When thinking about social media, it’s often hard to consider anything other than Facebook. They’re the biggest game in town, by a long shot. Yet the social media universe is vast, which means that every so often, it’s a good idea to stop and take a look at what else is going on. Here are three key social media news items you may have missed, but should know about:
#1 – Google’s Getting Back into Social Media?
According to Digg CEO Kevin Rose, they are. Rose posted to his Twitter that he heard a “huge rumor” from a “very credible source” that Google’s launching a service called “Google Me.” It’s often been debated if Google can even compete with Facebook. Google Buzz didn’t gain much traction, and one of the primary weaknesses Google has is that it doesn’t hold a user “profile” like Facebook does.
Hence the rumors that “Google Profiles” is going to turn into this new social media service. We’ll see if Google has a chance to compete with Facebook.
#2 – The Future of LinkedIn Is Data
LinkedIn may not have the numbers of Facebook, but it is an undisputed powerhouse in professional social networking. It seems that they’re in the process of using the enormous amount of data they have on their 70 million members to provide career counseling. According to Stephen Baker from Business Week:
“Conceivably, the company could provide a service showing each one of us the paths that others took when they were in the same position we’re in now. It could diagram where those choices led. “Maybe he ends up deciding to be a high school math teacher,” Nishar says. In that case, he could find current math teachers who have followed that path and debrief them.”
This means that LinkedIn, like Facebook, could have a distinct advantage over other career sites, where users may have a résumé uploaded, but not a profile, and not the rich data that these social connections provide.
#3 – YouTube Still Backing Flash, Not HTML5
YouTube is indeed a powerhouse in the social media universe, and this week YouTube software engineer John Harding added an important footnote in the HTML5 vs. Flash debate when he posted the following on the official YouTube API blog:
“While HTML5’s video support enables us to bring most of the content and features of YouTube to computers and other devices that don’t support Flash Player, it does not yet meet all of our needs. Today, Adobe Flash provides the best platform for YouTube’s video distribution requirements, which is why our primary video player is built with it.”
You can read the complete post here, with detailed descriptions about why HTML5 doesn’t meet all those needs.
These are just a few recent social media developments that should remind us there’s a vast social media universe out there, and every once in a while, we have to stop to see what’s going on!
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