservative that was previously used in vaccines but phased out in the US by 2001—to neurological disorders in children. (That article was eventually deleted in 2011. “I regret we didn’t move on this more quickly, as evidence continued to emerge debunking the vaccines and autism link,” wrote Joan Walsh, Salon’s editor at large at the time.)

Kennedy hasn’t let up since. In 2015, he made outrageous comments about childhood vaccinations at a screening of a film that linked thimerosal to autism. “They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone,” Kennedy said, as reported by the Sacramento Bee. “This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”

Aaron Siri, the lawyer who has been helping Kennedy pick health officials for the upcoming Trump administration, has petitioned the government to pause the distribution of multiple vaccines and to revoke approval of the polio vaccine entirely. And Dave Weldon, Trump’s pick to direct the CDC, also has a history of vaccine skepticism. He has championed the disproven link between thimerosal and autism.

These arguments aren’t new. The MMR vaccine in particular has been subject to debate, controversy, and conspiracy theories for decades. All the way back in 1998, a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, published a paper suggesting a link between the vaccine and autism in children.

The study has since been debunked—multiple times over—and Wakefield was found to have unethically subjected children to invasive and unnecessary procedures. The paper was retracted 12 years after it was published, and the UK’s General Medical Council found Wakefield guilty of serious professional misconduct. He was struck off the medical register and is no longer allowed to practice medicine in the UK. (He continues to peddle false information, though, and directed the 2016 film Vaxxed, which Weldon appeared in.)

So it’s remarkable that his “study” still seems to be affecting public opinion. A recent Pew Research Center survey suggests that four in 10 US adults worry that “not all vaccines are necessary,” and while most Americans think the benefits outweigh any risks, some are still concerned about side effects. Views among Republicans in particular seem to have shifted over the years. In 2019, 82% supported school-based vaccine requirements. That figure dropped to 70% in 2023.

The problem is that we need more than 70% of children to be vaccinated to reach “herd immunity”—the level needed to protect communities. For a super-contagious infection like measles, 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated, according to WHO. “If [coverage drops to] 80%, we should expect outbreaks,” says Abbas.

And that’s exactly what is happening. In 2023, only 83% of children got their first dose of a measles vaccine through routine health services. Nearly 35 million children are thought to have either partial protection from the disease or none at all. And over the last five years, there have been measles outbreaks in 103 countries.

Polio vaccines—the ones whose approval Siri sought to revoke—have also played a vital role in protecting children, in this case from a devastating infection that can cause paralysis. “People were so afraid of polio in the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s here in the United States,” says William Moss, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. “When the trial results of [the first] vaccine were announced in the United States, people were dancing in the streets.”

That vaccine was licensed in the US in 1955. By 1994, polio was considered eliminated in North and South America. Today, wild forms of the virus have been eradicated in all but two countries.

But the polio vaccine story is not straightforward. There are two types of polio vaccine: an injected type that includes a “dead” form of the virus, and an oral version that includes “live” virus. This virus can be shed in feces, and in places with poor sanitation, it can spread. It can also undergo genetic changes to create a form of the virus that can cause paralysis. Although this is rare, it does happen—and today there are more cases of vaccine-derived polio than wild-type polio.

It is worth noting that since 2000, more than 10 billion doses of the oral polio vaccine have been administered to almost 3 billion children. It is estimated that more than 13 million cases of polio have been prevented through these efforts. But there have been just under 760 cases of vaccine-derived polio.

We could prevent these cases by switching to the injected vaccine, which wealthy countries have already done. But that’s not easy in countries with fewer resources and those trying to reach children in remote rural areas or war zones.

Even the MMR vaccine is not entirely risk-free. Some people will experience minor side effects, and severe allergic reactions, while rare, can occur. And neither vaccine offers 100% protection against disease. No vaccine does. “Even if you vaccinate 100% [of the population], I don’t think we’ll be able to attain herd immunity for polio,” says Abbas. It’s important to acknowledge these limitations.

While there are some small risks, though, they are far outweighed by the millions of lives being saved. “[People] often underestimate the risk of the disease and overestimate the risk of the vaccine,” says Moss.

In some ways, vaccines have become a victim of their own success. “Most of today’s parents fortunately have never seen the tragedy caused by vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles encephalitis, congenital rubella syndrome, and individuals crippled by polio,” says Kimberly Thompson, president of Kid Risk, a nonprofit that conducts research on health risks to children. “With some individuals benefiting from the propagation of scary messages about vaccines and the proliferation of social media providing reinforcement, it’s no surprise that fears may endure.”

