YouTube and Video
- YouTube will now age-restrict content promoting nicotine and THC, including smoking and vaping. If you post related content check out my overview of YouTube Community Guidelines relating to tobacco, marijuana, and related paraphernalia.
- YouTube has transformed influencer marketing platform FameBit - acquired in 2017 - into YouTube Brand Connect. The platform will act as a matchmaker between creators and brands, and make it easier to “create branded content that is both authentic and effective.” (basically ads). Eligible creators with at least 25,000 subscribers will be able to sign up for Brand Connect in Creator Studio. Plus there is a free course on creating branded content in YouTube Creator Academy. Note that all FameBit accounts will be closed July 31, and need to claim any outstanding payment balance before then.
- It’s now easier to find live content on YouTube. The mobile Explore tab has a new Live button that helps you find new live and scheduled live streams. A relatively small number of streams are featured, so this seems to be more a way to find live streams form celebrities and organizations than small streamers.
- Facebook is offering more monetization options for live streaming gamers. Fan subscriptions let fans support their faves by paying $5 per month. And new live ads are available to partnered gaming creators.
- Did you notice? Starting a few weeks ago YouTube now lets you copy all videos from a playlist or queue into your own playlists.
Communicate
- Google Meet will soon be available in the Gmail mobile app. The new Meet tab will show upcoming meetings from Google Calendar, and let you start or join a meeting with a single tap. This will be rolling out over the coming weeks.
- Google Duo now offers group calling on the web with up to 32 participants. Previously, group calls were only available on mobile devices. And, just like on mobile, the group call is end-to-end encrypted. And if you are a frequent caller, you may want to install the Duo progressive web app (PWA).
- Zoom announced they will actually be offering end-to-end encryption for free users. This will require account verification.
- Microsoft is bringing its communications together. Now Teams users can chat and call Skype users. And now you can add your own custom background in Team video calls.
Sites and Ads
- Conservative online magazine The Federalist had an issue with their AdSense ads. Initial reports claimed they had been “demonetized”, but the reality was that posted comments violated Google’s hate speech policy and they received a warning. Google says they worked with them to resolve the issue. A couple of things to take away from this: you are responsible for all content on your site monetized with AdSense ads, including user comments (AdSense provided tips for managing comments back in 2017). AdSense does issue warnings, but it’s better to have your site in compliance. That means sites that have a high volume of comments may need to hire moderators, disable comments or stop using AdSense ads.
Social
- Area 120, Google’s experimental project division, has launched Keen, a site for collecting and sharing content about the “long term interests” you are passionate about. All you need to do is sign in, create a new Keen, and start adding content, including links, text,and photos. Keens can be public or private. What makes it more than just another blogging platform or Pinterest clone is that the Community can suggest content to add to your Keen. And Keen uses Google Search and machine learning to suggest content as well. Check out this Keen about Keen, and give it a try. Just remember that it’s an experiment, and may not be around in the long term.
- Twitter launched “voice Tweets”, an experiment that let people record and post an audio clip. This immediately came under fire for lacking captions or transcriptions, making the audio tweets inaccessible to the hard of hearing (and anyone else who peruses Twitter with the volume turned down). Plus the implementation did not work with screen readers, preventing the visually impaired from listening to the recordings. Perhaps not too surprisingly, it was also revealed that Twitter does not have a team dedicated to accessibility, and just relies on a volunteer group of employees who work on that in their spare time. Twitter apologized, and says they are exploring ways to improve accessibility.
More
- Google Photos has ended their monthly photo prints trial. I shared my experience.
- The Google Earth Outreach team has instructions and tips for creating custom maps in Google My Maps by importing custom geospatial data sets. The examples they show use COVID-19 data, but you can create all kinds of customized maps.
- June is LGBTQIA+ Pride month, and while the parades are cancelled, most platforms are hosting special events and offer special stickers, overlays and other fun tools. Many are also highlighting Black creators and organizations. Twitch invites you to #StreamWithPride, Mixer is featuring LGBTQI+ Partners, Vimeo is offering Pride themed video templates. Google offers a toolkit to help organizations host remote events, has a collection of apps, shows, movies, and books about LGBTQ+ stories, plus a YouTube "spotlight" channel that includes LGBTQ+ creators. Instagram has updated Pride stickers and special effects. Pinterest is featuring content on the Today tab and has rainbow colored pride searches. And Discord is running a fundraiser for the LGBTQ Freedom Fund.
Upcoming
- On Sunday, June 21, OnEBoard premieres a tutorial on how to optimally share images on Twitter. It's not too long, and we would love folks to watch live and chat. Watch it here.
- Like most conferences this year VidCon has moved online, with sessions and workshops from June 20 to July 2. Registration is free, but spaces in the sessions are limited. Discussion has
- Google Cloud is hosting a global, 24-hour event as part of their new Google Cloud Talks by DevRel Series. “This event for enterprise practitioners, developers and IT professionals will deliver live, deep technical content, q&a and demos.” It begins June 22 at 5:00 PM Pacific Time (June 23 at 00:00 UTC).
- Search Engine Land’s SMX Next is a free online conference for everyone interested in “tech driven search marketing” on June 23-24.
Image: Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Sun by Pixabay on Pexels. Free to use.
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