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 is running out of space for political ads. So if it seems like YouTube is wall-to-wall campaign ads, you probably aren’t wrong.
- Facebook has added Topics to Facebook Watch, which you can follow, in addition to Profiles and Pages.
- TikTok is now providing more detailed notifications to creators when a video is removed, with information about which policy the video violated.
- The new MSN Esports Hub is “made by fans, for fans”. It is designed to make it easier to find streamers on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook Gaming, playing your game of choice. Plus it helps you follow the latest tournaments and esports news.
- More Instagram Live Creators will have access to Badges. Badges can be purchased by viewers during a live stream to show their support (and to let creators make some money).
- A number of Twitch streamers received notice that some of their content had been removed for copyright infringement. What’s notable is that Twitch just deleted the content without giving the creators the opportunity to submit a counter-notification. Apparently that was at least in part because they had a backlog of thousands of infringement notifications they had to deal with. Sounds like Twitch needs to put some better processes in place to manage.
Photos Sharing
- Google Photos has publicly launched a prints-by-mail subscription service in the U.S. Google uses machine learning to select 10 recent photos, which you can swap for different images and edit. You also have the option to have them printed as postcards. It looks like they have made a couple of changes that are an improvement over the trial program earlier this year. The cost is a bit lower at $6.99 per month, and you can choose either a matte or glossy finish (rather than just matte). If you like print photos every month, this may be for you.
- Google Photos users in the US can now also get same-day photo prints at Walgreens, in addition to CVS and Walmart. Use this map to find out retail photo printers locations near you.
- Flickr’s Global Brand Manager and Sr. Manager of Community discuss how to get more out of the communities on Flickr. There is more discussion on Flickr itself.
Highlights from AdobeMAX 2020
- Get all the highlights from AdobeMAX on YouTube.
- Watch a master class on recently announced Beta features in Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush and After Effects.
- The new version of Adobe Photoshop is the “world’s most advanced AI application for creatives” with “Neural Filters” for creative exploration and a new Sky Replacement tool. See the post for some stunning examples.
- Adobe Premiere Rush now lets you easily add royalty-free audio - soundtracks, sound effects, and loops - from Splice to your videos. Plus you can now add transitions, pan and zoom and auto reframe on all platforms.
- They previewed a new attribution tool for Photoshop and Behance. It is “built using an early version of the open standard that will provide a secure layer of tamper-evident attribution data to photos, including the author’s name, location and edit history.”
- Adobe Illustrator has been released for the iPad
Webmasters and Bloggers
- Take a deep dive into the new Google Analytics, with more tools for marketers.
- Social blogging platform Medium has a new brand identity and logo design. “The symbol, like our illustration style, is inspired by language and typography. It is born from the ellipses: a punctuation mark that represents an unfinished or impending thought, an idea to come, what’s next.”
AdSense
- In the first week of November AdSense will start showing Vignette ads - full page ads between page loads - on wider screens. Currently they are only shown on mobile devices, but with the change will start appearing on desktop. If you are an AdSense Publisher, you can manage your Auto Ads settings to disable Vignette ads on wide screens or disable Vignette ads completely.
- There are also tips for publishers to get your site ready for the holiday season. Even small AdSense publishers can find something useful to try on their site or blog.
Social Media
- Twitter really wants you to get into Topics. You not only can follow Topics, but you can share them with your friends and followers. So far the topics I’ve looked at don’t seem particularly interesting. Some are too broad, others too narrow, or they are just not that well curated. The bottom line is that I follow individuals on Twitter, and there are few topics where I’m interested in what just anyone has to say.
- Twitter is temporarily trying to “encourage more thoughtful amplification of Tweets” by prompting Quote Tweets rather than plain Retweets. After the US election on November 3, that may return to normal.
- Facebook’s new Oversight Board is ready to hear appeals of content removals. If your content is removed from Facebook or Instagram, and the usual appeal process is not successful, you can ask the Oversight Board to take a look at your case. The Board is an independent international group of legal experts, rights advocates, activists, and even politicians (like the former Prime Minister of Denmark)
- Facebook dating has launched in Europe, with the option to go on a virtual date video call. Facebook has detailed information about privacy controls for your Facebook Dating profile.
Communication
- Google Fi has a new phone subscription program. You can get a Pixel 4a for $15 per month, with a phone upgrade after two years. This is a significant savings over the retail price of the phone. Fi’s offers two phone service plans, the Flexible plan where you only pay for the data you use, and an Unlimited plan. (Note: Google Fi is US only)
Productivity
- If you are an iPhone user, check out the new Google integrations. You can add Google Photos or YouTube Music widget, use Google Maps and YouTube Music on your Apple watch, or Privacy Screen in Google Drive.
- Google Workspace third-party add-ons are now available for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Click the + icon on the right panel in any of those Workplace services to install applications. For example, in Google Docs you can install apps that let you add math formulas, music notation, diagrams or translation (and much more). This is available to Google Workspace users and free personal Google accounts.
- You can now set up your Google Assistant devices with both your personal and work Google accounts, so you can easily access all your calendar events and meetings.
- If you share files stored in Google Drive, you may receive access requests by email. You can now respond to an access request without leaving Gmail .
Image: Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
Awesome article. I appreciate the information... Thank you, Peggy!
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