Tips Tuesday – AI in WordPress, YouTube Shorts, Podcast Boom
Tips this week include:
- Meta retires Like and Comment buttons for 3rd-party apps
- WordPress 6.9 RCs are out
- Matt Cromwell resigns from Stellar WP
- AI is coming in WP 6.9
- Agentic AI used in hack attacks
- The future of AI agents
- Turn off AI in Gmail
- How AI music topping the charts affects you
- YouTube Shorts are leading the pack
- How I’m using Shorts – and not
- Podcast wars are heating up
- Running a podcast is challenging
There’s lots of news today that you may think doesn’t affect you, but it certainly does!!
So, don’t skip sections, as you need to know what’s here and what’s coming – soon.
WordPress Tips
Meta retires Like and Comment buttons for 3rd-party apps
This change may affect your share plugins.
Honestly, I can’t imagine why anyone is still using Share/Like buttons other than Pinterest now anyway. The metrics have not been accurate for at least the last 6 years and nobody relies on them for real social proof anymore either.
That said, Follow buttons are still useful so that folks can find you on their favorite platforms, so keep those.
WordPress 6.9 RCs are Out
The Release Candidates for WP are now available. An RC means they have stopped adding new things and are bug testing prior to the final release.
I’ll begin my testing in a couple of weeks, as the final release will be in early December.
And I’ll have a “What’s New” type post for you.
Matt Cromwell Resigns from StellarWP
I have followed Matt for over 2 decades and he is one of the best persons I have met in the WP universe.
He runs the Advanced WordPress group and developed GiveWP, which was eventually acquired by Liquid Web.
Since then, he’s been at StellarWP.
Matt has decided that it is time for him to pause and reflect, and then move into his next calling, whatever that may be.
I’ll be watching because where Matt goes, I definitely want to know and watch carefully.
And we all wish him well along his journey.
AI Tips
AI is Coming in WP 6.9
There is one WP 6.9 change I want to prepare you for now.
You may recall me reporting earlier this year that WP created a new AI dev team. I thought it was going to be primarily for helping check all of the plugins and themes that were integrating AI. And I’m glad they are doing that.
But, their ambitions were much bigger. They are creating new AI integrations.
WordPress will now include an AI Abilities API in the core code.
As much as I don’t like the AI flood gates this is going to open, WP has to do it.
It will be the only way to standardize how all AI-related code interacts with the 2 primary codes that power WP, which are PHP and REACT JS. And the JS part is super important as that is what powers Gutenberg and is what carries most of the executable code now.
The other reason WP has to do this is that the platform will get left in the dust if they don’t.
What else is going to get left in the dust over this and similar moves, with the whole internet, is security. But, that’s a tale for another day.
Agentic AI Used in Hack Attacks
ChatGPT made a big splash a few months ago when they announced the release of Agentic AI bots that actually worked well.
Agentic AI bots carry out tasks for you online.
My reaction – no thanks, not yet. The security implications are through the roof right now.
While ChatGPT is the one that gets most of the headlines, the fact is, Anthropic’s Claude writes better code, which allows folks to create far better AI tools.
And Chinese hackers did just that with the code, plus they got Claude to carry out the attacks. Here’s another link
They were able to deploy a large-scale attack to 80 big corporations and governments and successfully spied on them.
Anthropic finally caught it and shut it down. And I bet they are still scrambling to find all of the holes in their system that allowed this to happen.
ChatGPT likely went on full security alert over this too, at least I hope they did.
The Future of AI Agents
Here’s what I see in my crystal ball.
AI Agents will become ubiquitous.
And so will hacks using them and on them.
This will become the new cat and mouse game of the future, just like hacking sites, apps, and devices are now.
And the general public’s concern about AI bot security will be just as lax as it is now with the connected things they already use.
But, I will continue to do my best to help those who want to be safe on how to use their tech responsibly and avoid issues as much as possible.
Turn Off AI in Gmail
These days I can’t use much of anything on my PC without a message popping up to integrate some new AI tool.
That includes Gmail, both the free and paid Workspace versions.
And I most definitely don’t want AI to be training on ANYTHING I do with Workspace, as that runs my whole back office, including my emails with clients and the secure docs I share with them.
I recommend that you have a look at your settings, even if you have checked them before, because Google is opting us into things in sneaky ways now.
Here’s a TikTok I came across which will show you where to check.
How AI Music Topping the Charts Affects You
This affects every creator, so don’t skip reading it.
The #1 Country song in the U.S. is 100% AI generated.
Breaking Rust is the AI persona behind this song and is a verified artist on Spotify and YouTube. “He” even has verified social media accounts, including LinkedIn.
Here are the mindblowing stats:
- Started releasing AI music in early 2025
- Has 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with 4 million streams on “Livin’ on Borrowed Time” and 3 million streams on “Walk My Walk” which is the current #1.
- Has over 23,000 subscribers on YouTube with 4.4 million views on the song “Livin’ on Borrowed Time”
How this affects you.
The fact that this AI artist hit #1 on the Country charts is dumbfounding.
THE greatest perk of being a country artist is the intensely loyal fan base. The annual CMA Fest in Nashville is a week-long celebration that brings in 90,000 people a day and connects them with artists for autographs and pictures, plus multiple concerts all over town. People come from around the world for this thing. In fact, some folks move to Nashville because of it.
