Latest Social Networking News

Yahoo!'s Not-So-Dormant Social Network
Motley Fool - USA
Mail accounts as a "dormant social network" just waiting to be awakened. Yahoo! Mail is a workhorse. Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Hotmail may be time-tested ...
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Social Network Site Benefits.
4Hoteliers - Wanchai,Hong Kong
By Ron McNeil Make your social network earn money for you - Choose the right social network software to design your website, and provide the right kind of ...
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Aggregating social network data
NetworkWorld.com - Southborough,MA,USA
There was an interesting controversy last week involving Facebook and Plaxo. Robert Scoble was using a script in an unreleased feature of Plaxo Pulse that ...
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imeem Teams With MTV Networks to Bring Expansive Library of MTVN ...
Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA
... the imeem community can share their tastes with friends and fans on imeem and across the Web. imeem is the first social network to partner with all four ...
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South Africa: Ten Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2008
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
It is also reasonable to expect a local rise in "social network marketing", something that may sound as foreign now as email marketing or online campaigns ...
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Where is the real Google Reader social network?
By Johnt
In this post I mentioned FeedEachOther, this is a true RSS Reader social network…Google Reader could make my day and take a look at this brilliant site. For more on Feed Each Other (FEO), take a look at my post Feed Each Other : the ...
Library clips - http://libraryclips.blogsome.com

Comment on Facebook: A call for openness by Wikinomics » Blog ...
By Wikinomics » Blog Archive » Decentralization...
Decentralization of the Social Network This is a follow up to Mike Dover’s posting on Facebook: A Call for Openness. […]
Comments for Wikinomics - http://www.wikinomics.com/blog

New Business Social Network, Now Open!
I am sure you have all heard about Social Networking. I am sure most of you have your own page at MySpace.How many of you have heard of Business Social Networking? Have you ever wished that their was a MySpace for Business? ...
Digg / upcoming - http://digg.com/

DrupalDojo.com and "social network"
By add1sun@drupal.org
One phrase that has been tossed out there for dd.com is "a social network for drupal wannabes" but I feel that the Drupal community is the social network for drupal wannabes and making some distinction for the Dojo that requires a ...
Drupal Dojo - http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-dojo

Chinese Mobile Social Network Pica Gets $10 Million Funding
By rali@paidcontent.org (Rafat Ali)
Pica, a Chinese mobile social networking service, has received $10 million in its third round of financing. The round was led by Crosslink Capital, IDG Venture Capital and BlueRun Venture Capital, reports Redline China. ...
mocoNews.net - http://www.moconews.net/

Plaxo, Facebook, and Google go 'open' by joining DataPortability.org

In the wake of last week's explosion of attention on data portability on social networks, (that is, being able to take your data from one social network to the other) there is a huge development today. Google, Facebook, and Plaxo have all announced they're joining DataPortability.org.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/01/08/plaxo-facebook-and-google-go-open-by-joining-dataportability/

Study Labels Social Networking Types

ySpace commissioned a study of MySpace and Facebook users and researchers identified six types. They also invented a word or two along the way.Some of those words include "mindies," "cheemos," "slash/slash kids," "rudettes," "double dressers," "toystep" and "power pop,":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/07/myspace.digitalmedia?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Social networking websites have become the hub for the UK's cultural underground, with a new generation turning to the likes of MySpace to make money, collaborate on creative projects and share ideas with their friends, according to a study.

An extensive social networking research project commissioned by MySpace has identified a host of emerging trends and tribes that the website says have previously gone undetected by the mainstream.

Researchers from the Future Laboratory set up a "virtual hide" in MySpace over six weeks, interviewing 1,000 users who explained how they define themselves as part of groups including "mindies", "cheemos"', "slash/slash kids" and "rudettes".

Mindies are teetotal under-18s who follow the teen bands Pull in Emergency, Lion Club and Kid 4077; cheemos combine chav and goth looks (the word is a cross between chav and emo); and slash/slash kids are multi-skilled MySpacers who like to create their own music and fashion. Rudettes follow Lily Allen's rude-girl style.

The study, MySpace 08: People. Content. Culture., also identified "double dressers" - friends who co-ordinate matching or complementary outfits.

Hot on the heels of the nu-rave fad last year, MySpace's musicians are creating their own music genres, including "toystep" - dance music made with plastic kids' toys; and "power pop" - a mix of rock, hip-hop and rave.

Researchers picked up hot tips for 2008 bands, including the toystep band Partyshank, rockabilly band Peggy Sue and the Pirates, and the Glaswegian indie/folk/pop band Make Me a Model.

Future Laboratory identified six types of MySpace user, classifying 38% as "essentialists", who primarily use social networking sites to stay in touch with friends.

Just under a third, 28%, are "transumers" – those who follow new trends rather than make them.

Around 10% are "connectors", who specialise in identifying and linking to cool content; and 5% are "collaborators", who create events and projects online by teaming up with other users.

