Happy new year, everyone! I wish you the best for 2014.
Here is a quick roundup of some of the latest happenings in the social media world.
Contents
Facebook is in hot water again. On December 31, Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley filed a lawsuit against the social network. The two plaintiffs state that Facebook spies on the content of private messages, then “follows the enclosed link, […] searches for information to profile the message-sender’s web activity, [and shares the data] with third parties – namely, advertisers, marketers, and other data aggregators.”
They also cite a research conducted by High Tech Bridge in August 2013, which shows that Facebook scans through URLs in private messages without disclosing it to users.[scribd id=195348365 key=key-1r5ue0k35u0gtnrl84v8 mode=scroll]
Facebook Page admins can now edit scheduled posts.
GoodReads
Goodreads released its Year in Review assessment for 2013. The social networks for readers and authors now has 25 million members. Last year, they added 294 million books and answered 28 million trivia
by cobradave.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Google+ posts now display next to search results on google.co.uk and google.com.mx. The feature was previously limited to Canada and the U.S.
Worried you are missing great content from your Circles? GooglePlus Helper founder Jaana Nyström spotted a new dedicated page. “Never miss another post” features all your Circles and allows you to subscribe to the ones you want in one click.
Google will shutter smartphone file-sharing apps Bump and Flock on January 31, 2014:
[They] will be removed from the App Store and Google Play. After this date, neither app will work, and all user data will be deleted.
We’ve taken much care to make sure that you can retain any data you have in Bump and Flock. At any point in the next 30 days, simply open either app and and follow the instructions for exporting your data. You’ll then receive an email with a link containing all of your data (photos, videos, contacts, etc) from Bump or Flock.
(Source: Bump Blog)
Twitter is apparently testing a new feature for its Android app.
Fav’ing accounts on twitter? Hmmm pic.twitter.com/SLOkziMYZw
— drew olanoff (@drew) December 24, 2013
Vine is now available for the web. Just log into your account at vine.co, and you will be able to view your home feed, as well as interact with and share videos. You can also take advantage of the web-only feature (TV Mode), which offers a new viewing experience.
More social media news
According to Pew’s Social Media Update 2013, more than seven out of ten online adults use a social network — with a marked preference for Facebook (71%). However, multiple-platform use is starting to appeal to more and more people (42%). Pinterest, for example, is the site of choice for women, while Twitter and Instagram seem to fit younger audiences better. And LinkedIn has gained a lot of fans among college graduates and “internet users in higher income households.”
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is ready to add 1,000 new domain name extensions to its list. According to Politico, the first batch will include words like .clothing, .singles, .plumbing, .nike, and .cadillac.
More than 4.5 million Snapshat accounts were exposed on New Year’s Eve. The company states that, with the exception of phone numbers and usernames, “[n]o other information, including Snaps, was leaked or accessed in these attacks.”
“We will be releasing an updated version of the Snapchat application that will allow Snapchatters to opt out of appearing in Find Friends after they have verified their phone number. We’re also improving rate limiting and other restrictions to address future attempts to abuse our service.”
The new Yahoo Sport app for iPhone and iPod Touch is available.
