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+ Introduces a New Look and New Navigation: There's a new Google+ interface. These design changes add more white space, make Google+ easier to use and pave the way for future updates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Atj57r15U
LinkedIn Introduces Targeted Updates From Company Pages: LinkedIn is progressively rolling out a couple of new features for LinkedIn company pages: Â Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics. Â You will soon have the ability to send targeted updates from your LinkedIn Company Page as shown in the video below. Note that Company Pages will also have a new tab for Follower Statistics.
YouTube Live Gets Real-Time Analytics and Paid Live Events: On the one-year anniversary of the launch of YouTube Live, users get real-time analytics and the option to create paid live events. “You can now monetize your live events with advertising or paid options. A live event can be claimed in the new video manager like any other video and monetized with instream ads or paid options where you can set price by country.”
AI Is No Longer Optional for Marketers—Ready to Master It?
Join over a thousand forward-thinking marketers at AI Business World—a conference-in-a-conference at Social Media Marketing World.
Get two days of practical AI training where you'll discover:
✅ Systems that 3x your output—leaving time for strategy and creativity
✅ Proven strategies you can deploy right away—no guesswork, no wasted budget
Become the indispensable AI expert your company needs.
GET YOUR TICKETS—SAVE $300
Pinterest Introduces Board Covers: Users can choose covers for their Pinterest boards.
Pinterest Users Now Also Share Vimeo Videos:Â The Pin It bookmarklet can now pin Vimeo videos in addition to YouTube.
Here are a couple of social media tools worth noting:
myCurrent: A free desktop application that unobtrusively streams Facebook and Twitter updates in a format similar to a stock ticker on your screen.

Rankable: A Twitter tool to rate anything you want out of 10 by entering it as a hashtag and using the Rankable hashtag.

Here's an interesting infographic:
Instagram infographic: Learn more about Instagram's brief but explosive history, from its conception to its recent $1B purchase by Facebook.
Ready to Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy?
Get expert training and an unbeatable conference experience when you attend Social Media Marketing World—from your friends at Social Media Examiner.
Broaden your reach, skyrocket your engagement, and grow your sales. Become the marketing hero your company or clients need!
🔥 Save $800 on an All-Access ticket. Sale Ends Friday! 🔥
GET THE DETAILS
And don’t miss this:
Social Media Examiner presents Social Media Success Summit 2012! (online conference)
The 50% off sale ends Thursday.
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.
Want to Unlock AI Marketing Breakthroughs?
If you’re like most of us, you are trying to figure out how to use AI in your marketing. Here's the solution: The AI Business Society—from your friends at Social Media Examiner.The AI Business Society is the place to discover how to apply AI in your work. When you join, you'll boost your productivity, unlock your creativity, and make connections with other marketers on a similar journey.
I'M READY TO BECOME AN AI-POWERED MARKETER