MySpace is nearing a deal to acquire iLike, the Facebook favourite which helps connect music-lovers by allowing them to share playlists, concert plans and recommends music based on those playlists and those of users friends. Boasting a user base of 50 million users, iLike will increase the stranglehold MySpace already has on the most popular online identity for bands. This will create a conundrum for Facebook, who accounts for 10 million users of iLike, in trying to devise a strategy for how to deal with music and as MySpace continues to bolster their music services.
Facebook trying to add a new spin on social networking, as they attempt to become a social “utility” instead, which hopes to keep users online for hours with various activities. After revamping their search engine, acquiring FriendFeed, testing Facebook Lite in order to expand into international markets, and developing a new electronic payments system, Facebook’s evolution is well underway. “People only do so many things on the Web,” said Jeffrey Rayport, founder of the digital media consultancy Marketspace. “There are a lot of companies that would like to own that set of activities,” he told Reuters.
These recent moves by Facebook seems to reflect a desire for them to grow the Facebook platform into an operating system of sorts, or more of a piece of software that interacts with the web on a larger scale. There has been talk of a piece of software in development called RockMelt but it is shrouded in much speculation and the idea is based on a modern browser that would be designed not only to surf the web, but to manage your information streams and web apps all in a seamless user interface.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is expected to release a final version of their new media policy after a collective ‘what the hell’ by journalists and fans earlier in the month. The revision is due to the strong and broad language stating “Ticketed fans can’t produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.” Media exclusivity is not the answer to helping a league that doesn’t even air all of their games.
How will this benefit fans or players who will never see a reel put together on YouTube of their favourite player, or a fan who takes a picture at the game with his dad only to have his Facebook account banned because of the SEC sent a cease and desist? Seems also that banning all social media is unenforceable and will actually be a detractor to ratings as fans won’t be allowed to tell their friends to turn on the game and look for them. Social media can help put a spotlight on sporting events and allow for a rich experience using fan involvement, not only for the promotion but also the excitement that sporting should represent. Excellent example of ways to backfire your own events with crotchety rules and regulations.
Tr.im, the URL shortening service is going open source (on or before September 15th). It is interesting to note because the service has now gone from completely shutting down, to trying hard to sell, to bringing the service back up so it can sell, to now going open source in just 8 days.
There is a lot of internet shame and blame being thrown around with this story as it is either Bit.ly’s fault for apparently making a low-ball offer to buy Tr.im, Twitter’s fault for picking Bit.ly over Tr.im as its URL shortening service of choice, 301works.org’s fault for being a “public relations stunt”, and again Twitter’s fault for being a data-hoarding monopoly in Bit.ly and Twitter. I think it could be exciting to see which open source model they adopt and how the community rallies behind Tr.im due to the need for significant investment in scalability, but at least there is still competition!
An interesting data heavy article on what women want from social networking sites shows that women, the heaviest users of social networking sites, are interested mostly in networking tools and privacy. It is then no surprise that Facebook is having to settle some privacy issues raised by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, criticizing how personal information was being treated by Facebook. The issue seems to be diffusing rapidly as Facebook works harmoniously with the recommendations offered by Stoddart before submitting them to the Federal Court of Canada. The main complaints were software developers having too much access to user information, retention of records even after account deletion, lack of protection for non users and concerns of ‘memorialization’ if a user is found to have become deceased.
The Huffington Post certainly has their head straight with their understanding of the future that news will play in social networking. An excerpt reads “In short, the news has become social. And it will become even more community-powered: stories will be collaboratively produced by editors and the community, and conversations, opinion, and reader reactions will be seamlessly integrated into the news experience.” Be sure to become a fan and get involved with the future of news using Facebook to like articles, include your friends and get a dialogue going!
