Friendster’s Getting a New Identity

In an email to its registered users, Friendster let the world know that in an attempt to forge a new identity, it’s soon to undergo an extensive revamping. Many are saying it’s more than a little too late. Perhaps, in tacit agreement, if the rumors are to be believed, that’s why Friendster may decide to shed its coat of many profiles and emerge from its reinvention as a “casual gaming destination,” in the words of CNNMoney.com’s Julianne Pepitone. Friendster itself has yet to give out specific details about the coming changes.

The same email alerting users to the changes underway also let them know that most of the data on the site will be deleted. In an apparent attempt at serviceableness, Friendster is pointing the way to a data transfer app for those wanting to safekeep a few — or all — Friendster mementos.

Right now, Friendster is owned by MOL Global, an internet company based in Malaysia. It’s believed that MOL Global paid $26 million in 2009 for the site. In any case (and for a different sum), MOL Global sold to Facebook the intellectual-property rights to Friendster “inventions like connecting users within social networks, linking relationship information with outside databases, and compelling users to upload and share their own content.” That means the patent portfolio was handed over. Some believe Friendster’s road to ruins was paved through its inattention to active and constant information-sharing tools, like newsfeeds, à la Facebook.

Get your Friendster information saved by May 31. Only your list of friends and a limited profile will remain.

Read More:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384588,00.asp

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/26/technology/friendster/

New Deal: Japanese GREE Buys American OpenFeint

The announcement came last night that GREE, Japan’s biggest social networking service paid $104 million to buy OpenFeint, a social gaming platform that lets users add friends, view friends’ activities, and participate in forums and chats. Yoshikazu Tanaka is GREE’s founder and CEO.

News outlets are reporting that OpenFeint’s own CEO, Jason Citron will not lose his leadership position. Also, “his team will remain in place.” The Wall Street Journal says there will be no “merging” of services, instead, the two entities will collaborate through application sharing and the joint development of projects. Perhaps more to the point, they’re saying that by coming together they hope two heads will, indeed, be better than one.

OpenFeint is based in Burlingame, CA and GREE International recently opened an office in San Francisco. In a released statement, Yoshikazu Tanaka said concerning the deal: “We are socializing the next evolution of games and, as the best-in-class US-based mobile social network, OpenFeint is the ideal partner for us to offer the best mobile social games to the largest global audience.”

Finally, it’s also reported that through the deal, GREE will speed along OpenFeint’s outstanding growth and also get its outstanding securities. The two companies are envisioning the development of a “global ecosystem” for social gaming and networking.

Read more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=87553#ixzz1KIMULU9v

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110421-719144.html

Google Map Maker Open to U.S. Contributors

Google is staying on track with its publicly stated goal to both deepen and broaden every social aspect of its offerings. First came the +1 announcement, which introduced a new search feature that makes it possible to give and view ratings of Google search results. Now, posted just this week on Google’s official blog, is news that folks in the U.S. will now be able to make cartographical contributions online.

“Today we’re opening the map of the United States in Google Map Maker for you to add your expert local knowledge directly,” wrote Lalitesh Katragadda, Google’s Map Maker Tech Lead, together with Manik Gupta, Product Manager. They continued, “You know your neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map.” The new contributions — made via public editing — will be reviewed and approved by Google before being published. Google says that approvals for public contributions should take only a few minutes.

Map Maker made its first appearance halfway through 2008. It uses a browser-based interface and has proved itself beyond serviceable as a method for creating high quality maps in areas where very little online data was available. At last count, 183 countries had access to Map Maker. Maybe Canada will be next.

Read More:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383789,00.asp

http://www.betanews.com/article/Google-opens-Map-Maker-crowdsourced-mapping-for-US/1303251104

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/page/2/

Twitter to Become More User-Friendly and Buy TweetDeck

TweetDeck, the popular app that permits status updates and better arrangement of Twitter tweeps — columned alignment by affiliation or relevance — will soon be bought by Twitter. Jack Dorsey, Twitter-founder, along with Noah Glass, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone, was recently (three weeks ago) reinstated as Twitter’s Product Chief.

Although there are over 200 million registered Twitter accounts, it’s likely that a good slice of that total does not correspond to individual active users. Twitter hasn’t let on about how many active users it actually has, but the company is taking the necessary steps to up that number.

Its first offensive play? Make it so that first-time users’ Twitter experience is even less bewildering as the microblogging website strives to provide more valuable and resonant content, like tweets from people in one’s own “geographic region,” “local politicians and musicians,” among them. Twitter is apparently also looking to make tweets viewable in a mode other than the mere chronological. The rumored purchase price is $50 million.

