WebProNews

Tag: social networks

  • Google+, Am I Forcing This Relationship?

    I’ve been a member of Google+ for exactly three weeks today. It seems like only yesterday that I tentatively attempted a login that I was sure would fail, only to be welcomed into the selective arms of the hottest new social network on the block. What magnificent sorcery had allowed my passage? Great fortune? A glitch? Had my friend gamed the system by tagging me in a video, thus enabling my unexpected acceptance?

    Not quite. Turns out Google had just opened it up for an hour or so and I got lucky. But the fact remains, I was one of the chosen.

    Now, as more and more of my friends join and swear off Facebook for good, I find myself in a pensive mood.

    Actually, I just came across something from a few days ago that got me thinking. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner made some comments about Google+, most of them dismissing the new social network as an unwanted addition to an already full party. Apparently, he thinks that there is no vacancy in the social media hotel.

    “Nobody has any free time,” he said. Facebook is for friends, Twitter is for short messages and LinkedIn is for business. “Unlike social platforms and TV, which can coexist, you don’t see people using Twitter while they’re using Facebook, or using Facebook while they’re using LinkedIn.”

    With all do respect to Mr. Weiner, that’s an atrocious load of crap.

    I, for one, frequently use Facebook and Twitter. My tweets are cross posted on Facebook – so that I can receive feedback on both sites. Not only am I quite active in both Facebook and Twitter, but I’m trying to beef up my Google+ activity as well.

    Although I believe that it is entirely possible for Google+ to coexist with the other social networks, Weiner’s comments got me thinking: Am I forcing it with Google+?

    While posting to Facebook and Twitter feels so natural, an integral part of my daily life, am I trying too hard to integrate Google+ into that routine – knowing that it feels superfluous? I like Google+, in some ways more than Facebook. But for an early Facebook adopter (2004), can Google+ ever feel as natural?

    That long-winded introduction brings me to this: a brief discussion of things I like and dislike about Google+, now that the initial firestorm has cleared.

    I am still undecided about the entire circles concept.  When I first encountered them, I was optimistic.  I even mentioned that to me, circles felt like a natural, fluid way to categorize people in your life.  And I still believe that to some extent, but the sharing with circles is tedious in my opinion.  While I am well aware that this complaint is the ultimate #firstworldproblem, it bothers me nonetheless:  The practice of having to click multiple circles with which to share my posts is oftentimes a burden.

    In a related note about circles, some people dominate my stream. Erick Schonfeld posted on Google+ today about how Robert Scoble posts so much that he needs his own circle. This is a solution for weeding out the super-noisy people who flood your stream.

    The problem is that I find myself in the Facebook mindset where I want a comprehensive stream that includes all of my friends. I don’t want my collaborative Google+ stream to be missing anyone because I will rarely remember to click on their specific circle to view an entire separate stream of just their posts.

    On a positive note, I’ve had a whole lot of fun naming my circles. It would be improper to go into the names of some of those circles, as they are a tad uncouth. But just know that I’ve been creative.

    I like the Google+ interface. I think it is basic, clean and easy to navigate. This is so important when it comes to using it via the web. I am also a fan of the iPhone app that just dropped. Sure, it could be spiced up a little bit but the functionality is there.

    I also love the ability to share actual text posts, not just videos or links that people post – like on Facebook. Being able to do this sparks interaction and promotes comments. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Facebook eventually allows this as well.

    I’m not really using the Hangout or Sparks features. This is not to say that I don’t like the Hangouts. I think that they are simple, fun and a great option when you want to chat with multiple people at once. I also really dig that YouTube watching feature within Hangouts.

    If you regularly use those features, this point doesn’t really apply. But for me (and I’m sure many others), I am using Google+ to post videos, links, and statuses. If that sounds familiar, that’s because that is exactly how everyone uses Facebook.

    And as of right now, Google+ doesn’t do that any better than Facebook. So for a person using Google+ primarily for that reason, I find myself wondering why I should post to Google+ instead of Facebook. This might not be a conscious debate that I have in my head every time that I have something to share, but it does feel like my default still lies with Facebook and Twitter – to an overwhelming degree.

    Sure, my experience with Google+ is still in its infancy, but I wonder: Am I already too connected with Facebook and Twitter? Could they ever cease to be my defaults?

    Google+ has a long way to grow. It’s still in a beta test, remember? Once it truly integrates all over the other Google properties into the network, that might be a game changer. The world that Google+ might end up being best suited for is that of business (once business pages are completely hashed out).

    Sure, Google+ can coexist with other social networks. But for many children of the Facebook revolution, can Google+ ever compete on the level of friend and family interaction?

    [Lead Image Courtesy XKCD]

  • Banjo: New Mobile App That Hopes to Take Social & Local Mainstream

    Because social media is currently one of the hottest topics, everyone wants a piece of it. For this reason, new social sites are rising up continuously. Even though many of these new sites pride themselves with being unique or geared toward a particular niche, the majority of users are already on social giants like Facebook and Twitter. That said, it’s a real challenge to pull these users onto a new site, unless you’re Google.

    Would you make time for social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+? Let us know.

    I know I’m speculating, but I would say that these networks and a few others occupy all the time we have, and then some. Damien Patton understands this theory and believes that people are missing out on a lot of useful information as a result. In an attempt to provide a solution to this dilemma, his company recently introduced a new mobile app called Banjo.

    The app is essentially a service, or layer, that aggregates information from existing social networks. It takes publicly available information that users post on other social sites and pulls it into one single location.

    “The idea was to help all the people that are having multiple accounts, or those who haven’t even found social networks yet… find a new way to discover local or social on their mobile device in a way that is useful,” said Patton.

    To access Banjo, users do not even have to log in to the app. They can simply open the app and discover new people and places around them. Users can also make new discoveries and become a part of other places. Since privacy is always a concern, Banjo helps users customize their settings to be seen either more or less.

    While Banjo is all about promoting social connections, Patton was quick to point out that the service was not another social network. Since there are already so many networks that people have yet to embrace, he doesn’t think that they would join another one.

