Rosemarie's Pearls » social

Whee! New numbers on social network usage!

rosepena — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:09:33 +0000

(Credit: Compete.com)

The blogosphere simply loves to slurp up social-networking traffic stats, and on Monday we got a nice tasty serving of them with some new numbers from Compete.com for the month of January. The results? Facebook is in the lead, with about 68 million unique visitors, well ahead of MySpace’s 58 million. (The two are pegged at 1.1 billion and 810 million page views, respectively.)

This may be the first survey we’ve seen that puts Facebook ahead of the News Corp.-owned MySpace in U.S. traffic. It also puts Twitter as the third-biggest social-media site in the country by total page views, with only about six million unique visitors but a whopping 54 million views.

Compete’s numbers are interesting, because they often are pretty different from other analytics firms’. Here are some clarifications, explained to CNET News in an e-mail sent by Compete’s Andy Kazeniac: These are numbers stemming entirely from Web browser data in the U.S. That means that you won’t be pulling in any international numbers, where most of Facebook’s users are now, or data from widgets or third-party applications, which are how many avid Twitter users access the service. That means that it’s likely that Twitter’s reach is bigger than the numbers indicate.

What’s also intriguing is that there are a few social-media sites, like Flixster and LiveJournal, with relatively low unique visitor counts but proportionally very high page view counts, indicating that they probably have smallish bases of very loyal users.

Also pulling in notable numbers are LinkedIn, with about 11 million unique users, Classmates.com, with about 17 million, and Reunion.com, with slightly under 14 million. On the other end? AOL’s Bebo, an $850 million purchase, which Compete.com clocks in as having just shy of three million unique visitors. True, its biggest user bases are in the U.K. and Ireland, but that’s not good considering the price tag.

Still, statistics are like tequila shots. Always take ‘em with a few grains of salt and a slice of lime, and be warned that they may give you headaches.

Whee! New numbers on social network usage | Webware – CNET.

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Facebook Throws its Weight Behind OpenID

rosepena — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:11:27 +0000

Facebook has joined the board of the OpenID Foundation, the company has announced. The move is a ringing endorsement of OpenID, which already has the corporate backing of Google, Microsoft, IBM, PayPal and other web heavyweights.

In a blog post Thursday, Facebook’s Mike Schroepfer (formerly of Mozilla), said, “It is our hope that we can take the success of Facebook Connect and work together with the community to build easy-to-use, safe, open and secure distributed identity frameworks for use across the web.”

Prior to the announcement, Facebook was seen as a sideline player — and even a disruptive presence — for the open-source single sign-on technology. Late last year, Facebook launched its own trusted authentication technology for letting its users log in and participate on other websites. The company’s system, Facebook Connect, has since been implemented by around 4,000 websites, including numerous high-profile destinations like CitySearch and TechCrunch.

With Facebook Connect, the company came up with an elegant, easy-to-use experience that effectively solved several of OpenID’s problems with user experience, trust and security. However, Facebook Connect was built with proprietary code, and was therefore largely incompatible with competing open-source technologies like OpenID.

The resulting effects of this partnership on data portability are unclear. And whether Facebook and the rest of the internet are now part of the same big happy family remains to be seen. But for those worried about Facebook Connect derailing OpenID or causing it to die on the vine, this is huge.

Certainly, we can expect OpenID’s public profile and reach to get a boost. Also, a post on OpenID’s website trumpets Facebook’s dedication to improving OpenID’s user experience.

Obama Keeps His Blackberry in a Hard-Fought E-Victoy

rosepena — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:47:19 +0000

WASHINGTON — There is one addiction President Obama will not have to kick: his BlackBerry.

For more than two months, Mr. Obama has been waging a vigorous battle with his handlers to keep his BlackBerry, which like millions of other Americans he has relied upon for years to stay connected with friends and advisers. (And, of course, to get Chicago White Sox scores.)

He won the fight, aides disclosed Thursday, but the privilege of becoming the nation’s first e-mailing president comes with a specific set of rules.

“The president has a BlackBerry through a compromise that allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends,” said Robert Gibbs, his spokesman, “in a way that use will be limited and that the security is enhanced to ensure his ability to communicate.”

First, only a select circle of people will have his address, creating a true hierarchy for who makes the cut and who does not.

Second, anyone placed on the A-list to receive his e-mail address must first receive a briefing from the White House counsel’s office.

Third, messages from the president will be designed so they cannot be forwarded.

The battle over whether the president could keep his BlackBerry has been fueled to a large degree by Mr. Obama himself, who mentioned it again and again. He would not take no for an answer. In an interview this month, he worried aloud, “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

Mr. Obama received his BlackBerry on Tuesday, but officials declined to specify what kind. In a conversation with reporters on Thursday evening, he said, “I don’t think it’s actually up and running yet.”

