Hello All! It is nice to see you all again on Weekly News Roundup post. This week has been pretty exciting as it started with the most anticipated Apple WWDC 2015 event. Meanwhile Instagram has changed their website design to make it more friendly. John Muller has some interesting news regarding the search algorithm and Google my business account. Twitter has also updated some of the features. Facebook and Shopify are teaming up to launch “Buy” button to the Facebook. Following are the most interested news stories of last week.
The most anticipated Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference was scheduled in San Francisco from 8th June to 12th June. The company has announced lots of new products and updates throughout the event. That includes OS X EI Capitan, iOS 9, Apple Wallet, Updates in iPad, Watch OS2, Apple Music and a lot more stuff. OS X EI Capitan is majorly focused on improving the user experience and performance. The same story with the new Mobile iOS 9 and the second version on the Apple Watch OS2. They have also made some changes specifically for the iPad devices to improve its performance and battery life. Finally, Apple has introduced the long rumored streaming music service in the form of Apple Music that also provides an opportunity for the fans to get connected with their favorite Artist.
John Mueller from Google has recently told in Google+ Hangout that Google makes thousands of updates in the core search algorithm. Since Matt Cutts went on leave around a year ago, John has been addressing the community with the technical issues. He said while answering the question on Google+ Hangout, “Essentially, this (Google core algorithm updates) is something we do all of the time. We make thousands of updates in our algorithms every year.” It is not something that webmasters don’t know. We all know that Google keeps on changing the search algorithm and user interface algorithms along with lots of other tactics to provide the optimum search experience to every user.
Jade Wang from the Google My Business Maps team has announced that idle Google My Business account for more than a certain period of time may automatically unverified by the Google. He added that they are trying to provide the most relevant information to the local searchers. Google may send a verification email to some users in certain of the cases. If they find users unresponsive to their attempt to connect them, they will unverify that specific business account. Being a business owner, if you find your account being unverified by mistake; you can contact Google anytime to restore your business account.
Instagram as we all know, is more of a mobile focused application. The majority of the users prefers mobile device to access Instagram. The company has recently changed the Instagram website design layout to provide better user experience to web users as well. The new profile page on the web has the larger images on the page. This makes the page look clean and pleasing to eye. The same design layout is applied to the Hashtag page as well. Facebook owned photo centric app has recently made many changes that to gain the attention of marketers and web users.
Yahoo has announced in Q2 2015 progress report that they are shutting down the service of Yahoo Maps by the end of this month. Though they will continue to show the map results in context to the yahoo search and several other Yahoo properties. According to the company they are closing the service for better utilization of the resource in other Yahoo Priority projects. If you are wondering that it will affect your Yahoo local business listing, don’t worry then. This change is not going to the Yahoo Business listing service in the near future at least.
Facebook is finally introducing Place Tips program to all users in the USA after the six months of the initial trial. In store visitors will get the special tips about the specific store or location they are visiting. This information includes friends’ recommendations, specialties of the store, upcoming events at the location etc. Storeowners can also put custom welcome message for the visitors. Facebook has developed a special Bluetooth device called Beacon to collect the in-store visitor’s information. They are offering this device for free to the eligible storeowners in the USA. Currently it is available for Apple users only. Android users will get “Place Tips” in future soon.
After Twitter, Pinterest and Google, Facebook is also launching “Buy” button now. Recently, Facebook has partnered with Shopify to put a Buy button in news feed. Shopify announced on Wednesday that a small group of merchants already has the access to this feature. They have also promised about the user privacy in the announcement. It is all up to users to save or not to save the payment information using Facebook buy. If you are a merchant and yet to get the invitation for the Facebook buy feature, you can sign up to show your interest. Shopify also allows you to promote your product using paid advertising.
Twitter has recently announced that they are making some changes to improve the direct messaging feature. Twitter has removed the 140 characters limit for direct message. Though tweets will be of 140 characters only, users will be able to send direct messages sometime around July. In addition to this, Company has also added a tool that helps people block more users at once. It is easy to block spam users now. Users can also share the list of accounts they have blocked and make that list available for other users as well.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has steeped down has a CEO. Twitter has tweeted the news today. The company has also mentioned Jack Dorsey as an interim CEO. Dorsey will take over the position from July 1 2015. The search for the permanent replacement for this post is still underway. Costolo will still remain the board member at Twitter. So, how much this news is important for the search industry? As new CEO taking over the company, we can expect some major changes too. Time will tell the story. But be ready for some major updates.
So, these were the all major news and updates from the last week. The Community is busy with exploring the new features and products by Apple. Twitter is also buzzing around with some serious announcements. I will catch you again next week with some more exciting news and updates from the tech industry. Till then happy surfing and have a wonderful weekend.
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