It’s baaaaaack! After a three month hiatus, I’m so very glad to be blogging again and bringing you my weekly Social Media News.
Facebook has announced that it has officially reached 500 million active, registered users. That’s roughly the total population of the European Union. To celebrate, Facebook has launched its own app called Facebook Stories. Facebook is inviting everyone to share their own personal Facebook story with the world, aiming to capture hundreds of thousands of personal experiences, lessons learned, reunions and revelations. Read more about it here on The Facebook Blog.
Filmmakers are working on a Facebook story of a different kind: a full-length feature film called The Social Network. Mashable rounded up what the founders think of the flick, reporting that Mark Zuckerberg had shared some negative comments about the movie at the recent D8 Conference.
The big news on the Twitter front is a possible new feature called Tweet Media. Twitter hasn’t released any notices about the feature, but a mysterious new privacy setting found by some users has caused speculation. It is suspected that by opting in to Tweet Media, users will be able to post and view photos and videos within the Twitter stream. The addition of multimedia within Twitter will force advertisers to change their Twitter content strategies in a big way.
Ford made news this week by revealing the new 2011 Ford Explorer on Facebook, before revealing it anywhere else. The Ford Explorer Facebook page, sporting over 50,000 fans, includes tons of multimedia content surrounding the Explorer, including a sweepstakes. Check it out at www.facebook.com/FordExplorer.
iPhone users rejoiced with news this week that the U.S. Copyright Office has made iPhone jailbreaking legal. What this means is that tech-savvy iPhone users can legally hack their phones to buy and use apps that are not sold within Apple’s iTunes App Store. Users should note that though jailbreaking is now legal, performing such a hack will void your Apple warranty. Also, jailbreaking is not the same as unlocking the iPhone, which is a hack to allow the iPhone to work with other carriers outside of AT&T.
Tweet Media
Twitter Begins Testing Inline Photos And Videos On Its Website - TechCrunch
5 Big Questions About Twitter’s Move to Multimedia - RWW
Twitter to Show Photos and Videos in the Stream [UPDATED] - Mashable
Social Media: Strategy
Bearhug Brings a Social Approach to Customer Service Management - Mashable
How to be the Life of the Social Media Party - ProBlogger
Old Spice Campaign Smells Like a Sales Success, Too - BrandWeek
5 Reasons Why Ford Continues to Kick Butt - ClickZ
Social Media: Consumer Electronics
Flipboard Launches as the iPad’s Social Media Magazine - Mashable
Amazon Customers Now Order $1 Billion of Products Per Year via Mobile - Mashable
Federal Government Rules in Favor of iPhone “Jailbreaking” - DMW
Jailbreaking iPhone apps is now legal - CNNMoney
Social Media: Location-Based
Inside Street Food’s Social Media Revolution [VIDEO] - Mashable
Brightkite Takes Branded Badges to the Next Level - Mashable
Go On Your Own “Eat Pray Love” Journey With SCVNGR - Mashable
Foursquare Reaches 100 Million Checkins - Mashable
Digital Advertising
Majority of Consumers Use Social Networks to Inform Buying Decisions, Says Study - RWW
Ford Makes New Friends The Right Way, Revealing Explorer On Facebook - MediaPost
Kelley Blue Book Goes Social For Stickers – MediaPost
Twitter Sees Sizable Ad Business - MediaPost
Internet Trends
Why QR Codes Are Poised to Hit the Mainstream - Mashable
YouTube Looks to Compete in Music Discovery - Mashable
StumbleUpon: The Silent Social Media Success Story - RWW
Ask Launches Social Network To Link Search With Answers - MediaPost
Rachelle Maisner is an Interactive Producer for R&R Partners, and writes about social media at FiveFeetOfDynamite.com.