One in 20 MySpace users get their thrills from "scene breaking" – hunting down new bands and talent online and sharing that through the site; and 4% classify themselves as "netrepreneurs", who use social networking sites to make money.

Future Laboratories also profiled a number of individuals who use MySpace as a platform to promote and develop their businesses.

The underground, hand-photocopied magazine Fever Zine coordinates contributors and subscribers through its MySpace page.

Fever Zine has 5,000 friends and a cult following; editor Alex Zamora said MySpace was essential to help find the new talent that he wants to feature in the lo-fi publication.

Researchers also focused on the fashion stylist Richard Shoyemi, who has secured work with Italian and Japanese Vogue through his MySpace exposure.

"They are essentially buying into me as a person as well as a talent, which all comes from my celebrity status on MySpace.

"I feel in order to expand as a brand it's important to reach out to all; everyone who expressed interest in me is important in my eyes," Shoyemi said.

Slash/slash kid Paul Griffiths started designing and selling T-shirts through the site and now employs three friends. He has sold 10,000 garments so far.

With a talent for self-promotion, 20-year-old Griffiths says he is completely self-taught and that his MySpace business has allowed him to ditch a career in telesales.

"We get up to 1,000 friend requests a day but only ever confirm a small number of the coolest MySpacers," he said.

Social networking sites have evolved beyond their original purpose of communication, said the report, to become "highly articulate, heavily visual, extremely collaborative and creative hubs, which have become for many a vibrant and engaging way to keep up to date with, and comment upon, changes in the cultural scene".

MySpace's "culturpreneurial" culture is part of the maturing of the internet economy, the research concludes, enabling users to collaborate to create, sellers and buyers.

"It is a mass experiment in collaborative creativity and cross-cultural pleasure and enjoyment, where the end goal is a currency of a different, and some would argue far more vibrant, sort," said the report.

"Social networking is entirely about playing, experimenting and redefining our understanding of creativity."

Latest Facebook news

from outside the US:

Enough! Facebook banned in my space
Melbourne Herald Sun - Australia
AFTER banning customers at his St Kilda coffee shop from chatting about Facebook, Daniel Mrocki considers himself a face-to-face crusader. ...

Lots of Toronto faces on Facebook
Digital Media Online - Newport Beach,CA,USA
"The buzz in Toronto this past week is all about Facebook – as of 2pm this afternoon, Toronto has 573355 people in the Toronto, ON network on Facebook ...

Get Hired in '08: Workplace Trends to Put You Ahead
ABC News - USA
Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace that were once exclusively for social purposes are now increasingly being used for recruitment — and that will ...

We're online, but off work to chat to mates and play
NEWS.com.au - Australia
FACEBOOK-addicted Australians are costing their bosses more than $2700 each a year in lost productivity as they chat to mates and play games online, ...

Friend or faux
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
The growing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Second Life has thrust many of us into a world where we make "friends" with ...

Some interesting links

GIPS Enhances Online Communication Experience for Largest Social ...
Reuters - USA
"As the phenomenon of social networking continues to grow, users are demanding superior voice quality as people become very frustrated with poor quality ...

Speakers Announced at Social Event
Web Host Industry Review - USA
The Social Networking Conference takes place in Miami, Florida on January 31 to February 1, which proves to be the most significant and largest of the four ...

eMarketer: Social spending to increase in '08
BizReport - USA
"In 2007, 37% of the US adult Internet population and 70% of teens used online social networking at least once a month." eMarketer predicts that this usage ...

Take Social Networking a Step Further

excellent article:

Social media is everywhere these days. It isn't just MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube anymore. It now extends to virtually all online demographic groups.

Innovative marketers are starting to take advantage of these large, often well-targeted audiences to cost-effectively improve their branding. Today, the five Ws of using social media to increase branding: what, why, who, where, and when.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627935

Latest Facebook News

Facebook API to open up to other social networks
By Christina Warren
Just hours after social networking site Bebo announced that their Open Application Developer Platform (which goes live tonight) would be "100 percent compatible with the Facebook platform", Facebook has pulled out a trump card of sorts, ...
Download Squad - http://www.downloadsquad.com

Bebo adopts Facebook open platform
Xinhua - China
Bebo's Open Application Platform will be fully compatible with the thousands of applications that have helped fuel growth at social network Facebook, ...
See all stories on this topic

Facebook Counters OpenSocial; Bebo Playing Both Sides
By joseph@paidcontent.org (Joseph Weisenthal)
Facebook is ready to counterattack Google's (NSDQ: GOOG) OpenSocial. The site revealed today that its Facebook Platform would be made available to other social networking sites, allowing developers to easily port Facebook apps to sites ...
paidContent:UK - http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/

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Meebo Brings Chat to Facebook Apps; Hits 20 Million Monthly Users
TechCrunch - Atherton,CA,USA
Bringing more immediacy to Facebook apps from buddymedia, (fluff)Friends, rockyou, Slide, The Broth and the watercooler, Web-based instant messaging startup ...

