Now You Can Check In to Events on Facebook’s iPhone App

As promised, Facebook has released a new version of its iPhone application that gives users the ability to check in to events. Version 3.4, released Monday, also now includes a map view for Places and the ability to unfriend Facebook friends in-app.

The new features, along with subtle news feed improvements and a user interface refresh for notifications, have been worked into the existing Facebook iPhone experience. Only the “Unfriend” button, a new, extended option when viewing a friend’s profile in the app, is explicitly called out with a noticeable red button.

The new event check-in functionality is housed within the events portion of the app. The app user can check in to nearby, upcoming events and tag their friends should they so choose.

Likewise, the map view for Places has been added to the Places section. Here users can toggle between “Activity” and “Map” options to view checkins in the standard list view or switch to see them on a map.

The updates make for a slightly enhanced overall application experience that pushes the user to check in to Facebook events and gives them the ability to unfriend their no-longer-wanted social network buddies.

Mobile continues to be an important priority for the company. Facebook revealed last week that 250 million people are actively using Facebook via mobile devices on a monthly basis. It released a new mobile website for all phones to better accommodate those users. Event checkins, for now, are isolated to the iPhone app.

Twitter has started rolling out a new version of its homepage, simplifying the interface and refining its pitch to potential new users.
The social media service has changed the color scheme from its traditional shades of light blue in favor of a metallic chrome look. The new homepage also no longer features top tweets or trending topics. Instead, Twitter has opted for a simple bar halfway down the screen that features the avatars of its most popular users.

There are a couple of other changes to the interface that focuses on how users interact with the homepage. The search box has been moved down, but a bigger change is that Twitter has made it easier for users to sign up or log in to its website. The “New to Twitter?” section lets users kick start the process of signing up, right from the homepage. The “sign in” area has been expanded as well.

The biggest change, though, may be the homepage’s new language. The old Twitter.com led with “Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” The new homepage has a different pitch to prospective users: “Follow your interests: Instant updates from your friends, industry experts, favorite celebrities, and what’s happening around the world.”

It’s a subtle but potentially big difference, as millions of people visit Twitter.com every day. It’s an adjustment to Twitter’s philosophy that it hopes will help it register and retain new users. Twitter is known for constantly updating its homepage in an attempt to refine its message and draw in new users.

What do you think of Twitter’s homepage? We want to hear your thoughts in the comments.

http://mashable.com/2011/03/30/google-plus-one-button/


Google is making a big new push into social with a feature called “+1” that is similar in purpose to the Facebook “Like” button, but integrated directly into the world’s biggest search engine.

Starting Wednesday, users who opt into the +1 button experiment (and soon everyone else) in Google Labs will start seeing a +1 icon next to each link in Google search results.

Google defines this action as a “public stamp of approval,” and it is exactly that. When you +1 something, your name becomes associated with that link “in search, on ads, and across the web,” according to the company. It also shows up in a feed on your Google Profile, which is required to use the product.


The move builds on a number of social features that Google introduced in search earlier this year, such as the ability to see which friends have tweeted a given link in search results. Today’s move, however, is clearly something much bigger.

Beyond showing up in search results, Google plans to offer to publishers a +1 button that lets readers +1 something without leaving the publisher’s site. Facebook has a big head start here with its Like button — some 2 million sites and counting have it installed — but Google’s button will instantly have a lot of appeal, given the company says +1 data will directly influence its market share dominating search rankings. Similarly, we have to imagine that +1 is more bad news for content farms, whose content is less likely to be shared.

In another twist, users will also be able to +1 ad, which essentially adds a “recommended by friends” component to AdWords and AdSense. as the company explains on the AdWords blog.