Weekly Update - June 3, 2017: YouTube, AdSense, Better Ad Standards, Google+

New this week:

• YouTube is rolling out updated Android and iOS apps, with improved navigation and organization.
• YouTube Partners should pay attention to YouTube’s latest update to the advertiser-friendly content policies. There is also a free YouTube Creator Academy course to help make sure you know and understand those policies.
• If you want to take your Google+ Collections to the next level, apply to the new Collections mentorship program
• AdSense introduced page level enforcements and a new Policy center
• Google introduced Funding Choices, which lets site visitors pay for an ad-free experience. That is part of Google’s support of Better Ad Standards. Publishers and websites should take heed: Chrome will be updated to stop showing ads on sites that don’t comply with those standards. Try the new Ad Experience Report to see how your website fares.
• Google is using machine learning to block phishing attempts in Gmail and to automatically build charts in Google Sheets

Plus there are tips and updates for video creators (and watchers), live streamers, webmasters and bloggers, chatters, business owners, Android fans and more.

Image: Still life with cherries and peaches by Paul Cezanne (~1886) Public domain.

Upcoming

• June: YouTube turning off the Translation Marketplace
• 8 June: #AskAdSense office hours
• 26 June: Google Talk retired, replaced by Hangouts
• 29 June: Google Partners livestream: Digital Transformation: Leveraging Mobile for Branding
• 12 July: YouTube NextUp applications launch for Rio de Janiero (Brazil), Jakarta (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines), Mexico City (Mexico)
• 31 July: CineSpace short film competition using NASA imagery deadline

YouTube and Video Creators

• YouTube Android app update: bottom navigation, new Library tab, and it remembers where you left off (YouTube)
• Introducing the Activity tab for YouTube on iOS (YouTube)
• Update on YouTube Advertiser-Friendly Content Policy (YouTube Creators)
• YouTube Partners: take the new Creator Academy course to learn about making advertiser friendly content (YouTube Creators)
• YouTube Kids is now available in Japan (YouTube Japan blog)
• The state of the brand deal (Internet Creators Guild)
• The Fair Use App - an educational tool for filmmakers & video creators (New Media Rights)
• How to design your YouTube channel to best express your brand (Karen Kavett)
• Create Facebook Video Playlists (Robert Wallis)

Go Live

• Twitch Streamers, your stats page is getting an update (Twitch blog)
• Vodcast brings the Twitch community experience to uploads (Twitch blog)

Google+

• Everything new on Google+ in May (Google+)
• Do you want to improve your Google+ Collections? Apply to be mentored (Faith Tan)
• On Loser Experience Design - designing platforms and products that aren’t just for winners, “influencers,” and “thought leaders.” (Matt LeMay)

Other social media

• Using Deep Learning at Scale in Twitter’s Timelines (Twitter engineering blog)

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

• Google Photos will now suggest photos to archive. (Google Photos)
• The infinite now (Atlas Obscura)

Google for businesses

• Business support: Whether you have an online or offline business, you can contact Google for help with AdWords, Analytics, Merchant Center, and Google My Business (Google Partners)
• Getting Robocalls From Point Break Media? 8 Lies They Told. (Joy Hawkins)

Bloggers and Webmasters

• Meet Blogger Top Contributor Adam (Blogger help forum)
• Testing the new Blogger themes (Adam Auster)
• How to disable comments on your Blogger blog posts (blog post, video)
• Webmaster Central Office Hours (May 30) (Google Webmasters)
• Webmaster Central Office Hours (June 2) (Google Webmasters)

AdSense and advertising

• AdSense introduces page level enforcements and a new Policy center - check your account! (Inside AdSense)
• New: Funding Choices lets site visitors pay for an ad-free experience, part of Google's support of Better Ads Standards + Chrome will have built in ad-blocking (Google Blog)
• Is it allowed to have ads from two AdSense Publishers on the same web page? (AdSense on YouTube)

Hangouts and Messaging

• Google is working on bringing RCS to Project Fi (Nick Fox)
• Skype gets makeover: Highlight stories, "more expressive" group chats, bots (Skype blog)
• Allo launches Selfie Clips (Amit Fulay)
• Allo v12 adds animated selfie clips and a redesigned compose bar, prepares to add support for the 'enter' button, and more [APK Teardown] (Android Police)

Android, Project Fi

• Android Wear 2.0 rolling out to Moto 360 2nd-generation watches
• Would you care about the Essential phone if it wasn't launched by Andy Rubin? (xda-developers)
• Exclusive: this is the Essential Phone (The Verge)
• Welcome to your New Home on Android TV (Android Developers)

Productivity

• New machine learning models in Gmail to block phishing (G Suite Updates Blog)
• Google Sheets can now build charts using machine learning (and more updates) (G Suite Updates)
• Cheers to Street View’s 10th birthday! (Google Blog)
• Searching for art just got better. Where will you start? (Google Blog)

Privacy and Security

• Hackers send emails with links to phishing sites disguised using Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (motherboard)
• New machine learning models in Gmail to block phishing (G Suite Updates Blog)
• PSA: OneLogin Breached. Here's What You Need to Do. (Wordfence)
• International Travel: A Good Reason to Have Two Google Accounts (Chronicle of Higher Education)

More around the web

• Preserving digital art: How will it survive? (Google in Europe)
• Lessons from Alphago: Storytelling, bias and program management (Carl Johan Ragnarsson)

Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links