As expected, Meta’s X-ish Threads platform is to begin rolling out ads beginning with a small number of advertisers in selected regions including the U.S. and Japan. Threads currently has some 300 million monthly users, with 75% of them following one or more brands. The test ads that some users will see will resemble sponsored content on Facebook and Instagram.
Act-On, the long-established marketing automation platform, has been acquired by Banzai, a special purpose acquisition company that owns a range of marketing solutions. Act-On raised a total of $93 million since was founded in 2008, maintaining a small but persistent share of its market. Its sale in a cash-plus-stock-and-warrant deal valued at $53 million reflects the challenges now facing independent martech specialists.
While only 2% of consumers worry about their data being used for personalized advertising, 80% are concerned about it being used for criminal activity, according to an IAB survey of some 4,000 shoppers. Only 40% of U.S. consumers know they access and delete their data, while 60% find privacy management inconvenient and complex. A strong majority like relevant and personalized ads.
Twilio is adding ‘contextual awareness’ to its Segment CDP, which in plainer English means data stored in Segment will be available when creating event-triggered, real-time messages. This and a redesigned journey architecture are part of Twilio’s “next generation” customer engagement platform, which also includes natural voice AI agents, voice and text analytics, and RCS and WhatsApp messaging. Twilio separately announced a multi-year partnership with Microsoft to speed the adoption of conversational AI for customer engagement.