social networks

In the latest social media battle, Instagram has switched off their integration with 'Twitter Cards', the app used to display multimedia within tweets - meaning we're no longer treated to twitterfeeds enhanced by beautiful photography (albeit mostly of cats and food).

So why the move back to 140 characters, a link and strangely cropped images? Speaking at Le Web '12 last week, Kevin Systrom, Instagram's founder and CEO, said the decision was "an evolution of where we want links to our content to go."

All I’ve been hearing about recently is Pinterest. The pinboard styled start-up that allows you to create image-based collections of things that matter to you. A great and simple concept, and having been a member for over a month now I can honestly say I love it.

Pinterest has found its way into the hearts and browsers of millions of people. But why? Well, in the past couple of years there’s been a growing need to share things. I say need; it’s more a “want” from people. We don’t need to share any of this information, but we’re compelled to.

For a man that lists “making the world a little bit better” among his interests, Will McInnes isn't doing too badly. He's co-founder and MD of social media agency NixonMcInnes, he's a non-exec at Wired Sussex and he's spoken at TEDx Brighton about radicalising business. Only a “little”?

Internationally renowned speaker and CEO of PeopleBrowsr UK, Andrew Grill describes himself as “passionate about marketing.”

He tells me he's been an advocate for using technology to connect people for around thirty years – through the current form of social media, amateur radio and even the original online bulletin board. “We've started to call it social media in the last few years,” he says, “it's really about communication.”

If Zuck gets his way, every breathing moment will be automatically captured in a Facebook timeline. OK, so a slight exaggeration but ever more information is aggregated on social networks.

According to a recent survey from Reppler, whose service helps candidates manage their online reputation, 91% of employers are using social media to screen candidates with 67% making a decision based on the info they find, whether it's their personal triumphs to sordid bloopers.

Professionally, Anthony Mayfield runs digital agency Brilliant Noise and is the author of best-selling book Me and My Web Shadow. Personally, as I find out, he's a man fascinated by the power and scope of what he calls the social media 'phenomenon'.

Founded by ex University College London student Rich Martel, Floxx, "dating" social network Floxx is hitting the headlines. In its first day online the site managed to attract a whopping 6,000 visitors and, over the following few days, over 1,000 posts.

Pretty impressive but could it be the next Facebook?

Floxx officially went live on Jan 10th this year but quietly sneaked online a few days before that on the 3rd. Like its old incarnation Fit Finder, Floxx is aimed at students; letting them post messages online, on a public platform, about an attractive stranger who has caught their eye.

We all know that when we go for a job interview our social network profile will probably get a once over by HR or we'll at least have a Google search done on us but in the social network/job interview scenario the odds, it seems, are stacked against the candidate. 

The latest newsletter from eMarketer, that gets to grips with how social networks help and hinder job candidates, makes for some eye-popping reading.

Out of the total HR professionals polled 18% said that a person's online profile had encouraged them to make a job offer. A profile can work in a candidates favour. It can show that you're a good fit for the company, professionally and creatively, which would be tricky to determine from an interview alone.