Rockmelt brings its social news app to Android
Rockmelt used to be a company that tried to build a social web browser. But since it turned its attention to social news, the focus has shifted. Now Rockmelt is launching an app for Android. Read more »
No one really needs #hashtags on Facebook — but now we have them
photo: Rani Molla
What’s the use of a hashtag these days? Facebook is adding Twitter’s iconic symbol to its platform, but it’s worth asking if the hashtag has outlived its serious fuction to become a cultural phoenomenon rather than a useful search tool. Read more »
Facebook to streamline different ad products, Offers and Questions are out
Facebook has announced a few updates to the types of ads users can buy on the platform in an effort to simplify its different offerings. Read more »
Pinterest takes a “first step” toward working with big brands
Pinterest is unveiling a new pin structure for different types of products and an integration with a large number of retail brands, as it continues buildng up the platform and paving the way for growth. Read more »
Parakweet uses natural language processing to find value in your tweets
photo: Rani Molla
Looking for a book suggestion? Culling information from your Twitter feed and turning that into accurate recommendations is harder than it looks, but Parakweet is looking to use natural language procesing to do just that. Read more »
ESPN and Twitter plan to announce partnership for tweeting sports video clips
photo: Jerry Sharp
If you’re looking for the latest video clips from your favorite sports, you might soon find them on Twitter. The social media company has solidified a deal with ESPN that will let users check out the action via Twitter video clips. Read more »
Path announces Sprint partnership for easier app downloads
Path is announcing a partnership with Sprint that will make it easier for users to download the app on certain Android phones, potentially giving the social network a needed boost in adding new members. Read more »
Fab decides there’s more to its business than flash sales, plans major expansion
Looking for cool new products in home design? Fab is transitioning from a flash sales sites of merchandise from other retailers to encompass a wide variety of home furnishings with an emphasis on design. Read more »
Despite Foursquare’s struggles, Chicago’s Evzdrop isn’t scared of the check-in — or “drop”
A small startup trying to gain traction in the Windy City, Evzdrop has designed geo-social network that doesn’t connect you to your friends but to strangers wherever you happen to be. Read more »
LinkedIn reminds users a network is only as good as its contacts list with new app
LinkedIn is launching a standalone Contacts app that will roll out slowly to users in the U.S. But do you really need a second LinkedIn app with only limited professional contacts in it? Read more »
In Boston bombing lock-down, the best and worst of social media emerges
If your town is inundated with paramilitary forces and you’re told to stay put because a madman’s on the loose, Twitter is suddenly your connection to the world beyond. Read more »
Missed opportunity: Why Facebook should have built its own phone
It may be a contrary opinion, but I think Facebook should build its own phone — not a smartphone, but a cheap feature phone. I wouldn’t buy it. You wouldn’t buy it. But millions of people would. Here’s why. Read more »
Looking to find new apps? Twitter adds third-party app discovery and deep links
Looking for more information on other apps for your phone, or looking for more visual content in your Twitter feed? Twitter’s new updates to how third-party developers can create tweets has you potentially covered on both fronts. Read more »
Family app Life360 launches premium version that emphasizes safety
Life360 is focusing on locating and communicating with members of your family, and has been gaining traction as a family app despite not looking much like Facebook. The company has launched a premium version this week with additional features. Read more »
The Hacker Way runs both directions: Facebook suffers from a malware attack
photo: Facebook / Matt Harnack
A malicious hacker group infiltrated the confines of Facebook’s corporate network last month, the company revealed on Friday. Facebook said that the threat was contained and there is no evidence of any user data being compromised. Read more »
Nextdoor raises $21.6 million led by Greylock to expand and focus on neighborhood safety
photo: Flickr/Alex E. Proimos
Nextdoor wants to pick up on the community surrounding a neighborhood and create a high-tech combo of Craigslist, police tips, local messaging, and safety information. With more than $21 million in new funding, they’re on track to keep growing. Read more »
Facebook’s privacy payout: how you’ll get $10, $5 — or nothing
photo: Sergey Mironov
Did you get a mysterious email from Facebook about a lawsuit? You’re eligible for some money but, alas, chances are the lawyers and privacy groups will keep it instead. Here’s the odds. Read more »
After a torrid 2012, Habbo changes CEO — but is it enough?
A child protection scandal and failure to innovate have left Habbo Hotel — once one of the most popular virtual worlds — reeling. Now with the departure of CEO Paul LaFontaine, it’s feeling increasingly like the Finnish company faces a do or die moment. Read more »
You’re dead to me: Facebook prank shows how social media is (still) bad at death
A new Facebook prank making the rounds lets you turn someone’s account into a memorial page by sending along an email address and a fake obituary. Read more »
Pinterest gets serious about recipe inspiration with Punchfork buy
Cooking inspiration is already one of Pinterest users’ biggest reasons for using the popular social network, and Pinterest has decided to make the most of that trend. Its first acquisition is recipe aggregator and culinary inspiration portal Punchfork. Read more »
Pave takes on student debt with crowdfunding site for education and careers
Pave, a New York-based startup, on Wednesday said it’s piloting its crowdfunding platform that matches up students and other young people pursuing new careers with established professionals who invest money and time in exchange for a share of future earnings. Read more »
Judge says “no fundamental right to use Facebook,” tosses antitrust case
Who has the right to use platforms like Facebook and Twitter? On Thursday, a federal judge emphatically sided with Facebook against an adware company that wanted to use the site for its own ends. Read more »
Facebook proposes adding Instagram user data, abolishing user vote
photo: GigaOM
Facebook is proposing integrating user data with Instagram user data, and abolishing a voting system that allowed users to weigh in on potential changes to the site. The changes bring some privacy concerns for users, but come from Facebook’s desire to monetize and streamline user data. Read more »
Hey Mark Cuban: Of course Facebook is charging you — what did you expect?
