Karan Chadda

Global digital marketing and communications leader

Pause for thought: my February reads

Here’s a list of interesting things I read in Feb.

1. Semfor Signals uses AI to balance news reporting

The advent of AI in the newsroom is a double-edged sword, promising efficiency but raising concerns about skewed narratives. Enter Semafor Signals, an interesting approach that aims to relay reports without bias. This AI-powered system sifts through mountains of data, using contextual and emotional analysis to try to present news that’s transparent, balanced, and resistant to algorithmic biases. It’s not drawn me into becoming a regular Semafor reader, but it might do in the messy election cycle that’s ramping up.

Check it out: Introducing Semafor Signals

2. Will AI limit human intelligence?

A deep, reflective piece questioning whether AI is beginning to cap human cognitive aspirations. This philosophical musing makes a compelling case for the perpetual undervaluing of human intellect and emotion. Taking a critical lens to AI’s relentless march, the author argues that while we’ve grown adept at creating efficient machines, we’re at risk of suffocating the essential elements of humanity: creativity and empathy.

Dive in: AI Limits Human Aspirations

3. Tyler Perry on AI and Hollywood

An indication of the big shifts that might hit Hollywood as AI’s inexorable rise sparks fear and innovation in equal measure. Renowned filmmaker Tyler Perry’s candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter is an eye-opener. Sharing how AI has affected his creative process, he holds up a mirror to the industry, which faces the unnerving prospect of algorithmically driven scripts and algorithms determining box-office gold. AI’s impact on film production isn’t a distant prospect—it’s now.

Read up: Tyler Perry’s AI Alarm

4. TikTok’s Trends Report

In the epoch of TikTok, storytelling has found a new canvas—and a not-surprising commercial success. TikTok’s slightly sales-y 2024 Trend Report shows the platform as a narrative powerhouse. Delving into consumer trends, this corporate content doubles as a digestible look into the nuanced art of digital storytelling. Storytellers and marketers should at least skim this.

Peek in: TikTok’s 2024 Trend Report

5. YouTube and the Indian elections

The world’s largest democracy goes to the polls this year. The last election demonstrated the impact of WhatsApp as a campaigning tool. This piece from Rest of World looks at YouTube’s rising prominence in the current campaign. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you want to spot interesting social media innovations, look for it in campaigns.

Dig deep: India Elections 2024

6. Pew’s latest data on social media in America

Pew’s comprehensive report shines a light on the latest shifts, trends, and takeaways from how Americans use social media. It remains one of the most useful datasets to understand, at a broad level, which social media channels remain part of the lives of different demographics. There’s little to surprise but much that reaffirms what we already know.

Uncover insights: Pew’s Social Media Use Data

7. An ode to the 404 page

Have you ever wandered into the digital void, landing on a page that doesn’t exist, only to be greeted by a nondescript error message? Imagine if, instead, you were met with wit, comfort, or even an unexpected piece of art. I loved and shared with many people this exploration of 404 pages, those digital cul-de-sacs we occasionally find ourselves in.

If you read one thing, read this: The Art of the Error Message

Lighten the Load: Why Slim Web Pages Are Essential in an AI-Fueled World

In digital, speed is synonymous with strength. Website owners have long been told that site speed is crucial for SEO and overall user satisfaction. A new source of urgency is emerging: the rise of performance-hungry AI technology.

Lighter web pages aren’t just a technical requisite. They are the foundation for delivering a seamless user experience amidst the AI revolution.

The Era of Instantaneity

If you’ve ever been on the Eurostar, hurtling down the tracks at thrilling speeds, you know how frustrating it is when the train slows to a crawl and then grounds to a halt. Much like crawling to Paris, today’s websites are often bogged down by hefty-sized pages, resulting in the erosion of speed, performance, and ultimately, user engagement.

I love creating fancy things for the web. Yet, every line of code, every image, and every feature I place on a webpage weighs it down a little more. We’re serving webpages to more powerful machines through faster connections but we’re about to start delivering truly performance-hungry tech and that’s going to have an impact.

As new technologies like AI and machine learning algorithms are embedded on websites, we will need to understand the trade-off between functionality and performance. These capabilities, while groundbreaking, are voracious in their appetite for resources. A lean website is paramount for AI’s peak performance.

Speed and Beyond: A Matter of User Experience

As I’ve demoed new AI functionality to those not obsessed with tech, a common refrain has been, “Why is it taking so long?” Speed is now a locked-in expectation. Just as we expect to get from London to Paris in two hours, we expect things immediately to happen on the web.

This is not just about loading times. It’s about how users feel when navigating through the digital realms we create. A lag here, a buffer there – these moments, though seemingly minuscule, are where frustration brews and engagement drops.

Subtle yet profound, the heavy toll of slow and bulky websites becomes more evident with each passing day. It’s not simply a metric to appease search algorithms; it lies at the heart of the experience of every curious soul who clicks on a link searching for knowledge, connection, or service.

Embracing Simplicity

It’s time to rediscover the art of subtraction. Through the lens of simplicity, let’s begin to reimagine the web spaces we create.

We should create experiences that marry the beauty of simplicity with the depth of AI.