Facebook targets Google with program for other social networks
Computerworld - Framingham,MA,USA
December 13, 2007 (Computerworld) -- In a direct shot across the bow of Google Inc. and its opensocial project, Facebook Thursday announced plans to allow ...

Israel's New York Consulate launches Facebook page

Ynetnews - Israel
The Consulate General of Israel in New York City recently launched a new Facebook page in its name in an effort to publicize upcoming events and to reach ...

Facebook Profiles Can Foil Job Searches
Smartmoney.com - USA
Popular social-networking web sites like Facebook and myspace are some of the latest vehicles that allow anyone who can use a mouse to create an online ...

Facebook interns rankled by younger bosses [Cubicle Culture]
By Nicholas Carlson
Facebook engineer Charles Cheever tells Intern Memo that one of the "most interesting" aspects of interning for the social network is that "it's not unheard of for interns to be older than the... [[ This is a content summary only. ...
Valleywag - http://valleywag.com

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Did Blockbuster, Facebook Break Privacy Law With Beacon?
PC World - USA
Was a 1988 law broken when movie choices that Facebook members made on the Blockbuster's Web site were made available to other Facebook members? ...

Birthday Calendar Application Reaches 2 Million Users in One Month ...

Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA

application called Birthday Calendar. In just one month since its (BUSINESS WIRE)--BigDates Solutions today announced the launch of a powerful Facebook...

More Facebook news

Facebook Removes Firewall from Applications

NewsCloud writes "Last week, Facebook quietly removed sign-in restrictions that previously hid third party applications from the public Web. In other words, Facebook now allows its third party applications to be viewable on the Web by ...
Slashdot: Generated for rossturk... - http://slashdot.org/

Facebook Beacon's traffic inflation

Many people were enraged when they got a closer look at Facebook Beacon and realized they were giving away so much data (to Facebook) and getting back nothing for it, really. One of the first to stand up against Facebook was GigaOM's Om ...
WebMetricsGuru - http://www.webmetricsguru.com/

Shuddup You, Facebook!

Again, I am not being closeminded to Facebook, but just because I have previously said you have to look at such things from the inside, it does not mean I have to embrace them equally with desire. I see an incredible environment of ...
CogDogBlog - http://cogdogblog.com

Facebook dumper may have staged Digg-linked hack [Sandra Soroka]

Sandra Soroka, the New York videoblogger who dumped her boyfriend through her Facebook status message may not have had her Flickr account hacked by outraged Digg users, as we previously reported....
Valleywag - http://valleywag.com

Latest Facebook News

Is Beacon Inflating Facebook's Visitor Numbers?
By Erick Schonfeld
While Facebook's Beacon program has been drawing the ire of many people because of the privacy issues surrounding it, advertisers might be equally concerned about whether Beacon is inflating Facebook's overall visitor and traffic ...
Techcrunch - http://www.techcrunch.com

OpenSocial Delayed Until Next Year
By Nick O'Neill
Waiting on the Facebook platform competition to come rolling out? It's not happening anytime soon. Even MySpace announced their platform at the Web 2.0 Sumit and there are still no applications available on the site. ...
All Facebook - http://www.allfacebook.com

Facebook Message email notifications now include the actual Message
By Justin Smith
Facebook just pushed a feature that will be welcomed by heavy users of Facebook messaging: actually being able to view the message contents in the notification email Facebook sends to let you know that a new message has arrived. ...

Inside Facebook - http://www.insidefacebook.com

Facebook Founder Apologizes for Ad System
By Gregory Mone
The social-networking site Facebook may have to find another way to cash in on its huge user base. The company's new "social ads" program, called Beacon, has been controversial, forcing company founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured here) to ...
Popular Science Blog - http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/

This week in social networking

Social Networking Website VOIS.com Continues to Attract

US Based Social Networking Site Friendster Reaches Japan, Korea

zdnet Resources - OpenID

Social Networking Research

The power of social networking sites

Social networking site launched in Ann Arbor

Jamiroquai release new social networking enabled site

Boyd's law of social network sites - Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

While I was off the grid, Cory Doctorow created a law of social network sites and named it after me:

boyd's law: "Adding more users to a social network [site] increases the probability that it will put you in an awkward social circumstance."

This comes from a brilliant column that he wrote for InformationWeek about how the Facebook communication technology (combined with their not-so-open platform strategy) resemble AOL's old segregation/segmentation approach to users. (Remember the days when AOL users couldn't email anyone who didn't have an AOL account?) Embedded in this discussion is a concern for how social network sites are extremely socially awkward. My favorite quote: "It's socially awkward to refuse to add someone to your friends list -- but removing someone from your friend-list is practically a declaration of war. The least-awkward way to get back to a friends list with nothing but friends on it is to reboot: create a new identity on a new system."

Boyd's law of social network sites - Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

The Days of our Facebook: How Love Moved to Hate

It's always amazing to me to watch how quick the internets shift on a product, service or person.

