The Social Web

December 11th, 2008

Goodbye ZDNet

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 1:28 pm

Categories: Blogging

Tags: Goodbye, Blog, Number Act, Blogging, Internet, Steve O'Hear

As of today, I have to say goodbye to ZDNet.

After just over two years of writing this blog, I’m sad to say this is my last post here on the Social Web. I’ve been ‘let go’ as they say. Or perhaps more accurately, this blog is no more, making way for others*

It’s been an honor to write for ZDNet and, most of all, you my loyal and thoughtful readers.

I’m also thankful for the kind support and interesting conversations that have come from outside of ZDNet within the blogosphere and tech community as a whole. In addition, I want to thank Dan Farber for giving me my ZDNet break in the first place (after a very thorough virtual interview process) and my editor Larry Dignan whose hands-off but equally supportive approach has been most welcome.

And whilst it’s goodbye here, it’s certainly not goodbye to writing about technology or my interest in the social web.

Right now you can find me writing daily over at last100.com, a blog that covers the Digital Lifestyle (Internet TV, Mobile, Digital Music and more) that I co-founded with ReadWriteWeb’s Richard MacManus.

You can also follow me on Twitter.

Or look out for future announcements at my personal (and rarely updated) homepage.

My LinkedIn page is here and I welcome offers of work or any other interesting opportunities.

Take care and thanks again for reading!

- Steve

P.S. On the bright side, at least I don’t need to write about Facebook anymore. Until the next gig that is ;-)

P.P.S. If you want to keep up with all things social web here on ZDNet, then I recommend Jennifer Leggio’s Feeds blog.

* A blog network is a bit like a record label. A number of acts are signed, some of which go on to be hits, while others fare less well. After a while those acts that don’t hit the big time leave the label to make room for new talent and the process starts over. That’s the reality of the business end of blogging.

November 13th, 2008

MySpace comes to Blackberry

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:57 am

Categories: Mobile, MySpace, Social Networks

Tags: RIM BlackBerry, MySpace, Smart Phones, Handhelds, Channel Management, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Marketing, Steve O'Hear

It was only a few days ago that I noted how Facebook and social networking as a whole is fueling the mobile web. And news comes today that RIM have released a native MySpace client for its Blackberry line of smartphones. A move that also reinforces the company’s push to take the Blackberry brand beyond its enterprise roots to also target consumers.

Key features of the new MySpace client include the ability to:

• Send and receive MySpace mail
• Update your Status and Mood
• View and send Bulletins
• Add comments
• Post your photos

The new MySpace for Blackberry app is available at www.blackberry.com/myspace or m.myspace.com via the Blackberry’s web browser. Notably, RIM list ‘social networking‘ as a ‘device feature’ alongside email, organise, browser, media playback etc., with MySpace listed together with applications for Flickr and of course Facebook.

November 13th, 2008

Microsoft gives Windows Live a social networking makeover

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:15 am

Categories: Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Mobile, Social Networks, Twitter, Yahoo

Tags: Network, Microsoft Windows Live, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Social Networking, Operating Systems, Software, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion

Microsoft have announced a major overhaul of its Windows Live service that, similar to Yahoo’s ‘Open Strategy’, rewires the company’s suite of consumer web-based products — e-mail, instant messaging, photo sharing, blogging and more — to turn them into one interconnected social network. To do that, Microsoft is leveraging a user’s existing Windows Live Messenger contacts to create an instant friends list across all Windows Live properties.

And in a feature that borrows directly from Facebook, which Microsoft invested in last year, the new Windows Live includes a a “what’s new” feed that aggregate a user’s activities on Windows Live and third-party site across the web. Initial partners include Flickr, LinkedIn, Pandora, Photobucket, Twitter, WordPress and Yelp — though no sign of Facebook yet, despite that hefty investment.

See also: Yahoo wants to be your social web ‘control panel’ too

The strategy Microsoft is adopting is simple and a rather familiar one. The company wants to become a user’s one stop shop for all things social on the web. And conceding that it isn’t the market leader, and will probably never be, when it comes to the majority of social web products — aside from IM where Windows Live Messenger is number one — the new Windows Live is also attacking the social networking aggregator space, putting it in direct competition with singly-focused products such as FriendFeed or the social networking aggregator features of monolithic networks e.g. Facebook Connect. Read the rest of this entry »

November 11th, 2008

Is Facebook the mobile web's killer app?