Much like a gifted architect refrains from cluttering spaces to allow inhabitants to fill them with life, we must craft web pages that leave room for technology to breathe and perform. We need more piazzas and fewer malls.

Weaving It All Together

As we stand at the frontier of a technological revolution, our principles and practices must evolve as well. Weaving the tapestry of a lighter web requires meticulous attention to detail, a spirit of innovation, and a willingness to question legacy decisions.

Ultimately, I need to practice what I preach. Over the coming weeks, I’m going to get into the weeds of my simple WordPress site and whittle away the unnecessary elements to make it much lighter. Whoever runs your website should probably do the same, too.

Digital Storytelling: A Dance with Attention

In a digital age marked by fleeting glances and swipe-happy fingers, storytelling faces a formidable opponent: the short attention span. The narrative that once unfolded leisurely over the curled pages of well-worn novels now competes with the immediate gratification of 280-character quips and six-second videos.

So, how does one captivate a skittish audience? The challenge isn’t new—storytellers have always vied for the ears and eyes of the public. Yet, modern digital storytelling demands an evolved dance with attention, choreographed to the rhythm of urgency and intrigue.

The first Impression

Consider the imperative of grabbing attention early. A bold claim? A provocative question? Or perhaps an unexpected image? A picture might be worth not just a thousand words but a thousand clicks. Making an undeniable first impression is crucial—let the audience glimpse the white rabbit they can’t resist chasing.

Writing with varying pace

Of course, securing initial attention is not enough. The art of writing with pace redefines the modern narrative. We consume on-the-go, our screens in one hand, while life rushes by alongside. Here, break away from the metronome—that constant, underlying rhythm. Writing to a beat creates a monotone thrum in the reader’s mind. Mix it up with the cut and thrust of short sentences followed by longer, descriptive ones, that compel the reader to move forward. Immediate, punchy openings give way to insightful, exploratory passages, taking a breath before propelling into the next swirl of activity.

This rhythm, individual as a fingerprint, is what lures the reader on. Readers should find themselves feverishly scrolling through a post, curiosity piqued by the dance between fact and narrative, research and reflection.

Keeping the flame alive

Employing a broad range of references and analogies is akin to adding wood to the fire—it ignites and then invigorates the reader’s attention. Once a reader is engaged, weaving AI to ancient mythology, or linking marketing to the philosophy of choice keeps their brain working. The narrative becomes a tapestry, each thread an opportunity to hook the reader’s interest anew.

When written artfully, it’s irrelevant whether the reader came for the technology tips or the existential musings. They stay for the sheer delight of watching seemingly separate worlds collide and coalesce into insights they hadn’t imagined.

Strum the strings

In the digital age, stringing words together is not enough; you must strum something deeper, too. Digital storytelling requires pacing, a diverse palette of references, and a deeply personal voice. It’s about engaging intellectually and emotionally—offering a hand to the reader, inviting them into an ever-shifting dance of the digital narrative.

We must be conductors of curiosity, leading our audience through tempo changes, thought-provoking leaps, and the reassuring presence of our shared humanity. Let’s tell stories that resonate beyond the flicker of the screen.

Stitching together January

Couplets

I’m a regular listener of the excellent Empire podcast, hosted by Anita Anand and William Dalrymple. They’re currently focusing on Persia. A highlight is their episode on Ferdowsi, a poet credited with reviving Persian culture through his epic poem, the Shahnameh. I was so drawn in by the episode that I’m currently wading through the Penguin Classics translation.

The epic consists of 50,000 couplets. This struck a chord with me. The Bhagavad Gita is also written in couplets. Indeed, across the Middle East and Asia, couplets seem to be the favoured form to pass information forward through time. 

I then stumbled on toward Shakespeare, form, meter, feet, and ended up very confused at iambic pentameter. I moved on. I can see why free form poetry is so popular.

Talking of form… 

Is this story storying?

I understand this is how the kids are speaking now. When something is a good example of its type, it is deemed to be whatever-ing. So a good hoodie is hoodie-ing. I love this expression, but much too uncool to actually use it. 

This, along with a few other trends, got me thinking about how we tell stories. How we tell them online has changed. So, what is a good story now? I’ve spent much of the month discussing, thinking and playing around with storytelling. How we do it. And how we might do it better. Particularly with data. And especially in a world when we’re all just little faces on a screen. Perhaps the storytelling techniques of TikTok might be applicable to Teams or Zoom?

My answers for better storytelling so far include winning attention early and the use of jeopardy to create urgency. Short form stories and media might be a readymade template for this. If you want your zooms to be zooming, then your stories need to be storying.

And speaking of better…

Better vs Faster (the inevitable AI section)

My thinking on AI this month has focused on how we can learn more in order to make better decisions, rather than just produce things faster. 

Much has been written and said about the inevitable forward progress of technology. I don’t disagree with it. The Luddites didn’t stop the looms. However, all fabric is not equal. A loom can make a coarse woollen cloth, or something finer and more valuable. The latter takes new knowledge. That’s where I’m most interested in playing. 

Of course, one of the paths to new knowledge is to free up time to explore. So, perhaps faster is an enabler of better. It’s an “and” not an “or”. 

On AI, I’m going to move faster. My goal, though, is to land at better.