Tech Tip – How To Delete Your ChatGPT Conversation History
If you’d like to protect your privacy and the privacy of your business in terms of what you share with ChatGPT, here’s how to delete your ChatGPT chat history:
– Sign-in to your ChatGPT account and click on the three dots next to your account name (at the foot of the chats).
– Click on the “Clear Conversations” link.
– Confirm the deletion by clicking on “Confirm clear conversations.”
Tech News : Twitter Encryption : More Musk Makeovers
Twitter has recently added a new encrypted messaging service to its repertoire, offering end-to-end encryption for all direct messages sent across its network. This privacy enhancement ensures that only the sender and receiver can view the content of their conversation, emphasising a renewed commitment to user confidentiality.
Interestingly, Elon Musk, Twitter’s CEO, has affirmed that these encrypted conversations are so secure that even he, under duress, could not gain access to users’ private exchanges even if he wanted to, by saying “… even if there was a gun to my head”. However, he has also urged a cautious approach, acknowledging that the feature is still in its early stages and may not yet be completely reliable.
Only For Twitter Blue
As of now, the availability of this encryption service is restricted to Twitter Blue subscribers and those with verified Twitter accounts. This limitation, along with the fact that only text and links can be shared – excluding media attachments – indicates the service is still undergoing fine-tuning before a full-scale rollout. Twitter’s own admission of not having perfected the encryption process further supports this notion.
The company has clarified that while the messages are encrypted, the metadata associated with them – such as recipient information, creation time, and linked content – are not. This raises potential issues around the vulnerability of conversations to malicious insiders or mandated legal interventions.
We-Chat Wannabe
Musk’s vision for Twitter since acquiring it in 2022 has been to transform it into a ‘super-app’, akin to China’s multifunctional WeChat platform. His recent tenure has already seen several significant changes, including the introduction of a subscription model and an overhaul of Twitter’s blue tick verification badges, designed to combat misinformation.
The decision to enhance the security of Twitter’s private messaging feature comes at a potentially contentious time in the UK, where the government’s Online Safety Bill is currently under scrutiny. The Bill seeks to impose stricter regulations on social media companies in a bid to protect children from online abuse. Critics, including other messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Signal, have raised concerns that the legislation could potentially undermine the integrity of end-to-end encryption, viewed as a vital tool by privacy advocates.
Could UK Online Safety Bill Scupper It?
The proposed Online Safety Bill in the UK is seen by some as enabling ‘routine, general, and indiscriminate surveillance’ of private conversations, according to an open letter penned by the leaders of several messaging services. In contrast, Meta’s Messenger platform employs encryption, albeit with certain exceptions, such as conversations in the Marketplace.
As the Online Safety Bill is applicable to all platforms, regardless of their specific design and operation, encrypted services such as Twitter’s would be subject to user-care obligations. This puts an onus on businesses to maintain public safety while implementing end-to-end encryption – a balancing act that the IT industry and the government are working together to achieve.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
For UK business owners, this development heralds an era of enhanced privacy on Twitter, which could boost confidence in using the platform for secure communications, possibly helping their PR at a time when they have had significant recent controversy.
However, it also brings into sharp focus the ongoing debate around balancing privacy and safety in the digital space, underscored by the scrutiny of the Online Safety Bill. It is clear that businesses, especially those relying on social media for communications, will need to keep abreast of these evolving regulations to ensure compliance and maintain the trust of their customers.
AI Update – Part 1: Handy AI Resources For Your Business
In this article, we look at 22 handy AI sites that could help save time, make life easier and boost your business.
1. Pictory – https://pictory.
Pictory offers a way to automatically create short, sharable branded, sales videos from your long form content. No technical skills or software download are required; it can use AI to extract content from your Zoom, Teams, and webinar recordings, plus it automatically adds captions to your videos. It’s one of many new AI video generating tools.
2. Jasper – https://www.
This business-focused language model says that it uses features from a cross-section of the best models and infuses them with recent search data, the user’s brand voice, and optimisation tools like SEO and grammar. Jasper can be used to generate text content (like ChatGPT – although much less powerful, it preceded ChatGPT on the market so we’ve included it here), plus it offers art generation, has a template library, language translation and more. It’s quite a comprehensive AI solution.
