SocialNetworking posts

Filed under: Fun, Social Software, iPhone

Balloons: launch a balloon from your iPhone, see who finds it

by Jay Hathaway Nov 6th 2009

If you ever let a helium balloon float away when you were a kid and wondered where it eventually ended up, you already know what Balloons for the iPhone is all about. This cute little app lets you launch a virtual balloon with a message and a photo attached. Anyone with the app installed call pull down balloons near them -- Balloons uses the iPhone's location services -- and read messages.

I grabbed a few balloons to see what it was all about, and it was more addictive than I expected. My first balloon was an ad, launched by some marketer near my city (Boo! Hiss!), but then things started getting interesting. I caught a balloon that had drifted from London to Texas to Arizona, picking up new notes along the way. Balloons reminds me of the message-in-a-bottle feeling of the early days of the Internet -- "Hey, who else is out there?"

I tested the Lite version of Balloons, which is free. There's also a $2.99 version that adds the ability to track your balloons, in case you get really serious. TUAW interviewed the developer at this year's WWDC.

Tags: balloons, hgg, iphone, messages, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, Microblogging

Twitter Lists finally unrolled to the masses -- get your lists here!

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 29th 2009

Though Twitter seem to be having some stability issues, at the time of writing, almost every active Twitter user should now have access to the new Lists functionality.

We covered it briefly back when the beta started, but here's a quick guide on how to make them -- and how to get the most out of them, because really... this might be exactly the change we social media addicts have all been waiting for.

It's really quite easy. In three steps:

1. Visit the Twitter homepage. If you see the Lists box (as seen at the top of this entry), then you're good to go -- if it's not there, you'll have to wait until you're included in the testing, which should be really soon now.

2. Type in the name of someone that matches the list you're creating. Why this doesn't auto-complete using some kind of funky AJAX I do not know...

3. Finally, hit that new button that you've probably not seen before, and add them to a list!

And now you're done adding the first person to your first list! What now? Well... you can either make your own list of awesome people (or boring people to avoid?) -- or you can go and use the lists that other people have made!

Here are some good Twitter Lists to get started with -- I'll try to cater for everyone:

The Twitter Team -- good for up-to-the-minute news from the developer team itself. They can be quite funny too, from time to time...
Baseball Writers -- The Huffington Post have compiled this great list of sports-tweeters. Worth following if you're into baseball!
The Huffington Post also have an Iran list, a Democratic Rep. list, a Republican Rep. list... (you can view all their lists here.)
Musicians and Labels -- This one has a comprehensive collection of every record company and music magazine, and some bands/artists too.
And of course, we have a list of Download Squad's writers too!

If you have some great, comprehensive lists, please let me know, and I'll get them added -- there doesn't seem to be a List directory or search yet!

Update -- masterful fellow DownloadSquad blogger Lee has just discovered a Twitter Lists site called Listorious. It's really rather good.

Tags: lists, microblogging, social networking, SocialNetworking, twitter

Filed under: News, Social Software

New Facebook rules make app spam a thing of the past

by Jay Hathaway Oct 29th 2009

Facebook's making some big changes around its application platform, particularly concerning how much access apps have to a user's activity stream and notifications. If you're a Facebook user who hates app spam, that's good news for you. It's terrible news for developers, though, because getting their links in front of you is how they spread virally and pick up more users.

This doesn't mean that apps won't be able to communicate with their users. They're getting put back into the sidebar, and that (virtually useless) boxes tab is going away. App and Game notifications will be handled by a new sidebar dashboard, moving them out of your stream once and for all.

Email will also figure more prominently in the user-developer relationship, with developers getting the option to ask users for their email addresses and send notifications that way.

Facebook isn't mincing words about what it's trying to do, here. In the official blog post announcing the changes, they come right out and say they're trying to cut down on spam: "Application communication in channels like notifications and requests aren't effectively serving their original purpose. There is a significant opportunity to improve the user experience and reduce spam by replacing them with better features and moving most communication to the stream and Inbox."

