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Showing posts from January, 2020

Try Tangi the new experimental DIY video social sharing app

Tangi is a new video social sharing platform from Area 120, Google's experimental project lab. Its focus is 1 minute long DIY ("do it yourself") tutorial videos. The name is "inspired by the words TeAch aNd GIve and "tangible"—things you can make." Update May 25: 2020: You can now download the Tangi mobile app for iOS and Android .  Update July 23, 2021:  Note:  Tangi will shut down July 30, 2021 The emphasis is on "creativity and community", including art, crafting, cooking, fashion and beauty and "lifestyle" tutorials, all less than 60 seconds long. The unique twist is a "Try It" feature, "a way for anyone to share re-creations of things they tried making or doing, and a great way to build a community between creators and their fans." Tangi currently is in a closed beta, so you need to apply to become a creator. However, you can set up an account, watch videos, follow creators, and post comments.

Add a manager, editor or Studio viewer to your YouTube channel

If your YouTube channel is on your main Google account you can use the new Permissions option to give channel managers or editors limited access. As the channel owner, you can choose how much access they have to your YouTube Studio. The permission levels: Manager :  Edit channel details, upload videos, post comments in Studio. Add or remove other managers and editors. Editor: Edit all channel details, upload videos, post comments in Studio. Editor (limited):  (new August 2020): Same as Editor, except cannot view revenue data in Analytics.  Viewer:   View channel details. Cannot edit channel details. Viewer (limited):   View all channel details except  revenue information. Cannot edit channel details. Subtitle Editor: Add, edit, publish and delete subtitles on videos. Cannot edit anything else, access revenue data, upload or publish content other than subtitles, of view all channel data. Update April 14, 2020 : Managers and Editors can now reply to comments on your channel'

Weekly Update - January 25, 2020: YouTube, Collections, Datasets

恭喜发财! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! Happy New Year! This week there are new permissions in YouTube Studio, new Search Collection tools to collaboratively save links, search tools to find datasets on the web and updates for video creators, webmasters, and more To celebrate the Lunar New Year Google is showing a special Year of the Rat doodle in Vietnam , South Korea , China, the US, and a number of other countries . Click the link to learn more and see cute illustrations of rats and other zodiac animals. You can now add Managers, Editors or Viewers to your YouTube Studio if your YouTube channel is on your Google account , and not a Brand Account. Watch for my tutorial next week! Get a sneak peek at YouTube’s new caption editor on Creator Insider. You can now use a green screen when live streaming in Stream Yard . Stream Yard has grown in leaps and bounds, starting with 100 broadcasters on January 1, 2019 and growing to 16,000 broadcasters at the beginning of 2020. Byte is

Weekly Update - January 18, 2020: YouTube Mobile, Chrome Updates, Account Security

This week there are new features in the YouTube mobiles, upcoming changes to Chrome that will no longer support Chrome Apps (like the Hangouts desktop app) and make third party cookies obsolete, new ways to secure your Google account and more. Plus I show you how to create a Bing Page for your personal brand or business, with free promotion of your social media posts. YouTube now lets you see a profile of commenters in the Android YouTube app. Just tap a commenter’s name, and you can see other comments they have posted on the same channel, their recent subscriptions, and their subscriber count, time on YouTube, and subscriber status. The YouTube iOS app was also updated , with the option to filter your subscription feed by “Today”, “Continue Watching”, “Unwatched”, “Live” or “Posts”. You can create a Bing Page for your personal brand or business, with free promotion of your social media posts (including YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest). I gave it a whirl, and while it wasn’t

Hangouts desktop Chrome App going away starting June 2020

Google announced that Chrome Apps - including the Hangouts Chrome App - will no longer be supported for most Windows, Mac and Linux users as of June 2020. Most ChromeOS users will be able to run Chrome Apps through June 2021. Update August 2020: Chrome apps have gotten a reprieve . Now they will be supported for Windows, Mac and Linux until June 2021, and for Chromebooks through June 2022.  That means if you are using the Hangouts Chrome App on your desktop computer, you may have to switch to the Hangouts extensio n before you are migrated to the new Hangouts Chat . A Long Time Coming  In 2016 Google announced that Chrome Apps would be gradually phased out . In December 2017, Chrome Apps were no longer browsable in Chrome Web Store for users on desktop computers running Windows, macOS or Linux. In the original timeline those platforms would no longer be able to load Chrome Apps beginning in early 2018. That deadline was postponed, but no new date was provided. In September 2

