THE BIG STORY

The Fastest-Growing Social Media News Source

In a new Pew Research Center survey, a small but fast-growing share of U.S. adults say they regularly get news on TikTok, which is primarily known for short-form video sharing. By contrast, many other social media sites have seen news consumption stay about the same or even decline in recent years.

In just three years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has more than quadrupled, from 3 percent to 14 percent. Among those ages 18 to 29, nearly one-third say they regularly get news on TikTok.

Half of U.S. adults now get news at least sometimes from social media, Pew reports. Facebook outpaces all other social media sites; 30 percent of U.S. adults say they regularly get news there.

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TECHNOLOGY

Laid-Off Tech Workers Flock to Canada

After massive layoffs in the U.S. tech industry left high-skilled foreign H-1B holders in limbo, Canada saw an opportunity, CNBC reports. It launched a pilot program for up to 10,000 U.S. H-1B visa holders to apply for a three-year open work permit in Canada—and it has issued 6,000 work permits so far. The program is a part of Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy, a larger multiyear plan to recruit the world’s top tech talent.

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CREATIVITY

YouTube Plans Crackdown on Synthetic Media

YouTube this week said it will soon implement stricter measures on realistic AI-generated content hosted by the service, Ars Technica reports. "We’ll require creators to disclose when they've created altered or synthetic content that is realistic, including using AI tools," the company wrote in a blog post. The move comes as part of a series of efforts by the platform to address challenges posed by generative AI in content creation, including deepfakes, voice cloning, and disinformation.

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MARKETING

Only Some Emails Are Effective, Marketers Say

Email marketing can generate a high level of engagement—or not, experts say. Marketers surveyed by HubSpot say multimedia emails are one type that drives engagement, while product/service announcements and article-style emails perform poorly.

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SPONSORED

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QUICK HITS

• Scientific information and data analytics giant Elsevier has teamed up with medical startup OpenEvidence to allow doctors to use generative AI to access up-to-date medical research as they treat patients in real time.
• Jezebel, the sharp-edged feminist website that developed an impassioned following at the height of the blogosphere era but ended up struggling with its business model, says it is shutting down after 16 years.
• New Yale University research highlights the importance of in-person communication, finding that the brain doesn't process Zoom conversations the same way as face-to-face conversations.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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"The fact that AIs can hallucinate reminds us that humans still need to bring their critical thinking skills to the use of these tools."

—Wendalyn Nichols, Cambridge Dictionary's publishing manager, on why "hallucinate" is the dictionary's word of the year