    “I don’t think the world needs another social network,” he said. “We’re all missing out on all the great opportunities in life because we’re not able to watch all the networks at once.”

    He believes that Banjo helps users by bringing all the networks together. He also told us that he hopes the app will take the combination of local and social on mobile devices mainstream.

    As for the name, Patton said it fit because the service is fun and fast just like a banjo.

    “It’s very unique and people are always gathered around because, wherever you are, you always have instant community, just like the banjo player,” he explained.

    Do you think this new app will be useful for social networking?

  • Google+ First Impressions

    Google+ First Impressions

    Now that I’ve finally been allowed by the grace of God and Google to join their new social network, I thought I’d quickly run through my sub-24 hour membership impressions of Plus.

    Google+ is first and foremost my third major social network. I dabbled on Myspace but it never really grabbed my attention and I’ve yet to really explore LinkedIn the way I probably ought to. But I’m pretty involved in both Facebook and Twitter, having joined the former almost 8 years ago and racking up around 800 tweets in a few months on the latter.

    So it is impossible, at the outset, to look at Google+ through entirely fresh and unbiased eyes. It is likely then to suffer comparisons to other social media sites that I am much more familiar with. Of course Google+ doesn’t have to be compared to Facebook, but when talking about it for the first time, comparing and contrasting helps.

    Are you on Google+? If so, what do you think? Let us know in the comments.

    But on first inspection, it doesn’t really suffer, because Google+ feels natural. It sort of feels like other social sites while also bringing an element all its own. Does that make any sense?

    The Stream

    For instance, as a user of Google+, your main point of entry is your stream. And yes, it does remind you of Facebook’s News Feed. In the status box where Facebook asks “What’s on Your Mind,” Google+ asks us to “Share what’s new.” From this box you can post something in plain text to those who have circled you, share pictures, videos, links and location – or a combination of those elements. A geo-tag can be added to a video post, for instance.

    Like both Twitter and Facebook, your stream seems to run in chronological order on Google+, with the most recent posts (your own included) appearing at the top. It’s hard to tell how Google+ will decide what to show me once my stream includes hundreds of people – it would be impractical to show it all. But with only about 10 people currently in my circles, my stream is filled will everything that they are doing – posts, photos, videos, links, etc.

    As far as the interaction with your friends’ posts, it works in the way you would expect. Google+ lets you comment and share the posts of the people you follow. Google’s recently unveiled +1 works in a similar fashion to the Facebook “like” button. Once you or others click it, there will be a display that you and _____ “+1’d this.”

    You can also +1 specific comments on posts.

    The share feature allows you to share everything, not just the media. On Facebook you’re unable to share your friends’ statuses, only links, videos, etc. On Google+ you can share pure “statuses.” This gives it a sort of Twitter “retweet” feel as well.

    Google+ will remind you about privacy on post that were shared with a limited audience –

    In all, the Stream is perfectly fine, if nothing revolutionary – yet. It allows you to perform the functions that you’ve come to expect from a social network. You will find that each post, whether it be a video, link, photo or other, will display the privacy level at which it was shared – public or limited.

    Privacy

    And that’s what truly feels different about Google+‘s sharing system. Whereas on Facebook you can control privacy by putting friends to predesignated groups and detailing everything that they are allowed to see and not allowed to see, Google+ lets you do that in real time.

    Every post you make comes with the decision of who to share it with – family, friends, coworkers or any circle that you’ve created. You can also share things with just one person if you’d like. There is also an overarching “public” button to share your posts with everyone.

    From what I can tell, the default selection that Google+ makes is to share your posts with your last selected group.

    Without a default group already selected to share with, the process of having to click specific circles each time you post would be truly tedious. Good thing Google doesn’t seem to have made this mistake. Although it may be better in the future for the default to be the most shared circle or your most populated circle.

    Circles

    Probably the most talked about innovation that comes along with Google+ is the concept of Circles. And from my limited experience, I really like the way they are implemented.

    There is an actual “circles” page that allows you to add and edit your circles with your existing contacts. Google+ suggests circles like “friends” and “acquaintances” but the real fun comes from creating your own circles. The drag and drop method of putting people in categories feels strangely fun. Especially if you want to relegate someone to the “d-bag” circle or “Dante’s 7th circle” as one of my friends told me he puts people he doesn’t like.

    Google+ is also constantly suggesting that you add people to your circles. When somebody adds you to one of their circles, you are immediately given the opportunity to add them back as part of the notification system. On people’s “About” pages, there is a button on the top right similar to the “add as friend” Facebook button that allows you to add them to as many circles as you see fit.

    Naturally, people can be copied to multiple circles, as sometimes a person in your life can be both a friend and a coworker (or family and a “d-bag”).

    Google+ will scan your Gmail contacts for possible + contacts as well.

    I feel like the “circles” concept is what’s going to endear Google+ into people’s hearts. Something about categorization just feels neat and natural. Plus, the circles really do help you share things with the right people.

    YouTube, Everywhere

    Since it is Google+, it should come as no surprise that YouTube is already heavily integrated into the user experience.

    First, when you choose to share a video, you are given the option to upload one, which will allow you to drag and drop the video or snatch it from your computer, or you can use YouTube’s search to find the video.

    This is a really nice touch that is going to become a hugely popular feature. Think about your Facebook wall – what percentage of it consists of music videos from YouTube? 80%. 90%. That’s obviously an exaggeration but in all seriousness people love sharing videos from YouTube.

    The YouTube sharing is smooth and easy. It even allows you to preview the videos inside Google+ before you add them to be shared. Of course, with YouTube being a Google property, it would seem silly if some feature like this wasn’t a part of Google+. But it is, and it works great.

    Although I haven’t had the chance to really play around with Hangouts yet, I can report that it is YouTube integrated as well. Your hangout party can not only video chat with each other, but can simultaneously watch YouTube videos with each other as well. I don’t think it needs to be harped upon just how fun this feature could be.