Obama Keeps His Blackberry in a Hard-Fought E-Victory – NYTimes.com.

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Twitter Overtakes Digg in Popularity

rosepena — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:12:44 +0000

Putting your thoughts in 140 characters and sharing them with the world is shaping up to be more popular than “digging” your favorite news. According to new market share numbers from Hitwise, Twitter, the popular microblogging service, is now more popular than Digg’s social news aggregation service. Hitwise compared both sites in a report released Tuesday and is basing the market share ranking by page views.

Unfortunate events such as the Hudson River plane crash and also more fortunate ones like Obama’s Inauguration, led to more mainstream exposure for Twitter and moved it above one notch above Digg in Hitwise’s hierarchy – Twitter is now ranked at 84, with Digg at 85.

When the US Airways Flight crashed into the Hudson River late last week, the first reports of the incident appeared on Twitter, including amateur photographs that later made headlines around the world and transformed Janis Krums into a celebrity of the moment. Hitwise confirmed the fact that this event was one of the main factors of Twitter surpassing Digg in visits market share.

The Numbers

Twitter had a sharp but steady rise in traffic ever since August 2008, while Digg’s popularity decreased slightly.

More info at: Twitter Overtakes Digg in Popularity – PC World.

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Interactive Inauguration of Obama Is Just the Beginning

rosepena — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:26:28 +0000

Never before has the coverage of the transition of power been so readily available to so many. The inauguration of President Barack Obama was seen and heard by millions on the National Mall Tuesday. The world also followed the event on TV and through videos, photos, map mashups and Tweets across the web.

It’s just a small sample of what Obama (arguably the nation’s first tech president) can expect. Instead of merely having to contend with the press corps, he’s also got the whole blogosphere and Twitterverse watching his every move. Naturally, his advisers and media people will be trying to capitalize on the online momentum, much as they did during the campaign.

While it has only been a matter of hours since Obama took the oath of office, the new WhiteHouse.gov website is already up, and considering the new man in charge fought hard to keep his BlackBerry, the next four years are sure to see a whole new era of how technology is used to connect the people to power.

“Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the administration’s online programs will put citizens first,” writes Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House in a new blog post.

“One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the president: We will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the president signs it.”

Hopefully he’ll update his Twitter account again soon as well. In the meantime, the Inaugural Committee had its own Twitter feed of updates prior to and during the event.

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A Tangled Web

rosepena — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:45:17 +0000

Dogged by Errors: A link to photos of the First Family mistakenly leads to a gallery of Presidential Pets. Oh well, it’s only Day 1.

Change certainly came to Washington Tuesday, but change.gov did not. President Obama’s former transition Web site is now defunct, with a note sending visitors to whitehouse.gov. The official presidential Web address relaunched as a shiny social-media hub at 12:01 p.m.—even before Obama took his delayed oath into office.

Immediately, the twitterati and tumblr set were abuzz over the site, noting how similar it looked to the campaign’s previous sites (with its twilight blue background, Gotham font and a YouTube video highlighting the president-elect’s train journey this past weekend) and marveling at the new chief executive’s continued technological prowess. But it’s worth wondering how many of these observers had ever actually looked at President Bush’s site. It also had news updates (much like the blog on Obama’s White House site), an “Interactive White House,” a newsroom-like “Setting the Record Straight” feature, and slideshows—and oh yes, that famous Barney cam.

So the real difference is that the new site glosses with the buzzwords of social media and pristine politics: transparency! Participation! RSS feed! All these look good on paper (or, in this case, on screen) but delivering on the many promises won’t be easy—making the Web site a near-perfect metaphor for the entire Obama presidency. The premier blog post, written by the director of new media, Macon Phillips, introduces a framework full of features, few of which are ready to use. Things that do work, like the slideshows, are rife with bugs. Early Tuesday evening, Obama’s new site still referred to him as the president-elect in some places, and a link to a gallery of first families shows you pictures of presidential pets. “[Phillips's] first message was just about openness,” says Rex Sorgatz, an online media consultant who runs fimoculous.com. “But you can’t just crack open a wiki and say, ‘Go at it.’ Even forums or comments won’t produce anything meaningful. You need to have a filter in order for productive discussions to rise to the top.”

Sorgatz and other Web experts agree that the new site has the framework to accomplish this, but that much will depend on how effectively Obama’s new media team develops applications. One plan announced by the White House is to let the public review and comment on non-emergency legislation for five days before the president votes on it. Another allows readers to suggest their own priorities for government, which other readers can vote on, with the most popular plans bubbling up to the Oval Office. “Everything’s worth a shot,” Sorgatz says. “But most likely, the things that will work on the site will be more targeted.” FULL ARTICLE BELOW:

Can New Whitehouse.gov Deliver on Its Promises? | Newsweek Politics: The Obama Presidency | Newsweek.com.

