As 2018 comes to a close, a savvy marketer will be looking ahead to the upcoming year and developing a digital marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition and boost brand awareness. With so many changes that occurred at the end of 2018, it's important to revamp your strategy and account for current trends, strategies, and technologies to maximize your efforts. Search engines are now favoring clusters of content that surround a particular topic, as opposed to keywords. If you want to stay at the top of the search rankings, you need to develop these content clusters that link to one another. To do this effectively, you need a broad topic outline that covers the most pertinent subcategories.

Facebook announced on Thursday it is rolling out its newest service across the US, a platform for dating. A lot, it turns out. The new service, Facebook Dating, can be accessed in the Facebook app but requires users to create a separate dating-specific profile. It then links users with potential matches based on location, indicated preferences, events attended, groups, and other factors. Facebook Dating will integrate with Instagram and offer a feature called Secret Crush, which allows users to compile a list of friends they have an interest in, to be matched with if the crush lists them as well.

Facebook Inc.'s new dating feature has led to at least one important match: The marriage of users' Facebook and Instagram profiles for the first time. The social giant announced Thursday that it is launching its nascent dating service in the U.S.--a feature that's been tested in 19 other countries since it was unveiled in May 2018. Users can combine elements of their Facebook and Instagram accounts to create a separate dating profile--the most notable way Facebook has ever combined the two entities from a product perspective. Facebook Dating will exist inside Facebook's main app, but users will be able to pull photos from their Instagram profiles into their dating profile, and by the end of the year be able to publish their Instagram Stories to their dating profile as well. Facebook daters can also use their Instagram followers for a feature called "Secret Crush," which could match them with another Facebook Dating user from their Instagram network.

But in business today, often, the boundaries are being established on the fly as we go. Companies routinely don't really know for sure what they can and can't get away with or will get disciplined for. And so while there are some ethical questions wrapped up in it when leaders make some poor judgments, and while leaders absolutely need to take responsibility for what they do, we also need to understand that it's natural for them to be looking for both positive and negative feedback. And arguably, it's significantly harder to think through the ramifications of what leaders are doing objectively when herd mentality takes over. So while the behavior might be disappointing, it shouldn't surprise--repeat offenses by different companies are simply leaders trying to see how far the rules apply, and in what specific contexts.

You Tube needs to employ AI to help process the 300 hours of video uploaded to the platform every minute by its users. This processing includes removing video deemed inappropriate by YouTube's standards. Some 8.3 million videos were removed from YouTube in the first quarter, 76 percent of those identified and flagged by AI automatically, according to an account in Forbes. Of those, more than 70 percent were never viewed by users. While the AI system is able to review more content than humans, full-time human specialists work with the AI, which of course is not foolproof.

While design and behavior have always been linked, the connection is gaining a new significance thanks to the next-generation of technologies. Consequently, this next-generation of technologies will be unlike any we have seen so far. They will enable a new era of human augmentation, in which technologies look like us and act like us, often without our input. Human augmentation technologies will be game-changing for companies and their customers. They could open up new ways of engaging consumers -- from conversational interfaces that replace keyboards to digital assistants that autonomously make purchasing decisions -- and create a new generation of empowered "super consumers."

Google Assistant, Google's omnipresent AI that can switch off connected lightbulbs and give a rundown of the day's events on command, is becoming more … ambient. Today at IFA 2019 in Berlin, the Mountain View company detailed Ambient Mode, a new visual overview that collates info and controls on select Assistant-enabled device lock screens. "With the Google Assistant, we're helping you get things done around the house -- whether your hands are full in the kitchen, you're too tired to get up from the couch after a long day, or you're rushing to get out of the door," wrote director of product Chris Turkstra in a blog post. "With the Assistant now available in more than 30 languages and 80 countries … you have even more ways to get help, whether you're at home or on the go." Whether you're using Google Assistant on a supported smart display, phone, or tablet like the newly announced Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD, Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab, Nokia 7.2, and Nokia 6.2, Ambient Mode will bubble to the top relevant notifications, reminders, playlists, and settings toggles whenever your device is plugged in and actively charging.

Machine learning/AI capability is increasingly transforming how we engage with technology. Just look at how mainstream digital voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri, customer-service chat bots and bank-fraud detection tools have become. I see promise in healthcare using machine learning/AI technology. One example is using AI to detect breast cancer by analyzing mammograms. Leveraging the expertise of subject matter experts in healthcare is crucial to successfully applying AI to solving healthcare challenges.

Facebook is taking a swipe at Tinder with a new dating service that is being rolled out today. The newly released service, called Facebook Dating, will harness the power of the platform's user data, including what you like, what events you go to, and what groups you're a part of, to connect you to both Facebook and Instagram users who have opted in. Unlike other major dating apps like Tinder, however, Facebook won't require users to mutually'match' before being able to connect, and instead will let participants browse profiles via a familiar card-style cue and interact with the ones that interest them. Facebook says users can interact with profiles in two ways: by liking a profile to let someone know that they're interested or by commentating directly on a picture. Facebook is jumping into the dating game with its new Facebook Dating service that will allow users to connect with people in and outside of their friend network.

The Sonos Move speaker ($399, out Sept. 24) can be used as a WiFi speaker at home, but also as a Bluetooth speaker outside and on the go. The newest Sonos wireless speaker has an important new feature: you can take it with you. The Santa Barbara, California-based speaker company has made its mark inside the home. Now, Sonos is taking on all those portable Bluetooth speaker competitors with its Move speaker ($399, out Sept. 24), which connects like its standard home speakers over Wi-Fi and also uses Bluetooth when you need music to go. At about 9 ½ inches tall, the Move speaker is dust- and water-resistant and, when fully charged, provides ten hours of battery life.