Mashable: Latest 21 News Updates - including “BBC, Guardian Staffers Fall Prey to Twitter Phishing Attack” |  |
- BBC, Guardian Staffers Fall Prey to Twitter Phishing Attack
- Palm webOS 1.4 Update Comes Today, Brings Video Capture, Flash 10 Support
- Music Streaming Service MOG Raises $9.5 Million
- Almost Everything You Want to Know About the Bloom Energy Box [VIDEOS]
- Facebook to Take 30% Cut of Developers’ Facebook Credits Revenues
- Facebook Secures Patent for News Feed
- Erykah Badu and Paul McCartney: First Twitter Sample Clearance?
- Facebook Friending Made Simple: Just Shake Your iPhone
- Texas Offers Facebook $1.4 Million Incentive to Open Austin Office
- Quicken Comes Back to Mac
- The Future of the Non-Profit Internet
- Has Digg Found the Winning Formula for Ads?
- Opera 10.5 Beta for Mac Adds Multi-Touch Gestures
- 5 Fantastic Facebook Fan Page Ideas to Learn From
- It’s Wrong to Friend Your Boss on Facebook [SURVEY]
- Final Fantasy Has Arrived on the iPhone
- Boxee Returns to Apple TV
- The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team’s Pants Fan Page [Randomly Viral]
- Webtrends Launches Analytics for Facebook Marketers
- Skype Pulls Its Windows Mobile Apps
- Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone: 9 Days, $1 Million in Sales
- iPhone Users Still More Likely to Buy Apps than Android Users [STATS]
| BBC, Guardian Staffers Fall Prey to Twitter Phishing Attack Posted: 26 Feb 2010 03:58 AM PST  
Need proof that the attack is very serious? You need not look very hard, as BBC correspondent Nick Higham and Guardian’s head of audio Matt Wells (along with thousands of other users) have sent spam messages which means their accounts were compromised.  Although the phishing attack was widely reported on, and Twitter itself alerted to it on their official blog, many users are still falling prey to the attack. The rule of thumb, as always is: do not follow suspicious links, and never enter your Twitter credentials if you’re not absolutely sure it’s safe. If you think your Twitter account may have been compromised, you should change your Twitter password immediately. *Update: we’ve just received news that Ed Miliband MP, British Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, has also had his Twitter account hacked.
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| Palm webOS 1.4 Update Comes Today, Brings Video Capture, Flash 10 Support Posted: 26 Feb 2010 01:05 AM PST 
Besides bringing a couple of bug fixes, it’s also quite loaded with new feature, some of which long-awaited, such as video capturing and editing, sending videos over MMS, and Adobe Flash 10 support for the Pre. Here’s the list of major features Pre and Pixi owners will see today: * Phonebook Transfer (import & export) Also, here are the most important fixes from the update: * Time Zone bug fixed Reviews: Bluetooth
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| Music Streaming Service MOG Raises $9.5 Million Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:20 PM PST 
MOG, which has already raised over $10 million in angel and Series A rounds, launched in December with the goal of muscling into the subscription music business, with its value proposition being its $5 per month price and 256kbps streams. Competitors include Napster, Rhapsody, and Spotify (though Spotify has yet to launch in the US). According to MOG, the new funding will be used to push European expansion, develop moble apps, and build partnerships. The company plans to expand into the UK by the end of June, with other nations to follow. MOG is also upping its free trial from one hour to three days in order to give people a better chance to experience their product. The funding round was led by Menlo Ventures, a previous investor in the company, and joined by Balderton Capital. Reviews: Rhapsody, Spotify Tags: MOG, music, online music, rhapsody, spotify
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| Almost Everything You Want to Know About the Bloom Energy Box [VIDEOS] Posted: 25 Feb 2010 06:37 PM PST 
Yesterday, Bloom Energy launched the Bloom Box in front of hundreds of investors, press, and well-known figures, including General Colin Powell (who sits on the board), California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Google Co-founder Larry Page. What exactly is this energy-generating device, though? How does it work? And when can we expect it in our homes? While we don’t have all the answers to these questions, the press did have the chance to grill Bloom Energy CEO KR Sridhar, Ph.D., General Colin Powell, and others on just what this box is all about. What Is the Bloom Box?At the core, the Bloom Box (or the Bloom Energy Server) is an electricity-generating device that takes fuel and air and turns it into power. The buzz is building around the device because it works (several companies are already using them), it is a green technology (low emissions), and that it has the potential to power an entire home with a box that can fit in your hands. The company behind it, Bloom Energy, hasn’t generated a lot of attention. That is, until it granted its first interview to 60 Minutes last Sunday. The 10 minute clip dives deep into exactly how the box works, the history behind the company (it was founded in 2002), and the potential applications of the device. If you want to learn exactly what this box is about, check out the 60 Minutes video, embedded below: Watch CBS News Videos Online How Does the Bloom Box Create Electricity?The first question most people ask is: How the heck does the Bloom Box work? While the company understandably isn’t going to reveal its trade secrets, it has provided some nice graphics and details on how the Bloom Box generates electricity. The device is, in fact, a fuel cell, which means it generates electricity through a chemical