Weekly Update - July 31, 2021 - Google Meet, AdSense, YouTube

I can’t believe it’s already the end of July. Time flies! I hope you are staying cool. This week there are a few juicy updates for video and web creators, plus a new Google Meet PWA.

Top stories this week:

• A reminder that YouTube and AdSense support will not contact you via Google Chat. They will only send you an email from an @google.com or @youtube.com email address. If you receive a Google Chat notification, you can open the Chat and see the email address of the other participants. Again, Google employees will only have an @google.com or @youtube.com address. If you aren’t sure, post a question in the official YouTube Help Community.
• AdSense has launched consent management features - required to comply with the GDPR and California’s CCPA - in Auto Ads. Learn how to set up a GDPR consent message for your website.
• There is a new Google Meet Progressive Web App (PWA). The PWA doesn’t have any new features, but it is easier to find and use. It requires Chrome 73 or higher to run.
• YouTube is launching trailers for live streams for channels with at least 1000 subscribers and no strikes. Also new: live chat polls available to all creators.

More of this week's updates:

YouTube and Video

• Wondering about YouTube Shorts? Creator Insider has a new AMA answering user questions.
• StreamYard now lets you stream pre-recorded video. While you could just use a Premiere on YouTube, this lets you stream to multiple platforms.
• Vimeo has a new tutorial on how to trim your videos. If Vimeo is your video platform of choice, this looks like a useful tool.

Publishers and Web Creators

• Google Search Central has posted a new article with best practices for sharing affiliate links and sponsored or guest posts on your website or blog. They are rolling out a “link spam update” that can better detect link spam on the web, so following the best practices is encouraged.
• Google is launching a new Audience Explorer as part of Google Ad Manager’s Audience Solutions. This provides insights, and helps “ think about, market and improve the performance of first-party audience segments”.
• If your application for AdSense was disapproved, check out the latest episode of the AdSense Site Approval Series “Site Rejections and Next Steps.”

Social Media

• Instagram accounts for under-16s are now defaulted to private. They also have “new technology that will allow us to find accounts that have shown potentially suspicious behavior and stop those accounts from interacting with young people’s accounts.” And under-18s will stop seeing interest-based advertising. How do they know how old a user may be? Facebook also explained how they are using AI to detect user age, no matter what birth date they entered on their account.
• Pinterest has launched a new way for Creators to monetize their content: shoppable Idea Pins. If Creators are working with a brand, they can add a “paid partnership” label to the Idea Pin.
• Discord has introduced conversation Threads. That allows a new conversation to be shown in a separate feed. Eventually after a period of inactivity, the Thread is archived.

That’s all the updates for this week. Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your favorite feed reader every week. Miss last week’s update? Get it here.

Image: Chocolate chip cookies from StockSnap on PixaBay. Free for commercial use.