This Week in Social is a weekly digest of some of the biggest stories in social media marketing news. These stories are the show notes for the Brave Ad World Podcast. Each story is discussed at a deeper level on the podcast.

Lithium Technologies Acquires Klout (Read more at Re/Code)

Fresh off of a redesign, Klout, the online influencer scoring platform and more recently content creation service, is being acquired by Lithium Technologies for at least $100 million. Lithium is a social customer experience management service used by AT&T, Skype, Sephora and others. They offer software to help brands scale their social media customer service efforts, share content, measure results, monitor conversations and more. Klout, on the other hand, has built its reputation around scoring Internet users on how influential they are, but they recently shifted their focus to provide content and information to help users improve their influence.

It's easy to see why this acquisition makes sense. Social intelligence platforms like Lithium are designed to help brands better manage customer relationships. Having exclusive access to Klout's algorithms may give Lithium a competitive advantage over similar platforms by helping community managers optimize their approach to assisting customers.

Twitter Testing Major Profile Redesign (Read more at The Verge)

Twitter is in the midst of testing a redesign that places even more emphasis on photos by enlarging profile pictures and covers to have a look very similar to Facebook and Google+. In addition, the stream is organized both vertically and horizontally in a mosaic, and tweets are much larger.

Below the profile photo users can still see the number of tweets they've sent out along with the category of photos/videos shared, which is a new addition. Users can also see who they are following, their own followers, their favorites and their lists.

The test includes a small subset of users, so there are no guarantees that this will be part of a full rollout. Twitter recently rolled out a redesign to make its Web version more consistsent with its mobile apps.

A redesign like this would certainly be an interesting move for the platform, which has acknowledged that it needs to be more approachable for the masses. Following the lead of Facebook in design could certainly help with that. However, that comes at the risk of alienating some users who are accustomed to consuming content on Twitter the way it is today. Whether or not Twitter unrolls this design or something else, we can be sure Twitter as we see it today won't be how we see it tomorrow.

Facebook Punishes Analytics Companies for Data Violations (Read more at AdExchanger)

Facebook is telling advertisers to no longer work with HasOffers and Kontagent, two services that tracked Facebook mobile app installations and app-based revenue. The services retained data for longer than Facebook permits and failed to require advertisers to notify users about data collection practice changes. The violations were discovered in a routine unit.

Advertisers using those two services have until mid-April to switch providers.

Facebook released the statement: "After working with a third-party auditor to review the practices of all our mobile measurement partners, we discovered that some weren't adhering to the terms they agreed to. As a result, we've removed a couple of our partners from the program. We take contracts seriously, and will continue to act swiftly anytime we find out they are being violated."

HasOffers chief Peter Hamilton has appealed to Facebook, requesting a second chance, according to VentureBeat.

It's a tough blow for HasOffers and Kontagent, but it is good to see how Facebook is holding its partners to strict privacy practices. After all, Facebook needs to be careful to avoid government scrutiny. Advertisers should be aware of all of Facebook's data practices and regulations prior to executing anything on the platform.

News Quick Hits

Instagram has released a physical book for select brands on how to leverage the platform as it works to ensure quality content on the platform to avoid angering its users. The book is not widely available, so Instagram is sending users to its blog at instagram-business.tumblr.com to get the tips. (Read more at VentureBeat)
LinkedIn is killing one of its most recent features. Intro, which was launched four months ago, allowed users to embed LinkedIn profiles into emails received by iPhone users. The feature allowed iPhone users to automatically see relevant information about people sending them emails. However, it drew criticism for its potential to be exploited by hackers. In addition to Intro, older versions of mobile apps will be shut down. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal)
Yahoo has announced a partnership agreement with Yelp to add local business reviews to Yahoo Search listings. The feature will be implemented in the "coming weeks." (Read more at TheNextWeb)
Facebook is allowing users to select a custom gender for their profiles. Users can choose between male, female and other. When 'Other' is selected, users can elect up to 10 gender definitions like "transgender" or "intersex." The feature is currently only available to U.S. users. (Read more at The Next Web)