reaction. In the case of the Bloom Box, fuel is mixed with oxygen and then a reaction is triggered through an electrolyte layer to create electricity. The actual fuel cells are primarily built with compressed sands. The fuel is interchangeable, although natural gas seems to the fuel of choice currently. This graphic provides a quick overview of the different configurations of the Bloom Box, as well as the basics of how they work:  What the Bloom Box Looks LikeThe Bloom Box is already in use at eight major corporations: Google, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Staples, eBay, Cox Enterprises, Walmart, and FedEx. All of these boxes are in California due to a hefty subsidy that helps these companies purchase green technologies on the cheap. Yesterday, I was at eBay’s headquarters for the launch of Bloom Energy. During that time, I snuck off and took a short video of the five Bloom Boxes currently in use on eBay’s campus. They currently generate about 15% of the power at eBay’s headquarters. Some interesting things I learned about the boxes by being up-close and personal with them: they are definitely not hot, and while they do make sound, it’s a lot less than what you’d find at a power plant or a transformer station. Bloom Box Press Q&AWe had a lot of questions about the Bloom Box, and so did the rest of the press that attended the launch of the event. Thus, Bloom Energy had a 30 minute press Q&A to answer our questions, which included Bloom Energy’s CEO and its VP of Marketing, as well as T.J. Rodgers, Founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, John Doerr, Partner at investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers, and General Colin Powell. We covered a lot of ground in the 30 minutes, all of which I recorded (apologies for the shaky camera — I lost my tripod!). We asked them about when we’ll see Bloom Boxes in our homes, whether they could be used to power our cars, dived into the technical details of the Bloom Energy Server, how much funding the company has raised (rumored: $400 million), and when Bloom Energy won’t need subsidies to survive. Bonus: at 19 minutes and 25 seconds, I ask KR Sridhar about which fuels Bloom Energy’s current customers use and learned that the box automatically knows when its fuel input has been changed. Colin Powell Speaks about Bloom Energy’s Military ApplicationsWhat Do You Think?It’s your turn: we want to know what you think of the Bloom Box. From these videos, do you think the device is all hype or that the attention is justified? Would you want to buy one of these devices for your home if it were available, and how much would you pay? Let us know your answers to these question, along with anything else that strikes you about Bloom Energy, in the comments. Reviews: Google Tags: bloom box, bloom energy, Colin Powell, ebay, energy
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| Facebook to Take 30% Cut of Developers’ Facebook Credits Revenues Posted: 25 Feb 2010 05:34 PM PST 
Facebook Credits make up Facebook’s virtual currency; the currency became available to some users last Spring. Those users could buy gifts with it. Facebook then made a deal that gave users the ability to purchase Facebook Credits with their PayPal accounts and offered Facebook Credits as a currency option to several application developers, including uber-huge game-makers Playfish and Zynga. Facebook says it’s taking the 30% cut so it can invest “heavily in the ecosystem” by educating users and marketing to them about the currency, testing out incentives to get people to try the credits out, and seeding credits to get people comfortable with them. Here’s an interesting coincidence: That’s the same percentage that Apple takes from App Store sales. Just before 2010 began, we named virtual currency as one of the major moves to expect from Facebook this year. That was after we predicted earlier in 2009 that Facebook would deploy a currency. We’re still waiting for Facebook to bring Facebook Credits and Facebook Connect together to become a major transactional entity on the web, but just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t. Facebook is wisely starting small. Reviews: Facebook Tags: facebook, facebook credits, facebook platform, microtransactions, online games, virtual currency
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| Facebook Secures Patent for News Feed Posted: 25 Feb 2010 05:09 PM PST 
Patent #7,669,123, first unearthed by All Facebook, credits Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and seven other current and former Facebookers as inventors and assigns the rights to the patent to Facebook, Inc. Depending on what this patent actually covers, Facebook could use it to protect its intellectual property and force other companies with news feeds — e.g. MySpace, Google, and Twitter — to change or take down their technologies. First though, we have to begin to understand what this patent is all about. Overview: The News Feed Patent While we’re going to take some time to really dig into this patent, is basics are simple enough. The patent awards Facebook protection for technology “dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network.” While that synopsis is very general and could definitely apply to a lot of well-known social media apps and startups, the patent’s abstract focuses less on status updates and more on the display of stories to the user. Here is the abstract in its full form:
As we see it, this patent is focused on the technology that displays the news feed, rather than the delivery of status updates that often compose them. However, the patent also specifically covers the auto-generation of a user’s activity and the display of that to friends. That means the news updates you get when your friends upload videos and accept friend requests is covered by Facebook’s new patent. Facebook pioneered news feed technology when it launched its News Feed feature back in 2006. While there was a lot of controversy about it back then, it is now a standard feature on multiple social networks. The Potential Impact of the PatentFacebook and its leadership are now credited as the inventors of the news feed, or more specifically several elements of the news feed. The big question that we have to ask is this: Could Facebook force other social media companies to stop using news feeds? Here are a few potential scenarios we’ve come up with:
Let’s be clear: we don’t know what Facebook wants to do with its patent, and we are not patent lawyers with years of experience in this space. With that said, we do believe this patent could become very significant, very quickly. It covers a lot of technologies that are seemingly in use almost everywhere. If Facebook can make news feed a Facebook-only feature, then it drains the usefulness of countless social networks while boosting its own. However, the process of exercising that patent would get very ugly, and we’re not sure if Facebook has a lot of incentive to jump into the snake pit and incur that type of PR damage. We’re going to take some more time to research this patent and consult with experts to see what impact this thing could have. In the meantime, let us know what you think about this new development in the comments. Update: Facebook sent us the following statement:
Reviews: Facebook, Google, MySpace, Twitter Tags: facebook, news feed, patent, trending
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| Erykah Badu and Paul McCartney: First Twitter Sample Clearance? Posted: 25 Feb 2010 04:57 PM PST 
Pitchfork reports on an exchange initiated by Erykah Badu on Twitter, seeking last-minute clearance for a sample from the Wings song “Arrow Through Me.” Looking to connect with Paul McCartney, she appealed to anyone who might help connect her to him or a closer contact in the chain. Following the stream of tweets, it looks like Badu got a hookup to Lenny Kravitz, who knows McCartney’s daughter Stella, who then connected her to Paul. He approved the sample clearance and she thanked her “Twitter fam” for making the clearance come together. As Tears for Fears’ Curt Smith talked about in our recent interview, usually this process involves lots of lawyers and in-betweens and can often be drawn out for weeks if not months of back and forth. In another excellent example of how social media can be used to disintermediate the music industry status quo, Twitter made sample clearance a collaborative and rapid process by putting two artists into direct contact. Do you know of any other interesting examples of social media making things easier for artists? Reviews: Twitter Tags: clearance, erykah badu, licensing, music, music industry, paul mccartney, samples, social media, twitter, wings
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| Facebook Friending Made Simple: Just Shake Your iPhone Posted: 25 Feb 2010 04:22 PM PST 
For those of you unfamiliar with the app, Bump allows you to share contact information with friends simply by bumping your phone once with another friend’s phone (note: they much touch to work, you can’t just shake it in the air). The app then connects your iPhones and transfer contact information like phone numbers and addresses (for more, read our original review). Now a new update to the app has brought it a couple of new features, but the one people will be talking about though is the Facebook integration. If you link your Facebook account to Bump and swap contact information with another person who has done the same, you can choose right then and there to initiate a friend request. Once done, a prompt will appear where the other party can accept or deny the friend request.   Jake Mintz, Co-Founder of Bump Technologies, told me that he and his team worked closely with Facebook to make this happen. He’s “pretty sure” that Bump’s the first app that can initiate and accept friend requests; we can’t think of any mobile apps off the top of our heads that do, so we think it’s likely Bump is the first. Along with the Facebook integration, Bump now boasts custom profiles, which gives users more control over the contact information they share when “bumping” or create frequently-used share settings such as “work,” “personal,” or “fake” (just in case you can’t shake off that persistent and annoying guy/girl at the bar). Jake says that this is the first of many social media integrations that will come to Bump. So yes, you can expect the ability to follow the people you meet via Twitter just by bumping iPhones in the near future.  Reviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: bump, facebook, iphone, Mobile 2.0
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| Texas Offers Facebook $1.4 Million Incentive to Open Austin Office Posted: 25 Feb 2010 03:28 PM PST 
The deal is contingent on the city of Austin agreeing to pitch in $200,000 of incentives itself and on Facebook actually deciding that Austin is the best place to go. Austin will vote on the plan within a few weeks. Facebook’s Chief Operations Officer said something positive but noncommittal: “We’ve been exploring various options around the U.S. to establish an additional online sales and operations office … Austin, with its deep talent pool, would allow us to hire the high-caliber employees we need to properly serve the people, advertisers and developers that rely on our service.” The jobs at the new office would offer annual salaries that would average around $54,000 — almost $12,000 higher than the city’s median household income — so it’s understandable that the state of Texas is interested in attracting Facebook. Facebook is also a very high-profile company, with 400 million active users. It would be a big win for Austin’s reputation as a secondary tech hub, especially since Facebook has made only small expansions outside of Palo Alto in the past. Google opened an Austin office in 2008, but closed it down just a few months later; the city’s tech scene is still reeling from that event. If Facebook sets up shop there and stays, the city could regain some lost confidence. Reviews: Facebook, Google Tags: austin, business, facebook, News, rick perry, texas