    As far as the Hangouts vs. Facebook/Skype battle goes, Hangouts does allow for group video chat while Facebook/Skype focuses on one-on-one. Hangouts also has a few features that Facebook’s video calling doesn’t have yet. These include both video and mic mute buttons and a detailed settings page with troubleshooting.

    Random Observations

    One thing I can say that I really like about Google+ is the interface. Simple and clean, the home page provides direct access to just about every feature on the site. The top bar features the photos tab, profile, circles and a search bar to find people on the network. Your stream and chat features are the only things taking up real estate on the left side and the right side features a series of suggestions like “start a hangout” and “get Google+ for your mobile device.”

    About that mobile thing – a native app is only available on Android at the time, but they say they are working on an iPhone app. The apps are going to play a big part in the real-time nature of photo and video uploading as “upload from phone” is already an option when you click to share a pic or vid.

    For Android users, just install the app and enable Instant Upload to see a stream of your photos and videos for your choosing. iPhone users, in due time, in due time.

    I’m not sure if this is just a problem for me or if it true of Google+ users everywhere, but my invites aren’t sending. Google+ is telling me that they have been successfully sent to my friends’ email addresses but they aren’t receiving them. It looks as though they are still making it tough to get in the party.

    [UPDATE: Google opened up an invite window last night. It didn’t last very long. More on that here]

    And so ends my first impressions. There are naturally other facets of the social network that I’ve failed to mention, but I’ve only had it for less than 24 hours – gimme a break.

    On first glance, I’m impressed. For people used to Facebook it will feel a little foreign, but not too strange as its setup is pretty intuitive. Is Google+ the future of social? I’m not sure about all of that, but I can tell you that even in its early stages it shows quite a bit of promise.

    Will Google+ be a huge success for Google? Can it compete with Facebook? Let us know what you think.

  • Does Twitter Need Email?

    This week, Twitter began rolling out new email notifications. While Twitter has had notifications for things like direct messages, new followers, and Twitter updates in the past, the company tweeted that it was adding notifications for when someone you follow retweets or favorites one of your tweets.

    The new notifictions may seem like a minor addition to Twitter’s services, but they do suggest that Twitter is relying on email to keep users engaged – at least on a more consistent basis. Colleen Taylor at GigaOm takes this idea a step further , saying it “could be a red flag that Twitter is trying to remedy a stickiness problem.” She writes:

    Twitter’s strategy in this department has contrasted with how often other social networking sites such as Facebook send email notifications.

    Since email notification technology is, of course, nothing new, Twitter’s decision to stay out of users’ inboxes has always seemed like a reflection of a greater company philosophy. Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams told the New York Times  in 2007 that Twitter “adds a layer of information and connection to people’s lives that wasn’t there before” and “has the potential to be a really substantial part of how people keep in touch with each other.” In an interview with NPR earlier this year, Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone said he “definitely [spends] way more time reading tweets than writing tweets.” By not sending a lot of emails for all these years, Twitter may well have been trying to prove a point: Receiving emails about Twitter activity would eventually seem just as ridiculous as getting phone calls about your inbox.

    I don’t know about phone calls about your inbox, but phone calls to your inbox seem to be fairly well received. See Google Voice.

    The inbox still reigns supreme as the premeire line of online communication. Though it may be cluttered with spam at times, it’s still where most Internet users go to check for important messages, and social networks – even Twitter and Facebook rely on it to some extent.

    Of course additional email notifications aren’t the only thing Twitter is doing to increase engagement. The company just bought the popular TweetDeck Twitter client.

  • LinkedIn IPO Expected Thursday

    It looks like professional social network LinkedIn will open in public markets this Thursday. Rumors of an IPO have been floating around since the beginning of the year. LinkedIn will mark the first major U.S. social network to go public, and will likely serve as a “barometer” for others in the future.

    According to The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, the stock will launch Thursday on the NYSE under the name LNKD. LinkedIn will price its offering of 7.8 million shares somewhere between $32 and $35. That means that their initial valuation will be somewhere between $3 billion and $3.3 billion.

    LinkedIn has already been traded on secondary markets like SharesPost and SecondMarket at anywhere between $8.75 to $31 a share.

    “We cannot assure you that the price of our Class A common stock will equal or exceed the price at which our securities have traded on these private secondary markets,” LinkedIn has said.

    At last reporting, LinkedIn had over 100 million members. In comparison, Facebook has over 600 million. There are rumors that Facebook’s IPO may be coming in 2012, and some have speculated that it could be valued at an unbelievable $100 billion.

    Another social company rumored to be in talks for an IPO is daily deals provider Groupon. After turning down a generous offer from Google ($23 billion), it has been rumored that Groupon could conduct a $25 billion IPO as early as this year.

    LinkedIn’s stock will have a dual-class structure. This means that there will be two types of shares – Class A and Class B. LinkedIn founders and early investors will have Class B shares which will have 10 stockholder votes per share. The general public will have Class A shares, with one vote per share.

    According to the WSJ, Executive Chairman Reid Hoffman will hold Class B stock the will represents 21.7% of the voting power.

    Today, AOL announced the launch of AOL industry, a media outlet that will track specific sectors of industry. It will begin with sites in the Energy and Defense sectors. It will have full LinkedIn integration to facilitate connections between news-makers in these certain industries.

  • UberMedia to Launch Twitter Competitor?

    UberMedia to Launch Twitter Competitor?

    Today, CNN reports that plans may be in the works for popular app makers UberMedia to form their own social network rival to Twitter that “could compete with that popular microblogging platform.”

    CNN cites three people who have been briefed on the plans as its source. From CNN:

    The service would seek to attract users by addressing common complaints about Twitter, such as its restriction on the length of a message and how it can be confusing to newcomers, according to these sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the plans.

    If you aren’t familiar with UberMedia, they are a California based company that develops third-party applications for Twitter and other social media. Their apps, which include UberSocial, Echofon and Twidroyd, allow users to interact with Twitter without using the official Twitter applications or the Twitter website. Many people prefer UberMedia’s interface and features to the official Twitter products.

