View Alert Center notifications directly from the Admin console toolbar

Quick launch summary 

You can now quickly access Alert Center alerts from anywhere in the Admin console from the toolbar at top of the page. Selecting the new bell icon will surface the ten latest alerts, along with a brief description. You can click on a specific alert to open it within the Alert Center, or click “View all” to open the Alert Center. 



We hope this feature makes it easier for you to discover and stay on-top of important alerts within your organization. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers  

Resources 


Register for the Google Ads API Migration Workshop

As previously announced, the Google Ads API Migration Workshop is only one week away. Register today to reserve your spot.

As a reminder, the workshop will provide you with knowledge, resources, and support to migrate from the AdWords API to the Google Ads API. We’re offering this live workshop in three regions. Follow the links below to view the full agenda in your region.

Session Dates

We look forward to seeing you!

- Devin Chasanoff, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Quickly access Google Drive files in Chrome browser

What’s changing 

We’re adding a card onto the New Tab Page in your Chrome browser that will surface relevant files from your Google Drive, making it easier and more efficient to find the files you need.  

In 2019, we launched the ability for some users to quickly search for files in the Chrome browser URL bar. Today, we’re taking that experience one step further by bringing intelligent file suggestions directly into your New Tab Page in Chrome . 

search for files in the Chrome browser URL bar

Search for files in the Chrome browser URL bar

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

End users will be able to access their highest priority Drive files straight from the Chrome Desktop new tab page. The easily accessible interface will save end user time and mental load to navigate to relevant files. 

Getting started

Admins: 

  • This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain/OU/group level as long as the default New Tab Page experience is available to our users. This feature will not impact users for whom admins who have set a different New Tab Page experience using Chrome policies. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Google Drive cards on or off for your organization. 


Allow or disable Google file suggestions

Allow or disable Google file suggestions

End users: 

  • This feature will be on by default as long as users have not changed their New Tab Page experience. It can be disabled and re-enabled by the user by clicking the ‘Customize Chrome’ button in the bottom right of the new tab page. 

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts. 

Resources

Canadian news entrepreneurs: Learn how to launch your news business in our Google News Initiative Startups Boot Camp

The deadline to apply for this eight-week, fully remote program is November 14.
Editor's Note: This blogpost is cross posted from the Lion Publisher's website. 

When I joined The Tyee in 2006, it was already several years into its scrappy startup journey. Once referred to as a blog by mainstream Canadian media, it has since won numerous journalism awards, pioneered the concept of solutions journalism, and added more than 4,000 paying supporters who wanted more thoughtful, feisty, and independent reporting in a media ecosystem considered one of the most consolidated in the world. 

The Tyee is just one of several independent news publications in Canada that consistently punches above its weight. We need more like them. 

That’s why I’m working with LION Publishers to bring the Google News Initiative Startups Boot Camp to Canada. The boot camp is an eight-week, fully remote program specifically for aspiring Canadian news entrepreneurs to launch independent digital publications for communities that are most in need of accurate and impactful news and information. No fees, no tuition, no income sharing arrangement. No financial barriers to your success. Just the hands-on support you need to become independent, and stay independent. Request an application here and apply by November 14 at midnight PT. 

We’re also incredibly grateful to our partners Canadian Association of Black Journalists, Canadian Journalists of Colour, Journalists for Human Rights, and On Canada Project for helping us recruit and evaluate prospective boot camp participants. We hope to reach far beyond the traditional journalism community and ensure a cohort that is representative of Canada’s diversity. 

Over the eight-week program, the boot camp will walk each participant through the basic steps of getting a news business up and running. That distinction — a business versus a project — is important. We focus on helping you lay the foundation of a financially sustainable publication. That includes how to set clear goals, research customers, price your product, articulate your value proposition and run experiments to navigate toward success. 

What platform you choose to launch on is entirely up to you. We’re not prescriptive. We’re seeing the sprouts of a new media ecosystem on platforms like YouTube and Instagram — reaching hundreds of thousands of young Canadians in new and novel ways — and we’re excited to hear what ideas you have to serve your community. SMS? Podcast? TikTok? Let’s imagine together. 

