Whether taking a quick walk, diving into an ambitious cooking project or driving in the car, people are listening to podcasts in more places. We redesigned Google Podcasts with this in mind, making it easier to discover and listen to podcasts wherever people are listening. 

Today we’re introducing Google Podcasts Manager, a new tool to help podcasters gain insight into the evolving habits of podcast listeners so they can better understand their audiences and reach them across Google products.

Podcasts Manager also provides anonymized device analytics that show what percentage of your audience listens on phones, tablets, desktop computers and smart speakers. This data can help podcasters better understand and respond to changing listening behavior. For example, you might discover that the majority of your listeners access your show on a smart speaker. This might mean you add shorter form content for listening on-the-go, or develop more family-friendly options for consumption in an open space.

We’ll continue to build on these features to help audio publishers grow sustainable businesses, connect with listeners and create podcasts people love.

The COVID-19 pandemic began spreading across Asia Pacific in January, affecting millions of people directly—and billions more through restrictions on the way we live and work and the impact on the regional economy. 

Throughout the region, we’ve seen people and businesses adapt with resilience, determination and ingenuity, including adopting and developing new technologies. Today, some parts of Asia Pacific are beginning to ease social distancing measures and restrictions on commerce—but we’re still many months away from anything like a return to normal. 

Google’s focus in Asia Pacific has been on three priorities: contributing to the immediate health response, helping people learn and work from home and supporting the small businesses most affected. We’ll continue to do all we can to help every part of the region get through, and we’re committed to being part of the economic recovery, so Asia Pacific can ultimately emerge stronger. 

Contributing to the health response

Since January, we’ve worked to share reliable information on Google Search and YouTube, support public health campaigns, inform health officials and curb misinformation. We’ve extended these global efforts with more targeted local initiatives around the region. 

In India, we’re helping female internet “saathis” (or trainers) share authoritative health advice with their networks in rural villages. In Korea, the Google News Initiative is offering weekly sessions training journalists on how to identify misinformation. In Japan, YouTube creator Hikakin interviewed the Governor of Tokyo to raise awareness of social distancing measures among his youth audience. 

We’re also helping Asia Pacific governments and institutions make the most of our tools to fight the virus directly. The Philippines’ government is centralizing health communications using an AI system powered by Google Cloud, Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang has used Google APIs to create an app that tracks face-mask inventories, and we’ve worked with Singaporean nonprofit Better.sg to create translation tools for medical professionals caring for migrant workers. We started showing the locations of COVID-19 test centers on Google Maps, Search and Assistant in Indonesia, before extending the feature to other countries around the world, including India, Korea and the Philippines.

Alongside responding to the health crisis, we know we need to protect and support people who might be left isolated or vulnerable. Our team in India has helped local governments share the location of night and food shelters on Google Maps, while Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) Inc in Australia is using Meet to help aged care residents stay in touch with their families—two examples of how technology can help.   

Helping people work and learn from home

In many parts of Asia Pacific, people have been working and learning from home for months. Wherever possible, we’re adapting our global tools and resources to local needs—like giving 1.8 million students in the Jakarta region access to our G Suite for Education tools. We’ve launched local versions of our Teach from Home resource center—a partnership with UNESCO—across 13 Asia Pacific countries.

As teachers and students adjust, we’re seeing new approaches across the region. In Korea, public broadcaster EBS and the Ministry of Education are using YouTube to live-stream daily classes. In Malaysia, Google’s daily webinars for teachershave received more than 250,000 views. And in Australia, the inspirational Eddie Woo—a champion of teaching via YouTube—is sharing his experience and advice to help fellow teachers take their lessons online.   

Learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to have their schooling disrupted and their progress held back—so as part of Google.org’s $10 million Distance Learning Fund, we’re extending a $1 million grant to INCO. This funding will support nonprofits in mainland China, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines as they help underprivileged students with access to home learning. 

Supporting small businesses and helping local economies recover

COVID-19 has put many business owners under intense financial pressure, which is why we’re giving Asia Pacific businesses ad credits and other forms of support as part of a US$150 million commitment to the region. 

We want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to adopt new ways of working and manage through uncertainty—creating a dedicated website for Australian and New Zealand businesses, for example, or moving to an online format for Grow with Google skills courses like Indonesia’s Gapura Digital. We’re helping small businesses move their sales online and contribute to the recovery—like Yamaya, a Japanese sock manufacturer which is providing materials to help people make their own masks. And we’re working closely with nonprofits to help businesses most at risk from the economic downturn, including providing Google.org funding to help Youth Business International assist vulnerable small businesses and The Asia Foundation advance digital literacy in marginalized communities in Southeast Asia. 

