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Twitter Gets A Major Facelift

By Matt Grossbart

Today, Twitter rolled out an entirely new look for its website and mobile applications in hopes that the redesign will make the microblogging platform easier to use.

Twitter now has three buttons at the top of the page - Home, @Connect, and #Discover. @Connect shows who’s mentioned you, as well as provides suggestions of new accounts to follow. #Discover shows what’s trending and highlights important stories and videos.

The layout of the Twitter page has also been shuffled around - tweets now appear on the right of the screen, while user profiles, trending topics, etc. all appear to the left.

Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey said that the redesign was performed in hopes that it would make it easier not only for current users, but also more accesible to newcomers, and ultimately, into something accessible for everyone on the planet.

The Muppets and Social Media

By: Chris Kaine

It looks like The Muppets social media blitz is paying off. As of today Disney’s The Muppets movie has grossed over $62 million world wide over $58 million of that was in the US. What was one of the lagre contributing factors to this success? I would say it was their integrated social media campaign.

Over the past nine months The Muppets have been all over social media. Their integrated facebook, twitter, youtube, google+, and mobile apps campaign has been wildly successful. With over 1.1 million fans on The Muppets facebook page, and 2 million likes on The Muppets Fan-A-Thon page they seem to be making a name for themselves on this platform.

Their twitter handle is also taking off with over 75 thousand followers. The @Muppetsstudio is maned by none other than Statler and Waldorf who are always good for a laugh or two. The Muppets were also one of the first brands to join google+, and featured hangouts hosted by Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy, as well as many other stars of the new movie.

I would say that this is a great example of how a well run social media campaign can really help in keeping an older brand not only relevant but sucessful as well. Let me know what you think about The Muppets socila media prowess.

To read the full article and watch some of The Muppets viral videos click here

Flipboard Is Now Available for iPhone!

By Sofia Nasr

Earlier in the semester for my individual presentation on a new social media platform I presented it on Flipboard, which is an iPad app that takes your feeds on your social media platforms and turns it into a “social magazine”.

After saying they received many requests for this, Flipboard now is no longer just an app for iPad anymore. This week they revealed the version of the Flipboard app for iPhone.

I think what Flipboard did that is important is that while they have kept the integrity of the app on the iPhone version, they recognized the experience is going to be different on the iPhone version than on the iPad. There are obviously ways you can interact on the iPad with the app that you can’t on the iPhone just because they are each different sizes and different devices.

Many of the same features of Flipboard such as how you can interact and share from your social networks have been kept, but they did add some new features designed for the iPhone version. One of them is called “Cover Stories”. Essentially the most shared and most important stories that are on your Flipboard sections will be shown. It learns from your interaction with others and with content you talk about or follow. As quoted in the press release, “The new Cover Stories gives readers one place to catch up on some of the most interesting news, updates and photos being shared at that moment.”

Also for the iPhone version there is the feature of “fast flip”. With the iPad version you “flip” pages of your “social magazine” like you would a print magazine. With the iPhone version though you “flip” pages vertically with your thumb. Flipboard calls it “a stack of stories, posts, and images” that you can swipe through with your iPhone in your hand.

People that own iPhones that were already using the iPad version of Flipboard can now also seamlessly transition all of their content with Flipboard accounts. You can create your own account so that you can log into your Flipboard accounts on both your iPad and iPhone and have all of your content and accounts on each device.

I feel I will always be a fan of the experience of Flipboard on iPad more. However, with so many people owning iPhones the creation of an iPhone app definitely creates an opportunity for Flipboard to tap into a new market and to also allow other people to be a part of the experience.

Download the iPhone app now at the Apple App Store.

Facebook still not private

By David Hermer-Fried

After getting into trouble for unlawful use of private information a simple security flaw that allowed users to access CEO Mark Zuckerberg account and in a turn of karma see all the crazy stuff he shares with his circle of friends with out permission like pics of puppies and cookies.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9RFUCVG3.htm

Also Twitter changed its appearance.

Social Media Helps Spread Anti-Putin Protests

By Matt Grossbart

Earlier this year, social media was a key element in protests in Libya and Egypt, and now it’s helping spread protests in Russia.

On Sunday, Russia held elections which resulted in many victories for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s unpopular United Russia party. This did not sit well with voters, who accused the party of stuffing ballot boxes and employing repeat voters. Citizens venting their frustrations on social media platforms managed to connect with other like-minded people, leading to the organization of protests being set up as events on Facebook or Russian social networking site VKontakte. Although protests against Putin are nothing new, they usually draw relatively small crowds. With the added benefit of organizing online, a recent protest had as many as 5,000 participants.

Only about a third of Russia has access to the Internet, and most of those people are located in large cities like Moscow, so it remains to be seen if and how this online revolution could reach citizens of smaller towns and villages across the country. It also remains to be seen how protestors will organize when elections for President - a position Putin is vying for - are held in March.

Some Tweets Just Don’t Fly…

By Stephanie Miceli

What did Alec Baldwin do this time?

Baldwin got into an argument with an American Airlines flight attendant after tweeting he wouldn’t turn off his smartphone while waiting for takeoff.

I should mention she interrupted his game of Words With Friends, resulting in this tweet:

““Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving. #nowonderamericaairisbankrupt”

He then proceeded to send surly tweets, including “But, oddly, 30 Rock plays inflight on American,” and “United should buy Words with Friends.” He mocked the airline as “where Catholic-school gym teachers from the 1950’s find jobs as flight attendants.”

Baldwin claims he was brand-loyal to American before the incident and has never had a similar problem.

The question is, who is at fault here? Though this creates a PR nightmare for Baldwin, due to his lack of manners, American Airlines handling of the situation wasn’t ideal. After he was removed from the flight, a representative tweeted, ““Mr. Baldwin, we are looking into this. Please DM us contact information.” In a press release issued today, the airline called Baldwin “rude” and “inappropriate”- which yes, probably garners the media’s attention, but singling out someone is inappropriate nonetheless.

If there’s any good in this- at least it finally takes the spotlight off Ashton Kutcher’s Penn State Twitter gaffe.

We’ve experienced firsthand how many @replies celebs receive— with the virality of their tweets, should companies cut them a break?

by Liz Cormack

Playstation’s ‘Hall of Play’ Facebook App FTW

Kevin Butler is at it again - the marketing character used by Playstation to lead the campaign for PS3 is now honoring some of the most active and successful gamers (in other words, PS3’s heavy users) in very personalized video ads. My personal favorite is above. There is no better way to make people work harder to find success at the games than to associate heavy usage with a personal reward like this.

Now, however, Playstation is taking the personalized recognition right to where avid gamers spend the only remaining 10% of their waking moments: Facebook. Playstation has created a Facebook app called ‘Hall of Play,’ which was launched following a really great viral video in which the characters of Playstation’s top games passionately thanked the boy who played their games, Michael.

It’s a great marketing move to show such appreciation for your fans and consumers, and Playstation put it well in their announcement of the platform, which you can read here.