Creator Weekly: Expanded Google Search Profiles, Meta One Subscriptions, Cloudflare AI Blocking

Hello readers!

This week Meta One subscriptions launched, and it looks like creators are expected to pay to succeed. Google Search opened up Search Profiles to more creators and is piloting paying publishers that appear in AI Overviews and Gemini.

There are also updates for live streamers, podcasters, website owners and more.

Top Updates

More YouTube, Instagram, X and TikTok creators are eligible for Google Search Profiles.
Meta One Subscriptions launched for creators and businesses, with Instagram and Facebook features including links on Reels and posts, advance post scheduling, more analytics Insights and more.
Threads added a bunch of new podcast features for podcaster profiles and posts.
Twitch no longer lets you only show Featured clips.
Cloudflare lets you block AI training bots while still allowing crawling by the Googlebot, Applebot and Bingbot.
Google is testing compensating publishers when they contribute to AI Mode and AI Overviews.
beehiiv added new Community features, including Community Managers, custom profiles and member list and a mobile-first experience.
Meta Creator Marketing Hub has improved filters and search, more granular permissions and messaging.

More Creators Eligible for Google Search Profile

Google Search Profiles let creators and publishers customize how they appear in the Google Search results. A profile can include a short bio, website and social media links, articles and other content.

Just a month ago, in August, the eligibility requirements dropped from 100,000 YouTube subscribers to 35,000, with a similar change for Instagram, X and TikTok profiles.

This week Google opened Search Profiles to even more creators, with the new requirement only 10,000 subscribers or followers on any of those platforms for US creators. (I’m almost eligible!)

There are also new features aimed at publishers:

Manage multiple Search profiles from one account.
Improved article display, with longer headlines and optimized thumbnails.

If you (or your brand) are eligible, there’s no reason not to claim your profile!

Meta One Subscriptions Launch: Would You Pay To Share Links?

Meta has launched paid Meta One subscriptions for Creators.

For Creators, the message is “create more, manage less”. Maybe that’s true. But it also very much looks like Creators will have to pay to stand out on Facebook and Instagram.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri says “the core experience in our apps stays free. Subscriptions let us build things we otherwise couldn't, like features that are too specialized or too costly to bring to everyone, and get them to the people who want them most.”

Creator features for both platforms:

A limited number of links in Reels and Instagram Posts
Original Content Credit.
Get a Verified badge, proactive impersonation protection, and human support.
Link page for your profile.

Additional paid features for Instagram include:

Schedule Posts and Reels months in advance and batch schedule multiple Posts or Reels.
Compare performance of your account to similar profiles.
Analytics Insights beyond 90 days and export Insights to a spreadsheet.
Shared Instagram access for managers, using their own account.
Additional Instagram Plus features. (Pin more posts to profile, Story features, custom bio and message fonts, post content only to your profile)

Additional paid features for Facebook include:

Automatically invite people who engage with your content to follow you.
Content featured in the Feed. “Get a chance to be surfaced to people likely to be interested in your content.”
Schedule posts in advance with “Smart Schedule” so they go out when your audience is active.
Analytics insights about your audience, particularly those who aren’t following you.
More AI features in the Creator Assistant app (currently rolling out in the US, Canada and India).
Additional Facebook Plus features for Stories (Super Reactions, Search your story viewer list, extended expiration, Story rewatch highlights)

An Edits Plus subscription is also “Coming Soon” for the Edits video editing app. That includes more cloud storage and more AI usage.

So how much does it cost?

If you want to regularly post links, that’s at least $50 per month. These prices are per profile, so if you have a Facebook profile and an Instagram profile, you need to pay for each separately.

Essential: $14.99 per month. Includes Instagram Link Page, Verified Badge and Impersonation Protection, and Instagram Plus, Facebook Plus, and WhatsApp Plus.
Advanced: $49.99 per month. Includes Links in Reels (8 per month), chance to be featured in the Facebook Feed, optimized scheduling, human support and other features.
Expert: $149 per month and Max: $499 per month. More links, access AI features and human phone support.