photo: Flickr user Balakov
Some prominent users of Facebook such as billionaire sports-team owner Mark Cuban are complaining that the social network wants to charge them to reach their users with marketing messages — but shouldn’t it be fairly obvious that this was part of Facebook’s plan all along? Read more »
The disruption of education: How technology is helping students teach themselves
photo: Flickr user Vince Alongi
Mobile technology and social networks aren’t just disruptive to existing industries like communications and media, they are also helping the change the way that students learn and how education is delivered both in North America and around the world. And the disruption is just beginning. Read more »
Path targets its family audience with new iPad app and landscape mode
Path is finally expanding to the iPad, America’s most popular tablet and a natural place for Path’s family-oriented users to head next. In landscape mode, the iPad app allows users to see popular posts of the day, including posts from friends on music, books and movies. Read more »
Facebook beats modest expectations, $1.26B in revenue and $0.12 per share
photo: Flickr user Anirudh Koul
Facebook reported third-quarter earnings Tuesday, posting revenue of $1.26 billion and earnings of $0.12 per share, which were slightly above analyst expectations. The company said 14 perent of its advertising revenue in the quarter came from mobile. Read more »
Be a 4G Santa Claus: NetZero lets you gift mobile data on Facebook
NetZero is giving each of its customers 1 GB of free bonus data each month. You can’t use that yourself, though. You have to give it to other NetZero customers in 200 MB increments, but there’s nothing to stop your friends from returning the favor. Read more »
Can ResearchGate really be the Facebook of science?
With 2m members, science startup ResearchGate isn’t just talking big when it says it wants to start a revolution: it’s actually changing the way scientists work. Co-founder Ijad Madisch explains his vision — and how he’d like to change Germany’s clone-heavy culture along the way. Read more »
Despite Facebook’s ‘bum rap,’ partners give new ad exchange positive reviews
On Thursday, Facebook is announcing that its new real-time bidding platform, the Facebook Exchange, is coming out of beta. While it’s still early days, the social network’s advertising partners give the new platform high marks. Read more »
Disruptive science service Mendeley passes 100m API calls
A year after opening its API, Mendeley — the document manager and social network for scientists — has seen a blossoming of apps that hook into its system… often in innovative ways. Now it’s looking to the future. Read more »
Think App.net is just a Twitter clone? Then you’re missing the point
photo: Flickr user Rosaura Ochoa
Most critics of Dalton Caldwell’s App.net project seem to see it as a replacement for Twitter, only with users paying for the service rather than advertisers. But what the service really wants to be is a central messaging bus and open ecosystem for the social web. Read more »
Facebook says ‘Likes’ are free speech in sheriff case
Facebook is stepping in to support a deputy sheriff who was fired for “Liking” his boss’s rival. The case, which will determine whether a “Like” is like a bumper sticker, is helping to define free speech in the age of social media. Read more »
Facebook fights to seal financial info in privacy payout case
Facebook wants a court to approve a deal that will see it pay $20 million to settle the ‘sponsored stories’ controversy. But now, as groups file objections, the judge is questioning whether the settlement’s blacked out financial figures can remain secret. Read more »
Thanks to Quora, now you can’t read anonymously
Quora launched a new feature that essentially takes away the option of reading anonymously (unless you opt-out) on its platform. This is part of the growing trend of passive sharing involving what one is reading on the web. And it’s not necessarily a good thing. Read more »
Is Twitter a publisher or a distributor? There’s a crucial difference
photo: Flickr user George Kelly
Twitter’s decision to suspend the account of a British journalist raises a host of questions about the company’s behavior, but one of the important ones is to what extent Twitter’s filtering and curation features could make it legally liable for the content flowing through the network. Read more »
Another clone bites the dust as ExploreB2B forces revamp of Indian copycat
An Indian operation copied the website of ExploreB2B so closely that the original code still showed, but backed down after little more than a challenging email. Read more »
ASmallWorld launches mobile app for invite-only social network
Are you a member of the exclusive social network ASmallWorld? Say hello to a new iPhone app that will let you connect and meet up with like-minded members when you’re on the go. Read more »
Why it makes sense for Apple to invest in Twitter
photo: Om Malik
According to the New York Times, Apple has had discussions with Twitter about making a substantial investment in the real-time network. A closer relationship between the two — which has been rumored in the past — would make some sense for both companies. Read more »
Don’t use that open API — it could be a trap!
photo: Flickr user Steve Jurvetson
Facebook’s shutdown of the Face.com API and Twitter’s increasing clampdown on its API reinforce the lesson that “open” APIs can be very appealing, but they can also become a lot less open over time — and developers and users can get trapped in the middle. Read more »
