DISQUS

Microsoft are running out of ideas faster than they can: 1. think they really shit new ones up, or: 2. rip off pre-existing old ideas.

Lamentable...

Like any industry, there's always the fakers.

The great thing about the social media space is the "canvas" we paint on — it's a public space and failure means there's a chance the fakers will be seen to fail in a very public way.

Of course, we're talking about an extension of marketing, here. So failure's going to pay a visit to the best of 'em at least once in a while...

Is there actually any details on what this social network will amount to?

I'm happy to guess, but I'd prefer to have something to read...

I'm not having any problems with WordPress on Firefox.

What problems are you having?

Twitter is truly pathetic.

It's nothing more than the inbred half-cousin of the Status update on Facebook, but with a smaller character allowance...

Sadly, this topic segues all too neatly with a recent article of mine: "Information as a weapon" (http://www.blahblahtech.com/2008/02/information...)

Knowledge has always been dangerous in the wrong hands. But mass communication makes such things even more dangerous on a global scale.

"The internet is a reflection of our society,.. If we do not like what we see in that mirror the problem is not to fix the mirror, we have to fix society."
~ Vint Cerf

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Hey, that looks like the Democracy Plugin to me! ;-)

I think MyBlogLog have bigger problems to be thinking about before they start faffing around with things like peripheral brand management by proxy...

Here's my review of MyBlogLog: http://www.blahblahtech.com/2008/01/mybloglog-i...

I'll have to give it a try and see if it's any good.

I was in a meeting with a client yesterday, and they asked about screensavers, so there might be something in there for me...

I really do get sick of people sending me application requests.

I think it's something Facebook really needs to address...

Excellent article, and very much like follow-up material to my: "Will advertising ever not be annoying" article from earlier this year...

There's no more chance of email dieing than mobile text messaging, IM, or micro-blogging.

For anyone in business, they — like me — will tell you that email is much stronger than any other means of communication, second only to the phone.

All of the other stuff is just as-it-happens messaging, having very little substance that you could hope to add to the workflow of a project.

And in business, communication has to integrate, and email integrates really, really well...

All sounds like Spock.com to me...

"There seems to be lots of factors in sitelinks no one really knows about."

Evidently so.

I was asked recently by a friend — who's 'blog is a good PageRank 7 — how to get a Sitelink.

I'm still none the wiser.

Maybe someone can clarify things?

Given that a PageRank 4 'blog gets a Sitelink is probably confusing to many — me included.

More so if like your own, the included anchor text is more bizarre than ephemeral.

Here's a theory, which sort of hinges on the recent PageRank update / debacle: maybe the Sitelink algorithm runs separately (at least to some extent) to PageRank?

So if Dosh Dosh got a kickin' in the update (meaning the 'blog was previously PageRank 6 or higher), that might explain the Sitelink still being there.

Of course, that's just a theory.

Still, there's hope for everyone if PageRank 4 'blogs are on the radar...

It's weird how Google seem to be turning into a lumbering animal with little concern or care for where they land their feet.

What happened to the "do no evil" mantra? Where did that go?

So we see Google edging towards social media. And why is this? The way I see it, Sponsored Links are to Google what Windows is to Microsoft — about the only things that make them money.

While ever people are using social media to find things, they're not searching using Google.

The problem for Google is they're sending out totally mixed messages about the value of social media, or how they value social media.

On the one hand, Google Universal is supposed to reward websites and 'blogs that have lots of social traffic, like comments. But then they penalize 'blogs that do well in social networks and via social media venues like Digg, StumbleUpon et cetera.

So the question is: assuming Google do release their own social media portal, will they be as quick to 'vanish' articles that go global from their own service?"

OK, point #4 is the place where we differ in opinion — clients rarely 'suck'.

If they're ever difficult, their intransigence is usually attributable to their lack of knowledge and awareness.

Think about it: they know little to nothing about what you're doing for them. They feel vulnerable and need educating.

Here's a chance to win them over with diplomacy and transparency in how you do things.

As a business owner, I know that people have to buy me before they buy anything from me, and it's that mentality you need to keep in mind...

I think some people need to get over themselves.

You get a bunch of people squealing about privacy issues and then they start squealing again because web application X is specific enough to their needs.

Well there's often a really good reason for that — web application X doesn't know about you to provide you with anything meaningful...

Orkut isn't the answer. Right now, what Google needs is a grip on Social Networking and Social Media — presently, they just don't really get either.

In the long-term, Facebook isn't going to cause material harm to Google in that they're not treading on their core markets.

However, we know how Google like to experiment, and while ever Facebook are standing on the air hose from Social Networking and Social Media to Google, it's that bit harder for Google to spread in that direction...

I think the merit badge idea is more than a little patronizing.

But the idea is good in general. Sort of an electronic water cooler.

There's a definite bottom line benefit to getting any department to actually talk to their IT people, so it's gotta be worth the buy-in price...

"As where Facebook requires the applications to be run on Facebook itself, these new Google APIs will allow information to be taken and put in between third parties apps that are not hosted on any Google platform. There lies the biggest difference."

And maybe that's the reason why Facebook is a success — because everything is in one place.

And in recent news: Microsoft smell blood in the water and look to buy a chunk of Facebook...

We need one profile manager to rule them all.

We need something like OpenID, but with more features and more support, or we're all gonna get Social Network Fatigue.

... And it's catchin', too...

For me, MyblogLog is almost there, but just not quite.

It's got the makings of what could be a thriving community-based gig, but the whole process is stunted and just too cramped.

As for who's "Hot" and who's not? I think there's a tag or button to be clicked, or something. I could be wrong.

The fact that neither of us are sure sez ev'rything.

Here's where Yahoo! need to take matters in hand.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the web, now to be known only as Delicious, and currently in beta. There's some screen shots doing the rounds.

Still no mention of revising their almost insane space-delimited tagging.

Why they do this, I just cannot fathom...

"Zooomr? What?" Aye, me too.

Sounds like some kind of reciprocal deal (read: mutual masturbation meets back-scratching) to me...