Welcome Search Engine Optimization Experts, Social Media Marketers and webmasters alike to another new year!
Here’s a recap of the most trending social media news over the past year:
Last February 2011, Facebook had rolled out its major Fan Page Redesign that brought out its layout, style, and functionality a step up to the next level.
As part of Facebook’s continuous provision of new experience for their users, the Fan Page Layout now looks and functions more like the recently redesigned User Profiles.
The fan page redesign now has a more simplified layout. The Page admin’s functionality is better and a new “everyone filter” feature displays all users’ posts that Facebook thinks will be the most relevant to your fan page.
2. Google Launched Plus one Button
Google has finally launched its +1 button. This button allows Google users to share recommendations with the world in Google’s search result. By clicking +1, the digital shorthand for “this is pretty cool” on a webpage or ad that you like or find useful, these recommendations and ads will start coming out in Google’s search results.
With these +1’s, users can now get relevant information from their search results. So search engine optimization services and experts, get ready to +1 your sites now!
3. Twitter Introduced Brand Pages Similar to Facebook
Twitter now has Pages for Brands similar to what you have seen on Facebook. The Brand pages are designed to provide brands their own ad space on Twitter, giving brands their own place where they could point to, as well as providing brands a tool and venue to deliver content like ads, and at the same time encouraging Twitter users to follow them.
4. Twitter Introduced Promoted Tweets to Followers
Last August 2011, Twitter had formally introduced its Promoted Tweets that allows Twitter users to see Promoted Tweets in their main Twitter timeline.
Their most invasive advertising play to-date, Promoted Tweets now appears at the top of users’ timelines upon login, and scroll down afterwards.
5. StumbleUpon Introduced its Explore Box
In the last days of August 2011, StumbleUpon had finally rolled out its newest feature, the ‘Explore Box’. It was designed to deliver a more defined search engine-like capability and expand StumbleUpon’s functionality, allowing a wider search and discovery, from the previously pre-existing StumbleUpon’s list of 500 preselected topics.
6. Facebook Released a Major Overhaul Profile Redesign
Last September 2011, Facebook had again rolled out a major overhaul on its Profile Design.
Now, Facebook users can better organize components such as the activity feed, photos, personal information, and applications as Facebook’s redesign was aimed to retain the layout’s orderly and clean look where there is a redistribution of profile content into different tabs.
Moreover, a new authoring control panel called the Publisher Box is now part of the activity feed tab. This is used for creating and posting content. A new horizontal navigation line with drop-down menus for its core features is also found at the top of the new profile page.
Currently, with the major redesign, the brand page designs and interface is now in sync with the personal user profiles where tabs are accessible under the user’s profile photo.
7. Facebook Introduced Timeline
Following Facebook’s profile redesign, Facebook also introduced Timeline: ‘a new way to express who you are at its annual F8 developer conference’.
Dubbed ‘Timeline: The story of your life’, Facebook’s newest profile layout will enable users to post about “stories,” — that can be starred or hidden, and with an online privacy controls to control exactly who sees what — rather than relying completely on chronology for all shared content and Facebook activity.
Completely customizable and mobile-friendly, apps will be able to hook into the Timeline as well, allowing users to share things that they like to do on their personal page.
8. StumbleUpon’s Biggest Refreshing Look
Last December 2011, StumbleUpon had made the largest and most comprehensive branding and redesign initiative in the company’s history.
The first in nearly almost a decade, StumbleUpon had made a major update, cleaning up the site’s user interface, totally redesigning the site’s design, rebranding a new logo, and adding a new channel feature that allows users to subscribe to content streams curated by celebrities, publications, and brands.
9. Facebook Timeline Now Available in Australia and Worldwide
After months of waiting, Facebook Timeline has now become available in Australia and worldwide.
Australian users, as well as all Facebook’s millions of users, can now digitally document their entire life, from birth until the present, through wall posts, uploaded photos, announcements, status updates, and events.
10. Google + Business Pages Has been Released
In the last days of December 2011, Search Engine giant, Google, had once again released another batch of its upgrades, just in time for the holidays.
The latest list of improvements and changes for its Google+ and Google Pages had been rolled out by Google.
Now, Google+ has a much simpler slider control – located on the top-right of the stream – which allows users to control the number of posts that are shared in their main Google+ stream from each contact or circle.
A newly redesigned Lightbox, with its improved navigation, enhanced comment legibility, full screen photo views, more intuitive photo-tagging, and fast jumping between photos with the bird’s eye view, was also introduced by Google to make viewing of photos more fun on Google+.
Moreover, Google+ now sports a newly-redesigned red notification indicator that allows you to see the +1’s and shares your posts have received since you last checked.
Meanwhile, Google+ Pages has now multiple admins of up to 50, as well as new notification flow and displays aggregated count of users, showing the total number of users that have engaged your page by either+1’ing it or by adding it to a circle will now be displayed.
Posted by SEO Australia
Feel free to read our Social Media Articles and News and subscribe to our Feeds to receive daily updates via Email. Or if you’re searching for a reliable SEO Company, take a look at our SEO Portfolio to see how we deliver good results to our clients.
You may also Like Us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter for more Social Media Updates.
