Google+ Custom URLs: This Week in Social Media

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+ Expands Availability of Custom URLs: “If your profile meets the following criteria, you’ll now be able to claim a custom URL: has a profile photo, has at least 10 followers and has an account that’s at least 30 days old.”

"Once you meet the eligibility criteria, just visit your profile or page to begin the claiming process."

Pinterest Introduces Related Pins: “Related pins are picked specially for you based on the unique things you’re into, such as other pins you’ve saved or liked.”

"To help control what kinds of pins you see, click the 'i' info icon on any related pin in your feed."

Twitter Makes Timelines More Visual: “Timelines on Twitter will be more visual and more engaging: previews of Twitter photos and videos from Vine will be front and center in tweets.”

"To see more of the photo or play the video, just tap."

Google+ Improves Hangouts and Photos: The “improvements to Google+ Hangouts and Photos aim to take a lot of the work out of messaging, video calling and photo editing.”

"Broadcasters can now schedule Hangouts On Air, then promote them with a dedicated watch page."

Tumblr Introduces New Search Feature: “The new Tumblr Search has been rebuilt, front to back, to help explore all of your 65 billion(!) posts.”

There are a lot of big new additions to check out.

Here’s some upcoming news to follow:

Facebook Tests New Messenger Experience: Facebook is “testing an update to Messenger on Android that makes it a faster and more reliable mobile-to-mobile messaging experience.”

"You'll know which friends are using the app if you see the Messenger icon Testing a New Messenger Experience on Android next to their name."

Instagram Reveals Sample Ad: “If you’re in the United States, you’ll see the sample ad below sometime in the coming week. This is a one-time ad from the Instagram team that’s meant to give you a sense for the look and feel of the ads you will see.”

"You'll know a photo or video is an advertisement when you see the 'Sponsored' label where the time stamp normally would be. Tap this label to learn more about how advertising works on Instagram."

Here’s an interesting tool worth noting:

OptinMonster: a lead-generation plugin for WordPress that allows you to create attention-grabbing opt-in forms that convert.

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What do you think? Please share your comments below.