Creator Weekly: AI-generated images, Google Search, TikTok Studio

June is here and summer is around the corner. It’s not just the bees that are buzzing, there have been some hot topics of discussion this week, especially around a leak of Google documents related to search and labeling images created with AI. Plus there are updates from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, and more.

Top news and updates this week

Play casual games on YouTube
Controversy over “Made with AI” labels on lightly edited photos
“Leaked” documentation of an internal Google API sparks SEO speculation
Google makes changes to fix AI Search Overviews
YouTube Partners can now see AdSense payment info in YouTube Studio in currencies other than US Dollars
TikTok Studio is a new hub for video creation, analytics, and learning
Discord is focusing on “fun and games”, rather than being a community-centric chat app
Facebook will be focusing on features for young adults
Threads has a new Tweetdeck-like web interface
LinkedIn is making shared links look less appealing
Tumblr Communities is in open beta
Instagram is rolling out new features in Notes
Kickstarter now lets you collect Late Pledges and will help with marketing
Perplexity AI Pages is a new feature that lets you create shareable pages with your compiled research
OpenAI made deals with multiple publishers

Read on for details and additional updates!

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To Do & Try

When you think of YouTube do you think of games? YouTube has launched “Playables”. There are more than 75 lightweight games you can play while you are on YouTube. They are available in the Explore menu in the YouTube mobile app, and on the left menu in YouTube on desktop. Or go directly to www.youtube.com/playables . This is currently available in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Scores and progress are saved across devices. (Words of Wonders is my game)

What should “Made with AI” labels indicate?

Photographers on Instagram are upset that their real photos are being labeled as “Made with AI”.

It turns out this is working as designed, as many photographers use AI tools to remove noise or make minor edits. Adobe embeds metadata in images edited with those AI tools that result in the “Made with AI” label.

I took a look at why that is not a useful way to label images: What images should be labeled "Made with AI"?

I think labeling images with very minor edits that don’t change the substance the same way as entirely fabricated images isn’t helpful. And it ignores that all kinds of manipulations can be made without using AI tools.

“Leak” of Google Search API-Related Documents

If you follow SEO-related discussions on social media, you can’t have missed Rand Fishkin’s announcement that he had received access to “API documentation from inside Google’s Search division.”

Google has confirmed that the documentation is real.

I’ll note that it doesn’t seem to have been an insider leaking information, but was rather accidentally published to a code repository on GitHib.

It also seems to be mostly a description of functions in Google’s internal APIs, but without details of how factors are computed or used. It’s also not clear how up-to-date the information is (there are parts that appear to be from 2023, but that may not apply to all of the documentation).

That hasn’t stopped SEOs from trying to interpret what’s there, but I’d take any definitive claims of what it means with a pinch of salt.

Here’s what I’ve been reading about it:

Roger Montti: Doubts Emerge Over Alleged Google Data Leak
Mike King: Secrets from the Algorithm: Google Search’s Internal Engineering Documentation Has Leaked
Mike King: How SEO moves forward with the Google Content Warehouse API leak
Barry Schwartz: Google responds to leak: Documentation lacks context

Fixing Google’s AI Search Overviews

Last week the news was the funny (and worrying) failures of Google’s new AI Search Overviews.

Google has responded with more information about how the AI Search Overviews are generated and what they are doing to try to fix the problems. They say:

Because accuracy is paramount in Search, AI Overviews are built to only show information that is backed up by top web results.

The problems apparently arise when the system doesn’t understand the query, doesn’t understand the information in the web results, or there isn’t high quality content to create a response. Here’s what Google says they are doing:

Better detection of “nonsensical queries” that shouldn’t have an AI overview
Limiting the inclusion of satire and humor content as responses.
Limiting the use of user-generated content that could “offer misleading advice”
Improving “quality protections” for health-related queries

So that’s good.

But Google also makes a big point of saying the affected queries were “uncommon” and that AI Overviews that “violate content policies” are extremely rare. And that is missing the point.

If you can only rely on AI Overviews if you ask a common question that has high quality information available, then I’m not sure what the AI Overview is useful for. You still need to review the source web pages to confirm that the information and source of the information is good. So maybe don’t ask questions that you don’t already know the answer to?

Video Creator and Live Streaming Updates

Starting last November, some monetizing creators could see their AdSense payments information in the YouTube Studio app. That has been expanded to show payments in currencies other than US dollars. Note that this is only available to AdSense accounts with one YouTube channel connected.