One day it's love, the next day it's hate. It seems that we are in the hate portion of Facebook these days. Let's take a quick look back at the past few months for: The Days of our Facebook: How Love Moved to Hate

Hong Kong billionaire takes $60 million Facebook stake - MarketWatch

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing has invested $60 million in social networking Web site Facebook, equivalent to a 0.4% stake, and has the option for an additional $60 million investment, according to a report by a technology blog.

The All Things Digital blog on Friday, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the transaction, reported that 79-year-old Li would not make the investment through his flagship companies Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

The investment is likely part of a strategy to forge closer relations between Facebook and Li's media flagship Tom Group, the report said.

Many of Hong Kong-based Tom Group's holding, which include outdoor media, publishing, sports promotion, and internet properties, are geared towards the China market and could help Facebook tap into the fast-growing advertising market there.

Hong Kong billionaire takes $60 million Facebook stake - MarketWatch

Why You Shouldn’t Trust Social Networking with Health Information

There’s a lot of hype (and startups) to go along with trying to get you to buy into their “social networking” websites for health issues. Usually these companies have been backed by venture capitalists who expect both a relatively quick and large return on their money.

When a company is beholden not to its founders’ vision or its own mission (no matter how grand that mission or vision might be), but to financial backers who have little interest in the actual goals of the company other than to see it go public or purchased by the highest bidder as quickly as possible, guess who suffers the most? You’re right if you picked you, the user.

Since a company is an entity, not a person, it doesn’t have to be personal in these decisions. It makes them as a disconnected “other,” simply something that is trying to convince you that it is “helping” you by offering your data to others, even when it does so at times without your knowledge or permission.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/12/02/why-you-shouldnt-trust-social-networking-with-health-information/

Top 6 Social Networking Sites as of Nov.

just a quick list:

1. MySpace - 58.8 million unique visitors.
2. Facebook - 19.5 million unique visitors
3. Classmates Online - 13.2 million unique visitors
4. Windows Live Spaces - 10.3 million unique visitors
5. AOL Hometown -7.9 million unique visitors
6. Linkedin - 4.9 million unique visitors

How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: Putting Effective (Online) Social Networking Into Practice

Interesting details about socnet markeing and building a community:

Over the past month, I've been doing a little action research for an article on ways to be effective using online social networking sites. To do the research, I've been asking my "friends" in different online social networks, "What is your best practice or tip for using online social networking sites for your organization." I didn't just ask people from nonprofits as I wanted to get a multi-disciplinary view.

So, I started with reading and reflecting on some recent blog posts by two gurus on the topic: Chris Brogan and Connie Bensen. In response to a query, Connie provided a brilliant synthesis of the key networking principles which were my starting point for putting some ideas into practice.

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: Putting Effective (Online) Social Networking Into Practice

Deep Read: The Case Against Facebook - AKA Mark Zuckerberg's little problem

Did Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg build his $15 billion business on a stolen idea?

It's not a new charge, but 02138, the Harvard magazine, takes a fresh look at the evidence leveled against Zuckerberg by several classmates who are suing him. It's hard to read it and not come away with the impression that Zuckerberg did some pretty unethical stuff, and then lied to cover his tracks.

There are two main questions at hand: Whether Zuckerberg, who was supposed to be working on a rival social-networking site in the months before he debuted Facebook, actively stalled his supposed collaborators to get a head start; and whether he purloined the code he was supposed to be perfecting.

On the first question, the answer seems to be yes. At a minimum, Zuckerberg has misrepresented when he started work on Facebook. Zuckerberg has said he didn't begin until Jan. 14, 2004, when he informed the founders of Harvard Connection that he would no longer be working for them. That was always suspicious, as Facebook went live less than three weeks later. And indeed, reports 02138, court documents show that Zuckerberg had already registered his domain by Jan. 11, and on Jan. 12 he emailed a partner to say the site was almost complete.

As for the code, Zuckerberg has said "[t]here is really good documentation" that Facebook's code was not based on Harvard Connection's. But it turns out there's not:

Zuckerberg has been on notice since September 2004 to preserve information relevant to the case, but for some time Facebook claimed they couldn't produce a shred of source code from when Zuckerberg first began working for Harvard Connection, the original Facebook code, or even the Facebook code in October 2004, one month after the original suit was filed. Zuckerberg's lawyers have held that nearly all the early Facebook code has disappeared, wiped from outside servers long ago or lost on missing or corrupted hard drives.

02138 has posted documents from the case here. Here's the details:

Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard Application (PDF)

Mark Zuckerberg's email to Harvard’s Administrative Board (PDF)

Mark Zuckerberg's testimony #1 (PDF)

Mark Zuckerberg's testimony #2 (PDF)

Facebook Statement of cash flows 2005 (PDF)

Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss's testimony (PDF)

Mark Zuckerberg's online diary (PDF)

Statement of damage done to La Jennifer sublet (PDF)

Media Blog - Mixed Media by Jeff Bercovici: Deep Read: The Case Against Facebook - Portfolio.com

Facebook Blinks on Beacon

It’s been so long since I’ve been able to write about Facebook every day. I’m gonna relish this while I can. BusinessWeek reports today that Facebook may be tweaking the ill-received Project Beacon. These changes could come as soon as November 29—aka today.

