Startup Meme

Apple Permits Push Notification For The New Facebook App On iPhone

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:18:45 +0000

At last the users of iPhone will have even lesser to complain about the Facebook app as it finally got the much awaited Push Notification feature. While the 3.0 version of the application was nothing short of impressive it did lose out on not having the feature. The major reason being that users had to keep the app running in order get updates but that will no longer be the case.

I am glad that Apple has taken the pain to get rid of its right grip on apps and enabled the feature. Users will now be able to get notifications without the need to keep the app open, which means it can run in the background and they can continue to receive updates on statuses, etc from friends. This sums up to state that you will now have to access the app when there is an update. Other than that, the new version of Facebook app comes with a better sync feature to help you sync your friends on the social network much more efficiently with the address book on your iPhone. I guess many of you who had been hating Apple for keeping the feature out, would actually be happier now.

Tags: Apps, facebook, iphone

‘Will Third Parties Manage Our Ads?’: Facebook App Creators Looking Outwards For Ads Solutions

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:05:13 +0000

Lead by example, that is what Facebook’s massively popular Farmville’s creator, Zynga has done and no wonder others are looking up at it and trying to follow. The social game developer bagged a mammoth $180 Million from DST and not other developers are frantically looking for ways to sell their ads. And those efforts include looking forward to third parties for managing ads. This means they will be relying more on the social network’s ad platform, fair enough, I mean why should they focus on creating their own ad solutions when they can make use of those that already exist and market their product much more efficiently?

A major announcement in the same regard broke out today when ONE Media Manager stated that the much famed dating app on Facebook, Zoosk turned over to OMM to avail their expertise. That is just one more app taking advantage of the third party ad solutions, but the investments they would make might be pretty small compared to what Zynga currently spends on ads across the social network. This again lays emphasis on the fragility of the ad management systems that these developers have within their apps, which might very well be quite meaningless to the benefit third party solutions can bring.

The trend has certainly taken a jump but it somewhat appear keeping the revenue locked within a triangle. I mean think of it, Facebook, third party ad managers and developers, there is hardly anyone else involved. But that is how it’s been growing as businesses continue to spend a lot more on advertisement across the social network. This in turn would prove more profitable as it will be able to make most of the applications that continue to thrive on the platform and developers would actually concentrate more on app development and utilize the ad solutions from third parties to earn revenue. However this turns out, Facebook will continue to take the most advantage of the situation.

Tags: ads, facebook

Facebook Friend Finder (Might Be) The Safest Hack For Marketers

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:02:18 +0000

Just as I had thought, it’s not just me who thinks that the countless import tools we have scattered here and there across the Web. Same goes on Facebook’s contact import tool. So what exactly is bad about it? The marketers can tend to utilize the contact import tool to expand their own list. Why? Obviously to randomly mail people on the list.

Isn’t this been happening for quite a long time already? Obviously but hunting down Facebook is perhaps the growing popularity of the social network that currently has 260 billion pageviews a month. And as I mentioned earlier in the post on Facebook Community Council where the need to give users the ability to keep check on anything that goes against its terms of use. Here the issue is with the fear that Facebook’s Friend Finder can be used for such malicious activity. Andrew Noyes of Facebook speaks to protect the feature stating that the team puts up hard work to exercise control over any such malicious activity on the social network. I would like to quote Max Klein on the issue:

A marketer could take a list of 1,000 e-mail addresses, either legally or illegally collected — and upload those through a dummy account — which then lets the user see all the profiles created using those addresses. Given Facebook’s ubiquity and most people’s reliance on a single e-mail address, the harvest could be quite rich.

This is quite an issue to be addressed promptly and users should know of it, given that it is totally different from the privacy settings that you have from where you can actually block Facebook Search from having you included in the results. These marketers would use a fake account on the Friend Finder and perform a search to find useful information about users like their names, genders and their location. Now the profiles are definitely blocked from being accessed but they will tend to have quite a chunk of it already to make use of. Other than that the major issue why Facebook might actually have trouble protecting is the fact that many of the users aren’t really aware on how to utilize the privacy settings.

I will state it again, each user has to take some time out and actually learn how important is their privacy and how they can tweak theirs to keep themselves protected. On the other hand, I might sound skeptic here, but the amount of data each user is throwing up;using those apps on the social network is more than enough for any clever marketer out there. Which in short means that in order protect yourself more, users should actually try and ensure that they don’t spend so much time using those applications. It’s just an advice, one quite worthy to be taken.

Tags: facebook, security

Facebook Reigns Supreme: Is There Anyone To Beat It? Anyone?

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:06:45 +0000

350 million users on Facebook might just make one estimate what massive number of pageviews the social network actually generates. According to stats provided by Royal Pingdom the social network generates a gargantuan 260 billion views a month. That dwarfs almost anyone else in the category of social networking sites and many others that exist. MySpace which is its major competitor generates a meager 26 billion.

I think the social network has taken such a massive lead now that it will be next to impossible for any other competitor to come any where close. The numbers are least surprising given the amount of time each user spends on the social network and amount of data that is being put up the site and exchanged every day. Plus there is so much activity that users can be a part of on the social network and I bet if one puts our time on site Facebook would out hour any site that exists.

The other major reasons include the amount of time developers and third parties are putting in to provide better user experience. There are brands that are actively using the social network for marketing their brands as well. No matter how you look at it, Facebook reigns supreme. An interesting stat was of Twitter which shares only 4.4 billion users. I personally think Twitter would have been at number two and beyond MySpace given the number of updates each user sends daily. But the reason why it lags is that everyone uses third party apps like TweetDeck, Seesmic to use the micromessaging service. That is another story and one can really not compare Twitter with Facebook, however soon enough Facebook might just eat away all that is there on Twitter as it gears up to make itself much faster and smoother. As of present, it stands on top really out of reach of any of its competitor.

Tags: facebook, social network, Twitter

Facebook Community Council Is The UN for Facebook Users

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:43:39 +0000

Facebook appears to be taking steps in the right direction as the social network plans to give its community of 350 million users to keep a check on the crowd connected via the social network. While using its users is nothing new, but giving the same users a chance to actively monitor the network. Sounds interesting and quite a positive move from Facebook.

The social network is presently testing Facebook Community Council and as the name suggests would be made up of Facebook users. The purpose? Well for the first time in ages Facebook is actually taking initiatives to put out a more democratic image of itself as it gives users more powers to administer the community. Now isn’t that taking the step beyond and making users have a sense of ownership of the platform and get actively involved in administering (in some manner) the site as Facebook expands into an ever larger network; for which the task of monitoring becomes an impossible task for its workforce of a thousand employees.

So why now?

As I said above, the idea is primarily to make it easy for the administrators and monitoring teams on Facebook to stay updated on any offensive material on the site. Be it violence, porn, personal attacks, etc that require a prompt action to be taken against them. Many a times such content might just slip by since these may remain unreported and slip administrators’ eyes. Take for example this hate group that bravely claims to Murder President Obama and it continues to expand. I bet admin hasn’t really taken notice of it, welcome FCC and all this might just end the moment such a thing is born on Facebook.

The concept sounds pretty nice and users will really be glad that they would be acting as the middlemen in administering the site. The FCC will exist as an app and its users will be allowed to flag content that violates Facebook’s terms of use. However they could only take such action on personal attacks if they are bound to strike celebrities or public figures.

The Complications?

There are a whole lot of those. Primarily a particular group would hate one thought and make a group for that while the other may have all the reasons to admire them. This is where the biggest trouble rises and one would see a great divide amongst users, deeming the whole concept of Community powered administration to be put to test. Of course the final decision will be from Facebook team but that is what makes the whole thing more difficult for the admin on Facebook as it will have to take actions very carefully and whatever the consequences of it are, Facebook alone will be responsible.

While the whole idea is wonderful, it isn’t that simple to apply and implement given the fact how populated and diverse is the Facebook community. The Facebook Community Council at present is Invite Only and is currently in test mode. Lets see how it turns out and the controversies it gives rise to when a first offensive site is reported by the community.

Tags: facebook, facebook community council

Facebook Gets Wacky Digibles From TOPPS

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:19:54 +0000

There is surely a need for everyone to be on Facebook, especially if you are already a big brand, being on Facebook would actually help you more. Another one to leverage the powerful social network is TOPPS that feels the urge to expand onto the Web space. The trading cards distributor is launching its own Facebook app called the Wacky Digibles. I am not surprised the least at this step, it had to happen someday, the sooner the better.

One thing however that might just drive users away a bit is that these Digibles aren’t free and they will have to spend $1 to get 100 credits to buy them and send to their friends. The good aspect is that whatever card you purchase, you get a copy for yourself. However I just think that TOPPS is going to have a tough call having a go at spreading like wildfire and they seem to have made it a bit more difficult with the procedure of buying those Digibles.

In order to buy these, users have to need to make payments via PayPal or make it to the TOPPS website to get a hold of one of them. But I bet that is just for the starter and they would eventually have some integration with Credits on Facebook. But at present there is no such sign and I guess TOPPS is going to see through the starting time, see where it is heading on with Digibles and decide what is to be the future line of action.

There is a massive market for these online gifts, trading cards and other virtual products. There is a continuous growth in that category as more users prefer sending these virtual gifts to each other. Oh just in case if you think TOPPS’ Digibles are only about taking that $1 from you for a card, there is another deal which says you can get paid as much as $50 for designing a card yourself. Anyone interested?

Tags: Apps, facebook, topps, wacky digibles

Some Lucky Users Experience The New Facebook Design – Are You One Of Them?

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:02:16 +0000

We had talked about the Facebook redesign coming up last year where it is planning to make it easier for al users of the social network to have better control over the feeds and notifications as well as giving the whole page a much neater look. The design has actually went live for some of the users out there. Why some? Why can’t they just give users an option to decide if they want to run tests with the new design or continue with the old one?