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:29 am

Categories: Facebook, Mobile

Tags: Web, Facebook, Mobile, Killer Application, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Steve O'Hear, INQ, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics

Active users of Facebook’s various mobile products has grown from 5 million to 15 million since the beginning of the year, says the company. In particular, the ability for users to not only update their ’status’ while on the go but also to comment on their friends’ updates, has spurred mobile use of the site.

“When we recently added the ability to comment on your friends’ status updates to the Facebook mobile site, we didn’t expect that we would receive nearly a million status comments in the first 24 hours”, writes Facebook’s Wayne Chang on the company’s official blog.

While that particular tidbit is interesting, it should be no surprise that mobile versions of Facebook are proving popular. Not when you take into account that Facebook offers two browser-based mobile versions of the site — one for low-end feature phones and another for ’smart phones’ — as well as native Facebook clients for Blackberry, Palm and iPhone. Notably, the Palm version runs on the smartphone maker’s entry level consumer offering, the popular and affordable Centro. While television ad campaigns that aim to push the Blackberry beyond its business roots and into the hands of consumers pitch Facebook access as a major selling point. Ditto some of the most recent ad campaigns for Apple’s iPhone. Read the rest of this entry »

November 5th, 2008

Careful what you say on Twitter - delete option removed? (updated)

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 6:38 am

Categories: Net culture, Twitter

Tags: Twitter, Channel Management, Marketing, Steve O'Hear

Updated - see below.

It appears that the micro-blogging service Twitter has removed the option to delete a ‘tweet’ once it’s been published, making the service a haven for digital litter — the trail of information about you or things you’ve said that perhaps you shouldn’t leave lying around the web.

Publish a status update on Twitter slamming your boss - at 2am in the morning after a night out at the pub - only to regret doing so seconds after hitting the ‘update’ button, then you could be out of luck. As of yesterday (?) the trash can icon that used to reside next to Twitter updates has been removed.

A smart reader over at ReadWriteWeb suggests the likely explanation: Twitter has removed the delete function since it never really worked in the first place yet gave the impression that it did. That’s because of the hundreds of services, including third-party clients and search engines, that exist built on top of Twitter’s API. These services often cache Twitter’s content or simply store it locally - such as the numerous Twitter apps for the iPhone - meaning deleting a ‘tweet’ from the main Twitter site doesn’t necessarily ripple through to other Twitter services. If this is the true reason for deleting the delete option it would suggest that it could be gone forever. That’s unless Twitter is able to design into its API a way to force all Twitter services to respect a deletion within a reasonable time period, although I doubt this will be possible.

Update: According to the official Twitter status blog, the delete feature will be back up later today. So it was probably removed temporarily to ease the load on Twitter’s servers during election night. It doesn’t, however, resolve the issue of third-party caching of Twitter posts, in which Twitter should at least warn users that a delete doesn’t automatically take place across all Twitter clients or other services built on top of Twitter’s API. (Hat-tip: Dave Zatz)

November 3rd, 2008

MTV and MySpace partner to monetize pirated content

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 7:20 am

Categories: MySpace, Video Sharing, YouTube

Tags: MySpace, MTV, Steve O'Hear, YouTube Inc., Viacom Inc., Games, Social Networking, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Marketing

Similar to YouTube’s most recent proposition to copyright holders, News Corp-owned MySpace is offering to identify pirated content uploaded by users, insert advertising and share the subsequent fruits with the content’s owner.

The first benefactor of the new offering, which leverages ‘finger printing’ technology from Auditude, is Viacom-owned MTV Networks, a noteworthy partner since Viacom is currently involved in a one billion dollar copyright lawsuit with MySpace Video rival, YouTube.

Under the arrangement, MTV Networks will be able to “pair advertising with clips from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Punk’d and other shows that MySpace users upload to the social network site, whether they have permission or not”, reports the LA Times.  YouTube launched a similar system last year that identifies clips so it can give copyright holders a choice between removing the content or letting YouTube place ads against it in exchange for a share of revenue. Read the rest of this entry »

October 29th, 2008

LinkedIn apps arrive - another platform play

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:58 am

Categories: LinkedIn, Social Networks

Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, Steve O'Hear, App, Peer To Peer (P2P), Professional Development, Internet, Career

LinkedIn has finally switched on its own OpenSocial-powered apps platform, which, on the surface at least, borrows quite a bit from Facebook. Unlike Facebook, however, apps are being heavily vetted by LinkedIn to ensure that they remain focused on helping members enhance their professional profile, as well as collaborate on work projects and become productive.

