The Inquisitr » Facebook

Facebook listening fail

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:51:04 +0000

Facebook: no matter how sucky your life gets just remember- no one is listening there, either.

[Lamebook]

Next PlayStation 3 firmware update to include Facebook

Chris Greenhough — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:36:23 +0000

Sony has officially confirmed that Facebook will be integrated with the next major PlayStation 3 firmware update.

The company made the announcement on its PlayStation blog on the same day that Facebook arrived on Microsoft’s Xbox 360. I’m sure that’s just an unfortunate coincidence.

PlayStation 3 firmware update v3.10 will allow PS3 owners to link their PlayStation Network account to their Facebook account, meaning the console will automatically update your Facebook News Feed with Trophy and PlayStation Store activity, instantly embarrassing you if you play stuff like Haze.

Interestingly, developers will be able to add code to games that will publish additional game information to your News Feed.

No news on when this is arriving, but here’s a video:

[Via PlayStation Blog]

Historical permanence of today’s social media? Give me a break.

Steven Hodson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:50:14 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me sometimes the seeming delusions of grandeur that permeates the social media niche of the tech world. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in the possibilities of how social media – social conversation – can change our society in fundamental ways. It does mean however that what we are dealing with today are only the rudimentary tools of a nascent ideology.

That said there is no way with our current technology that you can even come close to suggesting that anything being written today on services like Twitter or Facebook is of any historical significance. Not only that there is absolutely no reason to even think that any of it will be around in a 100 years time – let alone even 10 years.

Ayelet Noff over at The Next Web has for some reason fallen for the idea that the crap that currently flows through Twitter or Facebook is of some sort of historical importance that this generation and future ones will deem it worth of some historian having a wet dream over.

Sorry Ayelet but you along with Ben Parr who you quoted in your post are drinking way too much social media kool-aid and you need a reality intervention.

Both of you go on about how every one of our actions, our feelings, thoughts are being constantly recorded. Well beside the very idea of that happening is exceptionally creepy what makes you think that any of this will even exist beyond a point where it will survive in any usable form and hold any historical value. Seriously.

Over at Mashable Ben gets all effusive over how social media is going to change recorded history. Are you kidding me?

Like, who is really going to give a damn what the hell you or I were doing in the month of November in the year 2009 at some point in the future. That silliness aside there is the whole technological and business angle that you seem to be ignoring.

As it stands right now Twitter only keeps our data for a certain period of time and ask Thomas Hawk about the long time permanence of our online lives. Ask all the users of Sidekick when they potentially lost all their data or how about all those users who have been kicked from Facebook?

This idea that that just because social media is the hot ticket in a very small segment of the online world and that because of it we are creating some sort of new permanent record for future reference is nothing but an illusion. That so-called record exists only as long as companies want, or are able, to keep the data. That isn’t permanence. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

The one point I do agree with with Ben on though is that there will be an ethical war over how that information is used and that sir will be an event for the history books.

The War of Giants – coming to a web near you

Steven Hodson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:02:01 +0000

This has to be one of the few times that I find myself agreeing with Tim O’Reilly but his post today over at O’Reilly Radar touched on something that I’ve been thinking about for some time now. He started out with how Facebook seems to be messing around with links people are posting to their feeds. The short of it is that Facebook was removing the links from the posted URLs.

It turns out that this might have been more of a bug than anything intentional from Facebook. Tim used this though as his jumping off point to explain why he thinks we could be headed into some really troubling times on the web.

I’ve outlined a few of the ways that big players like Facebook, Apple, and News Corp are potentially breaking the “small pieces loosely joined” model of the Internet. But perhaps most threatening of all are the natural monopolies created by Web 2.0 network effects.

One of the points I’ve made repeatedly about Web 2.0 is that it is the design of systems that get better the more people use them, and that over time, such systems have a natural tendency towards monopoly.

