Week in Review - May 9, 2015: Collections and a cleaner Google+

Don't forget to call your mom on Mother's Day! You can use Google Hangouts from your desktop computer, Android or iOS device to call the United States or Canada for free (or at least send her a homemade digital card).

The big news this week was on Google+ with the introduction of Collections, and the quiet retirement of Local search, visible auto-hashtags, and Circle sharing. And there are more tips and updates for small business owners, bloggers and YouTube creators. Read on!

Google+

• New! Google+ introduces Collections 
• - 10 suggestions for Collections
• - Follow the Google+ Top Contributors Collections about Google+
• - Collections basics (with links to other overviews, tutorials and posts)
• Google+ retires Circle sharing (CircleCount)
• Autohashtags Are 'Disappearing' But Not 'Retiring' (Eli Fennell)

Local Businesses

• Google streamlines business reviews, focuses on Google Maps, removes Local search from Google+
• May 15th: Hangout on Air with Google and Your Business TCs
• Business owners: Set up a website and domain through StartLogic and it will be free for a year

Live Broadcasting

• Live broadcasters: Free Wirecast for YouTube is available again (Bern Rexer)
• Using Hangouts on Air to build your Google+ Community (Ronnie Bincer with DearMYRTLE)

YouTube

• Update: YouTube Subscription Collections are going away May 20th
• What's up with YouTube subs? The Creator Show talks to product manager Brian Marquardt
• YouTube Creators: stop focusing on views and look at audience retention
• YouTube Partners: Audience before advertising
• YouTube Partners: How to earn money on YouTube - think beyond AdSense (Tim Schmoyer)

AdSense

• AdSense Publishers: is there content on your website that violates AdSense content policy? If you're not sure, use site search to review your site

Blogger and Webmasters

• Have a Blogger blog? Submit your sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools! (BloggerXpertise)

And More!

• Hungry? Place a food order right from the Google search results on your phone!
• Stay up to date on Google I/O  by following Google+ Developers official I/O15 Collection
• Flickr rolls out a redesign today, with significant new features for desktop and mobile devices
• The beautiful language of emoji - Instagram engineers dive into the data to better understand emoji semantics
• Online laughter: do you write hahaha or hehehe ?
• Before there was a Silicon Valley: Santa Clara Valley in 1948

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Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links