Twitter Updates "Who to Follow" Feature, Facebook Unveils Social Inbox

November 22, 2010 | by | Category:

This week in the blogosphere we’ll review four blog posts that discuss Facebook’s new social inbox, Twitter’s newest Who to Follow feature, the vast number of marketers who are leveraging social media marketing to improve SEO, as well as marketers who are seeing positive results from email-social media integration. Below are some of the highlights from these articles:

Facebook’s Modern Messaging System: Seamless, History, And A Social Inbox

TechCrunch | MG Siegler | 11-15-10

Facebook has begun rolling out what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has referred to as a, “modern messaging system.” Basically, the social network is working to merge Facebook messages, IM, email and SMS all under one roof: a social inbox. Facebook’s focus is on text-based messaging for now, but Zuckerberg stated that the company would be open to moving into other formats eventually. Facebook’s three main objectives with this new project, as the blog post points out, are “seamless messaging, conversation history, and a social inbox.” To start, the new messaging system will be gradually rolled out to users on Facebook.com, then expanded to Facebook’s mobile user base.

Main Takeaways:

  • Facebook announced their highly anticipated “modern messaging system” this week, which will integrate Facebook messages, IM, email and SMS within one system.
  • The social network claims the messaging system will accomplish three primary goals: “seamless messaging, conversation history, and a social inbox.”

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Twitter Launches A “Who To Follow” People Directory

Search Engine Land | Matt McGee | 11-19-10

Twitter recently introduced their latest feature for locating new accounts to follow. The tool can be found among the top navigational tabs on Twitter.com, under Directory, Who to Follow or People. When selected, the tool immediately renders a list under “View Suggestions” of suggested Twitter accounts for you to follow based on people you’re currently following. To the right of this list, you’ll see 10 accounts of users you recently followed, and by clicking on each you’ll see a list of up to two other accounts related to those users that you might be interested in. Additionally, the latest tool incorporates Twitter’s “Invite Friends” email feature; links to Google, Bing and Listorious recommendation services; “Browse by Interest”; “Import Contacts”; and, “Search for Friends.”

Main Takeaways:

  • Twitter recently began rolling out their latest tool to help users find new accounts to follow.
  • The new feature offers a variety of options, with search options like “Browse by Interest,” “Search for Friends” and “Import Contacts.”

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Search Marketers Tap Social to Boost SEO

eMarketer | 11-16-10

Over 70% of marketers worldwide claim to use social media as part of their SEO strategy, according to a November 2010 study conducted by SEOmoz. The reasoning among marketers for engaging in social media marketing ranged from improving visibility (according to almost one-fifth of those surveyed) to link building (according to 13.5%). Another 53% of marketers report running a blog as part of their SEO strategy.

Main Takeaways:

  • SEOmoz reports more than 70% of marketers worldwide are turning to social media to improve SEO.
  • As many as 53% of marketers claim to use blogging as a way to boost SEO.

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What Are the Benefits of Email-Social Media Integration?


eMarketer | 11-15-10
According to a June 2010 survey by email marketing firm Lyris, 54% of respondents claimed either “somewhat better” or “significantly better” results from combining social media and email, and only 6% reported no improvement. Asked which online marketing channel performed best with email integration, 34% of respondents pointed to social media, 29% chose web analytics and 3% mobile marketing. The survey also highlighted Twitter and Facebook as the most frequented sites for email-social media integration among marketers, with Facebook integration reportedly producing best results out of all social media sites used, according to 28% of respondents.

Main Takeaways:

  • A majority of marketers report positive results from social media and email integration, whereas only 6% claim no improvement.
  • Twitter and Facebook rank most popular among marketers for email-social media integration, with Facebook selected as producing the best results among all other social media sites surveyed.

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What could Facebook’s social inbox mean for traditional email?

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this week’s summary and that you’ll share your feedback and questions with us. To get the weekly summary, or any other Optify updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or subscribe to our RSS feed. Here’s one question we’d like to hear your thoughts on:

Facebook’s new “social inbox” has been called a “Gmail killer” by some and is raising the question among others, as to whether Facebook will render email obsolete. What kind of impact do you predict Facebook’s new “modern messaging system” will have, if any, and how far reaching do you believe those effects could be?