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the Free CMSWire NewsletterSocial media moves so fast, it's hard to keep up. Here are the week's top stories in scan-friendly format:
- FourSquare Goes International: Translates To 5 Languages
- HTC Launches Android Phones with Dedicated Facebook Buttons
- How Twitter's Trending Topics Originate
- How Do Small Business Use Social Networks?
FourSquare Goes International: Translates To 5 Languages
Mobile World Congress is underway in Barcelona, Spain. Among the speakers was Dennis Crowley, CEO of Foursquare. The check-in service has seen some dramatic growth lately and, in an effort to expand international growth, the company has released new versions of its application in five languages.
The latest stats from Foursquare show rapid and sustained growth. There are now 6.5 million users on the service, who generate about 2 million check-ins per day. There have been a total of 420 million check-ins and, as reported here, the company experienced 3400% growth in 2010.
The internationalized versions of Foursquare are available for iPhone and Android. If you're from outside the English-speaking world, does this make you more likely to use Foursquare, or are there other aspects holding you back?
HTC Launches Android Phones with Dedicated Facebook Buttons
Mobile World Congress is the event grabbing all the headlines in most tech blogs this week. While Android phones and tablets are catching most people's eyes, the social networking world should home in on two devices from Android phone maker HTC. The powerhouse in mobile phones has released two phones with a distinctive feature: A dedicated Facebook button prominently placed on the front of the devices.
The HTC ChaCha and Salsa are the first social phones with a Facebook button on the front. The Facebook button launches an app that allows you to update your status, share web links and post the music you're listening to. The ChaCha is an all-touchscreen phone with a 3.4" display, a 5-megapixel camera and features GPS and Wi-Fi. The Salsa has a full QWERTY keyboard for those most interested in messaging. Both phones will be available in the coming months.
An Android phone with dedicated Facebook ties is a huge step for the mobile Facebook app. Unlike regular phones that merely have the Facebook app available, the dedicated button makes the social networking aspects even more sticky. These phones will sell well in an otherwise crowded Android phone scene.
How Twitter's Trending Topics Originate
How does a topic or set of words make it to the holy grail of being a Twitter "trending topic"? HP's Social Computing Research Group wondered the same thing, and conducted a study to analyze trending topics on Twitter. HP analyzed more than 16 million tweets and queried the search API every 20 minutes to gather its data.
It's a common assumption that the frequency of tweets makes it a "trending topic." This is true to some degree, but as HP discloses, a more important factor is the specific subject and reach of a tweet that makes it more likely to be a trending topic. According to HP, 31% of trending topics are re-tweets and 72% of those retweets come from a mainstream news outlet such as the New York Times or CNN. So, "influencers" aren't driving trending topics, but rather interesting topics that are spawned by mainstream media are picked up by others on the service.
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