Welcome to Part II of Edition No. 49 of my weekly newsletter, providing practical analysis in the world of digital content strategy.
I’m trying something a little different in this week’s Part II: I’m going to link to the primary source for all the updates in the table of contents. That way, even unpaid subscribers can click through and learn about updates on their own.
For that reason, I’m going to start putting the paywall after the second analysis instead of the third, and paid subscribers will continue to exclusively receive a full “Why does this matter?” analysis of each update.
Would love to hear your feedback on this change.
-Brad
Contents
I. This is the Problem with AI-Generated Content
III. TikTok vs. AI Content (Some Good News)
IV. Google Soft-Launches Bard, Its AI Chatbot
V. Elon: You Get What You Pay For
VI. Google Search Status Dashboard Gets Makeover
VII. It’s Now Easier To Manage GA4 Access for Large Organizations
VIII. There’s Some-bing in the Water
There’s a ton of information out there on the TikTok congressional hearing, so instead of trying to bring an original angle to that tired topic, here’s a link to a Google News search for “tiktok congressional hearing”.
Now, to the updates on which I will comment...
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I. This is the Problem with AI-Generated Content
The Verge is a quality, popular tech website of which most of you have probably heard.
On March 15, its editor-in-chief Nilay Patel published the following article: Best printer 2023: just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine
It consistently ranks in the top 10 of Google. In some cases, it’s been spotted as high as No. 1. (Semrush puts it at No. 12 for the term “best printer” and No. 8 for “best printer 2023”.)
The problem? Here’s a paragraph from the article:
And here’s 275 words about printers I asked ChatGPT to write so this post ranks in search because Google thinks you have to pad out articles in order to demonstrate “authority,” but I am telling you to just buy whatever Brother laser printer is on sale and never think about printers again.
Search Engine Land interviewed Patel about the post:
“The web is about to be overrun with AI-generated content explicitly designed to game the algorithms. Me doing this is the least of Google’s problems. At least I’m being honest,” Patel said.
🛠 Why does this matter? It’s been more than a week since this was published, so you can be sure Google is aware of this bald-faced gaming of its algorithm.
It’s made a mockery of using AI-generated content and bot-grooming to rank high.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Google is already working on a nuclear algorithm update that annihilates any AI-generated content that clearly has little human intervention to align it with E-E-A-T standards.
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II. There Goes Your Checkmark
April Fools’!
Related, Twitter Blue is now available worldwide:
🛠 Why does this matter? When I ran social media for different media organizations while working in New York, the No. 1 request I would get from colleagues was about getting verified. That is, “Can you get me verified on Twitter?” (And later, Facebook.)
And the answer was always yes. Not because I’m anyone special or have any special powers. No, I just knew the people who did. People who worked at Twitter or Facebook. (I never did achieve Instagram-verified glory.)
Why were they willing to grant us verification? Because we were journalists. And verifying journalists – alongside celebrities and brands – was a way to tell people we could be trusted. (Whether that’s true, I’ll let you decide on a case-by-case basis.)
I’m convinced that a number of my colleagues would have forgone COLA raises if they could have just gotten verified. One NY Daily News colleague actually emailed me around 2 a.m. one morning – and copied my manager – threatening to get me fired if I didn’t expedite her Twitter verification process. (That colleague “left” the Daily News long before me, but remains verified, so I guess we all won.)
My point is, people were obsessed over “the blue checkmark.” (Isn’t it more of an aqua color, though?) It gave them a validation with which no loving father figure could ever compete.
Now – unless you pay $8–12 per month – those checkmarks are going away. And I think that’s fine. I admit, it is “cool” to be verified. But then again, who cares? I’ll survive being reverted to a “regular” Twitter user.
I just hope that if Elon Musk receives a drunken, rambling 2 a.m. “How dare you?!” email, I’m the one who’s CCed this time.
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