2. Google Launches New “Live Blog” Carousel: Google announced today it has launched a new publisher carousel designed specifically for live blog content. According to a post on its Google Developers Google+ page, Google is now allowing publishers to markup content with its new live blog schema.
3. With These 2 New Products, YouTube Hopes to Make the Season Bright for Retailers: After testing a pair of shopping-based products with a few select companies, YouTube is making TrueView and shopping ads available to all retailers using Google AdWords.
4. Facebook Piloting New Profile Search Feature On Profile Pages: The Huffington Post’s Business editor, Alexander Kaufman, saw the above search box that relegated the search function to a specific profile. Mashable was also able to replicate the feature, along with the specific results, and was able to confirm that this was in fact a test that was being piloted.
5. Twitter is experimenting with multiple emoji reactions: Twitter user @_Ninji noticed a feature with more reactions than just the heart. Instead, @_Ninji could access a popup menu from the icon with other emoji, including the crying face and the 100.
6. Facebook Now Using Google App Indexing To Drive Visitors From Search Into Its App: Facebook has long opened up some of its walled garden to Google, in order to gain Google traffic. Now Facebook is stepping up its search engine optimization game by implementing Google App Indexing to ensure it continues to get that traffic as the shift to mobile continues.
7. Google Revamps Google+ To Focus On Communities & Collections: Today, the search giant announced that it’s redesigning Google+ and putting the focus on two of the features Google+ users like the best: Communities and Collections.
8. Facebook launches fundraising tools for nonprofits: Facebook is testing a new fundraising tool that will allow nonprofits to host campaigns on their Facebook page. The company is partnering with 37 organizations, including the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the World Wildlife Fund, to try out the new functionality.
9. Facebook experiment will let you ‘take a break’ from your ex: Facebook is piloting a set of features on mobile that will allow you to limit the amount of content that is shown to your exes and vice versa, it announced in a blog post Thursday. The feature would allow you to see less of your former partners, without the need to block or unfriend them.
10. Snapchat Adds “Official Stories” Verification For Celebrities & Others: Not sure if you’re following an actual celebrity versus a fake on Snapchat? It can be hard given the difficulty of knowing who anyone really is on Snapchat. But the social media service is solving this with new “official” status for celebrities.