This is a pretty useful application for just about any company or public figure that would like to get set up with live streaming instantly. While uStream.tv and Stickam are both offering similar services, Justin.tv is the only one that offers the service for free. While there’s no customization for brands, free is a great price for most users. If you want to add streaming video to your Facebook Page go install the Justin.tv Live application.

With more monetization platforms coming into the space as well, social gaming appears to be the primary space for growth. As such, it’s not surprising to see new gaming developers take a shot and that’s exactly what Wooga is doing with their Brain Buddies application. So far it appears to be paying off. Just over the past few days, the company has experienced exponential growth (see this chart).

It will be interesting to see how far this application can grow but so far it appears to be in its early growth phase. With a lot of interesting graphics and easy game play, my guess is that this will end up with a few million monthly active users at the least. If you are interested in trying out some new brain teasers, go check out the Brain Buddies application.

Facebook continues to be the dominant social platform despite the continued competition from two-year-old Twitter. All this data suggests that users on Facebook continue to stick with the site even as the company implements new user interfaces and new methods of communication. Twitter however is clearly an ongoing threat, not as a substitute to Facebook but instead as a competing source of shared data.

If the new method of search relies on shared information among users, Twitter is obtaining a lot of data that Facebook doesn’t currently have access to. With the continued battle between the two companies, MySpace can take the opportunity to refocus and regain its position as a significant contender, something that’s not far-fetched considering their massive user base.

Social features on sites will become increasingly commonplace and this new widget from Facebook should help that. While it takes a couple of steps to get set up, it shouldn’t be overly complex. This iteration of the widget is relatively simple but I could see more complex versions in the future. What’s somewhat strange about this widget is that it doesn’t show which of your friends are on the site.

Additionally, I wonder why Facebook is investing so heavily in these widgets as a more open API would result in numerous forms of widgets, all built by third-party developers. While it makes sense for the company to roll-out simple widget products that help build instant community, the eventual “abstraction of Facebook Pages” will present even greater opportunities.

Let us know if you get the chance to set up your community widget on your site and what type of experience you have with it. I’ve also included a version of the widget below. To learn more about implementing the fan box on your website you can visit the developer wiki.

There are now more opportunities for developers than ever before and with Google preparing to launch their own operating system that’s based on Android, it will make things more interesting to say the least. So as things grow increasingly complicated for developers, what is Facebook doing to make sure they ensure developers return? Ultimately it’s similar things to what other platforms are providing:

• Reach - While platforms just want “developers, developers, developers”, the developers want “users, users, users”. In theory, the more users the better. While you need a way to generate revenue, the current model is to go after users first and monetize later. If the platform doesn’t provide you with reach then the platform won’t succeed. Facebook provides access to approximately 250 million users and growing which makes it a dominant competitor.
• Payment integration - Yes, some developers like to sell their software. If you offer a great product then people will often pay for it. The freemium model works and payment platforms are a testament to this. One of the greatest opportunities for monetization of platforms is payment offerings although as one article recently highlighted, Apple still makes the majority of their revenue selling phones, not applications. Facebook is not generating revenue through the sale of a device though so payment integration is an important component.
• Viral distribution - One of the greatest features of Facebook is the ability to easily share content with your contacts. This feature happens to be one of the most attractive for developers as they need assistance in spreading the word about their new applications.
• GUI components - Facebook and the iPhone both make it easy to implement user interface components that are standard across applications. These components make it easy for developers to focus on developing and assist them in creating applications without becoming bogged down in the design. Windows and Macintosh were at the forefront of graphical user interface innovation and we are now seeing new sets of interfaces emerge with the new platforms. Facebook is obsessive when it comes to design and their platform components clearly illustrate this.
• Alternative monetization opportunities - Some developers don’t want to sell their service and instead opt to monetize through advertising, offer-based systems, and new alternative models that have yet to be explored. Platforms need to be open to these alternative monetization strategies if they are going to attract developers. Without these alternative opportunities, the platforms have complete control, something that presents a huge risk to developers.
• Clearly defined and enforced terms or the removal of authority - Facebook has been battling with the enforcement of their terms since the initial launch of the Facebook platform. As the web becomes the platform though, I’d assume that we will see the decentralization of authority. Instead we will see the emergence of third party reporting systems (some of which already exist) to report abusive applications.

Developers want the ability to write once, run anywhere but competitive forces have prevented this from becoming a reality. Now that competition sides with openness, we are evolving toward an environment in which applications are more portable and in which the value of the platform is directly correlated the user experience. It’s similar to the device wars and it’s a world in which users and developers benefit greatly.

So with this evolution where does Facebook stand? Mark Zuckerberg suggested that they were looking to build the social operating system and then proceeded to acquire the Parakey team who was in the process of building what was assumed to be a web-based operating system. If the company is serious about that initial statement, an announcement should be expected in the near future.

Do you think Facebook will be fine with just being the center of our identities? Does Facebook need to build their own operating system or can they continue to exist independent of the operating systems?

What seems to have fallen through the cracks in main stream media is why these people are fighting. What exactly do the Uighurs want and how are they communicating?

In an exclusive interview, Allfacebook talked with Rediya Kadeer the president of the World Uighur Congress and the woman the Chinese government accused of being the “mastermind” behind Sunday’s protest. She called on the United States to speak out against the violence in Urumqi and establish a consulate.  Though she is a peace advocate she said the Uighur people were no longer willing to compromise. “We have reached the point where a compromise is not possible,” said Rediya, a 62-year-old mother of 11.  ”Though I do not believe in violence, and did not organize these protests, I believe that the Uighur people have suffered long enough.” Rebiya spent years in a Chinese prison for her political beliefs before she was exiled to the United States in 2005. Disenchanted with main stream media’s coverage, she said social media was critical to the Uighurs cause.  ”Because media that comes out of China gets filtered by the Chinese government, social media let’s us talk with the people.”

