Peggy Ks Tips and Tricks

This week there are new features in the YouTube mobiles, upcoming changes to Chrome that will no longer support Chrome Apps (like the Hangouts desktop app) and make third party cookies obsolete, new ways to secure your Google account and more. Plus I show you how to create a Bing Page for your personal brand or business, with free promotion of your social media posts.

YouTube now lets you see a profile of commenters in the Android YouTube app. Just tap a commenter’s name, and you can see other comments they have posted on the same channel, their recent subscriptions, and their subscriber count, time on YouTube, and subscriber status.The YouTube iOS app was also updated, with the option to filter your subscription feed by “Today”, “Continue Watching”, “Unwatched”, “Live” or “Posts”.You can create a Bing Page for your personal brand or business, with free promotion of your social media posts (including YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest). I gave it a whirl, and while it wasn’t much of a s…

Google announced that Chrome Apps - including the Hangouts Chrome App - will no longer be supported for most Windows, Mac and Linux users as of June 2020. Most ChromeOS users will be able to run Chrome Apps through June 2021.

That means if you are using the Hangouts Chrome App on your desktop computer, you may have to switch to the Hangouts extension before you are migrated to the new Hangouts Chat.
A Long Time Coming In 2016 Google announced that Chrome Apps would be gradually phased out. In December 2017, Chrome Apps were no longer browsable in Chrome Web Store for users on desktop computers running Windows, macOS or Linux.

In the original timeline those platforms would no longer be able to load Chrome Apps beginning in early 2018. That deadline was postponed, but no new date was provided.

In September 2018, with the release of Chrome 69, the Hangouts Chrome app started displaying a warning message: "The Hangouts Chrome app will be replaced by the Hangouts Chrome extension soo…

You can now control how your public persona or brand appears in the Bing search results with Bing Pages (currently in beta). Plus you can promote recent social media posts for free!

While Google may be the dominant search engine, Microsoft's Bing can still bring traffic to your website and eyes on your website and social media posts.

Bing suggests Bing Pages are best suited for "influencers, bloggers, brands, small businesses, musicians, artists, athletes, and websites, among others."
Bing Pages offers several useful features:  All your brand’s social media feeds on your own page that you control. New posts from YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Mixer (and maybe are displayed on your Page and in Search. Your profile also has links to your website and Twitter profile.Promote your social media posts in Bing Search for free. They guarantee at least 10,000 impressions per promoted post.You can manage your brand's "public persona" in Microsoft products like Bin…

If you are using the YouTube Android app, you can now tap a commenter's icon to see their Profile Card. The Profile Card displays public information about commenter's channel, recent comments they posted, and their public subscriptions.

While it makes it easy to see information about other channels, keep in mind it also makes it easier to see information about your channel when you post a comment.

It's a good idea to be aware of what it looks like when someone views information about your channel. Even though only public information is displayed, your other comments and recent subscriptions are very visible.  All about me, when viewed on my own channel.Scroll down to compare to my profile when viewed on another channel.
The Profile Card may show: The channel name, channel icon and channel art.How long ago the channel was created.Number of subscribers. (You can disable display of subscriber counts)How many comments they posted on the channel being viewed, and how many of tho…

2020 is finally in full swing. YouTube has limited features on channels with content made for kids, Google Assistant announced at CES, you can control how you appear in Bing search, and more.
ICYMI: I was on the Tinkering with Tech show, talking about the YouTube Partner Program and AdSense. This week YouTube started rolling out the changes to “Made for Kids” content, removing or limiting some features. If a video or channel is directed at kids, it will not have personalized ads (but it may have non-personalized ads), comments, live chat, notification bell, stories, the option to save to a playlist, and other features (to see what that looks like, see this video on the Sesame Street channel).In YouTube Studio on desktop, when you are typing a video description the description box expands as you type. CES - the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - was this week. Among the many robots, gadgets and smart devices, Google announced new Chromebooks and a number of updates to G…

On Wednesday, January 8th at 5PM Eastern I'll be talking about YouTube, monetization, and AdSense on the Tinkering with Tech show with Michael Daniels.

You can watch the video below, or join us live on Youtube. The chat is always lively and I'm happy to answer questions.



Post show note: here are links to more information about what I talked about today.
Applying for the YouTube Partner ProgramCheck your channel's eligibility for monetization in YouTube Studio: studio.youtube.com/channel/UC/monetizationUnderstand YouTube Partner Program application processYouTube Help Center: YouTube Partner Program Overview and EligibilityYouTube Help Center: Set up an AdSense account for payments (this will walk you through the process)All my monetization tutorials Understanding earnings and paymentsYouTube Help Center: YouTube partner earnings overviewYouTube Help Center: See how much money you've made on YouTubeYouTube Help Center: Understand ad revenue analytics (CPM, ad impressio…

This week my “Weekly Update” turns 5! It started off as just a short list of links, mostly to posts I had made on Google+. Over the years it expanded in scope, and I started writing up a summary of the week’s updates and changes. Thank you for reading!

To get the Weekly Update in your inbox you can subscribe by email, either for just the Weekly Updates or all my articles and posts.

As we are just a few days into the new year, there aren’t many updates this week.
ICYMI: for a look at the changes in 2019, check out my annual review of updates for creators using YouTube, Blogger, AdSense, Hangouts, Google+, and other Google products. Plus I posted my personal reflections on the year.2020 is upon us, and with it, new regulations. The mostly-finished (!) California Consumer Privacy Act goes into effect: make sure your website is ready, and check your AdSense settings. This is bound to cause ripple effects, as businesses, like Mozilla, are making changes available to all users, no matte…