It’s the beginning of December and you no doubt have been
busy the past month. With gorging yourself on Thanksgiving food, traveling home
for the holidays, and watching Tim Tebow dominate his competition in the final
moments of the fourth quarter every Sunday, it’s no wonder you’ve been
distracted. Luckily for you, we’ve rounded up all the latest news in social
media you may have missed in the month of November.
Facebook
Facebook expected to
go public in 2012 (via Mashable) Projected
to be the biggest tech IPO ever, the social networking behemoth could go public
as early as April 2012.
European Commission
cracking down on how Facebook is using users’ data (via ReadWriteWeb) A new directive from EC will ban the social network from using
targeting advertising unless users agree to it. Facebook denies tracking its
users’ behavior and selling their information to third parties, claiming that
advertisers only see “anonymous, aggregate information” to target ads.
Facebook now merging
with Skype, PayPal (via Mashable) The social network now features an integration with
Skype where users can hold online video chats with their Facebook friends, even
if their friends don’t have a Skype account. Facebook also has unveiled a new
app called Send Money that lets users send money directly to their friends
using PayPal.
Facebook brings back
recent stories option on newsfeed (via ReadWriteWeb) Facebook users had spoken, and they wanted their old news feeds
back. Luckily, Facebook obliged and gave users the ability to change how their
news feeds operate, either by showing highlighted stories or most recent
stories first.
Sponsored stories now
appearing in Facebook tickers (via Mashable) Facebook will now feature sponsored stories, similar to how
Twitter has sponsored tweets, in users’ news feeds. Information such as friends
liking a certain brand page will now be bundled and appear in the ticker
alongside the news feed.
Google+
Google+ offering
trending topics (via Google+ News) Similar to trends on Twitter, Google+ now lets its users see what
other Google+ users are talking about.
Google+ to allow
multiple admins for business pages (via Mashable) While the exact date is unsure, sometime before the end of 2012, Google+
business pages will have the capability of having more than one admin per page.
Google Chat (or
GChat) now integrates with Google+ circles (via ReadWriteWeb) Your circle contacts will now be integrated into GChat features,
allowing anyone who you have circled and who has circled you back to appear in
your chat list.
Twitter
Twitter can help
predict who will win in the polls? (via Mashable) According to new research, politicians do better in the polls
after they see an increase in Twitter followers online. While it’s hard to tell
if this is a cause and effect relationship or just a coincidence, there seems
to be a strong link between Twitter popularity and how people are voting or
will vote.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
offering group statistics dashboard (via Mashable) The
new statistics dashboard will let group admins see the growth and demographics
of their groups. These statistics are aimed at helping admins better understand
the members of their groups.