A heartfelt good morning to you and yours from the This Week in Blogging squad!

First off, this is shaping up to be our biggest month ever for new subscribers, so if you're new to all things TWIB, let us first take a moment to welcome you. For the record, we've got an awfully supportive group that all are able to join, if that interests you. 

Second, you have just a few days to enter our latest contest to win a ticket to TBEX San Juan coming up in just a few weeks! Don't miss out on the opportunity if you haven't joined in yet.

But enough about us, let's get what you need to know this week. 

What Are the Key Takeaways from Apple WWDC 2024?

Whether you're Team Apple or Team Android, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is worth taking note of because the ripples from their announcements have real implications for those in the world of content creation, and tech in general. 

We figured it was worth taking time to highlight what you need to know from this mammoth event. 

• Well, the big news isn't altogether surprising - Apple is launching its own AI system (known as "Apple Intelligence"), which aims to add generative models to the core of Apple products (namely, the iPhone, iPad, and Mac). The announcement that we listened to suggested that Apple will be aiming to differentiate its own service by emphasizing "security" in the AI space. We'll see how that shakes out in practice. 
• One note for those who love efficiency. One aspect of the AI features announced is an aim to summarize emails and generate responses. As far as we understand, these features will be built out in iOS 18. 
• Apple will apparently try to make Siri actually useful, partially by integrating ChatGPT into it. 
• One feature that we're excited about -- AI being brought into Photos. They want to help you find photos using natural language (so, instead of just "cat," perhaps "our cat sitting on his favourite chair.") They also want to enable you to "clean up" photos (ie. removing background objects etc.) 
• We're told that AI will be coming to Notes more prominently, and allow you to do things like transcribe and summarize. Again, even if you're not an Apple user, these things are worth knowing because if they're popular on the iPhone, they'll be seen elsewhere (and you could even argue that the AI photo play up above is actually just a copycat of Google's Magic Eraser, so it goes both ways). 
• Another AI feature - Apple Intelligence will aim to learn how you work so it's only notifying you when necessary (aka prioritizing notifications). Basically, if you signal that you want to "reduce interruptions," it'll only show you critical info (based on personal activity and context) during that time. 
• If you're looking for a sort of umbrella to put all these AI updates under, to us, these moves signify Apple's goal to enable AI to, in a sense, become your own assistant. 
• For those with a penchant for design, the new iPadOS 18 is meant to have new features and apps for the Apple Pencil, and the goal is to allow handwriting to integrate more fluidly with the iPad. 
• Look for iMessage to be getting a few interesting upgrades, including the ability to schedule texts and support for SMS messaging via satellite. 
• Apple will also be releasing a new passwords app which will store passwords for you across devices (not dissimilar from LastPass, but just made in house by Apple). 
• This one is pretty neat (at least to us) - with macOS15, you'll be able to mirror your iPhone on your Mac, and engage with it directly (and will even let you see notifications as they pop up). 
• Random side note here, by the way. A lot of Mac users don't know that if your iPhone and Mac are linked, if you copy a URL or any information from your phone, you can paste it directly onto your computer (like magic). This has saved me (Chris here) a huge amount of time over the past little while. 
• We don't know too many folks who have been playing round with the Apple Vision Pro, but for what it's worth, VisionOS2 is being released, and is aiming to take spatial computing to new heights. 

Plenty to think about there, so we hope you enjoyed the roundup. Now on to the news! 

Google Paid How Much for a Judge Verdict?

• Google's antitrust trial will now be decided by a judge after Google wrote the government a check for a whopping $2.3 million (yes, million, not billion) which is said to have been what the damages amounted to. By our math, this amounts to about five minutes of revenue for Google.
• Another week, another spike in ranking volatility is reported. Anyone seeing movement?
• Search Engine Land interviewed Google's Elizabeth Tucker (director of product management in search) at SMX Advanced, and of course the recent core updates were a focus of the conversation.
• Are you benefiting from AI Overviews and want to track the data in Search Console? Good luck. Search Engine Roundtable shares why it is a frustrating process.
• Another analysis of the Google search leak is out this week, and this time Yoast takes a crack at unpacking the most important details.
• Although we shared some of the major developments for Apple's AI features, The Verge is reporting that Siri may be getting an update before these roll out.
• If you're a Google Pixel user, the product line is getting some new upgrades for the next release. Google shares them all in their latest blog post.
• Live in the EU and hate AI? You're in for a little bit of a break- Meta is delaying its full AI release due to data concerns.
• Instagram's Adam Mosseri sat for an interview this week, and shared some insights into the algorithm. The biggest nugget? Sends may be a dominating factor in reach.
• A new rumored feature on Instagram is to cross-post Stories to WhatsApp. Because that is obviously what everyone wants in a chat app.
• They're also testing a new Creator Insights performance page where brands can see more account metrics like accounts reached and engaged in the previous 30 days. Still no sign of calculating bot engagement, though.
• Pinterest is rolling out more AI tools in its advertising division, such as AI backgrounds and campaign automation. The AI train rolls on whether we like it or not.
• Tiktok and Ipsos released a white paper on the Return on Creative. While this one is seemingly targeting brands, it is an interesting look into what they think the creator market space is like.
• Don't want to read the full report? Social Media Today shares some of the best points.
• Mediavine is taking its Uplift feature, which helps promote diverse-owned blogs, one step further via a new partnership with Sertify. Participating users can verify their eligibility here or an additional layer of accreditation.
• As always, take a moment to check to make sure your plugins and theme are safe with Wordfence's weekly vulnerability report.
• The editorial and guide side of things was a bit light this week. Up first, Moz discusses building a brand moat for your blog.
• Ahrefs dives into the biggest SEO challenges creators face in 2024.
• Need inspiration on what to write next? Problogger has a piece about choosing your next blog post.
• Finally, TWIB reader Eileen is looking for advice from ConvertKit users who may be using the referral recommendation tools. Head over to our Facebook group to share your thoughts if you use it!

What We're Digging This Week

A Fact Worth Sharing

Opportunities

Another week comes another list of opportunities to check out!

1. Ad network Raptive is offering $1,000 for referring new bloggers to the ad network; however, this one may only be available to those already on the network.
2. Into the pet niche? Golden Hippo is looking to partner with a Pet Brands Content Creator. 
3. Get paid 10k to sip coffee around Asia. Yeah, that sounds kind of nice. 
4. ProWriterSites is hiring a Remote Content Writer. 
5. Matador is looking for creators for a Santa Monica trip. 
6. Get Your Guide is looking to partner with content creators. 
7. Portal A wants to hire a content strategist!

That's it for the week! Check your inbox next week for another update from This Week in Blogging®.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback, feel free to reply directly to this email. We look forward to seeing you on our webinar "Diversifying Income Streams for Travel Bloggers" via our friends at Stay22 on Thursday at 12 PM Eastern. Ask Chris us the hard questions this week if you join in!

-Chris and Jeremy

PS: Our Buy Me a Coffee ☕ is always available if you'd like to chip in too! We also have a tip jar via PayPal, if you prefer that option, too.

Housekeeping Notes

This Week in Blogging uses Mailerlite to send out the weekly news. Be sure to add team@thisweekinblogging.com to your address book to never miss an update. This Week in Blogging is a registered trademark.

Disclosures: Links inside this newsletter may be affiliate in nature. All opinions are solely by their respective authors. More information can be found in our Terms and Conditions.