Weekly Update - June 19, 2021: Google Workspace, Meet, Chat

June is hot and buzzing, and there is a lot to celebrate this weekend. Today is Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States and a brand new Federal holiday. Sunday is Father’s day, honoring dads everywhere.

But just as we are heading into peak summer, Google is updating it’s work tools. Their “future of work” is designed to help remote workers connect with their in-office colleagues.

• Google Workspace is now for everyone. If you have a free personal Google account you can now use Google Chat, along with Meet, Calendar, Gmail, Docs and other integrated apps. There will also soon be a new Google Workspace Individual paid subscription with more features. Unlike other Google Workspace education and business accounts, you will be able to sign up with your Google account.
• Google Meet is getting new features designed for hybrid work situations, where part of the team may be in the office and the rest in remote locations. The new Companion Mode gives all meeting participants access to screen sharing, polls, in-meeting chat, live captions and other interactive features, even if they are participating from a conference room. And Google Calendar Events will let people indicate whether they will be joining from the office or remotely. The new features will be available on the web and the “upcoming progressive web app” in September and “soon” on mobile devices.
• Google Chat Rooms are becoming Spaces. Currently Chat includes one-to-one and group “chats” and more full-featured Rooms. “Rooms” are becoming “Spaces” which will be integrated with Google Calendar, Drive, Tasks and more. New features will include message pinning, user roles and moderation tools, collapsible view and “discoverable spaces”. It’s designed for teams to work together, organizing projects, and moderated discussions.
• Tables, an experimental workflow management tool from Google’s Area 120 is making it to the big leagues and become part of Google Cloud. It will remain in beta for the coming months, and you can continue to use it for free if you are in the United States.

Plus updates for web creators, YouTubers, audio live streaming and more.

Upcoming

• Applications for the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund Class of 2022 open on June 21. This is open to Black creators in the US, Canada, UK, Brazil, Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

YouTube

• You can now bulk opt out your videos from being available for Shorts audio sampling.
• TikTok will be this year’s VidCon main sponsor. YouTube has been the lead sponsor since 2013, so this is a significant shift.

Web Creators

• If you have your own website or blog, the new Google Search Console Insights will help you better understand your site’s performance. It combines data from Search Console and Google Analytics. You can access Insights in Search Console here, or search for “Search Console Insights”.
• If you are thinking of monetizing your website with AdSense, watch the new(ish) AdSense Site Approvals video series. It covers what you need to know about content, navigation and site traffic before you apply.
• If you search for a journalist by name, Google may now show a carousel of their published articles on the search results page.
• The Top Stories Carousel in the Google Search results will no longer be limited to AMP pages. Google explains why, and what you can do to (possibly) have your content featured there.

Social Media

• Facebook has partnered with music distributors DistroKid and TuneCore to let independent musicians and bands sign up for the new Independent Artist Program.This adds their music to Facebook’s audio library that can be used to create Stories and Instagram Reels.
• Facebook Gaming launched Fan Groups for partners. It has a dedicated “Looking for Player” post type to find other gamers to play with, and they may recommend a streamer’s group to viewers after a stream ends.

Podcasts and Audio

• Hosts of Twitter Spaces can now download a recording of their Space. There are a number of other new features including the ability to listen on the web (rather than just mobile) and scheduled Spaces.
• Spotify Greenroom is a new live audio app designed to let artists connect with fans.They are conversation spaces controlled by the artists.
• Facebook is testing a new Audio Rooms feature in the US.
• And Podcasts are reportedly coming to Facebook Pages next week. Podcast Page owners will be able to link their podcast feed which will automatically create episode posts.
• Spotify acquired Podz, a small company that has developed machine learning technology for audio discovery. From the announcement: “Podz generates high-quality clips that give users the opportunity to preview key moments from podcast episodes, encouraging them to discover and listen to new podcasts”.
• Apple has launched paid podcast subscriptions. If you are a podcast creator, head to Apple Podcasts for Creators for more information.

Messaging and Meetings

• Google Meet has added a number of improvements to the Hand Raise feature, including a clickable notification that links to a list of all participants with raised hands. Also new: an animated visual icon, participants with their hand raised may have their video tiles more visible, an audible notification when the first hand is raised, and a participant’s hand will be automatically lowered after they speak. The Hand Raise option is available in most meetings hosted by Google Workspace users.
• Google Meet’s automated noise reduction is now available to more Google Workspace customers.
• Android Messages will let you star individual messages to make them easy to find agan.

Google shows you how to add dialogs and slash commands to your Google Workspace Chat bots.

Businesses

• Businesses can create Posts from inside Google Search. You will also soon be able to create Posts about events, including when and where they are happening.
• Google is sharing their “All In” inclusive marketing toolkit. You can access All In here.
• 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: Sunset photo by Bradley Hook from Pexels