“But most Americans recognize the benefits of vaccines and choose to get their children immunized,” she adds. Now, that is a sentiment I can relate to.

Now read the rest of The Checkup

Read more from MIT Technology Review‘s archive

A couple of years ago, the polio virus was detected in wastewater in London, where I live. I immediately got my daughter (who was only one year old then!) vaccinated. 

Measles outbreaks continue to spring up in places where vaccination rates drop. Researchers hope that searching for traces of the virus in wastewater could help them develop early warning systems. 

Last year, the researchers whose work paved the way for the development of mRNA vaccines were awarded the Nobel Prize. Now, scientists are hoping to use the same technology to treat and vaccinate against a host of diseases.

Most vaccines work by priming the immune system to respond to a pathogen. Scientists are also working on “inverse vaccines” that teach the immune system to stand down. They might help treat autoimmune disorders.

From around the web

A person in the US is the first in the country to have become severely ill after being infected with the bird flu virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared on December 18. The case was confirmed on December 13. The person was exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks in Louisiana. (CDC) 

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, declared a state of emergency as the bird flu virus moved from the Central Valley to Southern California dairy herds. Since August, 645 herds have been reported to be infected with the virus. (LA Times)

Pharmacy benefit managers control access to prescription drugs for most Americans. These middlemen were paid billions of dollars by drug companies to allow the free flow of opioids during the US’s deadly addiction epidemic, an investigation has revealed. (New York Times)

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have emerged as blockbuster medicines over the past couple of years. We’re learning that they may have benefits beyond weight loss. Might they also protect organ function or treat kidney disease? (Nature Medicine)

Doctors and scientists have been attempting head transplants on animals for decades. Can they do it in people? Watch this delightful cartoon to learn more about the early head transplant attempts. (Aeon)

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Dec 22 2024
The next generation of neural networks could live in hardware

Networks programmed directly into computer chip hardware can identify images faster, and use much less energy, than the traditional neural networks that underpin most modern AI systems. That’s according to work presented at a leading machine learning conference in Vancouver last week.

Neural networks, from GPT-4 to Stable Diffusion, are built by wiring together perceptrons, which are highly simplified simulations of the neurons in our brains. In very large numbers, perceptrons are powerful, but they also consume enormous volumes of energy—so much that Microsoft has penned a deal that will reopen Three Mile Island to power its AI advancements.

Part of the trouble is that perceptrons are just software abstractions—running a perceptron network on a GPU requires translating that network into the language of hardware, which takes time and energy. Building a network directly from hardware components does away with a lot of those costs. One day, they could even be built directly into chips used in smartphones and other devices, dramatically reducing the need to send data to and from servers.

Felix Petersen, who did this work as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, has a strategy for making that happen. He designed networks composed of logic gates, which are some of the basic building blocks of computer chips. Made up of a few transistors apiece, logic gates accept two bits—1s or 0s—as inputs and, according to a rule determined by their specific pattern of transistors, output a single bit. Just like perceptrons, logic gates can be chained up into networks. And running logic-gate networks is cheap, fast, and easy: in his talk at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) conference, Petersen said that they consume less energy than perceptron networks by a factor of hundreds of thousands.

Logic-gate networks don’t perform nearly as well as traditional neural networks on tasks like image labeling. But the approach’s speed and efficiency make it promising, according to Zhiru Zhang, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University. “If we can close the gap, then this could potentially open up a lot of possibilities on this edge of machine learning,” he says.

Petersen didn’t go looking for ways to build energy-efficient AI networks. He came to logic gates through an interest in “differentiable relaxations,” or strategies for wrangling certain classes of mathematical problems into a form that calculus can solve. “It really started off as a mathematical and methodological curiosity,” he says.

Backpropagation, the training algorithm that made the deep-learning revolution possible, was an obvious use case for this approach. Because backpropagation runs on calculus, it can’t be used directly to train logic-gate networks. Logic gates only work with 0s and 1s, and calculus demands answers about all the fractions in between. Petersen devised a way to “relax” logic-gate networks enough for backpropagation by creating functions that work like logic gates on 0s and 1s but also give answers for intermediate values. He ran simulated networks with those gates through training and then  converted the relaxed logic-gate network back into something that he could implement in computer hardware.

