Facebook and Twitter are at the center of an ongoing battle to control the social media landscape. To illustrate its role in bridging the two social networks, HootSuite has re-imagined the two companies as opposing houses on the HBO series “Game of Thrones.” This infographic shows the major attempts of each company to block the other and prevent media from one site from crossing over to the next.
Vine has added sound and motion to the popular microblogging website, Twitter. Learn how to bring your information to life in our Vine webcast on Wednesday, June 19 from 4-5 pm ET. In this one-hour webcast, Gemma Craven (left), EVP, New York group director at Social@Ogilvy will discuss best practices for using the visual social platform and share some of her team's successful vine videos. Register here. 
HootSuite has tapped former Yammer executive Dee Anna McPherson to serve as vice president of marketing for the enterprise social media management company.
SxSW Has ‘Gone Hollywood,’ Gossip Press and All (SocialTimes)
With the absence of breakout startups emerging from South by Southwest since Foursquare in 2009, many are wondering whether SxSW has become simply a spring break for the tech set. For instance, SocialTimes received this pitch: “Is South by Southwest the new Spring Break for musicians, filmmakers and techies? If so, the most important mobile technology for SXSW isn’t a festival guide or a new text/photo app, it’s a free service that empowers you to easily obtain and privately share you verified STD status using your phone.
HootSuite today announced new options for tracking and targeting company pages on LinkedIn. Members of the professional network can follow the companies they are interested in to receive company updates, news releases, and job openings.
Mark Zuckerberg Helps Launch The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation (AllFacebook)
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg teamed up with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Apple chairman Art Levinson, technology investor Yuri Milner and 23andMe Founder Anne Wojcicki (Brin’s wife) to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation.
HootSuite has announced a new integration with Twitter that will give marketers the tools for managing their advertising campaigns on the microblogging site.
The HootSuite social dashboard now supports VMWare’s Socialcast, an enterprise social platform designed to accommodate highly-regulated industries such as finance and health, the companies said today.
HootSuite today announced the launch of its social media command center for the Super Bowl game on February 3. Previously, HootSuite followed the NFL in the semi-final AFC and NFC championship games. Through an analysis of Facebook activity and Tweets, HootSuite was able to accurately predict the winners who would go on to play in the Super Bowl, according to the company. Who will win Sunday’s game?
Most Influential People, Companies and Cities of 2012 [Infographic] (SocialTimes)
Klout, a service that ranks social network account holders for their influence, released a list of the most influential people, companies, products and cities of 2012. The iPhone was the big winner in products. And Facebook, the single most searched term of the year, was the most influential company.
As Instagram Pulls Support for Displaying Photos on Twitter, Pinterest Adds It (SocialTimes)
Pinterest recently deepened its Twitter integration, allowing photos shared on Pinterest to be viewed within the Twitter stream, Pinterest confirmed. The move came just a few days before Instagram’s decision to pull support for in-stream display on Twitter.
