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?
Facebook Tests New “Collections” Feature: Facebook is now testing Collections, a new Facebook feature which reminds us of another popular social platform, Pinterest. Only a few select brands, including Pottery Barn, currently have this new Collections feature to test.

Social Media Examiner Turns 3! We are thrilled to celebrate our third birthday with you, along with over 178,000 newsletter subscribers, 7000+ members of our Networking Clubs and more than 102,000 of our Facebook fans. Thank you for making this possible!
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Watch this video from Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner
Google+ Local Updates Rating Scale: The recently updated rating scale makes it easier to “write accurate, useful reviews on Google+ Local.” You can “rate the food at a restaurant, or the quality of a mechanic” and behind the scenes, Google+ will “convert your ratings into numbers and factor them into the business's precise 30-point score that shows up in Google+, Search and Maps.”

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:
- What social media activities do you do every day?
- Do you like the new LinkedIn features?
- Do you use SEO, social media, or both?
New Google+ App for Android and iOS Supports Google+ Pages: This new Google+ app provides one of the “most highly requested features: support for Google+ pages.”
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YouTube Announces Better Analytics: YouTube Analytics gives you “more tools to help you interpret the performance of your videos.” These improvements will help you track audience engagement better and make Analytics easier to use.

TweetDeck Gets a New Look: “This update makes TweetDeck easier to use with design enhancements, personalization options and the addition of several frequently requested features.”

Groupon Serves Up Breadcrumb: Breadcrumb is “an easy-to-use, powerful and affordable iPad point-of-sale (POS) system that helps local restaurants, bars and cafés run more effectively.”
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Tumblr Introduces Photoset: Photoset is “a new app for creating and sharing beautiful high-res photosets on your iPhone or iPad.”

Here's an interesting tool worth noting:
Optimizely: A website optimization tool for A/B testing to help you increase engagement, interactions and conversions.
Marketers Are Learning AI Alone
Sound familiar? 85% of marketers learn AI by experimenting on their own, just 7% get company training, and more than half spend their own money on tools.
Our third annual AI Marketing Industry Report surveys 681 marketers and distills everything into 32 clear charts — what's working, what platforms marketers rely on, and what to learn next.
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Social Media Marketing World is Social Media Examiner’s latest mega-conference—taking place at the waterfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego, California on April 7-9, 2013.
As you'd expect, Social Media Examiner recruited the biggest and best names in the world of social media marketing for this conference. Only the best for you! Be sure to check it out.
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