Take that, Farmville!

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: applications, developers, facebook, social networking, SocialNetworking, spam

Filed under: Security

Phishing for the fail whale -- watch out, Twitterers!

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 28th 2009

Warning! There's a Twitter phish-fest going on at the moment. Hopefully you'll read this before you become an ill-fated Twit...!

If you receive a DM that looks something like this:

hi. this you on here? http://blogger.djh****.com

Do not use the link!

It will redirect you to a copycat Twitter log-in page, and then forward you to a fake fail whale -- and then later, when you least expect it, your account will have its avatar replaced with a naked girl that seems to be enjoying a deliciously unsymbolic and in-your-face penis. You will then, unwittingly, tell your friends all about fantastic dating websites that you've had a lot of success with recently. I think you'll all agree that's a fate even worse than a celebrity not responding to your well-thought-out and poignant tweet.

[via Sophos]

Tags: phishing, safety, social networking, SocialNetworking, twitter

Filed under: Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook revamps Groups feature, makes it more like Profiles and Pages

by Jay Hathaway Oct 21st 2009

With all of the redesigning to focus Facebook on your News Feed, one classic Facebook feature got lost in the shuffle. What happened to Groups? Facebook must have noticed that Groups had become virtually useless, because they've just taken some steps to upgrade the feature back to first-class citizen status. Groups now have walls, just like Profiles and Pages, and group activity now has a place in the News Feed.

Although Groups now look extremely to Pages, they still serve two distinct purposes. Pages are for broadcasting information one-way to fans, and Groups are for interaction amongst members. The new discussions tab on each group's page emphasizes the collaborative aspect of Groups. It's nice to see a great feature back from the dead, and doing a lot more than cluttering up your profile.

[via AppScout]

Tags: facebook, groups, redesign, social networking, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Photo, Web services, Social Software

Dropico manages photos across multiple social networks

by Jay Hathaway Oct 7th 2009

If you're sick of uploading the same photos to 10 different sites, you'll love Dropico. It links up with several different social sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and Photobucket, and lets you upload to all of them, or move existing images between accounts. You can even tweet photos from Twitpic or Yfrog from within Dropico. That's the "pic" part. The "drop" part comes from the site's easy drag n' drop interface.

Dropico supports creating and managing albums in some services, and importing either from your computer or elsewhere on the web. Dropico has an API, so other web apps will be able to take advantage of the service. A toolbar is in the works, too, so you'll be able to more easily save images you find on the web to your photo sharing accounts. Dropico is in private beta right now, with an email waiting list, so sign up now if you want to give it a try.

Tags: dropico, photo, sharing, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Macintosh, Social Software

Realmac buys EventBox social networking app, calls it Socialite

by Jay Hathaway Oct 6th 2009

Eventbox, an all-in-one social networking app with Twitter, Flickr, Google Reader and Digg support (and more), impressed me when I reviewed it last year. Now it's been acquired by UK-based Realmac software, makers of LittleSnapper and Rapidweaver (and, full disclosure, home to Download Squad's Nik Fletcher). So, to acknowledge its new developers, Eventbox is also getting a new name: Socialite.

Socialite 1.0 launches in November, and existing Eventbox users will be able to get new, free licenses. RealMac hasn't announced any firm plans in terms of features, but Socialite will continue to support all the services it does now. A brand-new license for Socialite will run you $20.

