A busy week this week! There are a bunch of updates for YouTube creators, web publishers and more. YouTube is changing the ad controls for monetizing channels (and launching new features that non-monetizing creators can access too), AdSense wants publishers to add a GDPR message; there are updates for web publishers in WordPress and Search, social audio platform Clubhouse is pivoting to chat, new video call features in Zoom and Meet and more.
This makes me feel old: Google turned 25 this month (with 25 years of Search milestones) and Chrome turned 15. Happy Birthday Google!
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GDPR Message Required for AdSense
If you are an AdSense, AdMob or Google Ad Manager publisher, you may have received an email from AdSense with the subject “Google-certified CMP requirement will be applied beginning January 16, 2024”.In compliance with EU user consent policy, Google requires all publishers to use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) with a GDPR message.
This will show to all your website’s or app’s visitors from the European Economic Area (EEA) and UK.
If you have not implemented this in your AdSense account yet, you will also see a pop-up when you sign in.
You have three options:
Before you choose the “no GDPR message” option, be sure to check your stats to see how much traffic to your site will be affected.
Note that to set up the GDPR message your site must have a privacy policy.
More information from AdSense:
Pre-roll ads (ads before the video)
Post-roll ads (ads after the video)
And those pre-roll and post-roll ads can be skippable ads, non-skippable ads, or both.
With this update, the ads can either be on or off, and YouTube will select the ad format. It will not affect previously monetized videos, as long as the monetization settings aren’t changed.
For viewers, this may mean a few more non-skippable pre-roll ads. YouTube says:
You have three options:
- Use a Google-certified CMP to create a GDPR message. If you don’t implement it by the deadline, Google will publish a GDPR message for you (which you can change).
- Use Google’s CMP in AdSense. Again, if you don’t implement it by the deadline, Google will publish a GDPR message for you
- No GDPR message. AdSense will stop showing ads to your visitors in the EEA and UK.
Before you choose the “no GDPR message” option, be sure to check your stats to see how much traffic to your site will be affected.
Note that to set up the GDPR message your site must have a privacy policy.
More information from AdSense:
- New Consent Management Platform requirements for serving ads in the EEA and UK
- New Google consent management requirements for serving ads in the EEA and UK
- Publish my GDPR message for me using Google's CMP
YouTube is simplifying control of pre-roll and post-roll ads
Currently if you monetize your YouTube videos, you can choose whether there are:Pre-roll ads (ads before the video)
Post-roll ads (ads after the video)
And those pre-roll and post-roll ads can be skippable ads, non-skippable ads, or both.
With this update, the ads can either be on or off, and YouTube will select the ad format. It will not affect previously monetized videos, as long as the monetization settings aren’t changed.
For viewers, this may mean a few more non-skippable pre-roll ads. YouTube says:
“we observed that creators who had non-skippable ads enabled in addition to multiple combinations of all other ad formats saw an average of over 5% greater YouTube ad revenue, and a <1% decrease in watch time compared to creators who did not have non-skippable ads enabled.”
There isn’t likely going to be too big a change, as more than 90% of monetized videos had all these ad types enabled already.
Mid-roll ads - ads placed during longer videos - are not affected by this update.
This change goes into effect in November.
More information:
More information:
YouTube is providing more options to control mid-roll ads
YouTube Partners with longer videos, at least 8 minutes long, can insert mid-roll ads, either manually or automatically.YouTube will be launching improvements for mid-roll management for live streams and video on demand.
The new Clubhouse is focused on asynchronous audio group chats -- think about your favorite messaging app (WhatsApp? Google Chat?), but instead of text messages, people post audio messages.
They are also moving from a “follow model” to a “friend model”, and one-way follows are becoming friend requests. The idea is that you open the app, and now you can chat with your friends if there isn’t any live room you want to join. Creators can migrate their followers to a House, with an associated Chat and live Rooms.
A number of “legacy” features are being retired, including “power” features for Houses; broadcast features like Insights, on-platform reshares and clips; and topic-based recommendations.
YouTube has rolled out the option to place related video links on your Shorts. You can get data on how well the links are doing in your YouTube Analytics Traffic Sources report. There’s a new Related Shorts traffic source stat.
You can now post and respond to comments on videos, music and podcasts in the YouTube Music mobile app.
Zach Bussey reports many Twitch streamers having their accounts hijacked, with the hijacker using their account to post links, profanity and other bad content. The hijacked accounts all seem to have a bad extension installed, either Pando (virtual stream pet, also called Tamagucci) or Stream Alerts TV from the same developer. Manage your account’s connections at www.twitch.tv/settings/connections . Or reset your password!
The new Research Analytics page is available to all Twitch streamers.This includes "Time to Stream" data to help you plan what time you should stream.
TikTok has expanded its Creativity Program Beta to UK users (joining creators in the US, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, and Korea). This is a monetization opportunity for eligible creators, with features to “foster their creativity, generate higher reward potential and unlock more exciting, real-world opportunities”.
