Google Adds Twitter Search Functionality to its Search Appliance

PC World reports that Google has added Twitter search functionality to its Google Search Appliance. Along with receiving standard search results from Google, users now have the option of also searching the real-time Twitter network for search results.

“Social information is important for businesses: employees searching for information needed to do their jobs benefit from real-time news too,” said Google product manager Cyrus Mistry in a statement on the Google Blog. “They might be developing a new breakfast cereal, or designing a marketing plan for a clothing line, or writing strategy report for a political campaign. In all of these cases, understanding what is being said just as Twitter users are saying it can be invaluable.”

Google’s adding of Twitter search runs contrary to other statements the company has made about Twitter in the past, including CEO Eric Schmidt calling it “a poor man’s email.”

Social media influences holiday shoppers

Americans spent $16 billion during the first 36 days of the 2009 holiday shopping season, representing a three percent increase from the same time period last year, according to new data from comScore. The data also revealed that 28 percent of U.S. shoppers said that social media influenced their purchases.

When asked which social media influenced their holiday purchases, 13 percent of respondents said they read a consumer-generated product review, 11 percent read an expert product review and seven percent followed a fan page on Facebook to take advantage of special offers and deals. Other social media influences included a friend’s Facebook status referring to a particular product (six percent), following a company on Twitter to take advantage of special offers and deals (five percent), and a friend’s tweet about a product (three percent.)

“Social media really appears to be emerging as an important marketing channel this holiday season,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. “On the one hand, its emergence is being driven by increased consumer adoption of these technologies and the exponential growth in digital word-of-mouth that is occurring over this medium. On the other hand, having a social media marketing strategy makes sense for retailers in this environment because it’s cost-effective and shows an effort to get closer to one’s customers.”

Cisco Report Highlights Security Risks of Social Media

A report published by networking giant Cisco Systems this week claims that social media sites and their usage is making the Internet more vulnerable to attacks. According to InformationWeek, the report suggests that people are too trusting with links and other information sent through social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, creating a significant security weakness for hackers to exploit.

Based on research done with more than 4,000 of the company’s customers, Cisco suggests that around two percent of all Web traffic for businesses comes from social media sites. This highlights the need for companies to educate their employees on best practices to use when dealing with social media sites. One example is the Koobface virus that has infected more than three million computers through Facebook and Twitter.

One problem the report cites is in URL shortening tools frequently used in social media.

“The problem with short URLs is that they eliminate the user’s ability to read the real Web address and decide if a link is safe to follow,” the report states.

Tweet Local with Citysearch

Citysearch, an online guide for local businesses, yesterday announced the integration of Twitter into their service, allowing local businesses to display Tweets within their Citysearch profiles.

The new integration is beneficial for potential customers and businesses alike. Potential customers can use the real time information to make smarter decisions, while businesses can manage and maintain closer relationships with audiences across the Web.

“Empowering small and medium businesses with social media is an important goal of ours heading into 2010,” said Michael Francesconi of Citysearch. “And we believe Twitter is one of the most important channels a business can utilize to connect with customers and better manage its reputation online.”

Any businesses without a Twitter account can sign up through Twitter’s new Sign-Up API, available directly through Citysearch’s website.

Report: Deal Near for Sale of Friendster to Asian Investors

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Friendster, one of the earliest social media networks, is close to being sold to investors in Southeast Asia. The deal makes sense, as although Friendster has been greatly overshadowed by rivals such as MySpace and Facebook in recent years it still has significant popularity in Southeast Asia. 90 percent of the company’s daily traffic and almost two-thirds of its 115 million users are from the region.

Friendster has introduced a new, green-themed layout that more closely resembles that of Facebook and added new features such as micropayments, a virtual gift shop and viral games.

“We’ve responded to the needs and wants of our core user base, Asian youth,” said Friendster spokesman Jeff Roberto. “Friendster is dominant among the youth sector in Asia, and today, Asia represents the largest and fastest growing Internet and mobile phone user populations in the world.”

The company did not respond to reports by Reuters that Friendster would be sold to an Asian company by the end of the year in a deal worth $100 million.

Google Friend Connect teams up with Twitter

Google today announced the integration of its Google Friend Connect with the Twitter social media network. This allows Twitter users to join one of over nine million Google Friend Connect sites using their Twitter login. According to the announcement, once signed in the Twitter profile will automatically link to Google Friend Connect and users can tweet information such as new site membership, share discussions from the comments gadget and invite friends to join Google Friend Connect via Twitter.

In related news, Yahoo announced yesterday a further integration with Facebook through Facebook Connect. Google’s Friend Connect with Twitter goes live today, while Yahoo’s integration with Facebook is expected to roll out in the first half of 2010.

Pentagon puts up $40,000 prize for online scavenger hunt

When you think of scavenger hunts, the Pentagon probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. However, the New York Times reports that the Pentagon’s research agency Darpa is offering a $40,000 prize to anyone who can decipher the location of 10 red balloons placed throughout the United States on Saturday, Dec. 5.

Of course, Darpa isn’t just doing this for fun – the scavenger hunt is part of an experiment to “learn more about social behavior in computer networks and how large computer-connected teams use their resources and connections to compete.”

Dr. Peter Lee, one of the Darpa scientists putting on the scavenger hunt, said that he expects teams to use a variety of tactics to attempt to find the 10 balloons, which will be plainly visible from public roadways. Some “teams” are creating software programs to help with tracking the balloons, while Dr. Lee said that he expects others to use subterfuge and spreading of false information.

Social networking sites help raise awareness of World AIDS Day

In honor of World AIDS Day today, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and major companies such as Nike have teamed up with Product (RED) — a concept started by Bono and Bobby Shriver–to help raise funds to fight against HIV in Africa.

When consumers purchase (RED)-branded products, whether it is a red Nike shoelace or a Gap tee-shirt, a percentage of the profit from the sale goes to the Global Fund. To help spread the word, Twitter users can add the hashtag #red to their tweets and the message they update will be displayed in red to followers. Users can also turn their tweets red by adding the hashtag #laceupsavelives. In addition to Twitter, links to information about (RED) and its partners are featured on Facebook, Google and many other sites. In support of World AIDS Day, Alicia Keys will be performing live on YouTube today at 8:00 p.m. EST.

“On this World AIDS Day, there is improvement in HIV detection across sub-Saharan Africa,” said CEO of (RED) Susan Smith Ellis. “The percentage of pregnant women who were able to take an HIV test increased from 17% in 2007 to 28% in 2008. We have every reason to believe that the percentage figure will increase substantially again this year (the final data are not yet available).”

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