The news: Meta is shifting its AI strategy from mining its online social networks to tapping more real-world conversations as original posts on Facebook and Instagram fade, per Social Media Today.
- Its acquisition of Limitless, an AI startup known for a wearable that records everyday conversations and produces summaries, opens up a new data channel. Meta could fold its technology into future AI glasses since Limitless stopped selling devices to users, per Reuters.
- Meta also struck a partnership with ElevenLabs, a leader in voice translation and AI audio tools. This alliance will produce troves of translated speech and interpretation data that Meta's models can ingest.
These deals can enrich its AI training with everyday dialogue, including questions people ask, how they answer, and how they correct AI mistakes. This could fuel stronger language models.
Why it matters: Instagram engagement across all content types fell 28% YoY, per Social Insider. Algorithm changes favor impressions and watch time, especially Reels and carousels; prioritize saves, shares, and comments over likes; and boost newer creators, making organic reach harder and engagement less predictable for brands.
With a weakening stream of real-time user-generated content (UGC), Meta risks ceding ground to rivals like xAI and AI systems built on Reddit’s Q&A threads, which offer direct conversational insight.
The caveat: Meta’s latest partnerships and acquisitions could run afoul of legal and ethical concerns about recording real speech and privacy norms.
What this means for advertisers: Meta’s alternative AI training sources could deepen personalization and predictive insights if these conversation flows feed next-gen recommendation engines. Advertisers might gain richer behavior signals and context that go beyond scroll patterns and likes.
Feeding conversational signals into ad systems delivers more timely insight and smarter chatbots, providing Meta and its advertisers a data-rich alternative as traditional training data sources thin out.
This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.