Quechup is rotten: don't accept invites - Boing Boing

Quechup is rotten: don't accept invites - Boing Boing: "Quechup is rotten: don't accept invites Posted by Xeni Jardin, September 4, 2007 6:30 AM # Discuss (38) As blogged here yesterday: While you were Burning / vacationing / spacing out offline this Labor Day weekend, many folks online were hit with invitations from a social networking service called Quechup that violates your address book, and abuses user trust by spamming all your contacts. "

Twitter Updates: Exploring Twitter

Hello Twitter-ers,

We've launched a new area of our web site featuring different ways
you can interact with Twitter. Our friends at Stamen Design created
a particularly engaging application called Blocks--an interactive
way to discover people on Twitter. Special thanks to Motorola for
their sponsorship of this launch. There will be more cool stuff
here in the future so please come on by and check it out.

Explore Twitter: http://explore.twitter.com

Are You Mobile?

Sure, Timbaland and his MTV pals Twitter by txt but you don't have
to be a rock star to send and receive Twitter updates on the fly.
If you normally use Twitter over the web, why not switch things
up? Activate your mobile phone to work with Twitter so you can send
and receive updates anytime, anywhere.

Activate your phone: http://twitter.com/devices

Vegas, Baby!

Twitter will be in Las Vegas hobnobbing with some of your favorite
musicians and artists at the Video Music Awards starting tomorrow
and going all weekend. The MTV folks made arrangements to have a
bunch of cool artists Twittering away. If you want to follow these
artists as they party in Vegas, just text FOLLOW VMA to 40404.
Or visit the twitter.com/vma profile.

MTV VMAs: http://twitter.com/vma

What Happened This Morning?

We were performing optimizations to make Twitter faster and more
reliable and it took longer than expected. We scheduled some
downtime for the wee hours of the morning but the work spilled over
into normal human daytime. Hopefully, this didn't put too much of
a crimp in your Twittering style. The good news is we got the work
done and Twitter is better for it.

Search Twitter

Recently, we've launched search so you can find more folks to
follow or even discover people you didn't know were on Twitter. We
also built an easy way to find out who from your Gmail Address book
is already on Twitter. To use either of these new features, click
the "Find & Invite" link at the top of of the Twitter web site.

Find & Invite: http://twitter.com/invitations

Other Cool Stuff

There's a geeky new show premiering later this month on NBC and
the character Twitters: http://twitter.com/chuckbartowski

Reactee has created an easy way to make your own t-shirts
customized with your Twitter username: http://twitter.reactee.com

71Miles is using Twitter to send exclusive, limited discounts to
classy resorts and spas in California: http://twitter.com/71miles

Okay, that's all for now. Gotta get back to work.

Happy Twittering,
Biz Stone and the Twitter Team
http://twitter.com/biz

How Mark Zuckerberg Turned Facebook Into the Web's Hottest Platform

How Mark Zuckerberg Turned Facebook Into the Web's Hottest Platform:

"How Mark Zuckerberg Turned Facebook Into the Web's Hottest Platform By Fred Vogelstein Email 09.06.07 | 2:00 AM Photo: Emily Shur He didn't have much choice but to sell. It was summer 2006, a little more than two years after Mark Zuckerberg had created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room as a way for him and his friends to better connect with schoolmates. In the intervening years, he'd raised $37.7 million from venture capitalists and transformed his modest Web site into a certified social phenomenon. College kids across the nation clamored for access, which Zuckerberg doled out, school by school. By mid-2006, about 7 million users, most of them college students, had a Facebook account."

Startup Offers Privacy For Sale -- But Is Anyone Buying?

The commercials have started on TV also - a $1,000,000 guarantee that you won't be a victim of identity theft. The inevitable product of social networks and the internets.

1. Sign up for service
2. Hire script kiddie to break for $10,000
3. PROFIT!?!?!?!

Startup Offers Privacy For Sale -- But Is Anyone Buying?:

Privacy is fast becoming the trendy concept in online marketing. An increasing number of companies are flaunting the steps they've taken to protect the privacy of their customers. But studies suggest consumers won't pay even 25 cents to protect their data. In one week in July, Ask.com unveiled AskEraser, a tool that will allow users to obliterate their search histories; Microsoft announced enhanced privacy controls for its Windows Live service; and Google and Yahoo shrank the amount of time they retained IP addresses and search logs, reducing the ability of government agencies to subpoena such data.

Social Networking Hits Investing

Social Networking Hits Investing:
"Social Networking Hits Investing More investors are meeting and sharing ideas in online trading communities. Should you base your portfolio moves on the wisdom of crowds?"

