Facebook and Twitter have become the most important places to engage in Social Media other than your own branded website and blog. Staying abreast of the near-daily changes at both sites is important as they are in a continual state of remaking themselves.
Facebook Hits 300 Million Users.
1. @ mentions are now at Facebook.
This comes from the Twitter standard for bringing a post to someone’s attention. For example, when you type “@techspokes” in a Twitter post, it shows up in a special mentions area which makes it easy for me to find.
In Facebook’s adaptation, called status tagging, a list of your friends and pages is brought up to choose from when you type @ in Facebook Publisher.
When you get mentioned, it shows up on your Facebook wall. You also receive a notification and can remove the tag, if you so choose.
This is great for businesses using Facebook fan pages, as it provides you with an excellent new way to track comments and feedback. These will appear on your fan page without users having to visit your page. This feature also works for group page and events.
2. Live chat and video chat coming soon.
Facebook and game developer Vivox has plans to roll out voice chat very shortly. It is a simple to use application where you’ll share a link and start talking. A video chat application will soon be unveiled as well. Facebook confirms that it is now being tested.
Voice and video chat features will add additional traction to gangbuster Facebook. Analysis indicates that with gamers for example, chat users stay online longer and play games longer than without chat. Likely the same will be true for Facebook users overall.
Twitter Growth Continues
1. 18 million U.S. adults access Twitter at least once a month.
Next year, that number is estimated to be 26 Million. In another insteresting statistic, Nielson is reporting Twitter had 21 million unique visitors in June.
2. Ads may be coming.
Twitter announced they have the right to put ads next to your tweets and are considering doing so. They invite user feedback and I suggest you let them know how you feel.
From a business perspective, I’m concerned about not having control over ads next to my tweet. What if the ad is a product I don’t endorse or comes from a competitor?
3. You own your tweets.
That’s right. Twitter announced that your tweets are owned by you but gives them the publishing rights.