BusinessWeek points out, accurately IMHO, that as Facebook tweaks the system to assuage its disgruntled users, it runs the risk of upsetting its advertisers and partners:

In the wake of mounting criticism, Facebook executives are discussing changes to a controversial advertising tool that publicizes users' Web activities outside of the popular social network. Alterations to the recently introduced Beacon system could be announced as early as Nov. 29, BusinessWeek.com has learned.

Executives of the three-year-old company were in deep talks over proposed changes late into the afternoon on Nov. 28, according to a person familiar with the matter. At issue is the Beacon program, which alerts members' Facebook "friends" to purchases and other activities on third-party Web sites. A spokesperson for the company declined to discuss changes, reiterating an earlier statement: "Facebook is listening to feedback from its users and committed to evolving Beacon."

Techcrunch: "Screenshots And Details On Upcoming MySpace “News Feeds”"

A Reuters article earlier today gave a few details on MySpace’s upcoming “new feeds” product (which is what Facebook calls their similar product launched a year ago. We spoke to MySpace and got a much deeper look at the product, as well as screenshots of how it will look.

The new product, to be called “Friends Updates,” will launch this Thursday, says MySpace VP Communications Dani Dudeck. MySpace users from New Zealand and Ireland, where Friends Updates is being beta tested, can already use it.

The new product will give users a steady stream of event information from their friends. Profile updates, blog posts and photo/video uploads are all noted. See screenshot for a visual.


Techcrunch: "Screenshots And Details On Upcoming MySpace “News Feeds”"

Xbox 360: Social Networking Platform

Fans of the Xbox 360 will notice their systems update on December 4th, and according to reports will now allow a social networking feature called “Friends of Friends.” There exists currently within the Xbox live framework the ability to maintain a list of friends, presumably regular gaming partners.

The new update will extend that functionality to allow several levels of visibility of your friend list to others. Those 13 and up will be allowed the ability to show their friends who else is on their list. Adults will be able to make their friends list public. For those under 13, all friend lists will remain blocked.

What’s also somewhat interesting is how Microsoft is billing this update in their press releases, saying that the feature can be used as a tool to “find old friends or connect with new ones within the community of more the eight million people.” Of course, a community of eight million does not a social networking powerhouse make, but it ain’t no slouch either. I doubt there will be much use in the social network (at least initially) beyond being able to scope out other potential game-mates.

Xbox 360: Social Networking Platform

Facebook Scores Deal With ABC - The Unofficial Facebook Blog

via Facebook Scores Deal With ABC - The Unofficial Facebook Blog:

The New York Times is reporting that ABC and Facebook have partnered to bring more political coverage to Facebook users. Through the partnership Facebook gets to distribute ABC’s political content for free and ABC gets exposure to the more then 52 million Facebook users. Facebook had already created the US Politics application but it hasn’t been extremely popular.

Facebook Market Research Secrets — Alec Saunders .LOG

Good description of how to get Facebook stats on certain demographics:

Facebook Market Research Secrets — Alec Saunders .LOG

http://adonomics.com/ - checking out the number of users, frequency of use and valuation of Facebook apps

Check it out, detals below:

What is Adonomics?

Adonomics™, formerly Appaholic, is your source for Facebook analytics. By providing a stock-market-style analysis of the Facebook platform we enable developers and investors to track application growth, activity, and valuation.

(as of Nov 25th 2007):

Facebook Facts

• There are 587,618,810 installs across 9,487 apps on Facebook with over 168,000 developers currently evaluating the platform.
• These applications were used 31,818,152 times in the last 24 hours and have a combined valuation of $504,543,658.
  
• Facebook has approximately 50 million Unique Active Users in the past 30 days and a valuation of $15 billion.
  
• This translates to $300 per active user.

