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Weekly Update - June 16, 2018: YouTube, VR180, #pride2018

Well there's so many things taking place
That it's hard to keep up with it all
Keep your eye on the ball
And to make the right call
When we're longing for fall
On this evening in June
Evening in June, Van Morrison 
  • Have you ever seen an ad that made you wonder, why the !@#$ am I seeing that? Google wants to help you more easily understand and control how ads are personalized for you. The revamped Google Account Ads Settings (https://adssettings.google.com). There you can turn off targeted ads or adjust your interests. As an aside, Google’s ad targeting is much better than Twitter’s, where I sometimes see ads targeted at locations thousands of miles from my actual location (I see truly local ads too, so Twitter “knows” where I am). 
  • YouTube is rolling out automatic captions on live streams to channels with at least 10,000 subscribers. This is really a cool feature for your fans who might be hard of hearing, watch with the sound off, or who otherwise could use assistance understanding what you are saying. There are some technical limitations - the live stream must be in English, and you need to use normal latency, which has a delay that isn’t optimal for interacting with your fans while you’re live. 
  • One year ago Youtube and Daydream announced the VR180 video format. It’s immersive video that is focused on what’s in front of you. VR180 cameras became available early this year. And now, Google is offering VR180 Creator for Mac and Linux; desktop software for basic editing of VR180 videos. I think it’s notable as a demonstration of Google’s investment in the format, especially since Google has largely moved away from desktop software.
  • If you are a Google+ Community Moderator or Owner, you should definitely check out the official Google+ Moderators Community. It’s well-moderated (natch!), and hosts discussions with #CommunityExperts and other mods on a variety of topics, from managing categories to how to select and train new moderators.
  • June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month and social media and creator platforms are getting into the celebration with (of course) your hashtagged posts. YouTube has #ProundToCreate, Google wants to see your #ThisIsFamily posts on social media, Twitch is looking for #TwitchUnity, Facebook has rainbow decor and declares #prideconnects us, Instagram wants to know about your #rolemodel, Tumblr has #TumblrPride, and Twitter is just going for the basic #Pride2018. 
  • See the article below for links and more tips and updates for video creators, webmasters, business owners and more. 
Image: Трисуття by Падун В.М., 2011 ( Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)

Upcoming

YouTube and Video Creation

  • VR180 Creator for Mac or Linux offers simple VR video editing (Google Blog)
  • YouTube devoting more resources to fixing and improving notifications (Creator Insider)
  • YouTube is experimenting to improve auto-generated thumbnails (Creator Insider)
  • Automatic captions on live streams rolling out to YouTube channels with more than 10,000 subscribers (YouTube)
  • Tips to increase Creator productivity and happiness (YouTube Creator Academy)

Go Live

Google+

  • #CreateConnections with maria nasir: give your post a boost (Google+ Collections Community)
  • Google+ #CommunityExperts with Teodora Petkova: best practices for organizing community categories. (Google+ Moderators Community)
  • How to train the moderators in your Google+ Community (Google+ Moderators Community)
  • How do you look for a new Google+ Community moderator? (Google+ Moderators Community)

Other social media 

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

Google for businesses

Bloggers and Webmasters

  • Google Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangout (June 12) (Google Webmasters)
  • Google Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangout (June 15) (Google Webmasters)

AdSense and advertising

Hangouts and Messaging

Made by Google, Android, Project Fi

Productivity

Privacy and Security

E3 Announcements

LGBTQ+ Pride Month

More around the web

Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links

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