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Posts with tag Friendster

Filed under: Windows, Freeware, Social Software, Beta

8hands: Almost perfect desktop client for all your social networks

8hands
Ever wish you didn't have to visit 20 different web sites to keep up with your friends on social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter? 8hands has you covered.

8hands is a desktop client that displays all the latest updates from all of those sites as well as media updates from your YouTube and Flickr contacts. All you have to do is download and install 8hands and you'll almost never need to visit a web page to keep up with all of the latest news from your friends. If you want to hit up one of those web sites though, all you have to do is click the icon for the service you want to visit and 8hands will pull up a web browser.

8hands is also a fairly competent replacement for desktop Twitter clients like Snitter and Twitterific. The client displays all the latest tweets from your friends in an optional pop up window. And you can send out tweets by changing your status line, although there's no easy way to reply to a tweet by clicking on it and there's no tinyurl integration.

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Filed under: Social Software, web 2.0

Friendster launches Developer Platform

Friendster widgets
In its continuing quest to keep up with yesterday, Friendster has launched a developer platform and a handful of 3rd party widgets that users can already add to their profiles. We kid, we kid. From what we understand, Friendster is huge in Asia these days, but in the US, the new kids on the block like MySpace and Facebook have kind of stolen the limelight.

Well, if you can't beat them, join them right? Facebook owes at least part of its success to the site's open platform for developing applications. Now Friendster is taking the same approach, not only by opening up its own developer platform, but also by signing on to Google's OpenSocial.

Friendster still has a long way to go. Right now, there only a handful of widgets available, compared with hundreds of Facebook applications. But if you want to add a photo slideshow, biorhythm chart, or even add a VoIP "call me" button to your Friendster profile, there are widgets that can help. In other words, we find ourselves much more tempted to actually use Friendster today than we did yesterday.

[via WebWare]

Filed under: Internet, Google, Social Software, web 2.0

Is Google playing Microsoft to Facebook's Apple?

OpenSocial sites
Microsoft became the market leader in operating system deployment largely by making its OS and software available to any hardware maker that wanted to license the technology. Apple, on the other hand, has always insisted the its OS should only run on Apple-labeled computers. So while Microsoft is often slammed for not being "open," the company owes much of what it is to early openness.

And it looks like Microsoft arch rival Google may be playing the same card when it comes to social networking. The company's OpenSocial social networking platform allows third party companies to partner with Google. While Facebook opened up its API earlier this year, allowing third parties to create applications, Google has attracted some major players, including MySpace, Six Apart, and Bebo, LinkedIn, Ning, Friendster, Plaxo, and Hi5. That's sort of the equivalent of getting IBM and HP on your side.

But here's what makes OpenSocial different. You'll notice that some of the big names in there are other social networks. That's because OpenSocial is a platform, not a website. MySpace, Friendster, and other social networks partnering with Google will use OpenSocial APIs, meaning if you develop an application for one site it will function on all the other sites.

In other words, OpenSocial isn't a social networking site. It's a common set of APIs that will be used by social networking sites -- and Google is behind the initiative, which gives them the same kind of status here that Microsoft had in the early days of desktop operating systems. You know, if you think desktop OSes and social networks are comparable, which they're probably not.

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Friendster launches Fan Profiles

Friendster Fan Profiles
Facebook and MySpace may get all the media attention these days, but social networking pioneer Friendster isn't resting on its laurels. The site got over 10 billion page views last month, making it one of the most trafficked sites on the web.

A few days ago Friendster, which is apparently huge in the Pacific Asian region launched a Chinese language version of the site. Today, Friendster announced another new feature: fan profiles.

While musicians, actors, comedians, and politicians have been using social networking sites to find new fans and keep existing fans informed, they often have to work within the constraints of a social networking platform. For example, every time a Friendster user wants to befriend a band, the person managing that band's profile needs to approve the friend request. Fan profiles does away with that. You can set your account to automatically accept friend requests.

The fan profiles service has been in beta for the last month or two. Users have been able to befriend celebrities, non-profits, and other "entities," but until today the fan profile creation tools were invite-only. Now anyone can create a fan profile. Right now the easiest way to find fan profiles is to search for someone like Hillary Clinton or Dane Cook (seriously, both were involved in the beta). You can also browse through all the fan profiles, but right now there's no way to sort profiles by categories like actors, singers or politicians.

Filed under: Internet, Google, Microsoft, Social Software

Microsoft, Google bidding for minority stake in Facebook

FacebookThe internet is starting to look like a Highlander movie. In the end, there can be only one company. And that company will have untold power over all the web.

Today's big news is that Microsoft and Google are reportedly in a bidding war for a minority stake in Facebook. Sure, neither is planning on buying the site outright, but the move could help Microsoft bolster its online business or help Google expand its social network offerings.

Apparently Microsoft is willing to pay $300 to $500 million for a 5% stake in Facebook. That would give Facebook a $10 billion valuation, which is a bit silly if you ask us. Sure, the site is the hottest thing since we burned our hands on the oven the other day, but Facebook is just starting to turn out revenue. And the social networking space if fickle. We remember a time not so long ago when people couldn't stop talking about how cool Friendster was.

Google is also interested in buying a stake in Facebook, although it seems nobody's leaked exactly how much money Google is willing to spend. Oh yeah, and Facebook is getting greedy. Part of the reason we're still talking about negotiations and not a deal is because Facebook is holding out for a higher valuation, possibly as high as $15 billion, which if our math is correct would mean Microsoft or Google would have to pay $750 million for a 5% stake.