3. HitPaw – See Google Play Store
HitPaw is a one-click, AI-assisted image enhancer that can instantly make pictures less blurry, remove noise of pictures, and enlarge and upscale images without any quality loss. This sort of thing used to take a long time with programs like Photoshop.
4. Fireflies – https://
Fireflies uses AI to instantly produce transcripts of your meetings across several different video-conferencing apps, diallers, and audio files. It captures video and audio, generates the transcripts in minutes, integrates with apps like Google Meet, Zoom, Teams and more, and enables fast search, and analysis of voice conversations. It’s one of several new AI-enabled transcript tools that can save businesses a lot of time.
5. Acrolinx – https://www.
An AI-powered software platform that’s designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of enterprise (human and AI) content. It’s probably best for bigger companies and agencies and it’s used by some major players and offers a way to make any content published as effective as possible in terms of marketing. Quite an comprehensive product, it needs to be fully explored to be understood.
6. Beautiful AI – https://www.beautiful.ai/
This is an AI-powered tool to easily create high quality presentations. It has some impressive looking smart templates, plus the slides are automatically created and adapted as the user adds the content.
7. TinyWow – https://tinywow.
This site seems have it all and offers a handy toolbox which you can keep coming back to as their list of features just gets bigger and bigger. From text generation to image/videos manipulation and file manipulation, it’s difficult to overstate how handy this resource is and – incredibly – you can use most of it for free without needing to pay for the premium services.
8. 1-Click Summarizer (See google Play Store)
The 1-Click Summarizer and web toolbar by (Skim AI), is available as a Chrome extension and offers a fast and easy way to process and summarise news, research, and useful PDFs. For example, if you’re looking at a news article or long PDF online it will summarise all the main points with one click (a real time-saver).
9. Timehero – https://www.
TimeHero is personal project and task management software that connects to your Gmail and other project management software and automatically generates tasks based on due dates and other details. A fast and useful project and time management tool.
10. Warmest AI – https://www.warmest.ai/
Warmest AI makes replying to emails super easy and fast. When you receive an email, it works out how you would answer an email (based on previous emails you’ve sent) and puts that in a draft ready to simply be approved by you and sent.
11. Zenefits – https://www.
Zenefits offers an AI-powered way to streamline your workflow by automatically connecting HR, Benefits, Payroll and Scheduling, together in one complete HR management platform.
12. Textio – https://textio.
Textio offers a way for businesses to always use the right language in job ads and more. It’s a tool that eliminates bias in job posts, sourcing mail, and employer brand content and helps managers to identify and remove biased, ineffective feedback, enabling equitable employee development opportunities.
13. DomainWheel – https://
This is an AI-powered (free) tool for simply generating domain name suggestions for your website. You just need to enter a keyword or phrase and DomainWheel will instantly provide domain name ideas. It’s no surprise that you can also register them there.
14. Grammarly – https://www.
This is a highly popular, AI-powered digital writing assistant that helps you write well-structured content that’s free of plagiarism, and it eliminates grammar errors. It runs in the background on most platforms.
15. Gong – https://www.gong.
Gong offers a fast and intelligent way for businesses to understand and analyse sales conversations and customer interactions to increase revenue efficiency and improve decision-making. It says it can turn “bottom performers into A-players”.
16. Brandmark.io – https://
This AI tool helps you generate brand logos. You can try out assorted designs and even upload the logo and see how it ranks on several measures.
17. Talk To Books – https://books.google.
Talk To Books is an interesting (and slightly leftfield) Google creativity tool which allows you to browse passages from books using experimental AI, explore ideas and discover books by getting quotes that respond to your queries.
18. Deep Nostalgia – https://www.
This tool is quite unique in that it offers a way to animate the faces of family members from their old photos. Take a look, you’ll be surprised.
19. Magic Eraser – https://magicstudio.
This AI tool offers a fast, online way to remove unwanted objects from a photo. Just upload the photo, mark the area you want removed, the AI tool will remove it, and you can download the updated version of the photo.
20. Home Styler – https://www.homestyler.com/
If you need to create a floor plan, this (free to try) online interior design platform lets you do it in 3D and says it is “An easy and timesaving online interior design tool for both professionals and amateurs”.
21. OutGrow – https://outgrow.co/
“Boost Your Marketing With Quizzes, Calculators And Forms” as they say on their website. Makes adding clever, engaging ‘stuff’ like these a breeze.
22. TypingMind – https://www.typingmind.com/
Despite its awesome power, the user-interface for ChatGPT is still pretty terrible. This handy resource means you can do so much more with ChatGPT with just a few keystrokes.
There are hundreds of AI sites appearing all over the place – this is just a small selection. We’ll be revisiting this list soon.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
AI has been around for a long time yet because interest the generative AI tool ChatGPT has been so intense since it was released just a few month ago, there has been a resurgence in the interest around AI overall. There are lots of other useful, innovative, timesaving, and value-adding AI based tools out there to boost your business or personal life and this list is just a smattering of ones that you may not have heard about.
AI can now help with so many different aspects of businesses to help improve efficiency and create competitive advantages. Trying out just a few of the options highlighted in this article, or others found in your own searches could help you to discover a new tool that could quickly and easily boost your business and this entire field of AI is exploding so scheduling regular reviews will be essential.
AI Update – Part 2: 20 Helpful ChatGPT Prompts
Using the right prompts is the way to quickly get the best responses from ChatGPT and here are 20 helpful ChatGTP prompts that you may want to try.
20 Productive Prompts
Here are 20 top prompts you can copy and paste into ChatGPT, just adding a few details to get some helpful and productive responses for your business.
1. Simplifying complex topics
To help you quickly understand and digest complex topics, try the following prompt: Hey ChatGPT. I want to learn about [insert topic here]. Explain [insert the specific topic] in simple terms. Explain to me like I’m 12 years old.
2. Creating a marketing plan
To generate a marketing plan outline try using: Please act as an advertiser and create a campaign to promote a product or service of your choice. You will choose a target audience, develop key messages and slogans, select the media channels for promotion, and decide on any additional activities needed to reach your goals. My first suggestion request is, “I need help creating an advertising campaign for [put the description of your service or product here].”
3. Make ChatGTP learn your writing style
To create content outputs that have more personality because they’re in your writing style, try this to teach ChatGPT your style: [Insert a copy of your text]. Prompt – Write about [insert text topic] as the above author would write.
4. Get ready-made blog post ideas
To make ChatGPT think of the blog post titles (as well as getting it to write the posts after) try: List [number] ideas for blog posts about [topic].
5. Write more engaging marketing emails
To enlist help in making your marketing email copy more engaging, try the prompt: Write marketing copy to make my marketing emails more engaging. The copy must be about our [product, service, or company].
6. Write a YouTube video script
ChatGTP can take the work out of writing a script for a YouTube video. Try the prompt: Write a YouTube video script about [product, blog, company].
7. Social media marketing help
You can get a social media marketing boost by using prompts like:
Write 5 tweets to generate interest in [product, company, or service], or Write a promotional LinkedIn post about [product or service] or Write 3-second Facebook Ad copy about [product or service].
8. Take the work out of press release writing
Provide ChatGPT with some facts about your event and ask to write a press release about it with the following prompt: Write a press release about our upcoming event. Include the event’s date, time, location, and purpose.
9. Improving a CV
If you’d like to shorten your CV and improve its impact, paste it into ChatGPT and use the prompt: Can you edit and improve my CV and make it a two-page document?
10. Writing better long copy
To produce quality long copy about something, try the prompt: Act as a copywriter. Write long-form copy for [your subject] promoting [put what you’d like promoted here].
11. Event help
If you’ve got to make a poster for an event, try this prompt to get some helpful tips: How can I create an eye-catching poster design for an upcoming event?
12. Business promotional ideas
If you just need a few ideas about how to promote your business in your area, try something like: Suggest inexpensive ways I can promote my [business type here] business without using social media.
13. Create your meeting agenda
To take the work out of writing a meeting agenda, try the prompt: I want to create an agenda for a meeting about [your meeting info] with my team. Can you give me some examples of what should be included?
14. Improve email open rates
You can get help to create more effective emails by using a prompt like: Analyse these below metrics to improve email open rates for a [business type] brand [paste metrics].
15. Easy product descriptions
Take the work out of product descriptions by pasting in a few product facts and using the prompt: Write a product description for my [product or service or company].
16. Testing online adverts to get best version
There are lots of prompts for help with Google Ads, and here’s a useful one for testing ads: Create two Google Ads in an RSA format (using multiple headlines and descriptions) for an A/B test for [your product here].
17. Improving your targeting
ChatGPT can also reveals ways to improve your targeting. For example, describe your target audience and try the prompt: What marketing tactics should I leverage to reach my target audience?
18. Get creative for TikTok
If you’d like to know how to make an impact with your product/service on TikTok, try the prompt: Generate [number] of viral TikTok ideas about [company, product, or service].
19. Retaining customers
In tough economic times, it’s more important than ever to keep your customers happy. Try the prompt: List the different ways we can implement a customer loyalty program to increase sales and retain customers.
20. Generate more prompts of your own
You can even ask ChatGPT to generate prompts for you. For example, try the prompt: Generate 10 chatbot prompts related to our [product].
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
There’s a reason why ‘Prompt Engineer’ is now a top tech job and why there are so many prompt libraries online. Designing the right prompts that appeal to the way ChatGPT’s LLM works are a way to get more complete and better-quality responses from ChatGPT. With the right prompts, ChatGPT can generate natural language responses that are more contextually appropriate and helpful and choosing the right prompts means that businesses can save time, get valuable insights, and ultimately give themselves a better chance of increasing sales and revenue by being able to use and act upon better information.
Website Workshop : Site-Speed : Sorted!
Here we look at what website speed means, how important it is for businesses (and why), plus how businesses can test their website speed and keep it up to scratch.
What Does ‘Website Speed’ Mean?
Website speed, also known as page load time or website performance, refers to the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load and display its content in a user’s web browser. This includes the time it takes for the server to respond to a user’s request, the time it takes to download all the page’s files (such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and videos), and the time it takes for the browser to render the page.
Why Is Website Speed Important For Businesses?
There have been numerous studies conducted that demonstrate the importance of website speed for businesses. For example, a study conducted by Google analysed the relationship between website speed and user behaviour. Google found that as page load time increases from 1 to 3 seconds, the probability of a user bouncing off the site increases by 32 per cent. Similarly, as the load time increases from 1 to 5 seconds, the probability of a user bouncing increases by a massive 90 per cent! In addition, slower website speeds also lead to lower user engagement and poorer conversion rates.
Another study by Akamai, a content delivery network and cloud service provider, found that a 100-millisecond delay in website load time can lead to a 7 per cent loss in conversions – that’s just a tenth of a second! This means that even small improvements in website speed can have a significant impact on a business’s bottom line.
Overall, these studies demonstrate the importance of website speed for businesses, as it directly affects user behaviour, engagement, and conversion rates.
How Can You Test Your Website Speed?
There are several tools and methods available to test website speed. Here are some examples:
Google PageSpeed Insights: This is a free tool by Google that analyses the performance of a web page on both desktop and mobile devices. It provides a detailed report on various aspects of page speed and also suggests ways to improve the page speed.
GTmetrix: This is another free tool that analyses the performance of a web page and provides a detailed report on various aspects of page speed, including page load time, page size, and the number of requests. It also suggests ways to improve the page speed.
Pingdom: This is a paid tool that allows you to test the page speed from different locations around the world. It provides a detailed report on various aspects of page speed, including load time, page size, and the number of requests. You can just use their free version too.
WebPageTest: This is a free tool that allows you to test the page speed from different locations around the world. It provides a detailed report on various aspects of page speed, including load time, page size, and the number of requests. It also provides a waterfall chart that shows how each element of the page contributes to the overall load time.
Lighthouse: This is a tool built into Google Chrome that provides a detailed report on various aspects of page speed, including performance, accessibility, and SEO. It also suggests ways to improve the page speed.
Overall, using these tools can help you identify areas where your website speed can be improved and provide suggestions to optimise it for better user experience and SEO.
Website Speed Changes
It’s worth noting, however that your website speed may be fast now, however, website speed changes over time due to factors like changes to the website, server, the user’s device and connections, browser updates, and third-party scripts and plugins.
Myths About Website Speed
There are also several myths surrounding website speed. Here are some common ones:
Myth 1: Website speed is only important for desktop users.
Reality: Website speed is important for both desktop and mobile users. With the ever-growing usage of mobile devices, mobile users have become a significant portion of website visitors, possibly the major consumer in many cases. Therefore, website speed is equally important for both desktop and mobile users.
Myth 2: A high Google PageSpeed Insights score means that your website is fast.
Reality: While a high Google PageSpeed Insights score is a good indicator of a well-optimized website, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your website is fast. It’s important to consider other factors such as load time, user experience, and conversion rates.
Myth 3: A faster website requires a more expensive hosting plan.
Reality: While hosting can affect website speed, it’s not always necessary to upgrade to a more expensive hosting plan. Optimising your website, such as compressing images, optimising code and reducing the number of requests can significantly improve website speed without the need for a more expensive hosting plan.
Myth 4: Website speed is only important for large websites.
Reality: Website speed is important for websites of all sizes. Even small websites can benefit from faster load times, as it can improve user experience and search engine rankings.
Myth 5: Website speed doesn’t affect SEO.
Reality: Website speed is a ranking factor for search engines like Google. A slow website can negatively affect search engine rankings and reduce visibility in search results. Therefore, website speed is an important aspect of SEO and should be prioritised.
Overall, it’s important to separate fact from fiction when it comes to website speed to ensure that you are optimising your website effectively.
Best Practice For Keeping Your Website Speed High
Here are some best practices for keeping your website speed fast:
– Optimise Images: Large images can slow down your website. It’s important to optimise your images by compressing them, resizing them, and choosing the right format (e.g., JPEG, PNG, SVG) to reduce file size without compromising quality.
– Minimise HTTP Requests: Each resource (image, script, stylesheet, etc.) on your website requires a separate HTTP request, which can slow down your website. You can minimise HTTP requests by combining and ‘minifying’ files, reducing the number of third-party scripts, and using CSS sprites.
– Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN stores copies of your website’s files on servers located in different geographic locations, which can reduce the distance that data needs to travel and improve load times for users.
– Reduce Server Response Time: A slow server response time can negatively impact your website speed. You can reduce server response time by choosing a good hosting provider, minimising the use of plugins and third-party scripts, and optimizing your database.
– Implement Caching: Caching can improve website speed by storing frequently accessed data (e.g., images, stylesheets) in the user’s browser cache or on the server, reducing the need to fetch data from scratch each time.
– Minimise Redirects: Redirects can add extra time to the website load time. It’s important to minimise the use of redirects and to ensure that they are necessary.
– Optimise Above-the-Fold Content: Above-the-fold content (the content that appears on the screen before a user scrolls down) should be optimized for fast load times. This can include optimising images, using efficient code, and reducing the number of requests.
– Prioritise User Experience: A website that is easy to use and navigate can improve user experience and lead to higher engagement and conversions. This can also positively impact website speed, as users are less likely to leave a website that is easy to use.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Website speed is a crucial factor for businesses to consider, as it can significantly impact user behaviour, engagement, and conversion rates. Studies show that even small improvements in website speed can result in a significant increase in conversions. It is essential to use tools and methods to test website speed, identify areas that need improvement, and optimise your website accordingly. It’s worth noting that website speed changes over time due to a range of factors, including changes to the website, server, user devices and connections, browser updates, and third-party scripts and plugins. In addition, businesses must separate fact from fiction when it comes to website speed to ensure that they optimise their websites effectively. Therefore, businesses should prioritise optimising their website speed to improve the user experience and ultimately drive more conversions. By following the best practices, such as optimising images, minimising HTTP requests, using a content delivery network, and leveraging browser caching, businesses can help keep their website speed high and provide an excellent user experience to their visitors.
Tech Insight : Erasing Yourself From Google
In this insight, we look at the steps you can take to erase any details about yourself from Google to protect your privacy.
Why Might A Person Want To Erase Their Details From Google?
Google collects your personal information when you go online, some (or all) of which you may want to erase, e.g. a negative mention of yourself on Google’s search results or data you’ve inadvertently shared with Google through daily web activities or content that someone has posted about you. Some of the main reasons, therefore, why someone might want to erase themselves from Google include:
– Privacy concerns. Google collects a lot of data about its users, including search history, location data, and online activity. Some people may be uncomfortable with the amount of information that Google holds about them and want to limit their online footprint.
– Reputation management. Sometimes, negative information about a person can appear in Google search results. This could be information that is inaccurate, outdated or simply embarrassing. In these cases, a person may want to remove or de-index the offending content to protect their reputation.
– Personal preference. Some people simply prefer to have a minimal online presence and don’t want to be easily searchable on Google.
Regardless of the reason, erasing yourself from Google is not always easy or even possible in some cases. Google’s algorithms prioritise relevant and useful content, so it’s not always easy to remove content from search results. However, there are steps you can take to limit your online presence and protect your privacy, and here are some of the main ones.
1. Remove any content about yourself from Google search results.
The process for removing any content about yourself from Google search results is:
– Assuming the content in question violates Google’s policies, contact the website owner and request that they remove it. This is the most effective way to have the content removed from search results.
– If the website owner refuses to remove the content (or if it contains personal information that puts you at risk of harm), you can submit a removal request to Google. Google will evaluate the request and remove the content if it violates their policies. To submit the removal request:
– Go to Google’s Remove outdated content page (https://support.google.com/
– Select “I have a legal issue.”
– Follow the prompts to complete the form and provide Google with the necessary information about the content you want removed.
– Click “Submit.” Note that submitting a removal request does not guarantee that Google will remove the content. Google will review the request and make a decision based on its policies and guidelines.
– Monitor the search results. It may take some time for the content to be removed from search results, so it’s important to monitor the search results regularly to ensure that the content is no longer appearing.
It’s worth noting that while Google can remove content from their search results, they cannot remove the content from the original website.
2. Prevent Google from finding your Facebook profile.
To prevent your Facebook profile from appearing in Google search results, follow these steps:
– Log in to your Facebook account and go to your profile page.
– Click on your profile picture located in the top-right corner and select “Settings & Privacy” from the drop-down menu.
– Choose “Settings” and then “Privacy” from the left-hand menu.
– Click on “Your Activity” and then click the “Edit” button next to “Who can see your future posts?”
– Change the setting from “Public” to “Friends” to limit who can see your future posts.
– Click on the “Limit Past Posts” button to prevent anyone except your friends from viewing the content on your timeline.
– In the “How people can find and contact you” section, click on the “Edit” link next to “Do you want search engines outside Facebook to link to your profile?”
– Deselect the “Allow search engines outside of Facebook to link to your Profile” option and click “Turn Off” to confirm.
It may take a few days for these changes to take effect and for Google to stop showing your profile in search results for your name. Additionally, while this will limit the visibility of your profile on Google, your information may still be visible to other Facebook users and search engines that crawl Facebook.
3. Stop Your House From Appearing in Google Street View.
If you want to prevent your house from appearing on Google Street View, you can follow these steps:
– Go to Google Maps and enter your address/search for your post code.
– Click on the street view image of your house (if available).
– In the bottom-right corner of the screen, click on the “Report a problem” link.
– Click and drag the image to make your house appear within a red rectangle, select ‘My home’ in the ‘Request blurring’ options.
– Enter any additional information to help Google to blur your house, submit your email address, and wait for Google to process your request.
– The blurring of your home should only take a few days.
4. Delete All Your Search and Activity Data (In One Go).
To delete all your search activity data from Google in one go:
– Go to https://myactivity.google.
– Click on the “Delete activity by” option in the left-hand menu, select “All time” as the timeframe, and click “Delete” to confirm. This will delete all the search and activity data Google has ever collected about you.
5. Delete Your Search And Activity Data From Google.
To delete your search and activity data from Google, follow these steps:
– Visit https://myactivity.
– To delete specific entries, click the “X” next to them.
– To delete your entire history, go to the “Delete” dropdown menu at the top of your activity list or choose the “Delete activity by” option in the left-hand menu. Click “Always” to delete all your activity data.
– You can also set up auto-delete by going to the “Web & app activity” page, selecting “Activity controls,” and clicking “Auto-delete.” Choose how long you want Google to store your data and confirm.
– To stop Google from saving your search and activity data altogether, go to the “Activity controls” page and switch off “Web & app activity.” Confirm by clicking “Pause.”
