Creator Weekly: YouTube Shows, Meta Muse Image Backlash, Search Console social profiles

Hello readers! This week YouTube expanded access to Shows, a new Meta AI tool caused backlash, Google Search Console will track your social media performance in search, and more.

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Top Updates

YouTube Shows are available to all channels in the YouTube Partner Program.
YouTube Creator Music in YouTube Studio will no longer offer paid licenses. Music will either be free or offer revenue sharing
Ask YouTube searchbot is now available on desktop. YouTube shared tips for creators to have their content appear there.
The Meta Muse Image model launched with the option to prompt with any public Instagram profile. After backlash that was removed. You can still edit your own images, generate new images or use new AI effects for Instagram Stories.
X launched a new Video Editor and Recorder in the iOS app.
Google Search Console lets you see how your social posts on Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube are performing in the search results.
Substack newsletter authors can now offer paid digital perks. And you can import your podcast hosted elsewhere into your account. Plus a bunch of other new features.
Bluesky has improved search results and filters.
Threads lets you set your Likes to private.
Reddit blocks 23 million spam views per day with automated systems.
If you want to read AI-generated articles, apparently LinkedIn is the place to be.
Google Photos added Video Remix to the Create tab. It uses Gemini Omni to change your background, add effects or transform into art styles.

Shows for all YouTube Partners

YouTube Shows are now available to all Creators in the YouTube Partner Program. Shows are a specialized playlist, similar to Podcasts. Learn more.

You can convert an existing playlist, or create a new one.
A Show has seasons that are split into episodes that are either “serial” (meant to be watched in order, listed oldest to newest) or “non-serial” (watched in any order, listed newest to oldest).
A Show has a Show Page with texted poster art (with your stylized title or logo) and optional backdrop as part of your channel. This is eligible for inclusion in Recommended Shows and the Continue Watching shelf on the YouTube homepage.
YouTube recommends a Show have a consistent story or topic, consistent look or feel (intro, thumbnail style, video format), and high quality video and sound.

YouTube Removing Creator Music Paid License Option

YouTube launched Creator Music in 2022, with the promise of “affordable, high-quality music licenses that offer … full monetizing potential”. It launched in beta in the U.S., with the promise of expansion to more creators.

It’s four years later and Creator Music is still in beta, and still only available to channels in the YouTube Partner Program in the U.S.

Now YouTube is phasing out paid licenses in Creator Music on August 10. I wouldn’t be surprised if very few creators actually licensed songs, which can be expensive (hundreds or thousands of dollars). And even if you pay for a license, the terms often limit the license duration. So you would have the expense of the license, but only be able to use the song for, say, 2 years. Not a great deal.

Creator Music will instead focus on free tracks, and tracks that allow revenue sharing.

Existing paid licenses will remain valid until expiration. Unused licenses will be automatically refunded.

Meta Muse Image Backlash

Meta released the Muse Image image generation model. Meta says “it uses advanced reasoning to understand complex prompts, seamlessly blending multiple photos into high-quality creations”. It’s available in Meta AI and powers Instagram Stories effects, and will be coming soon to Facebook, Messenger and tools for advertisers.

There was immediately a backlash. One of the new Muse Image features in Meta AI is the ability to prompt new images by @-mentioning any public Instagram account. Instagram said this would be great for “playful edits between friends.” But anyone who has been on the internet for more than a day can imagine how this could be abused by prompting with the profiles of celebrities, people you dislike, or just random profiles for the lulz.

You could opt out your Instagram account, but you would have to find the buried settings. Most people likely didn’t realize that they were opted in by default.

I doubt Meta cares about what I think or what the typical low-follower-account Instagram user thinks. But they do care what Hollywood thinks. There was also pushback from organizations like SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and agencies representing megastars. I’m guessing that got Meta’s attention.

Three days after the feature was announced, it was removed. Meta said they “heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available.”

How can you try Muse Image?

In Meta AI you can edit your photos (use suggested prompts for inspiration), create detailed infographics (with legible text), or generate an entirely new image. Muse Image uses Muse Spark to understand your prompt, taking “multiple steps behind the scenes — planning its layout, looking up real-time web context, and intelligently blending multiple visual references at once.”
Instagram has added more than 30 new AI-powered effects (U.S. only). Some of the effects are meant to be subtle, making changes like enhancing the lighting in an image.

YouTube and Video

YouTube Gifts for vertical live streams launched in 45 new countries, including Japan, India and the UK.

