Social media changes so much in a week that it can be hard to keep up. Check back every Friday for our roundup of stories we think you should know about in our Social Media Snap.
Needless to say, it’s been a hard week in the Centennial State with the horrible front range flooding. Our thoughts are with our fellow Coloradans who are affected by the disaster. Stay safe. Stay dry. And for those of you who have the time, here is our weekly roundup of social media stories worth knowing about.
- This week Twitter announced that the company is going public with a Tweet (appropriately enough). It’s natural to compare this to Facebook’s disappointment of an IPO, but some industry experts say Twitter will be different. The network is estimated to be worth between $20 and $40 million. Will you buy?
- If you’ve been deemed cool enough to have a verified Twitter account, meaning you’re a well-known public figure, brand or celebrity, a new filtering feature is now available for you. Verified accounts will now be able to toggle between Tweets from other users that tag them. The viewing categories are All, Filtered and Verified. This basically lets people who are mentioned in way too many Tweets sift through the spam and interact easier with other VIPs.
- In yet another smack-your-forehead move on social media, a big-name brand has humiliated itself with an insensitive Tweet. In a message that attempted to show grief on the 12-year anniversary of September 11th, AT&T Tweeted an image that received immediate backlash: a photo of one of their phones in front of the New York skyline displaying a photo of the beams of light that memorialize the Twin Towers. Within an hour the Tweet was erased and replaced with an apology. This oops moment begs the question: is social media an appropriate place to pay tribute to tragedy? Social media experts weigh in here.
- Still using Google+? This week at the TechCrunch conference Google announced two new features: author attribution in searches and the new ability to embed posts in websites. We’re not sure if it is enough to help the network catch up with the likes of Facebook and Twitter but time will tell.
- Prepare yourself: Facebook is about to become even more distracting, but not in a fun way. The network announced it will start running video ads on users’ news feeds. These ads will be silent until clicked upon, then they will expand and play audio. It’s only rolling out to select users now but it will shake up your feed in no time.
- Job hunting? We recommend you clean up your social media accounts, stat. Social media has played a role in hiring decisions for awhile, but Mashable shared a recent survey from recruiting firm Jobvite about recent trends. These days hiring managers aren’t shy about scouring a candidate’s social media profile to assess professional experience, to see if they post any industry-related content and to gauge how the person would fit in the company.
- Lastly, Carson Daly is about to re-enter our lives again, but not as the semi-awkward late night and primetime host that he’s become in recent years. The Today Show announced this week their new social media-meets-television adventure: The Orange Room. Promising to be a new social watching experience hosted by Daly, 20-somethings around the world might have to deal with a few TRL flashbacks before Tweeting. #WelcomeCarson!
Happy weekend,
@keavey