Peggy K's Creator News

YouTube has updated the advertiser-friendly content guidelines so that some content that previously would have limited advertising can now be fully monetized. That includes some content with moderate profanity, showing violent interaction with law enforcement, humorous adult content, educational content on drug use, or discussion of controversial issues.  More specifically, the following types of content may be fully monetized now:  Using moderate profanity (like "shit" or "bitch") in the first 30 seconds of the video.  Adult themes in a humorous context, such as dating or romance jokes with sexual innuendo. Educational, documentary or news content that includes violent interactions with law enforcement.  Educational, documentary or news content that includes drug-related content. It cannot "glorify" drug use. "Non-graphic, objective discussions" of controversi

Google announced today that free personal account users can continue to host Meet video conferences up to 24 hours long through June 2021. We’re continuing unlimited #GoogleMeet calls (up to 24 hours) in the free version through June 2021 for Gmail accounts → https://t.co/fqBTmoNPBW pic.twitter.com/Ax0fmbRvqr — Google Workspace (@GoogleWorkspace) March 30, 2021 Update June 2021: One-to-one Meet video calls will continue to have the 24 hour time limit . Group Meet video calls are restricted to 60 minutes in countries where Google Workspace Individual is available  (as of December 2021 that's Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico and the US). Google Workspace Individual is a paid subscription with advanced Meet, Calendar and Gmail features. In countries where Google Workspace Individual has not launched yet, group Meet calls will continue to have a 24 hour limit.   Google Meet video calls were made available to free personal accounts in Apr

Happy Holi to my Indian readers! Google has information, art and games at their Holi@Home portal . This week there are updates for bloggers, video creators, Meet, Chat and more. New tutorial: I’m still learning about social media Stories. This week I compared Story options for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube . I also made a quick video showing the options to download your Story content on different platforms. Also be sure to vote in my YouTube poll on what type of Stories you use. YouTube and Video Creators When you upload a video to YouTube on desktop, there is now a “Checks” step that automatically scans your uploaded video for copyright claims and (if monetizing) ad-suitability. That review is usually complete within 3 minutes. Creator Insider answers user questions about YouTube Shorts (on YouTube). YouTube Creators has an overview of new features for Premieres, including Live Redirect (f

Stories on different social media platforms have a lot in common: they are mobile-only, and include vertical images and video. They often let the creator add text overlays, stickers, and fun AR filters or special effects.  And, notably, social media Stories are temporary. They eventually disappear from public view Note: since writing this article Twitter has removed Fleets and LinkedIn has removed their Stories. That leaves Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube with Stories.  Another note: YouTube is shutting down Stories in June 2023. We're back to Meta only.  The content is often more casual and personal (or promotional) than the creator's usual posts.  Note that social media Stories are not to be confused with Google's Web Stories  (or the similar  Pinterest Story Pins  and WordPress Stories) , which uses the Stories format, but are meant for high quality visual content .  These Stories won't disappear unless you delete them.  As a creat

Happy Spring or Autumn, depending on what side of the world you are on! This week YouTube Shorts are coming to America, live captions (in English) are available for any audio in Chrome, and new web communications tool Threadit lets you easily send short video updates and screencasts to your teammates. Plus there are updates for writers, video creators, Meet, Chat and more. New tutorial If you are using YouTube Stories, there are two ways to save your Story videos : save shorting after recording, or download the video with stickers and text from YouTube Studio. Watch the video. Note that YouTube Stories are still in beta, and are generally only available to channels with at least 10,000 subscribers. Upcoming This Sunday, March 21, I’ll be hosting a Twitter Chat at noon Pacific time. Join me to discuss when and if it’s better to use audio, video or text. Or just follow the latest #OnEBoardChat . March 21 is

Stories are everywhere, and usually ephemeral by design. But sometimes you may want to keep a copyof your Story or repurpose the content. YouTube makes it easy to save your Story video.  You can save your YouTube Story video immediately after recording, or download after the video is published, which includes any added text and stickers. You can then post the video to your favorite social media site, or upload the video to your YouTube channel or blog .  The catch? Stories expire after seven days, so you need to download the video before it disappears.  Watch a brief tutorial , or read on for detailed instructions. How do you enable YouTube Stories?  YouTube Stories are currently only generally available to YouTube channels with at least 10,000 subscribers.  Learn more. If YouTube Stories are enabled for your channel, and you are using a compatible mobile device, you will see the "Add to your story" when you click the + button at the bott

Just over a year ago the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic .It feels like we are finally slowly moving towards normal, or at least whatever the new normal will be. It’s likely many people will continue to work from home, and there will probably be ongoing travel limitations. But overall, I am hopeful things are getting better. On to news: As YouTube announced last November, changes in the terms of service mean that all YouTube Partners must submit US tax information in AdSense . If you don’t submit tax information, a larger portion of your YouTube earnings may be withheld. This is a complicated update, so if this may affect you check out the link. Google Meet is rolling out a number of new features. The best one? Tiled view in the mobile app . That’s available now for iOS and “coming soon” to Android. For education and business accounts, there’s a new option to schedule breakout rooms before a meeting in Google Calendar, and a new (paid) dial-in and

You don't need to publish videos on YouTube, Instagram or other site to embed them in a Blogger post. You can upload videos directly to your blog, and then manage your videos in your blog's settings.  Why would you want to upload video directly to your blog? You may not want to manage a YouTube channel or use other social media. Blog post visibility can be limited to blog authors, or specific invited readers. Uploaded videos must follow Blogger's Content Policy . However, Blogger allows non-commercial videos with nudity or sexual activity (with some limitations), as long as the blog is marked "Adult" in your blog settings. This is a video I recorded and uploaded directly to this post using my phone. It took just a few minutes.  On desktop, the player can be expanded to Theater Mode (which expands it inside the post) or Full Screen. Viewers can adjust the quality and playback speed.  On my Android phone there is also an option to cast

All YouTube Partners must now submit U.S. tax information in AdSense by May 31st, no matter what country they are in. If no tax information is submitted, a higher percentage of earnings from YouTube may be withheld. Last November, YouTube announced that there would be an update to the Terms of Service, Among the changes, all payments from YouTube are considered “royalties”. And that means that creators outside the U.S. “may be required to submit tax information in AdSense” and “may be subject to U.S. withholding taxes.” More information was promised. Now there are more details, and a deadline. Announcement : Upcoming tax impact for YouTube creators outside the U.S. Note that U.S. YouTube Partners and AdSense Publishers have always needed to submit tax information to get paid. What is new is now all participants in the YouTube Partner Program are also required to submit that information. If you only use AdSense for Content on your own website or blog, this should not appl

This week there are some great new features, tips, and learning opportunities for creators. Some highlights include new metrics in YouTube Analytics, a new Explore page in Google Photos on desktop, the option to sync your Google Recorder recordings to your Google account, and Twitter Spaces becoming (partially) available on Android devices. There’s lots more, so read on! New tutorial : Use Google Meet’s “green room” to c heck your mic and camera before joining the video call . Reminder : AdSense Link Units will be retired March 10. Check your website or blog to see if you need to remove or replace the Link Unit ad code YouTube YouTube introduced two new metrics in Analytics: new viewers and returning viewers .This can help you better understand your channel’s audience. Note that “returning viewers” may not include viewers who use a private browser, who deleted their watch history or who haven’t watched your channel in over a year.