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| Posted: 25 Feb 2010 02:51 PM PST 
Rebuilding Quicken for the MacQuicken Essentials for Mac is a native Cocoa app. This in itself wouldn’t be that noteworthy, except that previous versions of Quicken for Mac have not been built on Cocoa (or even optimized for Intel Macs), which has meant that there were user interface quirks and behavioral differences that made Quicken feel like less of a real Mac app.  With Quicken Essentials for Mac, the interface and program have been designed to use Mac OS X’s core features and strengths. This is a really good thing, and it shows a commitment to the Mac platform. This is important because it has been nearly four years since a Quicken app was released for the Mac. QuickBooks has had more frequent updates, but for home users who want to manage their finances, this is a long time coming. A Dose of Mint (.com)In September, Intuit, the makers of Quicken, acquired the money management web app, Mint.com. The acquisition was controversial amongst some Mint users, out of fear that Intuit would end up changing Mint into something different. It’s still too early to assess how the acquisition has affected both product groups (Mint.com continues as a separate product), but consumers did get something out of the deal: Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint.com, is now Intuit’s vice president and general manager of the company’s Personal Finance Group. That means that Aaron and the Mint team are now working on both Quicken and Mint.com.  I spoke with Aaron at the Future of Web Apps in Miami on Monday night, and he offered me some insight into his new role and the changes on the new Mac product. Aaron described Quicken Essentials for Mac as “the closest thing to Mint on the desktop as you are going to get.” From a personal money management perspective, that’s really great, because it means that not only is it easier to visualize where money is going, but you can connect to more financial institutions through the program than ever before. More than 12,000 institutions are supported now and a total of more than 18,000 is expected by the end of the year. Categorization is also much easier in Quicken Essentials for Mac, which is again, a hat-tip to Mint.com A Few Notes For UsersQuicken Essentials for Mac is designed for home users and while it supports basic investment tracking, it isn’t as robust as the Quicken for Windows offerings or the old Quicken Mac 2007. Better support for investments is planned for future versions of Quicken Essentials for Mac, but for right now, this isn’t really designed for users with heavy portfolios. Because only 6% of Quicken users used the built-in Bill Pay option in Quicken, this was removed from Quicken Essentials for Mac. You can still track your bills and make sure you have the money to pay them, but you can’t pay directly from the app unless you sign-up for Intuit’s Bill Pay service. If you’re a TurboTax user, Quicken Essentials for Mac doesn’t integrate or export to TurboTax, although again, that type of support might be added to the future. If you rely on getting your Quicken info into TurboTax, you’ll need to use Quicken Mac 2007. A Nice Start This is a great rebirth of sorts for Quicken for Mac. After being virtually abandoned for such a long time, it’s nice that the most popular money management tool is finally back on the Mac and in style. Quicken Essentials for Mac is $69.99 and requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Mac users — what do you think about Intuit’s new commitment to Mac? What are your favorite Mac-based financial management apps? Let us know! Reviews: Mac OS X, Mint, Windows Tags: Financial, mac, mac apps, mint, mint.com, Quicken, quicken essentials for mac, software
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| The Future of the Non-Profit Internet Posted: 25 Feb 2010 02:18 PM PST 
Earlier this month, Pew Internet released its annual Future of the Internet report. The survey of 900 leaders forecasts the future direction of online media. In turn non-profit strategists can glean insights into the future, and how to steer their individual programs. This year’s research report dove into five critical areas. Here’s what non-profits need to take away from the Pew report for their efforts: 1. Google Changes the Way We ThinkThe report goes into great depth about Google — or more specifically, search and the short attention span of the Internet surfer. While most feel that Google does not make us stupid, it does change the way we approach information, changing cognitive processing. End readers will need to have better critical thinking and analytical skills to discern quality information. With shorter attention spans, non-profits need to become sharper in their initial presentation of information — we now live in a 140 character world. Information must be substantive and factual, as well as inherently searchable on the traditional and social webs so people can find it. Finally, making bookmarks and sharing capabilities part of all content makes sense not only from a social networking standpoint, but so that readers can back track and access information for cognitive purposes. “The report’s findings reflect the notion that the tools are not going to change much in the near future, but organizations need to change in order to use