Social Apps

Google, following plans announced by two biggest social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook, has launched their own open social engine called Friends Connect.  Friends Connect allows website owners to add social networking functionalities without any complicated programming. Visitors bring along friends from social networks like Facebook, Orkut, and others to interact on their site. Then main feature of Friends Connect is Open Social which will allow third parties to build and develop applications.

The Friends Connect is available to selected partners now

 Link

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Friends Connect, Google, MySpace, OpenSocial

According to Akamai, the traffic on its platform related to its social media customers saw significant growth over the past year.

Akamai supports dozens of leading social media destination sites, as well as key technologies and applications that form this global ecosystem, including Facebook, Friendster, Bebo, Metacafe, MySpace, RockYou, and Slide.

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Technorati Tags: Akamai, Bebo, Facebook, Friendster, Metacafe, MySpace, RockYou, Slide, social media, web traffic

Due to Facebook’s popularity, just about every company is thinking about how to leverage Facebook world by creating a Facebook application. There are over 13, 000 applications at Facebook directory now. Many of these applications are social, meaning your friends are likely to encourage you to use them, too.

To get started with your Facebook application , visit  Facebook Developer website at http://developers.facebook.com  There, you can find technical  information and tutorials. To build your applications you need to have your own server, and set your application on a Facebook platform.

I have actually added my own application to Facebook. It allows you to read daily health news and share it with your friends. Feel free to check at www.apps.facebook.com/cityhealthnews

Technorati Tags: , Facebook, Facebook applications, social apps

According to PaidContent, Nokia and Facebook are working on adding the social network on to Nokia handsets. The Facebook placement could be as prominent as the YouTube button on the main screen of iPhone, our sources indicate. Also, the deal involves giving Facebook a major slot within Nokia retail products’ displays.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, mobile, Nokia, social network

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, invested $60 million in Facebook. Ka-Shing is better known as the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa (the network operator branded as 3 in many countries, including UK). The money is from his investment firm, and he has the option to invest another $60 million.

Link 

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Li Ka-Shing, social networking, Whampoa

Facebook may alter its new “Beacon” marketing feature, which alerts members’ friends when they bought something at certain partner sites.

Since the feature introduction, many users have complained that Beacon is an invasion of privacy, and in some instances has unwittingly alerted members to holiday gift purchases from family or friends.

The public policy group MoveOn.org organized an online petition asking Facebook to turn Beacon into an opt-in feature.

Link

Technorati Tags: Beacon, Facebook, marketing, Moveon.org, social networking

AdBrite has raised $23 million from Sequoia Capital and Artis Management.  Originally an ad network for mostly text-based advertising similar to Google AdSense, AdBrite has become a full-service network for third-party publishers, offering display advertising and recently introducing a product for monetizing Facebook applications.

Link

Technorati Tags: ad network, AdBrite, Facebook, internet

Syria has blocked access to Facebook.com the social network Web site as part of a crackdown on political activism on the Internet.

According to sources speaking with Reuters, the official statement from officials is that they fear “Facebook could become a conduit for Israeli penetration of our youth”. 

Link

Technorati Tags: Facebook, internet, Israel, social networking, Syria

New research from Northwestern University finds that college students’ choice of social networking sites — including Facebook, MySpace and Xanga — is related to their race, ethnicity and education.

That study finds that Facebook is used most by white students, that Hispanic students prefer MySpace and that Asian and Asian-American students use the less popular social network sites Xanga and Friendster more than students from other ethnic groups.

Link

Technorati Tags: education, Facebook, Friendster, internet, MySpace, race, social networking, students, Xanga

MoveOn.org announces a campaign targeting Facebook’s “Beacon” advertisements, which post information about users’ activity on partner sites (Amazon, etc).

According to MoveOn representatives, the organization considers this to be a “glaring violation of (Facebook’s) users’ privacy,” and has launched a paid ad campaign on Facebook, a “protest group” on the social-networking site, and an online petition to encourage the company to allow users to opt into the program at their own volition.

Link

Technorati Tags: Beacon, Facebook, Moveon.org