• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • 🎙️ Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • AI Explored Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🌟 AI Society
  • 🗓️ Marketing Conference
  • đź‘‹ About Us
    • Marketing Events
  • Search
  • Embrace AI & MarketingGet Ongoing Training & SupportBEGIN YOUR JOURNEY NOW

    Google+ Hangouts Enhanced: This Week in Social Media

    by Cindy King / November 3, 2012

    social media researchWelcome 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 Are Nicer to Look at, Easier to Use: Google+ Hangouts have some new features: a sidebar you can show or hide, new notifications and apps that are easier to find and manage. The result is a more enjoyable experience.

    google+ hangouts apps
    "The sidebar contains your frequently used apps, as well as other ones active in the Hangout. And you can also remove apps from the sidebar at any time."

    LinkedIn Makes it Easier to Discover and Follow Thought Leaders: LinkedIn recently launched the ability to follow thought leaders. Today you have new ways to discover and follow these thought leaders. There's a new leaderboard where you can “find influencers who've posted content most recently or sort them alphabetically” and “discover recent posts by thought leaders you are personally following.”

    linkedin thought leaders
    You can now sort the list of thought leaders on LinkedIn by Most Followed, Recently Published, Alphabetical and Following.

    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:

    • Ask guest expert Chris Brogan questions about Impact.
    • How much is a Facebook Like worth?
    • Review the Musket Sword Paint blog.

    Share Your Stuff From Google Drive to Google+: You can now “share the stuff you create and store in Google Drive, and people will be able to flip through presentations, open PDFs, play videos and more, directly in the Google+ stream.” You're now able to view what you share from Google Drive right inside your Google+ stream.

    Discover Proven Marketing Strategies and Tips

    Want to go even deeper with your marketing? Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast! Publishing weekly since 2012, the Social Media Marketing Podcast helps you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle, with expert interviews from marketing pros.

    But don’t let the name fool you. This show is about a lot more than just social media marketing. With over 600 episodes and millions of downloads each year, this show has been a trusted source for marketers for well over a decade.

    CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PODCAST NOW
    google+ on google drive
    "Simply click the Google+ icon when you're sharing from Drive, or copy and paste a link to a file from Google Drive into one of your Google+ posts."

    Facebook Gifts Now Allow Charitable Donations: Facebook is launching “a new test feature on Facebook Gifts: now you can use Facebook to make a charitable contribution in celebration of a friend or a family member.”

    facebook gifts charity donation
    Facebook has partnered with 11 nonprofit organizations so you can choose which nonprofit you would like to support or you can let your friend make the choice.

    Yelp Adds Visual Menus: There's now an  “Explore the Menu” link for restaurants on Yelp. “Specifics on menu items, like description and price, will match up with Yelp's user-generated photos and reviews mentioning that particular dish.”

    yelp menu
    Yelp users can see both a traditional menu on the left and user-generated photos of items on the menu on the right.

    Here are a few upcoming features worth noting:

    Facebook Tests Page Post Notifications: Inside Facebook reports “Facebook is rolling out a new feature for users to opt in to receive notifications every time a Page makes a post.”

    Google's Universal Analytics Opens in Beta: Google is offering large enterprises access to “Universal Analytics,” a new feature to help “customers tailor Google Analytics to their needs, integrate their own datasets and ultimately get a more complete vision of the entire marketing funnel.” This will help businesses to better understand their marketing efforts.

    universal analytics
    "The new tools offered by Universal Analytics via the new Measurement Protocol (an API that enables you to send your data to Google Analytics) can help you measure how people actually become and remain loyal customers."

    Twitter Promoted Products Gets Gender Targeting Option: Gender targeting is now available to marketers thanks to Twitter's ability to “understand gender by taking public signals users offer on Twitter, such as user profile names or the accounts she or he follows.”

    Here are a couple of interesting tools worth noting:

    AI Business Society

    Ready 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—a new AI marketing community 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

    SplashPost: A tool to create multimedia Facebook posts to enable you to “easily sell, promote and advertise your products, consulting services or solutions right inside your News Feed.”

    PicMark: A tool to put watermarks on images before sharing them on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

    picmark
    PicMark makes it easy to watermark your images and brand your content.

    And don't miss this:

    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.

    What do you think? Please share your comments below.

    AI EXPLORED

    Curious About How to Use AI?

    Our newest show, AI Explored, might be just what you're looking for. It's for marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs who want to understand how to use AI in their business.

    It's hosted by Michael Stelzner and explores this exciting new frontier in easy-to-understand terms.

    Pull up your favorite podcast app and search for AI Explored. Or click the button below for more information.

    I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AI

    Tags: News

    About the authorCindy King

    Cindy King is the director of editorial for Social Media Examiner. She spent 25 years abroad in international business development and then built her own international business using social business networking.
    Other posts by Cindy King »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (43 pages, 50+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    AI

    Next Frontier Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Discover how marketers plan to change their social activities in the 17th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It reveals what marketers have planned for their social activities, content marketing, and more! Get this free report now and never miss another great article from us. Join more than 385,000 marketers!

    Simply click the button below to get the free report:

    Footer

    Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle
    Copyright © 2025 Social Media Examiner®
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our social media marketing industry report
    • Our generative AI marketing industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS