Creator Weekly: Search Profile Expansion, Edits Instagram Carousels, YouTube Shopping Analytics

Hello readers! This week has been relatively quiet.

But there is a theme emerging. Platforms are trying to figure out how to highlight human creators and encourage original content, while tamping down the bots and AI slop.

Of course those same platforms really want people to use their generative AI tools and AI agents, so it’s not clear how they will find a balance.

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My tip for the week: Try the new custom caption styles in Google Vids.

Top Updates

Google stand-alone SynthID AI watermark detector.
YouTube improves Shopping analytics.
Google Vids improved “point-in-time” editing timeline.
Restream’s clipping tool now works with YouTube videos and can share directly to Instagram.
X native video editor adds caption editing.
X is running “liveness checks” to weed out bots.
Google Search Profiles for Creators are now available in Canada and India, and soon in Brazil.
Google Search Console performance reports country filters.
Edits now lets you create Instagram carousels, in addition to videos.
Threads is testing “Gems”: special badges to highlight “standout conversations”.
Google Docs now supports Markdown.
Plus updates for LinkedIn, SEO and more.

SynthID Watermark Detector

Google has launched a stand-alone SynthID detector. This can detect SynthID digital watermarks in AI-generated images, video and audio. You need to sign in with Google, Apple or ChatGPT to use it.

Check it out at synthid.com (you can also use the built-in detector in the Gemini app).

Note that this does not detect all watermarks. SynthID watermarks can be detected on output from Google, OpenAI, kakao, NVIDIA, and (soon) Apple.

What about other watermarks? Adobe adds C2PA Content Credentials, which you can verify at verify.contentauthenticity.org. (Google adds both SynthID and Content Credentials on AI-generated content).

What about text? The EU now requires machine-detectable watermarking of all AI-generated content, including text. OpenAI’s ChatGPT will be watermarking generated text in the EU, and Anthropic’s Claude watermarks text globally. Unlike image or audio files, the watermark is embedded in the word choice, and likely is removed by editing.

YouTube and Video

YouTube is upgrading Analytics for Shopping.

Product click and impression data is refreshed daily in under 24 hours.
You’ll see earnings from the exact items you tagged and eligible extra items purchased from the same shopping session.
Take a deep dive, and get content and seller breakdowns in advanced analytics in YouTube Studio on the web. Track metrics like conversion rate, return rate and earnings per click. Data is broken down by individual videos and brand partners.

The Google Vids video editor now more accurately displays the video timeline, showing only the active elements at a point in time. And you no longer have to split scenes to manage multiple timed objects, like captions and media overlays.

Restream added new automated clips features. Clips requires a paid subscription.

Generate clips and Shorts from public YouTube links (in addition to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive).
Publish clips automatically to Instagram.

The X native video editor now lets you edit your captions. You can edit manually or ask Grok to correct them. You can also get translated captions.

Web Publishing

Google Search Profiles for Creators are now available in Canada and India, and soon will be available in Brazil, in addition to the US. Eligible creators need at least 10,000 followers/subscribers on either YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or X.

Google Search Console now lets you filter and compare data in performance reports by country.

The official Google Search Central YouTube channel has new curated playlists for Search Fundamentals and Technical SEO.

SEO expert Lily Ray predicts the next massive Google update is around the corner. “Google is telling us in writing what it plans to go after next: scaled AI content, fake authors, and the GEO tactics built to game AI answers.”

Social Media

You can now use the Edits video editing app to create Instagram Carousels. If you make both Reels and Carousels, this is convenient, and makes it easier to have consistent branding.

Drag and drop images and videos. A carousel can have up to 20 images and/or videos
Place images across slides.
Write multiple captions.
Use cutouts as stickers.
Use the music library. Carousels with music may appear on the Reels tab.

Threads is testing Gems. Gems are automatically selected posts or replies, based on whether it’s a “fresh take”, “sparks real dialog”, and is original. They must be public, comply with Threads policy, and be created on Threads, not cross-posted. Creators will be notified if their post is accepted as a Gem, and will be able to remove the label if desired. This currently only includes posts from people in the US.
(I am skeptical that automated systems will do a good job identifying these posts.)

LinkedIn’s VP of Engineering explained the technology behind the automated systems they use to fight AI slop. Yes, it’s more AI that “learns” from human expertise.

X is now running “liveness checks” on accounts that have automated-looking activity. Options include verifying with your device’s biometrics (like Face or fingerprint unlock), a hand motion check, or selfie video check. Via Social Media Today, which notes that the bot problem is not improving, and the launch of AI bots (including Grok bot accounts) may have made the problem worse.

Tools

Google Docs now supports the Markdown text format (.md or .markdown files). Markdown is used by Large Language Models (LLMs) for structured content like tables or bullet lists.

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