And so we’ve grown used to a world with one dominant search engine, one dominant online encyclopedia, one dominant online retailer, one dominant auction site, one dominant online classified site, and we’ve been readying ourselves for one dominant social network.

But what happens when a company with one of these natural monopolies uses it to gain dominance in other, adjacent areas?

Near the end of his post he comes right and suggests that we could very well be facing a war for the control of the web.

It could be that everyone will figure out how to play nicely with each other, and we’ll see a continuation of the interoperable web model we’ve enjoyed for the past two decades. But I’m betting that things are going to get ugly. We’re heading into a war for control of the web. And in the end, it’s more than that, it’s a war against the web as an interoperable platform. Instead, we’re facing the prospect of Facebook as the platform, Apple as the platform, Google as the platform, Amazon as the platform, where big companies slug it out until one is king of the hill.

Tim finished off his post with an interesting prediction that given his past opinions caught me off guard.

P.S. One prediction: Microsoft will emerge as a champion of the open web platform, supporting interoperable web services from many independent players, much as IBM emerged as the leading enterprise backer of Linux.

I find the idea that he believes that Microsoft will end up being our champion of the open web absolutely fascinating, and one that I have believed for sometime now. It is incredible that the company derided at one time for being the most evil thing that happened to computers is now looked upon a more open company than its two main competitors.

I might not like the idea that we could be headed into troubling times on the web but on this I have to agree with Tim as well as have a great big chuckle over the changing opinion about Microsoft – even by O’Reilly.

Free Rihanna Concert Today Sponsored By Nokia

Dennis Bjørn Petersen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:52:53 +0000

To promote Nokia’s latest attempt at beating the iPhone music mobile, the X6, Nokia’s Ovi Store and Nokia Music Store , the Finnish company are hosting streaming a live and free Rihanna concert today/night. The concert takes place at a secret London location and is supposedly streamed using a X6.

The concert is a part of the “Nokia Play 2010″ campaign which will focus on the touchscreen Nokia X6, which the company is promoting as an entertainment device ideal for playing music and video, as well as its pay-per-track Nokia Music Stores and unlimited Comes With Music service. Now where have I heard that before?!

Nokia has thought the social aspect of the happening through. The Rihanna concert will be broadcast across Nokia mobile music, video and online at www.nokia.com/rihanna. Nokia will also stream videos that concert attendees take with their X6 phones. To further enhance the concert experience you can share your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook.

It must be a coincidence that Rihanna latest album “Rated R” is released in a couple of days too. What could she possibly get out of singing “Russian Roulette” in front of millions of potential buyers? Not to mention the tweets with #rihannalive.

All you have to do to enjoy the Rihanna concert is sign up at Nowplaying.nokia.com (it’s free) and wait some 7 hours.

(Yeah it took me two hours to get that screen dump. I missed it when it hit 9 hours by 2 seconds. Yes I’m a perfectionist.)

Is there a way to see who views your Facebook? No.

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:09 +0000

One of the most commonly asked questions about the reigning king of social networking sites is “is there a way to see who views your Facebook?”

Ironically, most people who want this information would probably want their covert Facebook checking-up exposed. (And your college boyfriend’s wife would probably hate you more.) But similarly, people always want to know who’s checking out their Facebook profile, and will add apps or do other things via status update and the like to reveal this juicy information.

Don’t add any more apps to clutter your friends’ live feeds, and don’t bother with any other schemes promising to show you who views your Facebook profile. Facebook itself confirms that no apps or third-parties can tell you this, no matter how many cows you chase out of friends’ paddocks.

Facebook does not allow users to track profile views or see statistics on how often a particular piece of content has been viewed and by whom without your consent.

If an Application claims to provide this functionality, you can report an application for abuse by going to the application’s About page and clicking “Report Application” at the bottom of the page, or by clicking “Report” at the bottom of any canvas page within the application.