One challenge with this approach  is that training the relaxed networks is tough. Each node in the network could end up as any one of 16 different logic gates, and the 16 probabilities associated with each of those gates must be kept track of and continually adjusted. That takes a huge amount of time and energy—during his NeurIPS talk, Petersen said that training his networks takes hundreds of times longer than training conventional neural networks on GPUs. At universities, which can’t afford to amass hundreds of thousands of GPUs, that amount of GPU time can be tough to swing—Petersen developed these networks, in collaboration with his colleagues, at Stanford University and the University of Konstanz. “It definitely makes the research tremendously hard,” he says. 

Once the network has been trained, though, things get way, way cheaper. Petersen compared his logic-gate networks with a cohort of other ultra-efficient networks, such as binary neural networks, which use simplified perceptrons that can process only binary values. The logic-gate networks did just as well as these other efficient methods at classifying images in the CIFAR-10 data set, which includes 10 different categories of low-resolution pictures, from “frog” to “truck.” It achieved this with fewer than a tenth of the logic gates required by those other methods, and in less than a thousandth of the time. Petersen tested his networks using programmable computer chips called FPGAs, which can be used to emulate many different potential patterns of logic gates; implementing the networks in non-programmable ASIC chips would reduce costs even further, because programmable chips need to use more components in order to achieve their flexibility.

Farinaz Koushanfar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, San Diego, says she isn’t convinced that logic-gate networks will be able to perform when faced with more realistic problems. “It’s a cute idea, but I’m not sure how well it scales,” she says. She notes that the logic-gate networks can only be trained approximately, via the relaxation strategy, and approximations can fail. That hasn’t caused issues yet, but Koushanfar says that it could prove more problematic as the networks grow. 

Nevertheless, Petersen is ambitious. He plans to continue pushing the abilities of his logic-gate networks, and he hopes, eventually, to create what he calls a “hardware foundation model.” A powerful, general-purpose logic-gate network for vision could be mass-produced directly on computer chips, and those chips could be integrated into devices like personal phones and computers. That could reap enormous energy benefits, Petersen says. If those networks could effectively reconstruct photos and videos from low-resolution information, for example, then far less data would need to be sent between servers and personal devices. 

Petersen acknowledges that logic-gate networks will never compete with traditional neural networks on performance, but that isn’t his goal. Making something that works, and that is as efficient as possible, should be enough. “It won’t be the best model,” he says. “But it should be the cheapest.”

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Dec 22 2024
Drugs like Ozempic now make up 5% of prescriptions in the US

US doctors write billions of prescriptions each year. During 2024, though, one type of drug stood out—“wonder drugs” known as GLP-1 agonists.

As of September, one of every 20 prescriptions written for adults was for one of these drugs, according to the health data company Truveta.

The drugs, which include Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Victoza, are used to treat diabetes, since they help generate insulin. But their popularity exploded after scientists determined the drugs tell your brain you’re not hungry. Without those hunger cues, people find they can lose 10% of their body weight, or even more.

During 2024, the drugs’ popularity hit an all-time high, according to Tricia Rodriguez, a principal applied scientist at Truveta, which studies medical records of 120 million Americans, or about a third of the population.

“Among adults, 5.4% of all prescriptions in September 2024 were for GLP-1s,” Rodriguez says. That is up from 3.5% a year earlier, in 2023, and 1% at the start of 2021.

According to Truveta’s data, people who get prescriptions for these drugs are younger, whiter, and more likely to be female. In fact, women are twice as likely as men to get a prescription.

Yet not everyone who’s prescribed the drugs ends up taking them. In fact, Rodriguez says, half the new prescriptions for obesity are going unfilled.

That’s very unusual, she says, and could be due to shortages or sticker shock over the cost of the treatment. Many insurers don ’t cover weight-loss drugs, and the out-of-pocket price can be $1,300 a month, according to USA Today.

“For most medications, prescribing rates and dispensing rates are pretty much identical,” says Rodriguez. “But for GLP-1s, we see this gap, which is really unique. It’s suggestive that people are really interested in getting these medications, but for whatever reason, they are not always able to.”

It also means the number of people taking these drugs could go higher—maybe much higher—if insurers would pay. “I don’t think that we are at the saturation point, or necessarily nearing the saturation point,” says Rodriguez, noting that around 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.

Use of the drugs may also grow dramatically if new applications are found. Companies are already exploring whether they can treat addiction, or even Alzheimer’s.

