This Week in Social

Facebook wants your expected child, Google+ should be fatest growing social network, Old Twitter is dead, Germany wants Facebook's facial recognition features halted, Sports stars using social media and Foursquare self service pages

Facebook gives option to add expected child as family member

 

Facebook members have been able to add other members of their family to their profile for some time but the new option allows the addition of an unborn child. This feature gives parents the option to add a due date and even name the child. Apparently too many parents were creating “illegal” fake profiles for their yet unhatched offspring and setting their age to 13, with this being the legal age to use Facebook.

You can read the story from TechCrunch.

 

Google+ now has 25 millions active users

In just one month, Google+ has captured 25 million visitors, making it the fastest social network to reach such a number. Growing at around 1 million users per day Google+ has outshined Facebook, which took three years to grab 25 million people, and Twitter, which took a little more than 30 months to reach that level.

You can read more on Google+'s rate of growth at Mashable. 

 

The Old Twitter is dead

Back in June, Twitter announced that they would be decommissioning the old platform from 3rd of August. While the new version has been out since last September, users still had permission to use the old version if they chose to, until now. May you RIP Old Twitter.

More about this story can be read at Media Bistro.

 

Germany claims Facebook are breaking EU privacy laws

A German privacy expert has claimed that Facebook's facial recognition software is violating German and European Union laws. Facebook uses individual biometric data that allows users to locate new friends after discovering their identity. The feature 'recognises' faces in photos so that you can connect a face in a photo, shortening the tedious tagging process.

All Facebook continues with a good article about this topic.

 

Sports stars in need of social media training

Joey Barton's public bust-up at Newcastle has resulted in the midfielder being transfer-listed for free. It has highlighted the impact social media can have on a professional athlete's career. After questioning his own club's transfer policy on his personal Twitter page, Newcastle United have issued him with a two week fine. The current Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew, admits he risks being seen as a dictator by his disgruntled players after firing a warning shot at his Twitter-mad squad - a legal letter designed to stamp-out the kind of cyber-ranting that has left Barton's future on Tyneside hanging by a thread.

 

Foursquare pages are now self service

Foursquares business pages are now self service, meaning that brands can now independently update their profile pages on the located based service.The updates make it easier for brands to publish information for consumers such as discount promotions and photos, via their Foursquare pages. For more information please visit Foursquare blog.

 

The Man Without a Face

Below contains a mini film that is play on The Man Without a Face that was created by writers and directors Dan De Lorenzo and Ben Stumpf, promotes the merits of being “untaggable,” which seem to include writing with pens, coming up with words sans Google and understanding why men and women like each other.

Have you still been using the Old Twitter? Would you update your Facebook family with an unborn child? Should sports stars be told not to use social media for their outbursts? Do you feel that your privacy is at risk with Facebook facial recognition? Please leave your comments in the section below...

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This Week In Social:

Twitted and LinkedIn Ads, American Express and Foursquare, Skype and Facebook, Foursquare Reaches 10 Million, Klout Comes to Facebook, Google Photosharing and Harry Potter

 

Twitter Ads

After nine months of testing in-stream Promoted Tweets on third party client Hootsuite, reports have surfaced today that Twitter’s head of monetization Adam Bain has been pushing a new in-timeline Promoted Tweets product during this week’s advertiser-heavy Canne Lions awards. To the two of you that this comes to as a shock, one word: Inevitable. Twitter has made no secret of the fact that in-stream Promoted Tweets have been an eventual business model goal since April of 2010. 

You can read more on TechCrunch.

 

LinkedIn Social Ads

See the full gallery on Posterous

LinkedIn today announced that they plan to roll out changes to the advertising platform across LinkedIn which will surface actions from your network, like recommendations and company follows. The focus is to deliver ads that are more useful and relevant to you. Above are a couple of examples that illustrate these changes well. 

 

American Express & Foursquare Team Up

Last March, foursquare rolled out a small test with American Express: link your AmEx and foursquare accounts, spend at least $5 at a local merchant in Austin, and get a $5 savings applied directly to your monthly statement. They have now announced that the partnership is going national. Across the whole country, at select merchants, you can now check-in with foursquare, pay with your American Express card, and get big savings on your monthly statement.

 

Skypes Facebook Integration

With the announcement of Skype 5.5 Beta it has also been confirmed that Skype is continuing to bring people together whenever they are apart by introducing an easier way to connect with family and friends on Facebook. You can now instant message your Facebook friends directly from Skype, helping you stay connected with the people that matter the most to you. Simply use the new Facebook contacts tab within Skype to see when a Facebook friend you want to chat with is online and then start an IM conversation right from within.

 

Foursquare Reaches 10,000,000

See the full gallery on Posterous

This week foursquare reached its 10,000,000th user. This is a massive achievement for the company that already has over half a million brands and companies, and over 10,000 developers taking advantage of its API. The company is also thought to be planning another round of funding as its value is now believed to have exceeded the $1 billion mark.

 

Klout Comes to Facebook

Klout have announced that they're partnering with Involver to allow brands to provide customized experiences to their Facebook fans based on Klout Scores. Besides the number of fans, brands know surprisingly little about who those people are, their potential reach, and have little ability to message them individually. Now, with this partnership, brands can choose to give different offers, promotions, or messaging to fans based on their Klout.

 

Google Photosharing?

Recent reports seem to indicate that Google is aiming to launch a new photo sharing platform called “Photovine”. The reports surfaced from The San Francisco Chronicle that Google secured the trademark “Photovine”. The clever move is predicted to be a small part of a wider strategy to offset the positive growth of the expanding territory belonging to Facebook.

 

Pottermore

JK Rowling shocked and thrilled her fans in equal measure today, with the revelation that her new venture Pottermore was set to feature a wealth of new and previously unpublished material about the world of Harry Potter. Although the author made clear that she had "no plans to write another novel", the fresh Potter material – to be unveiled later this year - already stretches to 18,000 words about the novels' characters, places and objects, with more to come.

You can read more on the Guardian.

 

This week it is all about ads and partnerships. Can Twitter or LinkedIn Ads improve on the Facebook model? What would be your ultimate social partnership? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below...

 

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