Digital Week in Review: Google+, Facebook, Twitter and …Grom Social?

In this Digital Week in Review, Google users are now able to communicate with app creators, Facebook steals the top two spots for your smartphone’s most popular page of 2012, Twitter gets in touch with its intellectual side and an 11 year old creates a social media site for those who are too young to use Facebook.

Google+ Users Now Able to Converse With Google Play Store App Creators

Google Play, Google’s app store, has started to allow the makers of apps to respond to user reviews. As of November, those who were leaving reviews on current apps in Google Play, are now required to do so through their Google + ID, so that the comments would reflect the user’s real name. Using this information Google is emailing users when developers respond to their comments giving them a chance to contact developers directly. Google believes that conversations are meant to be two-sided and that this can be mutually beneficial as this will eventually yield better quality aps. Read more about this here.

Facebook Most Popular in 2012

Was Facebook your most used app on your smartphone this year? It was everyone else’s too. “Facebook For Every Phone” and the Facebook home page ranked as the top two pages in 2012. Facebook For Every Phone’s page has over 185 million likes. Aside from Facebook claiming the top two spots, YouTube was next in line ranking as third most popular page with Texas HoldEm Poker coming in at number four. To see who else ranked among the top 25 pages click here.

Can Using Twitter Make You Smarter?

Did you know Twitter has a daily contest called Artwiculate?  Artwiculate is a “twitter based word of the day competition” that will put your vocabulary skills to the test. It teaches users unusual new words while letting participants create their own tweets aimed at displaying the most creative use of that particular word of the day. However, these aren’t easy words, and posting early is a good idea if you hope to win or else you won’t rank to high on the leaderboard. Whoever gets the most votes and retweets wins! Try your hand at this clever twitter game here.

Grom Social, A Social Network for Pre-Teens

Facebook may require you to be 13 years old to sign up for an account. But what if you are younger than that? Starting your own social network was the answer for 11 year old Zach Marks, the young creative mind behind Grom Social.  Grom Social is meant for for kids 16 and younger, however, it does allow parents to create a parental account in order to keep tabs on their child’s online activity. The site impressively includes integration with Twitter and Instagram and offers lot of free content such as video games, sports and entertainment news, health and safety tips for kids who are home alone, and even tutors to help with homework.