Many of the clues about those potential uses are coming directly out of people’s medical records. Because so many people are on the drugs, it means researchers like Rodriguez have a gold mine to sift through for signs of how use of the drugs is affecting other health problems.

“Because we have so many patients that are on these medications, you’re certainly likely to have a good number that also have all of these other conditions,” she says. “One of the things we’re excited about is: How can real-world data help accelerate how quickly we can understand those?”

Here are some of the new uses of GLP-1 drugs that are being explored, based on hints from real-world patient records.

Alzheimer’s disease

This year, researchers poking through records of a million people found that taking semaglutide (sold as Wegovy and Ozempic) was associated with a 40% to 70% lower chance of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

It’s still a guess why the drugs might be helping (or whether they really do), but large international studies are underway to follow up on the lead. Doctors are recruiting people with early Alzheimer’s in more than 30 countries who will take either a placebo or semaglutide for two years. Then we’ll see how much their dementia has progressed.

Addiction

The anecdotes are everywhere: A person on a weight-loss drug finds hunger isn’t the only craving that seems to stop.

Those are the types of clues Eli Lilly’s CEO, David Ricks, says his company will pursue next year, testing whether its GLP-1 drug, tirzepatide (called Mounjaro for diabetes treatment, and Zepbound for weight loss), could help with addiction to alcohol, nicotine, and “other things we don’t think about [as being] connected to weight.”

In comments he made in December, Ricks said the drugs might be “anti-hedonics”—meaning they counteract our hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, be it from food, alcohol, or drugs. A study this year mining digital health records found that opioid addicts taking the drugs were about half as likely to have had an overdose.

Sleep apnea

This idea goes back a ways, including to a 2015 case study of a 260-pound man with diabetes and sleep apnea. When he went on the drug liraglutide, doctors noticed that his sleeping improved.

In sleep apnea, a person gasps for air at night—it’s annoying and, with time, causes health problems.  This year, Eli Lilly published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine on its drug tirzepatide , finding that it caused a 50% decrease in breathing interruption in overweight patients with sleep apnea.

Longevity

This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy as a cardiovascular medicine, after researchers showed the drugs could reduce heart attack and stroke in overweight people.

But that wasn’t all. The study, involving 17,000 people, found that the drug reduced the overall chance someone would die for any reason (known as “all-cause mortality”) by 19%.

That now has aging researchers paying attention. This year they named Wegovy, and drugs like it, among their the top four candidates for a general life-extension drug.

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Dec 21 2024
Google Offers To Loosen Search Engine Deals In Antitrust Response via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has submitted its proposal to address the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit, which accuses the company of monopolistic practices in search.

Google disagrees with the court’s initial decision and plans to appeal. However, as part of the legal process, Google and the DOJ must present remedy proposals.

Background

In October 2020, the DOJ and several state attorneys general sued Google for breaking antitrust laws to maintain its control over search services and advertising.

In September 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled in favor of the DOJ.

The DOJ demands that Google sell Chrome, which it argues strengthens Google’s search dominance.

Additionally, the Justice Department suggested Google sell Android if other solutions fail to restore competition.

Google’s Defense

Google has condemned the DOJ’s proposal, labeling it a “radical interventionist agenda.”

Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs, argued that the remedies would “break a range of Google products” and result in “unprecedented government overreach.”

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s VP of Regulatory Affairs, stated that the case concerns contracts, not broader competition issues.

The company believes its success comes from having better products and innovative ideas rather than engaging in unfair competition.

Google stated in its filing:

“People don’t use Google because they have to — they use it because they want to.”

DOJ’s Demands

The Justice Department’s proposal seeks extensive structural changes, including:

  • Mandatory sale of the Chrome browser
  • Possible sale of Android
  • Prohibition of exclusive agreements
  • Mandatory data sharing with competitors
  • Enhanced oversight through a technical committee

Google’s Remedies Proposal

Google’s proposal focuses on search distribution agreements with browsers and device manufacturers.

Here are the key points:

  1. Browser Agreements: Browser companies like Apple and Mozilla would be allowed to negotiate multiple default search engine agreements across different platforms.
  2. Android Contracts: Device makers would have greater freedom to preload multiple search engines and Google apps independently
  3. Oversight and Compliance: A compliance monitoring system would be implemented

Next Steps

A remedies hearing is scheduled for April, at which time Google will appeal the court’s ruling.

Google argues its proposal meets the court’s findings about search contracts, while the DOJ seeks more extensive changes.

