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Weekly Update - December 16, 2017: Google+, AdSense minus YouTube, AR Stickers

This week there were gobs of goodies for Google+ers! But that’s not all - there are updates and tips for YouTube Partners, Live Streamers, Business Owners, and more.
  • Google+ launched two new features for Community Owners and Moderators: Community Insights for number lovers and bulk moderation of Community posts for spam haters. 
  • You can also now more easily rid your posts of spam (yay!) by using the new delete, report, and block option. Poof! Spam is gone, spammers are blocked, and Google+ is better for it. 
  • And if you really need to find that post your you made back in the summer of 2013, that awesome recipe posted in some community (but you aren’t quite sure which one), or just see all the posts that Mentioned you last week, the new Google+ advanced search operators are for you. There are a number of parameters you can use to search, including date, the type of post, whether it’s in a Community or Collection, and who posted or is mentioned. There isn’t a user-friendly interface (yet?), but the possibilities are powerful enough that I think it’s worth learning how to do it.
  • If you are a YouTube Partner, and you’ve checked your AdSense account this week, you probably have seen the notice that AdSense will stop displaying YouTube metrics early next year. YouTube Analytics should have most of the data you’re looking for. What’s missing? For one, YouTube Analytics takes a couple of days to update, and you can only view stats from one channel at a time. Send feedback to YouTube to let them know which numbers you need!
  • If you have a website or blog, you should check the brand new SEO Starter Guide from Google Webmasters. It explains what you should - and shouldn’t - be doing to make sure your site is listed in the Google search results.
  • Google has been investing in improving smartphone AR, and now we are getting the latest fruits of that labor: AR stickers for Google Camera. Sticker packs include Star Wars, Stranger Things and cute 3D foods and other objects. Currently this is only available for phones running Android 8.1. It’s only rolling out to Pixel phones (for now), but you may be able to install it on your own.
  • Finally, there is an update for folks with older Android devices. Google Assistant coming to Android phones running Lollipop and tablets running Marshmallow 
Image: These aren't the donut and coffee you are looking for...move along!  (taken with my Pixel and the new Google Camera AR stickers)

Upcoming:

I don’t see anything on the calendar until the new year. Keep an eye on the following sites to see what Google has store for creators in 2018:

YouTube and Video Creation

Go Live

Google+

  • New: Google+ advanced search operators (Leo Deegan)
  • New Google+ community metrics for Community Moderators and G Suite admins (Leo Deegan)
  • Delete, report, and block Google+ comments on your posts in one step (Leo Deegan)
  • Google+ update: Bulk moderation of Community posts (Leo Deegan)

Other social media

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

  • Augmented Reality stickers rolling out to Pixel phones running Android 8.1 Oreo (Google Blog)
  • Three new photography apps from Google: Storyboard, Selfissimo!, Scrubbies (Research at Google blog)

Google for businesses

Bloggers and Webmasters

AdSense and advertising

Hangouts and Messaging

Made by Google, Android, Project Fi

  • Google Files Go helps you free up space on your phone and share files without using your data (Google Blog)
  • Google Assistant coming to Android phones running Lollipop and tablets running Marshmallow  (Google Blog)
  • Project Fi sends holiday greetings (and free Gogo wifi) (Project Fi)
  • Brains, beauty and beats: Google Home Max is here (Google Blog)
  • Augmented Reality stickers rolling out to Pixel phones running Android 8.1 Oreo (Google Blog)

Productivity

Privacy and Security

More around the web

Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links

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