There are similar plans for Businesses that also include business-oriented WhatsApp and advertising features. And unlike the Creator plans where you just have to pay for links in Instagram posts, Business plans it looks like Meta also make businesses pay for additional links in Facebook posts.

This seems really spendy unless you are monetizing and earning at least as much as the subscription costs. But up-and-coming creators may feel like they have no choice but to pay. And if you need human support, there isn’t any other option.

Threads Highlights Podcasts

Threads has added a bunch of new features for podcasters and listeners.

You can display a profile or post banner linking to your podcast.
Podcast links appear as a tappable card.
You can select a specific episode to feature.
There are animated transcripts in posts.
Highlight video clips.
Opt in to get a notification reminding you to share new episodes.
Stats and Insights where you can see your podcast reach, engagement, clicks and saves.
Listeners can save episodes from posts in their feed.

If you are a podcaster, open your Threads profile and click the “Edit Profile” button, then select “Podcast” to link your podcast. It supports podcast links on Spotify, Apple, or iHeart.

There is no verification that you are the podcast owner, so you can use this option to highlight any podcast on the supported platforms.

Why it’s interesting

Meta mostly discourages people from posting links to other sites on its platforms. While there’s no limit to shared links on Threads, common wisdom is that a link can decrease the reach of your post.

So this is surprising that Meta is going all in on highlighting podcasts that are hosted on 3rd party sites.

If you are a podcaster, this is another way to reach your potential audience, especially as its popularity seems to have nearly caught up with X.

YouTube and Video

YouTube’s Creator Insider interviews Kyle, YouTube’s global lead for content strategy, about what you should do if you want to pivot the content on your channel.

Twitch removed the Featured Clips feature that let you limit visible clips on your channel (and for discovery) exclusively to Featured Clips. Zach Bussey has more details.

VidCon launched in 2010 as the premiere conference for video creators, industry pros and fans. It has now been acquired by LIONS, which also runs the prestigious Cannes LIONS marketing event. This is moving VidCon from Anaheim, California to Denver, then Nashville, as part of a new Insight to Impact event. It shifts the focus to marketing.

Web Publishing

Digiday reports that Google has launched an AI contribution pilot. This lets publishers earn money when their “content contributes significantly to the creation of AI-generated responses” in the Gemini app, AI Search Overviews and AI Mode. The payments are apparently based on “value”, not just usage. This was announced (in a vague way) in June. Search Engine Journal has more context.

Cloudflare has a new "Disallow AI Training" setting that allows "accountable" mixed-use crawlers from Google, Apple and Microsoft index your site for search, but blocks AI training. Originally, blocking “Training” (which was to go into effect September 15th) would block mixed-use bots entirely. Now you can use the “Block” setting to block all bots for AI training (including mixed-use bots), and “Disallow AI Training” to add the appropriate robots.txt file to block “accountable” crawlers and otherwise block all training bots.

Tumblr Premium subscriptions include new features: bookmark posts and sort them into Collections, Premium gifting, animated avatars. Tumblr is owned by Automattic (parent company of WordPress(dot)com), which has been slowly adding new features to the platform.

beehiiv added more features to its built-in communities, including custom profiles and a member directory, a new Community Manager role, mobile-first experience, and email notifications. The question is whether newsletter readers want to participate on the platform when they may already belong to Discord, Reddit, Patreon or another community for the creator.

Social Media

Meta is expanding the Meta Creator Marketing Hub. This connects advertisers and brands with Creators. New features for brands include Partnership Messaging inside the Hub, new filters to help discover content and creators that feature the brand’s products, improved content recommendations, more granular permissions for content access, and easy ad creation (including removal of copyrighted music and stickers). Of course some of this is powered by Meta AI.

Tools

Snapseed, Google’s “pro” image editing app, is rolling out a new Android beta version with community styles, motion blur and portrait blur, and preset and LUT import.

Apple is rolling out Siri AI and Apple Intelligence to more software and devices.

Peggy K's Creator News

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