Your Social Network Can Make You Skinny! (Wellsphere Blog)

Your Social Network Can Make You Skinny! (Wellsphere Blog): "Your Social Network Can Make You Skinny! Harvard researchers prove that being part of a social network of people getting in shape can help you lose weight! San Francisco, Calif., August 16, 2007 — A groundbreaking study released by the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that weight loss can spread from person to person through social networks of friends and families. The study showed the same effect for weight gain and weight loss, finding that “the relevance of social influence also suggests that it may be possible to harness this same force to slow the spread of obesity. “Network phenomena might be exploited to spread positive health behaviors… People are connected, and so their health is connected.” This mirrors the model underlying Wellsphere (www.wellsphere.com ), an online community recently launched by Stanford graduates that is specifically designed for people to help each other eat better, lose weight get fit and unwind"

Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog

Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

There is about 15 different sites available:

"Web 2.0 Invites for August 23rd, 2007 August 23, 2007 — 01:30 AM PDT — by Pete Cashmore — Share This — 6 Comments masinvites.PNG Happy Thursday, fellow early adopter. Invites await!"

Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog

Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

"Yahoo Teachers: Social Network for Teachers August 23, 2007 — 11:37 AM PDT — by Pete Cashmore — Share This — 3 Comments yteachers.PNG Yahoo is building a combination of social network, collaborative space and (most of all), lesson plan creator for educators called Yahoo Teachers."

Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog

Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog: "YouTube Users Hate Ads; Won’t Make Money Anyway August 23, 2007 — 12:33 PM PDT — by Pete Cashmore — Share This — 3 Comments vidads.PNG The reactions are in from YouTube users about the addition of video ads, and it’s a wholly negative response. Part of the issue is that the YouTube blog tried to spin this as a way of putting users in control (obviously unwanted ads provide less control, not more), and partly it’s the end of the free lunch that YouTube has given users thus far. Some selected responses to the announcement:"

Looking To Invest In Social Media? Check Out Classmates Media's IPO (Social Networking Stats also)

Looking To Invest In Social Media? Check Out Classmates Media's IPO

Something a little bit different. Notice the visitation numbers in the graph:

Larry Dignan ( ZDNet) submits: United Online's (UNTD ) Classmates Media (CLAS) unit filed for a $125 million IPO in what could be a good litmus test for social media plays on Wall Street. Classmates isn't Facebook ( all resources), but does have enough name recognition to garner interest for investors looking to buy into the social media hubbub.

The company plans to trade under the ticker "CLAS" and has lined up some heavyweight investment bankers-Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

With the IPO it appears that Classmates is trying to front run some buzz ahead of social media peers such as Facebook and LinkedIn. MySpace is already part of Rupert Murdoch's empire. Classmates, which seems like it has been around forever, has 50 million registered user accounts as of June 30 and 2.7 million paid accounts.

Not too shabby for a site I've basically left for dead aside from a few visits following email prodding. It's also not bad for a site that doesn't rank among the top global social sites, according to Comscore. Classmates Media also includes MyPoints, a loyalty marketing service with 8.4 million members as of June 30.

After the IPO, United Online will control the company's Class B shares and Classmates. Classmates' IPO filing didn't detail how much United Online will own. United Online , which also owns NetZero, acquired Classmates in November 2004. MyPoints went public in 1999, and was acquired by United Airlines' parent in 2001. United Media then bought MyPoints in April 2006.

As for the financial outlook, Classmates Media is running a small loss. For the quarter ending March 30, the company had a net loss of $250,000 on revenue of $42.4 million. For 2006, the company had a profit of $171,000 on revenue of $152 million. The annual results are on a pro forma basis as if MyPoints and Classmates had been combined. Both were subsidiaries of United Online.

The biggest risk factor mentioned by Classmates is competition with the usual suspects. From the SEC filing:

Our social networking services compete with a wide variety of social networking Web sites, including broad social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook; a number of specialty Web sites, including LinkedIn, Reunion.com and Monster.com 's (MNST) Military.com service, that offer similar online social networking services based on school, work or military communities; and an increasing number of schools, employers and associations that maintain their own Internet-based alumni information services.

And...

Our MyPoints loyalty marketing business faces competition for members from several other loyalty programs that offer competitive online products and services, including Ebates, Upromise and ThankYou Network. We also face competition from offline loyalty rewards programs that have a significant online presence, such as those operated by credit card, airline and hotel companies.

The company's plan seems to be increasing and maintaining paying subscribers, a tough chore considering "only a small percentage of members initially registering for our social networking services sign up for a paid subscription at the time of registration."

I have seen a few folks pay for Classmates.com, but it takes repeated emails. More often than not people try Classmates, but don't buy. To wit:

The number of free members returning to our Web sites has been decreasing, and if we were to continue to experience such decreases, it would likely adversely impact our number of paying subscribers.

