Facebook Frenzy
What a week in social media! The wheeling and dealing has certainly begun. Popular social networking aggregator Friendfeed has been
snapped up by Facebook
. If that wasn't enough, Facebook also:
-
upgraded search, allowing users to search status updates for the same time.
-
teamed up with
the Huffington Post
to create social news
-
began testing
Facebook Lite
, a stripped down version for slower internet connections
-
grew by twice as
much as Twitter
in July
Retweet this please, it's not babble
Retweets have become an important part of the Twitter experience and the microblogging service has taken notice with Project Retweet
, promising to officially integrate the recycling habit. Not everyone is happy with the decision including leading social media identidy Dan Zarella, claiming it will
mangle the retweet system
.
A
Pear Analytics report
took a look at 2000 tweets from the twitter timeline and declared that 40% of tweets were 'Pointless Babble'. As to be expected, there was an outcry by the services loyal users. Australian writer (don't call him a journalist)
Stilgherrian
calling the study 'twaddle
', MSNBC called '
shenanigans
' and everyone couldn't help but think back to best study on Twitter ever conducted, Morgan Stanley's
survey of one
.
MySpace resurrected?
Far from content being also ran in the social networking space, MySpace is focusing on its strengths with some positive results. In the past year, MySpace has grow it's Australian users by a little over five percent. The success of MySpace Music also seems to have grown it's confidence, with rumours they are poised to
purchase online music sevice iLike.
Rockmelt wants in on browser wars
Former Netscape founder Marc Andreeson has backed a new, mysterious browser called
Rockmelt
. The hype machine is spinning on overdrive since a
New York Times
article was posted. Little is actually known about the browser, except it is touted as having a close integration with Facebook.
Patents, Patents, Patents
First it was Skype, then
Microsoft Word . Now a
new lawsuit
threatens to derail Twitter. TechRadium claims Twitter infringed on its patent for emergency mass-notification, filed back in 2006. The company has admitted it doesn't really care about social networking, but it wants to protect it's market and has gone after Twitter after people mused about
using the service for emergency notifications
.
Sony didn't want to be left out of the patent party, submitting a new
emotion controller patent for the PS3.
Legal action stations
It seems that Twitter's lawyers are getting a workout at the moment, and it's not just fending off other companies.
Twitter is cracking down on applications which are giving the service a bad name, attempting to shut down Melbourne based company USocial for selling Twitter followers to Micheal Jackson's estate.
They are not the only one in Twitter's legal crosshairs, auto-follow tool MyTwitterButler has also been
served with papers
telling them to give up the ghost.
Not to be left out of the legal wrangling, some Californian users have filed a civil suite against Facebook, alleging it
violates privacy laws
.
Its the internet, stupid!
In yet another case of "oops, the internet is online", athlete Tamsyn Lewis has been censured over a
Facebook rant
attacking her non selection for the world champs. Not wanting to be outdone for sheer balls (or stupidity), a thief posted to a UK woman's Facebook page via her stolen laptop, telling her that her TV was
'rubbish'
.
If posting your crimes on social networking is one for the 'oversharing' club, so is the wife of Twitter CEO Evan Williams. Sara decided to live
tweet her entire labour including requests for the epidural. Whilst this may come as a shock to most, apparently tweeting in the delivery room is just another
part of life these days.
In paying homage to the oversharers out there, here is the best Twitter rap so far.
Hyped up
Twitter may have grown by 6000% this year, but the latest Hype Cycle report (pdf) from Gartner poo poo's the social networks worth, claiming its full of hot air. Cloud computing, eBook readers and green IT are also heading for the trough of disillusionment according to the report. Infographic below.
