social-network posts

Find a new book with Goodreads

by Joey Celis Jun 23rd 2008

Goodreads is a social networking site dedicated to book lovers everywhere. Here you can post up books you've read or are planning to read on your virtual book shelves and get book suggestions based on what others have reviewed.

Like any good social networking site, your experience here is only as good as the number of friends in your network. If you don't currently have any friends (on the site that is) try searching for a book that you like and see whose reviewed the book and what else they've reviewed. If you find their taste similar to yours, ask them to add you as their friend.

In additional to book recommendations, Goodreads also offers links to purchase books from sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble and offers discussion areas where you can interact with other members.

So if you're looking to expand your reading library, you might want to give Goodreads a try.

Tags: books, social-network, socialnetworking

Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Web services, Google, Social Software

Google Reader adds Google Talk for sharing

by Chris Gilmer Dec 15th 2007

Google has added a new way to share your favorite feeds and articles with friends, through Google Talk, aka the Gmail address book.

Google Reader has included a "Share" button for a while now, but if you wanted people to actually read your shared listings, you had to direct them to a URL or RSS feed. Now your Google Talk contacts can also see the items you're sharing on their Google Reader page.

Next time you login to Google Reader, you should notice a few of your Google Talk contacts' names hanging out in the navigation panel on the left side of the screen. Google Reader will tell you how many items they're sharing, and let you scroll through their shared item feed as if you have subscribed to it. You can also manage your friends list so that only certain people can see your shared items.

This is a great way to check in with friends to get feed recommendations for websites you might have never visited before, or interesting articles that you have passed by. Or is it Google's stealth social network in the works?

Tags: chat, feed, google, google-reader, google-talk, opensocial, read, social-network

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Blogging, P2P

MySpace IM with Skype released

by Chris Gilmer Dec 12th 2007

MySpace is on the move to add some extra value to their online offerings, and as we mentioned in October, it looks like things are starting with an overhaul of their IM tool.

In its previous incarnation, MySpaceIM was a bare bones instant messaging application. It launched early last year and then disappeared for a while. Now myspaceim is back, and MySpace has partnered with Skype to add VoIP calling to the chat client.

MySpace users will instantly have their friends list populated with upon install with one click login to mail and bulletins. MySpace friends profiles are also one click away.

The social networking site claims the beta version of the client has been installed over 500,000 times. Now that MySpace is taking the beta label off of the chat client, we expect to see that number climb even higher. But will MySpace users who don't already know one another offline actually like to talk with each other rather than just add each other as friends?

Tags: im, instant-message, myspace, social-network, voip

Filed under: Business, Design, Developer, Blogging

LinkedIn gets a beta facelift and developer platform

by Chris Gilmer Dec 10th 2007

LinkedIn, the professional networking site, has released new features, including a homepage redesign and developer platform. Sure this is going to be a little more useful to business users, but does LinkedIn need to expand and focus outside the business sector to make things stickier?

LinkedIn's new focus seems like an effort to emulate what Facebook has had with outside web applications. The new LinkedIn beta homepage provides customizable modules that display network updates in a dashboard format. This allows users to potentially be more productive by showing what contacts are up to, what news is most important to colleagues and questions and answers from your specific industry with the use of familiar feeds. But why stop there?

People that do business together and are connected via outside interests could possibly do a lot more on the site if more personal based modules were available. However, this is just the beginning of a component that is part of Google's OpenSocial developer platform so we will have to wait and see what becomes of it.

Nonetheless it's great to see that LinkedIn is growing...mind you slowly, and cautiously building upon their platform. Will it manage to pull back business users that slipped away to Facebook for more personal networking with these developments? Could it possibly ever attract younger users?

Tags: business, dashboard, developer, facebook, google, linkedin, news, opensocial, platform, social-network

Filed under: Business, Developer, Social Software

Facebook "is" updating status messages

by Chris Gilmer Nov 20th 2007

Quick, name the most annoying thing about your Facebook profile? The status message!