Tags: digg, eventbox, facebook, google reader, GoogleReader, realmac, social networking, socialite, SocialNetworking, twitter

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Social Software

Socialwok adds a social layer to Google Apps

by Jay Hathaway Sep 24th 2009

If you use Google Apps on your domain, you can share and collaborate with other users through a new service called Socialwok. It enables sharing calendars, docs, spreadsheets and presentations amongst accounts, and adding media from other sites like YouTube and SlideShare. It also offers Facebook-like activity streams, and lets you publish to Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Socialwok allows you to send email to specific feeds on your network, and share those feeds with people outside your domain as you see fit. Socialwok also promises mobile support for iPhone, Android and Blackberry, and integration with the as-yet-unreleased Google Wave. Socialwok seems designed for business, but also looks like it could be useful for any kind of collaborative project. It's free, but the service's business model involves selling premium accounts that will support custom apps.

Tags: google apps, GoogleApps, integration, social networking, SocialNetworking, socialwok

Filed under: News, Social Software

Facebook's Gaydar: is it accurate?

by Jay Hathaway Sep 22nd 2009

Several news sources have started reporting on a 2007 research project by a group of MIT students who found they could accurately predict Facebook users' sexual preferences based on the people they were friends with. The project, referred to as "Gaydar," sampled data from 1,600 men (only 33 of whom were out as gay on Facebook) to create an algorithm that supposedly predicts whether a user is gay or not. However, the research methodology behind this unpublished study seems a bit dubious to me.

The initial test of Gaydar correctly predicted that 10 of the researchers' friends - who weren't "out" on Facebook - were gay. That's a pretty decent success rate, but a tiny, tiny sample size. Only 33 gay men out 1600 total can't possibly be reflective of the entire population. According to Wikipedia, 4% of voters in the last US election self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Assuming that those numbers are pretty conservative, only 2% of the people in Gaydar's initial sample were gay. I'm not convinced it's really time to start panicking that you could be inadvertently outed based on your Facebook friend list.

Tags: facebook, gaydar, MIT, research, sexuality, social networking, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Productivity, Social Software, iPhone, web 2.0

Aardvark iPhone app answers questions on the go

by Jay Hathaway Sep 15th 2009

Aardvark, a service that uses social networking to find answers to your questions, now has an iPhone app. Aardvark starts with Facebook Connect, finds your friends who are using it, and then branches out into friends of friends and the whole network of Aardvark users. You can ask questions and receive answers via IM or the web. The iPhone version is extra-useful, because questions don't always come up when you conveniently happen to be in front of a computer.

You can use the Aardvark iPhone to both ask and answer questions, and select categories to help connect you with the right people. Aardvark claims that most questions are answered in under 5 minutes, after asking 6 people and getting 2 responses. I tested it by asking for a recommendation about banks in Seattle, and I got a useful response after about 15 minutes. GigaOM had better luck asking about cabs in San Francisco, getting an answer in less than 5.

[via GigaOM]

Tags: aardvark, answers, facebook, questions, social networking, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Developer, Social Software, web 2.0

Ning gets 90+ OpenSocial-powered apps

by Jay Hathaway Sep 14th 2009

Ning, a popular web service that lets you set up your own Facebook-style social network (and hosts it for you) just added something that Facebook and MySpace have had for quite a while now: apps. Like applications on those other, bigger, networks, Ning Apps are powered by OpenSocial, a much-hyped API for building third-party apps that work on multiple social networks. Open Social has been around for years, making slow progress: maybe becoming available on Ning's 1.5 million different sites will help.

Ning Apps allow network owners to provide additional functionality to their users, often through integration with other sites. For example, Ning is currently highlighting video apps from Qik, Hulu and UStream and collaboration apps from Box.net and Google Docs. In total, there are more than 90 apps available, with more coming soon, as the Ning team explains on the official blog.

Customized site designs are a big draw for Ning, and the apps have all been designed to match your network's appearance, so you don't have to worry about becoming a Fugly Friday candidate when you add new features. Apps also integrate with Ning's tabbed navigation, letting you add an app as a separate tab that you can organize and rearrange. OpenSocial developers can also build their own Ning apps, so don't despair if you don't see one you want - it might be on the way soon.

