Facebook has introduced a new generative image AI feature called ‘Imagine Me’ that will initially roll out to users in the US as a beta across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. 

Meta AI

Meta already boasts AI capabilities, having created Meta AI, in December 2015 to work on AI technologies and advancements. Meta AI released their own AI Chatbot, in April 2024, that responds to user prompts. The Meta AI chatbot was built with Llama 3 (Large Language Model Meta AI) and is integrated into all Meta’s platforms. 

Generative Image AI

Meta are continuing to expand their AI capabilities with their new ‘Imagine me’ Image AI Feature. ‘Imagine me’ will be a prompt based AI system that allows users to imagine themselves in different scenarios. A prompt such as ‘Imagine me surfing’ or ‘Imagine me painting’ will generate an image based on a photo of you.

Users will be able to edit their AI images, by submitting further prompts, being able to remove or change objects in photos. A new edit with AI button is set to be added to Meta platforms in a month that will increase AI editing capabilities. 

Ethical Concerns with AI Generated Images

While AI Generated images will help users with creativity and graphic design there are numerous  ethical concerns that come with AI Images on social media. For instance, the manipulation of photos by some users could lead to deception and the spreading of misinformation. Meta needs to make sure it can regulate its image generation tools properly to prevent these ethical concerns. 

Future of Meta and AI

Meta will continue to release new advancements in AI in the future but have committed to maintaining safe and ethical practices with AI and require users on their platforms to follow their guidelines around AI should they want to remain active on Meta platforms. 

OpenAI is testing a new search prototype SearchGPT which harnesses AI capabilities to deliver quick, and quality answers. The concept combines AI’s current capabilities with search functions, delivering content that is found from reliable and relevant sources.

As the landscape of searching shifts and around 60% of Google searches end without a click, it’s an interesting announcement to hear of this new development surrounding Artificial Intelligence. The search capabilities should hopefully remedy the searcher’s need to refine their initial search query.

How will SearchGPT work?

Currently, a small test group is able to play around with SearchGPT, to provide OpenAI with feedback ahead of its release. The company have stated all successful features will be implemented onto ChatGPT.

Though there is no clear date set out for the prototype to be made public, keen users can sign up for the waitlist.

When providing users answers, all content is to the point, in-line, named attributions and clearly linked to make navigating to the original content fast and effective. Within the sidebar more source links can be found, there to create a rich bank of content to research.

User will be able to ask follow-up questions similarly to how a natural conversation would flow. Allowing SearchGPT to accommodate for any context within the history of the search.

Open AI have made clear they want to establish partnerships with creators and publishers in order to maintain and grow the ecosystem of content available. Those with high-quality content will likely be displayed to queries more frequently creating an opportunity for discovery. Performance insights are likely to be shared with publishers to help them understand the performance of their content within the AI search landscape.

The partnership will also allow for publishers and creators to give OpenAI feedback, providing choices and autonomy over their content. For instance, sites can elect to not have their content used to train the AI and instead can be just used to display results. It will also provide publishers with the power to determine how their content is displayed.

Publishers are able to provide feedback at publishers-feedback@openai.com.

How will this impact search?

Though it’s not entirely clear what the impact of AI-powered search will have on search engines, we can hypothesise what will likely be affected as a result:

1. A change in the way site publishers and Search engines communicate to ensure content is effectively distributed.
2. A shift in the relationships developed between AI companies, creators and publishers.
3. New ways of distributing content, creating more opportunities for discovery.
4. Needing to adapt SEO (Search engine optimisation) strategies.

Reddit has made a significant change to its website settings, blocking many search engines, including Bing, from accessing its content. This change took effect on July 1, 2024, when Reddit updated its “robots.txt” file, which guides search engines on how to interact with the site. While Google is still allowed to crawl Reddit, most other search engines have been blocked.

