Spotify Rolls Out “Private Listening”

Music lovers need not worry about being unfriended for newsfeed spam. Spotify announced via Tweet a new feature that’ll prevent auto-publishing listening choices. The new “private listening” mode will refrain from publishing on Facebook, so long as you remain in the mode. Though you’ll still need a Facebook account to sign up, you can blast your 80s Power Ballad playlist on loop without remorse.

Lunchtime Reading Becomes Perilous with Facebook Timeline:

Yikes! One writer at Mashable noticed an embarrassing reading trend of a professional acquaintance who had also enabled Facebook’s Timeline ahead of time. While our lunchtime reading is SFW and quirky at most, it’s still not content we want to constantly push on newsfeeds. For the wallflowers, this quick how-to shows how to nip those slip ups in the bud, especially if you want to keep your passion for reading cat meme blog posts a secret.

Google Analytics Goes Real Time

Google Analytics has announced the arrival of a real time dashboard, intended to update user events as they happen, gauge the impact of channels like Twitter and Facebook, and retrieve results of custom analytics queries instead of waiting 24 hours. In addition to Real Time, Google Analytics has announced a premium tier for companies who want more support than is offered with its free service.

Facebook and Online Shopping

Some wouldn’t have thought of Facebook as an online shopping platform, but the addition of open graph and a real time News Ticker may certainly change – at least – one’s reach of influence and discovery of new products. With clearer permissions, different verb actions (think “want” “own” “saving up for”), a constant stream updating you on friends’ purchasing activities, and the ability to create wishlists, brands and users alike can create a more relevant and social method to purchasing. But first, we’d like to see what brand pages could look like.

A Visual History of Twitter

We took a minute to take in this infographic that put together a visual timeline of Twitter’s history. Numbers and percentages are always more interesting when there’re humorous caricatures to accompany them, although we noted that 5% of users are creating 75% of content. Sidenote – Ashton Kutcher is still around?

Did we miss a bit of buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation here!

In what will certainly become a smashing viral success, P Diddy, a relatively newcomer to Twitter (@iamdiddy), educates Ellen DeGeneres (now on Twitter – @theellenshow-  although at Press Time has yet to “tweet”).

In typical Diddy fashion he pronounces himself the most popular man on Twitter [112,820 followers - all #s as of 3/11 @ 5 p.m.] although Shaq: @The_Real_Shaq, [280, 948 followers], Ashton Kutcher @aplusk [290,534 followers], and non-celebrities (although arguably Social Media celebs) such as Pete Cashmore: @mashable [221,189 followers] and Kevin Rose: @kevinrose [263,953 followers - and the guy who got Ashton & Demi to tweet] have more “followers” than he does.

Whether he’s the king of Twitter or not, the trend of celebrities using Twitter as a platform to speak directly to their fans is certainly a viable (and smart) usage of the “tweeting” capabilities. In the same way that brands like Comcast: @comcastcares and Jet Blue @jetblue have communicated effective and important information and solutions to their consumers, strengthening their brand image.  Celebrities can utilize Twitter to clear up rumors, make big announcements, seem more accessible to fans, and ultimately strengthen their brand – which is what is also compelling to us as marketers and branders – the tweeter can now be the driver of their own brand message.

In the clip above Diddy butchers the explanation of Twitter calling it a “mass e-mail” which it certainly resembles, but isn’t. But the fact that he is on Ellen, explaining Twitter, and going out of his way to disclose the ways he utilizes it is what is important.  His excitement about it as a communication tool is the excitement I hope to instill in all of my clients.

I believe that we can officially say that Twitter has gone mainstream.

Note: Although I jab at Diddy’s explanation of Twitter, I find it tough myself to explain it in less than a paragraph. Does anyone have a succinct explanation they use? Do share!