Peggy Ks Tips and Tricks

This week there are updates for YouTubers, web creators and more. Note: if you received an email yesterday that one or more of your Blogger posts were removed for violating the “Malware and Viruses”, as of this writing Blogger is working on a fix.  Upcoming May 18-20: are you ready for Google I/O ? Register to set up your schedule and sign up for networking and other live events. Or if you rather just watch on YouTube, the Keynote live stream begins at 9:40AM on May 18th. Be sure to check out the official playlists of scheduled Google I/O Keynotes and I/O Sessions . I’m looking forward to the Google Search Central sessions: Prepare for the page Experience update , Immersive storytelling on the we b, What’s new in Search and Core Web Vitals AMA . May 27: Google Marketing Livestream will look at the “Future of marketing”, including how to use privacy-safe techniques for measurement of advertising pe

Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all you moms! I hope you are able to celebrate with your kids, even if only online.   This week there are tips and tutorials for YouTubers, bloggers and other web creators and social media mavens. Tutorial Use a different identity for your YouTube channel than you use for other Google services - no Brand Account required (although you may still want to use one). Top Updates Google celebrated World Password Day by explaining how they go beyond passwords to keep your account safe. Notably, Google will soon be automatically enrolling accounts in two-step verification if they are “appropriately configured”. There will be an option to opt out . Google’s free Password Manager also now lets you import up to 1000 passwords at a time. The YouTube Shorts camera is now available to all channels in the US . New features include a “Shorts” section on your Channel home, viewers can watch Shorts in their subscription feed, and they are t

You can now easily create a YouTube channel identity that is different from your Google account identity without having to use a Brand Account.  You can use your real name and serious photo for your Google profile, which is used across Google products like Gmail, Chat, Meet and Drive. Then on the same account use a different name and icon exclusively for your YouTube channel.  If you have had your YouTube channel for more than a decade, you will recall this was how YouTube identity worked before Google+ integration . Linking to  Google+ Pages (now Brand Accounts) were introduced as way to have a YouTube identity separate from your main Google account identity. But Brand Accounts work similarly to Google accounts. An important note:  if your channel has a verification check mark, changing the channel name will remove the badge. You would then need to reapply under the current eligibility criteria, which requires at least 100,000 subscribers.  

This week is a quiet one in the Googleverse (unless you count YouTube’s dispute with Roku) . Top updates: Spotify has launched paid podcast subscriptions, and creators keep 100% of the revenue (until 2023). If you are in the US and your podcast is hosted on Spotify’s Anchor, you can apply for the waitlist. If you use the Twitter Android app, you can now create a “Space”, Twitter’s Clubhouse-like audio chatroom. Zoom has launched a new “Immersive View”, similar to the Microsoft Teams “Together Mode”. Now a webinar panel can actually look more like they are together on a panel. Read on for more updates and tips. Upcoming Google Web Creators virtual Web Stories workshop is May 6. Registration is required and space is limited. I’ll be there! The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is hosting “Reimagine the Internet” , a free virtual conference May 10-14. Register now for access.

Happy last week of April! This week there are lots of new features for audio and video creators. Facebook announced it is going all-in on social audio, with creator tools, audio rooms and podcasts. Google Meet has a new improved desktop design. And YouTube channels on mobile are getting a new “About” tab design. My top update this week is a slew of major improvements coming to Google Meet on the web in the coming weeks. Redesigned navigation bar, now black instead of white, and with repositioned buttons. All the controls are now along the bottom. See your presentation while you are presenting, either large or as part of the tile grid. Your own video feed can be a tile in the grid, a smaller floating picture that can be resized and repositioned, or turned off entirely Pin multiple video feeds. Automatic light adjustment for participants that are underexposed. Video backgrounds (distracting?) Autozoom, which keeps you positioned in your feed, even if you are moving around. This feature

Happy Earth Week! I hope you can take a little time this week to enjoy nature, if only in your backyard. This week Blogger announced its Follow By Email service will be shut down, YouTube announced “Shorts” are getting their own shelf on channel pages and is testing “dubbed” videos, and Chrome has a new and improved PDF reader with presentation mode. And while this week was short on updates, there are a few more tips and tutorials. New tutorial : Learn how to export your Blogger blog’s email follower list from FeedBurner . Use this to help you migrate your list to a different platform before FeedBurner’s RSS to Email service is turned off in July. Earth Day is April 22. This year’s theme is “ Restore our Earth ”. Events will be mostly virtual yet again this year. Here’s how you can explore the Earth from home: Google Earth now lets you see a timelapse of changes with satellite photos covering the past 37 years. Go to goo.gle/timelapse to view highlights an

FeedBurner has announced that it will no longer support email subscriptions as of July 2021. As FeedBurner powers Blogger's FollowByEmail gadget, that will also stop working.  FeedBurner is a free Google service that let you customize your RSS feeds. It currently also provides feed analytics and - notably - has an RSS to Email service, emailing new posts in your feed to your subscribers.  FeedBurner was founded in 2004 and acquired by Google in 2007, almost 14 years ago. The Blogger FollowByEmail gadget was launched in 2011. That means many bloggers have a blog email list that is decade old.  Some of you are reading this post in an email. I haven't figured out an alternative email platform, but I will make an announcement when I do and you will be given the option to re-subscribe. I expect it's going to be a painful transition to a new platform. Watch the video for a brief overview and tutorial on how to export your email subscriber