Social Media

Vast Oklahoma Tornado Kills at Least 91 (The New York Times)
Emergency crews and volunteers continued to work through the early morning hours Tuesday in a frantic search for survivors of a huge tornado that ripped through parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs, killing at least 91 people, 20 of them children, and flattening whatever was in its path, including at least two schools. Much of the tornado damage appeared to be in the suburb of Moore, where rescue workers struggled to make their way through debris-clogged streets and around downed power lines to those who are feared trapped under mountains of rubble.

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Report: Yahoo Will Announce Acquisition of Tumblr Today (SocialTimes)
Yahoo’s board met Sunday and agreed to acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, according to AllThingsD. The company was quickly targeted by incoming CEO Marissa Mayer as a larger acquisition target, according to AllThingsD reports. AllThingsD It’s not clear when the official vote was taken, but sources close to the board said the acquisition was a foregone conclusion and was unanimously approved by the directors of Silicon Valley Internet giant. The deal will likely be announced this morning, said numerous sources.

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Google Glass Gets Social With Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Other Apps (SocialTimes)
Soon you’ll be able to look your friends in the eye (sort of) when you log into your favorite social network with Google Glass. Google has announced at the I/O conference in San Francisco that the futuristic eyewear, dubbed Glassware, will come with applications for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Evernote, as well as publications like CNN and Elle.

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Google’s Big Push to Own Social Starts Now (CNET)
Nearly two years after the launch of Google+, Google’s social strategy looks like less of a joke and more of a calculated maneuver to make its social network the underlying fabric that weaves together relationships spread across desktop and mobile, Android and iOS. Wednesday, at its annual Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, the search company announced 41 new features for its Google+ social network, including a Pinterest-like look, auto-generated related hashtags, “Awesome” photo options, and a streamlined messaging experience.

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Google Reportedly to Launch Music Streaming at I/O Conference Today (SocialTimes)
Google will launch music streaming through YouTube and Google Play, according to reports in The Verge and the Wall Street Journal. The company, which has struggled to keep up with Apple in terms of media offerings, has reportedly signed licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, the reports said.

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Google Now Offers 15GB of Shared Storage for Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos; Apps Customers Get 30GB (The Next Web)
Google on Monday announced a change to how it offers free cloud storage to its users: 15GB will now be shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+. Previously, Google offered 10GB for Gmail plus another 5GB for Drive and Google+ Photos.

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Sometimes, tweeting can feel like you’re sending dispatches into the Internet abyss. After all, every couple days, over one billion tweets are sent across the social network. So how do you ensure that your tweets travel as far as they can? First, make sure you’re not committing one of these common rookie mistakes:

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Now It’s Possible to Comment on, Like Facebook Posts Directly from Bing’s Social Sidebar (AllFacebook)
Facebook and Bing are continually growing closer together, especially through the search engine’s Social Sidebar. Starting Friday, Bing users with the Social Sidebar can like and comment on Facebook posts directly on the site.

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YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee (The New York Times)
YouTube on Thursday detailed its plan to let producers sell paid subscriptions to their videos, creating a prominent new marketplace for programming on the Internet. The first paid video channels appeared on the sprawling video Web site, a unit of Google, Thursday afternoon, with subscription rates ranging from 99 cents to $7.99 a month.

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LinkedIn Releases New ‘Channels’ for Reading Articles and Slide Shows (SocialTimes)
LinkedIn’s front page, LinkedIn Today, has undergone an organizational makeover to make news links and slide shows easier to find. Announced Wednesday, LinkedIn’s ‘Channels’ allow members to browse, sort and follow content by category.

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