http://adonomics.com/

MySpace Updates: MySpace November Newsletter

November 2007 Need a job? Are you looking for a full-time or part-time job? Go to MySpace�s Jobs section and search millions of jobs and internships. Add job alerts to your homepage and make your job search simple! What are you waiting for? Find your dream job now! New features in your Friends Space You�ve got so many MySpace friends, it gets difficult to keep track of them all! How many mutual friends do you have? Try out the new filters while viewing others� friends lists and your own. Check it out now! MySpace Comedy Exclusive: Dane Cook Rough the Edges Tour Named a "comedian phenom and icon" by US Entertainment Weekly magazine, comedian Dane Cook embarks on his 25 city arena tour on November 2nd. Don't miss your opportunity to see the biggest comedian today on his Rough Around the Edges Tour which runs until December 9th. Visit MySpace Comedy and click here for more tour details. MySpace Comedy Exclusive: Rock For Darfur Concert MySpace has brought its bands together once again to help end the suffering in Darfur. Rock for Darfur is one night of 35 concerts on 4 continents, all taking place on November 10th. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Save Darfur Coalition and Oxfam's Sudan crisis relief fund. Click here to learn how you can get involved! MySpace en Espa�ol: Mi Concierto presents OZOMATLI Brought to you by McDonald�s Grammy winning group, OZOMATLI plays a FREE show for an exclusive intimate crowd on November 13th. Will you be one of them? CLICK HERE for more info. MySpace Exclusive: MySpace/MTV Presidential Dialogue with Barack Obama MySpace & MTV team up to bring you a series of Presidential Dialogues with leading candidates. Click here to learn how you can be part of these LIVE, interactive events right here on MySpace. Check out highlights from the second Dialogue with Barack Obama live from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA and see how he handled tough questions from the crowd and from YOU. Global Spotlight on Germany: 1000 Stories Starting in New York last month, a new-media artist and documentary filmmaker from Berlin will travel all over the United States by motorcycle, while U.S. filmmaker Mark Simon travels throughout Germany by car. During their month-long journeys, each filmmaker will post video blogs of their interviews. Check out all the videos so far! Featured Artist: Vampire Weekend This quirky indie pop quartet have already caused a considerable buzz in their hometown of New York, even before releasing their first full-length record. Look for them this fall, as they set out on tour across the US. Listen here! Featured Comedian: Artie Lange COMEDIAN, ACTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER, ENTREPENEUR, RADIO PERSONALITY. Those are just a few ways to describe this prolific talent who continues his rise in the entertainment industry. You can listen to Artie every morning on the Howard Stern Radio Show or see him perform live at the Lincoln Center on November 9th at the New York Comedy Festival. The Human Slinky Weird Face Dance Airplane Empties Water Tanks Bad Kitty MySpace TV EXCLUSIVE: MySpaceTV Original Series! Now playing on MySpaceTV is Roommates, a daily show about four college roommates who move to the city after graduation and volunteer to have their lives filmed a la �reality webshow.� Subscribe to the show, friend the girls, and sway the action via your comments. Then tune in for fresh episodes every Monday-Friday as their lives play out for you in this hot, new, interactive series. When College ends, the real party begins. Watch Roommates now! MySpace Presents VIBE Verses: Wyclef Jean on The Release Wyclef Jean is looking for an opening act for his upcoming MySpace Release Show. Got lyrics? Visit myspace.com/hiphop for more info on how to enter.

Latest Facebook News

A police officer is under investigation after an "inappropriate video clip" was posted on Facebook

Facebook disables prohibited porn ads
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
By Elise Ackerman and John Boudreau Facebook said Friday it has disabled pornographic ads that were placed on profiles created by users of the popular ...

myspace Hypertargeting vs Facebook Beacon: Which one is creepier?
CNet News.com Blog - USA
But Google is far less intrusive (for now) than myspace or Facebook which usurp data you never signed up to disclose. "Our mission with hypertargeting by ...

Facebook backlash over sale of personal data
Independent - London,England,UK
Following weeks of discontent on group discussion boards on Facebook, one of world's biggest internet sites, it is facing a privacy backlash organised by ...

Facebook Tricks
By garhwalk(Yogesh Goel)
Facebook has been the buzz word in recent times. Well, almost all the social networking sites are getting world's attention. We are enjoying this wonderful phase web 2.0 and we keep on trying our hands on cool tips and tricks to enhance ...

Extreme social networking

No longer will you have to rely on Shirley McLaine to find out that you have an Egyptian princess or a Russian nobleman in your past. You can find out for sure and maybe they’ll come pay you a visit. 6 degrees of separation? No longer is it just a party game ending in Kevin Bacon, it’s going to be on the web, searchable, representing the web of humanity via the latest web 2.0 technology. You’ll have cousins showing up by RSS in your genome/blog reader.

The process begins, disgustingly enough, with spit. You purchase a $999 “spit kit” and you supply the requisite DNA. The company, 23andMe, tests your saliva and posts the results on their site, where you can use “…our interactive tools to shed new light on your distant ancestors, your close family and most of all, yourself.

http://blog.genyes.com/index.php/2007/11/21/extreme-social-networking/

Top 100 Social Media and Social Networking Blogs

this is an excellent way to get started on social networking research:

Social media and social networking sites aren’t just about making new friends. These concepts have introduced a whole new way of communicating and managing information with the help of Web-based communities, software and tools to build business contacts, and design marketing and branding strategies. These tools help users to share information in innovative and creative ways. This list of the top 100 social media and social networking blogs (in no particular order) are full of tips, news, and analyses about today’s social media outlets.

http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/top-100-social-media-and-social-networking-blogs/

Paltalk Pioneers "Socialcasting"

Hey, online video fans--tired of watching alone? Ever miss hanging out with your friends? Well, good news: Paltalk has taken Web 2.0 and introduced TV 2.0. Specifically, Paltalk has married online video with elements of traditional broadcasting, interactive community, and social networking.

Facebook Beacon's a flop? and funding news

Flush with cash, allied with Microsoft, growing exponentially, and positively humming with buzz, Facebook is definitely the "it" site on the Internet. Now what?

