750 Million & Counting

Sources say that Facebook now has 750 million global users. And let’s not forget that to be included in that metric users actually had to log in to Facebook within the last 30 days. No official announcement has been made as Facebook is likely waiting until they hit the 1 billion mark to release an official statement.

Social Ad Updates

Twitter:

Twitter has confirmed that promoted tweets will soon appear in the timeline and in HootSuite. This has been Twitter’s plan since they launched Promoted Tweets and the change will likely occur sometime over the next two months. Learn more.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has started incorporating user networks into ads. As LinkedIn puts it, “Imagine if we can make the advertising that you see on LinkedIn as relevant, timely, and useful by surfacing the wisdom of your network at the appropriate times.” For example, when LinkedIn serves up job postings, you will now see relevant users in your network that you could use as a direct reference. Company followers will also now be included in product/service advertisements. See two examples images below:

Facebook:

Facebook is testing a new type of sponsored story ad called “Comment Ads.” Comment advertisements will allow a brand to ask a promoted question or discuss a topic that any user can comment on.

“Play Music Together.”

Ever want to be a DJ? (Haven’t we all?) I have been testing out Turntable in Beta, a group music streaming service, and I must say it is pretty addicting. You start by selecting an avatar and then you either create or join a room (popular rooms include “Coding Soundtrack” and “Indie While You Work”.) You can play with friends and/or strangers, and while only 5 DJ’s play at a time there can be around 200 listeners per room. You select songs from a wide array of streamed music or upload your own song. But be careful, if the crowd doesn’t like your tune, they can vote it ‘Lame’ and your song will be skipped. On the contrary, if you have excellent DJ skills listeners will vote the song ‘Awesome’ and you will earn points. Points go towards making your avatar bigger and better (think Minnie Mouse to Deadmau5).  While Turntable is still working out a few kinks, it is a pretty awesome virtual dance party that is part Pandora, part social networking. Read more.

-Anna (@alucas9)