iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Excited to share that my article, co-authored with @ashwinnag.bsky.social & @antmandan.bsky.social, is out in Discourse & Communication! If you work in digital media, AI, journalism, SEO, or just spend a lot of time Googling things, you'll want to give it a read.

172

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

SUPER excited to share that my article is out in Telematics & Informatics: A Search Changer: Auditing Google's AI Overviews Interface in Political and News Search If you care about AI, search, political information, or how algorithms are reshaping what we see and know, you'll want to give it a read.

120

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒 ➜ 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 For two decades, "SaaS" has meant Software as a Service - the shift from boxed software to cloud-based subscription platforms. But today, a new meaning is emerging: 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞. • 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒: Rent your software. • 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒: Rent your search.

020

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐈 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐓𝐌𝐋! Spotted this interesting technical hiccup where Google's AI Overview was displaying raw HTML markup instead of rendered text. A good reminder that even sophisticated AI systems are still code that can peek through.

030

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

𝐀𝐈-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 𝘈𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢: 𝘎𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦-𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐆𝐏𝐓: 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘎𝘗𝘛 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴. 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡: 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘐 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐲: No disclaimer at all

110

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Is Google’s SERP acting strange lately? I’ve seen “Sponsored” results buried at the bottom instead of on top. Isn’t the whole point of Sponsored to appear first? Has anyone else noticed this - test, bug, or a bigger shift in how Google shows ads?

000

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐆𝐏𝐓-5 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝. Among hundreds of lines, what caught my eye: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝒃𝒊𝒐": prompted not to remember personal characteristics. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏": adds an extra layer to meet specific safety protocols around U.S. election information.

100

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

📢 Great news for researchers and data enthusiasts! 🎉 Google has officially rolled out the Google Trends API - alpha. Imagine the possibilities for academic research, market analysis, and understanding the world’s trends. You can apply for early access at the link in the first comment.

140

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡! Here's a super-handy shortcut: In your Google URL bar, simply type: @𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 ➜ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 ➜ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 You'll be immediately directed to Gemini. This is a great shortcut for anyone looking to streamline their workflow.

000

Reposted by Shir Weinbrand

QUT Digital Media Research Centre @qutdmrc.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Congratulations to DMRC PhD candidate @shirweinbrand.bsky.social for being awarded the best poster prize at the ADM+S symposium yesterday!

051

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

I am honoured and excited to receive the Judges' Award for the best PhD poster at #ADMS2025 Symposium. Thanks to my academic home (‬@admscentre.org.au) and my wonderful supervisory team @ashwinnag.bsky.social, @snurb.info, @antmandan.bsky.social, and @danulah.bsky.social for their ongoing support.

0102

Shir Weinbrand @shirweinbrand.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

First AI Overviews —> AI Mode —> and now AI *audio* Overviews As I’ve already said, searching will never be the same again. Still investigating whether this is good or bad. www.theverge.com/news/686904/...

theverge.com

Google’s test turns search results into an AI-generated podcast

You can enable it Labs now.

000