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Good afternoon, and welcome to the latest Intelligency Digital Roundup.

This week, Meta officially announced more details for its paid subscription, ChatCPT Plus members got access to some new features, and details about how Google ranks recipe content have been revealed.

Let’s get into the news.

Facebook and Instagram ad-free options revealed

Meta is launching no-ads subscriptions for Facebook and Instagram users across Europe. Starting this November, residents of the EU, EEA, and Switzerland can choose between two options: stick with the current ad-based model or pay a fee to enjoy an ad-free experience.

If users decide on the ad-free route, it will set them back €9.99 per month for web access or €12.99 per month on iOS and Android. Importantly, these subscribers won’t see their data used for ad purposes.

Why is this change important?

The uptake of this ad-free subscription can significantly affect the reach and thus the ROI of this fresh European service. However, the cost, especially considering the impending fee hikes next year, might deter potential subscribers.

Regarding subscription costs, here’s a note: users who go ad-free will experience it across all their linked Facebook and Instagram accounts under a single payment. It’s essentially a one-subscription-covers-all deal. Yet, this is poised to change. Starting March 2024, users will face an extra fee – €6 per month on the web and €8 on iOS and Android – for every additional account they have.

Why is Meta offering this option?

This move aligns with European regulations, allowing Meta to cater to its users in the mentioned regions. The CJEU has given the nod to such subscription models as a legitimate way for users to say ‘yes’ to ad-supported services.

Initially, Meta is targeting adults, those 18 years and older. But they’re not stopping there. The tech behemoth is actively seeking avenues to provide teenagers with a balanced and safe ad experience, especially considering the changing regulatory winds in the EU.

What has Meta said about this?

A meta spokesperson had the following to say via announcement:

• “Advertisers will be able to continue running personalised advertising campaigns in Europe to reach those who choose to continue to receive a free, ad-supported online service.” 
• “Going forward, we will continue to invest to build new tools that preserve the value that both people and businesses get out of personalised advertising while allowing users to control their ads experience on our platforms.”
• “We believe in an ad-supported internet, which gives people access to personalised products and services regardless of their economic status. It also allows small businesses to reach potential customers, grow their business and create new markets, driving growth in the European economy.”
• “And like other companies, we’ll continue to advocate for an ad-supported internet, even with our new subscription offering in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.  But we respect the spirit and purpose of these evolving European regulations, and are committed to complying with them.”

GPT 4 gets a new all-in-one version

OpenAI is gearing up to introduce a revamped approach to multimodal GPT-4, allowing seamless access to All Tools and enhanced document analysis.

Multiple users on X shared screenshots showcasing robust PDF/document analysis and the game-changing “All Tools” functionality.

But what is “all tools”?

It’s a one-stop-shop, letting users tap into all of GPT-4’s offerings without the hassle of toggling between features.

This enhancement isn’t just another update; it’s a stride in generative AI, surpassing traditional text-only interactions. For instance, users can now feed DALL·E 3 an image and await a crafted response, introducing a fresh dynamic to their operations.

As more people familiarize themselves with this multimodal prowess, there are many ways it could be used, illustrating the combined might of GPT-4 tools. Notably absent, though, is the inclusion of ChatGPT plugins in the All Tools feature. This might be a strategic manoeuvre by OpenAI to refine the user journey, possibly sidelining third-party extensions that previously offered analogous capabilities.

With the newfound capability to dissect PDFs and similar files natively, the dependence on third-party ChatGPT plugins, which bridged this gap earlier, diminishes.

In this ChatGPT evolution, OpenAI showcases its commitment to user feedback, consolidating powerful features in-house, and eliminating the need for external integrations.

Beyond the All Tools buzz, some users have spotted a more up-to-date knowledge cutoff. All eyes are now on OpenAI’s upcoming DevDay conference, where it’s anticipated they’ll deep dive into these novel tools with the developer community.

Open AI hasn’t confirmed when this feature will be available to all Plus users, but as they’re testing it, it could be a surprise release when the DevDay conference is held next week.

How Google ranks recipe content

Google recently delved into its algorithm’s treatment of recipe content, addressing a query on X. The query on X (previously Twitter) questioned Google’s preference for streamlined recipe formats.

Recipe formats sparked debate lately, with some sites allegedly padding content for SEO benefits. The intensified competition in recipes has driven creators to adopt varied strategies. Some creators harness SEO, while others lean towards simpler, more straightforward content.

Google’s position is tricky due to the balance between creators and user preferences. While creators value search traffic, many users want quick, hassle-free recipes.

Google’s perspective

X’s user @IntrovertedGeekUK posed a question to Google’s Danny Sullivan, one of Google’s gurus:

“Help me understand Danny! RE recipe sites: users typically want just the recipe. No extras. But can Google prioritize a simple ingredients/method list?”

Sullivan went on to explain through a series of posts:

“Some people want just a list of ingredients. Some people want recipes from people or places they might recognize. Some people might want a recipe along with some background about the recipe, what it means to the person who is sharing it and so on. All people don’t want the exact same things. Our systems try to show what seems generally helpful.”

He acknowledged that some people pad out content before getting to the meat of it:

“I think that’s something content producers might want to keep in mind. If you want to appeal to that audience, you might want to ensure your recipes are helpful in that way, easy access to the key parts.”

But also explained that you need to respect how a creator wants to present a recipe:

“If someone wants to tell you more about their recipe because they want to, because it’s important to them, because they think that’s useful to them and their readers — that’s up to them. That should be respected.”

What is generally helpful content?

Google employs cutting-edge AI to rank what’s deemed “generally helpful” content. Using algorithms like BERT and MUM, Google harnesses machine learning for nuanced understanding.

These tools grasp semantics, context, intent, and handle linguistic complexities like sarcasm. This ensures users get relevant results, even without specific keyword matches.

Not limited to recipes, Google’s AI deciphers various queries answered by content, from lyrics to coding.

