Briefing: Instagram nudges, Stripe retries, Chrome AI
Plus: Serverless explained, OKRs leaked, Visual AI workflows, How to design indicators
Hi product people 👋,
Welcome to the 220+ new subscribers who joined this past week!
Instagram is introducing a new late night safety feature that warns teens when they’re scrolling that they should be sleeping. The night time nudge will encourage younger users to close the app after a specific time of the day if activity is detected. Following the drafting of new anti-digital addiction laws by the EU parliament, product teams should brace themselves for the potential introduction of new legislation which could restrict addiction-inducing design patterns like infinite scrolling.
Meanwhile, only 6% of companies have managed to train more than a quarter of their workforce on GenAI tools, according to a new survey by BCG. And part of the reason some folks struggle to incorporate GenAI into their work is that they’re not entirely sure how to piece the various different tools and technologies together. This week, a new early-stage product we came across hopes to make that simpler - for product teams at least. VectorShift is visual AI workflow tool designed to allow product teams to build visual workflows that plug into existing tools including Notion, Google Drive and Airtable. Use cases relevant for product teams include the ability to create AI agents that will do things like answer customer support queries or search connected documents.
The 2024 Oscar nominations were also announced this week, but the awards season that matters most to product people is the annual Golden Kitty awards from ProductHunt. GPT-4, naturally, won product of the year but some of the winners worth checking out for product teams include the design tool Jitter, an open-sourced notifications platform and a beautifully designed tool that helps you visualise and connect your knowledge.
In other product news, Netflix earnings outperformed expectations. The company added 13 million new subscribers and grew revenues to $8.8 billion for the quarter. In its letter to investors, execs doubled down on the company’s commitment to invest in new content in 2024 and grow their market share (Netlflix currently only accounts for 10% of TV viewership). What’s most notable though, is that ad-funded plans are up 70% on the quarter and now account for 40% of all new Netflix sign ups. With Amazon also deploying the same ad-funded pricing models and companies like Uber and Instacart developing new ad-funded monetization strategies, could the tactic of adding discounted ad-funded plans eventually spill over into other product categories like SaaS too?
Finally, if you’re looking to curb your own doom-scrolling habits, this new product will transform your phone’s home screen into a no-frills, distraction free experience that promises to ‘enhance your consciousness’.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
PS, admissions for the upcoming Web Technologies program led by Atlassian’s Chase Nielson close next week.
Essential reads for product teams
New from the Department of Product this week
🧠 Knowledge Series - What is serverless?
You’ve probably heard the term serverless pop up in conversations with engineering and DevOps teams, but the term itself is a bit of a misnomer. Serverless actually doesn’t mean that no servers are involved in your product since that would be technically impossible. In this Knowledge Series, we’ll explore what serverless is, how it works and how it fits into other aspects of the tech stack.DOP Deep - Spotify, Revolut and how to productize your internal tools
A deeper look at the rise of productizing internal tools as a new way to generate revenues
(Department of Product)
UX - How to use indicators, validations and notifications
Status feedback is crucial to the success of any system. Knowing when to use 3 common communication methods is key to supporting users. This deep dive by the NN Group explores the differences between the 3 and when to use each one. (NN Group)
Technical case study - How Stripe built its new smart retry feature
Stripe has released a deep dive on how it built its new smart retries feature which helps merchants recover potentially lost funds. It works by using over 500 signals to determine why a customer payment failed. In this post, Stripe’s engineering team explains how it’s done. (Stripe Engineering)
Product strategy - Why noise increases churn
Have you ever turned off an extractor fan, and been immediately surprised by how much quieter the room is? The human brain has an amazing ability to "turn down" a specific stimulus, but the relief of sudden silence demonstrates that it was still weighing on your subconscious. In this piece, Peter Ramsey explores how to reduce clutter to improve churn. (Built For Mars)
Interview - Webflow’s CEO on reaching product market fit
In this new series, Notion’s co-founder Akshay Kothari interviews some of the world’s most influential product leaders to understand their journeys. In this interview, Webflow CEO Vlad Magdalin shares how he thinks about reaching product market fit. (YouTube)
Tools you can use
Findr - search all of the apps you use like Slack, Notion and more in one place
Kyugo - plan and visualise your day in unique ways
Brainner - automate resume scanning during the hiring process
New product features, launches and announcements this week
Chrome is adding AI to its browser. Tab Organizer helps users group similar tabs together based on currently opened tabs. It will also suggest a name and emoji to save and use in the future. There are reports that Google is lining up more generative AI features for products including Gmail.
X is joining the likes of Amazon, Uber, Apple and Google by implementing passkeys on login for iOS users. Passkeys are a new way to log into websites and apps without using traditional passwords. They work by using a unique digital key that is much more secure than a regular password and in 2024, more product teams could be tasked with adding them to their products. Our Chartpack on consumer trends covers passkeys in more depth.
Generative AI startup ElevenLabs announced a new audio editing product that allows users to edit voices created by the tool. It also raised an additional $80m in Series B funding.
Etsy is launching a gift mode that uses AI to generate 200+ gift guides.
Spotify’s ‘Daylist’ feature has gone viral with searches spiking nearly 20,000%. The feature automatically generates and updates a uniquely named playlist throughout your day but it was actually released back in September last year. The sudden spike in interest shows that for product teams, just because a feature was released a while ago, doesn’t mean your users necessarily know it exists.
📈 Product data and trends to stay informed
Over 40% of Americans and 64% of Gen-Z have used TikTok as a search engine with recipes, new music and DIY tips as the most searched categories. But 91% of respondents said they still find Google most helpful when searching for more information. Fascinating full study commissioned by Adobe.
Around 30% of paid work days are remote but working from home has neither sped up or slowed down productivity growth according to a new study.
AMIE, a Google chatbot, diagnosed heart and lung conditions more accurately than doctors in online healthcare. More surprisingly, the chatbot ranked higher on empathy - a trait normally considered beyond AI’s reach. The bot outperformed physicians in 24 of 26 criteria for conversation quality.
Amazon is now the world’s third largest ad company, behind Alphabet and Meta and will generate roughly $5.2 billion in additional revenues through Prime ad sales. Its unique data gives Prime ads a strategic advantage since it gives advertisers the ability to target based on shopping history.
Bolting on ChatGPT boosted Bing’s market share from 8.18% to 10.53% on desktop.
Other product news in brief
eBay is to lay off around 9% of its workforce in a fresh round of job cuts.
Google’s company wide OKRs have reportedly been leaked.
Klarna is launching a new subscription product as it gears up for an IPO.
Fintech startup Brex is cutting 20% of its staff amid reports of stalled growth.
The DOP Weekly Briefing is a product-led perspective of what’s happening in tech - and why it matters to product teams. If you want more than the Weekly Briefing, paid subscribers also get access to The Knowledge Series, in-depth DOP Deep dives and Chartpacks to feed your product brain and stay ahead.
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