LocalResponse is taking location data from check-ins and combining it with implicit location information gathered from social status updates to create a targeted marketing platform that lets businesses reach consumers in real-time wherever they are. Today, they’re rolling out the engine for national brands. Read more »
Online social networks have been around for years, but most of them still make the same basic — and utterly incorrect — assumptions about the way we interact with each other. Whose fault is that, and how exactly do we fix it? Read more »
Keeping up with Twitter, Facebook and all the posts and comments written about your company can be overwhelming. Postling is a centralized dashboard for organizing, managing and tracking all your social media efforts, so that you can engage with your entire online community from one location. Read more »
Integrated voice calls to Facebook chat friends arrives today, but not from Skype, Google Voice or another usual suspect. Say hello to T-Mobile’s new Bobsled brand of solutions, the first of which is a free application that integrates with Facebook for voice calls. Read more »
Apple launched a brand new site offering tech support for its products on Saturday, called Apple Support Communities. The new site represents an evolution of its support discussion forums, where users offer advice to one another regarding technical issues or other problems with Mac products. Read more »
Facebook is planning to roll out a new version of its Deals feature soon, and the fact that this Groupon-style service will be integrated directly into a user’s news feed will make it even more obvious that Groupon and its competitors aren’t really all that social. Read more »
New iOS app Tout thinks 15-second video status updates for Facebook and other social networks are what users want. But, despite obvious interest from the development community, the track record of social video sharing to date is still shaky at best, especially among the mobile crowd. Read more »
Cloud computing, a surge of smartphone growth and increased wireless connectivity have created an ideal environment for the introduction of the media tablet — a consumer-grade device best suited to leisure-based computing activities such as gaming and social networking. This report forecasts the media tablet market, which is expected to grow at a 54 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years. We forecast revenues and regional growth, including China’s growing importance in the market, and provide a competitive analysis of tablets from Cisco, Research in Motion, Apple, HP and others. Additional companies in this report include Samsung, Dell, Microsoft and Motorola. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Reports from Chinese sources say that Facebook is in talks with local search giant Baidu to create a social network in China. But will Facebook be able to live with the kinds of things it will have to do in order to appease China’s totalitarian government? Read more »
New findings suggest iOS could be on the verge of getting a system-wide, social, photo-sharing feature. While it spells trouble for Instragram, Color and other similar apps, it’s great new for a mobile OS that, until now, hasn’t come out of its social shell. Read more »
The enterprise collaboration space has entered an exciting new phase of collaboration. New software and applications are coming to market, as are new concepts for how to work and communicate in the knowledge age. From consumer-grade apps like those from Box.net and Huddle to software from long-established players like Microsoft and Oracle, these tools are taking collaboration technology past the traditional IT decision-making process and changing the way we approach the workday. Additional companies in this report include Skype, Huddle, Jive, Moxie and Yammer. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
After cutting 500 jobs, Myspace boss Mike Jones has finally admitted that it’s time to spin off or sell the struggling social network. But Rupert Murdoch’s stubborn misunderstanding of the Internet means it is way too late for the site to make a worthwhile deal. Read more »
Once an isolated world dominated by network operators and their manufacturer partners, mobile is now a space where “outsiders” are some of the most powerful players. In 2010, companies like Google, Apple, MetroPCS, Huawei and Foursquare were among those who made the most impact in mobile ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
No set of fearless year-end predictions would be complete without setting expectations for what won’t happen in the coming year. Social media won’t replace search, nor will a single, dominant social media platform emerge. Meanwhile, will the government finally solve the privacy puzzle surrounding social media? ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last week Google showed off its progress on Chrome OS. It introduced an apps store in support of it, and offered up a pre-release hardware trial program as a concession that real machines wouldn’t ship till mid 2011. But it’s likely all for naught. Google CEO ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Groupon is growing faster than virtually any other tech-related company in history, including Google and Facebook, and is expected to close the year with revenue of more than $500 million. What then, are the lessons retailers and other companies can learn from the such incredible ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Facebook Messages isn’t about replacing email. What the social network is really trying to establish with its recently unveiled unified communications hub is presence management, and this new "modern messaging system" is more concerned with intimacy and immediacy, as opposed to formality, flexibility and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Facebook Messages isn’t about replacing email. What the social network is really trying to establish with its recently unveiled unified communications hub is presence management, and this new "modern messaging system" is more concerned with intimacy and immediacy, as opposed to formality, flexibility and history. Read more »