The program is unique in several other ways, too: 

  • Upon acceptance, you receive a complimentary one-year membership to the professional association LION Publishers, which gives you access to a network of nearly 400 local independent online news publishers across the U.S. and Canada, as well as tools, resources, and ongoing professional development opportunities that simply don’t exist in Canada right now. 
  • The program doesn’t end when you graduate. We will provide one-on-one coaching to you and your team for a year after you’ve completed the boot camp curriculum. 
  • It’s an incredibly hands-on program. This isn’t academic. We don’t do mock interviews or experiments. No book reports to hand in. This is the real thing: You’re working on taking your concept from idea to launch. (Every single participant in our boot camp last year launched their initiative publicly at the end of the eight weeks). 
  • Your team of coaches are veterans of both journalism startups and mainstream news in Canada, and the curriculum is the result of several years of research and hundreds of interviews with news startup founders. We’ve also taken the time to adapt our battle-tested curriculum to the realities of operating in the Canadian context. So we’ll be talking about the logistics of starting a business or non-profit journalism project in Canada and addressing country-specific questions like tax status, business registration, legal preparedness, and the Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization Designation. 
We will also look at ways to strengthen Canada's media ecosystem by tackling issues like how to ensure newsrooms reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and how to increase support for Canadian communities currently under-served by news.
 
Interested in learning more? The FAQ section of our site has detailed answers about criteria for your news business idea, the boot camp curriculum, the time commitment involved and more. 

If you have more questions or are feeling intimidated to apply for this opportunity, come to an info session (dates/times listed below), where we’ll answer questions about the program and application, and have a separate breakout room to help you workshop your application. 

RSVP for our info sessions here:
Friday, October 15 at noon ETThursday,

Phillip Smith is a veteran consultant and certified Lean Startup coach. His passion is helping newsrooms to make more money, helping news startups grow their audience, and helping journalists succeed as entrepreneurs. The boot camp was inspired by his experience working in a pioneering Canadian startup newsroom, and later developed into a pilot during his time as a John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University. 

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a professional journalism association for independent news publishers. While most of our 300+ members across the U.S. and Canada run local news businesses, we also have members who serve larger regions and specific identity-based communities across geographies. Learn more at lionpublishers.com.

Canadian news entrepreneurs: Learn how to launch your news business in our Google News Initiative Startups Boot Camp

The deadline to apply for this eight-week, fully remote program is November 14.
Editor's Note: This blogpost is cross posted from the Lion Publisher's website. 

When I joined The Tyee in 2006, it was already several years into its scrappy startup journey. Once referred to as a blog by mainstream Canadian media, it has since won numerous journalism awards, pioneered the concept of solutions journalism, and added more than 4,000 paying supporters who wanted more thoughtful, feisty, and independent reporting in a media ecosystem considered one of the most consolidated in the world. 

The Tyee is just one of several independent news publications in Canada that consistently punches above its weight. We need more like them. 

That’s why I’m working with LION Publishers to bring the Google News Initiative Startups Boot Camp to Canada. The boot camp is an eight-week, fully remote program specifically for aspiring Canadian news entrepreneurs to launch independent digital publications for communities that are most in need of accurate and impactful news and information. No fees, no tuition, no income sharing arrangement. No financial barriers to your success. Just the hands-on support you need to become independent, and stay independent. Request an application here and apply by November 14 at midnight PT. 

We’re also incredibly grateful to our partners Canadian Association of Black Journalists, Canadian Journalists of Colour, Journalists for Human Rights, and On Canada Project for helping us recruit and evaluate prospective boot camp participants. We hope to reach far beyond the traditional journalism community and ensure a cohort that is representative of Canada’s diversity. 

Over the eight-week program, the boot camp will walk each participant through the basic steps of getting a news business up and running. That distinction — a business versus a project — is important. We focus on helping you lay the foundation of a financially sustainable publication. That includes how to set clear goals, research customers, price your product, articulate your value proposition and run experiments to navigate toward success. 

What platform you choose to launch on is entirely up to you. We’re not prescriptive. We’re seeing the sprouts of a new media ecosystem on platforms like YouTube and Instagram — reaching hundreds of thousands of young Canadians in new and novel ways — and we’re excited to hear what ideas you have to serve your community. SMS? Podcast? TikTok? Let’s imagine together. 