Trying to contort your status to fit the "is" from updates using the proper English language often proves extremely challenging. How many times have you ignored the "is" altogether and just inserted whatever you wanted, whether it made sense or not? Fear not, Facebook has listened to their users. Over 164,000 members in a Facebook group lobbied to get rid of the clunky "is" verb and succeeded. Currently the developer platform is the only code that has been updated with the change.

However, there's no word on when you'll see the "is" disappear from your user accounts.

Tags: facebook, is, message, social-network, status

Filed under: Internet, E-mail, Web services, Google, Yahoo!, Social Software

Social networks of the future could be email based

by Brad Linder Nov 13th 2007

While Facebook, Friendster and MySpace are the big names in social networking these days, tomorrow's social networking giants could be Yahoo! and Google. And we're not talking about Google's OpenSocial platform.

The New York Times' Saul Hansel suggests that Yahoo! and Google are working on bringing social networking features to your email account. Think about it. What's the first thing that happens when you sign up for Facebook? The service scans your email address book to find friends who are already members. There's a lot of valuable information in your inbox. So it makes sense that the companies providing your email service might want to build on that information and give you a few more reasons to stick around their site all day.

Yahoo! is working on "Inbox 2.0," or a way to make your inbox a bit more social. For example, users will be able to build profiles so that if you click on the name of a person who sends you a message, you should be able to find out more about them. Yahoo! is also working on technology that will analyze your relationships with the people you are sending and receiving mail from. Rather than display your email chronologically, your email could be organized based on your relationship with the sender.

Google's plans are a bit less clear, but Hansel reports that they are definitely up to something.

Tags: email, gmail, social-network, yahoo!-mail

Filed under: Business, Internet, E-mail, Office, Web services, Social Software

Blackberry gets Facebook'd

by Chris Gilmer Oct 26th 2007

Now you can stay in touch with friends using Facebook for Blackberry, a standalone application. Sure Facebook can be accessed normally through the likes of mobile browsers like Opera, but this new application provides more streamlined and optimized mobile access for Facebook.

After installing the application, users can send and view messages, photos, pokes, and wall posts. They will also be able to take a picture and directly send it to their profiles complete with tags if their Berry's have cameras. Although this is good for long commutes and waiting for meals to be served, it could be encouraging a new level of unproductiveness in the workplace!

There have been reports of Facebook for Blackberry not working with older handsets and on some mobile networks.

You can download the installer from Blackberry or Facebook.

Tags: app, blackberry, browse, facebook, mobile-application, opera, social-network

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Social Software

BOOMj.com merges with Time Lending: Why we care

by Lisa Hoover Oct 24th 2007

Techcrunch is reporting this morning that real estate sales company Time Lending California has acquired social networking site BOOMj.com. Time Lending admits that it deals in "direct marketing" and BOOMj.com is a site aimed at the Baby Boomer (and older) generation. Let's connect the dots, shall we?

Since it's not likely that social networking is part of Time Lending's business model, what other reason could they have for buying BOOMj? An opt-in mailing list full of sitting ducks, perhaps? According to a BOOMj.com press release, the merger (or acquisition, depending on which section of the release you read) will provide "shareholder value," give the company "access to capital markets," and "enhance (their) visibility and market awareness."

Tags: acquisition, boomj, lending-time, merger, privacy, social-network

Filed under: Business, Design, Developer, Photo, Blogging

LinkedIn profile pictures

by Chris Gilmer Sep 28th 2007

LinkedIn is planning to let users add profile images starting today. This is something that has been a long time coming, and is pretty much the standard for social networks of all kinds.

Other social networks are way ahead of the game, but LinkedIn is trying its best to stay on track and give its users what they want. The addition of images in personal profile pages might not be that important for the business community that LinkedIn attracts, but as LinkedIn's Adam Nash suggests, you may recognize the faces of people you once worked with without remembering their names. Will this be enough to pick up what they might have lost to Facebook?

