Heads-up. YouTube Changes Underway.

The team at YouTube are up to something…I logged-in to YouTube today (1/2/2012) and was surprised to see a completely new look and feel, as well as more features. When I visited the site two weeks ago, it didn’t look like this. Clearly, the YouTube folks are stewing up a change. This must be in beta because under my Video Manager account, it offers me the opportunity to go back to the “old look.”

Now that the major social media players are on the cusp of maturity, we’re seeing many new layouts, features and functionality from YouTube, Twitter (back in December ’10) and Facebook’s launch of Timeline.

It appears YouTube is making an effort to increase engagement and increase user-friendliness by the looks of the options on the left navigation bar.

• Add channels
• New comments
• Subscriptions. Click on one of the channels you subscribe to and see it’s most recent activity.
• Social. This gives you the option of connecting your current social networking outlets such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Orkut.
• From YouTube: Trending, Popular, Music, Entertainment
• Suggested channels. Use this to find what you’re missing or what YouTube thinks you’ll like.

The navigation options on the left side help us find what we’re really after, whether it be trending videos, most popular videos, YouTube activity from our Facebook friends and more.

With a new YouTube home page comes a new look and feel for YouTube channels. Here’s an example from one of the channels I subscribe to, which is StyleMint. Ok ok, no Mary-Kate and Ashley jokes…I subscribe for the fashion snippets. First thing I noticed was channel subscribers can now easily interact with the channel by posting a comment in the status box (top right). Prior to the “makeover,” the status box was toward the bottom and difficult to find (red arrow in image below).

Do you frequent YouTube often? What are your thoughts on the change? More change may be coming, but I wanted this post to be a heads-up for you all!

Here’s a snapshot of the old YouTube channel layout, from MINIUSA.

#2011 Social Media Rewind

As I begin this post, we’re just hours away from January 1, 2012. What a year it’s been for us social media gals and guys. Remember when Facebook decided to deprecate FBML in Facebook Pages? Forcing Page Admins to learn iFrames…or at least try.

Do you recall when Spotify launched in the U.S?

What about the impact social media played in this year’s global events? Egypt. Japan. Joplin and others.

As you know, social media is an incredibly powerful tool for networking with friends, colleagues and industry folk. Building a brand. Trouble-shooting customer service issues. Connecting with one’s or a brand’s customers on a deeper level than the telephone or email. Most importantly the ability to make an impact and help others during distress. I am thankful for social media for many reasons and that being one of them.

Social media evolved quite a bit this year. Here’s a short and sweet recap for ya. I hope you have a great News Year’s celebration and an even better 2012!

January
Facebook decides to test adding users’ old Facebook updates in a Memorable Stories sidebar. Has anyone actually noticed old status updates on the sidebar. I think I noticed a few.

February
Twitpic launches new video-sharing feature. Do any of you use it? Or just use the video feature on your iPhone, Droid etc?

March
Facebook officially changes the look and feel for all existing Pages and does not allow the addition of new FMBL tabs. Page Admins had the option of upgrading to the new Page in February or wait till March 10 when it became permanent.

April
Did you hear of the Hootbar? Well, it arrived in April when Hootsuite acquired Twitterbar and made a Hootbar. Awww, how cute.

May
Facebook begins it’s attempt to get into the social check-in + deals arena with the launch of check-in deals to Facebook Pages; Pages that contained an actual street address. Sorry eTailers (sans brick-n-mortar stores).

June
Google+ launches and becomes wildly popular due to a curiosity factor. Invitations were scarce and demand for an account was high! Wajam launches and allows us to search the web and find content based on what our social networking friends have shared on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

July
Facebook teams-up with Skype! The social network launches new ways to interact with your Facebook friends: multi-person chat and live video calling.

August
FourSquare adds updates it’s user experience by adding Lists and Events. All your public Google+ posts now appear in Google search results…love it!

September
By this time, we’re increasingly becoming social online. 100 million people have Klout. Hootsuite acquires Geotoko and enhances it’s check-in features.

October
Google+ traffic drops, according to this study. LinkedIN now allows businesses to post status updates on their company Pages; previously businesses were only allowed to do this in their LinkedIN Groups.

November
Finally! Google+ allows the creation of Business Pages. This was great news for social media pros in all sectors of business. Augmented reality (AR) becomes increasingly popular in marketing campaigns for brands such as Starbucks, National Geographic, Disney, PBS Kids and many others. You can check-out my AR post here.

December
Twitter changes it’s look and feel in an effort to enhance Twitter search and connect with others. You can find my recap of the change here.

Avante Garde Getting Social. Examples.

Nowadays I find it unusual if a brand isn’t social with it’s customer base. With the existence of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, FourSquare and more, brands can should interact with their customers on a deeper level. During the recent holiday season you may have noticed high fashion getting their manicured toes wet in the social arena! I’d like to share some examples.

Neiman Marcus created a scavenger hunt using FourSquare  in which customers could find a Nancy Gonzalez clutch purse in 15 of its 41 stores. Customers were encouraged to visit Neiman Marcus, check-in on FourSquare and receive a message about whether a Nancy Gonzalez clutch was hidden in the store and receive clues to find it. What I fun way to engage the online audience and drive foot-traffic to the stores!

Moschino is attempting to break the language barrier and promote online engagement with its audience by encouraging them to share photos on it’s Facebook Page. Moschino created Pic Me, an app in which Moschino fans can upload photos, apply fun borders and write fun notes. This isn’t an effort to drive sales, increase foot traffic in its stores but more of a effort to promote togetherness amongst it’s global customer base.

Dolce and Gabbana launched a contest inviting its fans and their friends to submit video clips of themselves. The prize? Star in a Dolce and Gabbana branded music video! This is an innovative and modern way to get its fans excited for the brand.

Net-a-Porter’s game, “Find Karl,” is generating buzz for the upcoming launch of the Karl (Lagerfeld) collection. iPhone users play the game by tilting their phones to move a digital marble around in an effort to land the marble on five Karl Lagerfeld heads. Images throughout the game are sneak-peaks of Karl’s upcoming collection on Net-a-Porter. All gamers get a sneak-peak at the collection and the winner of the Find Karl game wins a $1,000 shopping spree to Net-a-Porter. The icing on the cake? Users can “Karlify” themselves by using the game app to snap a photo of themselves and slide a white Karl Lagerfeld wig over their head.

Have you seen other high fashion brands get innovative online? Would love to hear about it!