The program is unique in several other ways, too: 

  • Upon acceptance, you receive a complimentary one-year membership to the professional association LION Publishers, which gives you access to a network of nearly 400 local independent online news publishers across the U.S. and Canada, as well as tools, resources, and ongoing professional development opportunities that simply don’t exist in Canada right now. 
  • The program doesn’t end when you graduate. We will provide one-on-one coaching to you and your team for a year after you’ve completed the boot camp curriculum. 
  • It’s an incredibly hands-on program. This isn’t academic. We don’t do mock interviews or experiments. No book reports to hand in. This is the real thing: You’re working on taking your concept from idea to launch. (Every single participant in our boot camp last year launched their initiative publicly at the end of the eight weeks). 
  • Your team of coaches are veterans of both journalism startups and mainstream news in Canada, and the curriculum is the result of several years of research and hundreds of interviews with news startup founders. We’ve also taken the time to adapt our battle-tested curriculum to the realities of operating in the Canadian context. So we’ll be talking about the logistics of starting a business or non-profit journalism project in Canada and addressing country-specific questions like tax status, business registration, legal preparedness, and the Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization Designation. 
We will also look at ways to strengthen Canada's media ecosystem by tackling issues like how to ensure newsrooms reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and how to increase support for Canadian communities currently under-served by news.
 
Interested in learning more? The FAQ section of our site has detailed answers about criteria for your news business idea, the boot camp curriculum, the time commitment involved and more. 

If you have more questions or are feeling intimidated to apply for this opportunity, come to an info session (dates/times listed below), where we’ll answer questions about the program and application, and have a separate breakout room to help you workshop your application. 

RSVP for our info sessions here:
Friday, October 15 at noon ETThursday,

Phillip Smith is a veteran consultant and certified Lean Startup coach. His passion is helping newsrooms to make more money, helping news startups grow their audience, and helping journalists succeed as entrepreneurs. The boot camp was inspired by his experience working in a pioneering Canadian startup newsroom, and later developed into a pilot during his time as a John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University. 

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a professional journalism association for independent news publishers. While most of our 300+ members across the U.S. and Canada run local news businesses, we also have members who serve larger regions and specific identity-based communities across geographies. Learn more at lionpublishers.com.

Managing harmful vaccine content on YouTube

Crafting policy around medical misinformation comes charged with inherent challenges and tradeoffs. Scientific understanding evolves as new research emerges, and firsthand, personal experience regularly plays a powerful role in online discourse. Vaccines in particular have been a source of fierce debate over the years, despite consistent guidance from health authorities about their effectiveness. Today, we're expanding our medical misinformation policies on YouTube with new guidelines on currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and the WHO.


Our Community Guidelines already prohibit certain types of medical misinformation. We've long removed content that promotes harmful remedies, such as saying drinking turpentine can cure diseases. At the onset of COVID-19, we built on these policies when the pandemic hit, and worked with experts to develop 10 new policies around COVID-19 and medical misinformation. Since last year, we’ve removed over 130,000 videos for violating our COVID-19 vaccine policies.


Throughout this work, we learned important lessons about how to design and enforce nuanced medical misinformation policies at scale. Working closely with health authorities, we looked to balance our commitment to an open platform with the need to remove egregious harmful content. We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we're now at a point where it's more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines. 


Specifically, content that falsely alleges that approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, claims that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, or contains misinformation on the substances contained in vaccines will be removed. This would include content that falsely says that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that substances in vaccines can track those who receive them. Our policies not only cover specific routine immunizations like for measles or Hepatitis B, but also apply to general statements about vaccines.


As with our COVID guidelines, we consulted with local and international health organizations and experts in developing these policies. For example, our new guidance on vaccine side effects maps to public vaccine resources provided by health authorities and backed by medical consensus. These policy changes will go into effect today, and as with any significant update, it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement. 


There are important exceptions to our new guidelines. Given the importance of public discussion and debate to the scientific process, we will continue to allow content about vaccine policies, new vaccine trials, and historical vaccine successes or failures on YouTube. Personal testimonials relating to vaccines will also be allowed, so long as the video doesn't violate other Community Guidelines, or the channel doesn't show a pattern of promoting vaccine hesitancy. 


All of this complements our ongoing work to raise up authoritative health information on our platform and connect people with credible, quality health content and sources.


Today’s policy update is an important step to address vaccine and health misinformation on our platform, and we’ll continue to invest across the board in the policies and products that bring high quality information to our viewers and the entire YouTube community.


Posted by The YouTube Team

10 ways to earn money on YouTube


One of the most impressive things about creators on YouTube is their incredible range of talents and skills. They’re storytellers, directors, editors, marketers and entrepreneurs — all in one. YouTube has evolved from being just a place where people upload and share videos. It’s now a destination where creators can find new audiences, connect with fans in different ways and build growing businesses. 