The discussion offers insights into Google’s strategy for recipe content. It highlights the need to prioritize users, avoiding repetitive or generic content, which is an approach that should be used for all types of content. Google remains dedicated to guiding creators on optimal organic search methods.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Intelligency Digital Roundup.

This week, learn about the new features Meta plans for Reels. Also, details about a new form of DDOS attacks that could affect thousands of websites, and about Google’s new “SEO made easy” videos.

Let’s get into the stories.

New features for Facebook and Instagram Reels

Meta announced this week that it would update Reel capabilities to improve ad creatives.

The three new features aim to improve campaign optimisation and also boost engagement. The three features are:

• Collection ads
• Multi-destination Reel ads
• Swipe left functionality

It’s good for marketers and businesses that Meta is constantly updating Reels because video creative is becoming more prominent on social media, especially for Facebook and Instagram. So Meta improving Reels allows higher-quality, more engaging Reel ads

What are the new features then?

Collection ads

This type of ad is already available on Instagram, but it is being tested for Facebook. A collection ad allows a business to post one large image or Reel with other, smaller images, with the aim being that users can swipe through them. Generally, the intent of each image is to let users learn more about what you’re advertising.

Collection ads are still being tested for Facebook, so only select accounts will have access to this placement. The plan is to roll this out to all business accounts in the future.

Multi-destination carousel Reel ads

Meta is also rolling out multi-destination CTA features for Reel carousel ads on Facebook and Instagram on both iOS and Android.

This feature allows a brand to send users to different destinations such as multiple product pages, helping users find what they’re looking for easier.

Swipe left functionality

Swipe left functionality allows a user to swipe left on a Reel ad and be taken to a product or landing page. It allows a user to learn more about what you’re advertising, potentially boosting sales.

Other new features

Meta has also rolled out some new tools for Advantage +, including:

• Automation tools
  • Automatic conversion to 9:16 resolution
  • 3D motion and depth
  • Aspect ratio variance
  • Sharpening tools and AI upscaling
• Adding music
• Brand suitability

If you want to read the full announcement, visit Meta’s business blog.

New DDoS attack taking advantage of HTTP/2 vulnerability

A newly identified Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) exploit, known as HTTP/2 Rapid Reset, has emerged as a major threat due to its ability to unleash large-scale attacks with relatively few resources.

The exploit leverages vulnerabilities within HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 network protocols, which facilitate multiple data streams between servers and browsers. This means browsers can request numerous resources from servers simultaneously, rather than sequentially.

The exploit was publicly disclosed by Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google, and poses a significant risk as it affects the vast majority of modern web servers operating on the HTTP/2 network protocol.

Currently, the absence of a software patch makes virtually every server susceptible to this exploit, categorizing it as a zero-day exploit. However, server software companies are actively developing patches to mitigate the HTTP/2 vulnerability.

How the HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Exploit works

HTTP/2 protocol has a server setting that caps the number of requests at any given moment. If requests exceed this limit, they are denied. There’s also a feature allowing a request cancellation, which deducts that data stream from the preset request limit, freeing up the server to process another data stream.

Attackers discovered that by sending millions of requests and cancellations to a server, they could overwhelm it.

The exploit is extraordinarily dangerous as servers currently lack defenses against it. Cloudflare reported blocking a DDoS attack 300% larger than any previous attack, with the largest one reaching 201 million requests per second (RPS). Google reported an even larger attack exceeding 398 million RPS.

Remarkably, this exploit requires a minimal number of infected computers – as few as 20,000 to launch attacks three times larger than the largest recorded DDoS attacks, significantly lowering the bar for hackers to conduct devastating DDoS attacks.

How to protect against HTTP/2 Rapid Reset

While patches are underway, Cloudflare has already safeguarded its customers against this exploit. In extreme cases, if a server is under attack and defenseless, server administrators can revert the HTTP network protocol to HTTP/1.1 to halt the attack, though at the cost of slowed server performance.

This measure, albeit a temporary fix, is better than facing a complete server shutdown.

This video from Phoenix Security explains the exploit quite well:

Google launch SEO tutorial videos on YouTube

Google has kicked off a new YouTube series, “SEO Made Easy”, with its first video aimed at helping people enhance their website’s performance in search results.

In the opening episode, Martin Splitt from Google’s Search Relations team dives into how websites can tailor their brand name display on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

Splitt, in a brief introduction, mentions the series will serve both beginners and seasoned website owners.

“We have tips for beginners and experienced website owners. We will cover tips, such as using Google Search Console to find low-hanging fruit or using lazy loading for a better page experience.”

Structured data

The premiere episode underscores the significance of structured data for website optimization in the segment titled “Modifying Site Names”.

Splitt starts off by elaborating on a fundamental SEO aspect – employing structured data to personalize site names.

He points out that if Google Search finds it hard to auto-detect your website’s preferred name, structured data can be the key to shaping its display.

Practical tips for structured data integration

For those finding structured data integration challenging, Splitt shares a workaround – maintaining a consistent site name in the title across all pages.

He mentions that some content management systems provide an option to set a site-wide name, while others may necessitate manual addition of the site name to page titles. Yet, he warns that this tactic applies only to subdomains or top-level domains, not on a per-directory level.

Accelerating update recognition by google

After making these alterations, it’s essential to give Google some time to catch up with the updates. To hasten this process, use Search Console and request re-indexing of the homepage.

Future episodes and educational value

The “SEO Made Easy” series showcases Google’s ongoing effort to provide educational YouTube content for webmasters and digital marketers.

This episode lays the groundwork for an extensive journey into SEO strategies, aimed at brightening your website’s presence in Google Search, with more enlightening episodes on the horizon.

As always, thanks for reading this week’s Digital Roundup!

Good afternoon, and welcome to another edition of the Digital Roundup.

This week, Google started rolling out an update targeting spam. Also, Meta released its first generative AI tools, and TikTok is set to start trialling an ad-free subscription.