AI Has No Human to Hug
What every creator on the planet is betting on right now is that they are a person, who has a story that their fans and followers can connect with.
You’ve heard me preach all year about how important it is for you to show up, in person, with your content.
The novelty of the AI pendulum is going to swing hard that way, as Breaking Rust has proved. And the millions of folks who are streaming “his” songs don’t care how the music was produced. They just know that they like it.
But that will wear thin over time.
Fans will want a person to connect with eventually.
If anything, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour proves it, along with her having the biggest release in history of “The Life of a Showgirl” right after that tour ended.
There are a billion Swifties. I very seriously doubt there will be even a million Rusties.
So, don’t let the one-hit wonders discourage you.
Connect with your followers and that will see you through these changes.
Video Tips
YouTube Shorts are Leading the Pack
Shorts views on YouTube have tripled in the last year and are now beating TikTok.
But that news is a little misleading.
AI Slop is driving this viewer surge.
And YouTube plans to add VEO 3 to help folks create more AI Slop.
That tells me one thing – AI is driving novelty views. TikTok and Meta are where the personal connections are being made with video.
But, Meta has spent $$$$ trying to catch up with Google in the AI Slop department. There’s a ton of ad money at stake.
None of that has anything to do with our businesses or us getting eyeballs on our content.
Plus, YT Shorts don’t pay much.
How I’m Using Shorts – and Not
For the last 8 days I’ve been putting every spare minute into making Shorts to promote my new YouTube channel.
There are about 40 of them and each one shows a very specific tip for using the software.
I’ll be releasing one a day starting right after Thanksgiving, which is when the release of the longer videos ends.
That will give me activity on YouTube through the end of the year.
I believe that Shorts, that are linked to the longer videos will do well for this niche on YT, Reels, and TikTok.
I found out the hard way that is not true for the crafting niche (for the holiday wood stuff I made), so I won’t be doing that again.
And in January I’ll be creating a new series and will replicate this same pattern of releasing the longer videos every couple of days and then daily Shorts right behind them.
Keep in mind that my strategy for this new channel is building subscribers and watchtime hours so that I can get it monetized.
I don’t use this strategy for Heartwood Art, as it is already monetized and paying for half my groceries every month. My releases there have been slower burns that grow over time and are slowly increasing my monthly pay.
But, that will change when I start the new series for teaching CAD programs for woodworkers and I’ll do it like I’m doing this new channel, including more Shorts on all platforms.
Podcast Wars are Heating Up
2026 may be the year for podcasts to go BOOM, especially video podcasts.
Podcasts on Spotify have increased 54% in the last year, and 390 million of those are streaming video podcasts.
And now Netflix is doubling down by announcing they plan to host both Spotify and iHeart video podcasts.
Running a Podcast is Challenging
While I was researching my new video ventures this year, I very seriously considered starting a solo podcast based on the info in my book, The Sage Age. And I’m positive it would do well, even as short vids on social media instead of a full podcast.
I’m also positive that it would be controversial and I’m not interested in taking on the blowback of that, at least not at that level.
Plus, getting guests for interview-type podcasts is so tricky. Too many guests don’t show.
Editing an audio podcast takes time, but editing a video one would be much more labor intensive.
Yeah, I know there are AI tools that say they can do it. I haven’t found one that does a good job of it yet.
There’s a LOT of money to be made in podcasting, or even doing short videos as both Meta and TikTok pay pretty well for those – but only if you can do something that you can commit to making into a series, and one that will get good engagement.
Weird, the longer I keep following you “Tips”, the less is in there for me.
But that’s more my issue than yours. You see, I absolutely don’t do videos. Not actively as a producer, nor passively as a consumer!
As a matter of fact: I gave away my TV in February 2012 – and haven’t had one ever since. I prefer to read and do a lot of it. Most of my free time is spent with reading.
Whereas I find videos a big waste of time – probably unlike 80-90% of the population. Yesterday I came across a typical example, one of the few video links I dared to open in weeks. It was a topic, which interests me, so I gave it a try. But what I encountered was: a wordy introduction, followed by “Don’t forget to click the link below to follow me, so that you don’t miss any of my videos. And if you like to support my work, you can subscribe on Patreon…” — and I was out of there, before the topic of this particular video was even touched!
4+ minutes of my time wasted, listening to somebody with a horrible accent, and only once again wiser that in future I will not open video links. All these unnecessary minutes. People who regularly watch videos know how to subscribe, they don’t need a reminder. And the Patreon link should come at the end, to show appreciation if deserved. But everyone and their dog now thinks they can be an “influencer”…
Anyhow, please keep on writing, I (nearly) always find some interesting tid-bit apart from all the TikTok and YouTube stuff. Only if your “Newsletter” will be all video will I unsubscribe!
Like every kind of content, some creators get to the point and others meander all over. Recipe sites are the worst, as for written content, as most put tons of fluff in the post just to be able to run more ads. And the ads are so intrusive that I usually couldn’t read the post in peace anyway. I’d rather watch a video, especially a Short on YouTube, that shows me step-by-step in less than 3 minutes.
My focus of my tips have changed radically over the years, as online security and visibility have changed. But, some folks don’t want to change how they do things, and that’s fine, as long as they don’t mind decreased revenue year over year. I’m doing my best to keep my peeps in the money.