This case outcome could impact the search engine market and Google’s business model as we know it.

Featured Image: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock

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Dec 21 2024
Yoast Co-Founder Calls For WordPress Leadership Change – Mullenweg Resists via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Joost de Valk, co-founder of the Yoast SEO plugin, called for a change in WordPress governance that removes Mullenweg as the sole decision maker, offering to lead the transition to a more democratic and diverse board that is representative of WordPress stakeholders. Matt Mullenweg disagreed.

Critique Of Mullenweg’s Leadership

Joost says that he was prompted to speak out after Matt Mullenweg’s decision to pause WordPress services over the holidays which inadvertently caused an issue with WordCamp registrations, forcing Joost to open a GitHub ticket to fix the problem. The holiday pause made it clear to Joost one-person control of the WordPress project had become problematic.

Mullenweg’s leadership style was called into question, with Joost characterizing him as a Benevolent Dictator For Life (BDFL) whose rule was no longer benevolent. He cited Mullenweg from an interview where he states he doesn’t identify as a dictator and suggested the phrase “enlightened leader.” Joost scoffed at the idea, stating that many in the WordPress community would disagree with the self-description of “enlightened leader.”

WordPress Community Lacks Democracy

The blog post notes the irony the WordPress Project’s mission is to democratize publishing but the WordPress project itself far from democratic, essentially controlled by one person. He expressed the belief that the current governance structure doesn’t allow for diversity of opinions and that his restrictive control over the WordPress trademark is stifling growth.

Screenshot Of WordPress’s Mission Statement

On the lack of diversity of opinions he writes:

“You need many voices, many ideas, many backgrounds. You need to embrace diversity. Unfortunately, those with ideas that don’t follow the same direction as our current leader, are being shut down, quite a few even banned…”

One of the changes Joost proposes is a loosening of Mullenweg’s grip on the WordPress trademark to allow for more growth:

“The WordPress trademark is given to the public domain or otherwise dealt with in such a way that every company can freely say that they do ‘WordPress hosting’, ‘WordPress support’ etc. Not just because that’s the right thing to do in my mind, but because doing so means we allow growth of the terms and the concepts.”

Joost’s Role and Vision For Change

Lastly, Joost volunteers to lead the change at WordPress so that it becomes a truly democratic foundation with a governing board representing all the stakeholders.

He writes:

“Taking back the commons means that we try to hear every voice, be considerate of all the different use cases of that commons and bring us all forward.

…I’m here, and willing to lead through this transition.”

Among the changes that Joost proposes is a “federated” WordPress repository, a way for multiple plugin and theme directories can curate reviews and addition which then update to the other directories, decentralizing the official WordPress theme and plugin repositories.

He expects to enter discussions with others sometime in the middle of January 2025 to come up with a plan for how to move forward.

Mullenweg Rejects Joost’s Proposals

Matt Mullenweg commented on Joost’s blog post, offering a passive-aggressive dismissal of everything he proposed. His comment was veiled in politeness while handing out indirect criticism and a recommendation that Joost should leave the WordPress community.

These parts of Mullenweg’s response suggest that Joost should start his own community outside of WordPress:

“I think this is a great idea for you to lead and do under a name other than WordPress… There’s really no way to accomplish everything you want without starting with a fresh slate…”

Here is Mullenweg’s full response:

“I think this is a great idea for you to lead and do under a name other than WordPress. There’s really no way to accomplish everything you want without starting with a fresh slate from a trademark, branding, and people point of view.”

The Internal Struggle Is Already Happening

If Mullenweg resists change, an internal struggle within the WordPress community seems inevitable. In fact, momentum for this has already begun; a group of WordPress contributors recently signed an open letter seeking governance reform.

The open letter was written by:

  • “Core committers and contributors
  • Make/WordPress team elders and contributors
  • Others serving in various community roles”

They wrote:

  • “We object to the status quo, and believe the WordPress project’s current internal operating structure threatens the health and sustainability of the project and its community.
  • We object to the continued opaqueness of the WordPress governance model.
  • We object to one person, Matt Mullenweg, controlling all official infrastructure, including the project’s website, email systems, support forums, core, plugin, and theme repositories, update systems, security tools, communication channels, and other technical assets.
  • We object to major decisions being made without community input, advice, or support.”

Change is coming. Joost’s proposal is a way to accomplish that change in a manner that protects the core principles and community of the WordPress open source project.

