A viral Facebook post says a 27-year-old cop vanished. Here’s the deal: Sgt. Katie Cunningham is alive and well. She joins us to set the record straight. Plus, the truth behind the latest TikTok ban rumors and how tariffs could boost your YouTube views.
▶️ YouTube changed its player: It’s rolling out slowly, but people already hate it. Time stamps have buttons, the volume control is on the right and the black gradient is now opaque. Oh, you can’t scroll to adjust the volume anymore or use the up/down arrow keys, all in the name of progress. Shameless plug: Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
$10 million
How much revenue TikTok creators are collectively pulling in daily. New data also shows it’s now the second most-watched livestreaming platform on the net. So far in Q1: Twitch has 4.85 billion hours, TikTok Live 8.03 billion and YouTube leads with 14.98 billion hours. Dang, that’s crazy.
Watchful gestures: Get around the YouTube app faster with these tricks. Swipe up in the video player for full-screen mode, then swipe down when you’re ready to exit. Head over to my YouTube channel and give it a try (I know, shameless plug).
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Want a distraction-free YouTube? Add -nocookie to the URL to skip tracking cookies. Whoa. That was a good one!
▶️ Play and navigate: Adding video chapters lets your YouTube audience jump right to the parts they want to see. Pop an intro to your description, then list the time stamps like this: “0:00 – Intro” and “12:30 – Q&A.” YouTube will make them clickable, so they’re easy to navigate.
👎 Social media is over: That’s what Mark Zuckerberg says. Meta’s being sued by the government for acting like a monopoly, but Zuck says every app does the same thing. TikTok and YouTube are just news, celebrity promos and AI slop now, like Meta. So really, what hold do they have? The days of friends posting real updates are long gone (paywall link).
▶️ Love it or list it: YouTube playlists save your favorite videos in one place. In the app, open a video and scroll sideways through the action menu. That’s the bar below the video but above the comments. Tap Save > New playlist, name it, set the visibility and hit Create. Head over to my channel and try it.
$550 billion
That’s how much analysts say Google can get for YouTube if forced to sell it. Now the top streaming platform by viewership, YouTube is worth more than Disney, and all it took was 20 years of cat videos and Minecraft speedruns. Fun fact: The YouTube founder sold it to Google for $1.65 billion in 2006.
🗣️ YouTube wants to dub every video: AI tools will soon translate any video into any language (paywall link). It’ll use the creator’s own voice and sync their lips to match. The AI behind this is trained on current videos … and you agreed to it years ago. If you’re a creator, congrats, you’re multilingual now.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On YouTube, press K to pause/play, J to rewind 10 sec, L to fast-forward. You’re now a keyboard video ninja. (Mac & PC)
✋ Hands off: Don’t let slippery fingers fast-forward your YouTube binge. Lock the screen and keep your place. In the YouTube app, tap the video player and hit Settings (gear icon) > Lock screen. When you’re done watching, tap anywhere and press Tap to unlock. Head over to my channel and give it a try. It’s like baby mode for adults who aggressively snack.
▶️ Sharing is caring: Tired of ads on YouTube? Get the YouTube Premium Family Plan for $22.99 a month and split it with up to five friends. That’s $4.60 each for perks like background play, offline downloads and YouTube Music Premium.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On YouTube, press “1” to jump to 10% or “5” for the halfway point. Use number keys to navigate videos quickly.
🎶 This is the remix: Sick of the same old sounds on TikTok and Instagram Reels? Well, YouTube Shorts is rolling out a free AI “Music Assistant” to make custom instrumental tracks. Just type what you want, like “upbeat synth for travel vlog,” and it won’t trigger copyright issues. Right now, it’s only for creators in the YouTube Partner Program.
🐭 MrBeast wants to be the next Disney: Hard to believe his first YouTube video, a Minecraft trick, went up on Feb. 20, 2012, when he was only 13. Now? He’s raising hundreds of millions to build an empire of animation, gaming, toys, comics, merch, you name it. At this point, his thumbnails deserve their own Emmy.
🚨 Malware in your feed: Watch out if a crypto livestream pops up on your feed; a hacker might have hijacked your favorite influencer’s account. Once they’re in, scammers usually impersonate big names like Elon Musk. More than 9,000 were spotted on YouTube over the last year. If you spot one, report it.
▶️ TikTok, who? YouTube wants you to watch more Shorts later this spring. They’re updating its video editor to automatically sync cuts to the beat of the music and AI stickers. Plus, no more minimum watch time. Views will be counted the second you press play. Cool, but we all know TikTok’s secret sauce is its algorithm.
100
That’s how many hours MrBeast and his crew were allowed to explore the Great Pyramids of Giza. The YouTube megastar teamed up with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass to film a 21-minute whirlwind through ancient tombs, submerged chambers and more in tunnels tighter than a Mario Kart shortcut. And just because … How many Egyptians can you fit in a pyramid? A pharaoh mount. 😂
💬 From basic to bold: Want your YouTube comments to pop? To write in bold, put an asterisk ( ) before and after the word: like this. For italics, put underscores on both sides: _for example_. Head over to my channel and give it a shot. I’ll see you in the comments.