Facebook flat out says seeing who viewed your Facebook profile is un-possible:

Facebook currently does not provide an application that allows users to track profile views or statistics on the views of any specific user content. Third party developers, however, may offer applications that provide some of this functionality. Please keep a few things in mind for these applications:

Applications CANNOT track profile visits for users who simply go to another person’s profile; Facebook has made this technically impossible.

In order to be tracked by an application, you will need to specifically agree to allow the application to track your actions.

Adding an application that provides this functionality is purely optional. If you do not want to participate, please do not add the application to your account.

So if your curiosity stems from not wanting to be tracked, be selective about which apps you add. None of which can show you who’s looking at your Facebook profile.

[Image]

Xbox 360 getting Facebook, Twitter, and Last.FM on November 17

Chris Greenhough — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:43 +0000

The Xbox 360 dashboard update that will allow you access to Facebook, Twitter, and Last.FM through your console goes live on Tuesday, November 17. That’s according to Marc Whitten, Xbox Live general manager. Here he is, doing some talking:

“We look at things like Facebook and Twitter as amazing social experiences, but also entertainment. We didn’t want to copy and paste from the PC. It’s going to be great for current users, but it’s also great for new users who can see who is on Facebook and get their first 30 friends on Live.”

Using Facebook on Microsoft’s console will allow gamers to convert their Facebook friends to Xbox 360 friends, a rather nifty Xbox 360-exclusive addition.

Yet, as VG247’s Stephany Nunneley points out, gamers may just be distracted by a few other trinkets on November 17. Check out what must be the strongest day of releases in some time:

Assassin’s Creed II
Left 4 Dead 2
God of War Collection
Assassin’s Creed DS & PSP Bundle
LittleBigPlanet PSP
Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles
Tony Hawk: RIDE
Lego Indiana Jones 2

Just a bit good, eh?

[Via VG247]

Facebook update saves teen from jail

Kim LaCapria — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:21:16 +0000

A Harlem teen managed to save his own posterior legally with a three word Facebook status update. (”Where’s my pancakes?”)

Rodney Bradford, a 19-year-old resident of Farragut Houses, posted the seemingly inconsequential update from his dad’s apartment at 11:49am on October 17th. In a refreshing twist, rather than coming back to get him arrested, fired or sued for paternity, Bradford’s words managed to keep him out of jail. On the 18th, Bradford was arrested for burglary and wound up finding Facebook to be his sink or swim alibi.

Up until now, we’ve mainly seen Facebook used legally against a defendant, such as the burglar that couldn’t keep his thieving hands off the site while committing a crime and later ended up in jail because of it. A legal consultant told the Times that this is the first time he’s aware of where a status update has been used to extricate a suspect from further trouble rather than land him further in it.

While the defense concedes that someone other than Bradford could have posted the update using Bradford’s logins, it was argued that it required a level of forethought and malice unlikely present in the defendant:

“This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil,” Mr. Reuland said, adding that the Facebook entry was just “the icing on the cake,” since his client had the other alibis.

The judge and DA agreed, and charges were dropped against the teen. Bradford says:

As for those pancakes: “I used to really like them,” Mr. Bradford said. “Now I love ‘em.”

[NYT via Gizmodo]

Rogue group hijacks hundreds of Facebook groups for your own good

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:50:11 +0000

Despite well-known privacy leaks and rampant availability of sensitive personal data, Facebook remains hugely popular.

Lulled into a precarious sense of security by friends locking accounts, most people feel fairly comfortable sharing information they might not otherwise like to see on the front page of The New York Times. (One of the litmus-tests for information sharing on the internet, that or “would you like to see it in your grandmother’s inbox?”) A common Facebook function for many users seems to be the practice of joining any and all groups that cross their news feeds, from “Celebrities I’d Like To Hit in the Face With a Bag of Doorknobs” to “I couldn’t give a flying f**k about what you’re up to on Farmville.”

Today, many users woke up to find the following message posted on the “walls” of groups taken over by Control Your Info, who state that the mass-hack was “strictly not for profit and done for a good cause.” (It did get their name in the news, though.)

