Platform Five – This week’s most talked about social media tools and platforms

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Keeping up to date with the latest social and digital media developments is a little easier when you subscribe to Platform Five – our regular look at the social media tools and platforms generating buzz all over the web.

This week, we’re covering some big news from two of the ‘big three’ as well as some hidden gems.

Here. We. Go.

1. Spread your wings with SproutSocial – it’s time to let you in on a secret, ready? SproutSocial is the best value-for-money social media dashboard on the planet. It’s intuitive interface, integration with Google analytics and relevant insights generator makes this a steal at $9 per month. Go get this and don’t look back! More information here.
2. Google +1 – ignore at your own peril – comms commentators like having a crack at Google when it comes to socially-influenced product developments but its latest foray might be a game (and perception) changer. Google +1 bridges the gap between human and computer-generated recommendations on the web and will soon become the standard for content endorsement across the web. You can install the +1 button on your site by visiting this link. Or, if you are still a bit confused by it all, MSN has this very simple explanation for you.
3. Tiny.ly takes a good shot at bit.ly - bit.ly has, for a bunch of reasons, been the URL shortener of choice for the majority of the social web over the last few years, but tiny.ly looks set to rock its world thanks to some slick analytics features. Give it a whirl here.
4. Myfav.es quickly becoming a favourite – like most people, I tend to spend most of my time in 3 or 4 spots on the web. Myfav.es makes this easier by arranging your favourite links for you in a simple and clean way…and you don’t need to register. Very handy.
5. Google +Like brings Facebook to your search results – With all the talk about +1 this week you probably haven’t read much about this nifty little mashup. Google +Like from Crossrider.com adds Facebook ‘like’ button to your search results allowing you to see what your friends are liking. More information here. And check out the screengrab below to see both +1 and +Like feature on a search page.

Have you guys spotted any cool tools this week?

If you have any suggestions, email them through to us or send us a link via Twitter using the #Platform5 hashtag.