This week was no different than any other week in the world of social media, so that means there was a lot going on and lots of big news. With so much going on every week it is impossible to list everything, so here is a list of some of the social media news that I feel is most important as well as some of the stuff that had people laughing throughout the week.  We all know how popular social communities and how powerful they can be when used properly, and this is exactly the reason many Universities are taking advantage of social media. Let’s face it, any company or large brand not taking advantage of it better start soon or else you will be left in the dust. People are realizing this though, as well as many companies large and small, now even popular content management systems are integrating social media, as is the case with Drupal.

Digg Hijacking Links?

This was a huge story this week in the social media world, and many people became very angry over the fact that Digg appeared to be stealing traffic, or pulling a bait and switch. The diggbar seemed to be a url shortener at first, and many people used it for this. The problem came earlierin the week when people noticed that if they were not logged into digg they got redircted to a digg landing page rather than the actual story. There was a large uproar over the change and Kevin Rose said he would look into it since he had been out of the country. Well he did and they said that they were keeping the diggbar the way it was now and it was not to be a url shortener anymore, but exclusive for digg. They did say that any old links would be reverted to the old way but anything from when the change went live going into the future would redirect to a digg landing page unless you were logged in.

A New Era for MySpace?

Last week I mentioned how MySpace has been losing followers left and right, mainly due to people switching to Facebook because of the cleaner design among other things. MySpace knows they need to do something, especially after being called the ghetto of social networking sites. MySpace is still popular with bands and musicians, so this is the main area they should focus more on in my opinion. They have also decided to embrace gamers and News Corp announced that they are going to try and expand into a stronger online videogame platform. This will be interesting and I will be watching closely to see how it works out for them.

Twitter Mania

The Twitter frenzy online continues to grow as more and more people are finding the benefits and fun that can be had with the microblogging service. Due to this, there are constantly new updates being made, one that many people may have noticed is that their follower/following counts may have dropped over the last few days. This is because Twitter has recently made some corrections to these numbers as well as did another spammer sweep. Twitter also released a guide for businesses that use Twitter in order to help them make the most out of the service, this is called Twitter 101 for Businesses and it can be a good read if you are a business just jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. Another resource for brands using Twitter is the new Twitter management system from Buddy Media, just another reason for your company to climb on board the social media train.

This week Twitter also unveiled a live updating search widget, which will make real time search even more exciting and easy to keep track of. There has been so much news regarding Twitter recently so the last one I will bring up for anyone that may not have seen it is the new service which allows you to record a video to incorporate into your tweets. This service is called Twitvid and it should make Twitter a bit more interesting for the folks that love video.

Digsby Keeps on Growing

All of us at Essential are big fans of Digsby, Skip even had a nice humorous post explaining that he loves Digsby so much he wants to propose. It seems that the service just keeps on growing as more and more people discover all the benefits of using the program, and Digsby has just hit that 1 million user mark, so in addition to making that announcement they also announced the launch of an affiliate program. Congrats Digsby, we love you and wish you continued success and growth!

Facebook Changes Their Minds, Again….

Once again Facebook is reversing a decision they made, much like the decision they reversed a few weeks back regarding the vanity url’s being available only to users with so many followers. This time the change Facebook is reversing is the fixed usernames. Once you chose your username on Facebook you were stuck with it, at least that’s what everyone thought, including the staff at Facebook. Now they have decided that they will allow people to change their vanity url after all, if the one you want is even available anymore.

The Fun Stuff

Every week I plan on tossing in some of my favorites from the social media world, whether they are funny or just plain absurd this is where the fun stuff is. These will always be some of my favorite stuff that will either make you laugh or just wonder what is wrong with people. My favorite entertaining video this week was one from Digg, and this is sure to become the newest incarnate of the legendary Rick Roll. This time though we have a Teen Spirit style Rick Roll, or as some people have called it, The Kurt Roll. A great picture that I saw being bounced around the different social networks is one of my other favorites of the week and it has to be one of the smartest bums on the street,  I am alsowilling to bet he makes some pretty good coin doing this. To finish off the week I will leave you with the worst song ever written, as well as another awesome pic of the Fast Food Mafia.

Have a good weekend and we hope to see you coming back as we will be updating the blog regularly, and of course every Friday check ot the Social Media Wrap right here!

Social news sites and all of the other social networking sites are not going anywhere, in fact the communities are growing everyday and many of the top news stories worldwide first break in these social networking communities. Every week the social communities are buzzing with many big stories. Now, every Friday, we’ll bring you a weekly wrap-up of some of the biggest stories in the world of social media.

