Facebook adds the inevitable "groups" feature

Facebook has announced the inevitable addition of "groups", whereby users can sort their friends into different groups, so only certain comments/statuses/photos etc. are available to certain groups.

Mark Zuckerberg summarises the problem:
"There are some things you are comfortable saying to all your friends at once but a lot of things you only want to share with your close co-workers or your family and there just hasn't been a great way to do that until now."

This blog has discussed the social problems created by Facebook in the past. In the real world we automatically filter what we say and share with different friends, family, colleagues - so it makes sense that Facebook would include that feature, to further replicate the way we interact in the real world and avoid a variety of social faux pas.


Guardian article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/07/facebook-groups

BBC News article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11486427

Google's future of display ads

Speaking at the recent IAB Conference, Google explained how they want to make their display advertising sexy. They will also be adding social elements to their display ads; such as commenting on, sharing and subscribing to ads. Also included was a new ad format for their YouTube site, called TrueView which allows the viewer to skip ads they don't like.

Read more:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/28/google-wants-to-make-online-display-ads-%E2%80%9Csexy%E2%80%9D/

Further bullet points from the presentation:
http://www.ditii.com/2010/09/28/google-on-the-future-of-display-advertising-demonstrated-youtubes-trueview-ad-format-and-more-at-iab-conference/

Facebook places - Let me check you in

I was reading this article about Facebook Places and the issues that could arise when checking in other people. It immediately rang alarm in my head as to the problems it could cause in modern society, with all the white lies going around so as not to hurt people's feelings when turning down those numerous Facebook invites - or simply people cheating on their wives / girlfriends!

Also it seems strange that other people can confirm your presence in a location. Facebook compared this to being tagged in a photo, but it feels more personal to me and many others I found out after quick Google. I don't want other people to confirm my presence at a party, dinner, pub, cinema. It would be slightly scary to login to Facebook to be told you've been checked into places.

Luckily you can turn this off with a setting under the privacy settings page on Facebook, which means that you no longer have to worry about friends being able to check you in. Although I wonder how many people know about or can find the setting?

Original article:
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=145487

How to change your Facebook places privacy settings:
http://gawker.com/5616338/the-first-thing-you-should-do-with-facebook-places-dont-let-other-people-tag-you

Flash comes to Android

The Android 2.2 Operating System now has full support for Adobe's Flash player. Will this be a key manoeuvre in the Android vs iPhone battle, seeing as there are no plans for the iPhone to support Flash.

See it in action here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10947784

Facebook ad spend increases

Spend on Facebook advertising has increased by ten times in the last year. Big brands who were just experimenting with Facebook ads; now satisfied with the results, are using the platform more and more. It is predicted that Facebook ad spends will increase to $1.4 billion for 2010.

Here at Jollywise we've seen a marked increase in interest in Facebook advertising. We've been running ad campaigns for some big brands for a while and have had great success with them. The targeting and reporting available means we're able to meet client requirements and give them real ROI.


Read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-04/facebook-advertisers-boost-spending-tenfold-as-site-grows-sandberg-says.html

Wave is dead (long live wave)

Google have just announced that Google Wave is being put to bed. Although touted as the future of the web and with a large push from Google, it never really picked up. (A little like Google Buzz)

However I believe this is more to do with Google trying to do to much in one leap. I think that a lot of the features of Wave will slowly be integrated into Google Mail and we'll see email / chat / online communication move towards what was being presented in Google Wave, just at a slower more drip-fed pace, so users can get used to the changes.
Just because Wave wasn't successful it doesn't mean that similar sites and features won't be successful in the future. I just think they will be carefully integrated into an evironment the user is familiar with, such as Google Mail and Facebook.

Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/aug/05/google-wave

Is Cost Per Action coming?

Google have launched a new mobile ad format (see article for full details), which only charges the advertiser when someone actually follows through with an action - in this case - clicks through to the website or calls the business.

Is this going to be the future of ads, that after pay-per-impression, followed by pay-per-click, we get pay-per-action - where advertisers are only paying when they get positive actions back.

Read the full article here:
http://www.marketingvox.com/will-googles-new-mobile-ad-format-usher-in-cpa-on-a-wide-scale-047462/

Bebo gears up for new activity

Criterion have been making their first changes at Bebo, as they try to turn around the fortune of the social networking site they bought recently from AOL.
They will be investing in new staff and focussing on the niche tween market.


http://paidcontent.org/article/419-new-bebo-ceo-well-staff-up-innovate-then-maybe-sell/

Is Facebook over?

Apparently Facebook is no longer the coolest kid on the block. It's rapidly becoming the place to hang out less according to stats from OTX and Roiworld. The study has revealed that that they are losing interest, finding Facebook boring and visiting other sites.

Personally I don't think Facebook is anywhere near dead. However I certainly don't think it will last forever. People will talk about the Facebook generation / era, in the future.

Read more about it here:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007808

Flash isn't redundant yet says YouTube

This YouTube blog entry explains why Flash isn't redundant yet and what it provides that HTML5 can't do yet. It's an interesting read:

http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html

Bebo moves on

AOL has sold Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners for a rumoured $10m or less. Criterion have described the site as "attractive media platform".

Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/17/aol-confirms-bebo-sale
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cf6e4258-7a08-11df-9871-00144feabdc0.html

Twitter gets on the money

Twitter has rolled out the second phase of it's monetisation: Promoted Trending Topics. And Disney / Pixar are the first ones to buy a promoted topic. They've chosen Toy Story 3, which gets featured at the bottom of the trending topics list and also gets them the top tweet on the results page.

Read more here:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/16/twitter-trending-topics-ad/

Android market share increasing

Read this nice article explaining why Android is doing better that the initial figures suggest, against Apple. Android's market share is increasing and it's taking that share from Apple.
It also brings up something I keep on forgetting; which is that iOS isn't just on the iPhone - you've got to include iPods and iPads - which take the numbers up to a hefty 18.3 million devices.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/android_steals_market_share_from_iphone.php

Adobe vs Apple - the next step

In the next chapter of the Adobe vs Apple saga; Adobe have teamed up with Greystripe to land their next move. Together they'll be trying to deliver Flash based ads to the iPhone!
Well is actuality Greystripe will be converting Flash ads into HTML5, which will work on the iPhone. Additionally the ads will work on Google's Android smartphones.

It will be interesting to see if this conversion, almost by hand, by Greystripe and Adobe will work and where it will take us in the Apple vs Adobe ever-continuing war.

Read more:
http://mashable.com/2010/06/07/adobe-flash-ads-iphone/

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100607/adobe-tries-creeping-back-onto-the-ipad-with-help-from-greystripe/

Google starts Twitter ads

Google has given a soft launch to Twitter ads within their Google Content Network. A "no-brainer" as far as I'm concerned and great that Google have created this ad format.

Read more about them here:
http://www.clickz.com/3640539

Yahoo adds Facebook to site

Yahoo will be adding Facebook features to it's homepage, mail service and other pages very soon. For full details of Yahoo's social media integration read more on the link below:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_adds_facebook_begins_new_role_as_social_network_aggregator.php

Facebook Privacy settings change again (but for the last time)

Facebook have changed their privacy settings again, but they hope for the last time. This time they've simplified things, whilst maintaining their more granular controls as well.
You now have: a privacy master switch option; an application switch to stop all your data from being shared with applications, including stopping friends sharing your information on applications; the option to hide your friends list and interests;


Mark Zuckerberg's blog entry:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=391922327130

Allfacebook gives a good point by point overview:
http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/05/facebook-privacy-must-know/

Zuckerberg explains it's not about the ads:
http://gigaom.com/2010/05/26/zuckerberg-its-not-about-the-ads/

Crowdsourcing isn't over, it's just overused.

This article below by Advertising Age puts across the point that crowdsourcing is over and that it doesn't work any more, although it does concede at the end that some projects do work.

That's the point that I would make: crowdsourcing isn't over, it's just overused by marketing departments. Just like Augmented Reality, everyone wants to get on the band-waggon, even though it might be pointless and not work for their brand.

There seems to be a pattern with new marketing techniques that goes in these stages:

1. A few pack-leaders do something new with a brand that is willing to be brave and innovative.
2. There is one high-profile successful campaign that brings it to the mainstream.
3. There is mass take-up. Brand managers will say "I want a campaign with X".
4. It's get to a point where everyone is doing it and many badly. Bad marketing agencies are making easy money off supplying the service to anyone and everyone; and brands are wanting to be a part of the phenomenon.
5. The appeal drops off and it settles down to just being another string to the marketing bow, used when appropriate.


http://adage.com/article?article_id=143896

Facebook / Zuckerberg Backlash

There has been quite a backlash against Facebook recently due to their dodgy and ever changing Privacy Policy.

This piece by Jason Calacanis talks about companies getting "Zuckered" and accuses Facebook of a lot of wrong doing, including the most common complaint of constantly changing it's complicated Privacy Policy.
http://calacanis.com/2010/05/12/the-big-game-zuckerberg-and-overplaying-your-hand/


This site reveals just how much people share, often without their knowledge. It's a search engine for all the public status updates and it's amazing what people will share with the world:
http://www.youropenbook.org

It's not all hate for Facebook though, here's an article defending them:
http://mashable.com/2010/05/16/in-defense-of-facebook/


I think that there is a middle ground here though. Facebook isn't really all that evil. You are voluntarily putting all this information into their system, you are given the options to restrict access to the information you enter into the system - albeit with a changing system, but social media sites are still in their early years and there are problems to be ironed out.
The thing that all these critics forget that lots of people out there want to share their thoughts, opinions, pictures and life with the world and broadcast their life. Most people who stupidly post on Facebook that they hate their boss would have been caught on email / instant messenger or in the tearoom. It's just another forum, that we are still exploring.

I think the article below is far more balanced and tries to explain that Facebook did not take your privacy - I'm inclined to agree.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=143909

The Semantic Web

There has been quite a lot of talk of the Semantic Web on this blog and we still believe it's the future. This is what will make Skynet become aware: giving all the data out there some meaning.

Anyway if you don't know what the Semantic Web is and what all of this means for you, this brief article and video will explain the Semantic Web to you.

http://mashable.com/2010/05/10/semantic-web-documentary/