Threads and YouTube are now rewarding original posts. Here’s what to post instead

What happened

Threads has started giving out Gems: a small marker on public posts and replies that started or continued a real conversation. According to Meta’s own page about Gems, an automated system picks them once a day, and only posts from people in the US can get one for now. Meta lists three things it looks for: perspective (“a fresh take”), discussion (“real back-and-forth dialogue”) and originality (“your own work, not something recycled from elsewhere online”). Follower count doesn’t matter. And a post can’t get a Gem if it’s a repost, or if it was crossposted from another app such as Instagram.

Two weeks earlier, on October 1, YouTube announced a change in the same direction. In a Creator Insider video, YouTube’s Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie explained that Shorts recommendations will favor original work, and that channels which mainly re-upload other people’s clips without significant changes will get less reach, as Search Engine Journal reported. He was specific about what doesn’t count as adding value: “VO descriptions of what’s happening on screen, minor technical edits, or template-based bulk changes.” The good news for anyone already affected: he said channels that shift toward original content will have their reach re-evaluated.

What it means for you

I find it telling that two platforms, in the same month, described what they want in almost the same words. They want a point of view and a conversation, and they’re less interested in volume.

The two changes don’t carry the same weight, and it’s worth being precise. Meta says a Gem is recognition: if a post doesn’t get one, that “doesn’t affect your profile or change how many people see your posts.” The YouTube change is different, because it touches reach directly for channels built on other people’s clips.

Here’s the difference in practice. A recycled post shares a famous investor’s quote with “So true.” An original one tells what happened when you tried that advice in your own business, with one detail only you would know. Maybe it worked, maybe it cost you a client. Either way, it gives people something to answer. That second post is exactly what both platforms are now describing, and it’s also the one people remember.

For a founder building a name, the practical lesson is the same on both. Copying one post into every app is the habit that loses here: a crossposted Threads post can’t be picked at all. On YouTube, a clip of someone else’s interview with a voiceover on top now falls short. The founders who do well are the ones saying something only they could say, from their own work, in a way that makes people want to reply.

What to do this week

1. Write one post natively on Threads instead of crossposting it from Instagram. Make it about something you’ve seen in your own work that others in your field might disagree with.
2. Spend ten minutes giving thoughtful direct replies to posts in your field. On Threads, direct replies can get a Gem too.
3. Look at your last ten Shorts. If most of them are other people’s clips with light edits, plan your next ones from your own long videos, calls or behind-the-scenes footage instead.
4. When you do share someone else’s video, follow Ritchie’s suggestion and use your channel’s Posts tab, so viewers watch the original.
5. Before you publish anything, ask whether it carries a view your audience couldn’t get from anyone else. If it doesn’t, sharpen it until it does.

Finding that point of view is most of what our personal branding work is about, if you’d like help with it.