Peggy K's Creator News

My social media has been dominated by news of the invasion of Ukraine, with good takes, bad information, and discussion of the role of social media (and Google Maps). It’s a terrible time. This week there’s a reminder of two major changes being implemented starting in March: Google Workspace accounts will be moved from Hangouts to Google Chat and YouTube Partners will see a new YouTube-only payments profile in AdSense. Read on for details. Plus there are updates for video creators, webmasters and more. If you want the Weekly Update in your email inbox, sign up for my newsletter . The latest on Google messaging All Google Workspace accounts will be moved from classic Hangouts to Google Chat on March 22. Hangouts will no longer be available in Gmail or the Hangouts mobile app. But this is not the complete shutdown of Hangouts, as hangouts.google.com on the web will still be available. Get the full details of this update . Google has not announced a timeline for the migration of

  In yet another step towards the retirement of Hangouts, Google Chat will replace classic Hangouts for Google Workspace customers in Gmail and on mobile devices on March 22. Note that Hangouts will still be available at  hangouts.google.com  so this is not a full retirement of Hangouts.   Google has not announced when Hangouts will be fully retired. But that time is on the horizon.  Some Hangouts features have been removed:  You can no longer share a link to join a conversation in classic Hangouts. Video call ringing is only available on Google Chat in Gmail on mobile devices. This is currently only available for 1:1 conversations where both participants are using the latest version of the Gmail app for Chat.  Your classic Hangouts conversations should be available in Google Chat, for the most part.  Except for a few special cases, all t

This week there are creator updates and tips from all around the web, from YouTube to Twitter to Pinterest. There are updates to the metaverse and a new way to turn your old PC into a Chromebook. Read on for details. If you want the Weekly Update in your email inbox, sign up for my newsletter . To Watch In “ The 6 Year Overnight Success ” comedian Julie Nolke talks about the years of hard work, rejection and failure that led to her “overnight” success on YouTube in 2020 (see “ Explaining the pandemic to my past self ”). I’m thinking about being brave enough to speak my goals and dreams out loud. Try It YouTube launched a #LoveNotes campaign on (naturally) Valentine’s Day. Use their downloadable green screen background to create a Short for your fans. The YouTube Shorts editor only supports green screen backgrounds on iOS and Pixel devices, but you can also use it in your favorite video editor. (I’ll note that I have a Pixel phone, and I don’t have

There are a lot of updates this week! There are two popular unofficial American celebrations in the coming days - the Superbowl and Valentine’s Day - and social sites have both covered. Also this week: Safer Internet Day, with safety tips galore; the last bit of Google+ will disappear in early 2023 when Currents is shut down and the content is moved to Google Chat’s Spaces; YouTube shared their plans for 2022, which include new Shorts tools, Live Streaming features, better comments, and maybe the metaverse and NFTs (everyone’s doing it!), and more. To get the Weekly Update in your email inbox, sign up for my newsletter . Superbowl Sunday Superbowl LVI is Sunday in Los Angeles. It is forecast to be an unseasonably warm 85°F (30°C), which is more like beach weather than football weather. My local weather will be a lovely 75°F, so I may spend it outside, rather than in front of the TV. YouTube’s “AdBlitz” is back where you can watch all the ads without having to sit through

Google announced today that Currents, the Google Workspace-only successor to Google+, will "wind down" in early 2023.  Currents content and communites will be migrated to Spaces,  part of Google Chat.  Spaces will be getting  new community-like features and collaboration tools  before that happens. The announcement shouldn't come as a surprise, as Currents has been little mentioned by Google since its launch in 2019 in the wake of the shutdown of Google+ for consumers.  This will help consolidate Google's communication platforms.  As noted in today's announcement:  Upgrading Google Currents to Spaces removes a separate, siloed destination for users, and provides organizations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today. And Spaces , unlike Currents, is available to users with free personal Google accounts.  It won't be Goo

This week the Winter Olympics opened in Beijing. I love the Olympics opening ceremonies, with athletes from all over the world joining the games (although I worry about shirtless American Samoa athlete Nathan Crumpton catching cold in the freezing stadium). And this is the once-every-four-years that I get to dive into watching skiing and skating and sledding.  But I have mixed feelings. China is clearly using the games for propaganda , as the US and a number of other countries refused to send diplomats in the face of China’s human rights violations. And we are still in the midst of a pandemic, with missing athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 and missing fans. It leaves a bitter taste in what should be a celebration of sport. In any case you can watch highlights of the Olympics on the official Olympics YouTube channel and (in the US) NBC Sports . This week there aren’t many creator updates, so consider this a week to catch up. And maybe watch the figure skating. If you w