Let’s learn some more about each story.

New spam update from Google

This week, Google began rolling out its October spam update. The update improves Google’s coverage in languages to target different spam types.

Google stated that the October Spam Update “aims to clean up spam in Turkish, Vietnamese, Hindi, Chinese, and other languages”.

As well as this, Google is also reducing the visible spam in search results, such as cloaked, hacked, auto-generated, and scraped spam.

Previous updates and rollout times

Previous spam updates from Google have always taken a few weeks to roll out, and as long as your website isn’t hosting malicious content, rankings should be fine.

The last update that targeted spam was released this time in October last year, and there was also a link spam update in December 2022.

Meta’s new generative AI-powered tools

On Meta Ads Manager, users can now begin to find its first generative AI-powered tools designed to help campaigns perform effectively.

The three new tools are:

• Background generation
• Image expansion
• Text variation

The tools are rolling out now, aiming to finish by the start of next year.

Let’s learn some more about each tool

Background generation

This tool allows a user to create multiple backgrounds complimenting product images. The aim of this tool is for a user to be able to tailor assets to different audiences.

Image expansion

Users using this tool will be able to adjust creative to fit different aspect ratios across different channels, such as Reels or home feeds.

Text variation

Text variation is what it says on the tin. You can give it the original copy you were going to use on the ad, and it can make multiple variations for you. This stops you from having to come up with multiple variations on your own. You can use different copy for different audiences.

What has Meta said?

A Meta spokesperson has this to say about the new AI tools:

“Today’s generative-AI powered ad features are just a start. We plan to offer advertisers more ways to generate ad copy to highlight product selling points or generate background images in minutes with tailored themes, like outdoor images for an athleisure brand.”

“As we shared at Connect, businesses will soon be able to use AI for business messaging on Messenger and WhastApp to engage with customers – helping with commerce, engagement and support, unlocking instant conversational responses. We’re testing with a small number of businesses in Alpha and plan to scale it further next year.”

“With millions of businesses advertising on our platform, we will continue to take a collaborative approach in developing these features and experiences so that they provide value to businesses and people.”

–Meta announcement

TikTok to trial ad-free subscription

In our final story this week, TikTok may begin piloting an ad-free subscription on the app.

The code for the social media platform has suggested that users may be able to pay $4.99 a month in order to access content with no ad breaks.

There are also screenshots of TikTok asking users if they want to upgrade to an ad-free subscription:

Why this is important

This potential change is important for advertisers on the platform. If this proves to be popular, then it could have an impact on the reach of adverts on TikTok. This would lower the product’s value.

In terms of excluded ads, influencer marketing one-offs or campaigns would still appear on the premium version.

TikTok generates almost all of its profits from ad revenue, which came to a staggering $9.4 billion in 2022. Even more surprisingly, this figure is predicted to quadruple by 2026. It’s no surprise that executives are looking at diversifying revenue streams in order to mitigate financial risk, with a paid model being one of them.

As always, thanks for reading this weeks digital roundup.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Intelligency Digital Roundup.

This week, TikTok began trialling a Google integration, Courts ruled that Facebook can be sued, and ChatGPT now offers new prompt methods.

Let’s get into the stories.

TikTok trial displaying Google Search result links

This week, an X user and app researcher, Radu Oncescu noticed that TikTok is testing displaying links to Google Search Results from its own search feature.

Here’s a screenshot of how it looks:

As you can see in the screenshot, TikTok has added a small link with a Google logo to its search results page. TikTok is also using a disclaimer for the links “TikTok does not endorse or take responsibility for search results from Google”.

What we know

Business Insider wrote more about the Google and TikTok partnership as they had an opportunity to speak to a TikTok spokesperson. They stated that the feature is not an ad unit, and is being trialled globally. The spokesperson also confirmed that TikTok is experimenting with other third-party integrations.

However, Google’s spokesperson declined to offer any comment on whether there’s a financial agreement between the two companies.

This partnership could be due to the fact that Google is concerned about losing its market share to TikTok, and this is a method to drive traffic back to Google.

Once we know more about this, you’ll be sure to read about it in the roundup.

Facebook open to suing over biased ad algorithm

A recent ruling by the California State Court of Appeals has determined that Facebook can be taken to court over allegations that its ad algorithm is discriminatory. This overrules a 2020 decision that had previously shielded Facebook from such legal actions based on Section 230.

Brands that use Facebook’s advertising tools might unknowingly participate in discriminatory ad practices if the platform’s algorithm is found to be biased.

Lawsuit background

In 2020, Facebook was taken to court after claims that it violated civil rights laws. The issue? The platform was said to have excluded women and older individuals from seeing insurance ads.

This issue came to light when Samantha Liapes, a 48-year-old user, tried to find an insurance provider on Facebook but found she wasn’t presented with any relevant ads. She believes her age and gender played a role in this.

Initially, the court dismissed the case. They deemed Facebook’s tools to be “neutral” and determined that the platform was protected by the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. 230. Yet, Liapes didn’t give up and appealed the decision.

So what’s changed?

On 21 September 2023, the appellate court reversed the earlier decision. They believed the case convincingly argued that Facebook was aware insurance advertisers were specifically tailoring their ads based on user age and gender, contravening the Civil Rights Act.

The court emphasised that Facebook isn’t just a content distributor but actively “creates, shapes, or develops content” using its tools.

ChatGPT adds voice and image prompts

OpenAI has introduced new voice and image functionalities for ChatGPT. Users can now interact with the chatbot through voice or share images for richer conversations. Initially, these features will be available for paying subscribers, with a wider release to free users anticipated soon.

While these enhancements pave the way for vast creative interactions, they also bring potential risks, like impersonation and fraud. OpenAI highlights the possible challenges these updates might pose, especially for advertisers.