It’s Fashion Month, and TikTok is highlighting fashion and beauty creators from around the world. Learn more.
- Optimize mid-roll ad earnings by combining manually and automatically placed mid-roll ads.
- More ad placement control in Live Control Room for ads inserted during live streams:
- 60 second countdown until the ad plays with option to skip the ad
- A new “Delay Ads” button to postpone ads from appearing for 10 minutes
- “Insert Ads” button to manually insert ads
- Announcement: Simplifying & Improving Ad Controls
- Manage mid-roll ad breaks in long videos
- Monetize your live stream
The “New” Clubhouse
Back in 2020 and 2021, Clubhouse was the hot new platform. It offered live audio “rooms” where you could listen to panel discussions, webinars or participate in conversations. But once COVID pandemic stay-at-home restrictions were lifted, used dropped significantly. A big problem with any live platform is that people open the app, and if they don’t find something interesting to join, listen to or watch, they just leave. A solution? See this week’s announced pivot to messaging and “the new Clubhouse”.The new Clubhouse is focused on asynchronous audio group chats -- think about your favorite messaging app (WhatsApp? Google Chat?), but instead of text messages, people post audio messages.
They are also moving from a “follow model” to a “friend model”, and one-way follows are becoming friend requests. The idea is that you open the app, and now you can chat with your friends if there isn’t any live room you want to join. Creators can migrate their followers to a House, with an associated Chat and live Rooms.
A number of “legacy” features are being retired, including “power” features for Houses; broadcast features like Insights, on-platform reshares and clips; and topic-based recommendations.
More Video Creator Updates
You can now manage the Clips for individual videos in YouTube Studio. Go to the Content tab in YouTube Studio on desktop, and open the Details page for a video. There is a new “Clips” option on the left menu, where you can see all the created clips, which channel created them, and how many views they have. Learn more from Creator Insider.YouTube has rolled out the option to place related video links on your Shorts. You can get data on how well the links are doing in your YouTube Analytics Traffic Sources report. There’s a new Related Shorts traffic source stat.
You can now post and respond to comments on videos, music and podcasts in the YouTube Music mobile app.
Zach Bussey reports many Twitch streamers having their accounts hijacked, with the hijacker using their account to post links, profanity and other bad content. The hijacked accounts all seem to have a bad extension installed, either Pando (virtual stream pet, also called Tamagucci) or Stream Alerts TV from the same developer. Manage your account’s connections at www.twitch.tv/settings/connections . Or reset your password!
The new Research Analytics page is available to all Twitch streamers.This includes "Time to Stream" data to help you plan what time you should stream.
TikTok has expanded its Creativity Program Beta to UK users (joining creators in the US, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, and Korea). This is a monetization opportunity for eligible creators, with features to “foster their creativity, generate higher reward potential and unlock more exciting, real-world opportunities”.
It’s Fashion Month, and TikTok is highlighting fashion and beauty creators from around the world. Learn more.
Web Publishers
Site names in Google Search results are now available in all languages, not just English.The free Google Fonts site has a new Material design, with improved navigation, browsing and search. Check it out at fonts.google.com . See the license details on each individual font page.
There is a new simpler migration process for WordPress.com that makes it easy to import your content from Blogger, Medium, Squarespace, Substack, Wix and other platforms.
There’s an updated WordPress.com Learn hub, making it easier to find webinars and courses.
Eligible Google Workspace organizations can now have branded themes in Google Sites, to keep site design consistent.
Social Media
Patreon is moving even further towards social with new member profiles and community chats.Pinterest is introducing AI-based body type technology to increase representation of different body types across search results and recommended pins. They will also be highlighting “size inclusive” brands. North American fashion and beauty creators who post content for the plus-size community can apply for the latest Creator Inclusion Fund (deadline September 17).
Facebook is removing the News tab in the UK, France and Germany. This will not affect people sharing news links or other services.
Facebook is removing the News tab in the UK, France and Germany. This will not affect people sharing news links or other services.
Threads launched Keyword search in English and Spanish.
The Flickr mobile app has made it easier to tag your photos by showing recent and suggested tags.
September 12 is the last day for (virtual) coins on Reddit. There are apparently hints that Reddit is working on a paid creator program as a replacement.
Reddit has launched post translation in the mobile app, with Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish to start.
Also on Reddit, Scharon Harding @ Ars Technica reports Reddit faces content quality concerns after its Great Mod Purge.
Tumblr is working towards a “user-led business model” with a new Supporter subscription. If you subscribe, you get a badge to display on your blog, which gets shinier the longer you are subscriber.
“So in all of this, this hashtag that was launched on Twitter last week — #BantheADL — that was literally created by white supremacists. When I see the management of Twitter engaging with it, elevating it, amplifying it, I’m not just disturbed and disappointed. It’s dangerous for the Jewish community.”
Finally, on Friday evening, X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted “X opposes antisemitism in all its forms”, but it rings hollow with the site owner’s own behavior contrary to that claim.
