Twitter’s new-look brand profile pages, which the company announced back in December with select partners, has began a larger rollout, with several major brands now sporting the redesign on their Twitter profiles.

Twitter brand pages include a customizable header image, pinnable tweets and other features… but it comes at a hefty price.

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A new study from content-sharing firm Shareaholic has revealed that the social sharing platform Pinterest, which was established less than two years ago, is now the fastest-growing site for referral traffic.

In January, Pinterest drove only a fraction less referral traffic than both Twitter and Google, and more than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

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Without the proper understanding of just how powerful Twitter can be, many people feel like they’re just one small voice trying to be heard in a very large, very crowded room. It’s frustrating when you have great ideas that you want to share, but you simply cannot be heard above the noise.

We’ve got 5 ways you can increase your visibility within your niche, and build a powerful presence on Twitter so your the one controlling the conversation rather than being lost in it.
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The City of New York is bringing criminal charges against a key member of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and as part of its case it has subpoenaed Twitter for more than 3 months of his communication.
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It’s a good thing SOPA didn’t pass, or else over 4,000 Twitter users would be facing some serious legal troubles… and, in all likelihood, so would Twitter itself.
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It stands to reason that the United States, the birth-country of Twitter, would be the number one in terms of users. And it is. By far. But new stats have been unveiled that suggest that numbers don’t mean everything, and that the US is actually behind the Netherlands (and two other countries) in terms of how often they tweet.
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On Wednesday, January 18th, 2012, tens of millions of internet users around the world protested against SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) in their tweets,  Facebook updates, emails and blog posts.

Within 16 hours of the blackout, some 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets were submitted on Twitter (surpassing the 2 million tweets related to Occupy Wall Street on November 15). By itself, the #WikipediaBlackout hashtag constituted 1 percent of all tweets made on that day.

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Selena Gomez has became the tenth and latest Twitter user to reach 10 million followers, passing the total yesterday.

Gomez joins joins Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, President Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears, Shakira, Rihanna and Taylor Swift as the tenth human, eighth woman and sixth female musical artist to become a member of Twitter’s 10 million club.

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Inside Social Apps 2012 starts next week in San Francisco. The event, held on February 8-9, will bring together the industry’s leading developers for two days of panels, discussions, and networking around the social and mobile app ecosystem.

How do developers in the industry view today’s top challenges in social and mobile apps and games? Which platforms will see the most growth in 2012, and what are the key opportunities ahead? Our event agenda looks at the industry’s biggest questions from the perspectives of those who are shaping it every day. Inside Social Apps features over 40 speakers including:

• Carl Sjogreen, Director of Product Management, Facebook
• Cory Ondrejka, Director of Engineering, Facebook
• Russ Heddleston, Product Manager, Facebook
• David Glazer, Engineering Director, Google+
• Clara Shih, Founder and CEO, Hearsay Labs
• Barry Cottle, Executive Vice President, EA Interactive

View the full program and speaker lineup here.

Early registration pricing is only $549 and ends tomorrow, February 1 (on-site price is $799). Previous Inside Social Apps conferences have sold out in advance, so register today!

The 2008 presidential election was a big deal for Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the like. Candidates flocked to social media to attract voters, and news outlets reported Twitter followers like they were poll results.

If that sounds familiar, fast-forward to 2012. This year’s presidential election will be even bigger and better on the social plane than four years ago – and the fine folks at MGD Advertising put together a comparison of how social media was used in the election four years ago and how it’s grown today.
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