them better,” said author Allison Fine. “Rethinking how they operate, what they are trying to accomplish by connecting with people, is critically important for non-profit organizations to successfully engage through the social web.” 2. The Internet Changes Language Another critical issue debated by the report is the evolution — or the de-evolution — of the English language due to SMS, Twitter and other short forms of communication. Sixty-five percent of respondents felt the Internet was improving the rendering of knowledge, but that language was evolving. Non-profits need to remain flexible with the quickly evolving nomenclature of the web. While we may all want to rely on the nuances of great grammar paradigms such as those espoused by the hilarious book Eats, Shoots and Leaves, the new short form that is emerging will only continue to evolve. Community managers will need to stay on top of the latest Internet slang in order remain effective. “Jargon excludes large chunks of audience,” said blogger and Kent State Professor William Sledzik. “I still have to look up ‘pwn’ every time I see it. Most readers won't bother. They'll just move to the next message. And I wonder how many folks outside social media knew the word ‘avatar’ before that movie came out. “But here's the upside,” added Sledzik. “Writing short-form messages for SMS, Twitter and other apps challenges us as writers. Breaking through in two-three seconds isn't easy, and it forces you to know your audience and what motivates them.” 3. The Pundits Don’t Know What They’re Talking AboutPredicting the future of the Internet has become a full time job for many, but 80 percent of Pew survey respondents say the pundits don’t really know what’s coming next. In fact, most believe that the future killer technologies of 2020 have yet to be revealed. To stay relevant, non-profit strategists need to stay in touch with their communities and closely watch which technologies and social networks they are adapting. In the end, it’s about the non-profit stakeholder and not the tools. At the same time, expect change. “I am often asked if Twitter is going to be around in 10 years, or if non-profits will have some other ‘next big thing’ to worry about,” said Holly Ross, executive director of the Nonprofit Technology Network. “The reality is that no one knows what tools will capture our collective imaginations next month, let alone in the next decade. What we can guarantee is the the tools will reflect the trends and norms of our society, which increasingly values openness and transparency.” 4. The Internet Will Remain End-to-End — Sort Of
From an architecture standpoint, the respondents are right. The financial benefits for the economy are obvious. Yet the rise of the influential middle party — the clearinghouse — cannot be denied. Many Internet users rely on voices they trust to filter that information — from top-ranked bloggers to community content streams on social networks. Non-profits will need to maintain strong relationships with powerful community influencers. “Clearinghouses for information have been in the forms of our friends and neighbors for decades,” said Amber Naslund, director of community, Radian6 and blogger at Altitude Branding. “With the ubiquity of information across the social web, we’ll always look to voices that we trust to help us separate the wheat from the chaff. Influence isn’t always about who has the loudest voice or the most attention. Influence can be related to people who are passionate about your mission and spread the word voraciously, not just through a massive network.” 5. Anonymity and Privacy Will Continue to Be Big IssuesAnonymity and privacy will continue to be big issues. Respondents had no clear direction on how authenticity pressures would impact anonymity and privacy. 41% see stronger measures in place by 2020, and 55% say the Internet will remain as is. This is a particular thorny topic for non-profits, especially those dealing with children, medical records, financial information, or traditionally inflammatory subjects. While privacy remains important, so does maintaining enough openness to keep a community committed. Non-profits will have to weigh this issue on a case-by-case basis. “Charitable organizations must take precautions to ensure that their constituents, including staff and volunteers are protected,” said Jocelyn Harmon, director, Non-Profit Services at Care2 and author of the Nonprofit Marketing Blog. “That said, being transparent, for example, the finances and operations of your organization is also a core value that non-profits must embrace. It’s a tough tightrope to walk but charitable organizations must attempt to strike a balance between these competing priorities.” More social good resources from Mashable:
[img credits: David Reece, ydhsu] Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl Reviews: Radian6, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: analysis, List, Lists, non-profit, Pew, social good, social media, study
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| Has Digg Found the Winning Formula for Ads? Posted: 25 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST 
This latest bit of information was shared in a blog post earlier today that details how the DiggAds system actually works and the results thus far. Here are the key details from Digg’s comments:
What’s especially interesting is that DiggAds displays advertisements to site users in the same format as other Digg content — so ads are a part of the Digg stream like other stories — but for the most part users appear to be embracing the model instead of rejecting it (and Digg’s community has historically not been shy over voicing displeasure with things they don’t like). As Twitter prepares to unveil its own alternative ad platform, we have to wonder if they’ll emulate some of Digg’s tactics and whether or not Twitter’s very vocal user base will be as accepting as Digg’s has been. Reviews: Digg, Twitter Tags: advertising, digg, DiggAds, MARKETING, social media
