Local Memo: Google Maps, Earth, and Gemini — A Recipe for Advanced Localized Insights

In this week’s post, learn about localized insights across Google Maps, Earth, and Gemini; the continued growth of the Meta’s Threads platform; Instagram’s move to adjust video quality based on popularity; and TikTok’s STEM feed highlighting educational content.

Google Maps, Earth, and Gemini — A Recipe for Advanced Localized Insights

The News

Google is introducing new generative AI features for the Google Maps platform and Google Earth, aimed at equipping developers and urban planners with up-to-date, practical data. One of the key updates is “grounding with Google Maps,” which lets developers utilize Google’s extensive place data to create generative AI-powered applications. This feature helps large language models provide more accurate and current information by accessing fresh data on 250 million locations, ensuring that answers remain factual and relevant for users across various industries.

An exciting application of these AI advancements will soon appear in Rivian vehicles, where AI summaries of locations will be displayed on in-car screens. This feature, powered by Google’s Gemini capabilities in the Places API, allows drivers to quickly learn about local restaurants, shops, and other points of interest. Such applications can streamline the user experience in navigation, offering more engaging, informative summaries directly in real-time as users travel.

Additionally, Google Earth is being enhanced with Gemini’s generative AI to assist urban planners with complex geospatial analyses, making city planning faster and more efficient. For instance, transportation planners could ask Google Earth to identify areas in need of EV charging stations and receive not only data but also custom visualizations of underserved locations. This integration allows planners to obtain detailed insights at the city level in minutes instead of days, significantly speeding up the planning process and improving the quality of city-wide infrastructure projects.

Why This Matters

These innovations represent Google’s commitment to advancing localized intelligence with generative AI. The company is working to enhance local information for consumers and industries alike with their Google Maps Places API integration, and solve broader scale problems with their advancements in Google Earth. By providing rich, real-world data for various applications, Google hopes these tools will enable developers, businesses, and city planners to build better, more data-driven solutions.

Meta’s Threads Community Reaches 275M Monthly Active Users

The News

Meta’s Threads app, positioned as an alternative to X (formerly Twitter), has surged in users, hitting 275 million monthly active users according to Meta’s Q3 earnings. Threads’ growth rate has accelerated significantly, with the platform adding 100 million users in the past three months alone. Since Elon Musk’s takeover, X has shifted toward political content, alienating some users who prefer less divisive social media spaces and potentially benefitting Threads.

Threads’ success also reflects a growing demand for platforms that steer away from politics. Meta has endeavored to minimize political content on Facebook in response to user feedback, and is also using Threads as an opportunity to create an engaging, inclusive environment. While some experts argue that limiting political discourse might cap Threads’ potential to fully rival X, its appeal at the moment remains strong, attracting millions of new users each day.

While the app is gaining traction, Meta has no immediate plans to monetize it, holding off on ads until it reaches one billion users. However, Threads’ rapid growth may accelerate that timeline. Observers also point out that Meta has already prepared for ad placements in the Threads app, indicating that monetization could come sooner.

Why This Matters

Threads’ recent growth and Meta’s restraint around ads could strengthen its position as a social media network. If the platform can balance user growth with its non-political approach, it has the potential to challenge X next year, marking Threads as a legitimate alternative in the real-time social space. For now, the platform seems well-positioned as a dynamic player in the landscape, one that brands and marketers should keep an eye on for organic engagement opportunities.

Instagram Moves Videos to a Lower Quality based on Views

The News

Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s head, recently explained that Instagram dynamically adjusts the quality of video content, such as Stories and Reels, based on engagement levels and network conditions. If a video is popular shortly after being posted, it will display in high quality; if it sees less engagement, Instagram may lower the resolution to optimize storage and processing. However, videos can be re-rendered in high quality if they regain popularity. Mosseri explains that this approach is designed to enhance overall platform performance by preserving resources for highly viewed content.

Additionally, on slower internet connections, Instagram will deliver videos in a lower resolution to reduce load times. Video quality often matters more to creators themselves than to viewers, who tend to focus on content value rather than visual clarity. Though Instagram has aimed to improve reach for smaller creators, this video quality strategy inherently favors content that consistently attracts views.

This policy reflects Instagram’s efforts to enhance user experience for the broader audience, even though it can unintentionally affect visibility for less-engaged content. As a result, smaller creators and those posting older videos may experience a slight dip in engagement, but Mosseri suggests quality is a secondary factor to content appeal.

Why This Matters

For marketers and content creators, understanding Instagram’s video quality management highlights the importance of quickly engaging audiences to maintain video quality, maximizing reach and engagement.

TikTok Adds a STEM Feed

The News

The STEM feed on TikTok offers a dedicated space for content related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, aimed at fostering educational and informative videos within these fields. Users can activate or disable this feed from their TikTok settings, where it appears prominently at the top of the app, making STEM content easier to find and engage with.

TikTok curates the STEM feed to include videos meeting the platform’s community guidelines. This content, which can also be featured in the main For You feed, undergoes a quality review; any video removed from the For You feed for violating guidelines is also removed from the STEM feed. The STEM feed may include content from regions worldwide, ensuring a diverse collection of STEM topics, though content availability can depend on regional settings.

To maintain a reliable STEM feed, TikTok has developed a vetting process that includes both internal and third-party reviews. First, TikTok’s internal systems identify STEM-related posts, which are then checked by external partners to confirm they’re appropriate and accurate. An additional third-party fact-checking layer verifies the reliability of the information before content is approved for the STEM feed.

Courtesy: TikTok

Why This Matters

If a business has content that could fit in the STEM feed, it may end up there and see more reach than other posts that are only in the normal For You feed. TikTok’s STEM feed offers an opportunity for users to explore educational content within a dedicated space, supporting both creators and viewers with an interest in these fields. This approach reflects TikTok’s growing emphasis on creating specialized content feeds that engage users with high-quality, fact-checked information, making it a valuable resource for learning and exploring STEM topics within the platform.