Hello, we hereby announce that we have officially hijacked your Facebook group.

This means we control a certain part of the information about you on Facebook. If we wanted we could make you appear in a bad way which could damage your image severly.

For example we could rename your group and call it something very inappropriate and nasty, like “I support pedophile’s rights”. But have no fear – we won’t. We just renamed it Control Your Info. Because this is really all we want:

Think about the safety in your social media life to the same extent you do in your real life. Watch the videoclip for more information or check out www.controlyour.info for more tips soon!

We promise to restore your group name and leave the group by the end of next week. Don’t worry – we won’t mess anything up.

The loophole which allowed the group to gain administrative access to Facebook groups exists in groups in which the administrator has since jumped ship. Anyone belonging to a group without an admin can appoint themselves in charge of the group and then change the group name, contact members, and so on. While it’s unlikely to be the end of life as you know it, it’s certainly something to think about.

Facebook has commented on the matter and denied groups had been hijacked, asserting that no sensitive data had been compromised. The spokesman also addressed concerns with large groups and cleanup of the affected groups, many of which remain “hijacked”:

“The names of large groups cannot be changed, nor can anyone message all members,” he said. In cases where Facebook finds that a group name has been changed inappropriately, it will disable those groups, which is what it plans on doing in this case, he said.

Let’s Stop The Nonsense, OK?

Kyle Brady — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:05:43 +0000

The “bleeding-edge” segment of the Internet has gone full-on crazy, so it’s time to give them their medicine… and fast.

First of all, let’s make some definitions:

“technology” does not include only the Internet
“the Internet” does not include only so-called “social networking” sites
“groundbreaking” does not include every minor change or release from X’s favorite site Y

With me so far? Good.

If you’re one of the people that goes insane and hyper-joyous over things like Twitter Lists, you need to seek medical help – these “features”, used in the loosest sense of the software term, are not something to get overly excited about. Facebook Chat opening to external clients is not “groundbreaking” or a “gamechanger”, because that IM process is used for an extremely different purpose than, say, regular instant messaging – in fact, the only real operational difference is that I can be connected to some people I don’t want to talk to via Pidgin. Twitter Lists, small changes to Google’s algorithms, and the like are included in this “excited about nonsense” category.

Furthermore, if you’re someone who claims to “love technology”, but what you really mean is that you’re a Facebook addict, a Twitter whore, and an iPhone fanboy, I have some news for you: you don’t love technology. If you really loved technology, you’d be more interested in real technological items like working space elevator prototypes, the multiple industry revolutions that are fast approaching, or even just software that has real and useful purposes. Reading a few blogs about the Internet and going to Twitter conferences do not make you a technogeek – try PhysOrg.com, almost-science-journals like New Scientist, or even some self-education on the things that make your favorite software or gadgets work.

So when you’re retweeting your favorite self-proclaimed geek pundit’s semi-legible statement about a “groundbreaking” release from “the Internet” using brand new “technology”, stop for a moment to think about what you’re saying – how often do you think Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs cry tears of joy over the latest incremental update from FarmVille?

That’s right – never.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

On Incentive Offers in Facebook, the truth lies somewhere in the middle

Duncan Riley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:31:45 +0000

My old boss Michael Arrington has made headlines over the weekend when a video of him going mental at OfferPal CEO Anu Shukla at Friday’s Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco emerged online.

Michael’s gripe seems to be that users of free Facebook applications are duped when they sign up for services in return for not having to pay cash for Facebook game goodies. What should have been a reasonable argument about some deceptive advertisers in the industry naturally broke down when Michael basically accused Zygna, OfferPal, and seemingly Netflix of defrauding users…oh, and for good measure he accused Facebook of being complicit.