I think that is pretty important, it is the only way they can actually get to know what users think of it. I mean isn’t it important that they give everyone a fair share to test and know what exactly is the experience with the redesign? I guess this is the same reason why users retaliate as many really don’t follow on the latest development and when Facebook runs test with a select few users and then updates the design, all it sees are users firing up all cylinders.

Though what I really appreciate is the fact that Facebook introduces these changes very slightly and not many users will actually notice it. I still don’t see any changes on my Facebook, is anyone of you readers have a new design? Please share how is your experience and what else can Facebook do to improve user experience?

Tags: design, facebook

Murder President Obama! That Is What This Facebook Group Exists for

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:38:20 +0000

Wait a minute, there is so much done to protect the leaders and almost any threat is neutralized the moment it rises. But hey there is a group on Facebook that yells people to murder President Obama. And no action taken as yet. The numbers of its members continue to rise showing a sign that some people really do want that.

I was pretty much taken aback when I read the report on TNW the group actually boasts on having a dozen or so people ready with sniper rifles around the White House to make the move. Of course that is quite sarcastic and sounds bogus, but it is just too hateful. Step over to the wall posts at the group and you have the most racist and hateful remarks about the guy blaming him for everything there is. Perhaps someone is just trying to get attention here with this move but if that is so, the method is pretty lame.

While that is bad, the group is not going to last for long. The fact is of course it violates Facebook’s terms of use which clearly states it has zero tolerance for such hateful and threatening groups and individuals on the Social network. I am just counting the days till it’s actually banned. which I bet isn’t going to take a long time. I hope the creator has had enough fun and he removes it himself, this is quite boring and I think it would have been really better had he created some Fun page about Obama to give people a laugh about.

Tags: facebook, groups, Obama

Social Gaming Bloomed In 2009 On Facebook: What Exactly Do You Like About All Those Games?

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:14:19 +0000

Everything goes up and goes down and while certain names might be invincible they too are bound to see the rise and fall. Coming over to the social gaming across the social networks, the year that was had been. 2009 was the that proved to be very beneficial for all social game developers, primarily those making games for Facebook.

The year ending in no manner meant that these developers are going to quit making more of these. Why would they? We have developers getting loads of users all the way to massive rounds of funding. There is too much demand to meet and users on social networks want an even larger variety to kill time with. The latest report talks about 25 top apps for December, 2009; Zynga rules supreme with its Farmville on top with a gargantuan 73,852,787 users followed by a very distant Birthday Cards app which has less than half that number (32,330,476 users) and Cafe World close at third with 31,129,783 users.

What do these stats mean?

The stats are pretty interesting as they provide you an outlook on what exactly appeals most to the users on Facebook. Plus it gives you the insight on what exactly to create or spend time on if you are an aspiring app developer looking forward to make it big. While that might be too late for you to make it to the top any time soon, the potential does exist.

Other than that the stats show that many apps show a decrease in use in the month of December. The only significant rise in the apps was seen by Farmville and Birthday Cards but other than that as many as ten apps actually saw a decrease in user base. We talked about why this could happen, the major reason being that the users moved over to Holiday centric apps [Christmas] which saw a surge in users and then died down and disappeared. Which can be one reason why many apps actually saw users giving way to Christmas centric apps.

So how exactly did developers perform in December?

Inside Social Games actually put out the list and it was quite astonishing that Zynga had as many as 8 games in the top 15 apps. But an interesting addition was RockYou’s Zoo World that saw quite a significant boost. It was quite interesting to not that these developers are promoting associated apps within each other. Which is one reason why Zoo World has surfaced with a burst in its users.

Zynga reigns supreme primarily because of Farmville, which continues to attract more users [and irritating me ever more]. And with more apps coming in on the same tone, users find it fascinating to spend more time. RockYou on the other hand has taken a charge as its user base almost doubled in December thanks to the success of both Birthday Cards and Zoo World.

The only big name taking quite a dip was Playfish that continues to take a hit. But that’s how it is, apparently Playfish’s acquisition by EA might just help it make a comeback and climb the ladder. Let’s see how each fares in the coming months on 2010.

Before I wrap this one, I just fail to understand what exactly is do addictive about these apps? Almost all of them are similar in concept and yet each has more or less the same number of users. I would really love all the social app fans to answer this question and turn my hate for these apps into an addiction as dedicated as theirs.

Tags: Apps, facebook, social gaming

And And Even Deadlier Facebook Profile Killer Gets Ban: Goodbye Web2.0 Suicide Machine

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:44:08 +0000

web 2.0 suicide machine promotion from moddr_ on Vimeo.

I didn’t know there was any application by the name of Web 2.0 Suicide Machine on Facebook and a pretty bad way to learn about it as Facebook has killed the app. The reason? Well the Suicide Machine was similar to Seppukoo which as we all know helped users killing their Facebook profiles. Why would anyone want to go through such a pain to delete their profiles? I mean doing it on your own will take much shorter than what took to create it (deleting wall posts, etc is excluded).

While I am no big fan of such apps, but I admire its creator taking the time to post a video on how it exactly works. While Facebook has actually simplified the task of deleting profiles and record on the social network, but the absence of that ease had been one reason why these apps found success. Coming over to Web2.0 Suicide Machine, the app actually deleted each and every bit of information that had been archived on Facebook. Now, that was exactly might have pissed Facebook off, we all know that Facebook doesn’t like deleting your information for unspecified duration even when you have terminated your account. We have are answer right there.

I said it earlier when I talked about Seppukoo, applications along these lines will never really see it through on Facebook. Why? The obvious reason is that the social network would never want its users quitting and with other apps helping them achieve that challenges its monopoly. Just a piece of advice, if you are planning to come out with an app along the same lines, don’t for you will eventually have it banned.

Tags: Apps, facebook, seppukoo, web2.0 suicide machine

Twitter ‘The Broadcast Of Broadcasts’ Might Never Be Annihilated By Facebook

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:05:57 +0000

I just finished talking about why Facebook got the better of Google on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Summing it up, it simply meant that users look forward to more engaging content, apps for which Google is so not the obvious choice to spend your time on during holidays. I also talked about trends changing as you move across and time and again one name or the other would come stronger than another. Welcome Twitter, which has snatched popularity in mentions on the television for 2009. Facebook, is a close second.

Once again there is no link to either of the brands on the Web, (and they are way ahead of the third placed MySpace). But what’s important is the fact how and why do the rankings/traffic stats differ. While Facebook has taken the bite away in the year past, Twitter has held its reign firm where it matters. It has been quick in breaking news, spreading links virally, etc and it’s quickness is one major reason why it still has a lot to offer for users despite Facebook desperately trying to be like Twitter.

The micromessaging is definitely nothing compared to what Facebook offers but those 140 characters have changed a lot, quite quickly. We use Facebook a lot for all the sharing and commenting, etc but one thing is for sure that if Twitter is to go out, I will lose plenty of quick share and an equally quick comment from our followers. Plus it has to be said and accepted that Facebook keeps you locked to a handful of very close friends you have or the fans on your Fanpage, other than that you are only at the mercy of your friends sharing it further. Head over to Twitter and you are broadcasting your links, messages to the whole group of people who are your exclusive readers, whether they like it or not and chances of your message getting across are even higher. On Facebook, there is a very slight chance.

I am not sure if saying this would be appropriate or not but to me Twitter is a Broadcast of Broadcasts while Facebook is that national television that runs the channels you subscribe to. The information heading over to you on Facebook is quite filtered and you know which one is to be ignored but on Twitter its more of spontaneity where you might let go of the most important news and left clicking on something that’s ignored by many. Once again there is absolutely no point in taking the two together for I will never opt for one of them when I can have both. But let truth be said, Facebook is a winner on the long run, but as long as there is need to have news spread instantly Twitter will always be a part of the Cycle.

[stats thanks to SnapStream]

Tags: facebook, Twitter

Facebook’s Rise In Traffic Was Just Two Day’s Tale. No Wonder Google Was Least Bothered

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:39:38 +0000

We talks about how Facebook rose in traffic ranking in the US, growing past Google on the Christmas Eve and Day. That was indeed quite remarkable but not very surprising given that it was bound to happen. Now that by no way means that either of the two brands are in any way in the same category or could be associated but it just shows that if a site has a lot more to offer it can actually score better than what anyone might anticipate.

The trends released by Hitwise earlier today showed that the growth of social network had begun from December 22nd beginning from 3% and rising all the way to over 4.5% on 25th December. And while it rose slow and steady to that much, the very next day it dropped to 3.6%. That just shows that traffic was so directly dependant on the trend set by the holiday season.

So What Made Facebook Beat Google?

I won’t actually call it Facebook beating Google in any manner, but it does state one thing for sure that users look for a lot when it comes to holidays, more than just search. While search still outranks the social network, but all those queries would usually include Christmas related queries. Which means that the links will eventually be directed where users have been clicking the most. Of course once users make way to the site they have it going viral by sharing it with friends giving them a direct access to the application/link.

Now, Facebook has already gone past 350 Million and with apps like Zynga that have more than 70 million active monthly users, for one, chances are much higher for user being involved with the social network. Now that was for one app that has been used quite regularly by the social network’s users, there was a plethora of applications for Christmas that saw quite a growth in less than a week before Christmas. And that more or less justifies the sudden drop too as right after the Christmas day all that rush just disappeared and Facebook is back to reality with traffic below Google.

Tags: Apps, facebook, google

While RockYou’s Zoo World Continues To Amass Users on Facebook, Zynga Might Bring Its Own Zoo Too

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:41:45 +0000

Apparently the whole Facebook Ville syndrome is taking developers to newer heights. We have been talking about how Zynga has achieved great success with Farmville, Fishville, Petville, etc and it might have been dead serious about a Zooville. But while that name is patented by a pretty unfamiliar name, RockYou is bagging quite a massive share with Zoo World and its user base is increasing rapidly.

