Is Facebook’s reactions button a step toward AI in adland?
Before you laugh at the question, hear me out. Sentiment, commentary and image analysis are the next frontiers on the journey to an artificial intelligence (AI) media landscape, and there are huge efficiencies and new value for brands to pioneer in this area.
To know that your ad or content is reaching a happy person instead of a sad person, to understand a consumer’s feelings when interacting with your brand, and to know the psycho-social profile of those who like you most, are just some of the hugely beneficial insights derived from sentiment, commentary and image analysis. These, paired with the rise in programmatic and cross-platform identification, will get us closer to a media industry organised around machine learning to the point of telepathy.
Will algorithms destroy or save ad agencies?
Lazar Dzamic
Read more
Clearly the new Facebook “reactions” feature will not lead to AI in itself, but when we view it alongside other developments this year, it does demonstrate continued momentum towards machine learning. The new feature will work like an extension of the Like button, providing people with more than one way to express their emotions about content. Sure, the options are limited, but are just enough when paired with other inputs.
Understanding the post content, the “reaction” response and the user’s written word as code, paints a more nuanced picture. Reaction responses, image analysis capabilities, and words and other emoticons as data points will start to help machines collect a stockpile of scenarios. These new data scenarios stored against user IDs will help machines learn the likely emotion someone is experiencing at a given time, and tailor responses accordingly.
In time, as more and more scenarios are stored, machines will start to predict instead of respond, and as a result treat each of us as the unique sentient beings that we are. I could not be more thrilled at the prospect.
Machine learning will take time and there will be mismatching, but we are already experiencing a test and learn environment where errors happen daily.
When was the last time you bought something on or offline, but were still targeted for that same exact item in banner ads after purchase? As a shoe lover, this happens to me often. One brand recognises me in one ad system and platform, whereas another recognises me on a different system and platform. Both know I want some new trainers, but their data and IDs are not compatible – one brand does not know that I have purchased the trainers from the other. This matching of different data sets alongside sentiment, commentary and visual analysis will indeed lead us to an AI reality.
Is artificial intelligence the next step in advertising?
Read more
So, what can we do today to realise, and reap the benefits, of this AI future?
First, do you have a sense of your consumers’ passion points? What are the types of content they engage with, the channels they follow, and the influencers they admire and follow?
Second, are you clear about the emotion your brand and content hope to illicit? Who are your brand’s enemies and who are its allies? What are the emotional states that drive action in your consumers?
Finally, which partners can you can work with to leverage emotion in advertising? Many media partners are starting to explore the role of emotion in receiving message and content. From Unruly in targeting to BuzzFeed in content, there are already ways to identify what works best for whom and in which context.
As for the real-time adaption of ads depending on a user’s emotional state, this will take time. However, we could expect players such as YouTube, Google search or Facebook to start move into this area soon.
Facebook’s new feature will not lead to AI on their own, but they are another sign of where the industry is heading – understanding and leveraging the deeper motivations behind consumer behaviours.
JR Little is global head of innovation, Carat
To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox,sign up free for Media Network membership.
All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “Advertisement feature”. Find out more here.