The social space online changes rapidly. Feedback stays on top of emerging media news so you don’t have to. Here are the top 5 must-read social media articles of the week of July 3, 2011.

Revamping Realtime Search

Google Realtime Search is no longer available (for now). Google’s deal with Twitter to aggregate tweets expired on July 2^nd taking much of the content with it.  Google will be re-launching Realtime search (no set time frame) and this time it will include content from their latest social media endeavor Google+. There will be a variety of sources Realtime search will pull from when it re-launches.

Facebook Announcements

Video Calling

On the heels of the Google+ announcement Facebook held a press conference to announce “something awesome.” As has long been rumored, Facebook announced a partnership with Skype. You can now video chat with your friends (one-on-one) through Facebook.

Chat

Facebook also announced new chat features. Facebook will now organize your “buddy list” based on the people you talk to most. You will also be able to participate in group chats. The really “awesome” thing is that Facebook confirmed they have over 750 million active users and that 4 billion things are shared on Facebook everyday.

Goodbye, Unlimited Data

Those who have the VeriPhone (Verizon iPhone) may want to read this. It has been confirmed that Verizon will no longer be offering unlimited data plans. On July 7th Verizon switched to new usage based price plans. Existing customers will be able to keep their current plans. However, those who switch to Verizon after July 7^th will pay $30 for 2 GBs of data, $50 for 5 GBs of data, and $80 for 10 GBs of data.

Apple App Stats

This week Apple shared their latest app store statistics, stating that “More than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store and more than 425,000 apps are available, including more than 100,000 native iPad apps, to consumers in 90 countries.”

 

-Anna (@alucas9)