Companies that use YouTube channels to represent their brand can now annotate videos with a link directly connecting to their website. By clicking a small icon at the top corner of the video, users can go directly to the website of the organization who created the video (check out what it looks like!).
By associating your website with your YouTube channel, you can easily add the annotation to whichever videos you want. As great as this may seem to companies, there are some drawbacks. (more...)
By this point, we’re all used to Facebook changing things on us. But recently, a lot of those changes have gone beyond moving tabs around and adding or removing features in an effort to improve the user’s experience. Now just a 6-month old baby tech company trading on the NASDAQ, most of the changes Facebook has been making lately have been directly related to improving their bottom line. With a $50 billion market capitalization, Facebook has an audience of investors saying, “show me the money.”
Right now, the undisputed champion of the online advertising world is Google. In 2011, Google took in $37.9 billion in advertising revenue from a variety of industries, while Facebook took in a mere $4 billion. But what Facebook has that Google only dreams of having is actually incredibly valuable, and that’s social currency. Facebook has a ton of rich information about its 800 million users, and that information can help to make an ad campaign much more appealing. Google, on the other hand, simply uses a complex algorithm driven by your traffic surfing history to determine which ads you are most likely to click. The more a company knows about their audience, the more targeted they can make their ads and the more likely users will be to click on those ads, the more money they will spend on the ads.
Samsung’s Galaxy S III was the world’s best-selling smartphone in this year’s third quarter, although the iPhone 5 is expected to bring Apple sales back to the top of sales rankings. Competitors will continue to strive to out-sell Apple – might Nexus find success?
Nexus recently introduced three new devices: the Nexus 4 smartphone; Nexus 7 tablet; and Nexus 10 tablet. Sound familiar? Probably because you’ve already checked out Apple’s iPhone, iPad Mini and iPad.
Each Nexus and Apple product boasts panoramic picture-taking abilities, Voice Search, an 8 megapixel camera and turn-by-turn navigation.
So, what are the key differences?
Facebook’s testing a new system that will force 99% of companies to pay to show up on users’ timelines. The new system’s two features could change the way public relations pros use Facebook very soon:
The first change is similar to Reddit’s Upvote/Downvote system. People will still be able to ‘like’ a post or comment, but they will also be able to vote on the comment. The more votes a comment gets, the better chance it will have to show up on someone’s timeline.
The second change will allow you to reply to individual comments that have been made under a post. This will create separate conversation threads, each with its own ranking and re-post ability.
Both of these changes are due in part to two discouraging facts about Facebook:
With all the redesign going on this year, it’s as if the social media community has had an identity crisis. Like a domino effect, following updates on other social media sites like Facebook’s Timeline and LinkedIn’s company page updates, YouTube is gradually rolling out a new look and some substantial changes to the site’s functionality.
Shifting focus toward spreading new content
YouTube’s appearance has changed, and not only because of the new white color scheme, seemingly adopted from Google +. With these changes, YouTube’s pages will be more focused on recommending new content:
So, what’s the consensus?
Overall, we like the new YouTube. With suggested channels and subscriptions becoming more prominent, YouTube is helping video authors reach a wider audience that is still targeted and likely interested in that sort of content. Our only concern is that the Subscribe button – relocated to join the Like and Dislike features and Comments section – could end up getting lost in the clutter of other buttons.
To read more about differences between the old and new YouTube, check this out.
What do you think of YouTube's changes?
LinkedIn, a social media site designed for professional networking, has rolled out design updates to its company pages. Similar to Facebook’s adoption of the Timeline layout, LinkedIn is falling in line with the trendy shift towards increased visual content.
Curious? Here’s what you can expect:
On November 30, all company pages that haven’t yet adopted the new design will be updated automatically – so be sure to add some flair to your visual identity on LinkedIn!
What does this mean for your business?
Overall, the shift towards more visual content creates a streamlined, simpler page that is more inviting and easier to navigate – which could foster a greater sense of connection with audiences. Also, as outlined in this recent Forbes article, companies can leverage the new changes to improve their “employer brand” to attract employee candidates.
Time will tell how people respond to new features in LinkedIn’s company pages. What, if any, impact do you think these updates could have on your interactions on LinkedIn?
