This week's big news was Facebook releasing Timelines For Brands. Business pages on Facebook can now create a timeline just like a normal user. If it was not for this, Google's new privacy policies coming into effect on the first of March would have been this week's big story. Even if it has not gotten the same coverage as Facebook's new changes, Google's new privacy policy will probably have a greater effect over time, as it effectively allows Google to use user data from each service across their entire range of products.

Facebook Timeline For Businesses
Finally, business pages on Facebook can use Timeline For Brands. Similar to the timelines feature that was released for user accounts a few months ago, Timeline For Brands will replace the wall as it works now. A number of commentators expect that Timeline For Brands will reward businesses that update frequently and manage their communities effectively. The new visual format draws attention to both user generated posts and interaction on the business's content. For a good example of what is possible, the Coca Cola Facebook page is worth looking at.

Does Google+ Need your Attention to Win?
The short answer is no. Google+ does not need you to spend all day doing hangouts and sharing animated gifs with your circles to win. Google+ simply needs accounts. Unlike Facebook, Google is not relient on advertsing revenue generated by their social network. Their search and display advertising products are rather successful. What Google+ gives Google is more data, and this data is then used to help target their existing advertising products. So no, Google does not need your attention for Google+ to pay off, it just needs your information.

Google's One User, Many Products Policy
Now that it is March, Google's new privacy policy has now gone live. Going forward, your user data can be shared between Google's different products. This new policy will allow Google more data to use to personalise services for their users, from search history to social interactions on Google+.

Graphing the Collapse in Print Advertising
Print Newspapers have seen a massive drop in advertising revenue since the 1990's. In the USA for example, they have seen a drop from a $60 Billion high to $20 billion. While $20 billion is still a lot of money, newspapers are not cheap to run, and this has lead to dramatic cost cutting and bankrupcies in some markets.