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| Opera 10.5 Beta for Mac Adds Multi-Touch Gestures Posted: 25 Feb 2010 01:44 PM PST 
There’s a complete change log online if you want to get into the nitty gritty of what’s included, but the biggest additions include multi-touch gestures, Growl notifications, support for Apple’s Cocoa application programming interface, and restored support for Macs running the old Mac OS 10.4 Tiger operating system. There are still many older Macs out there running Tiger, so it’s good to have that back; just be warned that you’ll still need an Intel processor to run Opera. The older PowerPC processors aren’t supported no matter what operating system you’re running. Now that Opera uses the extremely popular Growl notifications software, it can show quick, transparent updates on your screen when something important happens. Gestures for multi-touch screens sound like a sweet idea, but we haven’t had the chance to try them out to see if they’re actually useful — let us know what you think in the comments if you give them a spin. Remember that this is the beta release, so it’s bound to have a few bugs to deal with. For example, there are some performance issues with Tiger that aren’t present in 10.5 Leopard or 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Java support is “minimal.” You can download the 10.5 Beta at the Opera website right now, but the 10.1 stable version is still available if you want a smoother experience. Reviews: Opera Tags: apple, growl, mac, multi-touch, opera, software
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| 5 Fantastic Facebook Fan Page Ideas to Learn From Posted: 25 Feb 2010 01:17 PM PST 
So your business is on Facebook, and brand engagement is up thanks to some savvy social media strategy. You may even be interested in further distinguishing your brand by building a custom landing page for your account. But what kind of value does a custom Facebook Fan Page offer? What are your fans looking for on a social network that they can’t get from your business website? For some insight, let’s check out how some big-name brands have stepped up their engagement by investing a little more TLC into their Facebook presence. InteractivitySocial networks are not passive, so your Facebook landing page shouldn’t be either. It’s nice to have a great looking “Welcome” splash, but users are going to want to do something when they arrive.  Facebook is all about sharing, and The Gap has an ingenious promotion on the Baby Gap tab of their Fan Page. The simple splash image has a link to one of their photo albums where fans can upload pictures of their babies wearing their favorite Gap denim gear. This kind of campaign provides a wealth of free, user-generated content that displays Gap products, and best of all, the functionality of photo uploading is already built into Facebook — no development necessary. This is an interactive idea that any small business could implement. The Home Depot has built a bit on the shareability of Facebook actions with their DIY Gifts app. From Home Depot’s Fan Page, you can grant the app access to share your gift purchases with the recipient and your friends. While this approach may not work for everyone, it’s a step toward increasing consumer visibility on Facebook — a growing trend. A Full Website Experience Within Facebook Some companies go all out when it comes to their Facebook presence, integrating fully fledged mini-websites right into their Fan Pages. Adidas sneakers is a good example. They’ve added a multimedia content hub under the tab “Your Area” that offers photos, videos, and events based on your region. The site is built entirely in Flash and isn’t all that interactive, but it offers a rich media experience without ever leaving the boundaries of Facebook. Dell’s Design Studio page is another example of a full-tilt Flash site inside Facebook. This one lets you browse and tweak custom artwork for your new laptop before linking you over to the corporate site to complete the purchase. You can also share your design choices with friends, all without connecting a single Facebook app to your account. Deals! The key to Facebook, and any social network, is to keep pushing out content that your fans are interested in. Many businesses do a great job keeping their fans apprised of deals and discounts through status updates. Another great way to keep content fresh and visual within Facebook is to promote special offers on a custom tab. This may be something new visitors see when they land on your Fan Page, or a rich destination you can link back to in a post. Walgreens does it very simply. Their landing page is a nice branded splash image that simply touts their “Exclusive Offers for Our Facebook Fans.” Their promotions are in their updates, but this simple, static custom page encourages users to become fans without any bells or whistles. They leave the deals to the built-in functionality of Facebook, and your business can too. By simply changing the image on your custom page, you can call attention to a new product or promotion that your fans will see whenever they land there. It’s an easy way to keep your page looking fresh, in addition to regular updates. ConclusionThese examples have been built for large companies that probably have more web development resources than the average small business. But if you’re serious about your commitment to Facebook engagement, consider taking some inspiration from these examples and exploring the possibilities that custom pages and apps can offer your business. More business resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Facebook Tags: business, facebook, facebook fan page, facebook page, Lists, MARKETING, small business, social media
