It appears that YouTube quietly released its major update for the YouTube Leanback. With the redesigned program, users can easily watch and control videos on a TV or big screen.

The interface can be controlled with a keyboard. For example, the arrow keys allow users to navigate across the website. Certain letter keys, on the other hand, allow users to access various functions. For example, the “G” key is for the Home option, while the “S” key is for Search.

What’s good about the new YouTube Leanback is that videos serve as the focal point of the website. Because of this, users are not distracted by boxes and menu, making the whole experience looks beautiful on a big screen.

Access YouTube Leanback on a Smartphone

Another good thing about the new YouTube Leanback is that users can access the website using their smartphone. Just simply visit the YouTube Pair, activate and name a device, and then enter a code.

After that, users can now control what appears on the screen through their handset. This includes controlling the search, playback, favorites, and other activities that take place on the mobile device. However, the TV or other screen will only house the content.

What Lies Ahead for the New YouTube Leanback

Although the redesigned YouTube Leanback is providing stellar user experience at the moment, some cues indicate that it will be rebranded soon. That’s because the website is consistently labeled as YouTube TV. In relation to this, YouTube and Google have not yet released any official statement regarding the issue.

So far, the so-called YouTube TV serves as a great option for browsing YouTube on any large screen with Web connectivity. This means that as long as a user has a browser, this option would work.

In addition, the redesigned YouTube Leanback has the most impressive UI to date. It would be nice to see the main website having the same new look.

2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates on YouTube

On another YouTube news, it was posted on the video-sharing website’s official blog that debates between 2012 presidential and vice presidential candidates can be viewed on the YouTube Elections Hub. Listed below is the candidates’ upcoming debate schedule:

Presidential

• October 3, 9 p.m. ET
• October 16, 9 p.m. ET
• October 22, 9 p.m. ET

Vice Presidential

• October 11, 9 p.m. ET

As stated on the official YouTube Blog, users can now watch “the most important events of the 2012 election on YouTube.”

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If you’re already familiar with social media marketing, you may already notice the business value of Pinterest. However, other online marketers need some convincing why they should share the same enthusiasm as yours.

Source of Inspiration

Considered as an online pinboard, Pinterest is great for finding inspiration. This could even lead to a new way on how people purchase items.

For example, when a user is planning to buy custom-painted shoes, he or she can log on to Pinterest, browse a relevant category, and then land on a product. The good thing about this is that a user can find a link that will redirect him straight to the retailer’s website instead of going to online retail platform like Amazon.

Connects You to the Visual Segment of Your Crowd

What also makes Pinterest as an ideal social media marketing tool is the fact that it uses images. It is so visual and it can attract another segment of your target audience. Typically, marketers attract audience using the power of texts, video, or audio podcasts. With Pinterest, you can attract an entirely different crowd who may have an appeal for an image.

This allows you to create and build your brand’s online presence to a new segment of buyers who may be interested with your product but may not know about it. This is possible by creating a community around the images that you pin or post to your network. This could also lead to referrals.

Showcases Your Expertise

One component of Pinterest is Boards. Basically, it is a category of the images that you pin. If you want to promote your business, you can use this feature to show your expertise.

Treat your Pinterest account as a portfolio of what you can do, the clients that you were able serve and the products and services that you provide. Aside from showing what your brand can do, it is also a great way of organizing your content, which could also inspire other users.

Requires Minimal Interaction

Unlike other social networking sites, Pinterest requires minimal interaction between you and your audience. This means that you won’t typically need a new staff to manage it. Other than pinning, categorizing, and tagging images, the online pinboard doesn’t require much managing on the comments or monitoring what other people say or do about your content.

Amplifies Your Content

If you post a visually good content, users can re-pin it to their followers, who could also re-pin it to the rest of their network. It works the same as Twitter’s retweet. Simply put, your content is shared to a lot of users, which could expand your brand’s reach.

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If you’ve been using StumbleUpon for a while, you might feel the need to revisit all the websites and content that you up-voted. Good thing, you can now walk down memory lane with the “Stumble Your Favorites” feature.

Stumbling Your Favorites

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To Stumble the sites that you up-voted in the past, just head on to the Favorites section on your profile. From there, click the “Stumble!” button on the content that previously captured your attention.

Aside from just recollecting all the websites and content that you’ve up-voted, there are various ways on how you can use the Stumble Favorites feature.

Revisiting the Old Times

As mentioned earlier, the Stumble Favorites feature is ideal for revisiting the websites and content that previously captured your attention. You may don’t look at it everyday, but it helps you rediscover the content that you used to up-vote.

Aside from enabling you to flip through every websites that you thumbed up in the past, this is also ideal for checking out the previous online sources that you saved on StumbleUpon. You want to revisit the website that you used as a reference on your previous research? You can check out your Stumble Favorites.

Showcasing Your Taste and Style

Although StumbleUpon recommends to you the best on the Web, you still have the final say in what you like or don’t. In fact, this is one capability that makes the social media website stand out from other social networks.

Whatever content you listed on your Favorites will reflect your taste and style. Consider the Stumble Favorites feature as a photo album where you collect all of your favorite websites and content. So aside from curating the content that you like, you can also use this feature to show off your taste and style to your friends and followers.

Research and Presentations

StumbleUpon is not just a social networking website, but it can also be used for research and presentations. You can Stumble! and add a website to your Favorites that gives you an idea for a team project. If you’re a blogger, teacher, or lecturer, this feature also works when you want to show off all websites and content that are relevant to the subject that you discuss.

Because of the Stumble Favorites, StumbleUpon was able to prove that it is more than a social networking site. It provides features that can be helpful for business, thought leaders, and other professionals.

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