My top social media news picks for the week of April 24-30, 2011.

Google’s Realtime Update

Google has added more social tools to their Realtime search feature. The new social tools added include Gowalla and Quora. Other social services Google aggregates Realtime updates from include Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, Buzz, indenti.ca, TwitArmy, and Jaiku.

Social Deals

Facebook has official launched their second deals service, Social Deals. Social Deals is akin to Groupon, whereas Facebook’s other deal service, “Check-in Deals,” works like a coupon. As Search Engine Land described,

“Check-in deals are free to users; they’re mobile centric and operate like conventional coupons. By contrast Facebook’s new Social Deals, like Groupon or LivingSocial, must be purchased up front using money or Facebook Credits (the first use for real-world products/services). You actually buy a voucher that is then redeemed offline.”

Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco are the first cities able to trial these new deals.

Sent by Facebook

The Facebook ‘Like’ button now has company. Facebook has launched a Send button, which allows users to share content privately with fewer people. The Like button allows users to share articles, news, etc. with all of their Facebook friends and the Send button allows users to send private Facebook messages to whoever they choose. Keep an eye out for this new button on your favorite websites.

White iPhone4

The White iPhone4 arrived in the Apple Store this week. After almost a year of waiting, it is finally here. The White iPhone4 didn’t appear with the black one last year because of mechanical issues. Apparently, the white phone paired with the unique glass frame was not an initial recipe for success. However, launching the white iPhone4 now may be. The newly colored iPhone4 is set to boost iPhone sales throughout the summer. Learn how Apple  “spun a tech fail onto a PR win.”

Gaga for Kate

Congrats to the Royal couple!

Kate Middleton has been mentioned around 40 million times on the internet so far this year, meaning she is the most mentioned royal in the media. She also surpassed mentions of First Lady Michelle Obama and was deemed the top “Fashion Buzzword of 2011” by The Global Language Monitor, dethroning Lady Gaga.

Today, the social buzz is even greater. The Telegraph estimated that The Royal Wedding was being mentioned around 67 times a second on Twitter and 74 times a second on Facebook, with the wedding dominating trending on both.

Use the hashtag #RoyalWedding on twitter to keep up with the royal buzz.

 

-Anna (@alucas9)