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 Acquires LiveRail (Read more at VentureBeat)

Facebook is continuing to improve its video advertising capabilities, and its latest move is the acquisition of LiveRail. LiveRail is a video ad network that delivers ads for major publishers, including Major League Baseball, Dailymotion and A+E Networks. LiveRail's specialty is providing the video inventory and the information necessary to allocate media dollars. It does this by offering real-time bidding capabilities that constantly assess inventory to find the best opportunity for advertisers. It also ensures age-limited products like alcohol do not get shown to children.

LiveRail will continue running as a separate platform as the two services look to better integrate their data.

Facebook launched premium video ads earlier this year with units that automatically play in News Feeds. Now, it appears to be looking for opportunities to distribute ads beyond Facebook.com with one of the biggest video ad networks out there.LiveRail already helps advertisers get access to the necessary information to target their desired audiences, but Facebook's audience data could take this to the next level as the social network looks to expand beyond its own website to compete for ad dollars. With Twitter acquiring ad retargeting service TapCommerce and mobile ad exchange MoPub, it's clear that the social networks aim to compete with Google for ad network dollars in a big way.

Pinterest Improves Follow Button (Read more at AdWeek)

Pinterest has made improvements to its follow buttons embedded on brand websites. The update being tested by GoPro, Whole Foods, Wayfair and ModCloth allows users to follow a brand on Pinterest without leaving the brand's website. When a user clicks follow, a window displays the latest pins from the brand to provide a content preview.

Facebook has proven the power of having a ubiquitous button across the web. It allows Facebook to collect valuable data, while advertisers drive people to other social properties for deeper engagement.Pinterest is doing nothing new here. However, it is continuing to improve what it can offer retailers. With Pinterest evolving more and more every day to being akin to a product search engine, it's a platform retailers in particular can't afford to overlook.

LinkedIn Replaces Contacts App with Connected (Read more at Forbes)

LinkedIn has replaced its Contacts iOS app with a new app called Connected. Connected provides notifications about contacts that have a birthday, new job or are celebrating another milestone to remind users to reach out, network and stay in touch.Using the app, users can post public messages as well as send private, direct messages. If a user needs a reminder who someone is or how he or she is connected, he or she can tap on the card and view a micro-profile with a brief synopsis of the user's bio.

Connected will also provide contact info prior to going into a meeting for users who have given LinkedIn access to their calendars.

Contacts was launched only last year as a way to merge address books with LinkedIn data, but it was primarily used as a way for users to check-in on their networks. Connected aims to help with that by providing brief, quick updates in a more focused, streamlined way.The app helps LinkedIn with its mission, according to the engineering lead for the app Vinodh Jaharam, of making each user "the smartest person in the room in a professional context."

LinkedIn has been putting a concerted effort, much like Facebook, to unbundle its core app, launching apps for Slideshare and an app called Job Search. Plus, much like Google Now, LinkedIn is taking steps to give users anticipatory information. In other words, here's the information before you need it.

So far LinkedIn seems to be making some wise moves as each app ladders up well to its larger mission for users in terms of content, functionality and ease of use.

News Quick Hits

Twitter acquired advertising tech firm TapCommerce for $100 million. TapCommerce specializes in re-targeting for mobile apps, so it encourages users to reopen and reuse apps on a regular basis. The acquisition makes Twitter's mobile advertising capabilities more robust even though it doesn't focus specifically on building advertising within Twitter.com. (Read more at AdAge)
Google is shutting down Orkut, a service launched in 2004 that built its user base primarily outside the United States in Brazil and India. Google cited growth in Google+, YouTube and Blogger as reasons to shutter Orkut. Users can export their information through Google Takeout before the site officially retires on September 30. (Read more at CNET)
Vine has added another metric that brands and users can track beyond likes and comments. The new metric is loop counts. Users will be able to see how many times a user has watched the video within the app or within embeds. (Read more at Vine)
Facebook may be refocusing on events as one of its latest tests indicate. Facebook is testing an "Events for You" section to highlight public events on Facebook that you haven't been invited to. Facebook will suggest events based on pages you like, groups you're a member of and other contextual information. Facebook may see an opportunity here to encourage more on-site event ticket purchases. Although, no full rollout of the feature is guaranteed. In addition to event suggestions, Facebook has cleaned up the Events feed. (Read more at TechCrunch)
Foursquare's Swarm app received an update to display mayor leader boards, make it easier to share to Facebook and Twitter, improve check-in accuracy and include photos from venues. The update makes mayorships a competition among circles of friends, instead of worldwide. (Read more at The Next Web)
Facebook is encouraging more video views by adding a carousel of additional related videos to watch after viewing a video on iOS devices. The feature only suggests organic videos uploaded by users directly to Facebook. The carousel is designed to make leaning back and viewing multiple videos on Facebook as easy as possible. (Read more at TechCrunch)
Vimeo-owned video-making app Cameo has an update to help users discover new music artists. Users can discover new tracks as well as sort by genre and then preview tracks. Cameo will also promote songs that are part of its catalog throughout the app. Although, users cannot upload their own tracks, something that has invited criticism from users. In addition to music updates, users can now easily share videos over to Vimeo, receive emails with links when videos are published and view Cameo badges with select users. (Read more at SocialTimes)