Weekly Update - December 5, 2020: Hangouts, YouTube, Maps

So this week is not off to a great start. My county is implementing new stricter stay-at-home rules as COVID-19 cases surge, so the new Explore local feed in Google Maps is nothing but takeout and parks. I’m looking forward to a time when there are actually local things to do. But for now I’ll take YouTube videos and video calls to keep me entertained.

This week there are also tips and updates for business owners, YouTubers, photographers and more. Plus highlights of the “best” of 2020.

This week’s tutorials

• Group conversations are migrating from classic Hangouts to Google Chat, so they will be available in both places. Google Chat should be available to everyone in the first half of 2021.
• YouTube is working to decrease (or at least decrease the impact of) hateful comments. Commenters using the Android app may see a reminder to be respectful if YouTube detects their comment is offensive. And in YouTube Studio the “Held for review” comments and “Likely spam” comments are now on a single tab, and will be automatically deleted after 60 days.
• A tip: Google Keep is an excellent tool for checklists and notes. Watch my quick overview of my favorite features and get more detailed instructions on how to use them.

The "Best" of 2020

• YouTube: Most popular and top trending videos and channels in the US
• YouTube: Most popular and top trending videos and channels in Canada
• YouTube: Top 10 ads
• Google Play: Best apps and games for the US
• Google Play: Best apps and games for India
• Apple: App Store Best Apps
• Twitter: Best ad Tweets
• Pocket: Best articles of 2020

Giving Season

• YouTube Giving is now available to all YouTube Partner Program channels with at least 10,000 subscribers in the US, UK and Canada. YouTube Giving lets creators raise funds for nonprofits from their videos and live streams.
• It’s Snowsgiving on Discord, with fun activities, prizes and fundraising for Doctors Without Borders.
• Instagram is highlighting creators who make a difference in their community, and will soon be testing a new feature that lets people share fundraisers for nonprofits within their Feed.

YouTube

• YouTube has announced a number of updates in the works for Premieres, including new countdown themes, the option to set countdown length, and the option to add a trailer, rather than a thumbnail. Plus they are testing a feature that lets you automatically redirect viewers from a livestream to your Premiere, then back to a livestream when the Premiere is over. Features are being tested by “a few” eligible creators with at least 1000 subscribers and no Community Guidelines Strikes.
• YouTube is working towards being a more inclusive platform. Part of that effort are changes to comment moderation. In 2021 YouTube will be asking creators to voluntarily share their gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity. This will help YouTube improve their systems, and will not be used for advertising.

Photos in the cloud

• Flickr’s “Your Best Shot” contest is open through January 4. Winners will receive an Adobe Creative Cloud Photography annual plan and a lifetime subscription to the DxO Nik editing plugin collection. And in a twist, they are also running a “Your Worst Shot 2020” competition, winners will receive a PicsArt Gold subscription.

Creating in the cloud

• Google highlights creative apps and tools for Chromebooks. They have also improved the Chromebook on-screen keyboard for stylus and improved on-device handwriting recognition.

Webmasters

• You can now customize text style and appearance in Google Sites.

Maps

• The new Android Google Street View app lets you contribute images to Google Maps Street View. Images are captured using ARCore, and the app automatically rotates, positions and creates a series of connected photos. You don’t need a 360 camera or special equipment. This is currently available in beta in Toronto, Canada; New York, New York; Austin, Texas; Nigeria, Indonesia and Costa Rica.
• There is a new community feed on the Google Maps Explore tab. You can find out what’s happening with local businesses and follow Local Guides. It tries to show you content tailored to your interests. If you are a Local Guide, make sure you have set up your profile.

Small businesses

• Google is rolling out the ability for verified businesses to message customers directly from the Google Maps app. Customers can message you from your Business profile or from any post you create.
• Google has tips for updating your Business profile, putting your best face forward in Maps and Search, and showing your products online. Google is also rolling out more metrics in performance insights that can help you understand how people found your Business profile.

Productivity

• If you use the GBoard keyboard, Emoji Kitchen has thousands of fun new combinations.
• PDF files converted to Google Docs will now have improved image imports, text formatting and layouts.

Events this week

• December 9 is an online workshop with Google Publishers on Air “Accelerate your Google AdSense revenue and growth”
• December 9-10 is the Chrome Developers Summit. There will be updates, demos and office hours. Plus they have created “CDS Adventure”, which is “an experimental virtual conference experience” that lets you interact with other attendees, discover surprises, unlock virtual swag and more.
• December 8-10 is Snap’s Lens Fest. It’s a “global, virtual event exploring the current AR landscape.” If you make SnapChat Lenses or use Snap Camera, this is for you.
• US viewers can head over to YouTube to watch 22 James Bond movies for free (with ads if you don’t have YouTube Premium) through December. Just open youtube.com/watchbond or the Movies & Shows tab on your living room device.
• Bear Witness, Take Action 2 - Continuing the Conversation on Racial Injustice premieres on December 5. Learn more

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: Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels