Welcome to this week’s social media news.

LinkedIn now allows company status updates

Since Thursday, the professional networking service LinkedIn is finally allowing businesses with company pages to post status updates to their followers. Company Status Updates will enable assigned administrators to post updates, up to 500 characters in length, to the “Overview” tab of their pages. The new feature is designed to allow companies to build engagement with customers and potential employees.

Company status updates will also appear in a page follower’s LinkedIn homepage news feed and any LinkedIn member can see, like and comment on status updates or share an update with friends, from the company page.

Remembering Steve Jobs

Last week, the world was shocked by the death of one of the most prominent figures in the technology world. Through his inventions, Steve Jobs has truly changed the way we live and interactive with each other. Because of his influence, many of us paid our respects a day after his death by changing our Twitter avatar to a rainbow Apple, writing a personal eulogy on our blog, or tweeting one of his many inspiring quotes.

How did you pay tribute to the founding father of Apple? Let us know by commenting below.

Facebook’s new “People are talking about this metric”

In the past couple of weeks, Facebook has rolled out a series of new features. One of the newest metrics released is the “people are talking about this” metrics for pages, which is a number pulled from a variety of interactions that can occur on Facebook over the past 7 days. The number is refreshed daily and it is designed to indicate how much conversation is being generated by someone’s Page within Facebook.

New SEO Rules: Panda update

In the past, getting your website to rank well in Google search results meant focusing on keyword placement, descriptive “title tags”, unique content and backlinking. After last week’s Panda update, these techniques are no longer enough.

Panda introduces some totally new elements to Google’s ranking methodology to help people find higher quality sites in their searches. This means that focus must shift from keywords and links to the user experience, trustworthiness and likeliness your web pages will be shared.

FamVille: The Movie?

The writers of Toy Story are reportedly in talks to pen a movie based on FarmVille, the popular Facebook game.

Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen said in an interview with IGN that they are working with Zynga on a movie based on one of the company’s most popular games, adding “Can’t really say too much on that front yet, but ‘Old MacDonald’ didn’t have a factory, if you get our drift.”

Would the movie be a nice addition to the popular game or is it just a step too far? Let us know what you think by commenting below.

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Welcome to this week’s social media news!

App prices to rise by up to 25 per cent

Apple has recently increased its App store prices in response to shifts in global currency values. The extent of the increase varies depending on the price tier, with the second lowest, £1.19 price group being increased to £1.49 and the lowest price group rising from 59p to 69p. Similar price changes have also been applied to the MacApp stores and the iTunes store.

LinkedIn revamps profiles for students

LinkedIn has recently added some new profile sections designed specifically for students. It is now possible to include detailed information on projects, accomplishments, honours and awards, test scours, and courses. With LinkedIn being the number one online recruitment tool for employers, make sure you update your profile to maximise your chance to land your dream job!

Google+:  the new kid on the block

The world of social media is buzzing from the recent arrival of Google+, Google’s new social networking service. There has been plenty of speculation about how the newcomer will perform after Google’s failed attempts to break into social networking and how it will compare with other networks. Only two weeks after its launch, it has already been branded as a ‘Facebook killer’ by some sources. Should Facebook be worried? Let us know what you think by commenting below.

Twitter reaches 200million accounts

Twitter has reached the landmark of having 200million users with an estimated 350billion tweets delivered each day. The social networking site has enjoyed astonishing growth over the past five years becoming the go-to source for news around the world and being in the forefront of numerous high profile celebrity scandals. To track Twitter’s rise, check out this interesting Twitter infographic.

David Beckham’s Baby Photo on Facebook and Twitter

On Sunday, David and Victoria have introduced their newborn baby girl to the world via Facebook and Twitter. The football star uploaded a photo of his daughter, Harper Seven – rumoured to be named after the Beckham boys’ favourite Disney character and David’s shirt number. So far, 16,500 fans commented on the photo.

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Welcome to this week’s social media news!

Facebook and Google to bid for Skype

Last week, Reuters reported that internet giants, Google and Facebook, are in a bidding war to buy, or at least partner up with, the popular web-video telephone service, Skype.

So far, Facebook and Google made no comments about the rumours. However, with an estimated 124 million connected users each month, Skype is definitely an asset worth fighting for. It has been mentioned that Facebook is considering a buyout of Skype at a price of between $3 billion and $4 billion, and Google is likely to match that amount to prevent its rival from acquiring the brand.

Whether we are talking about a takeover or a partnership, be sure to watch out for further developments as this is likely to be one messy fight.

Is Skype better off with Facebook or Google? Tell us what you think by commenting below.

Facebook Sponsored Stories – the future of online advertising?

Earlier this year, Facebook introduced ‘Sponsored Stories’, advertising that allows users to see which brands their friends have interacted with. The feature works so that brands can have ‘friends’ likes’ and ‘places check-ins’, which are then turned into small ads that show up next to a users’ newsfeeds.

A recent study conducted by TBG Digital compared the effectiveness of these Sponsored Stories ads against Facebook’s standard display ads and the results are pretty promising. The study analysed data from 2 billion impressions over a ten-day period using its Facebook ad optimisation technology One Media Manager. The data revealed that ads with social context resulted in a 46 percent higher click-through overall.

What do you think? Are Sponsored Stories the future of online advertising? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

YouTube founders acquire Delicious from Yahoo!

After months of speculation about the fate of Delicious, the social bookmarking service has finally found a new owner in YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen who are planning to integrate it into a new company they have created called AVOS.

Delicious has made it clear that user data will be preserved and that the new team will “add new features and grow the service overall.”

Yahoo will ask users to sign in to Delicious “and agree to let Yahoo! transfer your bookmarks to the new owner,” before the move is completed in July.

The Death of Osama Bin Laden: An overview of social media reaction

Since the first reports started coming through about Osama Bin Laden’s death last week, the social media world has been swamped by Bin Laden-related content.

Most interestingly, Mashable have conducted a poll of 20,000 readers who were asked how they found out about Bin Laden’s death. 31 percent of the respondents said they found out through Twitter and 20 percent said they found out on Facebook. That’s a staggering amount that found out through social media channels (we have to bear in mind of course that Mashable readers are likely to be more tech-savvy).

We then saw how Twitter figures went through the roof with, at one point, 12.4 million tweets per hour on the subject and then also heard how people started to use Foursquare to check in to Bin Laden-related locations.

For the full look at social media reaction, check out the title link above.

How did you use social media to share the news about Bin Laden’s death? Let us know by commenting below.

Want a night to remember? – Lynx’s new mobile app lets you record and share your night out

Unilever’s Lynx brand launched a new app called The Lynx Stream mobile app that allows you to capture every picture, tweet, status update, video and check-in that your group of friends make. With this app, you can record the highlights of your night on thelynxstream.com and then share it the next day (unless you would rather forget them).

Though the app, developed by Razorfish in New York, is intended for the U.K. market, it will likely be rebranded for the U.S. market’s Axe brand at some point. The idea is to allow the brand to become part of the target consumer’s lifestyle.

What do you think? Would you use an app like this? Let us know in the comments.

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1. New Facebook Profiles Now Available

The new Facebook Profile Pages are now available to try out — Facebook heralded their arrival via Twitter, mere hours before Founder Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance on60 Minutes yesterday.

2. Schools grapple with rules on using social media

Should Teachers And Students Become Facebook Friends? The battle to remain relevant to tech-savvy teens is raising questions about whether teachers should be using popular social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter to reach their students.

3. Would social media change your vacation plans?

A new survey by US travel analyst Ypartnership has suggested that despite the multitude of travel brands using social media, travelers are still reluctant to take advice from Facebook or Twitter.

4. LinkedIn Launches Share Button

Business-oriented social network LinkedIn has launched a share button, which gives publishers a way to spread their content on LinkedIn and enables users to easily share content with their professional network.

5. Hootsuite reaches 1,000,000 users

6. Myspace unveils new mobile site and iPhone application

The new Myspace site, which officially re-launched at the end of October 2010, is now accessible on iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, Palm and a range of Nokia and Blackberry devices.  In the announcement, Myspace say more than one third of it’s users access the site via mobile daily, and its hoped these changes enable them to consume and engage with more content on the go.

7. Cool new Twitter client, Lazyscope is updated

Lazyscope is an Adobe Air-based client for viewing and creating the real-time web. The clients mixes Twitter and RSS together to give the user a better reading experience. Now each Tweet has a lot more content; if it includes a link to other content it even lets you subscribe to the RSS feed in a user-friendly way.

FUN: Rihanna dubbed the queen of social media

Rihanna has been named the queen of social media in a new poll to find the most internet-savvy music stars.
That’s all the news for this week! Hope you enjoyed it…Come back next week for more great links. Feel free to get in touch, if you have any great links that you think we should know about.

Check out our social media news bookmarks on Delicious

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Welcome to the first of our weekly “Top 10 Social Media  stories” – something to start you off on a Monday morning!

1. Qwiki

The ‘information experience’ is coming soon, with brand new search engine Qwiki to launch soon. The founders are looking to solve the problem of information overload by providing users with information in a more interactive, engaging and visually stimulating way. Join the Search revolution, and sign up to get invited to become one of the first people to try out their new search experience.

2. The BAFTAs are to add a new category for social media gaming in 2011

Browser-based games such as Farmville, Restaurant City and Mafia wars will be recognised. According to the BAFTAs, more than half of users on Facebook regularly play such games.

3. Everybody uses twitter in their own way

This is just some of the worldwide trending topics and unique uses of twitter.

Politicians are reaching out to voters. In Brazil, all three Presidential candidates are tweeting about their campaigns; In Ecuador, the president declared a state of emergency via twitter during civil unrest after days of protests by the federal police; and South Korean Twitter accounts have doubled since June when a ‘go and vote’ campaign spread online and the office of the president began tweeting hopes of creating better communication with voters

Twitter has also been used as crisis control. For example, it played a crucial role in crisis response after the Haitian earthquake this year. And, sign-ups after the Chilean earthquake spiked 500% and have continued to grow since.

4. Tweet where you eat; Foodies turn to social media to pander and promote

The most effective way of doing digital marketing is to have your customers do it for you. That’s exactly what is happening in the restaurant industry.  Twitter has become the central hub to update Tweebs (people using Twitter) on “twomos” – twitter promotions and whether you still have additional tables, etc. Because of the multiplier effect that tweets can have, it is essential that restaurateurs understand this digital marketing tool. They must effectively deal with negative tweets to stop them spreading through re-tweets, whilst positive tweets can spread like wildfire.

5. The power of the internet economy

The internet is now more valuable to the country’s economy than the transport, construction or utilities industries. If the current growth rate continues, the report predicts the internet economy could account for between 10% and 13% of GDP by 2015.

6. LinkedIn Gives Brands a Platform to Promote Themselves

Looks like LinkedIn wants a bigger slice of the social networking pie…In a bid to better compete with Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn have added new features for their business profiles to entice organisations to leverage themselves on this social networking site too.

7. Apple launches a store in China

This is another effort fromApple to strengthen its position in China. In addition to launching a Chinese version of its online store, Apple also translated its App Store to Simplified Chinese. Furthermore, Apple recently announced its plans to open 25 retail outlets in China by the end of next year.

8. Come Dine With Me launches iPhone App

Following Master Chef’s entry into app territory, another foodie programme has just launched its very own iPhone app, which will allow users to become more engaged with the show.

9. News Corp. puts MySpace on notice

There was a time when everyone had a MySpace, in fact we all probably have a long-forgotten profile floating around on the web. However, the social networking site has become a thing of the past with the likes of social network giants, Facebook and Twitter on the scene. MySpace has been given notice to shape up or be dropped by News Corp.

10. Twitter starts including ‘Promoted Tweets’from advertisers in users’ personal timelines

Promoted Tweets will be included in users’ timelines depending on who they like and what they are interested in. Twitter seems to have finally found a way to profit from its incredible popularity.

Funny: Facebook pre-emptively sued by Lamebook

Want to see the sources for this blog?

Check out our social media news bookmarks on Delicious

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Some of the big web hosts were there, Rackspace were pushing there new no more servers and had a huge stand as you walked in, Ukfast probably had the biggest stand and most appeal with a race car right in the middle of the expo floor, obviously a big win for the amount of men and suits who attended Earls Court 2 (yesterday)

As you can imagine there were numerous businesses there talking about social media and the impact it is having on businesses.
Many of the companies who presented actually in my humble opinion actually missed the point of social media, (this for me) is where the web is made fair more personal, where work is personalised via the internet and allows you to make personal and business connections and business to grow without having pointless meetings and sharing thoughts and opinions via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many more platforms.

Mobile was another popular sector, mobile is currently an interesting area for many people in the search, SEO and social industry.
Mobile phones have become a central hub for social interaction, especially since the birth of the iPhone, Apps were a big part of the offering. There were not any real ground breaking offerings but some slick looking apps and mobile sites offered.
It was more surprising that many companies over looked mobile search, I am sure next year it will be different.

There were also many SEO (search engine optimisation) companies there, coming from a SEO background it was interesting to experience the many different sales techniques used and the different “personal” approach many salesman adopted.
I have to admit, it wasn’t all bad, there were many refreshing companies there, some showing off new software, others talking about new techniques over old techniques and others (mainly software houses) pushing their premium SEO software.

Internet World was basically a networking event, some elements were good for beginners and a few people there were pushing their services on everyone and anyone walking passed (as you would expect). It’s free and if you have the time pop down.

The last day of opening is actually today (29th of April) you can register for a free pass here.

If you would like to keep up with the expo on Twitter the #tag is #iwexpo.

Danny

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1. Facebook like button
This was a small change from Wednesday, rather than becoming a fan, you know Like it.
There have been are a few groups started which have made me giggle this week -
If you need to think about these, you probably do not get the humour
It rough
It dirty
Nice and slow

2. LinkedIn new features
The professional social network has taken another step to becoming more social. I personally like LinkedIn, offers some cool features which others do not!
New features include
New URL shortner – lnkd.in
Facebook like attach a link and preview

3. Facebook f8 conference
The Facebook f8 conference, is the developers conference. Being the most popular social network and being the most popular site in America (soon to be the world) it is important for developers and the world to take note of any changes Facebook are suggesting or releasing.
Something that was addressed was social games and mobile games, it appears that mobile Facebook games are coming…interesting for Apple and the impact it could have on iPhone users.
A very brief reference was made to one of Facebook’s purchases, Friendfeed, unfortunately since the purchase nothing has happened with the one time favourite social platform. In short Facebook have suggested it will survive for now, but won’t have any resource.

Here is Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg taking questions on privacy concerns on new features from Facebook -

4. Ning going, going, gone?
Ning went from free social network provider to instantly charging their customers last week. It’s a shame there has been some good features from Ning, especially with some big sites social elements being powered by Ning. It would suggest to me they are on that slippery slop to the deadpool.

5. Social media and hash tag save travellers
It wouldn’t be right not to mention the Icelandic Volcano and the effects it had on almost every traveller across the world.
Twitter became some people’s life saver, hastags became very useful and I personally know someone who used the Twitter Hashtags to get home.
The best hashtags were -
#ashtag
#getmehome

Eurocontrol’s twitter account and Facebook page were crucial for many stranded people getting home and keeping updated. Who says there isn’t helpful people or companies around?

Danny Denhard

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What is Social Media?

The best web description I found is

The social movement to me is the action of sharing and communicating on “open online platforms”. Social media is being open and communicating to friends and complete strangers on topics of interest.
Social media to many is where they log onto Facebook and chat to their friends online or tag their friends in a photo uploaded from the previous weekend’s events. But there is a lot more to it!

Social media is different to many people however here are my examples -

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Buzz
Youtube
Stumbleupon
Delicious
Digg
Yahoo answers
Wikipedia

Believe it or not social media is not new technology, it has been around for a many years, however it has rapidly become more and more popular. The more modern social networks started 2002.

Why has social become really important? Social media and social networking has become really popular because it offers quick communication, new communication methods and replaced older technology.
2009 was the year that Twitter exploded across the world, its growth was over 300% and recently Twitter released very interesting statistics of 50 million tweets per day. That’s one part of the power of social, updating your friends at every given opportunity.

Facebook has officially become the most visited site in the US it actually gets more visitors than Google.
The average Facebook user spends 55 minutes per day on it……that must be the longest time spent on a site online apart from catching up with TV shows on the iplayer.

The new breed of social media -
Ning – Ning is a social network application where you can create your very own social network, it takes around 5 clicks to create. There are many options and many communities have taken advantage of Ning and maybe more will this year.

Location or geo tagging is not exactly new but new services are becoming increasingly popular. My picks are -

Foursquare – Foursquare for me is just about the best lo-so service around. I must admit I am a little bit behind using it but like most social networks its become a bit of a ritual and addictive. Foursquare rewards you for “checkin in”, I am currently the Mayor (that’s a good thing) of Nitro Digital. If you have an iPhone, Blackberry or Android based phone you can download the apps for free. Check it out, you might become the Mayor of Starbucks in your local area.

Gowalla – Very similar to Foursquare, it offers cool trips and also rewards you for unlocking features. It is available on the most popular mobile platforms.
Both Foursquare and Gowalla integrates with Facebook and Twitter and informs them of where you are and what badges you unlock.

Chat Roulette – Much has been made about chat roulette already, it can be very funny and well worth experiencing. Be prepared to see certain things you might not want to.

So what is social media…. social media is interacting with friends, making new connections, peer to peer sharing of information online and via mobile phones.

If you have any questions let me know

Danny Denhard

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Why did I want to know this?
Well, It is something that is good to know for a start.
The second, what is the preferred choice for the masses.
Thirdly and very importantly, you can help guide clients and help them understand why you suggest them to use Facebook over Twitter or why to target LinkedIn.
It’s always good to offer the bigger picture.

My first step was to think of a base where I can ask opinionated people who would take part in a quick poll.

So I started the discussion over on LinkedIn, for me that’s one of the advantages of LinkedIn, you can find a group (yes friends LinkedIn has groups and many of them) for pretty much anything. (They are a little more friendly and helpful than Facebook groups)

My next steps were to add the poll in the “fans of mashable group”, for me it I knew I would get fans of social media answering the question and supply me with some useful feedback.

The social networks I offered for selection are –
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Buzz
And the trusted “Other”

Personally speaking my social network of choice is actually Facebook, Twitter is a very close second, LinkedIn professionally speaking would be number one but isn’t so great at communicating or quickly checking what has happened and lastly Google Buzz.
Google Buzz for me is a little annoying and I have actually ended up following the most influential people I find on Twitter. It is however providing you have a large follower bank can be very useful for feedback or conversation.

This brings me nicely onto the stats so far -

Facebook has the majority of votes with 41%
Twitter is in second with 29%
LinkedIn is third with 23%
New boy Google Buzz came fourth with 5%.

These stats aren’t so surprising right?

Well…….

67% of female voters actually selected Facebook
33% of female voters then preferred Twitter

On the other hand -

67% of men actually preferred LinkedIn
And
33% of men’s favourite was Twitter.

18-24 years old’s favourite is Facebook
50% of 25-34 year olds prefer LinkedIn
And there was a 50/50 split for LinkedIn and Twitter for 35-54 year olds.

The conclusion I can draw are -

Facebook is a young women’s prefered social network
LinkedIn and Twitter actually appeals much more to men over 25

I know these stats are not from the largest demographic however, it is always good to see the break down and the stats actually do speak for themselves.

To take my poll (and you are on linkedin please click here)

If not please take my lovely poll here -

If you have any thoughts please do let me know,

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1. Upload a picture of you – default pictures are rubbish and everyone likes to see your face (however photographic you may or may not be) It’s a personal experience, help people associate your voice and opinions with your face.

2. Do not lie – Best example is LinkedIn, LinkedIn is like your online CV. So if you lie on there you will be found out. Don’t get to an interview and be caught out, many potential employers do check the potential employee’s. (I know I did)

3. Its not all about you – Social networks aren’t always about you, it might be your escape or your own little world, however social networks are all about conversation, so interact….please.

4. No one likes a moaner – Everyone loves a moan, especially us in the UK, but constant moaning online is not cool. 2010 is unofficially (of course) the year to be positive.

5. Status updates are seen by all – Unless you protect your updates or have a hidden identity, do not update your status’ with I hate my job, my boss is…., she’ll never find out. You get the idea, you update your status your likely to cause yourself a few issues.

Danny Denhard

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