Hey, we get it: It’s likely your first full week back in the office since mid-December, so you might have missed a few things. With all the holiday parties to attend, cookies to eat, and champagne toasts lined up over the month of December, you likely missed a few things in the world of social media. Don’t worry, we’ve recapped the biggest stories of the past month that you might have missed.

Twitter

Twitter releases major upgrades, including a new look and new features (via Mashable) Some of the updates made to the new and improved Twitter include a new Discover feature, which seems to be a supercharged search capability, a new layout for your Twitter profile, and embedded tweets. The embedded tweets feature allows you to embed a tweet on a website, allowing visitors to follow the user, as well as retweet, reply, or favorite the tweet without having to leave the Web page.

Twitter now offers brand pages (via ReadWriteWeb) Similar to brand pages on Facebook, Twitter has introduced pages specifically for businesses. These brand pages let businesses customize page headers to feature their image, logo, and tagline more prominently than on traditional Twitter profile pages.

Twitter named 2011’s most talked about social network (via Mashable) Zeta Interactive, a digital marketing agency, measured both the volume of mentions as well as the tone of said mentions to determine the most buzzed about social network of the year. While smaller than Facebook, Twitter had more mentions in 2011 and a larger percentage of those mentions were positive compared to Facebook.

Facebook

Facebook timeline rolls out to all users (via Facebook) After months of uncertainty for when it would be available, Timeline is now available for all Facebook users. After activating Timeline, users have seven days to review how their profile looks using Timeline. Once the seven-day period is over, the Timeline profile is live for all Facebook users to view.

Facebook allows subscribe button for websites (via Search Engine Watch) Using this new plugin, public figures can now allow users to easily connect with them on Facebook. Similar to how users can follow a brand’s page using the Like button, the subscribe button will make it easier for users to follow reporters and public figures with one click. 

Facebook testing messaging features between page owners and Facebook users (via ReadWriteWeb) Similar to how Twitter allows users to engage directly with brands or companies they are following, Facebook is testing a private messaging feature that would let customers speak directly with page admins.

Sports Illustrated lets readers choose Best Sports Moment of 2011 by voting on Facebook page (via Mashable) For the first time in 60 years, Sports Illustrated let its readers choose the best moment in sports by voting on the publication’s Facebook page. This year’s best moment in sports as voted on Facebook? Former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand’s Oct. 29 return to lead his teammates onto the field one year after being paralyzed during a kick return.

Google+

Google+ brand pages begin to appear in Google SERPs (via Mashable) While not available for all pages, some brand pages will appear in search results pages on Google. This provides an added benefit to marketers as recent posts made on a brand’s Google+ page are what appear on SERPs. For right now, only sites that are eligible for Direct Connect appear on SERPs.

Google+ reaches 62 million users, projected to have 300 million by end of 2012 (via Mashable) Google+ is adding 625,000 users a day and is predicted to reach 100 million users by the end of February, according to Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com who has been watching Google+ since its beginning. However, not all of those are active users, although the number of active users each week appears to be on the rise.

Blogger integrates with Google+ (via Mashable) For Blogger users who have connected their Blogger profile with a Google+ account, Google+ now offers a feature that allows users to select if they would like to publish the post on Google+ to any of their circles.