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| It’s Wrong to Friend Your Boss on Facebook [SURVEY] Posted: 25 Feb 2010 12:56 PM PST 
Reuters reports on other interesting results from the survey, including that 73% think it’s not OK to check Facebook at work, but 66% say checking personal e-mail is fine. Tweeting while at work is considered irresponsible for 72% of respondents, and watching online videos is wrong for 79%. Other findings from the study include a fairly even split on whether companies are ethically in the clear when using social media profiles to assess job candidates: 52% think it’s appropriate with 48% dissenting. In the relationships department, a full 60% think it’s perfectly fine to unfriend an ex after a breakup. And despite the complexity of most of the social responsibility responses, one particular practice draws the ire of a majority 75% of respondents, who feel that it’s “egotistical and a waste of time” to build a Facebook profile for a pet. The biggest caveat with these study results is the sample size: the project only polled 1,000 people. Nevertheless, it uncovers some interesting issues at the intersection of social media and the workplace that will likely become more, not less, thorny in the future. What do you think: Is it OK to friend your boss or your employees on Facebook? In what contexts does it become more or less appropriate to do so? Reviews: Facebook Tags: etiquette, facebook, jobs, netiquette, pets, social media, surveys, trending, work, workplace
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| Final Fantasy Has Arrived on the iPhone Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:34 AM PST 
We knew they were coming a while ago, but we didn’t know the pricing. Each game costs $8.99 and features upgraded graphics similar to those found on the Sony PSP versions released a couple years ago. Both titles debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 1980s. Note that the App Store received the Japanese version of Final Fantasy II, not the American one. Japan’s Final Fantasy IV was released as Final Fantasy II in the United States for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but this is the original Final Fantasy II that wasn’t released in the States until much later — confusing, we know. If you’re not familiar with the Final Fantasy series, it’s one of the seminal franchises of Japanese role-playing games. Final Fantasy games involve a lot of random strategic battles with monsters in addition to some dialogue and exploration. They’re difficult, but they’re rewarding if you’re willing to invest some serious time. Chances are these early titles won’t appeal to people who aren’t already fans. Developer Square Enix is banking on nostalgia here. Folks who aren’t fans might want to wait for the later, more accessible games in the series to hit the iPhone OS — not that anything’s been announced yet.     Reviews: final fantasy Tags: apple app store, Final Fantasy, final fantasy ii, iphone, iPod Touch, Square Enix, video games
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| Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:08 AM PST 
“You can now, once more, pwn your Apple TV following these super simple instructions, and get the Boxee Beta on that shiny Apple box,” says Boxee in a blog post. While the instructions will take users through how to use the USB flash drive ATVUSB-creator for the Apple TV, those that already have Boxee Alpha installed should be able to just update Launcher and then update Boxee to achieve the same result. Anyone too nervous to hack their Apple TV can wait for the Boxee Box — the company’s own hardware device — which is expected to launch later this year. However, those that want to continue to enjoy the Social Media Center service on their Apple hardware in months to come might want to think twice about installing the next official Apple update. Reviews: Boxee
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| The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team’s Pants Fan Page [Randomly Viral] Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:56 AM PST 
The page, which was launched February 16 or thereabouts, already has nearly half a million fans — and it’s still growing. Yesterday, however, tragedy struck. According to the AP, the page — managed by New York curler Tony D’Orazio — was taken down because it was said to violate the social networking site’s terms of service. After a steady stream of angry comments, the page was restored. According to the Post, Facebook amended its previous statement, saying that it had not violated any rules. Still, if we take a look at Facebook’s terms, it could be argued that the page does, in fact, fall into the violation category:
The curling team’s pants don’t really count as “a business or other commercial, political, or charitable organization or endeavor,” and D’Orazio is not “an authorized representative of the subject of the Page.” D’Orazio — who was invited by the The Norwegian Curling Association to their next tournament — told the AP: “In about 20 minutes I had about 200 fans and it grew very quickly from there. It’s overwhelming a little bit… I’m not only a fan of the pants, but I’m also a curling fan. I’ve been called by a couple of people the undisputed No. 1 fan of Norwegian curling.” Well, I don’t really know what curling is, but I have to agree that the pants are pretty rad. Would you wear them? Reviews: Facebook Tags: curling, facebook, sports, trending, viral-meme, winter olympics
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| Webtrends Launches Analytics for Facebook Marketers Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:39 AM PST 