Currently Zoo World is hovering at the number two spot on the Facebook Apps list. Surprises me a lot, given that Facebook users already have more than just one addictive game from Zynga and still more than 200,000 users continue to rally in to populate Zoo World. Sounds cool for everyone who is into all these pet, farm things, but from my experience RockYou needs to do a lot with this application, primarily because it has users jumping from one page to another using the application. But then again this application is much richer in user experience compared to Farmville and the likes, which is again one reason why users might enjoy spending time on it.

Before we are about wrap it up, I just came across the stats on Zoo World, and the game has risen from 3.1 Million to 9.9 Million monthly users and that too in just last three months. Again, all this success coming Zoo World’s way, chances are pretty high Zynga will be frantic about having a similar application.

It is interesting to note how things are evolving across the Social Network as apps continue to get richer and more engaging. The platform is already getting all the attention in every perspective, from marketers, brands all the way to the developers. The result is that users continue to find even more reasons to be logged on to the social network.

Tags: Apps, facebook, rockyou, zoo world, zynga

Goodbye 2009: Share Your Favorite Facebook Story/Status And Get A Chance To Be On Startup Meme!

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:02:33 +0000

The year 2009 is just hours away from seeing the last Sunset and 2010 waits for the Sun to rise. While the year has been filled with news on everything, I think I will keep all that out and focus on how social networking has boomed as the year headed to a close. The biggest news of course was Facebook breaking all expectations and becoming the largest social networking site with over 350 Million globally and being able to top most visits (in US) during Christmas Eve and Day, going beyond Google.

Those are just a couple of news to mention, news that we had been covering throughout the year. So what we at Startup Meme are doing is asking our readers to share their experience with Facebook in the year 2009. We will give three of those stories a Chance to be on our blog’s page along with links to their Twitter or Profiles. All you have to do is simply share your experience with Facebook.

The guidelines are none save for the fact that each entry shouldn’t be more 500 words. You can even email the stories to me at mohkim[dot]khan[at]startupmeme[dot]com. The deadline is 23:30, 31st December, 2009 and the stories will be published on 1’st of January 2010.

Remember this your chance to be on Startup Meme! May all our readers end 2009 on a positive note and 2010 begins with everything positive.

Tags: facebook, startupmeme

Seppukoo Facebookが死亡 [Seppukoo Executed By Facebook]

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:56:42 +0000

Remember Seppukoo? The startup that focused on being the samurai for Facebook users who wanted to freeze their accounts and made sure everyone of your friends got to know about this. The startup however appears to be in trouble as it has been blocked by Facebook. The result is that the website only has guide on how to manually delete your facebook account.

Facebook hasn’t ended that up right here as the social network has also taken the matter more than just seriously as it send Seppukoo a Cease from Perkins Coie, its Law firm. Now it sounded pretty cool to have a very fairy tail-ish end to your profile as Seppukoo deleted each and every one of your friends, your posts and anything else that you had ever shared on the social network. But if I were Facebook I would find it very heinous. I mean a startup capitalizing on removing people from my network would absolutely drive me angry and have me use all my power to put it out.

Seppukoo, despite all the hype it had around began its journey with a time bomb and it was only a matter of time before Facebook took an action against it. I see that there is no point in bragging the news around and anyone who plans to come out with a plan to enable automated Facebook account deletion, they are digging a pit for themselves.

Seppukoo Cease and Desist –

Tags: facebook, seppukoo

Facebook User: What’s The Craziest Thing That Happened To Your Phone? Tell That To Motorola And Win a Cliq Smartphone

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:01:37 +0000

Now who goes saying that large brands wouldn’t want to test promoting their brand on Facebook? Or lets put it this way, why won’t they get users engaging with their brand via Facebook? Apparently Motorola is interested in knowing how you lost your cell phone and wants you to answer that to participate in its competition, which if you are lucky and your story impressive enough can get you one of the five CLIQ smartphones it is giving away, here.

What it simply requires you to do is take advantage of all the countless updates you make on the social network. The interesting part is you don’t have to be a fan of Motorola on its homepage but what’s interesting is the fact that it has been titles specifically for Facebook users. Now that makes it something exclusive for the addicts of the social networks and the contest isn’t asking you much to do and this would actually push number of fans on is Facebook Fan Page. All that is to be done is to fill in the information about yourself along with sharing what was the craziest thing that ever happened to your phone in no more than a thousand characters. Sounds very easy and it surely is.

Oh it reminds me of an incident in Finland when I was at MindTrek and one of our dear and much famed blogger Zee happened to lose his iPhone. The crazy part, he had no idea where he lost it. Does that make him a potential winner to this? Other than it just makes the point even clearer that the power of social networks continue to rise and brands see them as a powerful mean to promote their brands more virally. And I get this is just beginning to happen.

Tags: facebook, giveaway, motorola, smartphone

And Why Can’t We Have Scripts For Movies On Facebook? Lord Of The Rings Status Updates

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:38:45 +0000

I love going through College Humor, it has something all the time to make me laugh and enjoy. I stumbled across one of the link that said Lord of the Rings Status Updates and it was a funny read. I at times wish some script writer tries his hands and use Facebook to actually write up a script for a movie or at least one scene. I mean it wouldn’t hurt if facebook users could take up characters and help write dialogues?

What about the much talked about the idea of building up on the wisdom of crowds? Anyways lets not get into the details and start lecturing readers on this. Enjoy the Epic Status updates from Lord of the Rings.

Tags: facebook, humor, social network

Facebook Takes The Number One Spot From Google In US, During Christmas Days. Will Facebook Someday Become The First Destination For Users?

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:48:41 +0000

This latest report from Hitwise stating that Facebook was the most visited site in the US on Christmas. Even though it has out grown hits on Google, the giant in search but we had been reporting how the apps were gaining popularity just before the holiday season. But I salute the social network for its mammoth growth in the last half a year and now stands at a massive 350 million and there is no stopping it.

What interests me the most here is the fact that it remained at the top for two consecutive days. To be honest, beating Google, that is like a default destination or more precisely a ribbon breaker for anyone who logs onto the Web before doing anything else is a big achievement and this being done by a social network makes it sound even more impressive.

So why has Facebook taken the lead?

Primarily the fact that Facebook is determined to be the primary destination for all. I mean it has got everything bunched up in one platform, from letting you build networks within a network, exposing and marketing your brand to the masses or simply having your profile spammed by those who enjoy using the apps it has to offer.

I have been very repetitive on providing a comparison on Facebook with MySpace (and of course with Twitter)but it now appears very old school as I see the battle on the Web is being headed by Google and Facebook. And here I side with Facebook more, given that the social network has just a thousand employees for whom it only recently plans to expand its offices compared to Google that has a massive workforce of 30,000 people.

I just wonder if in times to come Facebook would actually be something to worry Google about. Of course the two are very different and will continue to lead their specific domains and call me biased or whatever, I personally think there is no beating Google. Do you agree, yes or no and why?

Tags: facebook, google, social network

Pillow Fight App On Facebook And Have Spam Your Affection Out!

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:54:20 +0000

Put aside the new Help Center, which I bet not many users really care about using as intensely as they would a nice addictive application. And isn’t Facebook already filled with such applications for example Farmville because of which many employers have actually started to think banning the use of the social network at work. However there is another one in rising in ranks and that is all about showing your affection by throwing pillows at each others; rightly called Pillow Fight. Virtually of course.

I guess the surge in users of the application had primarily had a boost of users during the holiday season where almost everyone had a lot of time to spare. While the idea sounds quite funny, it isn’t really funny when one’s profile is flooded with updates and notifications of one friend throwing a pillow at another. That appears very ridiculously annoying to me at least and those updates more or less appear to be something that developers of such apps have masterminded to gain more users. Now if you talk about an application that sends gifts on Christmas, it sounds justified enough to bear with the hundred of updates filling your news feed, but applications as useless as these, it is plain unbearable.

Spam Apps?

Do you have a better name? I guess no one does and when you look how the user base for such apps jumps as they go viral it boggles your mind even more. It was interesting to read that the Pillow Fight app has jumped from 3 million to over 6 million users in less than a week. The reason? It’s definitely not the quality of app (seriously I see nothing of value in it to go this viral.

So what makes it bag so many users and what to do?

Difficult to answer that question and in my opinion that viral growth it primarily due to excessive wall posts on user profiles. What Facebook can do is introduce more filtering options for users so that those of us who hate being notified about how many pillows a friend X has thrown at Y to show their unfathomable love, people like me aren’t left scrolling those updates. I mean facebook is introducing better features but why can’t it introduce a more automated feature to block these apps?

I would be interested in having our readers talk about what app floods their news feed with updates?

Tags: Apps, facebook, pillow fight

Facebook: Pushes Out New Help Center. Better And More Navigable

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:57:56 +0000

When they say that listening to your customers, users is the most important thing to win their confidence, they were so right. Facebook has been having some issues when it comes to pushing aside the issues its users have when it comes to absorbing certain updates from the social network. Primarily the ones associated to page redesigns and more importantly the privacy settings. The social network is pushing ahead into the next year with a positive approach as it introduces a New Help Center.

So what is its purpose?

The idea is obviously to provide Facebook users with a much better experience when it comes to having answers for some very basic issues and get them resolved much faster. The improvements are quite a lot and the entire experience is much better than what it used to previously. The help center already has categories for specific issues that users might have. These include directing users to pages which address questions associated from signup to privacy and security across the network. Other than it also offers categorical links troubles with Applications on Facebook and Features as well for those related to businesses advertisements.