Her daughter, Keke Rouzi, 19, a college student and activist at George Mason University, agreed. “Social Media is helping us organize events across the world and is a way that we are able to stay in touch with the Uighur people,” exclaimed Keke in an interview in front of the Chinese Embassy yesterday.  ”The mainstream media is more and more unreliable because a lot of it comes from China. We are not turning to social media for the truth. But this hard because we are working in a country like China.”

“My mother is a peace activist so it is disheartening when China accused her of inciting violence,” stated Keke.  Half or her face was painted blue the colors of the East Turkestan flag.  ”I really think she is an inspiration to the Uighur people.  When they see how hard she works to get justice they are inspired.”  Two of Keke’s brothers were imprisoned in Urumchi several years ago for their political beliefs.  It is doubtful that they will be released.  China has the highest execution rate in the world and has promised to punish those arrested for inciting riots with the death penalty.

Two protesters recounted how they used social media to talk with their friends before the riots. “Facebook, Twitter and Gchat were effective means of communication,” said Elnigar  Iltebir.  Elnigar grew up in Urumchi but moved to the United States 8 years ago to get her masters at Harvard University. ” Since the Chinese government has cut the internet in Urumqi these voices are much harder to hear.”  Elnigar is now getting her PHD from Maryland University.

Another protestor, Amanalla Azad, 25, recounted how he was on facebook chat with one of the protestors right until she went to Freedom Park to join the peaceful demonstration.  ”I told her to be careful, and leave if things got out of hand,” said Amanalla.  He would not give the name of the woman he was referring to but said the two met in grade school in Urumchi.  ”I have not heard from her since Saturday.”

We would like to hear from you.  Have you heard from Uighurs over seas or Han Chinese?  How have you followed this story?

Rebiya Kadeer Speaks Out Against China in Washington, DC Protests

Rebiya’s Daughter Speaks About The Impact of Social Media

Rebiya’s Daughter Speaks About “Mastermind” Mother

Uighur Activist Talks About China’s Tight Control Over Social Media

Automatically generating feed stories is immensely important for larger news organizations that churn out large numbers of articles at a time. While Posterous is not a platform for large organizations, this new feature will make it much easier to post to your Facebook Page quickly without thinking twice. Have you seen other tools to automatically generate feed stories from posts?

Will you be taking advantage of this new Posterous feature?

Facebook continues to improve their targeting features and ad management tools. Each of these new features comes with it additional complexities which means Facebook has been working on these features well before publicly testing them. While time scheduling is a valuable feature, in many instance is can be unnecessary. On Google you want to avoid early morning clicks if you are looking to provide professional services but on Facebook if you’ve targeted a person by the company they work at, the time may not be necessary.

Whether or not you use each targeting variable on any given campaign will depend on what you’re promoting. The more variables Facebook lets you target based on, the more advertisers will want to use their system. With Facebook increasing the number of advertisers on their system, these new features will surely satisfy a large number of people.

While we’ve reached out to Facebook, we haven’t heard anything back yet. I’ll be sure to update this post if we do hear from them. One company, the Artists Collective, has been promoting their business via Twitter. A random tweet from the company states, “Happy Tuesday! BB Kush, NY Soma, SD Strom, Forrest G, Green C all in stock, quarter purchase get one gram of RD Haze free. Free delivery.”

It’s an aggressive strategy but considering that their business is already pushing the limits, it’s not surprising to see this type of activity. If you plan on selling weed you may want to take the legitimate route and move out to California. Alternatively you can really push your luck and promote your illegal distribution business on Facebook, but we don’t recommend doing it.

We reached out to one anonymous weed dealer who said, “Yo man, I gotta keep myself on the down low homie. Moving above the radar on sites like Facebook is mad hot yo and that’s why I prefer to work through referrals. Are you a cop by the way?” Alright, maybe we didn’t actually speak to a weed dealer but we figured this is what one would say. If you are looking to sell weed on Facebook you may want to check out the strategy of companies like the Artists Collective.

Is selling weed on Facebook an activity that will be in your future?

Update
Barry Schnitt of Facebook has provided us with the following statement: “We do not allow people to promote illegal activities on Facebook. Section 3.4 of the SRR states: You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.

I’d add that people who use Facebook to co-ordinate illegal activities are fools. We will aid in the prosecution of people orchestrating illegal activities off of Facebook, such as in this case. We work hard to make Facebook a safe and secure environment, and we encourage users to report anything suspicious. We also include a specific tool for reporting drug-related content.”

I also replied looking for clarification about the example of the Twitter account and if they would ban it if the same activity took place on Facebook. I’ll be sure to update this once I hear back.

Update 2
Facebook has replied to our second question in which we asked if the Artists Collective created a Facebook group if they’d be banned. According to Facebook, “the group would be disabled and we might take further action against the admin accounts.”

More important is how Facebook and traditional media are becoming increasingly intertwined. We will be updating this post with final stats from the day as Facebook releases them in the next couple hours.

Updated Statistics
Facebook has posted the following updated statistics which includes 733,000 status updates on CNN, more than the 600,000 status updates that were posted through CNN’s live feed widget during the event. The stats are below:

CNN:
733,000 status updates
759,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast
6,000 updates/minute at the peak

E! Online:
9,000 status updates
87,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast

ABC:
48,000 status updates
97,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast

MTV:
5,000 status updates
21,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast

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