Weekly Update - April 25, 2020: Meet, Duo, YouTube, Live Streaming

While we’re staying at home, tech companies are rapidly adding new features for video calling and live streaming. This week there are updates for Google’s Meet and Duo, Facebook’s WhatsApp and new Messenger Rooms, and Zoom, plus new features for YouTube Live Control Room and Facebook Live. And if you aren’t a live streamer yourself, there is a lot of video content to watch, both live and on demand. Plus there are updates for businesses, advertisers, and more. 

Watch

• YouTube has a collection of content for people celebrating Ramadan at home. Ramadan Mubarak to all who observe!
• Netflix has put educational documentaries online for free
• Virtually explore US National Parks at Google Arts & Culture.
• Google has put together some suggestions - and deals - for entertaining and informing yourself on Android TV, or with apps, movies, comics and more at home.

Create

• Self-certification for monetization is now available to all YouTube Partners. Now when you enable monetization on a video, you will be prompted to answer questions about the content to help YouTube determine if the ads should be limited. Videos are also checked by YouTube’s algorithms. If they disagree with your assessment, you can request human review.
• Get a sneak peek at a new YouTube Analytics feature being worked on that shows what days and times your audience is online.
• If your channel is eligible for YouTube Spaces, you can attend online workshops and office hours. Currently this is only available via YouTube Spaces Los Angeles, but more will be offered by other YouTube Spaces around the world. YouTube Spaces are located in Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rio, and Tokyo. To be eligible, your channel must be in good standing and have at least 10,000 subscribers. If that’s you, then apply to “unlock the space” nearest you.
• Instagram is launching the #MonthOfGood initiative to celebrate Ramadan. They are encouraging everyone to share their own “acts of good”.

Go Live

• Live Control Room in YouTube Studio has some nice new features, including improved navigation and live stream management, automatically unlist live stream archives, edit your completed live stream before the archive has processed, and use the “Publish Format” metric in YouTube Analytics to compare views, watch time and other stats for your live streams, uploads and premieres. Take a tour. You can still return to Classic Stream Now and YouTube Live Events, at least for the time being.
• Facebook announced number of new live streaming features: Use “Live With” to add a guest to your live stream, add Facebook LIve to a Facebook Event, fund raise for a non-profit, and support more creators and live streamers with Stars. You will also soon be able to go live from Facebook Portal to Pages and Groups.
• The new Facebook Gaming app lets you live stream games from your Android phone, and watch other gaming content. There is also a new option to create gaming Tournaments.

Communicate

• Google Meet announced four major updates this week: grid view with 16 meeting participants, the ability to present a Chrome Tab for high quality audio and video sharing, low light mode on mobile, and noise cancellation.
• Google also announced new features for Duo, its end-to-end-encrypted consumer video calling service. They are using new video codec technology to improve video when you have low bandwidth, take a snapshot together with the person you are chatting with, save video messages, and make group video with up to 12 participants.
• Facebook is introducing Rooms in Messenger. Rooms video calls will soon be able to include up to 50 people, and participants don’t need to have a Facebook account to join.They are meant to be a space where people can just drop in to say hello or hang out.
• WhatsApp now lets you make voice or video calls with up to 8 people. WhatsApp calls are end-to-end encrypted.
• If you are Zooming, check out the tutorial for setting up and using Zoom on a Chromebook.
• Zoom also introduced a number of new security features this week.
• Skype for Mac, Windows and Linux now lets you add custom backgrounds in a video call. Background blur has been available since early 2019.

Websites and Advertising

• Google Sites has two new features: templates, to make creating a site easier, and announcement banners. Plus kids with an account managed through Family Link can now use Sites too. Google has some tips for using Sites for business or distance learning.
• Google wants to increase transparency around advertisers using the Google Ads platform. Advertisers will go through a verification program that requires them to submit personal identification, business incorporation documents and other information that proves who they are and the country in which they operate. Users will be able to see that information. This will begin with US advertisers, and eventually expand to other countries.
• Business
• If you have a brick and mortar business on Google Maps, you can get a free marketing kit with messages for the COVID-19 era. Let people know if your business is temporarily closed, offering delivery or takeout, or if you offer shopping online. This is available to businesses in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand.
• Google also suggests best practices for using Google Maps to optimize “buy online, pickup at store” options on your business’s website.
• Social Media Today has a roundup of Pinterest tools for small businesses to improve their “pin presence”.
• If you have a Bing Places for Business account, you can now easily set up a Go Fund Me fundraiser linked to your listing.

More

• Google will now let you know if they can’t find a good match to your search. They will suggest alternative searches and search tips to try to help you find what you are looking for.
• Spammers, hackers and malicious “government actors” are nothing if not adaptable. According to Google, they have shifted tactics to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. They have detected “18 million malware and phishing Gmail messages per day related to COVID-19, in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related daily spam messages.” Google, of course, is working to keep accounts safe.

That’s all the updates for this week. Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox or favorite feed reader every week. Miss last week’s update? Get it here.

Image: Persian tile design. Image by hoomarg from Pixabay Free for commercial use.