Just in case those predefined categories aren’t useful enough to give you answers, you can perform a search for your issues. The moment you hit search you are shown FAQs associated to your query. Each question and answers associated to it are assigned a unique URL so that you are not flooded with answers to multiple issues on the same page. Something that is usually witnessed on numerous sites.

I like how they have capitalized on navigation concepts. To be honest it appears very neat and much more convenient for any one looking for answers and if you are quite a clever user of Facebook who has answers or solutions you can actively participate in the Help Discussions.

Is There Anything Lacking?

Nothing at present except one thing; support for multiple languages. The Help Center at present supports only 15 languages, which is quite less. I mean the social network supports more than 60 languages, but that is quite digestible given that it’s only taking a step towards facilitating users with a richer experience on the social network.

Tags: facebook

Facebook: To Ban Or Not To Ban At Work?

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:01:12 +0000

It just surprised me early in the morning I logged in to my Facebook and came across a friend throwing in a debate on whether Facebook should be banned for employees? And I sided with keeping thee social network open for it does more good than wrong. All depends how you put it for the employees at work place. However I was taken a back when I read Nick’s post stating that it costs employers more than $2.25 Billion. Wow, that’s big! Very big indeed given that while firms suffer losses worth billions, Facebook itself is only predicted to make revenues worth a Billion dollars in the coming year.

Now, I personally think that the need to socialize with a large and more importantly a diverse group is actually very positive for the employee himself. Though I am not very active on Facebook while the Sun is up, but to have a thought that I can access it anytime sooths me as I break away from routine and have a quick update on what’s happening around and return fresh to work. But misuse is what really drives me nuts as well. Trust me the social network has been blocked in our workplace primarily owing to the fact that many employees were found spending excessive time on games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc, which sums up the fact that they are addictive and don’t actually help the cause of having the network accessible. Change scenario bring in a person whose job is to communicate with people and share ideas.

But again the argument stands up, should it be made accessible for all when only a small group is utilizing it? No, the issue is the authorities need to find a way to have employees engage effectively across the social network. A downright ban for all is harsh for those who do utilize it. Again I will quote Nick here and disagree with him when he says that people are bound to lose focus because there is so much to do online.

I personally think there must be some customization that blocks access to time wasting applications. Seriously wish that could be done to only allow access to Facebook. As for employers calling Facebook the only reason for losses. Well, the Web is full of destinations where they can do that and Facebook is just one and with each employee smart enough to use alternatives [kproxy, etc], blocking Facebook isn’t that good a choice. What I personally think should be done is let employees use the social network at particular time slots, like during breaks, etc. Or even more important, show them the positive side of using Facebook to build connections instead of wasting time.

What is your take on: To Ban Or Not To Ban? Please leave your answers in comments.

Tags: Ban, facebook, social network, workplace

Facebook-0-Saurus: Will It Kill Twitter Into Extinction?

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:16:50 +0000

At times a picture says a thousand words and the one above says it all. Of course this isn’t any news but I just felt like being an art critic and had great admiration for this piece of art. The bird and the dinosaur depicts a tale of its own, just give it a look, all those birds circling the dino and it just roars its way destroying each bird.

So what’s the connection? Well obviously Twitter is about a countless noise all around you where as Facebook is one center location where you get to hook with almost everything you do online. Be it connecting with friends, playing games or listening to music and while the two have a league of their own but to be honest Facebook appears to try a lot to add more of Twitter functionality and continues to step closer to the micromessaging functionality. I continue to use both services quite addictively and I don’t see either crossing over into each other’s domains.

But think of it, where does Twitter stand in the next couple of years and compare it to Facebook? Obviously the largest social network will outgrow Twitter like it has been but Twitter will continue to hold its position and perhaps the moment it gets some business model, the site will definitely be a very powerful tool for brands to communicate with the masses. Primarily because it is so open to search and secondly it’s much faster and really very viral. So while the Dino will slice, burn and crush the birds around, those birds will be in enough numbers to fly around.

I will be interested in asking our readers which service they use more often and why?

[image with thanks]

Tags: facebook, social network, Twitter

Muziic App Comes Fishing Music For Your Facebook

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:51:47 +0000

What makes Facebook a winner? Well I think the winning point is that it brings or plans to bring the entire Web onto the Social Network. We have been talking about its exponential growth, how it has become a platform for businesses. Other than that the app makers have seen a booming growth in their usage and with greener pastures available more apps continue to push in and an addition is Muziic.

The app will be of great use for all the music fans on the social network. Although there are quite a lot of music apps already, Muziic stands different in a way that it lets you play music the moment you add the application, which include features songs plus lets you perform searches for music you are looking for. Now one thing to keep in mind is that all the music is pulled in from YouTube [which really doesn’t appeal much to me]. However the winning point is that it lists numerous radio stations which are quite impressively organized so that you don’t have to do all the squandering around when it comes to finding the right station. That does sound impressive and with the promise of no ads flooding your experience, you are in for what you want from the app, music.

The application also lets you create playlists for a much better music experience. Browse or search music, if you like it simply add it to your custom playlist to return and enjoy your favorites time and again. It also offers albums from numerous artists making it ever easier for you to grab songs from your favorite artist. The sharing options are neatly placed too and if you like you can simply publish what you are listening to on your profile, which once again is good given that many apps just go on a rampage with self promotion publishing whatever you do with those apps. TO be honest this is the first app that I have really liked, though I am not much of a Music Fan.

Tags: Apps, facebook, music, muziic

Facebook Pumping Out A New Design: That’s A Bit More Organized

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:53:55 +0000

The Facebook redesign continues to happen and the social network has been trying to make itself better by the day. Speaking of the current design, there is not much I have against it save for the fact I hate the extensive toolbar at the bottom. First, I never use it, second it just irritates being there.

There are reports of another redesign coming up anytime soon from Facebook and it’s already been tested out for a few. Before I proceed to what are the new things you might encounter in the redesign I personally think it needs to have something to control the news feed storm in some manner. Which brings me to an earlier discussion I talked about where Facebook is actually trying to cut pull the leg of the applications ending those status updates. Which is a breather for me at least.

Coming over to the changes, I haven’t personally encountered but looking at the images provided by Om Malik, the home page appears very very neat. The other changes include:

Re-aligning the search and Facebook link to the left and pushing links to our inbox, profile, friends and Account Settings to the right. The Account menu has your settings, login, etc placed in the drop down menu and thankfully there is less of a clutter at the top.
The bookmark option is made more visible given that users find pretty useful.
The removal of the awful toolbar at the bottom. They have just taken the most important chunk of it; that chat box and kept it at the same place as it has been.

Those are just a few to name with. But from how I look at it, I personally think the Facebook homepage shows more of a resemblance with the Facebook Lite that the social network has been trying to roll out. These are some very good moves Facebook is taking to help addictive users stay alive with a much lesser storm of feeds hurling down on their home page.

What is your take on the Redesign? More importantly how many of you are willing to digest this one?

Tags: facebook, redesign

Video: Facebook Relationship Etiquette

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:59:40 +0000

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas and there was a lot you all did. There is nothing much I have to say as of present so I thought why not search YouTube and find out a few funny videos to share with our readers. Now we all remember how disastrous having your relation added to your Facebook account can be. It can lead to breakups and even divorces. So here is one video that you can watch and learn from to remember what etiquette you need to know of when it comes to having your significant other on the social network.

Oh and I forgot that is not it. The video also emphasis on how one act of ignorance can actually multiply and lead to even bigger issues. The video is of course meant to be funny but the message is very very meaningful and those who have been through trash when it comes to breakup will surely wish they hadn’t done whatever they did to protect their relation. Do let us know how you find it and link to us more of such videos if you happen to have one. Enjoy the weekend!

Tags: facebook, relations, video, youtube

How To: Do Everything ‘Facebook’ From Firefox

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:56:17 +0000

There is nothing better than easing the process of how you use your device or a service, platform in particular and it gets even more interesting if its about the favorite social network: Facebook. There is so much one would want to do right from the menus on the browser instead of switching the tabs, etc. The Facebook toolbar for Firefox is one of the ways you can do the same with.

Simply download the add-on for the browser and you have the most frequently used Facebook options at your disposal. It confines all the Facebook Functionality as a toolbar and drop down menu and lets you be in control of the social network without having any window opened. The toolbar lets you do numerous things with just clicks of the mouse no matter if you are on YouTube watching a video, or reading your favorite article somewhere and feel like sharing it with your friends on Facebook. Just click on the toolbar and select the option you would like to make use of. Following are some of the things you can do with the toolbar:

Status Update: The toolbar has the dialogue box at the right to let you update your status directly.

Search: The search bar lets you search friends or anything on the social network, simply type in your query and hit enter to view the results.

Quick Link and Sidebar: The quick link provides a shortcut for all the important links to your profile like Privacy Settings, Groups, Events, etc. The Sidebar simply places a provides you a list of your friend’s most recent updates, clicking each person opens their profiles in a new tab.

The toolbar is pretty impressive and easy to use providing a quick access to anything on Facebook without the need to have the page open. This is quite useful primarily when you aren’t the sort of person who wants multiple tabs open yet doesn’t like being disconnected from any activity that he/she wants to have on Facebook. The add-on is a must for all those who love Facebook and Firefox, wonder if there is any such thing for the IE? Anyone with a tip?

You can get the Add-on here.

[image with thanks]

Tags: addons, facebook, Firefox

How To: Facebook Chat In Your Firefox Sidebar

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:08:02 +0000

You wouldn’t really like being on a Facebook homepage for using Facebook Chat and many would wish having some sort of a messenger to do the same. How about mixing the Two F’s: Facebook with Firefox! Have your Facebook Chat appear within your browser, irrespective of the fact that you have your profile open in a tab or not.