The Wall Street Journal reports that eMarketer, a research firm, estimated Twitter’s ad revenue for 2011 to reach $150 million. In stark contrast, the company’s 2010 financing value was $4 billion. Twitter is based in San Francisco while TweetDeck calls London home.

Speaking at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Jack Dorsey was quoted as saying: “We have a lot of mainstream awareness, but mainstream relevancy is still a challenge.” The same could be said of many businesses, but Twitter seems set to embark on an aggressively proactive approach.

Read More:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704004004576271262772728114.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/03/jack-dorsey-wants-to-take-twitter-mainstream.html

Walmart Wants to Stand Out in the Social Commerce Environment — Buys Kosmix

The announcement came today that Walmart is set to buy Kosmix, a social media company operating from Mountain View, CA. Kosmix’s price tag upon being taken over by the massive discount chain store has yet to be peeked.

Walmart sees the buy as a way to increase its sales through having a greater presence among online and mobile-device shoppers. As quoted in today’s L.A. Times, Walmart’s vice chairman, Eduardo Castro-Wright, had the following to say about the purchase: “We are expanding our capabilities in today’s rapidly growing social commerce environment.”

Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman are Kosmix’s founders and it’s not the first time they sell big — in 1998 the pair sold Amazon.com Junglee, their first start-up. In its current state, Kosmix makes apps to organize social media content online and owns Kosmix.com, RightHealth, and Tweetbeat. Walmart’s purchase of Kosmix is also a way to prove itself more competitive against Amazon.com. In addition to the Kosmix deal, Walmart has also come out with @WalmartLabs, a new tech department.

As we couldn’t have said much it better ourselves, we’ll concede parting remarks to Castro-Wright: “Social networking and mobile applications are increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores.”

Read More:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/wal-mart-to-takeover-social-media-firm-kosmix.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/18/walmart-social-media-kosmix_n_850678.html

Fashion Registry on Facebook

Although it might be missing a more elegantly punning name, there’s no one here to claim that Fashism.com hasn’t come up with a good idea for social couture. The website now has “Got Dibs,” a registry usable through Facebook that lets uploaders get advice on fashion choices and perhaps more importantly, through the honor code, claim dibs on outfits likely to be reproduced at crowded events like a high school prom.

The website’s founders are Ashley Granata and Brooke Moreland — they jointly came in at a respectable 55 on the 2010 Silicon Alley 100 list. As background to the registry’s inspiration, Granata spoke freely of the fashion mishap that happened to her as an upperclassman in high school: “When I was a junior, a freshman came to my prom in the same dress. I was mortified.”

As a way to boost sales and its “cool factor,” no doubt, the department store Lord & Taylor has partnered with Fashism.com on the “Got Dibs” project. The registry lets users post pictures of outfits bought or tried on to let others know what they might be or are definitely wearing. Users are also encouraged to write their opinions on the fashion choices of others and get feedback on theirs from friends and the growing pool of like-minded fashion enthusiasts.

Now you know. Dress better with a little help from your friends, and stay informed on Facebook to avoid (unseemly) duplicate looks!

Read More:

http://fashism.com/

http://www.businessinsider.com/sa100-2010#brooke-moreland-and-ashley-granata-55

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/with-the-tags-still-on-girls-use-social-media-to-stake-claim-to-unique-prom-dress-looks/2011/04/14/AFkjMCeD_story.html

New Social Video App for iPad

You are now free to watch the videos your friends post on Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo in a personalized and streamlined format, you’ll just need an iPad or iPhone. Today, Remixation (the Vodpod people) released the free iPad app Showyou.

The app’s claim to fame is its ability to create an attractive video display grid of clips posted and shared on almost the whole gamut of available social networks. YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, Vodpod (of course) are all supported. Hulu and other websites belonging to major television networks are not. Kind of more than a little bit of a let-down.

But Showyou comes with a nifty set of tools. You can follow people, post your videos on the main site, and share them directly with your other social networks. Users can also leave comments after watching a Showyou clip and contribute to the popularity ranking of the ones best liked.

A Showyou subscription service may be in the horizon and though providing no direct quote on Remixation CEO Mark Hall’s true ambition for the app, the L.A. Times handily cues us in with: “to become a prime-time TV alternative.”

Clearly, social video is on the up-and-up. Have you got your moving pictures camera ready?

Read More:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/showyou-brings-a-new-vision-of-tv-to-the-ipad.html#more

http://fangaroo.org/vodpod-founders-launch-showyou-a-social-video-app-for-ios/

Facebook Studies China, Wins One Legal Battle

If you’re in China, it’s really tough to get on Facebook or YouTube or Twitter because they’ve all been officially blocked since 2009. But just like it’s the case for every other business out there, everyone wants in because China has so many users, buyers, and consumers in waiting. Everyone knows it’s the largest market, but Facebook may be close to launching something big over there.