How big is big enough? When do new consumer technologies really start to catch on? What happens when they do? These are questions of critical mass, and there’s plenty of historical evidence to point at the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
You may not realize it, but IBM has actually been a player in the enterprise social networking space for quite some time. Lotus Connections, the company’s corporate social software suite, was originally released way back in June 2007. IBM today announced Connections 3.0, a major update. Read more »
In the realm of might-have-beens, MySpace shows more promise than Friendster. But unlike some former web leaders, it’s still salvageable. MySpace shouldn’t try to challenge Facebook for social network leadership, but it can remain a valuable consumer media business, if not a technology driver. Here’s ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A talk by Dropbox founder and CEO Drew Houston about how search-related keyword ads didn’t really work for his company is another worthwhile reminder that search advertising doesn’t work for every situation, and that there are good reasons why Google needs to be afraid of Facebook. Read more »
For third-quarter social media and real-time technologies, most of the action was in consumer services, and much of it — from social gaming to location-based services and advertising dollars — was influenced by Facebook. Here is a brief look back at the NewNet action highlights from last quarter. Read more »
It’s sort of an Apple to oranges type of situation, but a report by analytics firm Flurry nonetheless shows the market potential represented by at least one type of iOS gaming. Social gaming is now arguably as popular as professional football is on any given Sunday. Read more »
Just about every company online should add some social spice to its site, but in Yahoo’s case, an aggressive dose could help the former Internet giant maintain its huge audience and advertising leadership ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Although the number of people who are using social networking services and engaging with social media continues to climb, the number who describe themselves as “creators” of content — those who publish their own blogs, upload videos, and so on — is falling, new research shows. Read more »
Social gaming has been the biggest success story of the four-year-old Facebook Platform, but only now is Facebook rolling out a plan to offer a dedicated gaming experience, get game developers to stop spamming its non-gaming users, and make some serious money off of ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Social networks, for the online and addicted, already take up a lot of time and brainspace — but what might happen when the interfaces intrude even more on “real life”? That’s the idea taken to the point of farce with Status Kill. Read more »
Facebook is continuing to grow, but not all of that growth is due to features and functions of the web-based social networking service. The trend towards Facebook-enabled hardware shows no sign of stopping: cameras, picture frames, televisions and more are bringing Facebook everywhere for consumers. Read more »
How are you today? And how’s your SuperMe? According to one of the media industry’s leading lights, all of us who engage in social networking create a “Digital SuperMe … that only drinks the best wine, vacations in the finest locales and has the brightest children.” Read more »
When I began freelancing full time I decided to try social media on the basis that it might help me to promote my services. Now that I’ve been freelancing full-time for a year, I decided to revisit my predominantly ad hoc approach to social media. Read more »
Unlike some of Twitter’s other services, the upcoming launch of Annotations doesn’t involve a product, but a rethinking of the way the social network functions. The changes involved could have a tremendous impact on not just on the network, but on the nature of the web ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This week while pondering how BP’s oil spill stacks up against Exxon’s in terms of Google search results, it occurred to me how badly BP is losing the social media war. No bones about it, BP’s online image is in tatters. How bad is it? ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Social networking isn’t a life sentence, and it needn’t take up your every waking (or even spare) moment. There are benefits to be gained through being part of social networks that suit you. So why not give social networking another try? Read more »
Once the heady, bowl-you-over wave of a fad like social networking sweeps us up, carries us along for a while, then breaks, we can find ourselves awash with the realities of that fad, our heads barely above water. Here are some tips for avoiding burnout. Read more »
Goober, which is now in beta for version 3.0, is a tool that aims to put all of your communications streams in one place. It’s a busy space. Goober competes with desktop multi-IM programs; web-based services; mobile apps; social networking tools and VoIP apps. Read more »
Ground Truth, a mobile measurement firm, today reported that consumers use phones more for social networking than any other purpose. This usage is giving rise to social mobile handsets, five of which are already available to ride the social mobile wave. Read more »
I can’t be the only person on Earth who, when I need information, heads to Good Ol’ Google and is sometimes frustrated by the results I get. Of course, there are other research tools I can use, too — social networks being one of them. Read more »
Many businesses set up Facebook pages when everyone was jumping on board to see what all the hype was about. Yet they didn’t know what to do with those pages in the longer term, and now they languish across Facebook. Read more »