    UberMedia has a healthy share in the Twitterverse, according to a report issued by Sysomos last month. They analyzed over 25 million tweets in one day and reported that non-official Twitter clients were responsible for 42% off all tweets. Of that chunk, UberMedia’s UberSocial, Echofon and Twidroyd were responsible for 27.4% of the tweet volume.

    There have been issues between Twitter and UberMedia in the past, as Twitter suspended UberTwitter and Twidroyd in February. The apps were later reinstated, and UberTwitter became UberSocial. In March, Twitter’s Ryan Sarver posted a message to third-party developers that warned them to steer clear of developing apps that “mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.” This message was issued in conjunction with an update to Twitter’s terms of service regarding their API access.

    It’s not likely that a new social network similar to Twitter could realistically compete with its dominance anytime soon. Twitter just reported that they were up to 155 million tweets a day.

    UberMedia does however have plenty of users who enjoy their apps, and loyal clients could move over to a new network, especially if they have problems with basic Twitter constructs like the 140 character limit.

    “Our foremost desire is to continue to innovate on the Twitter platform and bring more users and usage to Twitter,” UberMedia CMO Steve Chadima said in a statement to CNN

    Is it possible that UberMedia could build a successful social network to rival Twitter? Would you use it? Let us know what you think.

  • Facebook Will Give Your Mobile Phone, Address Info to Developers Again

    Remember last month, when Facebook announced it was granting access to users’ mobile phone numbers and home addresses to third-party developers (upon users granting permission)? Soon after, the company suspended the feature as privacy concerns quickly escalated. 

    Facebook said it had received useful feedback that they could make people more clearly aware of when they are granting access to contact data. The company said it was temporarily disabling the feature. 

    Now, in a letter to Congress (pdf), Facebook (via CNET’s Declan McCullagh), Facebook is talking about bringing the feature back. In the letter, Marne Levine, VP, Global Public Policy says Facebook is  "assessing potential additions to the permissions screen that would appear when an application requests a user’s contact information, to determine whether those additions would provide clearer notice to users regarding the information the application is requesting."

    Facebook Permission Request for User Info

    "The decision to temporarily suspend the permissions for contact information was sparked by some initial user feedback over the first couple days that the permission was offered," wrote Levine. "A key Facebook priority – indeed, one of our foundational principles – is to ensure users can exercise control over their information, and we are always striving to improve the notices we provide to users. On review of the user feedback we received in the wake of the product launch, we determined that we might be able to increase visibility of these categories of data in the permissions screen, and we decided to suspend the feature pending that review. Facebook is committed to providing clear notices to users because we know how important it is for users to trust that they have control over their information."

    Facebook says it has not decided when or in what manner it will re-deploy the permission for mobile numbers and addresses. Based on the letter, however, I’d expect them back before too long. 

  • LinkedIn Recognizes Importance of Email, Launches New Feature

    LinkedIn announced the launch of a new targeted email feature for users seeking jobs. LinkedIn members who view jobs on the service will receive recommendations automatically via email. 

    The feature is powered by LinkedIn’s "Jobs You May Be Interested In" system, and the emails include results that are personalized based on the user’s profile. 

    "LinkedIn’s job matching technology connects the right candidate with the right job at the right time to deliver high-quality leads without the noise of unqualified resumes," says LinkedIn’s Parker Barrile. "By automatically delivering personalized jobs directly to the most relevant job seekers, we’re redefining the way employers connect with talent."

    LinkedIn Jobs Alert emails

    People keeping talking about social media killing email, yet we keep seeing evidence to the contrary. LinkedIn is the premiere social network when it comes to business professionals and job-seekers, and clearly even they see the value of email. 

    It’s a simple alerts-style feature, but it’s personalized, and bound to be more effective than simply relying on LinkedIn users to check the site on their own on a frequent basis. 

  • Facebook Privacy Policy Gets “Re-imagined”

    Facebook Privacy Policy Gets “Re-imagined”

    Facebook announced today that it has started a new version of its privacy policy to make it easier to understand. I could’ve swore they did that before, but now they’re going even further. This one is relying on user feedback before the company even considers implementing it. Facebook says if users like it, they’ll consider making it the official policy. 

    This is an "attempt on what a privacy policy written for you could look like," Facebok says. 

    "It’s important to note that this draft is outside of even our regular process of notice and comment," the company said in a note. "Because we’re tackling a challenge that matters to so many people — and doing it in a way that is so different from what we’ve done before —  we’re giving you a look even earlier in the process. If people like what we have, we’ll put it through our regular notice and comment process at a later date."

    "Finally, we’ve tried not to change the substance of the policy but, in our effort to simplify, we have added some new things that were elsewhere on the site (like our help center) and have made some other concepts clearer," the noted added. 

    Facebook says the new policy should be easy to understand, visual and interactive, and should focus on questions people are most likely to ask. 

    Facebook Privacy Policy Gets A Makeover

    The company says it plans on "more innovations" with regards to privacy in the coming months, but would not get into specifics.

  • Is Blogging Really in Danger Because of Social Networks?

    Here we go again with another one of those silly social media vs. blogs debates. The New York Times stirred the pot this time with an article called, "Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter."

    Can you imagine ever reading only social media updates and no blogs? Share your thoughts.

    "Blogs were once the outlet of choice for people who wanted to express themselves online. But with the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter," writes Verne G. Kopytoff. "They are losing their allure for many people — particularly the younger generation."

    WebProNewsIs blogging on the decline thanks to social networks?17 hours ago 4 likes 12 comments

    This idea that blogs are dying has been around practically as long as either Facebook or Twitter, and it almost always gets dismissed as a ridiculous notion.

    WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg took some issue with the piece: "The title was probably written by an editor, not the author, because as soon as the article gets past the two token teenagers who tumble and Facebook instead of blogging, the stats show all the major blogging services growing — even Blogger whose global ‘unique visitors rose 9 percent, to 323 million,’ meaning it grew about 6 Foursquares last year alone. (In the same timeframe WordPress.com grew about 80 million uniques according to Quantcast.)"