How to speak with ChatGPT

To speak to ChatGPT, you’ll need to:

• Go to “Settings“.
• Under the mobile app, select “New Features“.
• Activate voice conversations.
• Click the headphone icon at the top-right of the home screen.
• Choose from one of five available voices.

How does it work?

• After pressing the button, ask your question.
• ChatGPT converts the spoken query into text and consults its language model.
• The response is transformed back into speech and delivered audibly.
• It promises an experience akin to interacting with Alexa.
• Users can select from five distinct ChatGPT voices, though OpenAI sees potential for even more variety in the future.

How to use images as a prompt

To use images, you’ll need to do the following:

• Press the photo button to take or select an image.
• For iOS or Android users, click the plus button initially.
• Discuss multiple images or employ the drawing tool for more precise queries.

How it works?

• It mirrors the functionality of Google Lens.
• Capture and upload a photo; ChatGPT will decipher your query and reply.
• The app’s drawing tool, as well as spoken or typed questions, can help refine queries associated with an image.
• Unsatisfactory answers from ChatGPT can be corrected in real time, echoing Google’s multimodal search approach.

What have OpenAI said about the new prompts?

A spokesperson from OpenAI stated the following:

“Voice and image give you more ways to use ChatGPT in your life. Snap a picture of a landmark while traveling and have a live conversation about what’s interesting about it. When you’re home, snap pictures of your fridge and pantry to figure out what’s for dinner (and ask follow up questions for a step by step recipe).”

“After dinner, help your child with a math problem by taking a photo, circling the problem set, and having it share hints with both of you.”

“We’re rolling out voice and images in ChatGPT to Plus and Enterprise users over the next two weeks. Voice is coming on iOS and Android (opt-in in your settings) and images will be available on all platforms.”

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Intelligency Digital Roundup.

This week, Elon Musk announced that X may become a paid service. Also, Google began rolling out the September 2023 helpful content update, and TikTok rolled out a new label for AI content.

X could become a paid service

In this week’s top story, Elon Musk announced that he plans to make X a paid platform for all users.

This is an attempt to tackle “rampant bot activity”. Musk revealed scarce details about the fee when chatting to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister.

Unfortunately, Musk didn’t share how much the service would cost, or what features would be included to sweeten the deal.

However, Musk did claim that X’s 550 million users post 100 to 200 million times a day. Which is an impressive statistic. However, it wasn’t clarified how many of these are bot posts compared to real posts.

The above stats mark a 140% increase on the “average monetizable daily active usage” of 229 million reported by Twitter in May 2022, which is before Musk took over.

A significant change

This would be a significant change for users because the platform has always been free. It’s a change that’s so significant, that it could drive them away from a once-beloved platform in their eyes.

On the other hand, it could be good for advertisers, because it may mean they can tap into a higher-quality audience and have fewer issues with bots.

So what’s X said?

Musk told the Prime Minister the following:

“The single most important reason that we’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system is that it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.” “Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny, or a tenth of a penny, but if somebody even has to pay a few dollars or something, some minor amount, the effective cost of bots is very high, and then you also have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.” “We’re actually going to come out with lower tier pricing. We want it to be just a small amount of money [and] in my view, this is actually the only defense against vast armies of bots.”

Once we know more about the subscription or one-time fee, we’ll be posting about it for the weekly roundup!

Google roll out September 2023 helpful content update

After releasing a core update not too long ago, Google has now pushed out an update to its helpful content system. It began rolling out last week and should be fully rolled out by the end of next week.

The last helpful content update was the December 2022 helpful content update.

So what’s changing with the update?

With the new update, Google has promised an improved classifier.

The specific details are as follows:

• New guidance for hosting third-party content, as well as what to do after a helpful content system update.
• More points about either removing content or changing the dates on current, published content.
• The words “helpful content written by people” have been changed to reflect the current AI generative content landscape. It now reads “helpful content created for people in search results”.

Google’s dev blog, Search Central, explains more about the update.

What to do if you’re affected by the update

If you’ve been negatively affected by the helpful content update, Google has a list of questions you can run through to analyse the quality of the content on the site. The company stresses that content needs to be helpful or informative, and not just primarily created for ranking well on SERPS.

The list of questions is:

• Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
• Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
• Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
• After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
• Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
• Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?

And when it comes to avoiding search-engine first content:

• Is the content primarily to attract people from search engines, rather than made for humans?
• Are you producing lots of content on different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?
• Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?
• Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?
• Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?
• Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?
• Are you writing to a particular word count because you’ve heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don’t).
• Did you decide to enter some niche topic area without any real expertise, but instead mainly because you thought you’d get search traffic?
• Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there’s a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn’t confirmed?

Final comments

It’s important to note that even if you put content fixes or technical fixes in place, it can still take several months of time to recover. Google described the update as an “ongoing effort to reduce low-quality content and make it easier to find content that feels authentic and useful in search.”

TikTok now labelling AI content

Our final story for this week concerns TikTok. If you’re a user on the platform, you may have noticed there’s been an increase in the amount of AI edited content. Whether that’s generated photos using MidJourney, cool stuff you can do with prompts on ChatGPT, or deepfakes of a celebrity.

Well, creators on the platform have been advised to use this new label on any content that’s been fully or heavily edited with AI. The label is similar to the branded content label.

For creators, it’s important that they keep up with the latest community guidelines which TikTok put in place. If you don’t follow them, you can be penalised, especially if you’re making money from the platform.

Clearly labelling AI content helps fight disinformation and deceit from malicious sources, and helps to build audience and creator relationships.

Why the change?

The label is a consequence of the synthetic media policy which comes under the community guidelines. TikTok urge that the labels should be used whenever there’s content that includes likelike images, video, or audio.

The company plans to release a series of educational videos to show creators how to effectively use the label.

“We hope that with time, people will start using these labels just like they do verified account badges and branded content labels, making them another useful tool for creators and viewers to share and make sense of content.”

-A TikTok Spokesperson

As well as the label, TikTok will be renaming all TikTok effects to be TikTok AI effects. Also, it plans to test an automatic “AI-generated” label.

