Discover how the latest news from Twitter, Spotify, the state governments and more will impact your business. You’ll find everything from new ways to help grow your business to information to help you financially in this week’s news from the 21 June to 25 June 2021.
Subscribe to the Localsearch Digital Newsletter for even more news and tips!
This Week’s Australian Business News: 21 June 2021 – 25 June 2021
Spotify users can now access Greenroom, a live auto chatroom app, which records conversations to be turned into podcasts.
Greenroom is a re-brand of Spotify acquisition Locker Room, and can host up to 1,000 participants per audio chatroom.
The audio app is also reportedly launching a creator fund to help monetise Greenroom.
Tools such as Greenroom are ideal for businesses who already utilise social groups or podcasts to engage with their audience. Now, you can engage live with an audience and get long-term content gains.
YouTube is currently in the process of rolling out picture-in-picture for Apple iOS users with the YouTube app.
The feature will allow YouTube app users on an Apple device to watch a YouTube video in the corner while using other apps or browsing online.
Sources say the feature is being rolled out to Premium YouTube users in the U.S. and will soon be available to all (including free accounts).
Instagram is reportedly in the testing phase for rolling out insights for individual posts on desktop.
The feature was shown on Twitter by Social Media Training School and was confirmed by many others seeing it too. If rolled out, it will help businesses be able to monitor organic post performance easily while already doing other tasks on a desktop computer.
There are no official reports from Instagram about the feature yet, but it is common for the platform to roll out features for testing on small audiences before going live.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre issued an alert yesterday afternoon for all Australians to update their Google Chrome browser.
It comes after Google released an update to patch vulnerabilities to cyber attackers.
To update your Google Chrome:
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Click on the three vertical ‘more’ dots in the top right corner.
- Select Update Google Chrome.
Your browser will then restart.
Under the Queensland Government revitalisation of the Back to Work Employment Program, eligible Queensland businesses could receive payments up to $15,000 for employing an eligible jobseeker.
Additional support will also be available to jobseekers and businesses for their employees, including mentoring, training guidance and support for employment requirements, such as licences.
The program aims to not only help more jobseekers be recruited, but retain recruitment also.
Microsoft has revealed they will be unveiling the next generation of Windows at an event on June 24 (11am EST).
The update, expected to be called Windows 11, is expected to showcase a whole new look, with cleaner, easier functionality.
However, in 2015, Microsoft said Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows, so the event is expected to be widely watched to see what’s in the works.
From 1 September 2021, Google Merchant Centre will replace the old ‘Delivery Issue’ policy with the new ‘Inaccurate Availability Policy’.
This change will warn or suspend businesses with a Google Merchant account if they have products appearing as available, but are unavailable when someone clicks through to the checkout.
You will also be in violation of the new policy if your eCommerce website:
- Uses of IP detection instead of regional pricing for location-specific product availability.
- Has any non-functional ‘buy’ buttons.
- Does not allow products to be shipped to a home address.
- If prices are different in carts compared to product landing pages.
Mark Zuckerberg announced this morning new features coming to Facebook products, including Shops on WhatsApp.
Similarly to Instagram Shops and Facebook Marketplace, consumers will soon be able to make purchases on WhatsApp and converse with businesses before they buy their products.
To make it easier for small businesses, sign-up for WhatsApp Shops can be done within a few minutes, instead of the usual 1-week wait.
At 12pm EST tomorrow, YouTube will hold its first ever ‘Small Biz Day’ event on the Google Small Business YouTube channel.
This all-day event will help small businesses throughout the world to organically grow their YouTube presence through guest speakers showcasing how to properly use videos.
If you can’t make the live event, it will also be available on the platform’s demand channel.
On Tuesday, the NSW Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, released a new budget, which had a strong focus on initiatives helping small-to-medium-sized businesses.
Some of the announcements included:
Payroll tax cuts will remain at 4.85% for the next year and the tax free threshold will stay at $1.2million.
The Small Business Shorter Payment Terms Policy will be introduced, meaning larger businesses will only have 20 days to pay small business subcontractors.
Fees and charges rebate scheme of $1500 for small businesses earning under the $1.2million 2020–21 will continue.
Other specific small business measures can be found on the NSW Government website. Remember, this news is for general info only. You will need to contact your finance professional for specific help.
Google has released a Spam Update this week, with another rolling out next week.
The update utilises advanced AI technology to detect auto-generated or scraped content, limiting false, misleading or duplicated content. Since last year, these tools have helped reduce spam content being seen on search results by more than 80% compared to previous years.
Website owners are reminded to utilise quality content and page experience best practices to ensure their impressions and page views are not impacted.
Twitter has announced a new update to iOS applications, now allowing users to share Tweets to Instagram Stories.
To access this update, users will need to follow the next few steps:
Go to iOS share sheets.
Tap the share icon under the tweet and select Instagram Stories.
You can then change the Tweet’s size and position and add any extra features, like music and text.
Yesterday, Google announced their plan to block third-party cookies in Google Chrome will be delayed until 2023.
Google said this decision is based on allowing more time to get the roll out of this initiative right. They will use the extended period to converse with the web community to discuss and get feedback on topics like:
- Technologies used.
- Testing.
- Ready for adoption.
There were concerns of privacy and client metrics among the search marketing sector. By moving back the timeline, it allows these issues to be appropriately addressed by Google and suitable technological solutions to be put in place.
This week, South Australian Treasurer, Rob Lucas, revealed a new high-cost budget aimed at economic growth.
Small businesses and startups are heavily focused on this budget, including support of:
- $4 million invested to extend payroll tax exemption for apprentices and trainees.
- $2.6 million invested into the Small Business Capability Program to help individuals develop new skills.
- Another $4 million added into the Great State tourism voucher scheme.
- Wine export industry to receive $5.4 million over four years.
Visit the SA Government website or your finance professional for more information.
Beyond Blue has announced NewAccess for Business Owners, a program to provide Australian small businesses the support they need from stressors introduced by the pandemic.
This free and confidential initiative provides business owners with one-on-one telehealth sessions led by coaches who have experience in small business.
To be eligible for this program you will need to be over 18 years old, have a small business with 20 or less employees and not currently be seeking psychology or psychiatry treatment.
Visit beyondblue.org.au for more information.