    In fact, in 2010, WordPress had over 6 million new blogs created in 2010, and pageviews were up by 53%.

    The New York Times itself even has a whole directory of blogs:

    New York Times Blog Directory

    "Blogging has legs — it’s been growing now for more than a decade, but it’s not a ‘new thing’ anymore," says Mullenweg. "Underneath the data in the article there’s an interesting super-trend that the Times misses: people of all ages are becoming more and more comfortable publishing online."

    Major web content forces like AOL and Demand Media recognize the power of blogs. AOL is buying them, and Demand recently launched a blog syndication program. 

    As is established every time this debate comes up, blogging and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter complement one another. End of story. Without blogs, people would have less interesting content to share on Facebook and Twitter. Without Facebook and Twitter, bloggers would have a harder time getting the readers. 

    Kopytoff does make a critical point, however. The lines aren’t always crystal clear about what is truly "blogging" and what isn’t. Even Twitter use is often called "microblogging". 

    "The blurring of lines is readily apparent among users of Tumblr," says Kopytoff. "Although Tumblr calls itself a blogging service, many of its users are unaware of the description and do not consider themselves bloggers — raising the possibility that the decline in blogging by the younger generation is merely a semantic issue."

    People blog on Facebook all the time too. They call them "notes". No matter where it’s happening, blogging is not going away. You can call it what you want, but people will continue to put their thoughts into words and publish them online. Sometimes, they’ll even do it in more than 140 characters. Some people even think Twitter should expand their character limit.

    Are you blogging less because of Facebook and Twitter? Let us know. 

     

  • Facebook Continues to Improve in Search

    I wrote an article a couple months ago, asking: What if Facebook goes search while Google struggles to go social? I looked at some of the things Facebook has done related to search, and made the case that the social networking giant has a lot of potential for becoming a bigger player in search in general. 

    Now, they’re making more adjustments to Facebook’s internal search feature, which make it more useful. They’ve started separating the results that appear automatically into different sections. This includes things like: People, Pages, Apps, Groups, Shared Links, etc. 

    Facebook Search Update Separates Categories

    Google is in the process of rolling out a significant update to its social search feature, throwing social results into the mix (as opposed to separate at the bottom of the SERP). A glaring hole in Google’s offering, however, is a lack of Facebook data – arguably the most important social data there is, given that Facebook has so many more users than any other social network. It would be nice to see articles "liked" and shared by Facebook friends in Google’s results (luckily Wajam adds some Facebook data to your Google results if you install a browser extension). 

    Last fall, Facebook started adding "liked" articles to the search results. "Consistent with how we treat other Open Graph object types, we’ve introduced the ability to see articles shared by your friends in the search typeahead," said Facebook’s Namita Gupta.  "For instance, if your friend clicks ‘Like’ on an article at a news site, the article will appear in your News Feed and can now also surface in the search typeahead."

    Now, with "shared Links" they’re organized better, and often appear above other results.

    Facebook has the strongest collection of person-to-person interactions on the entire web. You’d be hard pressed to find many authoritative sites that don’t have some kind of Facebook integration, even if it’s just "like" buttons. As long as Google doesn’t provides this information in search results, it’s never going to be as good as it could be. 

    This is one reason why Facebook is a potentially dangerous opponent of Google’s. To reiterate points made in my previous article, it’s not that far-fetched to see Facebook put more emphasis on search the way Twitter did, and Facebook already uses Bing for web results, and could easily fill in the gaps with those results. Bing has no qualms about supplying search results to other major search engines through the back-end (see Yahoo deal). What if Facebook just became a real search engine competitor – instantly personalized, with some sections powered by Bing. They’ve already pushed for users to make Facebook their home page. 

    Let’s also not forget that Facebook recently acquired search company Chai Labs (founded by a former Google exec), and has stolen many Google employees away.  Also remember that Facebook has also been encouraging the addition of different types of information to be added to its internal network with things like Facebook Questions and Wikipedia-like community pages. In time, Facebook Places (combined with Bing Mpas) could evolve to power some powerful local results too.

    And you never know what future acquisitions Facebook might make, which could play their own roles. 

    Should Google be nervous? Tell us what you think. 

  • A Closer Look at Facebook Pages Changes

    A Closer Look at Facebook Pages Changes

    Maybe you remember a couple of months ago when Facebook accidentally rolled out some changes to fan pages, giving all of us a sneak peek of what was to come. Well, now those changes are actually here.

    Throughout the day, I manage and monitor multiple fan pages. I just received a notification at the top of the screen to "preview" or "upgrade" to the new style of fan pages. Upon clicking "preview," I was given a very useful tour of the changes that Facebook accidentally shocked us with two months ago.

    And now I will give you that same tour with some explanations and  interjections along the way.

    1. Facebook Photos Change

    Fan pages will now feature the most recent pictures in a bar across the top of the page just like new individual profiles. This bar will feature the photos added to the wall by the admin or any photo that tags the fan page.

    The fan pages that we monitor often receive irrelevant or spam-like photos in the "Fan Photos" section of our page. The good news is that these pictures will not be featured in the bar at the top of the page. Also, as it stands now, individuals cannot tag a fan page in a photo, which prevents spammers from simply tagging multiple fan pages in a picture and as a result, receiving the most prominent space on those pages. I’m glad that Facebook anticipated these issues and prevented this new feature from becoming a spam fest that all admins would have to monitor carefully.

    2. Facebook Navigation Change

    A big change to the overall format of the fan page is the location of tabs, which are often where we and other marketers host campaigns and special features of the page. Instead of being located at the top bar of the page, these tabs are now available below the profile picture of the page. These tabs now feature an accompanying icon; it will be interesting to see if these icons will be customizable in the future.