In non-surprising news, Ars Technica reports “Musk calling shots on X content explains advertiser exodus, former exec says”
Elizabeth Lopatto @ The Verge asks “Is it possible for Musk to be overexposed?” in “Elon Musk paid for our attention, but the price to keep it is getting higher”. Musk’s public persona is how he markets his companies (Tesla famously doesn’t buy ads), but “Musk has to continue doing more extreme stuff in order to get attention — that’s just how the treadmill of social media works, even if you own the platform.” And people get sick of that.
X is introducing Community Notes for videos. These notes give added context and information about posted content.
The Photopea Magic Replace tool “uses a new AI model now and gives much better results.” Photopea.com is a free web-based Photoshop-like image editor. Learn how to use Photopea’s smart tools. (They also have improved their Gradient Tool).
Android is launching a new AI-powered “Assistant at a Glance” widget.
Google Chat now has autocorrect on the web (in English). Auto-corrected words have a dotted gray line under them so that you can click to undo incorrect autocorrects.
Google Workspace customers using Google Meet will have automatic captions in more languages, including Arabic (several varians), Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese, English (UK), Gujarati, Hindi, isiXhosa, Kannada, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Malayalam, Marathi, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Swati, Swedish, Tshivenda, Tswana and Xitsonga. In addition to the current 22 languages.
Shaminder Dulai @ Digital Photography Review: Finer Points: Web rot is erasing our images and videos
Sara Friedman @ The Hustle: Where do fonts come from? This one business, mostly
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 the September 2 edition here.
Header image: Lights by tommyvideo on Pixabay via Canva. Free for commercial use.
The Flickr mobile app has made it easier to tag your photos by showing recent and suggested tags.
September 12 is the last day for (virtual) coins on Reddit. There are apparently hints that Reddit is working on a paid creator program as a replacement.
Reddit has launched post translation in the mobile app, with Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish to start.
Also on Reddit, Scharon Harding @ Ars Technica reports Reddit faces content quality concerns after its Great Mod Purge.
Tumblr is working towards a “user-led business model” with a new Supporter subscription. If you subscribe, you get a badge to display on your blog, which gets shinier the longer you are subscriber.
X (Formerly Twitter)
Kara Swisher interviewed Anti-Defamation League (ADL) national director Jonathan Greenblatt, who talked about X-owner Musk’s threat to sue the ADL. He said:“So in all of this, this hashtag that was launched on Twitter last week — #BantheADL — that was literally created by white supremacists. When I see the management of Twitter engaging with it, elevating it, amplifying it, I’m not just disturbed and disappointed. It’s dangerous for the Jewish community.”
Finally, on Friday evening, X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted “X opposes antisemitism in all its forms”, but it rings hollow with the site owner’s own behavior contrary to that claim.
In non-surprising news, Ars Technica reports “Musk calling shots on X content explains advertiser exodus, former exec says”
Elizabeth Lopatto @ The Verge asks “Is it possible for Musk to be overexposed?” in “Elon Musk paid for our attention, but the price to keep it is getting higher”. Musk’s public persona is how he markets his companies (Tesla famously doesn’t buy ads), but “Musk has to continue doing more extreme stuff in order to get attention — that’s just how the treadmill of social media works, even if you own the platform.” And people get sick of that.
X is introducing Community Notes for videos. These notes give added context and information about posted content.
More AI Updates
If you have a paid Zoom account, you can use their new “AI Companion” to compose chat messages, generate meeting summaries, split recordings into chapters, summarize your chat messages, and more (in the near future). Zoom notes: “Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or other communications-like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train Zoom’s or third-party artificial intelligence models.”The Photopea Magic Replace tool “uses a new AI model now and gives much better results.” Photopea.com is a free web-based Photoshop-like image editor. Learn how to use Photopea’s smart tools. (They also have improved their Gradient Tool).
Android is launching a new AI-powered “Assistant at a Glance” widget.
Communication and Collaboration
Google Workspace Individual subscribers (a subscription that adds advanced Google Workspace features to your personal Google account) now has more Google Meet premium features, including meetings with up to 150 participants, co-hosts, Q&As, meeting transcripts and an in-meeting invited guest list.Google Chat now has autocorrect on the web (in English). Auto-corrected words have a dotted gray line under them so that you can click to undo incorrect autocorrects.
Google Workspace customers using Google Meet will have automatic captions in more languages, including Arabic (several varians), Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese, English (UK), Gujarati, Hindi, isiXhosa, Kannada, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Malayalam, Marathi, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Swati, Swedish, Tshivenda, Tswana and Xitsonga. In addition to the current 22 languages.
More
Alfred Moore @ The Conversation: Online anonymity: study found 'stable pseudonyms' created a more civil environment than real user namesShaminder Dulai @ Digital Photography Review: Finer Points: Web rot is erasing our images and videos
Sara Friedman @ The Hustle: Where do fonts come from? This one business, mostly
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 the September 2 edition here.
Header image: Lights by tommyvideo on Pixabay via Canva. Free for commercial use.
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