We laid the groundwork for this modern-day creator economy over 14 years ago when we launched the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) — a first-of-its kind business model that shares the majority of revenue generated on the platform with creators. We recently crossed a new milestone with over 2 million creators globally now part of our monetization program. Over the last three years, we’ve paid more than $30 billion USD to creators, artists and media companies. And in Q2 2021, we paid more to YouTube creators and partners than in any other previous quarter. 

Here in Canada, creators continue to thrive on the platform, with the number of Canadian YouTube channels making six figures or more in revenue up 30% year-over-year as of December 2020. And we're not stopping there, we continue to work with creators in Canada and around the world to encourage even more growth on the platform. 

We’re investing in new monetization options for creators beyond advertising, including Paid Digital Goods, merchandise, branded content and more. Our shared goal with creators is to help them build robust and diversified business models that suit their unique content and community of fans. 

Jeff Thorman, a general contractor from Ottawa with over 25 years of experience, created his YouTube channel Home RenoVision DIY to share his knowledge and help homeowners learn new home improvement skills. Jeff utilizes the Channel Memberships feature to offer exclusive content and additional perks to monthly paying members, further diversifying his revenue streams on the platform. Two years ago, Jeff shifted his business to focus on YouTube full time. Besides memberships, he earns money from ads, sponsorships and affiliate income. 

And there are thousands of creators turned entrepreneurs on YouTube like Jeff from all walks of life, who use the platform to turn their traditional careers, their hobbies and passions into a sustainable, revenue-generating business. 

Today we're launching the Shorts Fund in Canada, adding to our growing list of how artists and creators make money and build a business on YouTube. Canadian creators have been early adopters of Shorts such as multi award winning Canadian percussionist Joe Porter. Since uploading his first Short in April 2021, Joe Porter's channel has received more than 250M views and gained more than 875K subscribers. 

Creators and artists now have 10 ways to make money and build a business on YouTube. Here’s how: 

1. Shorts Fund
The YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100M fund distributed over 2021-2022, is now available to Canadian creators! Each month, we'll reach out to thousands of eligible creators around the world to claim a payment from the fund. 

Creators can make anywhere from $100 to $10,000 based on viewership and engagement on their Shorts each month. The Shorts Fund is the first step in our journey to build a monetization model for Shorts on YouTube and is not limited to just creators in YPP — any creator that meets our eligibility criteria can participate. Check out all the details here. 

We're also dedicated to providing funding via our Black Voices Fund and Kids Fund. 

2. Ads
Ads have been at the core of creators’ revenue streams, and continue to be the main way that creators can earn money on YouTube. Creators receive the majority of the revenue generated from ads on YouTube. 

3. YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium is a paid subscription option which enables members to enjoy ad-free content, background playback, downloads and premium access to the YouTube Music app. The majority of subscription revenue goes to YouTube partners. 

4. Channel Memberships
With channel memberships, creators can offer exclusive perks and content to viewers who join their channel as a monthly paying member at prices set by the creator. 

5. Merchandise
The merch shelf allows channels to showcase their official branded merchandise right on their watch page on YouTube. Creators can choose from 40 different retailers globally.

6. Super Chat
Fans watching livestreams and Premieres can purchase a Super Chat: a highlighted message in the chat that stands out from the crowd to get even more of their favorite creator’s attention. 

7. Super Thanks
Soon, more viewers will be able to give thanks and show support on uploaded videos through Super Thanks as it continues to roll out in Canada. As an added bonus, fans will get a distinct, colorful comment to highlight the purchase, which creators can respond to.

8. Super Stickers
Another way fans can deepen their connection with creators during live streams and Premieres is with Super Stickers, which allows fans to purchase a fun sticker that stands out.

9. Ticketing
Music fans can learn about upcoming concerts and with a simple click, go directly to our ticketing partners’ sites to purchase tickets. 

10. YouTube BrandConnect
Through YouTube BrandConnect (previously known as FameBit), we’ve been making it easier for creators and brands to create branded content that is both authentic and financially rewarding. BrandConnect brings insights, measurement and industry expertise to the influencer marketing landscape -- seamlessly connecting brands, creators and fans.

We’re driven to keep developing new ways for creators to continue to grow sustainable businesses on YouTube. As creators keep innovating and pushing the boundaries to produce engaging and innovative content, we'll continue to deliver more ways to help them do just that. 

