Peggy K's Creator News

Google Brand Accounts will no longer be able to be owned or managed by Business Groups as of August 1. Google Business Profiles sent a notification email about this change in April, with the subject line "Upcoming changes to your Brand Accounts": Beginning August 1, 2022, Business Groups will no longer be able to own or manage Brand Accounts. You're currently an owner or manager of at least one Brand Account that's connected to a Business Group. Anyone who has access to your Brand Accounts via a Business Group will be able to opt in and keep access. If they opt in, they'll be addedd as a direct owner or manager beginning July 20, 2022. If they don't opt in, they'll lose access to the Brand Account. If a Brand Account has no owner left, all managers will lose access to it beginning August 1, 2022. If you own or manage a Brand Account from a Business Group, you'll receive another email with instructions on how to opt in to keep access to...

As we move into November, tech companies are starting their last push of new features before the end of the year. This week AdSense announced improvements to its in-account Policy Center; Google My Business is now Google Business Profile, with new management tools in Maps and Search; and Facebook announced it’s shutting down its facial recognition system (but Meta is not). Plus there are updates for web publishers, Instagrammers, Twitter Spaces hosts, Facebook Group owners, NaNoWriMo writers, online shoppers and more. Upcoming November 7 : I’ll be hosting the #OnEBoardChat Twitter chat on Sunday, November 7 at 11AM Pacific time. Everyone is welcome to join the discussion. Follow me or the #OnEBoardChat hashtag for the latest. The topic will be autumn, and how that relates to your creative and business activities. That will be followed by the Premiere of OnEBoard’s collaborative Autumn movie. November 12 : Deadline to apply for the Google Black and Latinx Publisher’s Summit. Th...

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...

This week there are updates to classic Hangouts and Meet, new features being tested on YouTube, and more for YouTubers, business owners, web creators, and social media mavens. I posted a couple tutorials:  Quick tip: Blogger offers more than 1000 fonts for your posts. Learn how to use them (or watch the video ). Tutorial: How to use Google Meet video calling in classic Hangouts (or watch the video ). If you have been using classic Hangouts video calling, try Meet. I think you'll like it. YouTube YouTube is testing automatic video chapters . This uses machine learning to automatically create the chapters. You can opt out or send feedback using this form . YouTube is also testing a way to add automatic timestamps when you comment on a video . That way if you want to say “this is the awesome bit” people can see what you are referring to. Creator Insider answers 8 user questions about how YouTube’s algorithms work. You can now report bad YouTube ads on mobile , in addition t...

To all the 2020 grads out there: congratulations! This is a rough time to be launching the next stage of your life, but hopefully things will get better. The big news this week is that venerable Google Groups is rolling out a new interface. Plus there are a number of small updates this week for video creators, webmasters, business owners and more. Video and Live Streaming YouTube Poll Cards are being discontinued as of June 10 . You have until July 10 to download your poll card data. Why the change? Poll cards were “rarely used”.  Video Chapters are rolling out to all channels . Add timestamps in the video description (starting with 0:00) and markers will appear at the bottom of the video player. This makes it easier for viewers to jump to specific sections of your video. If you watch YouTube videos on your Android phone, you will now see optional topics in your subscription feed , including “Today”, “Continue Watching”, “Unwatched”, “Live” and “Posts”. The YouTube app for iOS devi...

Happy May! I hope you all are keeping on keeping on. Good news: this week Google is making Meet video calling free to everyone. Bad news: Google’s ad revenue has had a “significant slowdown”, which may affect publisher and partner earnings. Useful news: YouTube is showing fact checks for some searches in the US, and will be rolling out selectable topics on the YouTube homepage.  Plus there are updates for businesses, advertisers, and more. The big news from Google this week is that Meet video calling is being made available to everyone for free . Until now, Meet has only been available to paid G Suite accounts. If you have been using classic Hangouts video calling, you’ll find Meet has nice features like 16-person grid view, automatic captions, and the ability to present high quality video and audio. And you can have up to 100 participants. All that’s required is a Google account. Check meet.google.com to see if it’s available for your account, or sign up to be notified by emai ...

Earth Day is this coming week, and has mostly moved online. That seems fitting, as pollution drops and more animals are seen in cities , while most of us humans are staying home. This week there are improvements in Google Meet and other online communication tools, new YouTube Smart Replies, free tools to help small businesses promote themselves and more. Communicate If you are a G Suite user, there are new features coming to Google Meet. The option to start or join a Meet meeting directly from Gmail is rolling out. And coming “later this month” are a new up-to-16-person grid layout, improved video quality and filtered background noise. The public conferencing platform of the moment is Zoom , and while these changes are “Zoom like”, Meet’s limitation to businesses and schools means less widespread adoption. Zoom is adding new meeting password options and creating less-guessable longer meeting IDs to keep meetings more secure. Discord is bringing noise suppression technology to voice ...

Happy Easter weekend! You can celebrate from home, with religious services, entertainment and socializing via video call all available over the internet. This week’s top updates are new features for teachers in Google Meet (which has dropped “Hangouts” in its name), COVID-19-related AdSense issues with Site review and payments, and more. Live, at home: there is music, Broadway shows, movies, games and more you can access this weekend from the comfort of your living room, bedroom or yard. Google’s cloud gaming platform Stadia is fre e and available to everyone. Stadia Pro will be free for two months, and you can cancel before you are charged for the subscription. See the Stadia FAQ for details . YouTube has a #PrayWithMe article that highlights religious programming , including a special Saturday Night Seder, Holy Week services from the Vatican and more. Opera singer Andrea Bocelli will perform live at 7 PM CET (10 AM PDT) on Easter Sunday, April 12 from Milan’s Duomo Cathedral. Watch ...

On this first weekend of Spring, I feel like we should be celebrating new growth and renewal. But instead I - and I imagine many of you - am hunkered down at home, practicing social distancing, and doing my best to not get infected. Of course it’s affecting tech companies as well. Most have sent their workforce home, putting a crimp in both product development and support.  But there are a few bright spots. Many companies are offering their paid services for free, at least for the next few months. And many artists and performers are continuing to work to keep us entertained. I’ve rounded up the latest information below. One thing that is abundantly clear: tech companies need people to keep them running smoothly. And we need each other.  Event Updates If you are a Local Guide, a pplications for the Connect Live 2020 event are still open through March 30. They are encouraging that local groups host virtual meet-ups for the time being. The Google Games Developers ...

Happy (belated) Valentine’s day readers! This week brings safety, privacy and security features highlighted by tech giants for Safer Internet Day, ghost cowboys and other mashed-up emoji in G Board’s Emoji Kitchen, new notification metrics in YouTube Analytics and much more. You can u se Google Assistant to make your days more romantic any day of the year. February 11 was Safer Internet Day . Social Media sites stepped up with safety and security tips: Google updated the “Be Internet Awesome” program for kids , highlighted how they are making a safer internet for Europe, Middle East and Africa , and provides 5 tips for keeping your account safe . YouTube shared how they are keeping the platform safe , especially for families, with tips on how to flag bad content, how to manage your search and watch history, control the ads you see and keep your account secure. They also recommend families use the YouTube Kids app. Facebook has tips for keeping your account safe , and dealing...