By Cindy King
Published May 12, 2012 
Welcome to our weekly edition of what?s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What?s New This Week?
Google+ Hangouts On Air Now Available Worldwide: Google+ Hangouts On Air was launched last September to a limited number of broadcasters and is now rolling out to the rest of the world. This means ?you can now go live in front of a global audience.? Here?s a reminder of what you can do:
Facebook Announces The App Center: The App Center is a new place for people to find social apps. ?For the over 900 million people that use Facebook, the App Center will become the new, central place to find great apps?
“Everything has an app detail page, which helps people see what makes an app unique and lets them install it before going to an app.”
What You Need To Know About Facebook?s IPO: Facebook?s initial public offering is expected to take place on May 18.
Discussion from our Networking Clubs: Thousands of social media marketers and small business owners are asking questions and helping others in our free Networking Clubs. Here are a few interesting discussions worth highlighting:
Google+ Notifications in Gmail Get More Interactive: You can now view, comment on and +1 Google+ notifications from your Gmail inbox. These updates will appear in your Google+ stream in real time and responses from others will appear in Gmail.
You can adjust which Google+ notifications you want emailed to your Gmail account via Google+ settings.
Google Offers Get Closer to Your Business: Android users in the U.S. can now find Google Offers from nearby businesses using the latest release of Google Maps. You will be able to ?see all the Google Offers near you in list or map form, making it easy to get great deals from local businesses on the go.?
Twitter Tweaks the Tweet Design: ?Now, when you hover over the newly redesigned tweet, you?ll always see options to reply, favorite or retweet in the lower-left corner against a grey background.?
This design modification makes it easier to interact with others on Twitter.com.
Tumblr Introduces Storyboard: Storyboard is Tumblr?s ?new hub for in-depth conversations with Tumblr?s creative community.?
Foursquare Adds a History Page: With the ?new, fully searchable history page, you can easily jump to all your past check-ins from any month or year, and even filter them by who you were with, what type of place you were at, or which neighborhood, city, or country you were in.?
Foursquare will be “adding more features like filtering by venue and adding tips or creating lists right from this history page.”
Groupon Rewards Launches Nationwide in the U.S.: ?When you visit a participating Groupon Rewards merchant and use the credit card saved in your Groupon account, Rewards are unlocked after you?ve spent a certain amount predetermined by the business.?
“Eliminating the hassles of check-ins, extra apps or punch cards, with Groupon Rewards you can automatically get benefits for things you already do.”
Here are a few useful social media tools worth noting:
WP Pinner: A WordPress plugin that lets you manage your Pinterest account. ?With this plugin you can easily auto-pin WordPress posts, schedule your pins throughout the day, auto-follow users to get noted and keep track of your account (CTR, clicks, likes, repins, reach, etc.).?
Lujure: An easy tool for businesses to customize Facebook fan pages.
Lujure is a simple, quick tool you can use, with no technology expertise at all, to customize your own Facebook page.
Curate Me: A tool to help you stay current, find good things to share and get content ideas.
Curate Me finds the best stories from your friends and the brilliant people you follow and delivers them straight to your inbox.
And don?t miss this:
Social Media Examiner?s Social Media Success Summit 2012 (online conference) just started. It?s not too late to join!
Join 27 social media experts at Social Media Examiner?s big online conference! Go here to learn more.
What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.
Tags: cindy king, facebook app center, facebook ipo, foursquare history page, foursquare update, google offers, google offers update, google+ hangouts on air, google+ notification, google+ update, groupon rewards, groupon update, hangouts on air, networking club discussion, pinterest plugin, social media news, tumblr storyboard, tumblr update, twitter design, twitter update, wp pinner
When it comes to social media one group of users who are often courted by brands and businesses are mothers given how much of the household purchasing power they actually control. Nielsen have produced a reporting looking at their behavior online and although the big stand out stat is that the recent social networking sensation comes out on top of the list of top lifestyle sites they visit it is clear that social media and the online world in general are very much at the heart of everything a mom does in her daily life. The report also draws attention to the fact that a huge 1 in 3 bloggers are actually mothers. It is also no surprise to see Facebook top of the list but it is perhaps unusual to see popular blogging tool blogger come in ahead of Twitter. Moms also spend an above average amount of time on their mobile devices with more than half of them logging on to social networks while doing so. What this shows is that brands, businesses and in particular retailers are going to have to work harder to come up with retail solutions for moms that combine social networking and mobile. With so many of them also being taste makers on their blogs and curated sites like Pinterest it is clear that moms are by far one of the most important groups in social media and these tools are helping them share their interest and influence.
