As the business of social media is built upon the idea of instantaneous news and updates, it comes as little surprise that the news specific to social media itself never seems to stop. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to keep up with the near constant changes in the field. In an attempt to consolidate the recent updates across major social media platforms, here is a look at what’s new in the worlds of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google+.

Facebook Video Chat, Calling & Group Chat

You may have noticed a recent change in the structure of Facebook Chat. What you may not have noticed is that the look of Facebook Chat isn’t the only thing that’s changed. In addition to being able to see the friends you interact with most, you can now engage in group chats by simply clicking on the + button on the top of your chat screen to add another friend to the conversation. With the introduction of group chat, Facebook also announced the coming of video chat and video calling. While these services aren’t available to everyone quite yet, Facebook plans to roll them out within the next few weeks.

Twitter’s Timely Tweets

Timely Tweets from Twitter are expected to make their debut within a week or two. These real time versions of Twitter’s Promoted Trends will display advertisements directly in users’ timelines. The new Promoted Tweets will appear at or near the top of a user’s timeline only once before scrolling through the timeline like a normal Tweet as a way to ensure users have access to the “most important Tweets,” according to Twitter. A limited group of advertisers have been selected by Twitter for the initial stage of Timely Tweets including Gatorade, Dell, and Starbucks. Users will only see Promoted Tweets from advertisers they are following.

YouTube and Cosmic Panda

In the past, YouTube’s minimalist design may have been something we all took for granted, but that was before the introduction of Cosmic Panda. That’s what YouTube is calling its new look. It’s a bit darker and a bit more dramatic, but that’s not all that’s changed. The new look also presents some new layout changes to playlists, videos, and channels as well as a number of new customization options. Try out Cosmic Panda for yourself, and let us know what you think. 

Introducing Google+

Google+ may be the new kid on the block, but that doesn’t mean it’s not catching on. By now you’ve probably heard the buzz around Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, and Huddles. Add the people you know to Circles to allow them to see your posts. Join Hangouts to take part in live video chats. Use Sparks to receive news and updates about topics that are important to you, and make use of Huddles to start group chat sessions via text messaging. It’s been a month since Google+ was introduced, and only time will tell what the future has in store for this budding social network.