Anu Shukla responded in kind, going hard against Michael’s accusations. According to Michael, “Shukla went on a tirade, calling my points “shit, doubleshit, and bullshit” (yes, really), but never really addressed the points,” which is a little like the pot calling the kettle black: what the hell did he expect after he basically got up and said that what her company did made them scammers? I would have thought Michael would have learned by now that not everyone rolls over and takes it when you criticize them in public or private, and I’m case in point.

(continues after video)

Taking away the venom of both, there’s truth from both sides. Michael is right in that some offers are at best dubious, at worst a full blown scam. But likewise to suggest that the only thing these businesses trade on, or to suggest that all incentive offers are a scam ignores that good legitimate lead based advertising provides, not only to application developers, but to those who rely on advertising across the board. Not all lead based advertising is evil just because some advertisers are.

The unknown from me, and I’d note Shukla touches on it, is how many of these dubious ads are delivered automatically as part of a network, vs a complicit action on behalf of OfferPal and others to show them. If you want an excellent example of automation, check out Quadzilla’s post on the issue, where he notes that against the same post on TechCrunch appeared a “make $1000 a day” ad…likely one of those get rich on Google scams that have been going around this year.

The solution

In recognizing that at least some of the ads shown by these companies could be defined as “scam” like (as opposed to all or even a simple majority), the better solution isn’t attacking someone at a conference, but lobbying for legislative change or legal intervention that targets the advertiser to begin with.

What surprised me with my Australian hat on is that the ad examples on TechCrunch could be legal to start with, because they wouldn’t be in Australia (and if they’re showing these ads to Australian’s, they’re in deep trouble.) The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken action against similar ads on TV and elsewhere (one recent example) where the disclosure was small to non-existent…on the basis of “false and misleading and deceptive conduct.”

If consumers in the United States are viewing ads of a similar sort, shouldn’t this be a case for the FTC or similar? and if the law doesn’t back that, shouldn’t it be amended to provide that sort of consumer protection?

If Michael is truly passionate on the subject (and watching the video I believe that he is) he’d be better off calling on the FTC to act and not just simply attacking female CEO’s for Friday sport.

Casually emasculating your spouse via Facebook update

Kim LaCapria — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:30:24 +0000

Dude’s got a point, though.

[Lamebook]

NHL Faces Future With New Facebook Page

AHN — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:24:25 +0000

New York, NY (AHN) – The National Hockey League (NHL) has unveiled the official NHL fan page on Facebook.

The NHL’s new presence on Facebook is part of the League’s broader initiative to make it convenient for fans to find and interact with NHL content, and have more control and flexibility over sharing NHL content with their friends.

The NHL designed its Facebook page to be fun, interactive and viral. As a result, the NHL Facebook page features a wide range of virtual gifts such as team jerseys and “penalties”; NHL video; NHL polls; feeds to the best NHL content on Twitter, message boards and leading blogs; access to deals and discounts; links to NHL team Facebook pages and much more.

“The NHL’s goal is to make sure that fan passion is served on all platforms,” said Perry Cooper, NHL Senior Vice President, Digital Media and NHL Direct. “We have recognized that social networks are a pervasive part of consumer life, and the development of the NHL’s Facebook page is an important part of our direct response to this trend.”

Eye-Fi Now Offering Direct To Facebook Uploads From Your Digital Camera

James Allen Johnson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:26:06 +0000

Eye-Fi has just announced that their now offering Facebook support for their WiFi enabled memory cards for digital cameras. Using the program users can take pictures and then send them right to their Facebook accounts without need for a PC.

The new software also lets users tell their friends when they uploaded pictures to Facebook, while still providing already included access to 25 other already supported photo sharing websites.

There are currently various Eye-Fi SD cards available with entry level cards starting at 2GB capacity and a price of $49, with higher level cards up to 4GB fetching a higher $149 price tag.