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

Digg gets (more) social

DiggAccording to Business Week, Digg is launching a series of new social networking features today. But wait, isn't Digg already pretty social? Well yeah, the site leverages the power of communities by letting users submit and vote on news stories. And you can add "friends" to your profile to make it easier to see what other people are digging. But Digg is no MySpace/Facebook/Friendster.

First up, you'll be able to create a more complete personal profile. This will make it easier to find friends with similar tastes and interests. And you'll be able to send out story links to a limited group of friends rather than submitting them for review by the whole community.

In other words, if you've created a friend group filled with 19th century literature enthusiasts, you can share stories with your friends that would never make it to the front page of Digg.

By beefing up the personal profile page, Digg is also hoping to create a stronger user community base. You'll be able to post more information, links to profiles on other social networks, and multiple pictures. Apparently only about 15% to 20% of Digg's users actually have registered accounts, but that could change if users see more benefits to signing up than just the ability to submit links and comment on stories.

Digg hasn't officially announced the new features yet, but the existing Digg community is already having a thoughtful discussion in the comments of link to the Business Week article.

Filed under: Business, Social Software

Facebook's social networking numbers

Facebook numbersThere's no doubt that Facebook is the 'most' popular social networking site to hit the scene. This one, unlike LinkedIn (although it has a whole other target, however users seem to be sliding towards Facebook recently), MySpace, and Friendster, seems like it could quite possibly be here to say. The proof is in the numbers.

Shrel Israel, social media guru, picked up the phone and contacted the corporate communications people at Facebook to get some numbers straight, here are some interesting tidbits he found out:
  • Over 150,000 registrants daily since January.
  • 35 million current users.
  • In September there were no users from outside colleges, today that user base consists of over half.
  • Average visitor stays for 20 minutes.
  • 47,000 Facebook groups.
  • More than 2000 applications.
The numbers speak for themselves. Facebook has grown in extreme popularity in such a very short time. If they keep this up, and keep users happy, they will be the leader for quite some time.

[via Web-Strategist]

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software

Spock: Social networking meets people search

If it seems like there's a new social networking site popping up every other day it's because, well, there is. A lot of us juggle registrations at multiple sites and sometimes there's a lot of overlap with out contacts so we were thrilled to hear about a new site that looks like it could help us keep our social networking organized and also search for friends and colleagues that have fallen through the cracks.

Though Spock is still at the invitation-only stage, were able to snag one and check out the up-and-coming site for ourselves.

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Filed under: Web services, Social Software

Friendster adds classifieds, world shrugs

Friendster Classifieds
While Craigslist founder Craig Newmark insists that online classified ads are not solely to blame for the decline in newspaper revenue, more and more online marketplaces are popping up. And they're partnering with sites like Facebook and Friendster, not just news sites.

Friendster's new service launched today, and it's a partnership with OLX. In fact, basically what you get if you click the "classifieds" tab at the top of Friendster is a redirect to an OLX page with items for sale, real estate, job listings and the other usual classified fare. Atop the page is the Friendster logo and some links to other Friendster sections.

OLX and Friendster will split the revenue generated by the multi-year deal. But there don't seem to be any Friendster-specific features. Basically, the partnership will help introduce Friendster users to OLX. There's no way to say, share postings with just the people in your friends group or offer jobs to people you know.

[via Mashable]

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Productivity, Web services, Social Software

Socializr, social event planning

socializr event planningWhat Friendster and Facebook have done with personal social networking, Socializr hopes to accomplish with event planning. Socializr was created by the founder of Friendster and a player in the social networking phenomenon, so it does have its similarities. A private test has been running since September 2006, with the live launch occurring last Friday.

Socializr is a free online service for people who want to start or share event and party information between friends and contacts. When setting up an account you can import contacts from a ton of sources (Friendster, MySpace, Flickr, Yelp, Evite, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Gmail, Outlook or CSV). Setting up an event is relatively easy, choose a pre designed Socializr invite for a number of events including weddings, clubbing, Christmas party, birthdays, births, sweet 16's, graduations, and dinner parties, or design your own. Enter your events information and invite away! ( dont' forget the event date, time, location, and details).

[via webware]

Big ol' list of social networking sites

Social NetworkingIf it seems to you that the social networking landscape is dominated by a handful of big players, you should take a look at Sid Yadav's round-up of social networking sites at rev2.org. Yadav does a mini-profile of each of 33 sites, in two categories, general and niche. Of course MySpace and Friendster and Facebook are covered, but did you know that there are social networking sites just for moms (MommyBuzz), pet lovers (Dogster, Catster, and Fuzzster), and online auction afficionados (biddingBuddies)? And, of course, there's plenty for teens and professionals, too.

Filed under: Web services

Five social networking sites to look out for

CyWorldReading a lot of articles about social networking, one gets the impression that the consensus is that MySpace is peaking. MySpace will ever die, I think, but whether it will be the destination it is now in five years seems doubtful. Right now no other site holds a candle to its critical mass, but that doesn't mean everyone else is resting on their laurels. Blogger Fred Stutzman has written an interesting article called Social Networking: Five Sites You Need to Know, in which he examines five of the most promising, but low-profile, contenders for MySpace's throne. On his list are Cyworld, with 90% penetration among South Korean youth, Bebo, which has 20 million registered users and is especially popular in the U.K., Hi5 with 40 million users and a strong presence in India, Faceparty, a long-established U.K. brand with 6 million users and an interesting monetization scheme, and XuQa, a service with just 1 million users aimed at the college set, which Stutzman describes as "purposefully racy, full of game-like features-an anti-Facebook." He concludes with some sound observations about social networking trends. If you're interested in social networking but as sick of MySpace as I am, it's worth a read.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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