    Developers are thrilled with the updated model for building apps on Pages announced today, which brought the introduction of iFrames to pages. According to Facebook, "this means you can now build apps that run across Facebook (including Pages and Canvas applications) using the same simple, standards-based web programming model (HTML, JavaScript, and CSS). In addition, you can easily integrate social plugins and the Graph API within your tab." Basically, developers now have much more freedom in tab creation and greater potential for interaction among fans.

    One negative of this new tab location is a less prime real estate position on the page. It will be interesting to compare traffic to these tabs before and after this switch. Also, just as with individual profiles, there is no longer an "info box" displayed below the profile picture.

    3. Facebook Wall Filters Change

    This new feature is one that I have a problem with as the moderator of a page. Now, instead of posts appearing on the page in chronological order, it seems as if "top posts" and "the most interesting stories" will appear first. These top posts are determined by the number of interactions, which translates to likes and comments. This could make monitoring comments a nightmare because the spam could be hiding at the bottom of the page or it could be displayed prominently if it happens to attract comments and likes from fans. Moderators will have to regularly check deep into the page to ensure that spam or profanities aren’t lurking on the page somewhere instead of simply checking the most recent comments at regular intervals.

    Fortunately, admins can still choose a default landing of either "Everyone" or just posts from the admin. By selecting a default landing of admin posts only, moderators can help eliminate the potential prominence of spam.

    Luckily, Facebook also has a new feature, a moderation blocklist, in the works to block spam and profanities. Using this blocklist, admins can choose strong filters, medium filters, or none at all. Admins are not allowed to see the words or types of spam associated with each filter. However, admins can tailor the filters by "unmarking" spam that automatically goes into the Spam filter. This Spam filter was instituted in October 2010; it currently catches recognizable spam and places it into a filter only available for admins to view.

    4. Facebook Admin View Change

    This is the most interesting change for me. Before the switch, an admin could interact as the brand page ONLY on the page itself through comments and wall posts. Now it appears as though admins can log into Facebook as the fan page, which now opens up the possibility for the brand page to interact in the following ways:

    • Get notifications when fans interact with your page or posts
    • See activity from the pages you like in your news feed
    • Like other pages and feature them on your page
    • Make comments as your page on other pages

    Basically, these changes give the branded page a bigger voice on Facebook by allowing them to interact with other pages through likes and comments. The first bullet point above is an interesting one, though. For pages with a lower number of fans, these notifications will be helpful so that admins can receive a quick reminder and remain active on the page without having to check for comments and interactions throughout the day. However, for pages with a large fan base, these notifications would come in overwhelming numbers, making this "helpful reminder" into an overload of notifications. Can you imagine getting about 500 notifications within 10 minutes of posting a comment?

    5. Facebook Settings Change

    This change is not too exciting – just a new location for managing admin controls and certain features of the fan page.

    Facebook is now allowing admins to preview this feature for the next 4 weeks, but these changes will become mandatory on all pages starting March 10, 2011. Admins should note that after opting to the new version, they will not be able to revert back to the previous version.

    Originally published on IgniteSocialMedia.com

  • Who Is Using Facebook & Twitter in the US?

    According to Comscore data of U.S. users, Facebook saw its share of visitors between the ages of 35-54 drop 3.6% to 35.4%, while the share of visitors under 18 (up 1.2 to 11.1% and age 55 and older (up 1.9 to 13.2%) made the biggest gains. Twitter saw a 9.4%t gain in the share of 18-34 year olds visiting the site while those under 18 use fell 8 points to 9.5%.  Here’s the chart:

    Originally published on HypeBot.com

  • LinkedIn Launches “Skills” Product in Beta

    LinkedIn Launches “Skills” Product in Beta

    LinkedIn announced a new product today called LinkedIn Skills, which is designed to show areas of expertise, and who has the skills in these areas. 

    So, for example, you can search for iPhone and find out who on LinkedIn is skilled in this area. You will find John Geleynse, Director, Technology Evangelism at Apple, other Apple execs, Evan Dollm Cofounder at Flipboard, etc. The usefulness seems rather limited at this point unless you’re looking to recruit some pretty high profile people, but the product is in beta. If you’re looking for top writers, your top options are apparently Barack Obama and Chris Brogan.

    Of course LinkedIn isn’t just about jobs. It’s about networking. 

    "With today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, LinkedIn is offering the unique ability to pinpoint top experts for a particular skill set, in addition to providing relevant and actionable insights about trending skills that can help professionals manage their careers," said DJ Patil, LinkedIn’s chief scientist. "Through LinkedIn Skills we believe we have a whole new way of understanding the landscape of skills – who has them and how they are changing over time – and how truly diverse the universe of skills actually is, whether it’s java or ballet."

    LinkedIn Skills in Beta

    The Skills pages do provide a list of related skills that you can browse, as well as lists of related companies, jobs, and groups. 

    "If you search for a particular skill, we’ll surface key people within that community, show you the top locations, related companies, relevant jobs, and groups where you can interact with like minded professionals," says LinkedIn’s Peter Skomoroch.  "You’ll also be able to explore similar skills and compare their growth relative to each other."

    "One thing you’ll find is that the universe of skills is much more diverse than you might expect," he says. 

    Users are encouraged to add skills to their profiles, join group discussions, and follow related companies for each skill to optimize their skills potential. LinkedIn also suggests "nudging" your connections to get them to add skill they might be missing. 

    LinkedIn currently has over 90 million members.

  • Now You Can Monetize Your Facebook Fans By Promoting Their Likes

    Facebook has a new ad product that may be its most promising ad unit yet – the sponsored story. These ads are simply brand-related stories that users have already shared, but then paid for by the brand mentioned to appear in the ad space, as to attract more attention and engagement. 

    Will you be promoting your fans’ engagement with your brand? Let us know.

    For example, if one of our Facebook fans likes an article that we posted or likes our Facebook page in general, we could pay Facebook to promote that, and that story from that fan would appear in the column to people who would have already seen it in the first place. 