Users should also realize that each card offers its own functionality, for example while all cards support Wifi and Wayport hotspot access, only Pro support offers Geo tagging and RAW images for DSLR users with SDHC capabilities. [Electronista]

To whom it may concern: Please delete my Facebook account upon my death

Steven Hodson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:10:07 +0000

I know they say that everything lives forever on the Internet but for bloggers and people involved in producing content this isn’t always the case. There will come a point in the future where those sites we have doted over and poured our blood, sweat and tears into will disappear. At some point hosting fees won’t get paid, databases will get corrupted, or hosting companies will either disappear into other companies or just disappear.

No, nothing will last as evidenced by the closure of GeoCities today by Yahoo – that is unless you have a Facebook account. Yup apparently your account can be marked as Deceased so that only your friends (?) can see your page and you won’t turn up in any search results. So in effect you become immortalized and forever available for people who added you as a friend at a time before you were six feet under.

The reasoning for this option according to Facebooker Max Kelly is

The question soon came up: What do we do about his Facebook profile? We had never really thought about this before in such a personal way. Obviously, we wanted to be able to model people’s relationships on Facebook, but how do you deal with an interaction with someone who is no longer able to log on? When someone leaves us, they don’t leave our memories or our social network. To reflect that reality, we created the idea of “memorialized” profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who’ve passed.

We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it’s important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized. For instance, just last week, we introduced new types of Suggestions that appear on the right-hand side of the home page and remind people to take actions with friends who need help on Facebook. By memorializing the account of someone who has passed away, people will no longer see that person appear in their Suggestions.

When an account is memorialized, we also set privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. We try to protect the deceased’s privacy by removing sensitive information such as contact information and status updates. Memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging into it in the future, while still enabling friends and family to leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance.

Sorry but … Not!

Look when I am gone from this ball of dirt the only one’s that I want to remember me – good or bad – are the people who are people that I have known in real life. It is those people whose memories that I hope to always be a part of but those are the same people who don’t need some page that means nothing after I am gone.

They are the people who share a happy memory of our life’s intersection with another friend over a beer. Those are the people who will laugh or curse at a memory of something we had done together. They are the people who will be buried with those memories just as it should be.

There is an endpoint to everything in our world and our presence on the web is no difference. Just as we fade away from this world as memories fade into the past so should our footprint on the web. Everything comes to an end.

So for the record Facebook – please delete me when I die.

image credit: Boing Boing

The hashtag jungle of real time search

Steven Hodson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:19:40 +0000

Last week my partners in crime over at The Cynical Bastards podcast talked about the deals that Twitter had made with both Microsoft and Google that would allow both companies access to the fire hose of information that Twitter generates every minute of the day. While it was my thinking that Twitter must have made out large in the deals Mark called that thinking into question but as it may turn out I could be wrong in my assumptions.

I say that because of some details that came out in a New York Times article about the marketability of real time search in general and about the Twitter deals in relation to being a provider of content for real time search. As Miguel Helft noted in the NYT article

But Twitter’s chief executive, Evan Williams, said revenue was “not the focus” of its agreements with Google and Microsoft.

What’s more, neither of those companies has immediate plans to put ads on its searches of Twitter, though they may do so later. And Facebook said last week that it received no money from a separate agreement to make some of its users’ updates available in real time to Microsoft.

While a large number of social media pundits, myself included, like to poke fun at Twitter for seemingly being unable to monetize all that data flowing though its timelines it does speak to a larger problem.

Just how do you monetize a constantly changing landscape of hashtags and shortened URLs?

People like blogger Rob Diana suggest that its real strength will only become apparent with the growth of the mobile computing.

A majority of the real time search boom will be in its convergence with another rapidly growing industry, mobile computing. There could be real time recommendations based on your current location using an application that aggregates information from real time searches as well as social sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon. Businesses can easily see the benefits of this as well with local advertisements and “limited time” discounts on your mobile phone.

Just think of the applications that could be possible when you mash together recommendations, discovery, social media and real time information. Not surprisingly, the business model for these new types of applications will probably still be advertising, but it is localized and specialized. Generic search may have known what you were looking for, but the new mobile applications will also know when and where you are looking for it.

