It’s not just their news page that  BBC Internet have been revamping – following a very popular beta test, the Beeb have relaunched their iPlayer service.

Now users won’t just be able to catch up with BBC TV programmes, they’ll be able to share thier opinions of the show using the integrated social media functions.

You’ll be able to sync iPlayer up with your Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as pre-downloading shows so that you can watch them immediately after broadcast. This of course means that you should be able to instantly post spoilers for Doctor Who before the rest of your social circle have chance to watch. Although we at the FirstFound Blog would like to advise you that this is a social faux pas that could lead to you being blocked, unfollowed or worse.

The new BBC iPlayer will be available to download later this week.

Get Yourself Tested - Unlock Foursquare's STD Badge

We’ve mentioned the benefits of FourSquare before – tracking repeat customers, enticing brand loyalty, that sort of thing. But we’d not considered using the service to advertise the fact that you’d been tested for a sexually transmitted disease.

However, MTV have considered that possibility, thought it good and asked Foursquare to come up with a badge.

If you follow MTV on Foursquare and check in at a health centre or clinic, you’ll be prompted to tell your friends and followers to “Get Yourself Tested”. Do so, and you’ll unlock the GYT badge (and raise certain concerns about your health).

All joking aside, this is Foursquare’s first cause-related badge, and could hopefully raise awareness of sexually transmitted infections in teenagers and young people. If it has the sort of impact that Facebook’s Cancer Charity badges and Twitter’s Free Iranian Election campaigns have had, this could mark the start of a more charitable Foursquare service.

If you’d rather use social media to benefit your business as opposed to broadcasting your sexual health issues, check out our Social Media Advice for Businesses page, or download our free Social Media PDF.

It looks like even isolationist dictatorships want to sign up for social media sites, as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (or North Korea to it’s friends) has demonstrated this month.

The South Asian Communist state has signed up for YouTube, Twitter and Facebook – aiming to share its interests and dreams with the wider world. As you’d expect, those interests are anti-South Korea and anti-USA propaganda, glorifying the Dear Leader and dreaming of a world in which all of Korea is run from Pyongyang without American interference.

We imagine that those Tweets and status updates are going to get quite boring very quickly.

If you want interesting videos, Tweets and status updates that don’t focus on why we don’t like our neighbours, follow FirstFound on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

If you’re running a company blog (and if not, why not?), the chances are that you’ll be using WordPress.

But if you’re not using the right plugins, you’re not getting the most from your blog. So here’s The FirstFound Blog’s three favourite plugins:

Google Analytics for WordPress: Does exactly what it says on the tin. Adds Analytics tracking code to your site, so that you can monitor traffic to your blog, learn who’s visiting you, and find out which of your posts are most popular.

Sociable: Helps you harness Social Media to promote your posts. Sociable is fully customisable, so you can target as many or as few sites as you like. Although Twitter, Digg, Facebook and Mixx are a must!

HeadSpace2: If you want your blog to rank on the search engines, you’ll need to edit the site’s meta data. HeadSpace2 helps you do just that, quickly and easily.

If you’ve got any to add to our list, leave us a comment!

Google have announced that as of 14 September 2010, a selection of adverts will not be removed for trademark policy, if they meet certain criteria.

The criteria, described in detail on Google’s help pages are as follows:

Ads which use the term in a descriptive or generic way, and not in reference to the trademark owner or the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term.

• Ads which use the trademark in a nominative manner to refer to the trademark or its owner, specifically:

o Resale of the trademarked goods or services: The advertiser’s site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the goods or services corresponding to a trademark term. The landing page of the ad must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the goods or services corresponding to a trademark from the advertiser.

o Sale of components, replacement parts or compatible products corresponding to a trademark: The advertiser’s site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the components, replacement parts or compatible products relating to the goods or services of the trademark. The advertiser’s landing page must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the components, parts or compatible products corresponding to the trademark term from the advertiser.

o Informational sites: The primary purpose of the advertiser’s site must be to provide non-competitive and informative details about the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term. Additionally, the advertiser may not sell or facilitate the sale of the goods or services of a competitor of the trademark owner.

These changes will affect all ads in the UK, Ireland and Canada.

If you’re interested in an AdWords campaign, FirstFound are offering half price on AdWords set up fees. This offer won’t last for long, so take advantage of it quickly.

Users of the popular social networking site may have heard of Ivy Bean, the site’s oldest user.

Ivy enjoyed a cult following, cultivating online friendships with people like Peter Andre, Gordon Brown and Richard Wilson. Unfortunately the 104 year old passed away early yesterday, leaving the identity of the current oldest user unknown.

All of the major papers are running obituaries and memorials, but here at the FirstFound Blog, we’ve been trawling through Ivy’s collection of Tweets to find some of her best updates.

hello everybody hope you are well we have been watching the football here at the home but we dont have to any more its a shame
Ivy on the 2010 World Cup

all the staff here are my PAs but they dont employ laptop experts your right we just cant get the staff
Ivy on the care home staff

when i met Peter Andre
Ivy meets her celebrity friend

Having a chat with Gordon
Ivy meets the (then) PM

hello everybody its fish and chip day
The secret of Ivy’s longevity?

For other Twitter updates, follow FirstFound – we might not be the oldest Tweeter, but you will stay up to date with the latest SEO news.

… make sure you test your website.

When was the last time that you gave your site a quick once over? If you’re like most website owners, it could be anything from a few hours to a few years.

If it’s been a few months, then you could be missing out on leads. Changes to your website, issues with your hosting company, or changes of email address can all render contact forms and email links useless.

So what are you waiting for? Load up your website, and put your contact methods through their paces. It could be the difference between being an online success, and failing to make any money through your website.

For more SEO, website and online marketing advice, follow FirstFound on Facebook and Twitter, or read this issue’s Optimise Magazine.

Taken from The Royal Collection © 2010, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

It looks like even the Royal Family are embracing social media sites. The British Monarchy now has an account on popular photo-sharing site Flickr.

It’s not your typical family photo album, unless your idea of a typical family photo includes forced smiles and overly elaborate clothes, but it does provide an interesting look back at generations of Royal history.

From The Queen’s great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, to her grandchildren, the Flickr album encompasses over a century of British history. Unfortunately there are no memes or LOLcats included, but it’s probably only a matter of time before Her Majesty uploads a few pictures in the traditional “MySpace Pose”.

If you’d rather look at some pictures of contemporary Manchester, don’t forget to take a look at the FirstFound Flickr Account.

If you’ve read the FirstFound Blog, Optimise, or any tech/internet blog over the past few months, you’ll have noticed a recurring theme.

Facebook.

“It’s the second biggest site on the web! No, wait! It’s the biggest site on the web! It’s got 300,000,000 members! No, 400,000,000! And it’s the secret to succeeding in business!” – It’s as if bloggers and journalists have nothing better to talk about.

But today, all of that changed. Facebook passed the 500,000,000 users mark (that’s half a billion), and everyone’s been left speechless. Words have been replaced by infographics, statistics and mind-boggling numbers. It’s as if language can’t quite keep up with the sheer mathematics involved.

This will probably be a blip though, and over the next few days you can expect to see hundreds of articles using words like “world domination”. But until then, sit back and enjoy the numbers. The Guardian’s interactive map is a good place to start.