Posted by Andrew Peterson, Head of Content Partnerships, YouTube Canada

10 ways to earn money on YouTube


One of the most impressive things about creators on YouTube is their incredible range of talents and skills. They’re storytellers, directors, editors, marketers and entrepreneurs — all in one. YouTube has evolved from being just a place where people upload and share videos. It’s now a destination where creators can find new audiences, connect with fans in different ways and build growing businesses. 

We laid the groundwork for this modern-day creator economy over 14 years ago when we launched the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) — a first-of-its kind business model that shares the majority of revenue generated on the platform with creators. We recently crossed a new milestone with over 2 million creators globally now part of our monetization program. Over the last three years, we’ve paid more than $30 billion USD to creators, artists and media companies. And in Q2 2021, we paid more to YouTube creators and partners than in any other previous quarter. 

Here in Canada, creators continue to thrive on the platform, with the number of Canadian YouTube channels making six figures or more in revenue up 30% year-over-year as of December 2020. And we're not stopping there, we continue to work with creators in Canada and around the world to encourage even more growth on the platform. 

We’re investing in new monetization options for creators beyond advertising, including Paid Digital Goods, merchandise, branded content and more. Our shared goal with creators is to help them build robust and diversified business models that suit their unique content and community of fans. 

Jeff Thorman, a general contractor from Ottawa with over 25 years of experience, created his YouTube channel Home RenoVision DIY to share his knowledge and help homeowners learn new home improvement skills. Jeff utilizes the Channel Memberships feature to offer exclusive content and additional perks to monthly paying members, further diversifying his revenue streams on the platform. Two years ago, Jeff shifted his business to focus on YouTube full time. Besides memberships, he earns money from ads, sponsorships and affiliate income. 

And there are thousands of creators turned entrepreneurs on YouTube like Jeff from all walks of life, who use the platform to turn their traditional careers, their hobbies and passions into a sustainable, revenue-generating business. 

Today we're launching the Shorts Fund in Canada, adding to our growing list of how artists and creators make money and build a business on YouTube. Canadian creators have been early adopters of Shorts such as multi award winning Canadian percussionist Joe Porter. Since uploading his first Short in April 2021, Joe Porter's channel has received more than 250M views and gained more than 875K subscribers. 

Creators and artists now have 10 ways to make money and build a business on YouTube. Here’s how: 

1. Shorts Fund
The YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100M fund distributed over 2021-2022, is now available to Canadian creators! Each month, we'll reach out to thousands of eligible creators around the world to claim a payment from the fund. 

Creators can make anywhere from $100 to $10,000 based on viewership and engagement on their Shorts each month. The Shorts Fund is the first step in our journey to build a monetization model for Shorts on YouTube and is not limited to just creators in YPP — any creator that meets our eligibility criteria can participate. Check out all the details here. 

We're also dedicated to providing funding via our Black Voices Fund and Kids Fund. 

2. Ads
Ads have been at the core of creators’ revenue streams, and continue to be the main way that creators can earn money on YouTube. Creators receive the majority of the revenue generated from ads on YouTube. 

3. YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium is a paid subscription option which enables members to enjoy ad-free content, background playback, downloads and premium access to the YouTube Music app. The majority of subscription revenue goes to YouTube partners. 

4. Channel Memberships
With channel memberships, creators can offer exclusive perks and content to viewers who join their channel as a monthly paying member at prices set by the creator. 

5. Merchandise
The merch shelf allows channels to showcase their official branded merchandise right on their watch page on YouTube. Creators can choose from 40 different retailers globally.

6. Super Chat
Fans watching livestreams and Premieres can purchase a Super Chat: a highlighted message in the chat that stands out from the crowd to get even more of their favorite creator’s attention. 

7. Super Thanks
Soon, more viewers will be able to give thanks and show support on uploaded videos through Super Thanks as it continues to roll out in Canada. As an added bonus, fans will get a distinct, colorful comment to highlight the purchase, which creators can respond to.

8. Super Stickers
Another way fans can deepen their connection with creators during live streams and Premieres is with Super Stickers, which allows fans to purchase a fun sticker that stands out.

9. Ticketing
Music fans can learn about upcoming concerts and with a simple click, go directly to our ticketing partners’ sites to purchase tickets. 

10. YouTube BrandConnect
Through YouTube BrandConnect (previously known as FameBit), we’ve been making it easier for creators and brands to create branded content that is both authentic and financially rewarding. BrandConnect brings insights, measurement and industry expertise to the influencer marketing landscape -- seamlessly connecting brands, creators and fans.

