Great Barrier Reef, Tweet shops, Murdoch and a resignation email goes viral

I think we can safely say that autumn is well and truly here. Here at Siren towers the heating is on and the scarves are out. So before you go online to find that must have winter coat, grab a cuppa and read our social media round up.

Do you fancy exploring the Great Barrier Reef but without the hefty airfare? Well look no further, Google has teamed up with Catlin Seaview Survey, a scientific research project to launch the first underwater panoramic images on its maps app. Special underwater cameras will enable you to explore six of the world’s greatest coral reefs in 360 degree panoramic vision including, volcanic Apo Island, a marine reserve in the Philippines, and Oahu’s Hanauma Bay and Maui’s Molokini crater in Hawaii. One of the project’s main objectives is to collect over 50,000 images of the Great Barrier Reef to aid future study of our oceans over time.

Are you hard up for cash this month? Why not pay a visit to the "world’s first tweet shop". Special K who are launching their new Special K Cracker Crisps have devised a clever social media campaign, where visitors to their special pop-up will be able to pay for a packet of Special K Cracker Crisps by tweeting a message about the brand. The brand manager for Special K said "the decision to swap real money for social currency in the campaign was made because the value of positive endorsements on social media sites is beyond compare".

This week, Facebook has been challenged by a furore of angry users who have accused the site of publishing old "private messages" on their timelines. The social network has responded by denying the reports and has stated that "the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users’ profile pages". However, despite the dismissal of a breach of privacy, users have continued to vent their frustration, Poppy Dinsey, owner of fashion social network What I Wore Today said "There are messages I’ve got on my wall that are most definitely private messages! From 2006 all the way up to 2012".

Rupert Murdoch has reversed an earlier decision from 2010 to stop articles from papers such as The Times and Sunday Times from appearing in Google’s listings. The newspaper mogul has ended his feud with Google, amid fears that his publications are losing influence among the public because they do not feature in the search engine rankings. From next month onwards browsers will be able to access more stories as the newspaper giant plans to lower its restrictions.

And finally, a disgruntled employee has taken his "goodbye speech" to a whole new level. Kieran Allen, Senior Account Manager at MEC Global decided to get revenge on his former boss by voicing his grievances to all members of staff in his resignation email. The email which has now gone viral on Twitter details reasons of why he decided to leave his job and accuses the manager of blocking his bonus, giving him a verbal warning for poor performance and putting him on a performance review. Mr.Allen also made allegations that his boss had "sexual relations" in the office and regularly made sexist and bigoted remarks.