social network

Foursquare Makes Geotagging Generous, Points to Charity's AR Future

Kit Eaton — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:01:10 -0500

For the Friendship-Obsessed, Facebook Adds Voice Chat

Chris Dannen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:06:33 -0400

If Facebook's news feed isn't fast enough for you, there's chat. And if you're the type who finds chat too slow or not intimate enough, now there's voice chat. Enter Vivox, a voice chat application in beta for Facebook.

Viral Loop: Jason Calacanis Q&A From the Top of the Leader Board

Adam Penenberg — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:40:12 -0400

JackTheDonkey.com is growing up nicely

David Katz — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:11:53 -0400

I hope this finds you well.

I wanted to reconnect to give you an update in the life of JackTheDonkey.com.

Overall….I like to think that Jack is now getting up to speed.

The overall functionality of the site has increased to the point, where “the experts” are now calling this a legitimate social network…one that just so happens to be doing good with your time online for the charity of your choice! (to the tune of 1.1 cents EVERY impression donated by JackTheDonkey.com to your choice of 23 charities from across Canada, The US and now The UK).

Robo.to Bundles Your Outgoing Calls With Video and More—Should We Worry?

Zachary Wilson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:43:20 -0400

Remember that pivotal moment in the horror film When A Stranger Calls, when the babysitter gets the news that "The call is coming from inside the house?" It's a jaw-dropping revelation. If the new app Robo.to has anything to do with it, Jill would probably have a little too much information about who was calling.

Facebook Announces It Is "Cashflow Positive"

Chris Dannen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:21:01 -0400

In a shocking late-afternoon announcement, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg said his company is now a sustainable business. He made the announcement via the Facebook Blog this afternoon.

"We're also succeeding at building Facebook in a sustainable way. Earlier this year, we said we expected to be cash flow positive sometime in 2010, and I'm pleased to share that we achieved this milestone last quarter," Zuckerberg said in the post. Below, the company's new headquarters in Palo Alto.

Crowdsourcing 101: Why Vitaminwater's Facebook App Can't Lose

Clay Dillow — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:12:15 -0400

When it comes to game-changing ideas, is there really wisdom in crowds? Given several efforts at crowdsourcing creative content and product development in recent years, more than a few companies seem to think so. What's less clear is why some crowdsourcing efforts are wildly successful while others fall flat. Vitaminwater raised the question again this week when it released a new "flavor creator" app for Facebook, inviting users to vote for a new flavor and vitamin formula for a new product release, even offering $5,000 to the fan who creates a winning packaging design.

Facebook Plans 50% Expansion

Chris Dannen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:40:21 -0400

Facebook is planning to expand its 1,000-person ranks by 50%, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with Bloomberg . The company is using the dismal economic times as a bartering chip, picking up engineers and executives on the cheap. Since they're one of the only companies in town with an active agenda for expansion, Facebook's brass will have their run of the resume pool.

Randy Newman wasn’t quite clear enough…

David Katz — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:01:47 -0400

Why? Because I looooooooooooooooooooooooooove LA. Or more specifically, the people you meet just being in LA (when you’re not stuck in traffic).

There are a few cities in the world for which I feel this way…but LA is something something.

Now, before I spew my LA lovefest, I need to say…I hate the process of getting there.

Zynga Adds 12 Million Users in Two Weeks, Capping 50% Growth Spurt

Clay Dillow — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:01:06 -0400

Social gaming company Zynga, creator of several popular Facebook games including FarmVille, is growing at a pace that would make even its most productive virtual agrarians jealous, adding 12 million players in the last two weeks. The 20% boost in overall users can largely be attributed to FarmVille's 5.3 million active users per day, the most on Facebook, though other Zynga titles like Mafia Wars and Texas Hold 'Em also contribute high traffic volumes.

Why Are We Obsessed With Online Farming?

Kate Rockwood — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:00:21 -0400

I've spent time in my life working on two farms. The first, tucked into the rolling Tuscan hills just south of Siena, demanded early mornings, sweaty labor, and a willingness to tackle and retrieve the occasional stray pig. For the second, I log on to Facebook. Yep, I am addicted to FarmVille, a game developed by Zynga that lets users plant and harvest virtual crops, gift livestock to other players, and grow fruit trees. And I'm far from alone.

MySpace: A Place for Friends No More

Clay Dillow — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:53:00 -0400

After laying off 30% of its U.S. work force and gutting its overseas operations, MySpace's leadership promised radical change, and it seems that change is finally here.

CrowdEye Twitter Search Dives Into Over-Crowded Social Search Pool

Clay Dillow — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:28:19 -0400

Organizing the vast sea of ~~vapid narcissism~~ data streaming across social networks like Twitter and Facebook is no small task--which is why so many developers are taking up the challenge. The latest is CrowdEye, created by two former Microsoft developers, which launches in beta later today.

The Failure of the Facebook Vote

Chris Dannen — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:14:06 -0400

Recently Facebook outraged its users by changing its terms of service to say that the company owned all the content on its network. Users freaked out; you joined them in the chants of unfairness. Now Facebook is calling your bluff.

Evolution of a Facebook-Killer

Chris Dannen — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:02:20 -0400

Plenty of people have been wondering about which company might come along and dethrone Facebook. What if the answer is so obvious that you wouldn't notice until all the pieces came together?

What if the answer is Google: Maker of Gmail, Picasa, YouTube, Blogger, Maps, Latitude, Docs, Calendar, Gtalk, and now Google Voice--some of the best-designed, well-connected apps on the Web. Unlike social Web's golden child Facebook--which released a flimsy API that ginned up some okay apps, and a whole lot of crappy ones--Google built its network from the bottom up.

The Seven Coolest Things Online This Week

Chris Dannen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:00:50 -0400

Super-strong artificial muscles and telephony iPods? The future looks brighter--especially if you listen to President Obama's plans, as he laid them out for Jay Leno on Thursday. And with Gmail's new "Undo" feature, even the past got a facelift this week. Here's FastCompany.com's roundup of the coolest things online right now.

Carbon Nanotube Muscles Better Than Ours

We think of prostheses as second-rate substitutes to our own flesh and blood. But what if they could outperform what nature gave us?

How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign

Ellen McGirt — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:00:15 -0400

Chris Hughes is having a philosophical moment. "I don't really know what 'community' means. And I never use that word."

Facebook: Stop Acting Like a Nation-State

Chris Dannen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:36:31 -0500

The executives at Facebook may be under a grand delusion: they seem to think that Facebook is a nation. And they're attempting to build it a government.

This is, of course, a tremendously stupid idea.

Sure, Facebook has had PR trainwrecks before, and all were exercises in hubris; first there was the Beacon debacle, then its parochial ban on breastfeeding photos, and most recently, the new terms of service that tried to claim ownership over users' data.

Are Social Network Profiles Putting Us at Risk for Business Discrimination?

Susan Solovic — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:45:06 -0500

When you interview a potential employee for a job opening, according to federal and state law you are forbidden to ask a candidate his or her age. Furthermore, it’s illegal to discriminate against job applicants based on their gender, race or religion. But today it’s easy to prescreen candidates and find out whatever you want to know if they participate in social networks and are careless about what information they share.

7 Anti-Social Facebook Apps

Chris Dannen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:26:09 -0500

Social networks are about maintaining friendships and fostering new ones, but some of the apps made for them seem bent on doing the opposite. Here are 7 anti-social Facebook apps, and why you might want them anyway.

Univocidade, Diferença e Distribuição

Cacau Freire — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:49:11 -0500

A univocidade do Ser não exclui a diferença em suas representações. O unívoco é o plano da ação. A diferença está na distribuição de poder numa mesma circunstância de imersão onde acontece uma partilha nômade, dependente do movimento da apropriação do espaço. Aquele que 'salta'.

Trechos de: DELEUZE, Gilles. Diferença e repetição. 2 ed. Tradução: Luiz Orlandi e Roberto Machado. Rio de Janeiro: Graal, 2006.

Presses Universitaires de France, 1968 - Différence et Répetition

Oodle Brings Its "Weirdo-Filter" to Facebook Marketplace

Chris Dannen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:11:41 -0500

Classifieds site Oodle announced today that it will re-invent the Facebook Marketplace as a “social” market in which users can buy and sell with friends and community members. The new Oodle-powered classifieds are slated to launch in the first quarter of 2009, according to Oodle CEO Craig Donato. Marketplace will retain its existing look and feel, but function more like Oodle's own site.

How the "Strip-Mall Effect" Could Destroy the Web

Chris Dannen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:20:39 -0500

Drive through many towns on the East Coast, and you'll see the same fossils of urban development: an old, blighted town center and a few miles away, a modern retail strip with ample parking, brightly-lit chain shops and, inevitably, a Starbucks [SBUX]. Take a look at new plans announced by Facebook on Monday, and its hard to escape the deja vu. Call it the Strip Mall Effect, and it's coming to the Internet.

Yahoo Floats New Homepage

Chris Dannen — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:41:44 -0400

Yahoo [YHOO] is, by most metrics, the most frequented website on the Internet. Conscious that more and more online activity is shifting into the realm of social networks, blogs, and other what-have-yous, the company is debuting a new, more customizable homepage that the Yahoo folks hope will keep their site's visitor base growing and youthful.

Educating The Advertiser

Sarah Doody — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:41:53 -0400

Current social networks have used the Google model of advertiser do-it-yourself media buying options which has lead many to ponder the future or need for sales teams at social networks. However, at Ad:tech, an interactive advertising and technology conference – one thing was clear – media buyers are screaming for social networks to educate them on how to spend more money to reach audiences who are moving away from traditional media and spending more time on digital interactive experiences.