At the annual Foursquare Conference today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave some hints about the future of the social networking phenomenon. He described its new advertising initiative, spoke of its relationship with Microsoft, and alluded to its budding rivalry with Google.
First, financing. C.F.O. Gideon Yu told Portfolio.com today that the company is preparing to raise an additional $260 million to close its Series D financing round.

During a question and answer session, Zuckerberg described the company's new advertising initiative, which he announced yesterday.

Among other things, it will allow businesses to set up their own Facebook pages and then reach out to real, live users -- that is, potential customers -- based on the interests they have described in their profiles.

If those interests include not seeing advertising, that is too bad. "There is no opting out of advertising," Zuckerberg said.

If it is any consolation, he added: "The ads are going to feel like content to a lot of people."
He also alluded to a budding rivalry with Google. Asked why Facebook chose not to participate in Google's new social networking consortium Open Social, Zuckerberg replied, "Who says we didn't choose to be a part of it?"

In fact, he added, "We didn't really find out about it until an hour after it launched."
Zuckerberg said it is "conceivable" that Facebook could seek to join Open Social in the future, but the company has no such plans at present.
"If it does really well, we may want to participate in it," he said.

At one point, Google co-founder Sergey Brin emerged from a side room at the conference, which was held at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, and headed straight for Zuckerberg. Bystanders held their breath, waiting for some kind of showdown.

But like a couple of championship boxers at a pre-fight weigh-in, they didn't so much as acknowledge one another. Brin just smiled as he walked straight past Zuckerberg, who kept his gaze straight ahead.

Describing Facebook's $240 million partnership with Microsoft, which includes an advertising component, the famously terse, frequently monosyllabic Zuckerberg said, "Microsoft does a lot of things that just make sense for us."

He said Facebook chose Microsoft as its advertising partner instead of Google, which has been much more successful at online advertising, for a simple reason:
"Not having done something before -- we don't see that as a disadvantage," he said, prompting laughter from the assembled media moguls.

Indeed, the lack of a track record has not hampered Facebook. Zuckerberg said the web site currently has 52 million active users, and is growing at 3 percent per week -- essentially doubling in size every six months. At that rate, he said, Facebook could have 200 million users by the end of 2008.

and....

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/11/facebooks-beaco.html :

Facebook's "social ads" so far appear to be a flop. Not only was the "once in a hundred years" announcement largely a yawn, the complaints of Facebook users and MoveOn about the primal annoying-ness of "Beacon" are right on the money. Although we can't imagine why MoveOn can't find something better to do than complain about Facebook, we do note the speed with which 1) Facebook responded to MoveOn's complaint, and 2) 2,000 Facebook users signed up to support MoveOn. And we don't blame them. We already hate the idea of bombarding friends with lists of the crap we buy.

The fact that Facebook will only let us opt-out of that bombardment on a case-by-case basis (at the virtual cash register at third-party sites) is infuriating.Facebook should immediately make Beacon 100% opt-in. Not because MoveOn is complaining--because the current system will drive users right out the door.

The tiny minority of Facebookers who want to bombard friends with lists of the crap they buy--and friends who are actually interested in hearing about this--can elect to do so. The vast majority who don't should never have to hear about this ridiculous concept again. (And if this embarrassing backtrack hurts Facebook's ability to raise more money at a $15 billion valuation, so be it: This is the right thing to do for the long-term health of the company, and the fund-raising effort seems to be in trouble anyway).

MoveOn.org takes on Facebook's 'Beacon' ads

Online activist group MoveOn.org is poised to announce a campaign targeting Facebook's "Beacon" advertisements, which post information about users' activity on partner sites (movie rentals, purchases from online retailers) onto their friends' News Feeds. According to MoveOn representatives, the organization considers this to be a "glaring violation of (Facebook's) users' privacy," and has launched a paid ad campaign on Facebook, a "protest group" on the social-networking site, and an online petition to encourage the company to allow users to opt into the program at their own volition.

"The bottom line," MoveOn spokesman Adam Green said in an interview with CNET News.com, "is that no Facebook user should have their private purchases online posted for the entire world to see without their explicit opted-in permission."

It's true that Beacon advertisements are limited to the news feeds of the people on a user's friends list, but Green said that doesn't make a difference. He cited Facebook user testimonials that ranged from members who said their entire Christmas lists had been published on their News Feeds (spoiling many a surprise in the process) to student activists who were concerned that sensitive purchases might show up and result in serious consequences--"If a college kid rents Brokeback Mountain and some homophobic person on his campus sees that, that could be a real problem," he explained.

http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9821170-36.html

What Facebook Learned from Search

Imagine if Picasso painted a search engine results page from Google. It would probably wind up looking like Facebook, which continually draws inspiration from search engines as it rolls out its services for marketers.