Breaking news from… Twitter?
Just yesterday, when the bombings in Jakarta happened, the first people to report on these bombing were Twitter users. This also goes to show how important social networking has become to society today, and it also enables anyone to bring breaking news to the web in real time. Real time reporting has been seen a lot in recent weeks and months via sites like Twitter and Facebook, another recent example were the Iran political protests and how the people caught up in them were able to update via social communities. That was important as well because it showed the power of the groundswell when many users turned their avatars green and also changed their time settings in Twitter to make it harder for the Iran government to try and block their citizens from reporting on Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter Hacked…again
That’s right, Twitter was hacked… again. This time, documents were stolen from an employee’s email and posted on numerous blogs around the web. Techcrunch has published some of the more interesting documents, while some of the other blogs held little back. Twitter has contacted lawyers, but they should know as well as anyone that when something catches on in the social world it is almost impossible to stop, this has been coined “The Streisand Effect” and it is something many people do not fully understand, but I would assume the folks at Twitter know about it all too well.

The fall of MySpace
Reports of MySpace showing a steady decline in it’s user base surfaced this week, as many people are running from MySpace and embracing Facebook. MySpace has recently been coined as the “ghetto” of social networking communities due to the unappealing layouts and rediculous page load times. Where MySpace has remained relevant is when it comes to a networking tool for musicians. Being a musician myself I have seen firsthand what is possible for bands networking and promoting themselves on MySpace. Perhaps MySpace should really target and focus on if they want to have a place in the future of social media. When bands and other entertainers embrace social networking amazing things can happen, and Myspace has helped launch a number of careers (for better or worse).

Real Time Search is still a hot topic
Real time search has been an increasingly hot topic and it is proof that the future of search will be geared more towards real time search results. Let’s face it, when you do a search you don’t want to find outdated information on the subject, most would prefer something that is totally fresh and relevant. Real time search has been revolutionized by Twitter and now many sites are implementing this concept, including Friendfeed, which is another popular networking site where you can integrate feeds from all of your different social profiles.

Integrating TV with Social Media
As more and more companies start embracing the social media phenomenon, we will see more technological advancements in the social world. One example of this is the new social network TV service Verizon is offering their FIOS customers. This application will enable users to watch TV together online and communicate with each other as they watch. The services will also be fully integrated with Twitter and Facebook as well as other user generated video sites on the web, such as Dailymotion and Blip.tv.

The lighter side of Social Media (this week)
Some of the more entertaining stories we have see in the social world this past week include a dancing bear that has been invading webcam chatrooms on Stickam and causing hilarity to ensue. The dancing bear prank was done by Ryan Perera, who thought it would be funny to invade random chatrooms for fun. The prank raised quite a few eyebrows in the social world because of how random and funny it truly was, and the folks in these chatrooms got a good laugh watching the dancing bear on cam.

We were also graced with some funny images that were a big hit on numerous social media websites and gave people some nice laughs, one being the man who cant afford beer and then we also had the humorous directions that involve a kayak. The Dairy Queen sign in this image is most definitely a huge fail on their part, but made many say WTF! Or was good for another chuckle to many others.

Here was an interesting image which shows 4 different Newsweek covers, and obviously you can see exactly why mainstream American media sucks (and the exact reason people are embracing social networks for unbiased news).

Last but not least in interesting social media stories we have the girl who was arrested for swearing during a 911 call. I’ll let the video do the talking.

Hope you enjoyed our wrap-up…until next week!

You hear the words being mentioned all the time and there are so many companies taking advantage of the social network uprising. When done properly they are finding great success with it because it gives them a way to better interact with their customers. People like communication, information, and honesty, and social networks give business’s the chance to achieve all of this by having a social presence online. A blog is becoming essential for any business and I feel that having a presence on the larger social networks is also something that will soon be necessary to keep up with the competition. So if you have not considered this as part of your marketing strategy yet then be sure to give it some serious thought as soon as possible and get yourself out there and have a face, become a resource for your niche and you will reap the benefits for many years to come.

Whether you are just a basic internet user or you are an addict you can find so many useful ways to take advantage of the social networking phenomenon. Facebook is becoming increasingly popular as a way for families to keep in touch and share family photos as well as plan events and keep other family members in the loop. I know for me personally I have connected with family and friends that I have not talked to in well over 10 years, and this is one of the many reasons that social networking is taking over the internet, and the means in which people communicate on the internet. Social networks are actually one of the leading means of communication on the web today, even replacing email in many instances. Twitter is also becoming an extremely effective means of communication and networking on the web, and with all of these different ways to connect why use email besides for private matters.

Another great way that social networks are being used is they are creating a new way for people to find jobs, and employers are finding many wonderful new employees through sites like LinkedIn. On LinkedIn you have a full resume readily available online for any potential employers to find, and you can also seek out companies that are hiring in your field by doing a simple search. LinkedIn is also a great way to network with likeminded individuals and possibly develop new business partnerships and ventures with these folks that have similar ideas. The possibilities are endless when it comes to networking yourself online, you just need to get yourself out there.

Musicians and comedians are also heavily involved in the social networking craze and bands are getting record deals left and right using sites like MySpace and Sonicbids. Social networking has changed the whole music industry because it is allowing any bands or entertainer the chance to network with others from around the world. It also allows them to easily contact promoters and clubs to book their own tours very easily, and these are the things that are helping them become known around the world. There are numerous sites where you can sell your material, and these sites all give you all the tools needed to promote your stuff, all you have to do is spend the time doing it.