However there is also a more interesting use of real time search of social media that may turn out to be much easier to monetize which Rob points to as well in his post

There are the basic breaking news applications, which could be huge in their own right, as well as niche applications like social media monitoring.

While being able to market against your typical search results can result in lots of money being made and easy to see ROI real time search is still both too new and ambiguous to provide the same kind of results – for both provider of results and companies advertising against those results. However the thing that real time search does do is allow companies to be proactive to events as they happen rather than reactive.

Rather than having to deal with old news and the built up reaction to past events companies now have a chance to see these negative events, or even positive ones, as they are happening. By being able to deal with consumer reactions as they develop in real time companies are able in the short run to save money that they would have otherwise had to spend on things like lawyers, public relations, and crisis management.

In the long run it puts a human face to the companies who step in early due to their monitoring of social media and in turn presents the company to consumers as one who cares and is worth spending our money on.

This kind of use of real time search might only return savings or make millions for those involved which might not be as sexy as making billions but sometimes reputation is more important than short term dollars in the bank.

Just as social media has been disruptive and mindset changing for our traditional business models maybe real time search will be just as disruptive of the business of search.

Dragons to slay and dungeons to explore – on Facebook

Steven Hodson — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:57:53 +0000

I never played the original Dungeons & Dragons board game even though it was probably one of the biggest ’social’ games of its time but it seems that even this venerable classic has been bitten by the lure of the modern social world.

Now I don’t play games on Facebook but given the popularity of the platform and the long standing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons it would surprise me to see that Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeon & dragons: Tiny Adventures becomes a big hit.

According to Todd Jordan at The Broad Brush blog the adventures are short, include only your character and are scripted.

Adventures are solo, and players have no interaction with the plot other than choosing to take a potion or equip/unequip items. This is not like the select an option and that chooses your path adventures.

There is one element of cooperative play. Players can buff and heal friends’ characters. Buffs last for a few encounters. Healing can only be done between encounters.

Facebook group “I Automatically Hate the New Facebook Homepage” is mocking you

Kim LaCapria — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:30 +0000

And in not many people are getting the joke.

Ostensibly to mock the hundreds of Facebook groups that spring up in the presence of any change at all in the Facebook GUI, someone’s gone and created an (all-caps) group called “I AUTOMATICALLY HATE THE NEW FACEBOOK HOMEPAGE.” Not surprisingly, most who joined isn’t really getting the joke, although the group’s mission statement is pretty sarcasm heavy:

I HATE CHANGE AND EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH IT

I WANT EVERYTHING TO REMAIN STATIC THROUGHOUT MY ENTIRE LIFE

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I WANT FROM THINGS I CANNOT CONTROL

BY LOGICAL DEDUCTION I AUTOMATICALLY OPPOSE THE NEW FACEBOOK STREAMING HOME PAGE

And then…

IF I HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS GROUP IT IS NO LONGER FUNNY

Even though it’s right there that it’s clearly mocking the Facebook uproar every time a minor change is applied, that doesn’t stop the uproar. Wall posts include:

I thought mine had broken yesterday, this is just a load of crap – WHY OH WHY do they have to f.ck about with it. can’t follow any thread properly, and have missed replies and posts sent directly to me!

yeah, this sucks. why couldn’t they leave everything the same, i doesn’t even make sense. and when they decide to change it back, i vote for a dislike button too!

Hate is so bad I could not be emphatic enough to describe how much I hate it!!!!!!!!!!

it was NOT broke !!!! why did you try to fix it,at least explain it so we all get it !!!!!!

And to whoever is clearly listening and cares about my personal opinion about Facebook, if I have to pay for it, I’m out of here!

