There have been lots of changes afoot with our most loved social networks recently so here is a quick summary of some of these, and how they might affect you as a user:
{source: mdjensen.com}
Facebook seems to be developing at a rate of knots at the moment, with several changes occurring, some more significant than others. But most recently:
– The Facebook toolbar (which appears across the top of your Facebook news feed) has become locked, so that it continues to appear when you scroll down the page – whether you are on your personal profile or your Facebook business page. The benefits? Well it is easier navigation of course….but it is a feature already used by Twitter.
– The Facebook subscribe button was launched this week, which allows users to follow the public updates of others, regardless of whether they are facebook ‘friends’ with them. This can mean a whole host of things, for the celebs amongst us (oh wait, that’s not me really) it can mean that rather than having a personal profile and a fan page, you can have both and just chose which of your updates are public and which are private. But it could also be a great feature for the average Joe on the street, such as teachers, for example. Mashable describes it far more succinctly than I could: “Users can subscribe to others without enabling others to subscribe to them. This means teachers can allow their students to follow their public updates about school and classes without actually friending them (and accessing more personal information). That way, students can continue to update friends about their lives without worrying what might pop up in their teachers’ News Feeds.” Useful, huh? A bit like Twitter (noticing a pattern here) but going that stage further because you can choose for some of your updates to be private whilst others are public for all those that may follow you to consume….
Twitter has also made some interesting advancements:
– Twitter announced that it is now available in five additional languages (making the total 17). The additional languages are simplified and traditional Chinese, Hindi, Tagalog and Malay. This might not be a move that effects all of you, but is a necessary one none-the-less….[worth noting that Facebook is available in 70 languages, so Twitter still has a way to go].
– A new analytics package has been launched by Twitter to help users understand “How much of their content is being shared on Twitter, how much traffic Twitter is sending their way and how well Tweet Buttons are performing.” I have yet to try out the analytics but this could be a great tool for agencies and in-house PRs that need to provide statistics on their social media activities, watch this space….
Google +
Google + has introduced a map sharing feature that allows you to share directions (and other information) from Google maps, though your Google + accounts – potentially useful for businesses with difficult to find offices…
These are of course just a few of the changes happening, but it is great to see that the big players are not resting on their laurels and continue to develop and improve. That said, it does feel a little like Facebook and Twitter are in a bit of a war to catch-up and outdo each other, whereas it feels slightly like Google + is actually breaking new ground…..(and let’s not forget that David Cameron, Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg have all ventured into the Google + world).
Do you agree? Or do you feel that Twitter and Facebook are still streets ahead?
Brad Downs
DigitalPrefect
helen_davis
Jess
Katy
Digitalprefect's Blog 