Weekly Update - July 8, 2017: AdSense, YouTube Gaming, PhotoBucket

There weren't too many updates this week, perhaps because of the US July 4th holiday, or maybe because it's summer. But there are always a few new things for Creators.

Here are my top announcements:

• AdSense introduced Native Ads. There has been some speculation that the ads could violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and Google hasn’t responded to that. Perhaps use with caution?
• Photobucket breaks images across the internet. In a quiet ToS update, Photobucket disabled imaged embedding and linking, which are now only available to paid accounts that cost $399 per year. That has resulted in images disappearing from blogs and forums across the web.
• YouTube Gaming has provided more details on sponsorships and custom emojis. Sponsorships are still in beta, but when they launch, creators will be able to offer custom emoji in live chat - the more sponsors, the more custom emoji for the channel. If you are interested testing sponsorships you can apply for the beta program.
• You can now you can add accessibility details to places on Google Maps, helping make the map better for everyone.

Plus there are updates and tips for video creators, live streamers, bloggers, webmasters, business owners and more.

Image: Photo of watermelons by Scott Bauer at the United States Department of Agriculture (Public Domain)

Upcoming:

• 12 July: YouTube NextUp applications launch for Rio de Janiero (Brazil), Jakarta (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines), Mexico City (Mexico)
• 13 July: #AskAdSense office hours
• 31 July: CineSpace short film competition using NASA imagery deadline
• 21 August: Become a citizen scientist and contribute photos to the Eclipse Megamovie
• 13 September: Web clipboard to be removed from Google Docs, Sheets and Slides

YouTube and Video Creation

• How do people find your videos? Learn how search and discovery work on YouTube (YouTube Creator Academy)
• Cracking the YouTube Code (Matt Gielen on TubeFilter)
• YouTube Reportedly Offered Nominal Refunds To Brands Who Pulled Spend In 'Adpocalypse' (Tubefilter)
• Key things to consider when shooting 360-degree video (Vimeo blog)
• Why spherical video is a bad idea (2veritasium on YouTube)

Go Live

• YouTube Gaming update: More details on sponsorships and emojis (YouTube Gaming)
• New Twitch Mobile App Available Now (Twitch blog)
• Super Hearts, A New Way to Show the Love (Periscope Blog)
• Avoid these four live streaming mistakes (IBM Cloud/UStream)

Google+

• Google+ Community owners: keep your moderators invested in the community (Cliff Wade)

Other social media

• Introducing Photo and Video Replies to Stories (Instagram Blog)
• Fun New Face Filter! (Instagram blog)
• Twitter Replies tab is now not available to logged out users. (Robert Wallis)
• How to ethically Tweet other people’s Twitter videos (Robert Wallis)
• Snapchat update adds support for voice filters, links, and more (Android Police)
• Here’s how to use Snapchat’s new voice filters and backdrops (Daily Dot)

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

• How to get cinematic video footage with your Android phone (xda-developers)

Google for businesses

• How to create a Google Post in your Google My Business dashboard (Online Ownership)
• Google Posts are removed after 7 days, with one exception (Search Engine Land)

Bloggers and Webmasters

• Webmaster Central Office Hours (July 7) (Google Webmasters)
• Blogger Top Contributor spotlight on Ms Drasby: "Focus on your passions and write from within your heart" (Blogger Forum)
• Photobucket breaks images across the internet with quiet ToS update, image embedding and linking now cost $399/year (PC Mag, Photobucket)
• Google: Embedding YouTube Videos Doesn't Help With Search Rankings (Search Engine Roundtable)
• Judge Tosses Woman's Lawsuit Brought Against Google Because A Blogger Said Mean Things About Her (TechDirt)

AdSense and advertising

• AdSense introduces Native Ads (Inside AdSense blog)
• Do Google’s New AdSense Native Ads Violate Its Own Policies? (Search Engine Journal)

Hangouts and Messaging

• Hangouts Meet troubleshooting data to include mobile devices (G Suite Updates)
• Facebook is building a Houseparty clone for live group video chat (The Verge)

Made by Google, Android, Project Fi

• Is Project Fi Google's gateway drug to the post-phone world? (Mike Elgan)

Productivity

• Building a Map for everyone: now you can add accessibility details to Google Maps (Google Blog)
• Google Calendar gets an iOS widget (The Verge)
• OneDrive has stopped working on non-NTFS drives (Ars Technica)

Privacy and Security

• Backdoor built in to widely used tax app seeded last week’s NotPetya outbreak (Ars Technica)

More around the web

• Spotify, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Vimeo and many others will participate in Net Neutrality Day of Action July 12th (battleforthenet, motherboard)
• Struggling for survival, SoundCloud closes San Francisco, London offices (Ars Technica)
• How good are you at spotting fake news? (factitious)
• State Department Tries to Start “Fake Twitter Feud,” Understands Neither Feuds nor Twitter (Future Tense @ Slate)
• Why Google’s newest AI team is setting up in Canada (Recode)
• Making progress on diversity and inclusion (Google Blog)

Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links