Apple (News - Alert) is giving its social media department a shot in the arm, and the timing seems to indicate that big things are on the horizon for the Cupertino company. With rumors of the iPhone (News - Alert) 6, as well as the iWatch coming down the pike, it seems to make sense that Apple would want to beef up its front line of communication in the Internet age. To that end, the company recently brought Musa Tariq on board to head up Apple’s social media efforts, after serving as the social media chief for both Nike and Burberry.

During his stay with Nike, Tariq was in charge of general social media marketing for the company. He was also the one who was in charge of working with and developing social media partnerships with professional athletes. During his term at Burberry, he was in command of “strategy and innovation” for social media in the company.

Apple has a number of different forms of marketing at its disposal, but its social media efforts have been noticeably weak over the last few years. Among the social accounts, the company has Facebook accounts for iTunes and the App Store, Twitter (News - Alert) accounts for several iTunes-related services, and top executives such as Tim Cook, Angela Ahrendts, Phil Schiller, and Eddy Cue have semi-active Twitter feeds.

Beyond that, its outreach in this very important aspect of the Internet has been almost nonexistent. That’s especially troubling for a company that has never had fantastic reviews when it comes to customer service.

Tariq was directly responsible for growing Burberry’s social media presence, especially in countries outside of North America. The executive is credited with establishing Burberry’s social media personality in China and leading the social media for the firm’s charge at the annual London Fashion Show. The new hire directly confirmed that he had joined Apple using his Twitter account and adding “Digital Marketing Director, Apple” as his official title.