With the Facebook competition heating up big-time, LinkedIn has started a fire under its development plans opening up an API and improving its Groups. LinkedIn has reported that 250,000 new users join each week.

Tags: business, linkedin, photo, profile-image, social-network

Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Web services, Google, Beta

Google acquires Zingku

by Chris Gilmer Sep 28th 2007

Google has made yet another acquisition, this time extending into the mobile space with Zingku.

Zingku is a mobile social network. Simply put, the service gives users the ability to send and receive text and picture messages between friends. It is a way for trusted friends to send invitations using the standard text messaging service that is available on all mobile devices. The service is also available on the web.

Originally starting up in 2005 and only available in the US, Zingku was in a private beta before being acquired by Google. Now the service is locked down to new users until the full acquisition arrangements have gone through. A price for the acquisition was not disclosed.

Tags: acquisition, beta, google, mobile, network, social-network, zingku

Filed under: Business, Internet, Kids, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

ThinkMTV, a social network that makes a difference

by Chris Gilmer Sep 20th 2007

What better company to get into the social network game than MTV? The Viacom owned property hits the perfect user base for social gatherings and has the backers on hand that can make a difference.

The idea came out of a youth survey in 2006, with the chief aim for the ThinkMTV network being to gather activists together and interact both on and offline. Topics will range from HIV, global epidemics, health and environmental concerns.

As for backing, numerous celebrities have lent their faces including Leo DiCaprio, Bono and John Mayer. With cash flowing in from The Case Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation.

Tags: mtv, social, social-network, thinkmtv, viacom, web

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Office, Productivity, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook Moo's

by Chris Gilmer Sep 19th 2007

Moo cards, made popular by their partnership with web based photo storage site Flickr, have opened up their services to the Facebook user base.

Moo will now be taking advantage of the millions of photos uploaded daily to social networks and give users a link to pull in photos to get printed. Facebook users will be able to browse photos, tags or albums and purchase note cards, business cards or stickers with their choice of a personal image.

Prices for Moo prints from Facebook start at $9.99 for 90 different stickers, 100 mini cards for $19.99 and 16 Notecards for $24.99. Order before September 30th and you could save 15% off your order.

Tags: business-cards, cards, facebook, mini-cards, moo, notecards, social-network

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Blogging, Web services, Yahoo!, Social Software

An inside look at Yahoo! Mash

by Chris Gilmer Sep 17th 2007

inside look at yahoo! mash social network

With a sprinkling of MySpace and a dusting of Facebook, Yahoo! Mash comes out to grab some social networking pageviews.

The new Yahoo! Mash social network has features that are similar to those in the popular Facebook and MySpace. There are different widgets and modules like Flickr RSS feeds, Guestbooks as well as Blog and Astrology modules that can be placed on personal profile pages. Personal pages can also be customized with color themes and background images to fit in with your own 'personal brand identity'.

Friends can actually start pages for each other as a way to invite them to join the service. An item called Pulse, like Facebook's news feed, gives a roundup of what friends have been up to on Mash and the Twitter-esque Guestbook also allows you to communicate with page owners and friends by sending a short message.

However, the interesting aspect comes with the ability to edit each others pages, Wikipedia style. New modules and information can be added to friends pages, mashing it up completely. Don't like the fact that friends can do this? Settings can be made so certain areas cannot be touched.

Is Mash set up to become a Facebook killer? Well, it has just been released in a testing mode, and does seem to have that loose cluttered look that MySpace has, so don't bet on it yet. Look out for a 3rd party development platform to launch within the next few months that will open Mash up for a whole new experience. We wil be watching Mash closely over the next while to see how things pan out.

For upcoming news and more on Yahoo! Mash, stay tuned to the Mash blog. Mash is currently open by invite only.

Tags: facebook, mash, myspace, social, social-network, twitter, yahoo-mash

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