The Heat Is On
The cold war between Google and Facebook just warmed up a whole lot, and this time it’s Google with its fingers on the dial.
Garrett Rogers reports that Google is releasing tools for developers to begin building social applications for the iGoogle homepage, built on the OpenSocial API. For those who don’t speak geek, this basically means that individuals and companies are able to tap into the social graph you’ve created through Google — primarily through your Gmail contacts — to build useful gadgets for your homepage. Users will be able to see “updates” from their friends (see right column of image), paralleling Facebook’s News Feed and Mini Feed features
Who cares, right? Well, as Garrett points out, the potential for a coup is enormous:
I wonder if this will have a significant impact on Facebook since there are twice as many people who set Google as their default browser homepage than Facebook according to comScore? Who knows, Google might win by default if they get it just right.
With this move, Google is forging together two movements that it has been leading under much scrutiny and controversy: scaling and automation. Together, they become what I’m going to call scaled automation. Like Tom Friedman says, if you name an issue you own it… so if this term somehow becomes popular, well, remember you heard it here first.
Continue reading ‘iGoogle Goes Social: The Birth of Scaled Automation’
This week, Facebook began slowly rolling out an update to their site that will probably have the most significant impact on the user experience since the introduction of the News Feed. Ladies and gentlemen, Facebook Chat has arrived.
The upgrade hasn’t been applied to my account yet, and so this isn’t going to be an actual review of the new feature (though I’ve been reading about it and think I’ve got it pretty much figured out). Rather, I just wanted to share some thoughts about how this is going to affect change revolutionize the social networking experience.
If you don’t count e-mail, instant messaging (I’ll refer to it as chatting for simplicity’s sake) was actually probably the first experience you ever had with online social networking. Your buddy list was your first social graph. It was the first time that you could connect and communicate with friends online. It was the first time you could see how someone presented their online identity through their “profiles”, and the first time you could detect their online presence and know their ”status” through their away messages. It is only natural, then, that the first generation of social networking is being reintegrated into the mainstream offerings.
Continue reading ‘Facebook Chat: Social Networking Comes Home’
It’s a pleasure for me to present a guest post submitted by Jarry Taylor, a partner with Maynard, Cooper & Gale PC — one of Alabama’s leading law firms located in scenic Birmingham. And… he’s my dad! Thanks to Jarry/Dad for contributing to Tropophilia!
The American Bar Association’s Litigation News reports on a recent phenomenon many of us law types have been talking about, namely the change in the way investigations are performed and how to get information about people involved in legal cases. Forget the old style gum shoe black cloak, long-lens photographer investigator (although they do still come in handy sometimes). We’re now talking about finding out all sorts of neat and interesting stuff from MySpace, Facebook and even Match.com.
Have a witness you’re about to depose in a case coming to trial next month? Worried you might not know all there is to know about him? Think you should fork out money for an investigator to dig up information about him? Nah, it’s all right there on the internet and in the social networking world where nothing is sacred.
“They” tell you to be careful what you post as a student because colleges, grad schools and employers will check out those crazy photos you thought it would be fun to share with your buds. But, those beyond those years or the witless still include information that, sometimes, can be very helpful to the inquiring lawyer on the other side of a case. Courts are now having to deal with evidentiary questions, and report decisions on whether such information is admissible in court or not. Even if it’s not substantive information relevant to your case, it can always go to the credibility of that witness.
“I solemly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Google.” Oh, and that applies to lawyers, too!
This has to be a first.
I’m sure most of you have at least seen the headlines by now: New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been accused of engaging the services of a pricey prostitute service multiple times over the past year. More or less incriminating himself, Spitzer has announced his plans to resign effective this Monday.
More and more details have emerged from the ether over the past few days about the scandal, and tonight the New York Times revealed the identity of “Kristen” — the prostitute cited in the affidavit that mentioned Spitzer — to be 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupré. There are three main sources used for the article: 1) a confirmation from someone “familiar” with the prostitution operation that Kristen and Dupré are one and the same person; 2) interviews with both Dupré and her mother; and 3) Dupré’s MySpace page.
Yes, that’s right. For a feature article that will no doubt be on the front page of the print edition tomorrow morning, the New York Times editors have allowed extensive quotations from a social networking profile. All three photos from the article were photos uploaded by Dupré to her MySpace page. There is a prominent link to her profile from the article. The journalists cite some of her listed musical influences, and even quote lyrics from some of the music that Dupré has recorded and uploaded.
Continue reading ‘Watch What You Put Online… Even If You’re A Prostitute’
Ok, so maybe this study only actually confirms blogging’s positive effect on social health. But my personal, unscientific study confirms the intelligence and attractiveness effects as well. From the legitimate article:
Blogging can help you feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with your friendships, both online and face-to-face, new research has found.
The research, from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, found after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who didn’t blog.
So there you have it–we bloggers aren’t all riding a Mountain Dew high in our parents’ basements. Thanks to Elizabeth, (who really needs to update her blog…or just start writing for Tropophilia) for pointing this out.
Image [which has nothing to do with blogging--at least directly--but was far too hilarious not to post] under creative commons license is used, courtesy of flickr user pipeapple…and the force.
