Tag: Social networking
COLUMN: Facebook – will it still be around in five years?
Facebook’s now been around for five years, but will it still be around in five years’ time? There’s a long and a short answer to that question. The short answer is yes. A website, operating at www.facebook.com, will still be going in five years. That, assuming the internet survives the next five years, is a given.
But will it still be the cultural force that it is today – 150 million users worldwide, twice the size of its nearest competitor, leading to academic misconduct, arrests, multiple lawsuits, house-trashings and viruses? I suspect the answer might be no. Click over the jump to find out why.
Sony surveys fans on PSP2 features
Sony has been roundly beaten in the handheld and the… er… non-handheld markets by Nintendo (seriously, we need a better name for full size consoles than that – suggestions in the comments). What’s the best way for them to fight back? That’s the question that Sony is asking its fans, with a survey floating several new feature ideas for the PSP2 and asking people to rank them.
Some of the new features include GPS, bluetooth, internal storage, touchscreen, a content download service and a social network including home support. Personally speaking, I’d rate GPS and social network features high, if only to compete with the growing influence of mobile phones on the gaming-on-the-go market. Adding in Skype features could just make the fightback possible.
(via Kotaku)
Related posts: Sony planning to revise PSP again in 2009 – with proper “PSP2” to follow later | Sony strengthens firmware portfolio – PSP hits v5.00, PS3 now goes up to v2.50
Facebook hits another milestone – 150 million users
This afternoon, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on the site’s blog that the social networking behemoth has passed 150 million users, and half of those check the site every single day. That’s crazy, and made even more crazy by Zuckerberg pointing that if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria.
Other than that announcement, there might be a clue in Zuckerberg’s closing paragraph, where he says: “we look forward to offering even more ways for you to connect with the people who matter most”. Facebook Connect hasn’t been explosive in its popularity, so perhaps the company has something different in the works…
Related posts: Facebook Connect to help claim more internet real estate | Facebook is… the nation’s most popular thing-to-do on Christmas Day
How Facebook nearly bought Twitter
When it comes to Social Networking sites, Facebook is the current undisputed king. When it comes to microblogging and ‘status update’, however, Twitter rules. Facebook knows this, which is why it offered US$500 million’s worth of stock to Twitter, three weeks ago, to buy it.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, Twitter rebuffed the offer. There were concerns that $500 million of Facebook stock wasn’t actually worth $500 million, as well as worries over how Facebook would integrate the service into the site.
Lastly, it seems that Twitter wants to have a go at seeing if it can make any actual revenue itself first, before letting someone else try. After all, despite having considerable outgoings in server, SMS and staff costs, Twitter doesn’t actually make any money at all. Yet.
Tech Trumpet: Global Ocarina Jam
Social networking meets live performance in this week's Tech Trumpet. Ocarina is a virtual musical instrument for the iPhone that has become incredibly popular. Simply by blowing into the iPhone's microphone and pressing combinations of four buttons on the…
3's "INQ1" Facebook phone details confirmed
At a launch event this morning in Shoreditch, 3 unveiled its “INQ1” Facebook phone, which we wrote about just over a week ago. It’s basically a phone that has massive Facebook integration, as well as integration with Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Last.fm.
WIth more and more people using their phones for their social networking needs, 3 wanted a handset with that functionality at its very core. The device pushes Facebook news feed updates to the home screen of your phone, and the contact book is being described as ‘live’, where friends’ Facebook profile pictures show up next to their contact details…
Bluetooth social network allows the shy to ask "so do u come here often?"
A new bluetooth-based social networking has launched today and looks set to rival “actually talking to people”, which is the older, more established method of social networking with those within a 10 metre radius.
“Bluehoo” is an application that will run on mobile phones and Windows Mobile and will scan for other users who are also running the application – who they insist on referring to as “hoos” – over bluetooth. Apparently when you find someone else you’ll be able to view their profile and stuff.
Facebook overtakes MySpace, awaits passive aggressive status update in response
New figures out today suggest that Facebook has supplanted MySpace as the world’s most popular social network, boasting 132m people in June versus MySpace’s 117.5m. A spokesperson for MySpace said in reaction to the news “It’s not fair, everyone hates me, the only person who understands me is Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance. Mood: Sad & Depressed :(“
New viruses pretend to be your Facebook / MySpace friend
Your social networking account is being targetted by destructive new viruses, which sneakily invade your computer by sending messages supposedly from your friends. Or the people you added as ‘friends’ to look more popular.
Win32.Koobecaf.a attacks MySpace users, if there are any left, by sending malicious content to their accounts. Similarly, Win32.Koobecaf.b (they’ll have to come up with more catchy names if they want to make it big) does the same on Facebook, in message format, meaning it’s even more irritating than getting 23 ‘Which Spice Girl are you?’ application requests each week.
Microsoft to use Facebook to extend Live Search reach
Now that Microsoft has abandoned its attempts to grab a piece of Yahoo search pie, it’s looking for new ways to make sure Live Search is down with you crazy social networking kids. Naturally, that involves crowbarring it into the social networking website of the hour, Facebook (in which the Redmond Giant has a 1.6% share), in the hope that someone will use by accident and even decide they like it.