Bing’s Response and Content Disappearance

Shortly after the update, it was noticed that Reddit results were disappearing from Bing’s search index. This was confirmed by Mark Williams-Cook and several media outlets. The reason behind this is Reddit’s use of IP detection to show different versions of the robots.txt file to search engines and humans, making it clear that Bing’s crawlers were indeed blocked. As a result, Bing is no longer indexing new content from Reddit.

Microsoft and Reddit Confirmations

A Microsoft representative confirmed that Bing respects the robots.txt standards and follows the instructions provided by websites. Once Reddit updated their robots.txt file to prohibit crawling, Bing complied and stopped indexing Reddit. Tim Rathschmidt, a spokesperson for Reddit, clarified that this change is unrelated to Reddit’s recent partnership with Google. Reddit has been negotiating with various search engines and has blocked those that could not agree on specific terms, especially regarding the use of Reddit content for AI purposes. More details on this confirmation can be found on Search Engine Land.

Google and Reddit Partnership

In a strategic move, Reddit partnered with Google in a $60 million deal to enhance Google’s search results using Reddit’s user-generated content. This collaboration aims to integrate Reddit’s vast, real-time insights into Google’s search algorithms, improving search relevance and depth. For Reddit, this deal increases visibility and user engagement across its communities, aligning with its broader business goals and future growth plans.

Potential Issues with Content Accuracy

While the partnership with Google has increased Reddit’s visibility in search results, there are concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the information presented. According to Amsive, Reddit’s rapid SEO growth has raised questions about the quality and helpfulness of its user-generated content. Although Reddit provides diverse perspectives, the accuracy of these posts can vary greatly, potentially leading to misinformation or incomplete answers, especially for sensitive topics.

The Amsive article highlights several key issues:

1. Varying Quality: Reddit content is user-generated and can range from highly informative to completely inaccurate. This inconsistency poses a risk when search engines present Reddit threads as definitive answers.
2. Context and Misinterpretation: Information pulled from Reddit can be taken out of context, leading to misunderstandings. Discussions on Reddit often contain jokes, sarcasm, or incomplete thoughts that can be misinterpreted when isolated.
3. Moderation and Verification: Unlike professional content, Reddit posts are not typically vetted by experts. The community-driven moderation system can help flag incorrect information, but it is not foolproof.

Why It Matters

Reddit’s new licensing deal with Google has put it in a strong position, allowing the site to demand more control over how its content is used by other search engines and AI tools. By blocking most other search engines, Reddit is ensuring that only Google drives traffic to its site, which has been substantial. Google is even testing special features in its search results to enhance visibility for Reddit content.

Conclusion

In summary, Reddit’s update to its robots.txt file has effectively stopped Bing and several other search engines from accessing its site, while its partnership with Google continues to thrive. However, the increased visibility on Google also brings potential challenges related to the accuracy and reliability of the user-generated content featured prominently in search results.

In a major U-turn, Google has announced that its plan to block third-party cookies, the “Cookiepocalypse”, has been cancelled. This was first announced four years ago and has caused trepidation for marketeers and brands since then.

Why have Google cancelled their cookie plan?

Third-party cookies are the files that are stored on your computer when you visit a website and brands have been able to access this data to target audiences. By doing this a company such as Dominos, will be able to reach a user who has recently visited their website, by targeting them with an ad on a different website. This ability to track consumer behaviour has been a key element of digital marketing.

Google had initially chosen to block third-party cookies in an attempt to protect users’ privacy however, their alternative proposal to replace cookies “The Privacy Sandbox” was met with disdain from the marketing community. The Competition and Markets Authority, the UK competition watchdog even stepped in, in 2021 as they feared that Google’s actions could lead to advertisers being more susceptible to working with Google-led products and systems thus causing a potential monopoly in the market.

What has been the reaction?

There has been backlash from the UK’s data privacy watchdog who was said to be disappointed by the decision. In their view, this move favours advertisers over individuals. Conversely, the head of advertising at The Trade Desk has welcomed the reversal. Jeff Green has said that Google would have caused major issues by pursuing this cookie policy and that by cancelling the plan, they have acknowledged that giving users the choice of opting out of cookies is the best way to protect privacy as well as marketing strategies.

