DigitalMediaTrends.com

Look out Google, Here Comes Facebook

Forget Microsoft. Google's biggest competition these days comes from the social media growth machine, Facebook. Google may have an "operating system for search" and a big bank of data about each of its users, but the future belongs to the masses of individuals -- and Facebook, the second-largest social network on the Web, knows comparatively more about each of its users. Google should be scared because facebook is growing at a stunning rate--it has nearly 30 million users now--with no signs of stopping. This, in part, is thanks to founder and CEO Michael Zuckerberg's bold decision to open up his social network to outside developers. AThat move ran counter to the prevailing ethic at rival MySpace, which has been scooping up application-development companies in an effort to stave off competition from third-party software developers on its site. More ...

For iLike, There's No Place Like Facebook

iLike, the fastest-growing digital music service on the planet, owes its surging popularity to Facebook. After integrating its music-sharing service into Facebook, iLike is now growing at a rate of 1 million new registered users per week. The social music site is also being taken far more seriously by record labels, who've opened discussion with it. Indeed, for some developers of Web-based software programs, Facebook is making all the difference. Once a niche social networking site for college students, it first opened its doors to the greater Web in September and then opened its technology platform to software developers in May. Both moves have resulted in big-time growth for Facebook, while the latter is starting to pay huge dividends for third party developers like iLike, which doubled its traffic to 6.7 million users. With the iLike-Facebook app, users share music preferences and receive customized iTunes playlists and personalized concert and music recommendations. Now, the service automatically syncs its services to your Facebook friends. More ...

Widgets Revamp Advertising On Social Networks

It's not surprising to hear that the social-networking generation prefers to choose their own marketing messages rather than receive random banner ads from marketers. A study of more than 1,200 kids ages 9 to 17 and about 1,000 parents across the country, finds that many consumers enjoy playing with ad-related features of their choosing on their personal profile pages. These findings are "likely to fuel a push by digital ad agencies to get marketers to experiment with new ways to advertise on social-networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace." So-called "widgets", downloadable software programs that can display anything from animated graphics, videos, photo, sharing, music or live chats, could become the ad wave of the future. Indeed, if consumers have to accept advertising in exchange for free Web content, why not let them choose their advertiser? The phenomenon could usher in a whole new era of interactive, performance-based advertising, letting consumers "digg" their favorite ads by either voting on them or posting ad widgets to their social-networking profiles. This also fits in with the findings of the Alloy study, which found that today's consumers do not want random advertising on their profile pages. More ...

MySpace Gets Facebook Religion

While it still dwarfs rival Facebook in terms of users, the social network spotlight in recent months has shifted from MySpace. The biggest source of excitement: Facebook opening up its platform to outside developers. The shrewd move, coming at a time when MySpace was saber-rattling with outside developers over whether they could include ads in applications, has brought Facebook reams of attention and an army of developers building new uses for the network. MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe is impressed. In a Financial Times interview, DeWolfe hits, ever obliquely, MySpace could follow Facebook's lead in some form. More ...

Social Networks Near 100% Penetration Among Kids

Social networking penetration is at a whopping 96% among those 9-17, according to Alloy Media & Marketing. That figure refers to teens who connect to a social network at least once a week--they even use them to connect with their parents in many cases. In fact, report author Samantha Skey encouraged parents to become engaged with and involved in social networking. "This generation of teens isn't embarrassed by" talking with their parents via networks; doing so would make them feel more "comfortable" about their teens using them. If there were a theme to the responses of those youngsters interviewed, "it would be to meet teens and tweens on their terms," which mirrors a Business Week report that contends youngsters want something from marketers in return for their attention: freebies, downloads, access to exclusive content, but most of all, entertainment. Do not bore them--do not waste their time. More ...

Plaxo Creates Private Social Networks

The rise of social networks has pushed providers of organizing software to the margins somewhat. These sites also provide tools like calendars and bulletin boards, so friends can keep themselves up-do-date. In light of this consumer shift, Plaxo, one of these address book organizers, is fighting back. On Monday, the 6-year-old company created a new Web-based program which lets users open up their online datebooks to build their own social networks. Called Plaxo 3.0, the new, free service lets friends synchronize information locked inside programs from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google Apple, Mozilla and many mobile phones. The free service also updates contact information in real-time. A revolutionary idea to be sure, Plaxo 3.0 brings the company head to head with social networks. Software-based Plaxo not only combines address book data from disparate programs, it also lets users keep track of contacts' Web surfing habits. As Reuters says: "Watching and learning what your friends are doing on the Web -- and being watched yourself -- is today's hottest online trend." It's also the most controversial. Facebook, meanwhile, now a competitor, also allows users to create private social networks and track their behaviors and interests. More ...

News Corp. Looks Online, Could Offload MySpace

As Rupert Murdoch patiently awaits Dow Jones' decision about News Corp.'s takeover offer, analysts -- expecting that deal to happen -- estimate that the media giant would allocate the expected $5 billion to further Internet acquisitions. "Rupert has a shopping list. Dow Jones is at the top of it, but it's not the end of the list," a source told the Financial Times. Near the top of that list, perhaps, is a deal that would involve the sale or a possible merger of its massive social network MySpace. At an estimated value of $10 billion, some feel News Corp. has gotten all the mileage it can out of MySpace, which skeptics say is fading in light of the resurgence of rival Facebook. News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005. Despite MySpace's huge usage numbers, it was never able to make the most of its non-search inventory. Which is precisely why some believe the exchange of MySpace for 25% to 30% of Yahoo would benefit both parties. More ...

MySpace...The Biggest Threat to Newspapers?

In addition to news aggregators like Google and Yahoo, newspapers need to watch out for online competition from a less obvious source--social networks--according to a global study of youth media behavior from the World Association of Newspapers. More ...

Social Network Aggregators On Rise

Social networks are now being affected by competition from aggregators. Sound familiar? The aggregation threat always seems to loom over Web content providers, and now, niche social networks are already being linked together through a series of startup aggregators. MyLifeBrand, ProfileLinker, Open ID, OtherEgo and Profilatic are all out to simplify the social-networking experience--both for consumers and marketers, which would rather make one big-buy at the same place to reach specified consumers. MySpace and Facebook aside (which tend to deliver reliable traffic) there are hundreds of social networks on the Web involved in the revolving door of "who's hot/who's not." Moreover, sites like MyLifeBrand help consumers to create a single persona that branches out to these other social networks, so users can get to know about their interests by clicking through to their profiles on niche networks. More ...

Friendster Thrives Overseas

The talk in the Web industry these days is about Facebook, MySpace, Second Life and the virtual worlds catering to kids. Many may be wondering what happened to Friendster, the original Web 2.0 social network? It just moved to Asia (sort of). Incidentally, business is good, too-very good. Friendster is still live in the U.S., but nobody over here is taking much notice (including the company), because some 70% of the social network's traffic now comes from Southeast Asia. It's the most popular Web site in the Philippines and the second most popular site in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Friendster's growth has been astonishing. Since 2003, when the company started to lose U.S. users to MySpace, its registered user base has grown more than 10 times. It now has 20 times the page views over the same period. More ...