The procedure is pretty simple and I bet many are aware off this already but for those who aren’t they can add a bookmark to their Firefox browser and enable chat on the browser’s sidebar. It appears much like you have your search and history within the browser, all that you need to do is follow the steps.

Step 1:

Click on the bookmarks tab and select Organize Bookmark (or click Ctrl+Shift+B). This would open the Bookmark Library from where you can select Organize and then New Bookmark from the dropdown menu.

Step 2:

When you click the New Bookmark you would see a new window. This basically is for defining the new bookmark you are about to add and you can fill the fields given:

Name: Facebook Chat
Location: http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php

The other fields aren’t important to be filled and with that done you can check the load this bookmark in the sidebar and add. Voila you have your Facebook Chat in the Firefox Sidebar, enjoy!

The Problem:

It works pretty fine but the only problem I am coming across is that it slows down the browsing considerably, which is quite digestible given that all this uses a lot of the system. Other than that there are no issues that would stop addicted Facebook-ers from using it.

Tags: facebook, tip

Facebook: Our Team Is Growing In Number And We Need More Offices

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:07:37 +0000

Apparently Facebook has no issues providing a place for its highly populated platform but when it comes to employees in Palo Alto, number plays a vital role and it isn’t easy to accommodate them in one office. The result is the need to expand which is exactly what Facebook is doing. The social network which only recently occupied HP’s manufacturing building and turned into a pleasant place is not finding the space large enough and has leased 265,000 square feet of land. This new location is near the Page Mill Road and was previously the property of a medical diagnostic company.

Quite a large space and more importantly a substantial increase in the area too. But when you look at the employees it has the need to have a bigger space is justified. Facebook presently has more than a 1000 employees and predictions state that the number may increase to 1,500 in 2010. I am more than just impressed with this expansion and more importantly in the region. It began with a hardware manufacturing firm (HP) opening its factory here and now a software based business or to out it more correctly a .com company occupies a far larger area for its operations. That’s two large places for 350 million users, I wonder how many offices will it have once it has a Billion or more.

Tags: facebook, offices

Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg Joins Disney’s Board Of Directors

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:28:58 +0000

When you are hard working, recognized and belong to one of the fastest growing names in the world everyone wants you. That is exactly the case with Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook who has become a part of Disney’s board of Directors. Quite a break and very connected given that how accomplished the woman is in the Tech industry.

She only recently joined the board of directors of Starbucks too and adding to the admiration we already have for the lady to create a niche for herself in an otherwise male dominated industry. Sheryl joined Facebook two years back, taking the position of Owen Van Natta who hopped over to become the CEO of MySpace. That is not it, as she has come a long way with the key positions which include VP of Global online sales on Google, Chief of Staff at the US Treasury Department and a board member of The Brookings Institution, Women for Women International and when all seemed to be just humble enough, Fortune placed her in the list of ten most powerful women that influence businesses. In short if women are looking for a role model to rise and create a name for themselves, Sheryl Sandberg is right there for them.

Tags: disney, facebook, sheryl sandberg

The Economist: ‘We Want 500,000 Fans On Facebook And Will (spend) Do Anything To Get Them’

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:13:38 +0000

There you have it, the media is continually evolving and all those who talk gibberish and deny the importance of Social Media, well they ought to be send back in time into the age of ignorance. Today the Financial Times announced that the Economist is pushing its efforts to have its presence felt across Facebook. All this is a new strategy to begin early next year and the aim is big. The Economist is planning to have 500,000 fans on its Facebook fan page and eyes over 750,000 followers on Twitter.

This is isn’t impossible, or even even close to difficult given that it already has more than 180,000 fans there. So why exactly this sense of urgency? Quite obviously the reason is to work on a platform that helps user engagement much faster and prompt enough to help create discussions around topics as well as having each fan coming over to the Home Page too. So are they going to allow accessibility to its site with Facebook Connect? I think they should, given how serious they are about Facebook, other than that, they definitely need to make sharing articles on Facebook more prominent and easy (that share button is quite difficult to spot on).

How can this be done?

I have read that the Economist is planning to do some spending to gain more fans on Facebook. Sounds quite an impressive move and something which is more fruitful than bringing any losses. Other than that the other thing it can do is actually do some spending on ads to promote its fan page. Seriously, bagging half a million users from the 350 Million Facebook has. I wont recommend it to diverge its attention on Twitter, rather focus on Facebook. The reason is plainly the fact the social network has grown considerably, I mean it is far more engaging, you have the freedom to share content and have users to share it immediately with others.

I am not sure if the Economist will exceed its expectations but it is a very intelligent move. Plus its reputation globally will actually make things much simpler and the ground is very fertile for traffic to grow big.

Tags: economist, facebook

Another Blow To MySpace As 2010 Will Bring More Ad Revenues For Facebook

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:38:44 +0000

MySpace is the story of yesteryears and it appears its not just the popularity that the once leading social network has lost but revenues suffer the same. The killer? Facebook obviously.The latest report puts it quite clearly that in the year to come Facebook will very easily surpass the ad revenues of its rivals in 2010.

Shock, yet another one for MySpace that is desperate to figure out a way to retain some dignity. The numbers count that Facebook will have a substantial $600 Million worth of spending from the marketers compared to $385 Million for MySpace. That’s just a over half of what Facebook is munching next year. That isn’t much surprising to me nor it should be for anyone reading this. Facebook’s traffic and user base has Sky Rocketed in the last four months to a mammoth 350 Million user mark which continues to grow at the same rate. MySpace on the other hand has no where been in news save for newer strategies been sought to boost the use of the social network.

So what exactly has Facebook got to grab such a massive market?

That is quite a simple question to answer and it should be turned around to ask what it hasn’t? Everything. The platform that begun with just means to connect students on campus has become a world leader on the Web and continues to transform conversation and connectivity across the Web. Other than that it has numerous ways to keep users engaged within it. That engagement is the fact that the developers out there have been using their neurons hard to give addictive applications like Farmville, Mafia Wars, to name a few.

I personally think those number are just a bit undermining of what actually Facebook might be crunching for the year ahead. There have already been speculations of it generating $1 Billion in revenue in 2010. Apart from those predictions there has been a massive boost on how the brands are utilizing the platform to their advantage. Take Southwest Airlines’ fan page that is actually promoting its fan page by offering tickets. And that is just based on what is readily visible and I bet with the coming of better methods to analyze data on the platform things would be more fruitful.

Coming back to the predictions, it is obvious that Facebook will outweigh all other social networks combined. I wont be surprised if more firms try and associate themselves to the social network in some way to leverage its name for growth of their own brands.

Tags: facebook, finance, myspace

Find Facebook Friends On Twitter With fb140 (If You Really Need To)

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:02:48 +0000

Who doesn’t want to have maximum connections on Twitter? And what can be better than having your loyal friends from Facebook follow you on the micromessaging service? Well Twables’ fb140 is giving you that opportunity to have you find those friends on Twitter too.

The service isn’t that difficult at all and all that is needed is simply following three steps to discover and get connected with them. Once you are on the site the fb140 requires you to connect via Facebook Connect so that is can find out which one of your friends on Facebook are also on Twitter. Again the issue is with trust that you need to put with these third party apps and services. But I bet it would have been blocked already if it had anything to harm users.

The second step is to sign in using your Twitter account. This syncs your Twitter with Facebook and then figures out which one of your friends have done the same. With this done you are now linked with all your friends who are already using both the services. Impressive, but I think it has its issues too. Which ones? The primary being if it interconnects activities across the two services, there will be an awful amount messages and updates making way to both networks and might just appear to be very spammy for friends.

Apart from that, I personally don’t find the urge to have the same group of people, especially each and everyone of my Facebook friends to be following me on Twitter because each of the services I use is updated and having common friends on either would create troubles. It already did when a couple of friends thought I was spamming their feeds with links. The issue was similar that I had interconnected accounts. While it is good for those who are into some very loyal following from amongst a group of friends, I would personally not go for it if you are very regular with updates.

Tags: Apps, facebook, fb140

And Divorce Happen Because Of Facebook Too!

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:41:57 +0000

There new stats coming up on numerous things on Facebook. We have the top apps on the social network, the most popular status trends with Memology all the way to some lawyers claiming that around 20% of the petitions that are filed for divorces are in some association with Facebook. Doesn’t surprise me much, mainly because I have earlier covered news associated to some serious problems in connection with virtual worlds. The other reason is it is easier to spot your partner involved in explicit conversation with other on their friend list.

What is surprising is how exactly can this be used to base an allegation to ask for a divorce? Getting hold of evidence of emails that have all those love filled messages that you might have been exchanging with those belonging to the other gender. But seriously why would a married person be so stupid to leave traces? I mean they take care of their text messages and calls on their cell phones and leave traces of their flirt life on the social network.

So what is the take on this? If you are married and both of you are on Facebook, kindly avoid your lover away from the list or at least don’t actively post ridiculing messages and mails on their profiles. Other than that, calling Facebook the only reason for divorce is quite stupid and i agree with Nick on this one that each one of these divorcees have crossed limits to actually step into the divorce realms.

While it is saddening to read this, it just shows the extent to which the social networks play a role in our lives. Forget shopping, games, etc these are actually stepping closer to what happens in reality. And while regulations and rules are there in real life, something similar is set to be coming for social networks too and if they do, there will be ways for deception too (cheating, etc, I mean why not?).

Lastly, just one question, will all this actually open new doors to professions online? I mean we have journalists online what about Advocates too?

[image with thanks]

Tags: divorce, facebook, relations

Zynga Barks Back: Kill Popup Notifications Facebook And We Will Switch To SMS!