What will Google do as an alternative?

Google will seek a new approach which will allow users to make an informed choice and has begun conversations with regulators about how best to do this. Industry experts have claimed that this is a tacit acceptance of Google keeping third-party cookies. However, this will still come with pop-ups on sites which will allow users to opt-out.

On Friday the 12^th of July Meta released a statement confirming Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will no longer be restricted. The change is made as we lead up to the US election. Trump’s accounts were suspended in January 2021 after being suspected of inciting violence at a ‘Save America’ rally. 

Meta’s initial response was to suspend Trump’s accounts to mitigate any potential spread of misinformation, as well as prevent any more calls to violence. 

Meta has now stated: “With the party conventions taking place shortly, including the Republican convention next week, the candidates for President of the United States will soon be formally nominated. In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis. As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties. In reaching this conclusion, we also considered that these penalties were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances and have not had to be deployed. All US Presidential candidates remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence.”

Why reinstate Trump’s Meta accounts?

Meta initially allowed Trump back onto Facebook and Instagram in January of 2023 with restrictions and monitoring of the accounts. Meta will no longer be observing the accounts for guideline compliance, essentially making his account like typical users.

The shift by Meta is made to ensure Trump has an equal and fair opportunity to represent himself, his political expression, and his campaign. It will also ensure audiences can access content from all political candidates.

Meta will likely see financial benefits as a result of the change as more campaign money is funnelled into social media advertising. In 2019 alone, the Trump administration spent a staggering $20 million alone.

Since the original suspension in 2021, Trump launched his social platform known as Truth Social (2022). Truth Social enacts as a podium and safe space for Trump to share his political opinions, and as such we can expect him to continue to use this as his primary account. What may differ for this campaign is the way Meta’s platforms are utilised. Historically Trump utilised his social accounts to post divisive and reactive content, to prompt discussion surrounding key issues in America. Like in previous years, his team will likely incorporate Facebook and Instagram ads into their arsenal for this campaign.

Reddits appearance on Google search results have quadrupled in the last year (Up 400% from July 2023) and with Google announcing their partnership with Reddit earlier this year, we take a look at what this means for the future of search and the SEO industry. 

Google and Reddit Partnership

In February, Google announced they would be formalising their partnership with Reddit after a long standing relationship over a number of years. At the time Google said this about the partnership,

‘’Over the years, we’ve seen that people increasingly use Google to search for helpful content on Reddit to find product recommendations, travel advice and much more. We know people find this information useful, so we’re developing ways to make it even easier to access across Google products. This partnership will facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information that will make our products more helpful for our users and make it easier to participate in Reddit communities and conversations.’’

Since the partnership, anonymous redditors have dominated Google search, mainly appearing high up on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for question and review based queries.

SEO Experts and Author Credibility

As the SERP continues to pivot towards Reddit for FAQs, many SEOs may be wondering where this leaves their efforts with Google. SEOs focus on producing authoritative content from industry experts, by doing this they hope Google will recognise their content as being reliable and informative for the end user. However, Google is seemingly prioritising anonymous content from Reddit users, not industry experts, throwing SEO best practices into doubt.

Google’s John Mueller responded to an SEO on X about why an anonymous reddit user can outrank a credible author by saying that there are multiple kinds of sites that can be useful to an end user and not all of them have to be from ‘credible’ sources.

‘’Finding the right tools for your needs, the right platforms for your audience and for your messages – it’s worth looking at more than just a simplification like that. Google aims to provide search results that are relevant & useful for users, and there’s a lot involved in that.’’

According to Mueller, Google still holds credibility as a ranking factor, but the process is multidimensional and content can still rank without author credibility, hence why an anonymous post from a Reddit user can still appear high up on the SERP. We cannot determine how much weight Google gives each of their ranking factors and should still strive to follow all of Google’s best practices when creating content, including using credible authors.

