Digital updates you don't want to miss in 2023?

Jan 31 2023

2023 has started, which means a lot of new trends will appear. As a marketer or communication manager, you’re active in the fastest evolving world possible. But what if we, who already gathered this knowledge, could share the useful updates? Let’s find out what’s new in 2023. 🤓

1. RIP live shopping 👀

Since 1st of October Facebook shut down its experiment with live shopping. We expect this change to have an influence and be questioned by other social media platforms, like TikTok. It might even disappear and disturb TikTok’s plan to keep on growing. Luckily for them live shopping remains active on Instagram, so keep on hoping.

ChatGPT as a solution?

2. To AI or not to AI? 💬

Looking for more inspiration for your brainstorm, ideas how to get a sensitive message across in an email, fun puns for your social copy or visuals...? ChatGPT might be the solution you were waiting for! The chatbot, launched by OpenAI, produces answers that are almost indistinguishable from humans. It feels like you can ask anything and within a minute the bot gives you an answer, which makes it a viable source for marketing inspiration.

But you might want to take into account that it’s not actually a human being on the other side of the chat. The ChatGPT can give incorrect answers. The way you formulate your question can change the entire outcome. The chatbot is built on several language models and provides the ‘ideal answer’ based on what the model knows. That’s why up to today logical and critical thinking is necessary when going over the provided response of the chatbot. How (fast) will this technology evolve? That’s still a mystery. But what’s sure is that this is just the beginning.

3. Click, pick and check out 💳

Pinterest is still thriving thanks to the possibility of in-app purchases with ‘Hosted Checkout’. Hosted checkout allows merchants to host their checkout page within a web view on the Pinterest app. This means people can browse products on their mobile devices, select their preferred product details from the product Pin, then jump straight to a merchant’s checkout page. If this isn’t a great reason to pin your catalog products in Pinterest, we don’t know what is.

4. Watch out: copycats around the corner 🐱

TikTok was knocked off its first place as most authentic platform when BeReal was launched and gained a lot of popularity in early 2022. Data.ai even said they reached more than 10 million downloads. Other social media channels saw the growth of this simultaneously-front-and-back-camera photo application and especially TikTok wanted to gain back its title. Their reaction? TikTok Now was brought to life.

Not only TikTok made an exact clone of BeReal. Instagram launched a prototype for their ‘new’ Instagram feature called Instagram Candid and guess what? BeReal 2.0! It is actually not quite a surprise that Instagram cloned the king of authenticity, because when Snapchat stories became the new big thing in the digital world, they launched Instagram Stories and when TikTok first skyrocketed, Instagram launched Reels. Also wondering what Instagram’s next clone will be? 😉

5. Unplugging: you can on Instagram 🤫

In need of focus or some quiet time? Or just to set boundaries from your clients or followers on social media? Instagram found the solution for you. Turning off your notifications isn’t necessary anymore because Instagram introduced the ‘Quiet mode’. It basically turns off your notifications for a specific time you can manage yourself and send auto-replies to your direct messages.

Sadly, in Belgium we will have to wait just a bit longer, but since January 19th it’s already available in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. So, some peace and quiet is coming your way!

6. LinkedIn can’t stay behind 💪🏼

Last but not least, LinkedIn also made changes to not stay behind on the current trends. Just like the link stickers on Instagram, LinkedIn has added the option to add a link sticker since the beginning of August. The link can be added anywhere and should boost engagement and traffic to websites, resources, job listings... Haven’t seen it yet? LinkedIn likes to test your patience because although they did a global roll-out of this feature in August, it’s not yet available everywhere. Let’s keep an eye out together for desktop because on mobile it’s already possible!

Ready to explore all these trends and social media platforms for your brand, company or yourself? Great, because the digital world doesn’t stand still! Don’t hesitate if you have any questions, because we’d love to help you out!