This week in social media video – Google + video hangouts, Foursquare adds events, Twylah and more

This week sees Google add Google+ Hangouts to YouTube, Twitter users more likely to impact brands than any other social network, tech inspired words like retweet and w00t make it into the Oxford dictionary, new service Twylah makes it possible to create brand pages for Twitter, 44% of companies track employees’ social media use in and out of the office and is football gossip ruining Twitter?

Google adds Google+ Hangouts to YouTube

In what is being seen as a drive to boost Google+ numbers and interaction levels, Google owned YouTube has been kitted out with a ‘Hangout’ icon underneath every video. Mashable notes that this is the first step towards Google+ members being able to activate hangouts around content. This means that we can now watch cats being silly with our friend, without them having to be in the same room. Life is complete.

Twitter users more likely to impact brands than any other social network

The Next Web reports on a recent study which found that active Twitter users are three times more likely to amplify the influence of that brand than a Facebook user would. For people who are active on Twitter daily don’t stop there: 72% publish blog posts at least once a month, 70% comment on others’ blog posts, 61% write articles for third-party sites, 61% write at least one product review a month. In short, the content on Twitter doesn’t just stay on Twitter. How can brands use this information? For one brands ought to not treat Twitter like any other social network. It is a social network populated with influentials who are active online participants in internet culture, and should be treated that way. Use Twitter wisely and there is no limit to where your content could go.

Retweet and w00t makes it into the Oxford dictionary

The Oxford English dictionary is updated and a couple of tech inspired words are included in the 400 new words that have been added. These include ‘retweet’, ‘cyberbullying’, ‘sexting’ and ‘woot’. No doubt social networking sites have contributed to create a language on the net, which has in turn trickled into offline conversation. We wonder what people would have said 100 years ago – when the first edition of the dictionary was published – to the latest additions… Rather splendid we say.

Retweet Pronunciation:/riːˈtwiːt/

verb:(on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by another user). Noun:a reposted or forwarded message on Twitter

Meet Twylah, your brand page for Twitter

One thing that Facebook – and soon also Google+ – has that Twitter hasn’t is brand pages. Instead brands have to use the same account template as the rest of us. Not great for marketing your brand… Enter Twylah, a new service that lets you create one page that sums up what you’re about. Automatically selecting 20-odd of your most popular tweeted topics (you can exclude any of you so wish) to give potential followers an instant summary of what you tweet most about.

This is a great way to find out who your latest followers are and if you want to follow them back. Check out The New Web’s review here.

Social media in the workplace: 44% of companies track employees’ social media use in and out of the office

A new survey finds that 71% of the companies asked claim to have actively blocked social networks. This is a very high figure and quite odd considering how integrated social media is in people’s lives these days. The same study also finds that 44% of the companies’ surveyed say they have polices in place for use of social media that cover both in AND out of the office. While we agree that you as an employee are part of your company’s DNA and that anything you do and say online could indirectly implicate your employer, we’re wondering if this is taking it a step too far. Should your boss be allowed to “tell” you what you share and tweet in your own time? Truth is that most organisations will benefit from networked employees with possible lead generation, new opportunities, access to ‘influencers’ and more being brought to the company; so why is it that such a huge portion of companies are still actively restricting this?

Yumalicio.us makes food blogging made easy… well nearly

If you’re an avid cook and want to share your creations but can’t be asked to set up a blog on the topic, here is the social network for you. Yumalicio.us lets you share images of your dishes, add a short description, follow other users and leave comments. Negative points are that you can’t add the whole recipe on the site and there isn’t a mobile app for it yet so you still have to take the photo and upload it to your computer before loading it to the site.

Is football gossip ruining Twitter?

The football season is back and fans across the UK rejoice as they take to Twitter to talk about the games. That said the social network has been filled with tweets over the summer with transfer rumours and the saga of Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas’ move to Barcelona. As a result of this ShinyShiny asks if football gossip is ruining Twitter, and if so what can be done about it?

It is annoying when a specific topic clogs your Twitter feed for a longer than necessary. Things that I can think of right now: X Factor, Celebrity Big Brother and … Justin Bieber.

ShinyShiny offers two solutions to the football conundrum (and potentially all other listed above)

1) Create a Twitter especially for fans, whether it be football, X Factor or the Bieber.

2) Use technology to block subject-related tweets. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could simply block out any noise around a subject you have no interest in! I am currently choosing to not go on Twitter during times of #CBB and #XFactor as I have no interest in either, and my feed is flooding with tweets related to the reality shows when they’re on… Would be nice to be able to filter out so that I could still see the cool things people are tweeting/sharing even during times of bad TV.

What’s your view on this? Let us know in the comments below.

German state dislikes Facebook’s ‘Like’ and bans it among data protection violation claims

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein tells all state institutions to close their Facebook pages and remove the ‘Like’ button from their websites. Otherwise they face fines. The reason? Apparently Facebook builds profiles of both users and non-users with data collected by the Like button, which, if true, violates German and European data protection laws.

Check into events with Foursquare

One of the first location based social networks, Foursquare adds new features that allow check-ins at events, like concerts and cinemas, instead of just the actual venue. Currently only available in the US and only on the iPhone, Foursquare has partnered with ESPN, MovieTickets.com and SongKick to realise the new features. If you’re using Foursquare are you looking forward to this feature coming to the UK?

Starbucks to launch its first Facebook game challenge

Yep, it’s soon autumn holiday season in the US which means pumpkins all around. In a new creative push coffee giant Starbucks US is launching a Facebook game – a first for Starbucks – that asks its 24 million plus fans to compete to bring the holiday themed Pumpkin Spice Latte to their cities one week ahead of the official release date.

FA cup match airs live on Facebook

Friday’s “first-kick” extra-preliminary FA Cup game between non-league teams Ascot United and Wembley FC was streamed live on Budweiser’s Facebook page, the new sponsor of the cup. The 90-minute live steam reportedly had a ‘viewing’ audience of over 20,000 Facebook members which is a pretty decent first time figure. There are no reports of how much it cost Budweiser…