Reddit’s Credibility

The credibility of content appearing on Reddit relies on the first-hand experience of its users. It gives Google users the opportunity to have questions answered by consumers rather than business’, giving honest opinions and reviews. This is reliable to Google as people are much more likely to believe another end user rather than a ‘credible’ business trying to market a product or service that doesn’t give a first-hand user experience.

However, due to the nature of Reddit’s content, anyone can post information and opinions, without any checks and balances. Therefore, there will be disinformation on the platform, as appears on any form of social media platform open to public discourse. Google needs to make sure this ill informed content doesn’t pull through onto the SERP, which has already happened when Google introduced AI Overviews, in order to continue giving users the most accurate information.

The Future of Search and Reddit

Given the progress made in the last year, we would expect to see Reddit responses continue to appear more frequently onGoogle. SEOs and Social Media Managers should think about building up their visibility on Reddit, as its popularity increases, in order to continue to compete at the top of the SERP.

Google has announced that a new core update may be released “in the coming weeks.” The exact date is still unknown because the update must go through extensive testing before being added to Google Search. The most recent core update was in March 2024, which Google called their largest ever.

Google’s Statement:

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, explained:

“If we knew the exact date of the next core update, we’d tell you. But we don’t know yet. These updates aren’t scheduled for a specific day. The ranking team makes changes, tests them, evaluates the results, and then we get a launch date. Sometimes I could have said, ‘Core update next week!’ because everything seemed on track, but then more work or issues caused delays. I expect we’ll see an update in the coming weeks, but the exact timing remains unknown.”

What Are Google Core Updates and Why Are They Important?

Google core updates are major changes to the way Google decides which websites to show first in search results. These updates are designed to help users find the best and most relevant information.

When these updates happen, some websites might move up in search rankings if their content is considered more useful, while others might move down if their content is seen as less helpful. It’s important for website owners to know about these updates so they can adjust their sites and keep their visibility on Google.

How Brands Can Prepare for the Google Core Update:

• Create Quality Content: Make sure your website has valuable, original content that truly helps visitors. Regularly update and improve what’s already there.
• Enhance User Experience: Make your site fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use. Sites that are simple to navigate and load quickly are likely to rank higher.
• Monitor and Adapt: Use tools like Google Analytics to check your site’s performance. Identify and improve any pages that aren’t doing well.
• Build Trust: Show that your site is trustworthy by having clear author information, accurate details, and reliable sources.
• Fix Technical Issues: Ensure all parts of your site are working correctly, like sitemaps and links. Fix any errors to help Google understand and index your site better.
• Stay Updated: Keep up with the latest news and announcements from Google about updates. Knowing what’s coming can help you prepare.

A new report has claimed that some of the world’s largest AI developers have been using creator’s YouTube videos without asking for their permission. Once a video has been uploaded onto YouTube, any third parties must request permission from the creator, otherwise they are at risk of violating YouTube’s policies. This was discovered during an investigation by Proof News and Wired.

Which AI developers have been partaking in this?

The report indicates that Apple, Anthropic, Nvidia and other well-known AI firms have all trained their models using a YouTube Subtitles dataset. This dataset contains nearly 175,000 videos from around 48,000 YouTube channels. These videos were incorporated by companies such as Apple without the creators having any awareness of this.

What are YouTube Subtitles?

The YouTube Subtitles dataset includes the text of video subtitles which are often translated into different languages. The YouTube Subtitles dataset features a diverse selection of popular channels spanning news, education, and entertainment. This includes content from prominent YouTubers such as MrBeast and Marques Brownlee, whose videos have been utilized for training AI models. Proof News has developed a search tool to explore this collection and check if specific videos or channels are included. Notably, the collection also contains some videos from TechRadar, as shown below.

Were any other sources used?

