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Weekly Update - March 3, 2018: YouTube Live, Hangouts Chat, Google Clips Camera

March has come in like a lion, with a torrent of updates for YouTube, Hangouts and more.
  • You can now watch a replay of the YouTube Live chat along with the live stream archive. The one limitation: you lose the chat replay if the video archive is trimmed.
  • Super Chat purchases during YouTube Live streams can trigger real world events. Perfect if you want your fans to flash your lights.
  • You can now location tag your YouTube videos when you live stream or upload a video on your mobile device. Discover videos by filtering search results by location or by clicking a location tag. Location tagging and search are currently only available on mobile devices.
  • YouTube Creator Studio, Analytics and Dashboard are getting a major redesign. YouTube Studio Beta is available to all creators and is now the default experience for some users. You can still switch back to Creator Studio Classic, but if you do, be sure to send feedback to let YouTube know what’s missing. 
  • YouTube Stories (formerly Reels) are now available to more Creators and are getting a few improvements, such as the ability for viewers to subscribe to your channel from a Story. Stories use new real-time, on-device mobile video segmentation technology that let you add fun backdrops to your Story videos. 
  • The YouTube Creator Community shut down on February 28. YouTube is pointing people to the YouTube Support Product Forum to get help from experts and contributors. They also note they are expanding support for creators across the Community Tabs on the YouTube Help Channel and YouTube Creator Academy Channel. 
  • The new Hangouts Chat is in the process of rolling out to all G Suite accounts. The new Hangouts lets you meet in “Groups” and “Rooms”, and it includes 25 bots to help improve team productivity. If you are a Hangouts user with a G Suite account, you’ll be glad to know Chat is compatible with Classic Hangouts and contacts.
  • The Google Clips smart camera that was announced last October is now available for purchase in the US. It uses on-device machine learning to record great facial expressions and moments from the people and pets that are important to you, and turn them into short clips. The idea is that you can capture special moments without having to fuss with your phone or other camera. However, initial reviews suggest that the new camera may not be worth the price, even for users with cute children and photogenic pets. 
  • Finally, I was on the H&M Show to talk about Google Brand Accounts for YouTube channels and Google+ Pages. Watch the replay. If you are interested, be sure to check out my Brand Account tutorials.
And there are more tips and updates for YouTubers, Webmasters, Plussers, Searchers and more.

Image: “Miniskirts were in style then, but not the best for a snowy, windy night. 16 inches of snow slows the frenetic pace of Manhattan.” NOAA National Weather Service collection, 10 February 1969. (Public Domain)

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