As co-founder Reid Hoffman explains: “This initial roll out features productivity applications that range from gathering information that professionals around you are generating to enhancing your abilities to collaborate and communicate more effectively. You’ll be able to work much more closely with your contacts on LinkedIn with tools such as file sharing, project management, business trips and many more.”

Initial launch partners include Amazon, Box.net, Google, Huddle, Six Apart, SlideShare, Tripit, and WordPress.  Read the rest of this entry »

October 27th, 2008

Social Web news: Twitter terrorism, YouTube ads, Social Networking on TV

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 11:01 am

Categories: MySpace, Social Networks, The Social Web weekly, Twitter, Video Sharing, YouTube

Tags: Social Networking, Advertisement, Network, YouTube Inc., Social Web, TV, Terrorism, Twitter, Homeland Security, Government

A few interesting links from today on news relating to the Social Web…

Twitter could be a tool for terrorists. From Wired.com: “Could Twitter become terrorists’ newest killer app? A draft Army intelligence report, making its way through spy circles, thinks the miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks.” (Wired)

YouTube hoping to attract advertisers through long form studio content. YouTube has begun running full-length episodes of TV shows, starting with a test of three CBS-owned shows: Star Trek, MacGyver and Beverly Hills, 90210. The move is being seen in part as a response to the success of Hulu, which as proved particularly attractive to advertisers. One analyst tells USA Today: “If you’re an advertiser, where will you put your money? In front of content you’re not sure about, or behind a series like 30 Rock, a known brand?” (USA Today)

Social networking through your television. Microsoft likes to boast that it has the biggest social network on television via its XBox Live service. Now others are hoping to emulate that success by bringing the ‘community features’ of the Web into the living room.  (WSJ)

MySpace sued. A woman was ‘consumed with anger’ after MySpace took down her profile on the social networking site and has decided to sue. However, there’s more to the story: her profile page was set up specifically to verify official celebrity MySpace pages, who upon verification could display the plaintiff’s badge on their page. (Tech Dirt)

October 20th, 2008

Celebs on Twitter: Britney, Lance Armstrong, Stephen Fry and more

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 1:42 pm

Categories: Twitter

Tags: Twitter, Public Relations, Blogging, Team Management, Marketing, Corporate Communications, Internet, Management, Steve O'Hear, Podcasts

The tech blogosphere went crazy over the weekend with news that Britney Spears had opened a Twitter account. Or more accurately, someone from Britney’s PR team has begun Twittering on her behalf. That may still be a big deal in itself as it suggests that the micro-blogging service could go mainstream yet.

It also got me asking which other celebs actively use Twitter, either directly or through their PR agent? Putting that question out as a Tweet (a trick borrowed from the Marshall Kirkpatrick school of blogging), I got the following tip offs:

@lancearmstrong - Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner and “full time cancer fighter” (his words)

@stephenfry - Stephen Fry, Comedian, TV presenter and all round geek. Did you know that Fry is an avid Mac fan and was reportedly the second person in the UK to own an original 1984 Macintosh.

@johncleese - John Cleese, best known for his Monty Python antics :-) “Yes, I am still indeed alive, contrary to rumour, and I am making video podcasts”, reads his Twitter bio.

@bobbyllew - Bobby Llewellyn, producer, writer TV presenter, one time actor best known for role of Kryten in BBC comedy sci-fi series Red Dwarf!

Obviously these only scratch the surface. Know of any others? Please leave a comment.

October 17th, 2008

Social Web news: Facebook, MySpace, Google, StockTwits

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 11:00 am

Categories: The Social Web weekly

Tags: Google Inc., Facebook, Social Web, MySpace, Steve O'Hear, Twitter, New York Post, Social Networking, Search, Online Communications

A few interesting links from today on news relating to the Social Web…

Facebook considering MySpace Music response. The ’social utility’ is talking to a number of streaming music services about an outsourcing deal that would more deeply integrate their music experience into Facebook, sources tell the New York Post. (New York Post)

MySpace on target to do $1B in sales this year. Sources tell VentureBeat that the News Corp-owned social networking site is set to defy the wider economy and bring in revenue this year of $1B or “within a hair’s breadth of that number.” (VentureBeat)

Google exposing user profile to search engines. Google has been letting people create profiles for a while now , but until recently, public profiles remained hidden from search engines. (ZDNet: Googling Google)

‘StockTwits’, a Twitter tracker for stocks. Another Twitter mashup, StockTwits asks “What are you trading?” and tracks messages on Twitter that carry mention of a stock by encouraging users to preface a company ticker with a $ sign e.g. $GOOG. (AVC)