The dataset was created by EleutherAI – who stated that the goal of building this set was to reduce the barriers to AI development for companies that weren’t considered the big tech giants. EleutherAi had also taken Wikipedia articles, European Parliament speeches and emails from Enron, according to reports.

If you have any questions about AI and how it can impact your business, please feel free to get in touch with us at info@intelligencygroup.com.

YouTube announce they are currently testing out a new feature for Shorts which allows creators to paste an ‘add yours’ sticker onto content.

Whilst testing is ongoing a select number of channels will be able to access and utilise the new tool. This will provide YouTube with the opportunity to get feedback and fine tune the feature before being considered for complete integration.

One of the main reasons prompting YouTube to offer such a feature to Shorts creators enhance user experience and to increase trend participation. Participation in trends helps generate discussions, traffic and engagement. All of which can have a powerful sway on the way YouTube’s algorithm works.

The ‘add yours’ sticker will allow creators to start and engage with trends on Shorts with ease. User experience is clearly being considered.

This could be especially useful for brands creating reactive content. Being able to simply click on a sticker in the moment can allow for more natural, real-time reactions. For those starting the trends, they are able to monitor engagement through clicking on the sticker. There they will be able to see all the videos made using the sticker and gain insight by looking at any responses.

How to use the feature

• Creators will need to navigate to the sticker picker, in there the ‘add yours’ sticker can be found.
• Once the content has been recorded, click ‘next’ and then the sticker icon and click on the ‘add yours’ sticker.
• Create a prompt for other creators to respond to.
• The sticker will then be pasted onto the finished video.
• Creators wanting to respond to the content and join the trend will simply need to click the sticker and start recording.

The benefits this could have for creators is major. It will create opportunities to grow audiences and add valuable and impactful content to YouTube’s expanding library.

Why the feature is important

Trends can signify collective behaviours, opinions and feelings around topics. Trends are a fundamental part of marketing, as they help shape and influence consuming habits. Ultimately helping to sell a product or drive traffic to a blog. Whatever it is you’re trying to achieve, typically a trend is going to help you get a step closer to achieving that.

Competing social platforms like X, Instagram, Threads, Reddit and TikTok all already offer features that make hopping on trends or creating them super simple.  So, it’s pivotal that YouTube are also now creating a feature which so greatly enhances user experiences.

Google wants to improve usage of its mobile app to continue dominating search in case it loses its antitrust lawsuit against the US Government.

What is the Antitrust Lawsuit?

The Department of Justice are bringing an antitrust case against Google, claiming the corporation have dominated search by making exclusive deals. If Google lose the case, it will put their deal to be the main search engine on Apple’s Safari under threat.

Google and Apple?

Google reportedly paid Apple over $20 Billion in 2023 to remain the default search engine on Safari. This gives them 70% of the search traffic they currently gain on iPhones. It is crucial for Google to be able to maintain this audience as 65% of searches are now carried out on phones compared to desktop which makes it a huge part of their market.

Google pushing Mobile App

Google want to become more self-reliant when it comes to search on phones and have been running extensive market campaigns to get users to download the Google app. Currently only 30% of users are searching through the Google app but Google is aiming for this number to be at 50% by 2030.

How it could impact SEO

In the past SEOs have typically centred their efforts based on Google’s best practices, trying to make sense of the search engine to appear higher up rankings

If Google loses its antitrust lawsuit and crucially, a large chunk of its searches, SEOs will need to start optimizing not only for Google but multiple search engines simultaneously.

Losing the antitrust lawsuit would also mean that Google must reduce the number of ads on the site, making organic searches even more important as they dominate the SERP again.

The future of Google

It may be the case that even if Google lose their relationship with Safari via their antitrust lawsuit, users flock to downloading the Google app as they don’t like the alternative search engine being provided and they are so used to Google.

One thing that is for certain is Google convincing more users to download their app will be crucial in protecting them from being reliant on Apple in the future.