Its fans say Google+ improves on Facebook in terms of privacy protections, because it allows you to filter people into groups or “Circles.” But is this really a big improvement? Not everyone is convinced it is — some argue that it actually makes things worse. Read more »
The latest mobile app to enter the social-video-sharing fray is Vibop, which makes it drop-dead simple to polish your videos and add effects before sharing them with friends. The app is free to download and plans to make money by selling effects in-app. Read more »
LocalResponse — a marketing platform that allows advertisers to send out targeted tweets to consumers based on where consumers have checked in or where they say they are on social networks — has found that its targeting work is paying off with significant engagement from consumers. Read more »
If you’re curious about the technology behind Google+, you’re in luck. The project’s technical lead, Google engineer Joseph Smarr, is currently hosting an online question and answer session about the service, sharing details about the social platform’s development, technology, and plans for the future. Read more »
MyYearbook, a social networking site, has seen its growth soar, in part by emphasizing engagement and games with an increasing focus on mobile. The company has found a way to survive amidst larger competitors by focusing on its core offering of helping people meet others. Read more »
For once, the biggest news in social media and real-time technologies didn’t come from Facebook. Rather, it was Google that, at the end of the second quarter, introduced an innovative collection of technologies, under the Google+ label. Another big headline was the return of digital music: Pandora filed a successful IPO, and Google and Apple unrolled cloud-based music offerings. Meanwhile, other social networks generated valuable lessons about technology and business strategies. LinkedIn went public, while Myspace was sold. And Apple essentially appointed Twitter its mobile social network infrastructure supplier. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Skype, Groupon, Turntable.fm and Amazon. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Everyone’s been trying to understand whether the newly-launched Google+ can really challenge Facebook for the Web’s social crown. So what can you learn when take one of the crucial moments in anyone’s life and compare the social networking contenders head-to-head? I decided to find out. Read more »
GigaOM conducted a survey over the Fourth of July weekend of GigaOM readers regarding Google+’s chances for success, its competitive weapons and its likely impact on the competitive social media environment. Here’s a snippet of what we discovered about the prospects for Google’s latest social venture. Read more »
We are the connected generation. As the opportunities to share information have become more ubiquitous, there has been an increasingly hyped-up debate and concern around the topic of privacy. But is privacy really the issue? Read more »
Google’s new Hangouts video chat service is one of the most interesting features of its Google+ project. A look behind the tech curtain reveals that Google has big plans for Hangouts, using cutting edge technology to make it run natively on a wide range of devices. Read more »
Google’s new social network offers a nice collection of features and a great design, but none of these things is enough to create a social network that people want to keep using — that requires a critical mass of users, and Facebook is leading that particular race. Read more »
A month after its debut as a public company, LinkedIn isn’t resting on its laurels, and Wall Street is reacting positively. Several new initiatives unveiled this month suggest the professional social network might have the steam to compete with the Googles and Facebooks of the world. Read more »
Last week Om broke a big story on Facebook’s plans for music. But is music Facebook’s next billion-dollar business? It will be hard for the company to cash in big on music. Here are three reasons why. Read more »
You might have seen me post about San Francisco-based Instagram way more than any of the newer mobile apps and services.The question is why Instagram works? And how did it get to over 5 million users so quickly. This comment just might answer that question. Read more »
As Turntable.fm has shown, a new era of social music may be upon us, one that is less about scaling wide, but more about going deep. The third era of social music is about immersion as sites add more immediacy and intimacy to the experience. Read more »
Twitter and Facebook are great tools for reporting on world events — but what happens when we turn those tools on one another? We got a glimpse of that in Vancouver, and it was a glimpse of a future that some would rather not see. Read more »
Descuento Libre is a daily deal site catering to Latinos in the United States. While Groupon emphasis new adventures, this year-old site is staking a claim with family-friendly activities and household goods and services and a different model for attracting businesses. Read more »
Appsfire and others have helped tackle the issue of app discovery by bringing new social and sharing tools to bear on the task. Now, Zwapp, a new start-up is trying to go one step further by building essentially a social network around app discovery. Read more »
The BBC is adding new ways for iPlayer viewers to share what they’re watching with their friends and social networks, with a new share button. In addition to standard networks like Facebook and Twitter, iPlayer users can now send videos to Delicious, Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon. Read more »
Media guru Clay Shirky once famously said that the problem of the modern age isn’t information overload at all, it’s “filter failure” — and many new services have been built to help with that. But Eli Pariser says the cure could be worse than the disease. Read more »