TikTok Newsroom has the full announcement.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Intelligency Digital Roundup.

This week, WordPress announced 100-year domain name registrations, Meta could scrap ads for paid subscribers in Europe, and Google is raising page speeds in an experimental trial.

Let’s learn some more about each.

100-year domain name registration with WordPress

WordPress has announced that businesses can pay a one-time registration fee for their domain name to last 100 years. With the fee, there would also be managed hosting and also 24/7 customer service.

The price is surprising, however, coming to a total of $38,000. It’s important to note that you can only usually register a domain name for 10 years.

WordPress is dubbing this fee the “100-year plan”.

So what comes with WordPress’ 100-year plan?

WordPress’ official announcement stated that the plan comes with the following:

• The domain being secured for 100 years
• Multiple backup locations across the world
• “Top tier” hosting
• Unlimited traffic
• Dedicated 24/7 support

The plan has been designed for individuals, families, and companies who want to cement their legacy.

“Families who wish to preserve their digital assets—the stories, photos, sounds, and videos that make up their rich family history—for generations to come.

Founders who want to protect and document their company’s past, present, and future.

Individuals seeking a stable, flexible, and customized online home that can adapt to whatever changes the future of technology will bring.”

The CEO of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, had this to say:

“Whether it’s giving a newborn the special gift of a domain and lifetime home on the web, or something you put in your will to make sure your website and story are accessible to future generations, I hope this plan gets people and other companies thinking about building for the long term.”

If you want to sign up for the 100-year plan, WordPress has a link on the announcement.

Meta Might Offer Ad-Free Paid Versions of Facebook & Instagram in Europe

Meta is thinking about offering ad-free, paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in Europe according to the New York Times. They haven’t stated how much this might cost or when it will be available. But don’t worry, they’ll still have the free versions that come with ads, says the New York Times.

How could this affect businesses?

If many users switch to this paid version, brands might not reach as many people with their ads. For now, this ad-free idea is for Europe, but it might go to the US later. This act does apply to the UK, but it’s unclear if the ad-free option would be offered to UK users.

Marketers, keep an eye on this! You might have to think about where you want to spend your ad money. Other avenues such as LinkedIn may have to be explored instead.

Why the change?

The European Union has a new rule called the Digital Services Act. It starts on 1 January 2024. This rule asks big online companies, like Google and Meta, to make the online space safer and fairer for businesses. This might be why Meta is thinking about the paid, ad-free versions.

What has Meta said?

Meta hasn’t officially said anything about this new idea. But in 2018, the head of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, did hint at something like this. He said to the US Senate, “There will always be a version of Facebook that is free.” Sheryl Sandberg, who was a top leader at Meta, also mentioned, “If you want no ads, that might be something you’d have to pay for.”

We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this, so stick with the roundup to keep yourself updated too.

Google Introduces a Solution to Speed Up Webpages

Google has unveiled a new method to run JavaScript, making web pages load faster. This is great news for website publishers, as it helps improve a new webpage performance measure.

About current page speeds

Web pages need to respond quickly to users. A new measure, called Interaction to Next Paint (INP), will replace the older First Input Delay (FID). To score well on INP, which starts in March 2024, web pages should be super responsive.

The issue? Some JavaScripts, known as “Long Tasks”, take too long to run, causing web pages to be sluggish. It’s like having a slow car on the fast lane – everything gets delayed.

Currently, when users click a button, they often have to wait because these long scripts block other tasks. Google aims to fix this

There are existing coding solutions to make user interactions faster, but they’re not perfect. They solve different issues and sometimes even worsen the problem. Google points out that current workarounds can delay the main task even further.

Google’s proposed solution

Google suggests a fix named scheduler.yield. Here’s how it works:

1. It pauses the long task.
2. Lets the user task run.
3. Once that’s done, the main task continues from where it paused.

This feature has been available for testing in Chrome 115 since July 13th.

Google is inviting users to test this feature in a real-world setting. This “origin trial” aims to collect feedback and understand its effectiveness. There are certain precautions, though. Websites using this should have a backup plan for browsers not using Chrome 115.

This feature is still being tested. But, with INP becoming a crucial measure in 2024, adopting this early might give publishers an edge over competitors. Just ensure you’re prepared for browsers not yet supporting this new feature.

As always, thanks for reading the Intelligency Digital Roundup!

Good Afternoon, welcome to the final August edition of the weekly digital roundup.

This week, after taking them off the platform, X has brought back political ads. Additionally, learn which brands are blocking GPTBot, and about Meta’s new competitor analysis tool.

Let’s get into it.

X and political ads

This week, X has taken back its stance on political ads in the US. In 2019, political ads were famously removed in 2019 when former CEO Jack Dorsey was in charge.

At the time, Dorsey explained:

“This isn’t about free expression. This is about paying for reach. And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It’s worth stepping back in order to address.”

However, Elon Musk has reversed the decision in the name of “free speech”.

Why this change is significant

Musk’s reversal of the political ad removal is a significant change for advertisers. If you’re working for a cause-driven company, then this might be good news for you. However, if the brand you’re under has nothing to do with politics, then you may step away from a platform that advertises politics that clash with the brand.

In January, Musk relaxed X’s policy on political ads:

Interestingly, this decision to go ahead with political advertising is just a year ahead of the next US presidential election.

What X has said

A spokesperson for X had this to say:

“Building on our commitment to free expression, we are going to allow political advertising.”

“Starting in the US, we’ll continue to apply specific policies to paid-for promoted political posts. This will include prohibiting the promotion of false or misleading content, including false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election, while seeking to preserve free and open political discourse.”

“We’ll also provide a global advertising transparency center so that everyone can review political posts being promoted on X, in addition to robust screening processes to ensure only eligible groups and campaigns are able to advertise.”

Dozens of brands block GPTBot

A new analysis conducted this week showed that 69 out of 1000 of the most popular websites in the world have blocked GPTBot.