6. Wipe Your Viewing History From YouTube.
To wipe your YouTube viewing history, protect your privacy and prevent YouTube from suggesting videos to watch:
– Go to the YouTube website and sign-in to your account.
– Click on the three horizontal lines (top left-hand corner of the screen) to open the menu, then select “History” from the options.
– On the History page, click the “Clear all watch history” button to erase your entire viewing history, or click the “X” next to individual videos to remove them one by one.
– To pause YouTube from saving your watch history in the future, click the “Pause watch history” button at the top of the page.
7. Remove Any Videos Where You Appear In On YouTube.
To remove YouTube videos that you’ve uploaded yourself and that that you appear in on YouTube:
– Open the YouTube Studio (https://studio.youtube. com).
– Click ‘Content’ (left-hand menu).
– Select the video(s) to erase and, in the ‘More Actions’ menu, choose ‘Delete forever’, or hide a video by making it ‘Private’.
Removing a video you appear in that doesn’t belong to you is more difficult – especially you didn’t give your permission for it to be posted. The action you can take is to:
– Contact the person who uploaded the video, asking and them to remove it. You can do this by clicking the About tab on their YouTube channel page and clicking ‘View email address’.
– If it looks as though they won’t take the video down, you can request to have your face and other identifying elements blurred by the Blur tool in YouTube Studio.
– If there’s still no luck, click the ‘Report user’ flag button on their About page, select ‘Report user’, select Privacy, and click ‘Next’ to begin YouTube’s Privacy Complaint Process.
– Explain how the video violates your privacy.
8. Wipe Any (Secret) Recordings That Google Has Made Of Your Voice.
To delete recordings of your voice from Google Assistant, follow these steps:
– Open the Google app on your mobile device.
– Tap on your profile picture or initials in the top-right corner.
– Select “Manage your Google Account.”
– Go to the “Data & personalization” tab.
– Scroll down to the “Activity controls” section and click on “Web & App Activity.”
– Toggle the switch off for “Include voice and audio recordings.”
– A pop-up will appear, asking if you want to pause voice and audio activity. Confirm by clicking on “Pause.”
– You will receive a notification that says, “Voice and audio recordings paused.” Click “Got it.”
– If you want to delete any existing voice recordings, go back to the “Data & personalisation” tab, and select “My Activity.”
– In the search bar, type “Google Assistant” and select the results for “Voice & Audio.” This will show you a list of all the recordings that Google has made of your voice.
– To delete a specific recording, click on the three dots to the right of the entry and select “Delete.”
– To delete all of your voice recordings, click on the three dots in the top-right corner and select “Delete activity by.”
– Select “All time” as the date range and “Voice & Audio” as the activity type.
– Click “Delete” and confirm by clicking “Delete” again in the pop-up window.
9. Delete your Gmail account but keep using Google.
This may seem quite a drastic step to many, but to delete your Gmail account but keep using Google:
– Go to myaccount.google.com on your web browser and sign-in to your Google account.
– Click on the “Data & personalisation” tab on the left-hand side.
– Scroll down and click on “Delete a service or your account.”
– Click on “Delete a service” and enter your password (if prompted).
– Select “Delete a Google service” and choose the Gmail account you want to delete.
– Follow the prompts to review and download your data, then click “Delete Gmail.”
– Read the information on the next screen and follow the prompts to confirm that you want to delete your Gmail account.
– After you delete your Gmail account, you’ll still be able to use other Google services with the same account. However, any emails or contacts that were saved in your Gmail account will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Erasing yourself from Google can have both benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand, erasing your personal information from Google can increase your privacy and prevent targeted ads. On the other hand, businesses, of course, may lose access to valuable customer data, may seriously limit enquires and damage their profits, and individuals may miss out on personalised search results. However, it’s important to note that completely erasing your details from Google is not an easy feat. Even if you follow all the instructions and request removal of specific data, traces of your information may still exist. Google’s vast reach and complex algorithms mean that even seemingly innocuous details can be used to create a profile of your interests and habits.
In short, while it’s possible to take steps to minimise your online footprint, completely erasing yourself from Google is a difficult and ongoing process. It’s important to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of doing so, and to be aware that some traces of your information may still remain.