Set up a Bing Page for your public persona or business brand

You can now control how your public persona or brand appears in the Bing search results with Bing Pages (currently in beta). Plus you can promote recent social media posts for free! While Google may be the dominant search engine, Microsoft's Bing can still bring traffic to your website and eyes on your website and social media posts. Bing suggests Bing Pages are best suited for "influencers, bloggers, brands, small businesses, musicians, artists, athletes, and websites, among others." Bing Pages offers several useful features:  All your brand’s social media feeds on your own page that you control. New posts from YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Mixer (and maybe are displayed on your Page and in Search. Your profile also has links to your website and Twitter profile. Promote your social media posts in Bing Search for free. They guarantee at least 10,000 impression s per promoted post. You can manage your brand's "public persona" in Microso

YouTube Android app update: "Profile Cards" linked from comments

If you are using the YouTube Android app, you can now tap a commenter's icon to see their Profile Card. The Profile Card displays public information about commenter's channel, recent comments they posted, and their public subscriptions. While it makes it easy to see information about other channels, keep in mind it also makes it easier to see information about your channel when you post a comment. It's a good idea to be aware of what it looks like when someone views information about your channel. Even though only public information is displayed, your other comments and recent subscriptions are very visible.  All about me, when viewed on my own channel . Scroll down to compare to my profile when viewed on another channel. The Profile Card may show: The channel name, channel icon and channel art. How long ago the channel was created. Number of subscribers. (You can disable display of subscriber counts ) How many comments they posted on the channel

Weekly Update - January 11, 2020: YouTube, Assistant & more

2020 is finally in full swing. YouTube has limited features on channels with content made for kids, Google Assistant announced at CES, you can control how you appear in Bing search, and more. ICYMI: I was on the Tinkering with Tech show, talking about the YouTube Partner Program and AdSense . This week YouTube started rolling out the changes to “Made for Kids” content , removing or limiting some features . If a video or channel is directed at kids, it will not have personalized ads (but it may have non-personalized ads), comments, live chat, notification bell, stories, the option to save to a playlist, and other features (to see what that looks like, see this video on the Sesame Street channel ). In YouTube Studio on desktop, when you are typing a video description the description box expands as you type . CES - the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - was this week. Among the many robots, gadgets and smart devices, Google announced new Chromebooks and a number o

Join me on Tinkering with Tech: YouTube Partner Program and AdSense

On Wednesday, January 8th at 5PM Eastern I'll be talking about YouTube, monetization, and AdSense on the Tinkering with Tech show with Michael Daniels. You can watch the video below, or join us live on Youtube . The chat is always lively and I'm happy to answer questions. Post show note: here are links to more information about what I talked about today. Applying for the YouTube Partner Program Check your channel's eligibility for monetization in YouTube Studio:  studio.youtube.com/channel/UC/monetization Understand YouTube Partner Program application process YouTube Help Center:  YouTube Partner Program Overview and Eligibility   YouTube Help Center:  Set up an AdSense account for payments  (this will walk you through the process) All my monetization tutorials   Understanding earnings and payments YouTube Help Center:  YouTube partner earnings overview YouTube Help Center:  See how much money you've made on YouTube YouTube Help Center:  Underst

Weekly Update - January 4, 2020: We are 5, YouTube, CCPA

This week my “Weekly Update” turns 5! It started off as just a short list of links, mostly to posts I had made on Google+. Over the years it expanded in scope, and I started writing up a summary of the week’s updates and changes. Thank you for reading! To get the Weekly Update in your inbox you can subscribe by email , either for just the Weekly Updates or all my articles and posts . As we are just a few days into the new year, there aren’t many updates this week. ICYMI: for a look at the changes in 2019, check out my annual review of updates for creators using YouTube , Blogger , AdSense , Hangouts , Google+ , and other Google products . Plus I posted my personal reflections on the year . 2020 is upon us, and with it, new regulations. The mostly-finished (!) California Consumer Privacy Act goes into effect : make sure your website is ready , and check your AdSense settings . This is bound to cause ripple effects, as businesses, like Mozilla , are making changes available

Reflections on 2019 and on to explore 2020!

I spent the first day of the new year reflecting on the past year and making plans for the coming months. Looking back, I had a pretty good year. I hiked in the mountains, and dipped my toes in the ocean. I grew vegetables in my garden. I saw beautiful works of nature and thoughtful works of art. I worked just hard enough, created videos, wrote tutorials, and  did my best to keep up with changes in technology . I was honored to win the Creator Award at the Google Product Expert meetup in Boulder, Colorado. I work hard at creating my tutorials, in the hope that it will help people find the answers to their questions that aren't well-addressed in the official help forums. It feels great to have my efforts acknowledged. And I was pleased to be highlighted as one of the "people who make YouTube better" on the  YouTube Contributors page . But I have also felt like I'm having trouble focusing. I have multiple partially started projects, goals I haven't m