Week in digital #6: Google+ brand pages, Instagram video sharing, romance and social media

This week sees Google+ launch its long awaited brand and business pages, rumour has it Instagram may be adding video sharing, how Tweet life and Klout scores are connected, romantic relationships in a social media world, Drinkify and Burberry continues its digital content endeavours.

Google+ launches brand and business pages
After waiting for what seems like forever (in digital time) Google has finally unveiled its Google+ Pages for brands and businesses, and they’re… not so different from the personal ones. Having got over the initial disappointment, we’ve had a play around and checked out some of the brands, like Burberry, that have already extended social initiatives to include Google+. With the launch Google hopes that brands will now share the vast amount of content they are churning out to create a richer experience for its users, and in turn making people use the service on a more regular basis. Google has also introduced an official Google+ Pages guide.

Key points of Google+ Pages
You can +1 a Page to show support or add them to your Circles
No Google+ Page can follow you until you follow them
Google+ Pages will unfollow you automatically if you unfollow them
You can find Google+ Pages in Google+ Search

Burberry attempts ‘mass customisation’ as it truly establishes itself as a media-content company
Social media forward brand, Burberry is making its first attempt to let people design and purchase their own, personalised version of the company’s iconic trench coat. With prices expected to start at $1,800 to $8,800, Burberry Bespoke will see almost 12 million combination, ensuring unique designs are obtainable. If you can’t afford the real thing, you can still create a design and share it on Twitter and Facebook.

Instagram to introduce video sharing?
We love Instagram (so much that we’ve run an Instagram photo competition with our sister company) and apparently the photo sharing iPhone app is now looking to introduce video sharing according to The Next Web. As these rumours excite us iPhone users, it seems like Android users will have to wait a while still to take part in the photo and possibly soon video sharing fun as there is no news on an Android app.

Tweets by users with high Klout scores last up to 67 times longer
We’re on the fence with Klout and what it has to say about your influence, but apparently a fleeting tweet may last up to 67 times longer if it was tweeted by a user with a high Klout score compared to other users. The results are presented in this infographic and interestingly tweets from users with a Klout score less than 40 actually have an identical half-life to those with a score between 70 to 75, which compares well with other studies on the half-life of sharing writes Mashable.

Romance and social media
Personally, romantic relationships and social media intrigues me as it is always interesting to see how people flirt, communicate and possibly break-up for everyone connected to them to see. Lab42 have taken the pulse on today’s relationship seekers as well as established loves and conducted a survey this October, asking 500 social network users over 18 some fairly personal questions about meeting people, cheating, communication and more.

If you’re looking for love, only 11% said ‘physical attractiveness’ was the most important trait their significant other should possess (no need to panic too much about your avatar then…), with 23% opting for ‘other’ (political views, religion, career oriented, financially stability and taste in music). Other findings show that an astonishing 75% believed there is ONE true soulmate for every person, and Facebook appears to be the preferred way to find out more about someone you’re interested in with 57% of the singles asked saying they would Facebook friend someone after meeting them.

Drinkify will tell you what to drink while listening to your favourite music
We’re all for things that can make our lives easier, and to have the hassle of deciding which drink to have when listening to Little Dragon, Casiokids or even Metallica can be such a pain – not really as the answer must surely Gin at all times! New site Drinkify aims to make your music experience a bit different, teaming up your musical taste to the best beverage along with a recipe on how to prepare it.  Not sure about the blood and cough syrup mixture for Cradle of Filth though…

Disney and YouTube signs video content deal
According to The New York Times, Disney and YouTube are set to announce a content deal worth between $10 to $15 million, which will see YouTube invest millions on an original video series produced by Disney and distributed exclusively through a brand new co-branded channel on YouTube and Disney.com.

US Starbucks launches augmented reality app for Christmas season
Avid coffee fans will know that when the red cups hit Starbucks Christmas is just around the corner (I love the eggnog latte, but I’ll let the discussion about the quality of the coffee take place elsewhere), and this holiday season Starbucks is launching its first augmented reality app – Starbucks Cup Magic – that will let customers animate their coffee cups with their smartphones. Unfortunately for us European dwellers, the app will only be available in the US, but check out this video on how it works.

Adidas launches the world’s first social football boots
Football clubs are becoming more aware of the importance of social media, and the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United are both breaking new ground in the social and digital sphere. So it was only a matter of time before brands that cater for one of the most popular sports in the world got on the bandwagon big time. Adidas has now revealed a new design that could change the playing field completely. With an on-board computer that stores data, the new boots measure speed, distance travelled and top speed. As soon as the game has stopped, the data is transmitted wirelessly to your phone, tablet or computer ready to be analysed. With top players having their own football boots sponsorships it will be interesting to see how this will impact clubs who will no doubt be eager to discover in more detail how their players are performing.

Glamour gains 50,000 ‘Likes’ by marrying Facebook and 2D barcodes
The September issue of Glamour magazine got over 50,000 Facebook Likes for advertisers by including 2D barcodes in the adverts. The codes could be found throughout the magazine and was put there to see if codes invoking Facebook would spur more readers to action. Results show a high level of interaction, proving that readers do enjoy a more interactive magazine experience.