Facebook get a Friendfeed treatment – no surprise there

Steven Hodson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:04:43 +0000

It should be no surprise that today’s news about Facebook’s launching of the Live News feed option for your Facebook status update page has made the front pages of just about every tech blog. Given Facebook’s recent purchase of Friendfeed – or more important the acquisition of the talent behind it – it is no surprise that we are seeing this real time implementation on the status updates.

While a Facebook spokesperson may have told Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb that the purchase of Friendfeed had nothing to do with the implementation of the Live News Feed the timing certainly might suggest otherwise. Even if the two events aren’t connected what we are seeing is the very beginnings of what made Friendfeed the quality service that it was.

As cool as the idea of displaying your status update information in some sort of real time fashion it was also one of my big disagreements with Friendfeed when they introduced it. While it isn’t a bad idea when you list of people you are friends with is closer to the magical Dunbar number it can very quickly become a blur as you follow more people.

There is no argument that we are moving to a more real time web and in many cases this could be a very good thing – but not in all cases in my opinion. Given that Facebook’s user base is much more mainstream that Friendfeed’s was it will be interesting to see how this real time implementation will be received especially by folks who are friends with a large number of people.

Looking at the nuances of the Twitter search deals

Steven Hodson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:36:19 +0000

Well there is no denying that today was an interesting one when it comes to the world of search and the real time web. From everything I have read so far today everyone seems to be of the opinion that the two deals Twitter made today are pretty important and I would have to agree with that assessment.

Microsoft

Other than Twitter I would have to say that the big winner of today’s announcements definitely has to be Microsoft. Not only did they ink a deal with Twitter but they also made one with Facebook as well. While Microsoft’s Bing search already has a beta page up for searching Twitter it will be a couple of months apparently before their work with Facebook will be available.

The fact that Microsoft was able to have even a beta result page ready for the announcement today could prove to be very important for the company. As it stands Google won’t have anything available for anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months – depending on who you talk to.

This is a golden window for Microsoft and Bing because it will give them time to review and fine tune how the results are made available during which they can try and capitalize on being the only major search provider searching the real time web. While they won’t see a rush of new users to the search service it could definitely cause more than a few to start using Bing on a more regular basis.

Google

While the web’s search darling has announced inking a deal with Twitter for access to the fire hose the fact is that they are still some time from having anything people can actually use. I find it interesting that Microsoft was able to get a beta Twitter search up for today’s announcement but Google wasn’t. This would mean that Microsoft has to have had access to that hose prior to Google which goes to suggest that Microsoft has a better grasp on the importance of Twitter and real time search.

This isn’t to suggest that Google won’t have a good product when they do bring it to the table. On the contrary I fully expect them to have an interesting take on how real time search results should be handled. I just would have expected given the current opinion of Microsoft being a stick in the mud enterprise oriented company and Google being the do no evil Web 2.0 darling perpetual beta company that they would have been first in this little skirmish.

The fact that Microsoft beat them at this point with a usable real time search product doesn’t mean that the tables have turned. Google isn’t going to lose any sleep or long time users over the deal but Microsoft may have just been given a golden opportunity to show they have a very capable product that will win some folks over.

Twitter

You have to admit this was a pretty cool deal that Twitter managed to pull off without anything really leaking out about it. Being able to ink 2 non-exclusivity deals with serious enemies who are always looking to one up each other and nothing gets out almost right up until the announcements – nicely done.

While I am sure that Twitter will be banking some serious cash out of these deals I am sure it is nothing that would pale by comparison to an exclusive deal. This has me wondering if it was Twitter that made the non-exclusivity a requirement of even talking about making any deals. If so kudos to the Twitter team for making some good money but at the same time making sure the Twitter stream remained neutral.

Overall

We are the winners here – make no mistake. Microsoft gets a chance to prove to new users that they have a better search, Google gets to index even more of the world’s info only in real time, and Twitter gets to probably put some serious cash in the bank and possibly start living up to its valuation. In the end though it us the users who will ultimately benefit.

Twitter FTW.