The percentage of websites blocking it is increasing by around 5% per week according to the study, which was carried out by Originality.ai.

Many SEOs have questioned whether or not to block GPT Bot, because they don’t like the idea of training an AI bot without receiving citations, sources, or compensation.

Which websites have blocked GPT Bot?

The 15 top websites blocking GPTBot are:

• amazon.com
• quora.com
• nytimes.com
• shutterstock.com
• wikihow.com
• cnn.com
• foursquare.com
• healthline.com
• scribd.com
• businessinsider.com
• reuters.com
• medicalnewstoday.com
• goodhousekeeping.co
• amazon.co.uk
• tumblr.com

Another interesting observation is that these sites have all blocked GPTBot, but most haven’t blocked CCbot, which is another tool used to train OpenAI.

However, the NY Times and Reuters have blocked both, as neither wants to train AI systems using their content.

The full analysis is available to read on Originality’s website.

Meta’s new branded content campaign tracker

Our final story this week concerns Meta. It launched a new feature this week called “search branded content” which can be found in the ads library. Users are able to filter the database by platform, date range, and username.

Once all of this is filtered, it will allow marketers to perform competitor analysis by seeing details on their approach, relationships with creators, and also campaign frequency.

How does it work?

Lindsey Gamble, a social media expert, posted an X thread with a video of what the tool looks like:

The video shows how to navigate the tool, and how you can use it to gain insights into influencer and competitor behaviour. The influencer filter presents an overview of their ongoing campaigns and brand collaborations. Also, users can also opt to filter results by brand, revealing the influencers associated with their current campaigns.

This tool is being launched at a time when the EU wants more transparency from Branded Content on Meta platforms. The Digital Services Act has launched today, which puts the onus on digital platforms to create safer spaces.

What Meta has said about the tool

A Meta spokesperson had this to say regarding the launch:

“Ads are just one way for businesses to promote a product or service on Facebook and Instagram. They can also work together with a content creator to promote something in a post, story, video or reel. Meta provides transparency about this type of content by showing a paid partnership label on it and by including it in the Ad Library.”

“Use the branded content search to find posts, stories, videos and reels on Facebook and Insatgramt that involved a Paid Partnership. You can filter by app and date.”

“[This tool] is for anyone who wants to see content from a creator who has worked together with a business.”

This tool is available for every business account to use and can be found in the Ad Library.

As always, thanks for reading this week’s digital roundup.

Good Afternoon, and welcome to the Intelligency digital roundup.

Learn about the targeted ads blunder from the UK Home Office, how X has paywalled what used to be Tweetdeck and OpenAI’s new acquisition.

Let’s get into it.

Home Office spends £35k on ineffective ads

This week, it was discovered that the UK Home Office (HO) has spent at least £35,000 on targeted ads. The intent behind the ads was to try and prevent asylum seekers from using small boats to cross the channel. However, the ads ended up targeting tourists and people who travel for business.

The campaigns, which were published on Facebook and Instagram, told users “don’t risk your life” and to “seek asylum in the first safe country you reach”. This message was repeated in several languages, but the UK government don’t know if it had any effect.

The Independent saw research which showed that the Home Office paid Meta for hundreds of posts. Users in Northern France and Belgium received these posts and ads between Jan 2021 and September 2022.

The HO targeted users who spoke languages such as Arabic and Kurdish and who were “interested” in Arabic Football, and cricket among other subjects. Interest in cities in Syria, Iranian cinema, Vietnamese radio, and “Iraqi “cuisine” also got targeted.

The effectiveness of the ads

Data what The Independent saw showed that users away from home, and users located in Brussels, Calais, and Dunkirk saw a lot of the adverts.

Ben Collier, a University of Edinburgh lecturer said that the HO built its audience as “patchwork”, which resulted in the wrong users being targeted.

“There’s people from Jordan, Mexico – clearly holidaymakers who are getting hit with these ads,” “As far as I can tell, the Home Office are just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks, except they don’t have anything to tell them.”

-Dr Ben Collier

Some adverts reached less than 1,000 users, and some reached over 1,000.000. One adverted targeted Arabic speakers visiting Brussels. Another advert targeted Vietnamese speakers travelling away from family in Calais. Clearly, this isn’t the audience the HO expected.

Using the lowest spend on Meta paid social campaigns, it’s estimated that at least £35,000 was spent on these ads.

Ad intent

Dr Collier stated that the campaign aimed to influence behaviour, which had become “fear-based” over the years.

The copy of the ads told users “Even if you survive an illegal boat trip, UK laws will not allow you to work or earn money.”. Researchers found that the ads were being shown to users in Mexico, Oman, Jordan, and Bangladesh.

The ads got removed in the back of 2022, because they didn’t contain the political messaging disclaimer (just a box to tick when uploading ads).

The Scottish Institute for Policing Research stated:

“There is clear evidence that [the campaign] has been seen by Arabic, Pashto, Vietnamese, and Albanian speakers in a number of locations who are extremely unlikely to be seeking asylum” “This means that, for example, in Brussels, there are Arabic-speaking residents who will be targeted by this advert, when their French-speaking neighbours will not see it.”

Let this be a lesson to anyone running paid social campaigns! No matter how much money you put into your ads and budget, building the right audience is key! If you have the wrong audience, the best copy and creative in the world won’t deliver the results you want.

X/Twitter paywalls XPro/TweetDeck

In a surprising move, X paywalled XPro for brand and personal accounts. If you want to access the tool, you need to be a Blue subscriber.

In the past, this tool has always been free, so this may drive away advertisers from the platform more than they already have been. Unfortunately for users, this will impact content discoverability.

What the experts say

This is what Jules F. Bacchini, an expert on PPC had to say:

“For Twitter based communities, like PPC Chat, it is a serious blow to community interactivity. PPC Chat has historically been a Twitter based community with lots of activity centered on our community hashtag.”