Small businesses are an integral part of their communities, but they’re equally critical to economic growth, accounting for the vast majority of all businesses and up to 50 percent of GDP in most Asia Pacific countries. Just in the past few weeks, we’ve launched new programs supporting digital skills in Taiwan, developers in Korea and startups in Japan—and we’ll begin more initiatives like these in the coming months. Economic recovery will start locally and we want to be there to help.

In this global pandemic, everyone has a part to play. As Asia Pacific confronts the effects of COVID-19, we will continue to stand by the region’s people, business and communities for as long as it takes, and help rebuild when the time is right.

Since COVID-19 began, we’ve heard from our retail and brand manufacturing partners that they’re hungry for more insights on how consumer interests are changing, given fluctuations in consumer demand. We see these changes reflected in how people are searching on Google. Last month, there were spikes in search interest for household supplies and jigsaw puzzles as people spent more time at home. This month we’ve seen surging interest for sewing machines and baking materials in the U.S., and tetherball sets and chalk in the United Kingdom and Australia. 

Businesses are using a variety of resources to understand changing consumer interests—including Google Trends, social listening, surveys, and their own data—in order to help make decisions on the fly. But if they don’t know what to look for, there isn’t an easy way to understand which product categories are gaining in popularity, and might pose an opportunity.

That’s why we’re launching a rising retail categories tool on Think with Google. It surfaces fast-growing, product-related categories in Google Search, the locations where they’re growing, and the queries associated with them. This is the first time we’ve provided this type of insight on the product categories that people are searching for. 

When we previewed the data with a group of businesses, they had lots of creative ideas for how they might apply it—whether for content creation, promotional efforts, or even new products and services. Here were some of their ideas for how it could help:

• Content creation: A cookware company noticed that “flour” was a growing category in the United States. The team was inspired to explore partnering with a famous local chef to create engaging content about recipes that incorporate flour. 

• Promotion: A jewelry and accessories company noted rising interest in products in the “free weights” category, so the team thought they might partner with fitness influencers who could help promote their products. Similarly, an online business said it would regularly reference the data to inform which products to feature on its homepage throughout the pandemic. 

• Product ideas: An apparel company with a fast and flexible production model said its team would use this data to inspire new product line ideas.

For the next few months, we’ll update the tool with fresh data every day and hope this will help businesses of all sizes find new pockets of consumer interest. For additional resources and insights, sign up for the Think with Google newsletter. 

Lately our family dining table has also become a work desk, a video conference room and … a kid’s playground. As I learn how to become a full time kids-entertainer, I welcome anything that can help me stay productive. And while I usually turn to Search when learning about new things, sometimes what I’m looking for is hard to describe in words.

This is where Google Lens can help. When my family’s daily activity involves a walk in the neighborhood, Lens lets me search what I see, like a flower in our neighbor’s front yard.

But it can also be a helpful tool for getting things done while working and learning from home. Today, we’re adding a few new features to make you more productive.

Copy text from paper to your laptop

You can already use Lens to quickly copy and paste text from paper notes and documents to your phone to save time. Now, when you select text with Lens, you can tap "copy to computer" to quickly paste it on another signed-in device with Chrome. This is great for quickly copying handwritten notes (if you write neatly!) and pasting it on your laptop without having to retype them all.

Copying text to your computer requires the latest version of Chrome, and for both devices to be signed into the same Google account.

Learn new words and how to pronounce them

Searches for learn a new language have doubled over the last few months. If you're using the extra time at home to pick up a new language, you can already use Lens to translate words in Spanish, Chinese and more than 100 other languages, by pointing your camera at the text.

Now, you can also use Lens to practice words or phrases that are difficult to say.  Select the text with Lens and tap the new Listen button to hear it read out loud—and finally figure out how to say “hipopótamo!”

Quickly look up new concepts

If you come across a word or phrase you don’t understand in a book or newspaper, like “gravitational waves,” Google Lens can help. Now, with in-line Google Search results, you can select complex phrases or words to quickly learn more.

These features are rolling out today, except for Listen which is available on Android and coming soon to iOS. Lens is available in the Google app on iOS and the Google Lens app on Android.

We look forward to hearing about the ways you use Lens to learn new things and get stuff done while at home.

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted lives around the world. In addition to the lives lost to the virus, as many communities enter the second and third month under stay-at-home orders, there is a rising mental health toll, too. In a national survey released by the American Psychiatric Association in March, 36 percent of respondents said that COVID-19 was seriously impacting their mental health; 48 percent were anxious about getting infected; and 57 percent reported concern that COVID-19 will seriously impact their finances.

