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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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Even innocuous photos users share on social networks can have unexpected consequences for their privacy. Consider the case of the cube steak.

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On today’s social media edition of the Morning Media Menu, GalleyCat editor Jason Boog talked about how marketers are using geotagging on niche sites like Instagram and Foursquare.

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Facebook has spread itself all over the map with the help of its photo-sharing app, Instagram. Since Facebook brought the versatile photo editing and sharing tool into the fold in 2012, the platform has seen 2 million likes, comments and shares of Instagram photos. Brands are starting to experiment with the app as a marketing tool, but early use cases show that they’re not just there for the aesthetics.

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A meta-analysis of user numbers from various sources shows that Facebook is not losing users in the United States, but other markers suggest waning interest in the social network.

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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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The words everybody dreads seeing in their inboxes — “[your friend] has tagged you in a photo” — are coming to the photo-sharing site Instagram. Just like on Facebook, you will now be able to label the people in your Instagram photos by tapping on the picture and filling in the names. Don’t worry, you look amazing.

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With its Future on the Line, Foursquare Readies Ad Retargeting and In-App Ads (SocialTimes)
Foursquare is looking for advertisers to participate in its efforts to retarget ads to Web users based on their check-ins and to serve up interstitial ads in its mobile apps, according to a leaked pitch deck for advertisers obtained by Gawker’s Valley Wag. Foursquare’s latest round of funding was in loans, rather than outright investment, demonstrating its investors’ impatience with the company’s failure to generate revenue.

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John Barnett, co-creator of Bright Mango’s Wood Camera app, is a professional travel photographer and cinematographer and a contributor to Getty Images. While some photographers reject photo-sharing sites that are aimed at artsy amateurs, Barnett has embraced Instagram as an artistic and social medium. Since joining the network in 2010, he’s attracted more than 43,000 followers. Here are a few of his best tips.

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Tumblr Launches Promoted Posts on Mobile (SocialTimes)
Tumblr will begin delivering promoted posts to its mobile users as well as its desktop users, the company said on Monday. “It works very simply: Every now and then you’ll see posts from our partners as you scroll through your mobile Dashboard,” the company said in a blog post.

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