“Unfortunately, due to changes in the past six months and culminating with making XPro a paid only feature, we have had to move our weekly chats off of Twitter and onto our other channels.”

“It also potentially really hampers discoverability of content and like minded follows as it is a lot more difficult to follow lists without a tool like XPro. I get that X is trying to increase its revenue, but putting a historically free tool that really enhanced the Twitter user experience behind a paid subscription is disappointing.”

Anu Abegbola, also a PPC expert, told Search Engine Land that the change is disappointing. They also argued that this could be the final nail in the coffin for X:

“TweetDeck was a platform X offered for free – and it didn’t make many updates to it whilst it was free. Yet now they are going to make it a paid service? That is not on!”

“It was a nice way to organise follows and see multiple groups of follows at once without actually having to follow people – for example, you could just view by lists. This change is going to mean a lot less time on X and people seeing important tweets a lot less.”

“X has really become a mess lately and this is the final nail in the coffin for me. TweetDeck was essential for me to drown out troll noise and only pay attention to people who I thought were worth paying attention to. This now goes away.”

XPro Updates

Now that XPro is paywalled, it supports new features to incentivise users to subscribe to Blue. These features include:

• Full composer functionality
• Spaces
• Video docking
• Polls
• And more

X’s Help Center has more info, but they are yet to comment on the change.

OpenAI publically acquires a new company

Our final story for this week concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. It has just acquired Global Illumination, a New York startup that uses AI to create creative tools and digital experiences.

This is the first company that OpenAI has publicly acquired in the last seven years. However, the terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed.

OpenAI wrote “We’re very excited for the impact they’ll have here at OpenAI,” “The entire team has joined OpenAI to work on our core products including ChatGPT.”

About Global Illumination

Global Illumination was founded in 2021 by Thomas Dimson, Taylor Gordon, and Joey Flynn. It has been involved in projects with Meta, YouTube, Pixar, and Riot Games.

The most recent creation from them is Biomes, which is an open source game that’s similar to Minecraft. While Biomes’ fate is unclear, it’s safe to assume the team won’t be focusing on entertainment projects as much going forward.

OpenAI has avoided acquisitions up until now, but now it has been backed with billions in Venture Capital by Microsoft. ChatGPT has earned the company global fame, it reportedly cost $450 million to develop. This also included talent acquisition costs.

The company earned $30 million last year, but this year it aims to boost that to $200 million, and then $1 billion next year.

We’ll have to wait and see what work Global Illumination creates under the leadership of ChatGPT.

As always, thanks for reading this week’s digital roundup.

Good Afternoon, and welcome to the Intelligency Digital Roundup. Letting you know the latest trends and insights in Digital Marketing.

In this week’s news: Learn about OpenAI’s new web crawler, GPTBot. Also, see what’s changed with TikTok’s ad campaigns, and the best way to prune content on your website.

Let’s get right into it.

All About GPTBot from OpenAI

This week, OpenAI launched GPTBot, which is a new web crawler designed to improve future AI models like GPT-4 and GPT-5.

How it works

GPTBot is designed to enhance future AI technology and accuracy capabilities by scanning the web for the following user agent token and string:

User agent token: GPTBot
Full user-agent string: Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.0; +https://openai.com/gptbot)

OpenAI has stated that the bot will automatically filter out paywall-restricted sources, any sources with personal information, and any sources which violate OpenAI policies. However, this technology provides businesses with the opportunity to improve the AI ecosystem and future language models by giving it access to your site.

It’s important to note that you’re able to restrict access to your site if you don’t want to give GPTBot access.

Site owners can restrict access by placing the following in the site’s robots.txt file:

User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

On the other hand, if you want to allow it some access, you can insert this into the robots.txt file:

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /directory-1/
Disallow: /directory-2/

You’ll be able to see if GPTBot has crawled your website as OpenAI provided IP address ranges on its site. This is to help provide transparency.

Legality and Ethics

This latest tech launch has sparked discussions on a forum called Hacker News. The discussions involve the legality and ethics of a company scraping web data in order to train AI systems.

Some users argue that because you can disallow it using robots.txt, there aren’t any ethical concerns. Other users argue that there’s no benefit to allowing it access to your site. This is because, unlike Googlebot, it’s not driving traffic to your site.

Another concern is how it will handle copyrighted and licensed products because ChatGPT doesn’t cite sources when giving an answer to a prompt. Additionally, if licensed media such as images or music is used to train AI, it could be copyright infringement.

Other users argue that anything on the public web is fair game, comparing it to a person learning from online content.

Overall, GPTBot has opened up many a discussion on fair use and ownership when it comes to AI. Robots.txt is a good first step.

TikTok Ad Changes

In other news, TikTok has made some major changes to its ads this week in order to meet EU regulations. Targeted advertising capabilities will be reduced, and any ads which violate content guidelines will be removed.

Also, users will see expanded reporting options, and if a creator faces a content moderation decision, they’ll be notified.

Here’s the full list of changes:

TikTok’s ad and platform changes

The full list of changes on TikTok includes:

• Expanded reporting- When reporting content, EU users can now report them as illegal. You’ll be able to report something as hate speech, a form of harassment, or a financial crime/scam/pyramid scheme.
• Global bans- If a piece of content is found to be violating TikTok’s content policies, it will be removed globally from the platform.
• Targeted ads- Brands can no longer create targeted ads for EU users aged 13 to 17. Those users will no longer see personalised ads based on their activities on and off-site.
• Personalisation– EU users can now turn off personalisation, this will mean that their “for you” and “live” feeds will show popular global content, rather than content popular near their location.
• More transparency– TikTok has promised to be more transparent when it comes to decisions regarding content moderation.

Here’s what TikTok has said regarding the changes:

“The European Union has set a clear vision for platform regulation with the Digital Services Act (DSA). Following our updates in July about our Research API and Commercial Content Library, we are providing more information about the work that we are doing to meet our obligations under the Act by the August 28 deadline.” “Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. We know that ensuring the safety, privacy, and security of our European community is critical to achieving that goal.”