As a trained psychiatrist, I know firsthand the importance of bringing out into the open the issue of mental health. While it might be years between the first onset of symptoms and someone seeking help, the internet is often the first place people turn to find out more about mental disorders. To help address the emerging mental health crisis we’re sharing “Be Kind to Your Mind," which includes resources on mental wellbeing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Whenever people in the U.S. search for information about coping with the pandemic, or on COVID-19 and mental health, we’ll show a public service announcement with tips to cope with stress during COVID-19. To raise awareness of the importance of mental wellbeing during these times, we'll highlight these resources on Google's homepage tomorrow.

With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to highlight a few other resources and tools across Google and YouTube that promote mental wellbeing.

Self-assessment questionnaires for depression and PTSD

When people search on Google for information about mental health conditions we provide panels with information from authoritative sources like Mayo Clinic that detail symptoms, treatments, and provide an overview of the different types of specialists who can help. On the info panels for depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we provide direct access to clinically-validated self-assessment questionnaires that ask some of the same types of questions a mental health professional might ask. Based on a person’s answers, these self-assessment tools provide information on risk, along with links to more resources. Results to these questionnaires are not logged. We hope they can provide insight and help people have a more informed conversation with their doctor. We will add more self-assessment  questionnaires over time to cover more conditions.

Self-care content on YouTube

Over the last few months, YouTube has seen a 35 percent increase in views of meditation videos, and growing popularity of mindfulness and wellbeing content. YouTube is making videos like these and other mental health resources more widely available to anyone around the world, for free, by spotlighting channels and playlists that have wellbeing and mindfulness-focused content. Countless YouTube creators, like Dr. Mike and Kati Morton, educate their communities as they help reduce the stigma associated with mental health. YouTube is also launching relevant YouTube Originals, including a “BookTube” episode featuring top authors like Melinda Gates and Elizabeth Gilbert offering their best book recommendations.

Finding virtual care options, quickly

Because of stay-at-home orders and restrictions that limit in-person interactions, many mental health care providers (including therapists and psychiatrists) are now providing telehealth care, like conducting therapy sessions over video conference. To make these options easier to find, we now allow providers to highlight their virtual care services on their Google Business Profile. So now, when you search for a mental health provider in products like Search and Maps, you may see an “Online care” link that can take you to their virtual care page, or even schedule a virtual appointment.

While the stigma around mental health has lessened in recent years, many people still find it hard to reach out to get help. By providing access to mental health resources, services and information across our products, we hope to make it easier for people to seek help and receive proper care.

Tech Exchange is a student exchange program between Google and 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). During the program, students spend a semester at Google’s Mountain View Campus, taking computer science courses and learning about professional development. With Tech Exchange students now learning from home, we brought in a speaker who has made a name for himself by engaging with people online: Hank Green, author and YouTube creator. 

Hank began his journey as a YouTube Creator in 2007 when he and his brother John decided to communicate with each other through video blogs every day for a year. As more people started watching the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John went on to create 32 YouTube channels including Crash Course and SciShow. In a virtual Q&A with Tech Exchange students, Hank shared his insights on how to build community online. Here’s what we learned.

Understand the problem that you’re trying to solve

Hank is often asked, “How does one become a YouTuber?” He says the first step is to understand the question you’re actually trying to solve. “Is it that I want to have a job where I get to be creative all day? Is it that I want to make a specific kind of content that I know is going to be high impact ? Is it that I want to have an audience or that I want to have influence?”

Once you actually know that answer, think about the first step on that path (this applies to content creation but also in everything in life!). It’s important to understand what tools you bring to the table. Put the problem that you’re trying to solve in a bucket with your tools and see what falls out. 

There are other people like you in the world, create for them.

Hank shared three strategies that he and John learned when building the Vlogbrothers community. The first is to find common values and interests. “You just have to say, ‘What is the stuff that I would like to see made in the world?’ There are other people who, it turns out, are somewhat like you in the world, and they will be there for it.” The second is to build a feeling of actual connection and the third piece is what I call the "touchstone," which is the YouTube creator building a relationship with the viewer. You have to make people feel like this person is worthy of being the nexus of a community.

Create content that represents various perspectives

Through Hank’s channels, he hopes to put out more content that is representative of a variety of voices and perspectives. To do this, he says you have to find hosts who don’t all look the same. But you have to go beyond that too, and give them full ownership of the creative process. The writing, the editing, the style need to be informed culturally all the way through. 

For more tips on building community, check out YouTube Creator Academy and Hank’s YouTube Channel, Vlogbrothers.