Bottom line: From United Online's perspective the IPO is a nice move to monetize Classmates at what could be the peak of the social media buzz. For investors, the deal may not be such a no-brainer.

Twitter, new features - Introducing People Search

Via email:

Hello Twitter-ers,

It's new feature season and we're starting with People Search.
This new Twitter feature is great for finding more people to
follow because it searches profile information such as name,
location, bio, and url. Come on by and find out if your friends
are already Twittering and you just didn't know it! The search
field is on the right side of Twitter when you sign in:
http://twitter.com

Twitter & MTV

We're partnering with MTV for the Video Music Awards next month.
They have some fun ideas which involve artists and celebrities
including the MTV Moonman twittering from Las Vegas during the
whole weekend leading up to the VMA broadcast on Sunday,
September 9th. Also, Twitter's gonna be on TV! We're looking
forward to it. The artists who will be joining Twitter are popular
and you can get their updates by following the Video Music Awards
on Twitter.

Follow VMA: http://twitter.com/vma

Nelson is Twitter Family

Speaking of celebrities, the genius behind Google's Search API is
Nelson Minar. Nelson left Google a while back but joined Twitter
months ago as a permanent advisor. Nelson continues to provide us
with engineering advice, helps us work through scaling and
infrastructure details, and in general brings more engineering
"gravitas" to our operation. Nelson is a such valued part of the
Twitter team we gave him an iPhone preloaded with all our phone
numbers. So yeah, Nelson rocks. http://twitter.com/nelson

A Fine Frenzy

Alison Sudol is the young musician behind A Fine Frenzy and it's
been really fun following her on tour for her first album, One
Cell in The Sea. Some of us from Twitter listened to her sing when
she came to San Francisco and had the opportunity to say hello to
Alison and her grandmother who she brought to the show. Her
grandmother told us she prints out every twitter Alison makes and
worries when she skips a day. (She also prints out Barack Obama's
twitters.)

Follow Alison: http://twitter.com/afinefrenzy

We don't recommend everyone print out Twitter updates as it's not
ecologically sustainable. However, when Alison's grandmother does
it, it's awesome. Okay, that's all for now.

Happy Twittering!
Biz Stone and the Twitter Team
http://twitter.com/biz

MTV Networks to invest big money in games | Tech News on ZDNet

MTV Networks to invest big money in games | Tech News on ZDNet

MTV Networks to invest big money in games Reuters Published on ZDNet News: Aug 16, 2007 2:11:00 PM TalkBack * Share o Digg o Del.ico.us * Print * Email * * + 1 1 Tags: Reuters, Games MTV Networks plans to invest well over $500 million in video games, seeing the red-hot entertainment category as a major pillar of growth in its goal to reach consumers wherever they spend time. The two-year investment is part of a global strategy to incorporate games development at the inception of all new programming plans and not as an afterthought, executives say.

Mobile Social Networking: $6 B by 2012

Mobile Social Networking: $6 B by 2012

"Mobile Social Networking: $6 B by 2012


User-generated revenues from social networking sites are expected to grow exponentially as users go mobile by Gemma Simpson Related Items * Leader: Is it safer to hide cash under your mattress? * Editor's Blog: Tech improves... but we don't? * The Weekly Round-Up: 22.06.07 * The CIOs transforming government IT * Bloggers driving change in Egypt Story Tools * post a comment * e-mail this story * print this story * order a reprint * digg this * save to del.icio.us partner logo Social networking fans will drive mobile user-generated content revenues to nearly $6bn by 2012. User-generated revenues from social networking services, dating and content uploaded to third party sites will increase from $572m in 2007 to more than $5.7bn in 2012, analyst house Juniper Research predicts. Social networking is expected to bring in half of the $5.7bn total revenue by the end of the 2012 forecast period, according to Juniper."

Failure of Second Life's Ginko Financial Leads to Calls for Regulation

Failure of Second Life's Ginko Financial Leads to Calls for Regulation

Bank Failure in Second Life Leads to Calls for Regulation By Bryan Gardiner

The recent collapse of Ginko Financial, a 'virtual investment bank' in Second Life, has spurred calls for more oversight, transparency and accountability, especially when it comes to business practices in the metaverse. Last week, Ginko Financial -- an unregulated bank that promised investors astronomical returns (in excess of 40 percent) and was run by a faceless owner whose identity is still a mystery -- announced it would no longer exist as a financial entity.

The declared insolvency meant the bank would be unable to repay approximately 200,000,000 Lindens (U.S. $750,000) to Second Life residents who had invested their money with the bank over the course of its three and a half years of existence.

Wikipedia is only as anonymous as your IP

Wikipedia is only as anonymous as your IP: "Wikipedia is only as anonymous as your IP Virgil Griffith, a good friend and fellow hacker, reminds us today that anonymity on the internet does not really exist. With his newly released search tool Wikiscanner, you can search an index of 35 million Wikipedia edits by IP, allowing you to find edits coming from within organizations like the CIA or the EFF (bonus if you can find something about Kevin Bankston smoking)."

