YouTube Updates: Google Lens Integration & More New Features!

Transcript

There are fresh YouTube updates. Let’s start with a little Android experiment, as Google Lens search is now available via YouTube search for some selected Android users. That means Google Lens is an app (in case you didn’t know) that uses your smartphone camera to…

YouTube Updates: What’s New?

It’s now possible to perform image searches on Google and also on YouTube. I can imagine this being useful for repair tutorials. For instance, if you’re under the sink and need to disassemble the siphon without knowing how, you could search for a tutorial because you might not know how to spell “siphon” or simply don’t know the word. I think in situations like these, this feature can be very handy. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

iOS Experiment

On iOS, there’s a little experiment: The search and create buttons have swapped places. This is a UI test that will likely cause excitement for many. If you’re in this test group, you can’t opt out, but feel free to share your opinion in the comments.

AI Summaries for Live Chats

AI summaries for live chats are now being rolled out for large English streams. These summaries are based on messages that haven’t been blocked and don’t contain withheld content. So, it’s safe and manipulable since it only works with a large volume of chat messages. I haven’t seen it in action yet, but I think long-term this can be very useful, especially when you have several thousand chatters. Currently, though, it’s mainly relevant for English-language streams.

Policy Training for Content Violations

If you use third-party content in your videos or livestreams without their permission, you now not only risk a strike but also have to go through “Policy Training.” It’s fascinating that many people seemingly don’t understand that you shouldn’t use others’ content without permission. My advice: Don’t use third-party content without prior consent, then you won’t have to deal with policy training.

YouTube Shopping Updates

YouTube Shopping is being further expanded. In YouTube Analytics, under the Revenue tab, there’s now a map showing your best-selling items. I find that YouTube Shopping still doesn’t have much impact, especially not in the EU. It’s different in America where you can use Google Shopping affiliate links in addition to your own shops.

Erase Song: Not a New Feature

A big announced feature is “Erase Song.” I initially thought it was new, but as web archive records show, it’s been around for 10 years. It allows you to remove a song from a video if you’ve received a copyright infringement notice. However, it never really worked well. It’s alarming that major media outlets and creator update channels present this as a novelty despite its long existence. Again, don’t use content without permission, then you won’t have to deal with removing songs. It can, however, be useful when licenses change and you’ve relied on a cheap provider who sold the license.

Feel free to share your thoughts on these updates in the comments! Until next week for more YouTube news. Stay tuned and keep going!