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Dec 21 2024
Puzzle Corner September/October 2024 bonus solutions

Here are solutions for the three bonus problems that appeared in the September/October 2024 Puzzle Corner column we guest edited. Solutions for S/O2, S/O4, and S/O6 are below; those for S/O1, S/O3, and S/O5 can be found here.

S/O2. Frank notes that a repunit Rk is a decimal integer consisting of the digit 1 repeated k times, with k > 0. For example, R1 = 1, R2 = 11, R3 = 111, etc. Let N be any integer not divisible by 2 or 5. Prove that there is a repunit divisible by N.

David Dewan came up with this solution (which Richard Lipes also found on Wikipedia): Let N be any integer not divisible by 2 or 5. Consider repunits R1 = 1, R2 = 11, R3 = 111, …, RN+1 and their residues modulo N. There are at most N different residues, so the set of N + 1 residues modulo N must contain at least one repeat. Assume RA mod N and RB mod N with B > A are the same. Then (RB – RA) mod N = (RB-A10A) mod N = 0. Since N and 10 are relatively prime, N divides RB-A.

S/O4. Frank offers this sudoku problem:

Many readers tackled it successfully. For anyone who got stuck, here’s the answer key:

“Ten years ago I was doing what is now called AI,” Richard Marks ’58 writes. He noted that trying all possible iterations of a sudoku problem “will tie up your Cray for a week. So I personally wrote the rules and coded this little AI program that solves any sudoko by the time you have released the “Solve It” button. Since I wrote the program from scratch, I guess you can say I solved S/O4.”

S/O6. On behalf of the MIT Chess Club, Justin Zhou ’25 asked how White can play and mate in two (see below).

Frank Model ’63 says there are two cases to consider: when Black can castle, and when Black cannot. If Black can castle, then Black’s last move had to be Pc7-c5. In this case White can take en passant, Pb5-c6. If Black castles, then White plays Pb7#. If Black can castle, but makes some other move, then White plays Rf8#. 

If Black cannot castle, then White plays Ke6. Black cannot escape mate on the next move when White plays Rf8#.

Steve Gordon noted that this problem illustrates the three special chess moves. The following was adapted from his analysis with his algebraic chess notation. 

Black last moved either a king, rook, or c5. If c5, then 1. bxc6 (en passant a.k.a e. p.). If Black can still castle queenside (1. Kc8 & Rd8, a.k.a O-O-O), then 2. b7#. If Black cannot, its king is still trapped on rank 8, so after any black move, 2. Rf8#. If Black last moved a king or rook, en passant is not possible for White, but Black can’t castle either, so 1. Ke6 also traps the black king on rank 8, and after any Black move, 2. Rf8#. Note: To create this puzzle, the white bishop on g7 resulted from an underpromotion on h8.

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Dec 21 2024
Enabling human-centric support with generative AI

It’s a stormy holiday weekend, and you’ve just received the last notification you want in the busiest travel week of the year: The first leg of your flight is significantly delayed.

You might expect this means you’ll be sitting on hold with airline customer service for half an hour. But this time, the process looks a little different: You have a brief text exchange with the airline’s AI chatbot, which quickly assesses your situation and places you in a priority queue. Shortly after, a human agent takes over, confirms the details, and gets you rebooked on an earlier flight so you can make your connection. You’ll be home in time to enjoy mom’s pot roast.

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Generative AI is becoming a key component of business operations and customer service interactions today. According to Salesforce research, three out of five workers (61%) either currently use or plan to use generative AI in their roles. A full 68% of these employees are confident that the technology—which can churn out text, video, image, and audio content almost instantaneously—will enable them to provide more enriching customer experiences.

But the technology isn’t a complete solution—or a replacement for human workers. Sixty percent of the surveyed employees believe that human oversight is indispensable for effective and trustworthy generative AI.

Generative AI enables people and increases efficiencies in business operations, but using it to empower employees will make all the difference. Its full business value will only be achieved when it is used thoughtfully to blend with human empathy, ingenuity, and emotional intelligence.

Generative AI pilots across industries

Though the technology is still nascent, many generative AI use cases are starting to emerge.

In sales and marketing, generative AI can assist with creating targeted ad content, identifying leads, upselling, cross-selling, and providing real-time sales analytics. When used for internal functions like IT, HR, and finance, generative AI can improve help-desk services, simplify recruitment processes, generate job descriptions, assist with onboarding and exit processes, and even write code.

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This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff.

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