Social Media News: July 3rd

Renee Hansen | @redeemed36 In this weekly post we recap the latest social media news, trends and headlines. Sometimes we’ll throw in a few viral videos because after all, it is Friday.

Twitter Testing A Tweet Translation Tool – The trendy social media site has confirmed that it is in the middle of testing a tool that will automatically translate tweets via Microsoft’s Bing search engine. The feature is rolling out slowly in select markets and is beginning with translations from Spanish, Italian and German. The feature has also been incorporated into the updated Windows Phone Twitter app.

Multitasking on YouTube with Picture-in-Picture – According to a trusted tipster, YouTube is speculated to update the site with a picture-in-picture feature, or as Samsung calls it, Multi-window mode. This will allow the user to minimize and watch one YouTube video in a small box, while searching for and playing, another in fullscreen.

Exploring YouTube's education channels – Thanks to video-savvy teachers, YouTube is beginning to break the stereotype of just having viral videos. Teachers are broadcasting lessons online--everything from biology to foreign languages--causing people to seek out the video site for more than just entertainment purposes.

Activists Looking to Boycott Facebook -- A group of conservative activists and bloggers is encouraging fellow right-wingers to celebrate Independence Day with a 24-hour “Freedom From Facebook” boycott because the social-media giant has been systemically targeting and discriminating against conservatives, blocking content, and suspending or outright banning users.

All of us hope you had a wonderful fourth of July, be safe and have a great holiday weekend!