Wondering if you missed any big announcement in the social media universe in May? The answer lies below.
Contents
- HootSuite
- WordPress
- Apps
- More social media news
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Facebook changed the default sharing setting of posts to Friends and released a new and expanded privacy checkup tool. The company also launched new video metrics in Page Insights and Ads Reporting, as well as its mobile ad network, and is allowing restaurants and cafés to display menus on their Pages.
The Poke and Camera app for iOS are gone.
Auto-play video ads have rolled out outside of the U.S. New countries include Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.
Automatic posting from third-party apps is getting axed from newsfeeds.
Google Play Music is available in Canada.
Google+ users can now report impersonation attempts.
Google is testing a new design for Gmail and implemented some changes to the conversation list in Hangouts within Gmail: message snippets, green “availability” bubbles, new search icon, and 80 emoji. Google+ Photos have also been improved.
Further, have you heard of Google+ Stories and Movies? The tools automatically create digital “storybooks” using your photos and videos. All you have to do is back up the content to Google+.
What’s next for YouTube? Watch this video:
Google Panda 4.0 rolled out.
HootSuite
HootSuite launched uberVU Boards, which allows Enterprise Customers to “create highly customized, interactive dashboards that fit their specific use case and workflow. Boards enable everyone, not just analysts, to quickly find business insights through analytics.”
Company / Showcases Pages now have two more features: language preference for better audience targeting and personalized page feeds for visitors.
“[W]hen a member visits a Company Page, that page’s feed will only show updates intended for them. For instance, if a company targets an update to members in France and another to members in Brazil, each group would only be presented the region specific update. This also holds true for other targeting filters including company size, industry, function, seniority, geography, and now language preference.”
(Source: LinkedIn Blog)
LinkedIn also turned 11 on May 5 and announced it would shutter its CardMunch app on July 11, to be replaced with Evernote’s card scanning service.
There is a new tool in the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section. “How You Rank” allows you to see how well your profile is doing, traffic-wise, compared to others in your network.
LinkedIn also added customized backgrounds to profiles. The option is only available to Premium members and Influencers for now.
The Pinterest for Business site has been redesigned. Promoted pins from a limited group of U.S.-based brands (ABC, Expedia, GAP, General Mills, Target…) are also rolling out in the search and category feeds.
Get ready for more descriptive pins — a partnership between the platform and several major brands. The content of these pins will depend on the company that posts them and links to original sources may not be included.
The company also launched a new analytics API that allows select partners to offer Pinterest business insights.
We’re updating http://t.co/mIbPaWEhll with a third column — more flexible for various screen sizes. pic.twitter.com/cvWgoMjCME
— Twitter (@twitter) May 8, 2014
The Mute button has arrived.
Muting a user on Twitter means their Tweets and Retweets will no longer be visible in your home timeline, and you will no longer receive push or SMS notifications from that user. The muted user will still be able to favorite, reply to and retweet your Tweets; you just won’t see any of that activity in your timeline. The muted user will not know that you’ve muted him/her, and of course you can unmute at any time.
(Source: Twitter Blog)
To access the new feature, tap the gear icon on a user’s profile and click “Mute @username”.
WordPress
New themes are available (Pictorico and Designfolio) and there is a new geotagging feature in the post editing screen.
WordPress turned 11 on May 27.
Apps
Updated:
• Snapchat – Texting and video chat
• Yahoo News Digest – Global availability
• WeChat for iOS – New translation feature
• FireChat – Topic-based chat sessions
• Spotify for Windows Phone – Browse, Discover, and Radio
• Google Docs and Sheets for Android – Offline creation and edition
• Gmail on Android – Save to Google Drive, spam explanations, improved right-to-left support, and faster access to the side navigation menu
• Google+ for Android – Auto Awesome Stories / Movies, animated GIF creation, total content views, easier sharing…
• Facebook for iOS – Offline post creation
• Instagram for iOS – Auto-sharing activity on Facebook removed
• Mention for iOS – New offline mode
• Facebook for iOS and Android (U.S.) – Upcoming: New (optional) feature allowing you to use your phone’s microphone to share what you are listening to or watching.
New:
• PastBook for iPhone – “Privately collect photos with friends from anywhere and create, share and print photo albums in seconds”
• Adobe Voice for iPad – “Create stunning animated videos in minutes”
• Tumblr for iOS and Android – Blog design customization
• Hangouts extension for Outlook
• Daily by Buffer (iOS)
More social media news
Buffer users (Awesome and Business plans) can now add RSS feeds to their dashboards.
CircleCount‘s new panel provides members with a free analysis of their posts by type.
The Flickr Blog has been redesigned.
Introducing #AmazonCart. Add it now. Buy it later. https://t.co/FmfLNqRqs6 — Amazon (@amazon) May 5, 2014
Quora users now can access all their contributions from the Your Content page as well as downvote questions:
“Muting only results in removing a question from your personal feed. Question downvoting, on the other hand, lets you improve Quora not only for yourself but for others. If you take either action on a question, you won’t see that question in your feed again.”
(Source: Quora Blog)
Scoop.it launched TLDR, a digest of content curated by the Scoop.it community. Pro and Business users can also take advantage of two new features: Direct Links (pointing directly to the original content) and Hidden Topics.
Vine.co has been updated. The update comes with the browsing and search features.
Yelp is available in Argentina. Users will soon be able to leave 12-second video reviews.
“Hashtag,” “selfie,” and “tweep” are among the 150 new words recently added to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary