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:53:30 +0000

Facebook is taking steps to reduce certain things that make Apps on its platform a huge success. We reported one of them earlier as the social network rolled out new rules for Popup on Feed Forms. All this as said previously, will have its toll on the app traffics and I bet larger app developers are going to look for alternative ways to promote themselves and send notifications across as many channels as they can. Welcome Zynga that has been hugely popular with its winner app: Farmville and is now taking the steps for the same.

The social gaming developer today tested SMS notification to users. Meaning that users are being sent notifications from the social network right to their mobile devices. This has been rolled out primarily for the Mafia Wars and all this sums up to be a very good strategy from Zynga, which means it has to rely even less on Facebook. This is quite a bit of a break given that both Zynga and Facebook have been doing a lot for each other, not to mention that they have a common investor, Russian firm DST which has invested heavily in both Zynga (worth $180 Million) and Facebook lately. To be honest, this helps Zynga to be more independent on its own instead of relying so heavily on Facebook for all the promotion via notifications across the social network’s platform, etc.

The trouble had actually initiated when Facebook talked about putting a halt to updates via Facebook Notifications which I consider to be quite a blow to all the developers. Mainly because it kills the chances of these developers leveraging the power of the social network. But I find the step quite positive, the only reason being those updates are very sickening given how they spam you with notifications and it becomes quite tiring to clean your account of those.

So why has Zynga actually gone to test this with Mafia Wars? The reason is obviously that it is Text based unlike Farmville which has quite a lot of images, Flash. Other than that it has got a lot of loyal following to make the test quite informative to see if SMS notifications will actually be favorable. The only sad part here is that only 10% of users will actually have the privilege to test it out.

Before I end this one up, I seriously hope Zynga gives some serious thoughts to its spamming policy. I think the developer leaves no slot empty to get user attention and flooding ones feeds with notifications is just one example of it.

Tags: facebook, notifications, sms, zynga

Popup Feed Form Will No More Be App Publicity Tool: Facebook Pushes New Rule To Kill Apps

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:59:18 +0000

While many of Facebook updates may actually make users think that their privacy settings are fooled around with, others make them feel they are more in control. Earlier Facebook pushed its feed forms live for users making sure all that pops out is what users want. While it might be good for someone like me, but not so for the developers out there.

Why?

Well the developers have been relying heavily on the auto pop out of feeds on user profiles that provided them a very high probability of users actually engaging with their content/applications. No more popup boxes that asked you to publish the content on their profiles of course unless users really want that to happen. To be honest this has been one of the major reasons why the many apps have actually gone from rags to riches; by making way into user profile streams every time the user engaged with those.

So What Does This Mean?

First and foremost, any app that has wriggled to high traffic scores taking advantage of a more default appearance on News Feed will see a plunge in traffic. Of course this won’t happen immediately, but will take some time and there is evidence of certain apps already taking a hit as monthly traffic fell short with high chances of they taking a further plunge.

That is just one of the step that Facebook has taken on its policy roadmap as it tries to further improve the Facebook platform. All these are to be the part of Facebook embracing more open standard and we saw one of them yesterday when it talked about testing its OAuth WRAP on FriendFeed. Some of the other changes that are bound to roll out early next year include:

Improvements to Application Discovery and Navigation: this would include application dashboard.
Open Graph API
Communication channels: includes Requests, invites, notifications.

The whole picture looks pretty good primarily because the social network is making its developer platform for transparent to everyone out there. The year to come looks impressive enough already with the social network predicted to churn out very healthy revenues.

Tags: developers, facebook

Another Day Another Phishing Scam On Facebook

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:13:37 +0000

It becomes harder to keep a strict control of the countless scammers out there on Facebook who will not stop at pulling a trick or two every now and then. It appears that the social networks massive population has become a safe haven for them all as another prank surfaced. Apparently fb.59.to is the new virus that does nothing very harmful save changing the picture on your profile.

Other than that it does the most damaging thing; Spamming your contacts which can actually drive many people away. The virus is embedded behind an iFrame which makes it impossible for users to determine the malicious content behind the frame and it asks you to take the Human Test to have you find the Blue Button. But don’t click, as it is the share button of Facebook and believe me finding that would make you human, albeit a foolish one for all your friends. The action takes you to the fb.59.to web page, the good part is you aren’t affected in any harmful way visiting the site, instead directed to a YouTube video that as of present has been viewed more than 41,000 times.

Now I am not sure what is this all about, but believing that out the 350 Million that Facebook has, 41,000 of them have actually fallen prey to this. Anyways there have been far too many incidents of such sort reported quite frequently, users should be more than watchful of clicking on suspicious links. You can follow our coverage of recent Phishing scams on Facebook here.

[image with thanks]

Tags: facebook, scam

Facebook Shows It Cares For Charities: Sacrifices Gifts This Holidays

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:39:16 +0000

Christmas is just a couple of days away and everyone’s busy preparing for it, one way or the other. The social networks, primarily Facebook is taking a step ahead as it (like Google) is extending support to the countless charities. It begun with Google giving away $20 Million to a group of charities. While Facebook isn’t giving away that amount in total but the team has decided to give out $25 virtual tokens which you can use as donations.

Let me not be too skeptical here about why it is promoting its virtual currency platform, but to be honest if it is actually giving away that amount to each user, the amount may actually be quite substantial. To be honest I admire Facebook taking this initiative and utilizing its platform for a noble cause. Facebook is going to donate $25 on behalf of the people in its team to a classroom in the US which needs it by visiting DonorsChoose.

All this sets a better example for the many giants minting money in the Silicon Valley. I mean they can quit having free gifts, etc given that they can easily afford all that through out the year.

Tags: facebook, social network

Facebook Takes Steps Towards More Openness: Tests OAuth WRAP On FriendFeed

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:57:35 +0000

What could be the best thing you could do to make sure your product or initiatives are a success? A testing ground for sure and Facebook appears to have one which it acquired some time earlier: FriendFeed. It appears that the social network found more purposes other than just using its immense talent to its advantage.

What Facebook is doing is testing its OAuth WRAP feature on FriendFeed and all this would actually have a lot of feedback coming from users out there, primarily the developers before it actually plans to implement it across Facebook. WRAP is a bit different from the regular OAuth in a manner that it puts away the use of the long signatures. This means that you don’t need to remember the much disliked secrets and signatures. In my opinion WRAP is al about taking OAuth to the next level by removing the complexity involved in using OAuth for developers. Plus it adds to another step that giants like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook are taking initiatives to simplify the open standard.

Facebook itself doesn’t use OAuth for accessing services and apps on its platform but it might very well have this next year. And this might actually come out much sooner given that the developers will be able to test drive WRAP and figure a better and easier way to create OAuth and integrate it with APIs which might very well be build using it. The initiative symbolizes Facebook openness to stepping towards a much open standard, the signs of which occurred first when the social network gave developers a chance by opening Tornado, FriendFeed’s tech platform.

Those are just Facebook specific updates towards a more open standard. We had earlier talked about Facebook heading toward becoming more Twitter with the provision of status update syndication on Facebook with Twitter.

Tags: facebook, FriendFeed, OAuth, social network, WRAP

Facebook Keeps Track Of Status Trends With Memology

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:10:04 +0000

Memology is a new product coming in from Facebook and I am just confused a bit, why? Well isn’t it something like the Trends we have on Twitter? Not much surprising given that the social network is already taking initiatives to become more of a Twitter. Sorry if it hurts out Facebook fan.

Coming over to Memology, the product keeps track on the trending status updates across the social network. Memology would simply keep a check on what is most talked about in the status based on the topics and then divided into numerous categories as put out in the chart. It was interesting to note that the Applications across the network remain the most talked about in the statuses and the obvious lead on it were Farmville, which is by no means surprising to me. Primarily because the applications usually auto post status updates on user walls. The second most talked about was FML; and I have no idea what that stands for.

Those status updates and the analyses of each with Memology is more than useful. Firstly it gives you an idea what users love to talk most about and can very well be used to determine how the status updates vary over the numerous days of week. Plus the other interesting thing it can be helpful is determining what language users primarily use and the analyses itself states that users mostly have status updates in English, which is surprising given that two third of its population of 350 Million users does not have English as their first language. The social network also compiled the list of fifteen most popular terms and if I am not wrong here, FML most probably stands for F*** My Life, I am not sure why many users would be so harsh on themselves.

Over all the entire concept of Memology sounds pretty useful and I bet experts with Social Media ad brand strategists will utilize it to their advantage. I am sure on this, I mean it gives me a clear idea on what exactly to develop or work on when it comes to Facebook.

Tags: facebook, memology

Ford Mustang Fans Pour In To Populate Its Fan Page On Facebook

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:01:47 +0000

Now when we get some news under embargo, we make sure we delay its publication as much as we can (of course we try and break it some time before the actual release time). But the same rules do not apply everywhere and if you are a name as big as Mustang, no body really wants to miss a chance of leaking information out long before time. The same has happened with Mustang and the platform through which it has been spread is its Fan Page on Facebook.

Mustang is already the leader in the automobile industry when it comes to having fans on Facebook and the news of the upcoming 2011 Ford Mustang has cause quite a stir within its fans. The most important part of the news is that the new Mustang will boast return to it 5.0 litre engine which had been a hit with its previous models. Coming back to the fans, the number rose by a fantastic 6,000 fans taking the count of fans on its official fan page to over 350,000. Impressive, stands as another proof that fans/users do love keeping themselves updates on their favorite products, brands and Facebook is definitely a lead on getting it all at one place.

Other than, it also shows that the social networks are definitely the best way to have the news make ripples. I was just looking through the graph and the stats over the last 31 days are remarkable. The community has been growing regularly, but that spike towards the end speaks volumes; primarily the fact that users engage more often and in bulk when there is news out there and something they are interested in. The gist of all still is that Facebook is considered to be a reliable source of information for users out there and that brands continue to utilize the social network to maximize their fan following and more effectively engage with their fans, no one can really turn away from the presence of the largest social network around.

