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.

Facebook Tweaks News Feed Algorithm Settings for Videos (Read more at ClickZ)

Facebook has announced a new update for its News Feed Algorithm, which decides what content to display and not display in a user's News Feed each time he or she logs in. This time the algorithm's update focuses on video.

Users who have shown an interest in viewing videos will see more of them, while users who have not will see fewer of them. Facebook will not only be looking at likes and shares a video has received to prioritize content. It's going to be placing a high degree of value on how long a user viewed a video.

This change is only applicable to videos uploaded to Facebook. Videos shared via YouTube, Vimeo or other platform will see no change from the algorithm update.
Facebook also noted with the announcement that video views have doubled on the social network in the past six months. This may have something to do with auto play for videos uploaded to Facebook, which have their views counted when a user scrolls over them and hovers.

Facebook recently improved video metrics, allowing advertisers to see views, video duration, viewer demographics and overall engagement with the content. These are important changes for any brand on Facebook. First, they'll want to make sure their videos pull people in because time spent matters. Second, it's worth considering uploading natively to the Facebook platform. Often times, brands want to share links to their YouTube videos, and this is understandable because that's where their video 'hub' is often located. However, Facebook has improved analytics, and these changes that can help videos get more News Feed exposure for videos uploaded to Facebook offer even more reason to have videos live in multiple places.

Twitter Tests Changes for Retweets (Read more at Business Insider)

Twitter is testing changes to how retweets work with a select group of users. The feature being tested, dubbed "retweet with comment," allows users to add context and commentary to retweets.

Using the current retweet function native to Twitter does not allow for any additional commentary. Of course, there's the manual RT @mention retweet and quote tweet option that puts the original tweet in quotation marks, but character counts for additional commentary are often limited.

The feature in testing makes the tweet being retweeted into a Twitter Card that appears with the user's comment. Moving the retweet into a Twitter Card provides a lot more room (140 characters) for commentary.

There will be a contingent of users who hate the change if it is adopted as an official feature. However, it makes retweets far more useful. After all, the real value of a retweet is in the commentary added to it. It opens up conversation and brings more value to the Twitter community. It also allows brands to encourage user commentary on their content because there are fewer restrictions with character counts.

Google Pushes for Deeper Integration at this Year's Google I/O (Read more at The Official Google Blog)

Google hosted 6,000 developers at its seventh Google I/O developer conference. During the event, Google shared a slew of new announcements for Chrome and its Android operating system, which is now being used on one billion devices around the world.

Let's get into the announcement highlights:

Google shared its upcoming update for Android, which now has more than 5,000 APIs and a more consistent design approach to make building upon the platform easier.
Google introduced Android Wear, hardware that that connects wirelessly to Android devices that you wear on your wrist. It sends you notifications like texts, and allows users to say "Ok Google" to ask it a question. The device will provide alerts, be able to send texts and perform other simple features. The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are now available with the Moto 360 coming in a few months.
Accompanying Android Wear is Google Fit, which offers a SDK for a fitness and health tracking platform. Partners taking advantage include Nike+, RunKeeper and others.
OneDrive is offering unlimited storage for $10 per month.
Microsoft Office documents will be able to be edited seamlessly with Google Docs without requiring conversion.
Android Auto allows users to connect their phones to their cars to get turn-by-turn navigation, playlists and radio stations through Play Music, voice search and Google Now reminders. All of this becomes available through in-car controls.
Google didn't forget the living room either. Chromecast has gotten an update to allow people to cast to a TV without being on the same WiFi network, change the home screen and mirror what is on your Android device.
Android TV was also announced, giving users access to apps and games, voice search and access to Google Play. This will be built into some TVs and available through a set-top box later this year.
Lastly, Google announced Android One, which brings affordable (sub-$100) smartphones with data plans in developing countries, starting with India.

One thing was clear. Google aims to be everywhere and integrated into everything. Android is already the most dominant mobile operating system. Now, it has the potential to take over the living room, car and wearable devices. Of course, it faces stiff competition from the likes of Apple, Microsoft and others, but one thing is clear. What started as mobile is going everywhere else.

YouTube Introduces New Tools for Creators (Read more at TechCrunch)

YouTube is looking to provide more support to content creators with the launch of a suite of new tools.

The Creator Studio app that was only available on desktop before is now available for Android and coming to iOS in the coming weeks. This feature allows creators to see analytics, respond to comments and manage videos. It's also going to be providing 60 frames per second video support.

YouTube creators are also getting a fan funding tool that allows viewers to contribute to creator channels. Fans will also be able to contribute subtitles to videos in various languages.

Finally, YouTube is working to offer an Audio Library that will include royalty-free audio.
YouTube's making an effort here to be more useful for its creators, and they should.

Creators are core to YouTube's long-term strategy. Perhaps, the best features are the ones that allow fans to collaborate or at least help out the creators they tune into time and time again.

News Quick Hits

Path has launched its own mobile messaging app called Path Talk. The app removes messaging from the core Path app and makes it a standalone app. Messages sent through Path Talk disappear after 24 hours. In addition to launching Path Talk, the network has removed its signature 150 friend limit and acquired TalkTo, another mobile messaging app. One differentiating feature is called Ambient Status. It uses your phone's location to automatically share it with your Path connections. It also shares what music you're listening to. Path currently has 4 million users, and it cites messaging as its most popular feature. Perhaps, developing a separate app will help spur growth and engagement. However, Path is entering a very crowded landscape of similar competitors. (Read more at Mashable)
WeChat is entering the ephemeral messages game with a new feature that allows users to recall messages sent within the last two minutes. Once 'Unsend' is selected by long-pressing on a message, the message is removed for both the sender and the recipient. The feature is currently available on iOS and will come to Android devices. (Read more at The Next Web)
Foursquare is exploring its options in charging the 63,000 companies that tap into its database. The goal is to charge less than 1% of those tapping into its database for rates negotiated on a one-to-one bases. Foursquare already has a deal with Microsoft, which leverages Foursquare for Bing. (Read more at The Next Web)
Facebook has improved custom audiences ad-targeting by allowing for multi-product ads that feature up to three products within a single ad unit on both desktop and mobile. Besides the images, each ad will include a description and click target. (Read more at AllFacebook)