The social networks are continuing to improve on their services due to competition, as this week alone saw updates from Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
While Facebook revamped its privacy settings to close the gap to Google+, yesterday Google announced the addition of two new features to the +1 button.
Since the initial release of the +1 button several months ago, users remained confused as to what it actually did. The button has, however, been spreading across the Web - now appearing on over a million sites.
Since its release, Google has said the button impacts search results, with pages that users “+1” showing up in friends' search results.
Now, however, the +1 button will be integrated with Google+, as the search giant explains: “Clicking the +1 button is a great way to highlight content for others when they search on Google. But sometimes you want to start a conversation right away - at least with certain groups of friends.
“We're making it easy for Google+ users to share Web pages with their circles, directly from the +1 button. Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new 'Share on Google+' option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share.”
The second update is called '+Snippets' and involves the automatic inclusion of a link, image and description when users share content via the +1 button.
Google says: “Publishers can benefit from +snippets as well. With just a few changes to their Web pages, publishers can actually customise their +snippets and encourage more sharing of their content on Google+.”
Twitter galleries
Not to be left behind, Twitter has also been rolling out some updates. Following the release of its own native photo-sharing functionality, the micro-blogging site has this week added “User Galleries”. The update adds a “Recent Images” pane to Twitter profile pages showing photos recently shared by the user.
Images can be viewed in full-screen mode or the entire gallery can be viewed. Any accompanying tweets are also displayed.
Twitter says the images are listed in chronological order, dating back to 1 January 2010. Twitter has also pulled content from third-party photo-sharing services such as Twitpic, Yfrog and Instagram to populate the galleries.
The roll-out of Twitter's photo sharing functionality has been met with apprehension from third-party developers, whose apps previously catered for the obvious gap in the Twitter interface.
New project
As Twitter continues to develop, news came this week that its co-founders, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, are working on their first project since Twitter. While details are few and far between, the new app is called “Lift” and has the tagline: “Achieve anything”.
The app is a project of the Obvious Corporation, which was founded by Williams a number of years ago. Obvious was reportedly revived this year, with the inclusion of Stone and former Twitter VP of products Jason Goldman.
In a blog post on Obvious' site, Stone writes: “At Obvious, our goal is to foster systems that help people work together to improve the world. Our approach is threefold: build, partner, and invest. We've started working on some ideas ourselves; we're researching how best to create an investment vehicle, and today we're thrilled to announce our first official partnership.”
The partnership is with Tony Stubblebine and Jon Crosby, and their start-up, Lift.
Positive reinforcement
“Tony Stubblebine and Jon Crosby have created an interesting new application for unlocking human potential through positive reinforcement,” says Stone.
“Our plan is to build something extraordinary together. The Obvious Corporation will assist the talented Lift team with strategy, design, funding, recruiting - in general, we'll be helpful wherever possible. In exchange, Obvious will own some equity in Lift.
Continuing to be cryptic, Stone writes: “It's important never to delude ourselves into thinking that technology changes the world. People are responsible for change - technology just helps out.”
It has, however, been reported that Lift is associated with the site Mibbles (a service which redirects to the Lift site). Mibbles was created in part by Stubblebine, and is "a way to share the daily accomplishments that mark progress towards your goals".
The project is in private Alpha phase, according to Stone, but users can sign up for updates on the development and availability of Lift by visiting Lift.do.
Exciting era
Speaking of the recent developments in the social media space following the entry of Google+, independent marketing analyst Chris Moerdyk says: “What we are seeing right now is the birth of an incredibly exciting social media era in which change will play a dominant role for some considerable time.
“There will be a continuous stream of innovation and an equally continuous stream of new social media products fostered by advances in technology and the remarkable amount of talent that the world is producing in this arena.
“Everyone in the social media space needs to continuously feel threatened not necessarily by new competitors, but by being left behind in a world that is changing so fast,” says Moerdyk.
Share