    "So, my friend Joe goes, and he checks into Starbucks," explains Phil, a Facebook engineer. "That will appear on my news feed, and I may or may not see it, and what we’ve seen is that a lot of impressions do get lost because there’s so much content coming through. Starbucks can come in and say, ‘I want to promote check-ins to our locations’, so when I come to the site, I see a story that my friend checked into Starbucks. Now, I can click through. I can like the Starbucks page from that story, and when I like that page, it creates more organic content." 

    Sponsored Story for Starbucks on Facebook

    "When we make decisions about the products we want to buy or places we want to go, we’re basically looking for cues from our friends about what those things should be, and all us aren’t out there trying to market ourselves or try to influence people to go somewhere or do something, but the reality is when we make a decision, we’re looking for information, and we want that information to come from people we trust," says product manager Kent.

    If you’re worried about how Facebook is using your content, the company says it will never show it to somebody who’s not your friend. The only people who will see it are the people who would’ve seen it in the first place via the newsfeed. 

    According to AdAge, there is no opting out of the feature (that could change if enough people complain about it). The publication also says, "The way that the product is today, a check-in post will show up in the ad feed exactly as the user wrote it. So if a user checks into Starbucks with a ‘I hate this place, but it’s the only coffee around’ then that’s exactly what the ‘ad’ turns out to  be." Advertisers can limit their sponsored stories to likes though, if they want.

    According to recent estimates, Facebook took in about $1.86 billion in ad revenue in 2010. I expect that will increase significantly this year. 

    These ads could prove to be extremely effective, as they’re not really ads at all. They’re real stories from friends – at least that’s how they start out. Like Phil says, "It’s your friend saying, ‘Look, I did this, and I want to tell you about it.’" 

    Ning, a Facebook engineer, says that in the pilot cases, sponsored stories increased brand lift and the likeliness to recommend the product to another friend. 

    If nothing else, it’s a clear cut way to monetize Facebook fans. More in this video from Facebook.

    Add Sponsored Stories to Facebook’s already powerful ad platform, targeting users based on their profile information, and Facebook is becoming a more and more attractive place to spend online advertising dollars. I still haven’t ruled out the possibility that they’ll eventually launch an AdSense-like network that will send targeted Facebook ads out across the web, but they’ve still given no indication that they’re going that direction. It still seems like an obvious choice though. 

    Do you think Sponsored Stories will be a hit? Tell us what you think. 

    More discussion on our Facebook Page.

     

  • Steps For Creating Custom Facebook Page Content

    A few months ago Facebook officially did away with the idea of adding “boxes” of custom content to Facebook pages and instead forced users into adding “applications” as the primary way to add custom layouts, tabs and content.

    While this change is old news and has been covered widely, Facebook continues to tinker with the interface and so I’ve been getting lots of questions again about the steps involved in adding custom content and thought I would do a quick tutorial.

    Each Facebook page that you create comes with a standard set of tabs or pages. If you want to supplement the default set you simply locate and add applications. These can be Facebook applications like Video or Events or 3rd Party apps.

    Some of these apps are free, some cost money. I hear great things about North Social set of apps and have used Involver apps for some time. I really like the service AppBistro provides as well. AppBistro can recommend apps based on your friends and activity.

    If you want to create and add your own custom content such as a product, welcome or email newsletter sign-up page you’ll want to locate and add the Static FBML App. This application, once installed, allows you add up to 10 custom tabs with content using FBML (Facebook Markup Language) code that is somewhat like HTML, but for Facebook.

    The video below shows the steps involved in locating, installing the Static FBML app and getting your page ready for custom content. In addition, the video shows you how to choose which tab is the default shown to visitors. Many people choose to have a welcome page shown as opposed to the default Wall tab.

    Here are the steps for installing Static FBML App:

    • Login to you account
    • Search for Static FBML app – you can find it here
    • Click Add to My Page – left sidebar under picture (If you administer multiple pages you will need to pick the page in question)
    • Go to the page you would like to edit and hit Edit My Page (Under you profile pic in left column)
    • Locate the link in the left sidebar called Apps and click it
    • Locate the listing that says FBML and click Edit Settings and hit Add if it has not been added already and hit Okay
    • Click Go To App – this will open the blank canvas where you add your FBML code – the name you give it in the title is the tab name (Note also at the bottom of the page it says Add another FBML box – you only install the application once but go back here to add as many as 10 instances.)

    Once you add your code and save your page you can make your new page the default by going back out of the editing screen to your fan page home screen and look for the small little Options link under the status update bar. Hit Options, Settings and them from the Default Landing Page Dropdown menu, choose the page you just made and all visitors will be shown that first.

    What about that FBML code stuff?

    Okay, I’ve gotten you to the place where you’ve set up the custom page and it’s ready for content, now what?

    For the most part a great deal of what you might want to do, such at add images and content can be done if you know HTML or use a program like Dreamweaver to create web pages. If you use style sheets, you must link to them externally and not embed the style code. You can learn about some of FBML specific code that allows you to do things like embed video, audio and interact with users by studying blogs like HyperArts or getting a book on FBML like Jessy Stay’s FBML Essentials

    One FBML tag that’s definitely worth understanding is reveal fan only content – fb:visible-to-connection – this tag allows you to hide content and only make it available to your fans. You can use this as a bit of an incentive to get folks to become fans.

    If that last few paragraphs make sense to you then I suspect you can do this on your own. Many business owners and even seasoned designers may want to make better use of their time by looking into services like ShortStack that manage the FBML coding or even templates like those from HyperArts or FanPageEngine.

    Originally published on DuctTapeMarketing.com

  • The Social Network Receives 8 Academy Award Nominations

    The Academy Awards nominations list has just been released, and everybody’s favorite Facebook movie is up for 8 awards. These include: Best Picture, Best Direction, Actor in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Music (Original Score). 

    Having heard about two decades worth of Trent Reznor’s musical offerings, I think the word "original" is a bit of a stretch these days, but the score did work for the film, if you ask me. 

    Earlier this month, The Social Network won 4 Golden Globes for Best Director, Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Picture, Drama. It  had been nominated for 6. 

    Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who portrayed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, was nominated for the Best Actor, Drama award, but lost out to Colin Firth for his performance in the film, The King’s Speech. Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Christian Bale for his performance in The Fighter. 

    The Social Network

    The real life versions of some of the characters in the film have been making headlines over the past week. Sean Parker (portrayed by Justin Timberlake) has been talking to the press, calling the film "fiction" (not unlike Facebook’s official position). Mashable quotes him as saying:

    "The part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character played by Justin Timberlake — who happens to have my name — basically writes a check to Eduardo – who I’m also, I consider Eduardo a friend of mine, and I’m one of the few people at Facebook who still interacts with Eduardo – and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being."

    Saverin  has also been in the news, having invested in startup Qwiki, which just launched in public Alpha this week. 

    The awards show takes place on Sunday, February 27. See all nominees here.

    Read my review of The Social Network here.

  • Visualize Your LinkedIn Influence with InMaps

    LinkedIn has launched a new LinkedIn Labs product called InMaps, which shows you what your network looks like in a visual way. 

    "InMaps is an interactive visual representation of your professional universe that answers all of the above questions," explains LinkedIn’s Ali Imam. "It’s a great way to understand the relationships between you and your entire set of LinkedIn connections. With it you can better leverage your professional network to help pass along job opportunities, seek professional advice, gather insights, and more."

    Here’s what it looks like:

    Maps are color-coded, with colors representing affiliations or groups from your career (previous employer, classmates, industries). Some names appear bigger than others. These are the ones that are most connected within their respective clusters. 

    "Here’s where it gets interesting," says Imam. "Your map is actually a view into how your professional world has been created over time. To get a sense of how that’s true, label each cluster (color) and explore your connections to see who are the major bridges on your map. You can use those insights to measure your own impact or influence, or create opportunities for someone else."

    You can check it out here.

  • Everybody Gets the New Facebook Profile

    Everybody Gets the New Facebook Profile

    Facebook announced today that it is now rolling out the new profile design to all users. The design debuted last month, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared in an interview for 60 Minutes on CBS, and the company made the option available for users to switch. 

    To be perfectly honest, having switched my own profile back then, I kind of forgot they didn’t roll this out on a wide scale until now. I’m guessing I’m not alone, because according to Facebook, hundreds of millions of others had already made the switch as well. 

    To recap, the new profile includes the following features (as described by Facebook):

    – A quick summary of who you are (like where you live, work and grew up), right at the top of your profile

    – A row of recently tagged photos so friends can see what you’ve been up to lately

    – Room to highlight meaningful friendships (like teammates, co-workers or roommates)

    – More of your favorite activities and interests

    – The ability to tag your friends in important life experiences

    One of the biggest complaints about the new profile is the prominence of photos that you don’t actually have control over. For example, my brother can tag me in a less than flattering photo of myself, and that might be the first image people see when they visit my profile (apart from my profile picture itself). To be fair, you do have some control over this. You can remove pictures from this section if they appear, but then your friends (or siblings) can call you out on it. 

    All in all, the new profile isn’t bad, but I find a couple other features Facebook has recently released to far less fanfare a bit more interesting. For example, the whole facial recognition thing and new news feed options.

    What do you think of the new profile design? 

  • Twitter for Mac App Introduced to Mac App Store

    Now that the Mac App Store is open, we can expect to see apps start flooding the market. This includes the usual suspects, like Twitter. 

    Twitter introduced its new Mac app today, available in the Mac App Store. The company says it’s three times faster than its original version that was previously called Tweetie for Mac. 

    "Tweetie for Mac was a desktop client that was originally created by atebits developer Loren Brichter prior to our acquisition of atebits last April," explains Twitter’s Carolyn Penner. "Twitter for Mac is a new version updated by Loren and team during Twitter’s first Hack Week in October."

    Twitter for Mac Comes to Mac App Store

    "We acquired atebits with a focus on launching our own Twitter iPhone application," adds Penner. "Since then, we’ve been asked repeatedly for a new version of Tweetie for Mac. We decided that the new version fits well into our goal of ensuring that mainstream users will have the best possible experience on popular platforms."

    The Mac App Store launched today with over 1,000 apps. One can only imagine that it won’t take long for that number to skyrocket. It will be interesting to compare its popularity with the Chrome Web Store, which has kind of gotten off to a slow start, though Chrome OS – the main reason for its existence – has yet to become available to consumers.

  • Facebook Loading Slow For Many Users

    Facebook appears to be having some difficulty today as numerous people have complained about loading issues in different capacities. 

    Currently, we’re having trouble getting the site to load some people’s profile pictures, but based on tweets throughout the day, others are having other loading issues. 

    Here are some examples we’ve run across:

    The Facebook social plugin on my website doesn’t seem to be loading. Can anyone see it? Anyone else having this problem?less than a minute ago via HootSuiteIrene Koehler
    IreneKoehler

    Anyone else having troubles with the Facebook app for the iPhone? It’s not loading for me. Big fat bummer.less than a minute ago via HootSuiteAdam Agin
    adamagin

    Aaaaarrrrggh facebook not loading in my desktop…?Somebody help me…less than a minute ago via Nimbuzz MobileArjun Paliath
    torchaj

    The Facebook app on iPhone sucks! Always got problem loading commented photos!less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneCecila Tham
    CecilaTham

    Why isn’t facebook loading my tweets? GRRR!less than a minute ago via EchofonFernando Machado
    UltimateDisco

    @haryordele not that facebook has overcapacity oh!!! my fb is just not loading; its slow for some reasonsless than a minute ago via webTara
    TaraTawni

    It’s not like a couple weeks ago when the whole site went down for a lot of users, but we still have to wonder what the deal is.  I wonder if it’s related to the huge amount of photos that have been uploaded to Facebook. They broke a record on New Year’s. 

    We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment, and we’ll update when we get a response. 

    Have you noticed any trouble loading any elements of Facebook today? Let us know.