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Ethics crisis in America? Church leaders say yes

rosepena — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:04:16 +0000

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – From billion-dollar ponzi schemes to bad mortgages and pay-to-play dealings by public officials, some are asking: Is there a crisis of ethics in America?

The swirl of corruption, fraud and greed stretching from Wall Street to Main Street has many U.S. church leaders saying the answer is a resounding yes — America is facing not only an economic meltdown, but also a moral one. And they are rushing to bring flocks back into the fold.

“Honesty is honesty. It doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever. A lot of these debacles we’re seeing can be traced and sourced back to a lack of good old ethics,” said the Rev. Jerry Johnston, who this month launched a 12-part series of sermons on ethics at First Family Church in Overland Park, Kansas, which has about 5,000 members.

Johnston is one of a number of religious leaders and scholars who say the current spate of troubled times are an opportunity to lead more Americans into church pews and to prayer.

“We’re beginning to see this across the nation,” said Ken Eldred, a California technology company entrepreneur who writes books about the role of religion in business. “There has been a crisis of ethics … and I think sadly it is quite significant. People think business has nothing to do with faith, that honesty is not always the best policy. But when you take that away, people end up worse overall.”

For Full Article, see below:

Ethics crisis in America? Church leaders say yes | U.S. | Reuters.

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Obama’s presidential inauguration: the most interactive so far

rosepena — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:29:42 +0000

WASHINGTON–Barack Obama was sworn in as president Tuesday in what many spectators viewed as the nation’s most interactive inauguration ceremony so far.

Andrea Williams takes a picture of herself in Washington on Tuesday to send to her family.

(Credit: Stephanie Condon/ CNET News)

As millions of people in Washington and around the globe watched a weekend of festivities, culminating with Tuesday’s ceremony, they gave their instant feedback online and through text messages and other means to family, friends, and anyone else listening. At the same time, event organizers were able to give spectators live updates about the state of affairs in the nation’s chilly, crowded capital.

Most people who watched the inauguration did it through traditional television broadcasts, a medium that hasn’t changed significantly in half a century. But it was also possible to tune in online; our sister site CBSNews.com, for instance, streamed the inauguration live over the Internet. And people learned about the inaugural action from pictures uploaded by friends, comments on Twitter and other social media, and direct text messages from event organizers.

“I think we’re more connected with the experience, the overall process from the primaries to today,” because of technology, said Ghajiibah Campbell, who came from Baltimore with her family to watch the inauguration. “It made you not only more connected, but willing to be connected–it wasn’t an inconvenience.”

Campbell used her cell phone to send pictures and text messages to her sister in Florida, her brother-in-law in New Jersey, and her brother in Virginia.

“It allows us to share the experience with everybody live, as opposed to getting home and saying, ‘Guys, you should’ve been there, you should’ve seen it,’” she said.

Countless others also used their handheld devices to share the historical moment with loved ones.

Obama’s presidential inauguration: the most interactive so far | Politics and Law – CNET News.

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Technology News: Wikis: Collaboration and the Productivity Revolution

rosepena — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:54:03 +0000

Technology News: Wikis: Collaboration and the Productivity Revolution.Collaboration is one of the underestimated facets of Web 2.0, but it’s one that businesses should not ignore, writes PBWiki CEO Jim Groff. The real opportunity of Web 2.0 is allowing business-to-business collaboration, which improves productivity.

The Web 2.0 revolution has spawned hundreds of cover stories, thousands of companies, and millions of words of hype. But there’s one thing it hasn’t brought: Profits.

With the coming of the credit crunch and the global recession, hype won’t pay the bills. That’s why the next wave of Web 2.0 will be using collaboration to help businesses do more with less.

Read complete article…

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Connect to Customers with Twitter

rosepena — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:29:17 +0000

Either your customers already use social networking tools or you have an untapped, online audience. So get out there and network on Facebook, MySpace, and any of the other popular destinations. But do it on your own terms with whatever feels right; everyone can see through a business trying to co-opt new media. Here’s how to make the most of one of the current favorites, Twitter.

Be yourself. Twitter lets you post blurbs of up to 140 characters; it’s good for a quick note about what you’re doing. But you can also use it to build buzz within a fanbase by referencing things that aren’t quite public. (Or let customers track your sales.) People will follow you on Twitter if they think you’ll reveal news first, and that audience is likely to blog about it somewhere.

Connect to Customers with Twitter – Business Center – PC World.

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