We’re driven to keep developing new ways for creators to continue to grow sustainable businesses on YouTube. As creators keep innovating and pushing the boundaries to produce engaging and innovative content, we'll continue to deliver more ways to help them do just that. 

Posted by Andrew Peterson, Head of Content Partnerships, YouTube Canada

Keeping Kiwis Safe Online Every Day

Have you ever wondered how to make your online accounts secure, but not known how to do that? If so, you’re not alone! One of the main reasons Kiwis don’t always take deliberate steps to improve their online security, is not knowing what steps to take, or where to start (37%). 


New research, conducted for Google New Zealand by YouGov, shows that most Kiwis are not always taking deliberate steps to enhance their online security (69%). This is despite a third of us admitting that we’re aware of a time a password was compromised or hacked. In fact one in five Kiwis have fallen victim to phishing or an online scam.


This is why Google invests extensively in our products and services to ensure they’re secure by default and private by design. We keep more users safe - by blocking malware, phishing attempts, spam messages and potential cyber attacks - than anyone else in the world, but it’s also important that people take advantage of tools to improve their protection. 


While online security can seem confusing, or boring, the good news is that there are some very easy things we can all do to keep ourselves safer online:

 

  1. Use a password manager to create and store strong passwords for every account. For example, Google’s Password Manager, built directly into your Google Account, uses the latest AI security technology to protect your passwords. 


  1. Turn on 2-Step Verification. This helps to keep out anyone who shouldn’t have access to your account by requiring you to use a secondary factor on top of your username and password to log in to your account.

  2. Make sure site connections are secure. If the url is secure the Chrome browser will display a grey fully locked icon in the url field.

  3. Always validate URLs and suspicious links. Double-check the URL by hovering over the link or long-pressing the text on mobile — to make sure that the website or app is legitimate; and make sure that the URL begins with 'https'.


  1. Double check files before downloading. If you come across a suspicious attachment, use Chrome or Google Drive to open it. They automatically scan the file and warn you if we detect a virus.


We also launched the Google Safety Centre to share these and other simple solutions, information and advice for New Zealanders to protect themselves online


The research data comes from a report which looked at Kiwis’ attitudes to online safety and security. Key findings also include:


Deliberate steps to improve online security

  • Seven in ten (59%) New Zealand adults are not always taking deliberate steps in order to improve their online security. 

  • Younger Kiwis aged 18-34 (80%) are more likely than older Australians aged 50+ (58%) to say they do not always take deliberate steps all the time in order to improve their online security.


Barriers to taking deliberate action

  • Among those who are not currently taking deliberate steps to protect themselves online all the time, the main reason as to why is because they say they wouldn't know what steps they could take or where to start (37%).

  • Women (44%) are more likely than men (28%) to suggest that they wouldn’t know what steps they could take or where to start in regard to protecting themselves online.


Passwords

  • Only three in ten (31%) Kiwi adults say that they always use a different password for every account online. A further three in ten (31%) say they use a couple of passwords across their account, but they do overlap, one in five (22%) say they use similar passwords based on the same word / phrase for all their accounts, while 6%, the equivalent of 218k Kiwis say they use the exact same password for all their accounts where possible. While, one in five (19%) say they often forget the password they use online.

  • Alarmingly, the younger Kiwis aged 18-34 (8%) are twice as likely to use the exact same password for all their accounts where possible compared to those aged 50+ (3%), as well as more likely to say they use a couple of passwords across their account, but they do overlap (18-34 26% compared to 50+ 18%), which potentially suggests a degree of complacency amongst the younger tech savvy generations

  • Just one in four (26%) use a password manager, a tool designed to provide strong passwords that are safely secured.


Two-factor authentication usage 

  • Nearly one in five people (18%) didn’t know what two-factor authentication, the addition of app or text approval to access an account, meant, with just one in ten (9%) always using this layer of protection that is widely recognised as best practice, for online accounts. 


Methodology

Consumer research conducted on behalf of Google New Zealand by YouGov. The research comprised a national sample of 1,511 New Zealand adults 18+ years during the period 11-18 August 2021. 


Post content Posted by Ross Young, Google New Zealand Government Affairs and Public Policy

Dev Channel Update for Chrome OS

The Dev channel is being updated to 96.0.4652.0 (Platform version: 14244.0.0) for most Chrome OS devices.

If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our forum or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue...’ in the Chrome menu (3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser). 

Daniel Gagnon,
Google Chrome OS