Google’s next target: FacebookGoogle is making moves into the social networking world with a bunch of improvements to its Friend Connect feature. It’s a blatant “declaration of war” on Facebook, says Douglas Rushkoff, and one Google will most likely win.
Social media
Stilgherrian: What do journos do better, exactly?
The “bloggers vs. journalists” debate is stupid, says Stilgherrian: of course journalists are better at journalism — they’re the ones doing it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other important roles people can play in the broader media community.
The highlights and lowlights of Media140
Margaret Simons wraps up the recent social-media-types-get-together-to-tweet-about-talking-about-Twitter Media140 conference in Sydney. Where is social media headed in Australia? Can it save journalism, or will it just kill it faster?
Crikey Says: All locked away in our digital ghettoes
With the decline of the mainstream media, we’re also losing something social media cannot provide. What about the viewpoints that we don’t want to hear, but should?
Mark Scott on merging media professionals and their audience
The ABC will be experimenting with new methods of producing journalism through “pro-am” collaborations between media professionals and the audience, the ABC managing director Mark Scott said at the Media140 conference in Sydney this morning, writes Margaret Simons.
Corporate blogging: Telstra tries again
After its last disastrous attempt, Telstra is having another crack at social media. Full marks for effort, says Trevor Cook, but it’s still little more than a bit of gloss on a dull, besuited corporate empire.
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The social networking boom
Focus graphs the boom in social networking sites over the last decade — from early pioneers like Classmates.com to recent innovators like Twitter.
The world’s first Twitter-only gadget. Er, why?
Tech company Peek has created a hand-held gadget that only does one thing: tweet. For US$199, you can’t make phone calls, send SMS or check your email, but you can tweet on-the-go. Perfect for friendless geeks with no need for a real phone, we guess.
How I made millions spamming Facebook: an insider’s confession
You know those ads on social networking sites saying “Inbox (5). Nick, someone in Sydney has a crush on you!”, with your name, profile picture, and city in the ad? Dennis Yu made millions off them. He explains how.
Is Twitter protecting celebrities from nasty tweets?
Blogger Mickey Kaus has found something sketchy happening on The Twitter: insulting tweets about celebrity twitterers are disappearing from search results. Grassy knoll territory? Or is the company protecting one of its most valuable asset, the Twitterati?
MySpace and Facebook to team up?
Facebook has well and truly bested MySpace in the social networking game, but MySpace still has one ace up its sleeve: music and entertainment. Instead of competing, the two are apparently putting their differences aside to share content across the two networks.
Why Twitter’s non-existant business model is brilliant
Don’t be fooled by Twitter’s apparently non-existent business model: by inking deals with Google and Bing last week, the social networking site has shown it has major money-making potential, and its experimental approach is all part of the genius.
Facebook: We see dead people
After a new feature on Facebook created a stir by inadvertently recommending users “reconnect” with dead friends, the site has decided to “memorialise” the profiles of users who have died as creepy online tributes to the deceased.
When online journalists moonlight as copy-writers
The (Dis)Information Age: how the internet is making us stupider
Despite the rhetoric of “openness”, the internet is actually making us more narrow-minded by allowing us to filter what we read to suit our own viewpoints, says a new book by academic Cass Sunstein. How else can you explain the absurd ideas of the “birthers” gaining a foothold?
The real-time web: a Brave New World or hideous dystopia?
Sitting at a Weezer concert, next to Twitterati who’ve never heard of the band, where everyone is too busy blogging about the show to actually watch it, Paul Carr wonders whether the real-time web isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
MySpace surrenders to Facebook
MySpace has officially given up in its battle for social media supremacy with Facebook, the the company’s CEO now claiming it is far more interested in becoming “an online hub for music and entertainment.”
Microsoft vs. Google: who’s winning the social media search wars?
Yesterday, both Google and Microsoft announced deals with Twitter to add tweets to their search results. But which company scored the better deal? And which will do a better job? The blogosphere weighs in.
Watch the blistering growth of social media in real time
Australian social media expert Gary Hayes has put together a neat flash app that shows the growing number of blog posts, tweets, YouTube videos and more being posted every second, in real time before your very eyes.
Not so fast, Microsoft: Google scores a Twitter deal of its own
Just hours after Microsoft announced its big coup in inking a deal with Twitter to include tweets in its search results, Google has announced its done one too. Close, Gates, but no cigar.
Take that, Google: Microsoft teams up with Facebook and Twitter
Microsoft has struck another blow to Google in the search engine wars, inking a deal with Facebook and Twitter to include their content in its Bing search results. You can already try out its Twitter search here.
How social media can score you your next job
Time was that your Facebook addiction could get you fired — these days, HR folk are all over social media sites, scouring for web-savvy employees. TechRadar explain how you can use services like Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to score your next big break.
We are all authors now
Two scientists have plotted the number of published authors per year since the year 1400, finding that with the rise of social media, the number is growing nearly tenfold every year. Authors — once an elite minority — will soon be a majority.
The great Twitter coup: how the users took control
“There may be some 50 people officially working at Twitter, but it’s more like 5,000 people work for Twitter,” says founder Biz Stone, explaining how third parties and users have out-innovated Twitter with their own product.
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The new-look Facebook
Mashable has gotten its geeky little mitts on leaked details of Facebook’s latest redesign. (Spoiler: it looks a whole lot like the current Facebook.)