Tags: facebook, mustang

ONE Media Manager Sees The Green In Facebook, Launches Support for its Ad API

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:33:49 +0000

The fight for stepping further into the Facebook platform continues as everyone tries to have a lion’s share. Be it an investment firm, or a social game developer, the platform has everything for everyone and its much anticipated Ad API is what ad publishers have an eye on too. Today we received reports of TBG London has pushed its ONE Media Manager forward to support the Facebook Ad API. This is just another platform to add to ONE Media’s line, which already includes a lot more partners to have ads buy and sale across its platform.

ONE Media has seen an exponential growth itself with an unbelievable 9900% increase each year when it comes to orders in connection to Facebook. To be honest those figures didn’t mean much tome until I learned that the monitory spending each month has actually jumped from around $8,000 to $800,000, which is yet again remarkably unbelievable. I am finding it hard to digest those numbers, but seeing how Facebook itself has exponentially grown and the sort of revenue that is being invested in numerous things on the platform, it sounds quite appropriate too.

What the entire growth of the social network is doing is actually enticing the ad publishers out there to have some integration and utilize its Ad API to serve ads across it. The companies out there would of course go where these publishers are to market their products. Again ONE Media isn’t the only one that has made the move as many have been doing it lately. I would be least surprised if there is a plethora of such support coming from Ad networks in the future. I mean aren’t we all anticipating more coming in this regard with high expectations?

Tags: facebook

Facebook All Set For The f8 Conference in 2010

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:31:21 +0000

The Facebook has grown in every way to an extent that it wont be wrong to call it the default name for everything Social. There is no stopping the social network and the predictions for the future are as bright as ever. It is interesting to note how the network has grown and the persistence with which it continues to do the same. Coming to the point, the yearly conference called the f8 conference and the third one.

There will be too much to talk about in the third one that is to take place in 2010. Facebook has come a long way, beginning first in 2007 when the platform launched with 800 developers and the same conference will now be talking about a platform that has more than 500,000 applications and over 300 of them boast having 1 million users. That isn’t it, the use of Facebook has expanded in numerous ways. For instance there are more than 60 Million people that connect and interact using the Facebook Connect across 80,000 sites on the Web (including ours). And that is not it, applications developers have utilized the platform to not only muster millions of users but also bring those developers loads of funding (Zynga grabbing $180 Million, for one). And it surprises one even less when investors are willing to flood in with their cash and grab the shares of the social network.

Those are just a few examples prior to the f8 that gives the social network to boast a lot about. Looking forward to the conference which is scheduled on April 21-22, 2010, I wonder the features they will be talking about. I definitely think two of them would be its much awaited virtual currency and then the Geo-Location, which I think will be a great addition to the social network.

Tags: f8, facebook

Facebook Might Grind $1 Billion In Revenue In 2010

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:24:23 +0000

More investments from numerous investors in social games across its platform, hungry to buy more of its shares and an ever increasing user-base, Facebook has more than just a bright future. According to current estimates, the social network might very well be making more than $1 Billion in revenues. Quite a jump, even for estimates, given that only recently those were put to be around $700 Million.

Those figures however sound quite possible as the social network would eventually cross over 500 million users and given its very recent growth, that is pretty achievable. Plus it has got so many reforms coming to it, from pushing out Facebook Credits as an effective virtual currency and ever more addictive ways to have users flock to using them (thanks to virtual gifts and social games from Zynga). Now I am not rushing ahead to say that Facebook will actually be cooking that much in revenue next year, but if it were to actually integrate the Credit within its platform as its default virtual currency it might very easily churn out half of the estimated revenue for 2010.

If this is actually to turn out true, Facebook might actually find it much easier to generate quite a fortune from the platform and win the trust of investors and actually get that IPO it has been targeting for quite some time. To be honest the virtual goods holds the key to how and what revenue the social network generates through the offerings on the platform. Then there is the huge advertisers market which is ready to do anything to tap the resources and more importantly the huge population of the network to place their ads on. I mean we saw it with Southwest Airlines giving away 100 tickets to its fans on the social network. That is just one example, the bait here is how effective the platform is at targeting the right audience with the right ads/promotions,because users are spending so much time on the social network and sharing so much across it that it makes surveys more useful for the marketers.

Other than that the social network’s features like self service display ads and custom campaigns are already charged slightly higher than other social networks. The custom campaigns themselves according to some stats are charged at $20 CPM, quite higher than what others do. But then everyone knows that if it’s charging you more it is also giving you a higher probability of more clicks coming in your way. I personally think that with more growth awaiting Facebook in the future, the revenue predictions may alter over time and present predictions will be proven wrong.

Tags: facebook, Reports

Facebook Sets To Figure Out Ethnic Diversity Within Its Network

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:19:07 +0000

When your network has grown to an extent that its population has crossed 350 Million in total, it is bound to have a population that is quite diverse. The social network’s data team rolled out quite a detailed report on How Diverse is Facebook? The survey carried out was based on analyzing the surnames of its users in the US, which was then used to divide US users as per their ethnicity. Good to know about such diversity, but very strange methodology.

The result states that the population is dominated by the Asian and Pacific islanders with quite a significant drop in the Hispanic populace. So why exactly was there a need for such a survey? The idea is to learn and understand how varied is Facebook’s user base and how does their use of the service changes? And how would this help Facebook? The ultimate idea is to understand how each of these users interact and connect with each other. Again that actually helps Facebook look forward and learn how to actually target the varying audience and provides useful stats to place future predictions on.

The methodology which Facebook used is based on the US Census of Bureau’s Genealogy Project which also breaks down population stats based on the how frequent are particular surnames and divided by race and ethnicity. And as you can make out, it relies entirely on a person’s surname and implements the same for Facebook users. Take for example that there are around a thousand users at Facebook at any time and each of them has a surname of John, based on the Census Genealogy, 733 of them would be white, 222 of them Black and there on. Of course that sounds like a very random method to classify any users ethnicity but those numbers aren’t exact rather just estimations to only give a rough idea of each users ethnicity.

The results of this provide Facebook a way to divide or give a vague picture of the division of populations within the social network. The end result is a graph which shows how each ethnic population increases with the rise in over all Facebook user population. Apparently the survey conducted in the US shows an exponential growth amongst the Whites, which isn’t surprising given that majority of its population is white. So what do we make out of it? We can simply take up the same chart and replace the high rise as per what ethnicity dominates one’s particular region.

How else could this be applied to? Well Facebook might actually integrate the first names of users within this search to have a broader and a better picture on how one can learn about the ethnic diversity. Other than that, it can also apply the same to each user, this could be of great assistance to help them learn how diverse is their group of friends and how each one of them interacts with others. This would give Facebook a more thorough picture of how the network is being used by diverse ethnic groups and which one of them is more active.

Tags: facebook, Reports

Chase Community Giveaway on Facebook announces First Round Winners

Bill Bonner — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:04:56 +0000

Chase and Facebook have announced the first round winners of the $5 million Chase Community Giveaway. The 100 winners of the first round would each get $25,000. These 100 charities now a chance to receive an additional $1 million in the second round that will begin from 15th Jan, 2010 and will last till 22nd Jan 2010.

As part of the Giveaway, Chase created a Community Giveaway Page on Facebook and asked users to vote for the charities, whom they think are the most deserving i.e. the ones that are making the most difference. More than 1 million fans signed up to vote for their favorite charities. Eligible charities included 501(c)(3) charities with an operating budget of $10 million or less, serving the general public in designated areas.

“We were pleased to see the level of enthusiasm and support that Round One generated. Interestingly, only two of the 100 organizations overlapped with our existing giving portfolio, which confirmed our early view that this method of giving would indeed complement our traditional giving, while sparking innovation," said Kim Davis, president of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Facebook was another beneficiary of the Charity Giveaway, as this campaign turned out to be one of the most popular crowd sourcing campaigns in Facebook’s history. According to Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications and policy at Facebook:

This has been one of the most popular crowdsourcing campaigns in Facebook history. Millions of people using Facebook have taken up the Chase challenge to demonstrate the power of crowdsourcing for philanthropic giving. The program is unique in that a person can leverage their vote on Facebook — in addition to their wallet — to collectively help those in need during the holidays or support a cause important to them.

The campaign also, served as a wakeup call for local charities to start considering the immense prospects offered by social media. Throughout the campaign thousands of local charities created their own grassroots campaigns to encourage supporters to get out to vote, using e-mail campaigns, appearances on the local evening news, Facebook status updates and Wall posts, Twitter tweets and many other methods.

The 100 charities announced today span 31 states and serve the public in a variety of areas such as:

supporting families and children battling Autism, Muscular Dystrophy, heart disease, cancer, infectious disease and many other illnesses;
improving the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans and their families;
providing the homeless with basic human needs and services;
helping families displaced by Hurricane Katrina move back into their homes;
international aid for the underserved in rural China, Turkey, Sri Lanka and other locations;
rebuilding communities ravaged by war;
providing greater access to college for disadvantaged students; and
supporting local music, theater and creative and performing arts groups.

A full list of the winners of the first round could be viewed by going to the Community Giveaway page on Facebook.

Tags: Chase Financial Services

Fake Steve Jobs Rallies Troops On Facebook To Initiate Operation Chokehold: ‘Take That On Your Face AT&T’

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:37:08 +0000

If they make a lot of noise, choke them an if choking them sounds like committing a heinous crime, choke the system they are so proud of. This is exactly what Operation Chokehold is about and we know sheer disappointment is the reason behind why it has been started. The operation which was initiated by Fake Steve Jobs and has already got quite a flare with its Facebook fan page jumping from a meaningless 300 to an impressive 1,600 followers a of present.