The Ask YouTube conversational search bot is now available in the US on desktop. Ask about planning a trip, learning a new skill, comparing products, or about video content. Responses may include clips from long form videos, Shorts and text. Learn more.
What does this mean for Creators? YouTube says:

This is “an additional path for viewers to discover your channel and drives highly engaged users to your content.”
Views within Ask YouTube count towards YouTube Partner Program eligibility and total view count. (But the views aren’t monetized)
If you want your videos to appear in Ask YouTube use descriptive titles, add clear video chapters, and, of course, create high quality content.

YouTube suggests using interactive stickers (poll, quiz, Q&A) on your Shorts to build your audience and community.

X launched a new Video Editor and Recorder in the X iOS app. Features include customizable overlay captions and green screen. The goal is to encourage more original content uploaded directly to the platform.

StreamYard now lets the livestream host allow guests to have access to slide controls.

Web Publishing

Last week Cloudflare announced new filters for AI bots. I noted that if you use Cloudflare you need to check your settings to be sure you aren’t blocking the Googlebot or Bingbot. AdWeek reports that some publishers are considering intentionally blocking the Google crawler. Why do that? As search traffic disappears, publication content appears in the AI Search Overviews, which only benefits Google.

Google Search Console added Platform Properties, a new property type that lets you see how your social platforms (including Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube) are doing in Search. Run a Performance Report to see clicks, impressions and which posts and queries are driving traffic. There’s also an Insights Report with an overview and Achievements. This will become available over the next few weeks.
To add your social profiles:

Open Search Console.
Open the Welcome page (https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome) or click your current list of Properties and choose + Add Property.
Choose your platform and verify the connection.

Substack announced a number of new features:

Paid subscriber “Perks”: In addition to subscriber-only content, you can offer downloadable files, invites to live sessions or other perks.
Save Notes: You can save Notes in the Substack app for Android or iOS.
Scheduled Chats: Schedule a new Chat thread to engage with fans.
Polls in Substack Notes or Posts.
Text formatting: Superscript and subscript, text and highlight colors
Redesigned Podcast and Video Player: Subscribers can adjust playback speed, listen offline or turn on a sleep timer.
Podcast distribution support: Any podcast hosted elsewhere with an RSS feed can be distributed on Substack.
Filter subscriber questions: Live video Q&A can have chat filtered to only show questions.
Reorganized video settings: Podcast controls, clipping, transcripts, auto-publish to YouTube all in one place.
Improved Clipping: Full-screen viewing, control captions and layout.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) support: Integrate with Claude, ChatGPT and other AI to ask about performance, subscribers, engagement and other analytics. (Available to bestsellers only)

Beehiiv has added Linktree integration, which lets people subscribe to your newsletter directly from your Linktree “link in bio” page.

Social Media

Bluesky has improved search with more relevant results and filters for keywords, date range, language and more.

Threads now lets you set your Likes to Private. That way only you and the person who posted the liked post will see the Like.

Reddit shared their improvements in fighting spam. Their automated systems block more than 23 million spam views per day and revoke about 2 million inauthentic votes per day. They are also expanding automated enforcement of harmful content (in English) like hate, harassment, and violent threats.

A recent study by Pangram suggests LinkedIn is the “most AI-saturated platform” with more than 40% of long form posts likely fully AI-generated (comments are also frequently AI-generated). And nearly half of article posts on X appear to be at least partially AI written. Of the platforms they reviewed, Substack has the most human-written AI content, with only 10% of articles fully AI-written.

LinkedIn shared tips for increasing your reach, including regular posting, engaging with comments, framing your post as a question and answer, and aiming for between 200 and 300 words. There are more tips in the article. No, it doesn’t say to plug all that into AI, but that’s probably what people do.

Tools

Google Photos has added Video Remix to the Create Tab. Use Gemini Omni to transform videos into shareable video clips. Learn more. (It weirds me out that the announcement calls this "making memories". It's not doing that! It's turning video of actual moments into a fantasy.)

Background replacement, relighting effects, art styles (watercolor, sketchbook, oil painting effects)
Requires AI Plus, Pro or Ultra subscription.
Available in 14 countries, including the US, India, and other select countries in South America, Asia and the Middle East. See the list.
Must be 18+
Videos must be backed up, and 9:16 or 16:9 (otherwise they will be center cropped). Learn more.
Your original video must be under 60 seconds long, and you can remix a 1 to 10 second clip.

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