These changes are somewhat similar to the potential ones which Meta is making for Facebook, will more companies follow suit? Only time will tell.

Google’s advice on content pruning

This week, Google gave some good advice on content pruning, following an exposé from Gizmodo regarding CNET deleting thousands of articles. Allegedly, the site did this in order to “game Google Search”

CNET did confirm the culling of content, and while Gizmodo said it was in the thousands, CNET did not comment don’t the exact number. The company “redirected, repurposed, or removed” content by analysing the following metrics:

• Pageviews
• Backlink profiles
• Time past since the content was updated

Content deprecation, or removal, tells Google that “CNET is fresh, relevant, and worthy of high page rankings” according to a CNET internal memo.

CNET is incorrect about this. Deleting content doesn’t tell Google the above. If you want to show that your site is fresh, relevant, and worthy of high page rankings, then publish helpful and high-quality content. Not delete existing content.

Showing even more of a lack of SEO awareness, Taylor Canada, CNET’s director of marketing stated “Unfortunately, we are penalized by the modern internet for leaving all previously published content live on our site.” This isn’t how SEO works, Google will never punish a site for having old articles live on a site.

Google’s guidance doesn’t state this, if anything, old content can still be helpful to users. Google SearchLiasion’s X account had this to say about deleting old content:

Danny Sullivan, owner of the Search Liasion account, had this to say when asked about old content which has broken links or isn’t relevant anymore:

“The page itself isn’t likely to rank well. Removing it might mean if you have a massive site that we’re better able to crawl other content on the site. But it doesn’t mean we go ‘oh, now the whole site is so much better’ because of what happens with an individual page.”

What Google said about content pruning

Google once said in 2011 that low-quality content removal could help rankings:

“In addition, it’s important for webmasters to know that low quality content on part of a site can impact a site’s ranking as a whole. For this reason, if you believe you’ve been impacted by this change you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality content.”

However, Danny Sullivan argues that Google never outright said to delete content just because it’s old.

Google’s current advice from experts such as John Mulaney is to repurpose content by improving it, rather than removing it, where possible. Intelligency will always argue that this is much better for SEO too. This is because improving and repurposing old content rather than deleting it improves the overall quality of the content of your site.

As always, thanks for reading this week’s digital roundup!

Good Afternoon and welcome to the first August roundup for 2023.

In this week’s digital marketing news, Meta has tried to quash disputes with the EU over data collection with a proposed new method. Also, YouTube tested generative AI summaries for videos, and X changed its ad labelling method.

Let’s learn more about each story.

Meta potentially changing targeted advertising data collection method for EU users

Meta has offered to get consent from European users before the company collects any data for targeted advertising this week.

The proposal is a result of a year-long argument with the EU because of the EU arguing the legality of the company’s data collection methods.

What does this change mean for marketers?

Unfortunately, for digital marketers, this could have a significant impact on the quality and effectiveness of targeted ads. This is because there’s a possibility that a large number of EU users refuse to give permission for data collection. If a large number of users refused, Meta would receive fewer signals for identifying behaviours and interests.

If Meta cannot access this data, it would mean that marketers carrying out paid social campaigns wouldn’t be able to build audiences as effectively as they used to. This in turn would make targeted advertising weaker.

Targeted advertising being weaker could result in the value of Meta’s ad space because of company’s spending less on targeted ad campaigns.

When could this change happen?

Meta stated that the change will take approximately three months to implement, so it could be implemented by late October. Although, Meta has also said that it could wait until early next year to coincide with EU regulation changes.

Once a date is confirmed, Intelligency will be the first to let you know.

Meta’s privacy policy contains substantial information about how user data is collected, the video below is a summary.

YouTube testing AI-generated summaries

This week, YouTube has been quietly testing new AI implementation on desktop. The feature summarises a video using AI, which appears when searching for videos, and when watching videos.

While this sounds like it aims to replace bespoke video descriptions, YouTube has said this isn’t the case. YouTube designed this feature to compliment videos and to help generate engagement.

AI generation

As of now, AI-generated summaries only apply videos in English, and can appear while searching for videos, or watching one. While YouTube believes that summaries could help generate engagement, this may not be the case.

If the summary is weak, people may not click on the video, even if they’d enjoy the content. No doubt this is a concern from creators on the platform.

At the moment, the test isn’t public, so we are unable to see what it looks like.

Google are getting more and more into AI, from implementing it into Google Docs, to Google Ads and Search.

Once the test is visible, we’ll be writing more about it, so stay tuned!

X making ad labels less visible

Now that Twitter is formally transitioning into X, once big change has made ad labels less noticeable. Instead of the “promoted” label that used to be in the bottom left corner of Twitter Ads, X Ads now have an “ad label” in the top right hand corner.

What does the label change mean?

Interestingly, this new labelling is similar to how Google and Microsoft “hide” PPC ads in SERPS (search engine results pages). While it’s entirely possible this change could lead to more accidental clicks on ads on the platform, that doesn’t necessarily translate to more conversions.

How have X users reacted?

Like many changes that are implemented to social media, users aren’t too pleased. Many have stated that the ads now look like organic posts, defeating the purpose of ads.

Here’s some X quotes about the change:

• “They made it easier for me to scroll past ads. I used to have to get to the bottom of the tweet to see it was an ad. Now it’s at the top.”
• “Instant block for all ads.”
• “Now it’s closer to the block button.”
• “As a direct response, I’ve stopped just scrolling past ads and now I’m blocking every single ad I see.”

X hasn’t commented on the change as of yet, this could just be a test instead of a permanent feature. It’s likely that the company is trying to get advertisers back on the platform, after they saw a huge drop in ad revenue. We” just have to wait and see for how this works out.

As always, thanks for reading this week’s roundup!