So what actually initiated this? Apparently iPhone’s primary carrier, AT&T’s CEO Ralph de la Vega stated that the iPhone users utilize too much data. The claims put forward by AT&T simply state that the amount of data iPhone users use has AT&T facing serious issues with its bandwidth utilization. So what exactly is this Operation Chokehold about?

As said, it has been initiated by Fake Steve Jobs and is planned to disrupt AT&Ts data network on Friday by inviting users to maximize their bandwidth usage by running the highest data sucking app on their iPhones for an hour. The number of protestors has already shot up to 1,600 fans on the Facebook fan page, which means that at least these many people will actively take part in the movement.

The line of action includes the following steps that users must follow:

Stream YouTube videos
Live Streaming from UStream Live Broadcaster
Turning off WiFi

Of course those are some of the preferred ways in which the data network for the carrier can be disrupted and if any of the users have more sinister plans, they can step forward and share those with the community. I am just a bit confused how much affect would a thousand or so people have on the carrier that has more than 80 Million subscribers? How much would it affect the voice calls?

I am not sure if the movement, that initiates on 12 noon on Friday, December 18 actually succeeds in anything but becoming more of a publicity stunt for a blog and its fan page on Facebook. Whatever the case be, I just get to learn more about the power of social networking and how effectively can it be used to create a campaign and effectively publicize it.

I will be waiting to see how this ends up, of course this is quite irresponsible, but it will be fun to see the outcome.

Tags: facebook, Reports

Russian Investment Firm, DST Is Under Facebook’s Spell; Willing To Buy More Shares

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:54:01 +0000

If I had enough money, I would gladly invest in Facebook and buy as many shares as I could. And taking the obvious step ahead, Russian Investment firm, DST is more that willing to put in more investment to raise its stake in the largest social network. This isn’t something new as the firm has been in news the whole of this year, making quite a lot of investments in Facebook.

DST yesterday invested a mighty $180 Million in Zynga, which powers the most famed games on Facebook, the most prominent being Farmville. The firm already has more than 5% stake in the social network and is already amassing more shares, without a stop in the future. Reports state that it is buying those shares much cheaper at $14.77 a share when others are paying $25 a share. The net value that Facebook has got from DST accounts for $500 Million, with majority of its transactions taking place amidst the firm and the employees of Facebook.

The investments, given the present predictions for Facebook, which puts the social network to bring $710 Million in revenue in 2010. That is just one aspect, the bait is definitely its explosive growth in the very recent and there is no stopping it. A look at the recent reports on the social network make it a dream investment for every firm out there, it’s like investing your cash value to buy gold. Then there are so many things you can invest in, within the social network. Like the applications it has on its platform to name one and as more users come in and developers seek to find more ways to utilize the social network, it will not only expand its user base but also open more investment opportunities for firms like DST.

Just to hat tip, if you are one of those having some shares of Facebook, you have DST waiting with one hand to take them and the other with the cash. Wonder if one would actually sell the shares they have.

Tags: DST, facebook

How-To automatically post your Blog Posts to your Business Fan page on Facebook

Bill Bonner — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:35:51 +0000

Once you have set up a Facebook fan page, you might want to automatically post new updates to your fan page from your site. Or you may be a blogger who wants to automatically post new posts to the facebook fan page for the blog. NetworkedBlogs is a Facebook application that allows you to do just that and keep in touch with your Facebook community without much hassle.

In addition to the auto-post submissions to your fan page, networkedblogs application on facebook allows you to display you blog on your personal profile page on facebook. You can also post your posts to your wall and have them show up in the news feeds of your friends. In addition to this, by using networkedblogs application, your blog would be automatically recommended to people who are interested in blogs in the area.

This article takes you through the steps of using the networkedblogs application to ease postings to facebook fan pages:

Step 1: Adding the NetworkedBlogs app to your profile

In order to start using NetworkedBlogs application you would have to add the application first. This could be done by visiting NetworkedBlogs App. Once on the app page, just click on the “Go to Application” button in the left menu, just below the logo. The application will ask you to allow the app to access to pull your profile information, photos and other content necessary for the proper working of the application. Click on the “Allow” button to grant NetworkedBlogs access to your profile.

Step 2: Add your Blog to the NetworkedBlogs Application

Now that you have installed the application, you would have to add your blog to the NetworkedBlogs application. At this stage NetworkedBlogs asks you to select atleast five of your favorite blogs to follow, however this is an optional task. In order to add your blog to the NetworkedBlogs app, click on the Profile link in the top menu. This would take you to your profile page on the NetworkedBlogs application. The profile page would be similar to the image displayed below. On this page you would find a link “Add your blog”.

The “Add your blog” link is not visible in the image displayed above, since I have already added my blog to the NetworkedBlogs application. The blog that I have added is displayed under the heading “Blogs I Follow”. In your case, instead of this “Blogs I Follow” section you would see a welcome message and a link to “Add your blog”. Clicking on the “Add your blog” link would open up a form on which you would have to enter details about your blog. Once you are done with punching in these details, just click “Next”. The NetworkedBlogs app would ask you if you are the author of this blog. Off course we assume that you are the author of the blog, so click yes – and here you go. Your blog is now added to the NetworkedBlogs application.

Step 3: Verify the Ownership of the Blog

Once the blog has been added to the NetworkedBlogs app, the application would like you to verify your ownership. There are two possible options. The first one is to have invite atleast 10 of your friends to verify your claim. These friends would be invited using Facebook’s invite friends form. The other method is to use the NetworkedBlogs widget to verify your ownership. NetworkedBlogs will provide you with HTML code for their widget to be inserted in your blog. Once you have added the HTML code for the widget in the sidebar on your blog, you can come back to the page from where you got the widget code and click on the “Verify Widget” button. If you dont want to have the widget on your blog permanently, you can remove it immediately after the verification.

Step 4: Import your Blog Feed

Once your blog is added and verified you would have to import your your Blog’s RSS feed. This could be done by clicking on the “Feed Settings” link in the right menu on your main blog information page. The “Feed Settings” link is highlighted in the left menu bar in the image displayed below.

Once you click on the “Feed Settings” link you would be able to configure how to submit posts to your fan page and your personal wall. I have configured my settings to automatically publish new posts to the fan page of Startup Meme and also to my wall, so that they could appear in the news feeds of my friends as well.

You could test both the profile and fanpage settings by Publishing a Test Post to your profile or to your Fan page.

Final Comments

Although everything is done now, there is one final caveat. BlogNetworks pulls your feed after a specific time-period. The frequency of feed fetching depends upon the number of people who are following your blog on the NetworkedBlogs app. As of this writing, the feed pulling schedule adheres to the delay rules displayed below.

More information about the feed could be obtained from the Feed Faq. So although NetworkedBlogs is an application that automatically fetches your blog feed and publishes it to your Facebook fan page, it imposes certain publishing delays. The best way to overcome these delays is to invite your friends to follow your blog on the NetworkedBlogs application. However, till you have enough followers of your blog, you could work your way around by clicking the “Pull Now” link in the Blog Feed section of your main blog information page on NetworkedBlogs. The “Pull Now” is highlighted in the image displayed below.

Hope you liked the article. While you are at it, you may want to become a fan of our Facebook page and receive interesting tips, how-tos and latest information about Facebook.

Facebook: Making Sure You Don’t Forget Your Relationship Anniversary

Sardar Mohkim Khan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:17:46 +0000

What is one thing that your friends will be more interested in knowing about? Your relationship, the more hidden it is, the more inquisitive it makes others. Most usually hide that but many others are pretty open to it and they would not like to miss out a chance to celebrate their relationship’s anniversary. Well Facebook knows that, which is why it has released a new feature.

From today onwards users will be able to see the Anniversary field right under the Relation section. You can now add the anniversary date of your relationship and the same to that of your significant other’s and the privacy settings that you have set for your relationship status will be applied to the anniversary as well. Fair enough and added with the notification that you will receive in the event section, making sure that you are reminded about the memorable day in advance so that you take that special place in your significant other’s heart.

This is just one step forward and Facebook will very well be bringing these anniversary reminders of your friends too, given that they have enabled sharing the same with others. To be honest, I haven’t really been able to wish my friends on their birthdays and if I were to have this option out, I would definitely be missing out a lot of those too (perhaps even mine). But it is definitely a good move given that automatic reminders make life easier for you, ensuring you don’t miss out on important occasions.

Tags: facebook

How to get a Vanity URL for your Facebook Fan Page

Bill Bonner — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:47:04 +0000

Vanity URLs are great to have, as they are far more easier to remember and comprehend compared to the originally cryptic looking urls on Facebook. Having a Vanity URL has a lot of business sense, because these urls are easier to share on social media sites, email signatures etc.

The ordinary facebook fanpage url would look something like the url below:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Startup-Meme/194511566858?ref=ts

However, with a vanity url – you can point to the same url with a much simpler and easier url, such as:

http://www.facebook.com/StartupMeme

Facebook now allows users to claim vanity urls for their personal profiles. However, this is not unique to the profiles, businesses could have Vanity URLs for their facebook fan pages as well. Previously facebook imposed a limit on which fan pages could have the url. The fan pages with a minimum of 1000 fans were allowed to have a vanity url as a medal of achievement. However now this limit has been lowered to 25 fans.

With the recent change in fan requirements, getting a vanity url for your fan page has become very easy. I couldn’t imagine a business or person that can not amass a following of 25 people.

In order to get a Vanity URL just go to Facebook username page and click on set username for your Fan page. You would have to select the specific fan page from a drop down menu, in case you have created more than one Fan page. Once that’s done, you can simply punch in the url of your choice. If the URL is available you would get it right away, else you would have to modify your choice a little to find an available url.

That’s all there is to it, enjoy sharing your new Vanity URL on social sites and with friends and family.

Startup Meme

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