Tools like this are useful because Facebook’s own platform for this, Facebook Insights, runs three days behind, doesn’t measure custom tabs or apps, and doesn’t integrate with analytics for other digital marketing channels. The tools work inside Facebook to provide detailed analytics data about applications, custom tabs, brand pages, contests and advertisements, among other things. This wasn’t easy to achieve because most of Facebook (Fan Pages included) doesn’t allow JavaScript, but Webtrends developed a custom API to get around that. Third-party applications built on the Facebook platform are easier because JavaScript is permitted. The special features here are the ones related to comparing data between Facebook and other digital channels. For example, you can see how much traffic is being driven to your Facebook Fan Pages by Twitter updates, or you can overlay Facebook Fan Page activity with that on corporate blog posts. Here are some images of Webtrends’ Facebook tools in action.    Reviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: analytics, facebook, facebook insights, MARKETING, software, webtrends
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| Skype Pulls Its Windows Mobile Apps Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:08 AM PST 
The company has just announced that it has removed Skype for Windows Phones and Skype Lite from its mobile site. The announcement was made this morning in a blog post addressing changes to Skype’s mobile lineup. The post states:
Users who have already downloaded the applications can continue to use them as usual, though they should operate under the notion that these applications offer a sub-par Skype experience. Skype speaks to the challenges associated with supporting multiple handsets on multiple carriers as the primary reason for the drastic move. As for Skype Lite — a lightweight version of Skype for non-smartphones — the application’s limitations around supported countries and call rates were the contributing factors to its demise. Right now there’s no word on Skype’s plans to support devices running the Windows operating system moving forward, but we’ve e-mailed for comment and will update this post when we know more. With Windows Phones 7 not scheduled to come on the market until the end of 2010, though, this latest decision could mean that there will be an extended period of time during which Skype for Windows Phones will simply be unavailable.
Reviews: Skype, Windows Tags: Mobile 2.0, Skype, windows mobile, windows phone classic
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| Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone: 9 Days, $1 Million in Sales Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:54 AM PST 
More than 300,000 iPhone and iPod touch owners have shelled out to download Plants vs. Zombies since its App Store debut nine days ago. The popular game from PopCap, priced at $2.99, has in fact netted the developer more than $1 million so far, leading to the claim that it has set a new record for App Store launches (which we’ve asked Apple to verify). To put these figures into context, the eagerly anticipated Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone reached the $300,000 sales mark in 20 days back in summer 2008 — although there are more iPhone owners now. Originally debuting on the PC and Mac in spring 2009, Plants vs. Zombies is currently occupying the number-one position on the App Store sales charts in more than 20 countries worldwide. PopCap has also revealed that another of its games, Bejeweled 2, is now the first paid app to reach three million units sold. Reviews: iPhone Tags: iphone, plants vs zombies, popcap, video games
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| iPhone Users Still More Likely to Buy Apps than Android Users [STATS] Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:11 AM PST 
In August 2009 we wrote (also based on a report by AdMob) that iPhone and iPod touch users are more likely to purchase paid applications than Android users. Here’s what we wrote back then:
Based on the latest report from AdMob, the situation has changed slightly, but not dramatically. iPhone users download, on average, 8.8 apps every month; Android users download 8.7 apps. However, out of those numbers, only 1.1 apps on Android are paid apps, while iPhone users download 1.8 paid apps every month.  Also included in the survey was iPod touch, whose users download the most apps: 12.1 every month. WebOS users, on the other hand, download significantly fewer apps, only 5.7 every month, and only 0.6 of those are paid apps. This comes as no surprise since Palm’s app catalog has an incomparably lower number of apps than iPhone and even Android’s app stores. AdMob’s report highlights another very interesting number: 91% of iPhone users and 88% of iPod touch users would recommend their devices, compared to 84% of Android users and 69% of webOS users. webOS users are 3.4x more likely to not recommend their device relative to iPhone OS users. Reviews: Android, iPhone Tags: android, iphone, Mobile 2.0
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Apple TV owners can once again easily access Boxee content on their home cinema hardware. That’s right, the block that October’s 3.0 Apple TV firmware update implemented for those wanting to go down the simple USB install route has been lifted.
Mobile device owners running Windows Phone Classic (i.e. any version of Windows Mobile OS) will no longer be able to download Skype.
AdMob’s Mobile Metrics Report for January 2010 is out, highlighting several interesting facts based on an opt-in survey of consumers on iPhone, iPod touch, Android and webOS devices.| You are subscribed to email updates from Mashable! To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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