Word on the screens is that China’s search company Baidu and Facebook may work on a project together. It’s possible the two will launch a social network in China. There have been no official statements from either company, most reports of the agreement cite unnamed sources, but what has been confirmed is that Mark Zuckerberg and Robin Li (seen right), each company’s respective CEO, have been meeting and that Facebook is “studying and learning about China,” to quote Debbie Frost, Facebook’s spokeswoman.

And in a proverbial two-steps-forward, one-step-back type of deal, Zuckerberg and cohorts, received the great news yesterday from the pen of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, no less, that Facebook had been ruled the winner in the battle with (twins) Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The ruling states that the Winklevoss’ 2008 settlement with Facebook was “valid and enforceable” — meaning Facebook owed the twins no more money or stocks.

What’s the step back, you ask? Well, Monday was also the day that Paul Ceglia submitted an “amended complaint” claiming “rights to half” of Zuckerber’s Facebook equity.

The twins’ lawyer has also already stated that his clients planned on asking for another review of the case.

Read More:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/facebook-baidu-search-engine-company-to-launch-chinese-social-networking-site.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/11/us-facebook-winklevoss-idUSTRE73A5DX20110411?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/04/12/the-facebook-lawsuit-a-look-at-the-documents/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-11/facebook-wins-decision-enforcing-65-million-winklevoss-twins-settlement.html

M.J. Said It Best: You Are Not Alone (When You Search)

Search engines are going the way of the old Encyclopedia Britannica, to crowdsourcing. Who said anything about dusty bookshelves covered in prismatic spidery silks? The search engine Blekko has placed an open call for search results editors, but they’ll be called “slashers.” Sounds a little menacing but if Wikipedia’s successful harnessing of everyday people’s zeal for organizing, indexing, and listing reference sources is any indication, well, maybe the good people in Redwood City, where Blekko’s based, are on to something. As users organize results, they’ll create slashtags.

The idea behind social search is to make search engine results better and more personalized using “social media, recommendations, and crowdsourcing” to get rid of spamm-y results, you know, bad links and non-relevant information. At last counting, Blekko tallied 100,000 slashtags.

Blekko isn’t the only one looking to get a piece of the social search action. Google just put out +1, which makes it possible to recommend search results and view others’ recommendations as you search and Microsoft/Bing partnered with Facebook a few months back. Microsoft’s strategy is to let Facebook friends’ recommendations and links help determine the results you get to your query when you type, say, “best fish tacos Burbank.” Maybe it’s the way to get more than a little lucky and find some decent tacos when you’re in a pinch but still want to try some place new instead of going to the regular stand.

Quoted in today’s S.F. Chronicle, Bing Social’s program manager, Paul Yiu laments that search has been “until recently” a “lonely experience,” and that Bing Social looks to “introduce people as an important part of search.”

Seems this promises to be less and less so the case in the very near future.

Read More:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/11/BUKF1IRL5J.DTL

http://www.dailytech.com/Crowdsourcing+Blekko+Search+Engine+Launches+Today/article20041.htm

LinkedIn’s Hitting the Big Times Now (New Bells and Whistles Also on Deck)

Commonly mischaracterized as Facebook’s stodgy cousin, LinkedIn’s more sterling attributes have recently undergone some newsworthy polishing.

Milestone of milestones, the career-smart professional’s social network surpassed 100 million users this year on March 22 — really just a little over two weeks ago — and its popularity is spreading fast, most especially among the international crowd: 56% of LinkedIn’s users live outside the United States. Brazil, Mexico, India, and France (descending order, here), account for the countries with the most users.

And even earlier this year, near the end of January (the 27th), the company submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission the paperwork necessary to get underway its initial public offering. Big Times, indeed. The IPO is expected to happen soon but there’s still no immediate numbers about when the offering will occur, how many shares will be available, or how much everything will cost.

Somewhat surprisingly, LinkedIn first became profitable in 2010 by earning $10.1 million. Its gains came from job listings, marketing solutions, and premium subscriptions.

As for the site’s new trimmings, users are apparently in for a treat. There’s many: a “cooler” résumé builder, a tool to create a colorful picture of your network, and another to see — by year — who in your network has switched jobs. If you need a tutorial on these new tricks, you can always go to: http://learn.linkedin.com/.

To add some perspective, Facebook reached 500 million users last July and though it’s made gestures of IPO preparation, there’s still no official word about when.

Read more:

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110407/manhattan/six-newish-things-about-linkedin-you-need-know

http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/03/22/linkedin-100-million/

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/03/linkedin-surpasses-100-million-users/1

http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/linkedins-ipo-an-overview/

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