Kayak kicked off 2011 with major sales growth in the run-up to its planned IPO, according to a regulatory filing. The travel search company made $52.6 million in the first three months of 2011, representing a 43.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010 Read more »
Raptr, a social network for gamers, is showing some interesting ways in which it’s using what it knows about its members to create tailored experiences that cut through a lot of noise. And it’s showing how social networking can evolve to be even more personal. Read more »
Markets with network effects tend to have explosive growth, and part of the excitement driving LinkedIn’s IPO last week comes from investors associating social media with that principle. But assessing the competitive positions of social media companies depends on knowing which network effects are actually present. Read more »
New York Times executive editor Bill Keller says he is concerned that Twitter is decreasing our attention spans and generally making us stupid — but he misses the crucial point that Twitter and other social media are just tools, and that their benefits outweigh their disadvantages. Read more »
Remember when social media was going to reinvent the entertainment business? Though past efforts made little headway in the social-entertainment space, announcements from Warner Home Entertainment and News Corp. suggest the space is far from dead. Here’s what companies looking to capitalize on it can learn. Read more »
LinkedIn is upping its expectations for its much-anticipated IPO, which it now believes can pull in as much as $274 million. The company this morning released the pricing for its IPO and is now prepared to offer 7.84 million shares at $32 to $35 each Read more »
More than almost any other national brand, the Gap has been on the cutting edge with its marketing trials, working with Facebook, Groupon, Foursquare, Visa, JiWire and others to figure out how to craft its image and message for a much more social and mobile audience. Read more »
Among reports that it was having trouble unloading $1 billion worth of shares at a very rich valuation, Facebook last week tweaked an existing advertising service and started testing its first home-grown social commerce product: Facebook Deals. Will that be Facebook’s next billion-dollar business? Possibly. But it already faces stiff […] 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 »
The first quarter of 2011 saw plenty of competition between various web companies — and some heated tension, too. Content farms generated the most debate, with Demand Media’s IPO attracting attention and controversy and Google making a major change to its ranking algorithm. Facebook, meanwhile, maintained its heavyweight status online, but this time the social network’s impact was centered on social search, unified communications and comment systems. And Facebook’s ongoing dominance raised the question, Is there room for more than one social network? If niche networks like Quora and Color are any indication, the answer is “yes.” Additional companies mentioned in this report include Twitter, Groupon, Microsoft, LinkedIn and MySpace. To see the full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last week, LinkedIn unveiled an upgraded version of its platform to developers. The professional social network is trying to establish itself as the source for professional profiles, and with 100 million users and an upcoming IPO, what are its chances of finally sealing up this role? Read more »
Google’s launch of its new +1 feature is an attempt to add social signals to search, but it’s also an attempt to jump-start the company’s social-networking efforts, and that seems to have less likelihood of success. Why? Because people don’t go to Google to be social. Read more »
Much of last week’s buzz surrounding the launch of Color was justifiably skeptical. Does the world really need another mobile photo-sharing app? But parts of the startup’s vision extend far beyond photo-sharing, and make the company worth watching as a potential indicator of social media trends. Read more »
Social commerce involves businesses using online collaborative tools — social networks, real-time feeds and user-generated contributions, for example — in order to sell products and services to consumers. The space is now more dynamic than ever: Hundreds of startups like Groupon, Zynga and CrowdStar have emerged, and it’s also attracting the attention — and cash — of online giants like Google, Amazon and Apple. This report examines the factors propelling the sector’s growth, how it will evolve over the next one to three years and what that means for those companies involved. We also examine factors inhibiting the growth of social commerce, and the likelihood of fragmentation as more local markets emerge. Companies mentioned in this report include Groupon, Foursquare, Gowalla, Playfish and LivingSocial. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
RedRover, a social location-based network for parents, helps them connect, plan play dates and discover new kid-friendly locations. The service, which launched this week as an iOS app, speaks to the power of niche social networks that play to specific demographic and privacy needs. Read more »
MySpace today confirmed that it is shedding close to half of the company, or about 500 employees, including virtually the entire international operation, in a dramatic restructuring that is aimed at saving the ailing social network. But the reality is, Facebook has won. Read more »
I’ve been looking at Quora to see if it might be valuable for web workers. I’m skeptical that sites powered by the public can provide fast and reliable information. But here are some things you can do to improve exposure for your questions. 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 »