TikTok Studio is a new hub for video creation and management, where you can upload, film, edit and post, plus see analytics, comments and manage monetization. This replaces tools in the TikTok app. It can be accessed in a desktop web browser at www.tiktok.com/tiktokstudio . There is also an Android app in beta, with an Apple app available soon.

If you are into YouTube stats, Viewstats (founded by Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) and Chucky Appleby) now has a paid pro tier with advanced features. The basic platform is still free. Check it out at www.viewstats.com.

The YouTube Creators channel has an overview of creating members-only content for your Channel Memberships. Watch the video.

Vimeo CEO Philip Moyer says the company “will not allow generative AI models to be trained using videos hosted on our platform without your explicit consent, even if you use our free offerings.”

How does YouTube work for independent journalists? YouTube Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie talked to journalist and video creator Johnny Harris. (Watch the discussion). It left me feeling optimistic that YouTube can be a platform for journalists, at least those who investigate and report on topics with broad appeal.

Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang interviewed YouTube CEO Neal Mohan (and visited YouTube HQ). Watch the interview. Two striking quotes: “YouTube’s really kind of its own sort of unique thing. We’re not a social media platform. We’re not traditional media, in the sense we’re not linear television. We’re really sort of our own thing.” And “our business is successful when our Creator's business is successful and so we are really pleased with the size of the Creator economy.”

Simone Giertz presented “officially unofficial” awards to inventor YouTube channels. If you like zany contraptions, check out the highlighted channels.

Twitch is replacing its Safety Advisory Council with creators from the Twitch Ambassador program who have “fresh, diverse perspectives.” Tubefilter has the story.

Lindsey Gamble reports that TikTok has a new fan spotlight feature, which lets artists pin fan videos to their profile.

You can now embed YouTube Shorts on Tumblr.

Photos Sites

Flickr explains best practices for tagging your photos for driving engagement.

VSCO has introduced shareable customizable Galleries that can be used by creators to promote their work.

Social Media

Discord says that it’s going back to its roots: “we’ve recognized the need to narrow our focus from broadly being a community-centric chat app to being a place that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests.” They also have a “refreshed look and visual identity” which seems - more purple?

Facebook announced their new focus will be young adults (age 18-29). Along those lines, they are also improving recommendations, integrating AI tools, improved video player and video sharing, and expanding creator opportunities to build a following and monetize.

Threads has a great new web experience (threads.net), reminiscent of the old TweetDeck for Twitter. You can pin columns for particular accounts, searches, notifications, your following feed and more.

Instagram confirmed that videos longer than 90 seconds are not eligible for recommendation in Explore or Reels tab.

Instagram is adding new features to Notes (which are broadcast text updates), with likes, mentions and prompts for inspiration.

Bluesky shared advanced search operators you can use to find posts from (or about) specific users, that include a particular URL or have other features.

Social Media Today reports that LinkedIn is now showing smaller link previews for regular posts. Sponsored content posts will continue to show a large preview image for links. This (intentionally) makes shared links less appealing to click. LinkedIn wants to encourage people to post directly on the platform.

Tumblr Communities is now in open beta. You can submit a request to create a community, which then needs to be approved by Tumblr. The Communities Feedback Community is the place for discussion and to see the issues people are running into.

Kickstarter is rolling out Late Pledges to all creators (which let you continue to collect pledges after the campaign ends) and a new marketing team to help Creators promote their campaigns.

More AI Updates

Perplexity.ai is rolling out Pages, which lets you assemble your research into customizable, shareable, nicely formatted pages.

The Atlantic and Vox Media (including The Verge, SB Nation and other publications) have entered into partnerships with OpenAI. Journalists at those publications are “deeply troubled”. OpenAI also made a content deal with News Corp (including the Wall Street Journal and many other publications).

The new Chromebook Plus laptops come with 12 months of Google One AI Premium for free.

When OpenAI's GPT-4 was released, it was touted as having passed the bar exam at a high level. It turns out, not so much.

From The Verge: OpenAI has a new safety team — it’s run by Sam Altman

Benedict Evans writes about ways to think about AGI. “How do we think about a fundamentally unknown and unknowable risk, when the experts agree only that they have no idea?”

TechCrunch reports that Meta’s new AI advisory council is composed entirely of white men who are businessmen and entrepreneurs. That leaves out voices with expertise in the technology and ethics behind AI.

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