[via CNET]

Tags: apps, ning, opensocial, social, social networking, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Social Software

Facebook Lite goes live, isn't quite fully baked yet

by Adam Maras Sep 10th 2009

The folks over at Facebook decided their social network's user interface needed to lose some weight. So, after a few weeks on a treadmill, Facebook Lite is now available for public preview. This new fat-free version of Facebook looks to put Twitter in its sights as far as simplicity is concerned; it's more straight-to-the-point and less "just in case you're interested."

On the inside, Facebook Lite seems to load and run significantly faster than the standard interface. It uses far less styling and scripting, and conveys simpler information to the user. In fact, after using the regular version for so long, Facebook Lite starts to feel somewhat like a mobile website. For on-the-go people, this should speed up the social networking workflow a little bit.

Facebook Lite isn't quite ready for full-time use, however. There are still some "to do" items. For example, six of the seven selections in the Options screen, and the advertisement on the left side of the page seems to be locked on Facebook Lite's feedback page. The rest of the interface seems to be functional, albeit lacking (though that is the general idea of a lite application) in some areas.

Facebook Lite is available for public preview to (currently) all US and India members.

[via Mashable]

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Lite, FacebookLite, FriendFeed, Social Networking, SocialNetworking, Twitter

Filed under: Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Hi, I'm keeps all your social profiles in one place

by Jay Hathaway Sep 10th 2009

With all the social networking sites out there, it can be tedious to share all of your usernames with a new acquaintance. Hi, I'm is a "nametag on the Internet" that you can show people so that they can read - or click through to - your postings on all of your different social sites. Right now, it supports around a dozen networks, including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and Last.fm.

The main thing I was worried about with Hi, I'm was whether it needed login credentials for any of my networks, because most of them have public feeds to pull from. Fortunately, it doesn't use your login info at all, although you can sign in with Facebook Connect or MySpace. In addition to your feeds, you can add a quick bio, a photo, and highlighted links to your best stuff. All in all, Hi, I'm is a pretty decent execution of the online identity hub concept. On the other hand, it's nothing you can't do (with a bit more work) with an about page on your bog.

Tags: aggregator, false, feeds, hi im, hi.im, HiIm, nametag, socialnetworking

Filed under: Social Software, Mobile, Android

Now Android users can play Foursquare

by Jay Hathaway Sep 2nd 2009

Foursquare's a fun location-based social network that quickly shows you what your friends are doing. It also doubles as a game, where checking into locations earns you different badges and points toward your city's leader board. Now Google Android users can get into the game, with a gorgeous Android app that makes even the iPhone version of Foursquare look a little shabby.

Up until now, your mobile checkin options were limited to the decent iPhone app or the painful-to-use mobile site, but the Android app puts both of them to shame. Its integrated Google maps make all the difference when you're trying to add a new location to the game, and the iPhone app could sorely use them. The designers clearly took a lot of care to give the app an Android-specific skin, instead of rushing out some generic-looking version. As an avid Foursquare user, I can honestly say I've never thought about trading in my iPhone for an Android device until now. Well done, Foursquare!

Tags: android, foursquare, games, mobile, socialnetworking

Filed under: Security, News, Social Software

Facebook tweaks privacy controls, makes Canada happy

by Jay Hathaway Aug 27th 2009

Facebook is changing its privacy settings again, to fall in line with the recommendations of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner. The Commissioner was primarily concerned with how much access third-party apps were getting to user data on Facebook. As a result, apps will have to be more specific about the data they use, letting you know precisely which info they need and whether they access your friends' profile info.

From a developer standpoint, this means changes to the API in the coming months, so apps will have a uniform way to tell users which data they're accessing. This could slow the growth of some of the popular viral (or spam-based, depending on your perspective) apps that rely on surreptitiously sending out messages to your entire network to get new users. With greater transparency, it'll be easier for users to make informed decisions about which information to share, and with whom.

[via CNET]

Tags: canada, facebook, privacy, social networking, SocialNetworking

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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