What Facebook did was take the classic search channels of paid search, natural search, and paid inclusion and adapt them to its own platform. Compared to search, Facebook’s ad targeting isn’t quite as precise as advertising to people who explicitly express interest with their queries. Yet compared to contextual advertising, Facebook offers the proposition of targeting to explicitly expressed interests on members’ profiles, and marketing is further amplified with the web of member connections often described as the “social graph.”

>> http://blogs.mediapost.com/search_insider/?p=663

Websites Look to Shine with Facebook Beacon

go description of Facebook's Beacon:

Facebook’s importance as a platform that facilitates business rather than just socializing has been growing day by day. Recently, it has announced that 44 websites are using Facebook Beacon, which allows users to share information from other websites for distribution to their friends on Facebook.

Beacon is the targeted advertising system of the Facebook. Very soon when Beacon is linked to eBay , the business horizons of Fecebook users will further expand to unimaginable levels.

Facebook suggests that reaching millions of people is just 3 lines of code away. With Facebook Beacon, Web site owners can simply determine which user actions they would like publish to Facebook. Beacon supports actions including purchasing a product, signing up for a service, adding an item to a wish list, and more.

>> more: http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/..es/15075-websites-look-shine-with-facebook-beacon.htm

Social network for sportsmen launched in Runet

Runet opened the portal www.SpurtUp.com, which is the first web-resource in Russia offering a new approach to popularization and support of amateur spot in Russia.

The portal is focused on uniting sport and active live amateurs, who live in one city, neighboring districts or across the country.

On SpurtUp.com each user might place the latest news related to the future or already past sports events.

On SpurtUp.com the portal creators intend to use modern internet technology, social network elements and specialized services, such as coaching and competition calendar, team management, tournament organization, holding lots, single base of sports facilities in Russia.

One student's intrepretation of Facebook

check this out:

As per this homework assignment, I have actually joined facebook…if you look my status should say that I’m currently looking for my dignity while you read this blog entry……


http://tbgolden.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/major-studio-the-death-of-me/

YooGuu.com - Social Network Just Like the Rest

If you’re looking for yet another social network to add yourself to, try YooGuu. YooGuu has taken the micro-blogging route—every message you send is limited to a cool 140 characters. As with most other social networks, YooGuu has a strong focus on media, especially photos.

more>>

http://www.killerstartups.com/...--Social-Network-Just-Like-the-Rest/

directly to:

http://yooguu.com

Book Review: Practical Rails Social Networking Sites

Rails Social Networking Sites walks you through the process of building a Web 2.0 social networking site (something like MySpace), called Rails Coders that includes the features you would expect in that sort of site:

• User signup and management (based on restful_authentication)
• Content management
• Blogging (with web services)
• Markup languages like Textile and Liquid
• Mashups using Google Maps and Flickr
• photo management (attachment_fu and RMagick)
• Tagging

http://www.approachingnormal.com/2007/11/20/book-review-practical-rails-social-networking-sites

Facebook To Drop 'Is' From Status Updates

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." Bill Clinton can rest easy knowing that he will soon have more verb options when updating his status on Facebook. Facebook announced to developers last night that it will soon be dropping the word "is" from status message updates.

The developer platform has already been updated so that external applications that update user status can avoid prepending the word "is." For now, status updates on Facebook still include the "is," but Facebook platform engineers promise that the change will be pushed to Facebook at large soon and make the lack of verb a default behavior rather than something you have to specify. "In a few, we will delete that parameter and change the default behavior to be that you must include your own verb," they wrote.

E07 Podcast: Social Networking Technologies: A "Poke" for Campus Services | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

This 27-minute podcast recorded during the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference features Joanne E. Berg, Vice Provost and Registrar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lori Berquam, Dean of Students, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kathleen Christoph, Director, Academic Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison speaking on Social Networking Technologies: A "Poke" for Campus Services.

The session abstract:

Social networking software like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube has become a way of life for today's students. In this session, we will explore whether and how we might use these technologies, or ideas they generate, to create better and more effective student and academic services at our institutions.

E07 Podcast: Social Networking Technologies: A "Poke" for Campus Services | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

Sexy Widget: RockYou Revenue - $100K per Month

Check out the numbers:

Sexy Widget: RockYou Revenue - $100K per Month

Since RockYou’s founding two years ago, 90 million social networkers have downloaded its applications. For this, RockYou is making more than $100,000 a month in revenues showing ads alongside its mini-applications for brands like AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ) and Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ), as well as by plugging other developers’ mini-apps (for a fee).

AND the comment:

I don't know - this gels with what Lance Tokuda was saying at the Widget Summit. It might be a disinformation strategy, but that panel more or less agreed that the ENTIRE widget/apps market was only about $12 million a year, as lowball as that might seem.

Heads are turning to Facebook - Los Angeles Times

the social website started by a Harvard dropout is stealing the spotlight from Google.

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 18, 2007

PALO ALTO -- -- Google Inc. is used to being the center of attention, the giant that executives at other Internet companies wish Silicon Valley would shut up about already.

For the moment, they've got their wish. People here can't stop talking about Facebook Inc.

Heads are turning to Facebook - Los Angeles Times