Peggy K's Creator News

The YouTube Audio Library has a nice collection of free copyright safe sound effects. You can find screams, zombie noises or other spooky sounds, for your next horror or Halloween project.  All you need is a YouTube account with a channel to access YouTube Studio. The sound effects can be used on monetized videos and for projects you upload to other platforms. Watch the video for a quick tutorial, or read on for instructions.  (Yes, I'm experimenting with short vertical video) How to download free sound effects from the YouTube Audio Library 1. Sign in to YouTube on desktop and open YouTube Studio ( studio.youtube.com ) 2. Click Audio Library on the left menu 3. Click the Sound Effects tab 4. Find your sound effect: Search the library Use the Filter > Category option to select a category like "Horror" Use the Filter > Duration option to find sound effects longer than a particular length of time Browse the collection 5. Click the play ico...

Happy Halloween! I hope this weekend brings you more treats than tricks. Google has spooky music, cute games and AR jack o’lanterns and other creatures to help get you into the mood. This week was the annual Google Product Expert Program summit . Like most conferences this year PES@Home was a virtual conference, so no travel, no group lunches, parties or late night chats in the hotel bar. But there were interesting sessions, and it’s always great to learn about Google’s products and services directly from the folks working on them. Hopefully we’ll be able to gather in person next year. Finally, Tuesday is election day in the US. If you are a registered voter, be sure to vote! Google , YouTube , Twitter , Facebook , TikTok , Vimeo , and other platforms not only want you to vote, but say they have put measures in place to reduce the spread of misinformation. Even so, I think I’ll skip social media. There are updates this week for YouTube, Meet,...

This week there are updates for video creators, live streamers, AdSense publishers, and much more. Outside the Googlesphere there are updates for Photoshop, Premiere Rush and other Adobe tools announced at Adobe MAX 2020 Creativity Conference. Video and Live Streaming All creators now have access to the Copyright tab in YouTube Studio. You can see your copyright takedown requests, and easily submit new ones. If your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program, you will also find the Copyright Match Tool there. I wrote up an overview of how to use the Copyright Match Tool . There are some nice improvements to YouTube Live Control Room . You can now manage monetization settings, add tags and more without having to return to YouTube Studio. YouTube’s Creator Insider has a sneak peek at the new and improved Live streaming Analytics in YouTube Studio. With the approach of US election day, YouTube supposedly ...

AdSense will show Vignette ads on wider screens - including on desktop - beginning November 3 .  You can turn off Vignette ads on wider screens in your AdSense Auto Ad settings. Vignette ads are a type of Auto Ad. They are full-screen ads that display when a user leaves a page, so they appear between page loads. Currently they are only shown on mobile devices. While that type of ad can be intrusive, AdSense does limit the number of "Vignettes" a user is shown to " maintain a good user experience ." If you do not want your site's desktop visitors to be shown Vignette ads, you have several options.  1. Turn off the new Vignette wide screen setting. When the wide screen setting is turned on, Vignette ads may show on screens wider than 1000 pixels beginning November 3.  2. Turn off Vignette ads There are several types of Auto Ads, including In-page ads, Anchor ads, Vignette ads, and Matched Content. You can choose to show ...

The Copyright tab in YouTube Studio gives Partners access to the  Copyright Match tool , which lets you see where your videos have been re-uploaded on YouTube. Now all creators should be able to access the copyright tab in YouTube Studio  to keep track of your copyright takedown requests. If your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program, and one of your videos was re-uploaded without your permission, use the Copyright Match tool to easily contact the uploader or submit a DMCA takedown notice. Note that this is not the same as Content ID, and there is no option to monetize those uploads.  If your channel is  not in the YouTube Partner Program  you will only have access to a detailed history of previous copyright takedown request and a link to the copyright complaint webform. Note that there are some limitations: Only the first channel to upload the video to YouTube will see the reports . YouTube has no way to verify that the f...

This week’s theme: out with the old and in with the new. Yahoo Groups is going to shut down entirely in December and there is finally a general timeline for the migration from classic Hangouts to Google Chat. Before that happens Hangouts will lose phone calling and SMS features. On the flip side, the new Google Groups will be the only option starting next month, and there is a brand new version of Google Analytics. And in a surprise move, there’s now Meet for Google Glass. Plus there are updates there for YouTube, Google Search, businesses and more. YouTube YouTube now prohibits QAnon and other content that has been used to justify real-world violence as part of its updated hate speech and harassment policies. There is an exception for documentary and news content, and YouTube considers the context of the present information. YouTube is banning content that contains misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines as part of it COVID-19 Medical Misinformation policy . YouTube Creators has a q...

YouTube has expanded their hate and harassment policies to include conspiracy theory content used to justify real-world violence.  That expands the policy that already prohibited content that threatens violence or denies the existence of major violent events. YouTube specifically cites  QAnon  as the type of content that is no longer allowed. Facebook made similar prohibitions against QAnon Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts on October 6. This is just an incremental step in policy changes YouTube has been making over the past couple of years. For example, in June 2019, the hate speech policy was expanded to include supremacist content and Sandy Hook-type denialism. Update December 9, 2020: YouTube also updated their misinformation policy  to prohibit "content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election." YouTube's...

Today Google announced more details about the transition from classic Hangouts to the new Google Chat. Phone calling and Google Fi and Google Voice SMS will be going away early next year, and the migration to Google Chat will happen in the first half of 2021.  Update April 1, 2021: Hangouts no longer supports phone calls, SMS or voicemail. You can export your classic Hangouts data until July 2021 . Google Fi customers have until September 30 to transfer their SMS/MMS data from Hangouts to Messages .  Here's what's happening:  Migration from classic Hangouts to Google Chat for free accounts For users with free personal Google accounts, the transition from Hangouts to Google Chat will happen in the first half of 2021. All your 1:1 Hangouts conversations will be migrated, including your contacts and saved history. There will be more details when the transition begins. Note that the  final mandatory migration of Google Workspace customers from Hangouts to Chat  is...

Yahoo announced today that Yahoo Groups will fully shut down on December 15, 2020. If you own or are a member of a Yahoo Group, you should have received an email announcement.  In December 2019 public online content for Yahoo Groups was removed , and Yahoo Groups became email-only. Now the email Groups will be going away as well. Starting October 15, no new Yahoo Groups can be created, and starting December 15, you will no longer be able to send or receive emails from Groups. The site will be entirely shut down. Any emails from Yahoo Groups you have sent or received will remain in your email account.  See the Yahoo Groups shutdown FAQ  for more details, including a feedback email address. Why the shutdown?  Verizon says:   Yahoo Groups has seen a steady decline in usage over the last several years. Over that same period, we’ve witnessed unprecedented levels of engagement across our properties as customers seek out premium, trustworthy con...

  This week Google rebranded G Suite as Google Workspace , emphasizing the focus on offering a “better home for work”. There are new icons for Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Meet and Chat, and new account plans. Notable in its absence is Currents , the successor to Google+. No new logo, and no mention in recent announcements about Google’s online workspace vision. While it did become available to all G Suite users in July , it doesn’t appear to have had any other updates beyond the removal of old Google+ features. That doesn’t look good. Beyond the rebranding there are a number of new Meet features rolling out, including the redesigned Android app, breakout rooms, new security features and more. Plus there are updates for YouTubers, webmasters, businesses and more. YouTube YouTube Premium subscribers can test out new features . If you are interested, check out the link and see which tests are currently available. YouTube is testing a reminder in comments to “encourage respectful interac...