What’s New in Search and Social Media? – October 2011

Each month we take a look back to reflect on recent news in the search and social media industries. It’s that time again! The last few weeks have been hopping with news all throughout the tech industry, from Facebook’s F8 conference to the sad passing of Steve Jobs. Let’s turn our attention to some of the social media and search news you might have heard about, and some stories that might have gotten lost in the mix.

1. New Facebook Features Launched — Timeline, Subscriptions, Friend Lists

Some of the most talked about changes in the social media world recently have been Facebook’s new features. For example, Facebook overhauled friend lists to give users Google Plus’ Circle-like features — the ability to sort your friend list and decide who sees what updates.

They’ve also added the ability to subscribe to public profiles. You use the new subscribe button (like the Google Plus default “following” circle or Twitter’s follow feature) to get public updates from people whether or not they’re in your friends list.

The feature with the most recent buzz however is Facebook’s new Timeline profile format. Rather than having a profile share only your most recent updates, Timelines will essentially document your life as shared on the social network.

2. Google’s Flight Search

Google is now competing with travel sites like Kayak with its new flight search feature. Google Flight Search is designed to help you find better deals on flights. However, according to David Daw of PC World, they still have work to do as they aren’t finding as many flights as competitors and are missing pricing information for entire airlines. So you might want to give them some time before making any switch.

3. Google Plus Opens to the Public

Are you tired of having to hand out invites to friends wanting to join Google Plus? Are you sick of having to ask for invites to get into social networking tools like this one? Then here’s some good news. Google Plus has officially opened to the public. You can log into your Google account and sign up any time you want, without needing an invite.

4. YouTube’s Online Video Editing Service

If you’re a regular YouTube user, you know that minor edits and re-uploads can hurt your videos’ stats. A re-upload counts as a new video and the numbers start from zero. But YouTube is changing that with their online video editing services. Now you can make basic edits to your videos online with their tools and keep them at their current URLs. Check out the video below to see some of the video editing features available.

5. Delicious Gets a New Lease on Life

Remember Delicious from its golden days as one of the bigger players in the social media world? Well, it might have another chance. After Yahoo! announced plans to kill the social bookmarking site, two of YouTube’s founders — Chad Hurley and Steve Chen — bought the site. Can they return Delicious to its former glory? They’ve succeeded before, so why not again?

6. Spotify Offers Private Listening

Sometimes you just want to listen to music without the world knowing what’s on your playlist. Previously if you used Spotify with Facebook, your music was shared with your friends. Now Spotify lets you hide your guilty pleasures from Facebook friends with its new private listening option. Take back control and share only what you want, when you want.

What were some of your favorite stories in search and social media over the last month? Leave a comment below to share additional news or your thoughts on any of the stories mentioned above.