STUNNING: Facebook on the iPhone

STUNNING: Facebook on the iPhone - Go to themob.facebook.com on your iPhone or web browser to behold what might be the best iPhone app so far.

I think stunning may be pushing it a bit. , but it is very good, esp. that fast.

Apple's new iMac - Engadget

Apple's new iMac - Engadget:



Who could've seen this one coming? Apple surprised no one this morning with brand new iMacs. Built from aluminum and glass, the new all-in-one desktops feature a complete, slimmer redesign and will come in two sizes: 20-inch and 24-inch. There's the usual compliment of ports like USB 2.0, Firewire 400 / 800, a slot loading SuperDrive, iSight camera and so forth. The new look features a glossy display to match the majority of Apple's consumer lineup, and new keyboards are indeed coming along for the ride -- in an extended wired version as well as a mini wire free model, running the Bluetooth 2.0 spec. Under the hood Apple has up to a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics, up to 1TB of storage, 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0, with 8x SuperDrives and 1GB of RAM standard across the board. Prices start at $1,199 for the 20-inch, $1,499 for a processor and graphics bump, $1,799 for the 24-incher and $2,299 for Core 2 Extreme. The full rundown of Apple's stock models is after the break."

Education 2.0: The College Student's Guide to File Sharing

Education 2.0: The College Student's Guide to File Sharing: "Education 2.0: The College Student's Guide to File Sharing"

College: You finally made it. But now that you're here, how should you spend your first few weeks at school?

Filling up the hard drive of your brand-new Toshiba R500 with loads of music and video files, that's how -- harnessing the full file-sharing power of a high-speed university-class network?

But how? Is it safe? Legal? Faster than asking your parents to burn a few DVDs and put them into their monthly care package?

Excellent questions -- the mark of a true student. Welcome to File Sharing 101.

Digg - Best. Ad. Ever

Digg - Best. Ad. Ever

This ad is in the latest issue of Linux Journal has been run before (in 2000), and it offended some folks. Well, that didn't stop them from running it again.

Not really social networking, at all, but, funny.

A simple introduction to social networking (and some more up and coming sites)

The year is 2007 and the most popular meeting place on earth is the World Wide Web! Just what does this mean? Quite simply that there are millions and millions of internet users that are connecting to each other online and creating “virtual meeting places”. Whether you are a chess enthusiast or an avid cook, whether you collect rare insects or are devoted to keeping up with the latest fashion trends, or even if you simply enjoy being in touch with people around the world, there is a virtual gathering place for almost every interest and taste.

For an affiliate, the potential contained in these social networks is enormous. With their rate of growth, the possibility of gaining new customers and establishing relationships with potential partners within specific verticals is endless. A large number of networking sites make it easy to find users that are interested in similar topics, which means a marketer can find profiles and networks of users suited for their particular vertical(s) with relative ease. Growth and profits derived from social networks start with a proper understanding of these social portals.

Tips:

• Start by getting to know the biggest and most popular networks.
• As you get more comfortable, identify social networks within your vertical(s).
• Become an avid participant in the area(s) you have identified.
• Beware of the hard sell.
• Have a creative site that has original content and is in tune with the target audience.
• 
  

It is advisable to spend a good amount of time perusing some of the bigger existing social networks. This will allow you to understand the inner workings of these sites and to get to know their specific lingo – key factors in getting you comfortable enough to become an avid participant. LinkedIn, a profile-based website, is one of the fastest growing networking sites for professionals. An affiliate can benefit from LinkedIn by creating their own profile which highlights their main portals and the programs they have worked with successfully in the past. Using a service like LinkedIn allows affiliates to reach not only affiliate and marketing managers, but can also help establish relationships with other sites with which they may want to partner or provide co-registration services.

The hottest social network sites:

Digg ~ http://www.digg.com
Myspace ~ http://www.myspace.com
LinkedIn ~ http://www.linkedin.com
Del.Icio.Us ~ http://del.icio.us
Newsvine.com ~ http://www.newsvine.com
StumbleUpon.com ~ http://www.stumbleupon.com
Yahoo 360 ~ http://360.yahoo.com

Growing social network sites:

RepVine ~ www.repvine.com
Netscape ~ www.netscape.com
MyBlogLog ~ www.mybloglog.com
Magnolia ~ http://ma.gnolia.com

For the intrepid affiliate that is on the continuous search for new and innovative opportunities, tapping into social networks is a great strategy. After all, the internet is all about relationships – building relationships, expanding the boundaries of existing relationships and creating communities where the relationship sky is limitless.