Tech Topic 79: Add Google Vids Animated Captions, Create a Fresh Business Intro, Investigate YouTube Videos with Gemini

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This week the OnEBoard crew demonstrated how to add styled animated captions in Google Vids, explained how to use NotebookLM to create a fresh introduction for your business, and demonstrated how to investigate YouTube videos with Gemini. 

This week's background was an "art gallery" generated in Meet.

Peggy Kolm: Add Animated Captions in Google Vids

Peggy shared a new feature in Google Vids that lets you add a stylized animated caption that is synchronized with the speech in your video. 

After recording, uploading or generating video clips for your Google Vids video, you can add Captions based on the transcript. 

1. Create your video in Google Vids (vids.google.com)

2. Click Captions on the right sidebar menu.

3. Click the 3 dot menu icon on the Captions settings, and select the option to Edit Transcript to make sure the automatically generated transcript is correct. 

4. Select the caption style. You can choose from styles with animated word emphasis, that show the captions line-by-line or that show them word-by-word. 

5. Move and resize the caption text box on your video. 

This is available in 30 languages to users with a Google Workspace account or Google AI subscription (and possibly free personal accounts). 

Why you should do this

Peggy explained why you should add captions: "So, if you watch Shorts or TikToks or Reels, it's actually pretty standard that they have burned in captions that are animated as the person talks. And this is good for people who are scrolling through the videos with the sound off or it's noisy or you just want to emphasize the text and make sure that people are understanding what you're saying."

Additional Resources

Nina Trankova: Refresh your business intro and brand using NotebookLM

Nina explained how to use NotebookLM to create a compelling introduction for your business.

1. Collect key documents, including the business's website content, its digital strategy for the year, and customer Reviews from its location or business listing.

2. Copy and paste the text from the Reviews into a new document stored in Google Drive. 

3. In NotebookLM (notebooklm.google.com) add the website, the strategy for the year and the Google Drive document as sources. 

4. Prompt NotebookLM to process the sources and draft a new introduction in an interview format.
She suggests the prompt: "take the role of a journalist and create an interview; ask 3 questions; include the industry trends for 2026 "

5. Bonus tip: Generate an audio or video overview. 

Why you should do this

Nina explained why businesses should update their intro: "You have a new introduction that has incorporated all the most recent  superpowers of the business that the clients themselves shared in reviews," and emphasizes, "This intro of the Business is a ranking factor for the brand."

Additional Resources

Bob Danley: Use Gemini to verify the authenticity of YouTube videos

Bob showed how to use Google Gemini to help determine the provenance of a YouTube video, demonstrating with a video claiming to give the history of the "25 most dangerous women of the wild west".

1. Open Gemini (gemini.google.com) 

2. Either upload the video (up to 3 minutes) or use the YouTube video URL.

3. Prompt Gemini to analyze the video. The prompt Bob used: "Please view the video from the url provided. Are sources of the images identified? What is the source for the narrative, is it based on historical descriptions? If so, what are the sources to verify accuracy?"

4. Gemini will return an analysis of the video. He noted that in his example Gemini identified that sources were lacking and the video was "edutainment." Gemini also provided links to related reliable sources.

Why you should do this

Bob explained why it's useful to analyze videos with Gemini: "A video passing off as history needs to be sourced at a minimum. Be rigorous in your usage of sources. You know, you want to demand transparency citations. AI can be can be accurate or it can be inaccurate from whoever actually created the video, but it can also assist you in critically examining the postings to find out what is true and you know how much  weight you should give to this if you're using it for other purposes."

Additional Resources
OnEBoard will be back with 3 Tips in 10 Minutes on February 8.

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