Google Friend Connect
Personalize your website experience: Google Friend Connect personalises newsletters, content, ads; http://j.mp/2KJseF
Updates from November, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
Gerrit Eicker
SL Enterprise
Linden Lab introduces SL Enterprise, now in beta, and SL Work Marketplace; http://j.mp/31RTnq
Gerrit Eicker
WSJ Goes New York
The Wall Street Journal plans to add a New York Report, adding traditional city desk beats; http://j.mp/ZVNx
Gerrit Eicker
MSN Relaunch
1/3 of all netizens visit MSN monthly: time for a relaunch and integration of Facebook and Twitter; http://j.mp/lOguV
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Gerrit Eicker
TC: “Half of their monthly visitors are already Facebook users, says Microsoft. And 15% use Twitter. So having the ability to read and create Facebook and Twitter messages right from the portal page is a good idea. For users with Silverlight, more advanced apps will be available.”
RWW: “The new site now puts a lot of emphasis on local news. The new local edition features extended weather reports, movie times, concerts, restaurant reviews and information about local gas prices. For restaurant reviews, Microsoft takes users to Bing’s local search.”
SEL: “Microsoft told me that the redesign was prompted by user feedback and a growing internal sense that the old design was cluttered and had grown stale. When I met with Microsoft we also discussed and compared the Yahoo homepage redesign of several months ago. … The new MSN will roll out globally over the next several months. Interestingly the look of the MSN portal may be slightly different country to country, depending on variables unique to each local market. Microsoft also says that it will bring the new MSN experience to mobile devices as well.”
NYT: “MSN, however, is not going nearly as far as Yahoo in its effort to integrate applications from other sources onto its home page. And unlike Yahoo and AOL, which have indicated that they plan to increase their production of original content, Microsoft will continue getting its content largely from partners like MSNBC.com and Fox Sports. ‘I wouldn’t anticipate seeing Microsoft invest in content directly,’ Bob Visse, general manager of MSN’s product management group. said.”
ClickZ: “Ad formats on the new MSN homepage include a 300×250 ‘Showcase’ format; a new horizontal top-of-page ad the company is calling ‘Sliver’; and a ‘Waterfall’ vertically oriented display ad. The Showcase ad unit was offered previously, but Microsoft has made it more prominent by removing editorial content from the space immediately surrounding the ad. MSN is also bundling these ads together for clients wishing to place synchronized executions.”
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Gerrit Eicker
AdAge: “Consider: In 2005, AOL, MSN and Yahoo accounted for a combined 30% of all time spent on the web in the U.S., according to Nielsen. Today, they account for a combined 17%. In September, the average Facebook user spends 5.5 hours on the social network per month, while MSN users spend 2 hours, Yahoo users spend 3 hours and AOL users spend 2.5 hours. – Still, the 17% share means the death of the portal has been greatly exaggerated, and MSN boasts the largest global audience of any of the three. Moreover, MSN is a key audience vehicle for Microsoft to drive adoption of technologies such as Silverlight, Internet Explorer, Windows 7 and search engine Bing.com.”
Gerrit Eicker
Open Declaration on European Public Services
The Open Declaration on European Public Services calls for: transparency, participation, empowerment; http://j.mp/EPS-OD
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Gerrit Eicker
The Open Declaration on European Public Services will be presented at to the Malmö Ministerial conference, a contribution from you and me and everybody who cares enough. This is the first time ever – in the rather complex Euro ritual – that a citizen declaration is presented alongside the declaration of the European ministers. It will only be backed by our voices. So our voices need to be many and clear. Join!
Gerrit Eicker
Web Analytics: Google vs. Yahoo
Insightr: The ultimate comparison between Google Analytics and Yahoo Web Analytics; http://j.mp/2wenKg
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook vs. Twitter V.
Solis: In the fight between Facebook and Twitter, which one is the Mac and which one is the PC? http://j.mp/4ccd08
Gerrit Eicker
Vascellaro: The reign of eMail is over; http://j.mp/35YAIe vs. Engst: eMail remains the king; http://j.mp/bemf7
Gerrit Eicker
Kiva: US$ 100,000,000!
Within 4 years 584,189 Kiva lenders raised US$ 100,000,000 in loans; http://j.mp/4zCNXA
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Gerrit Eicker
Kiva: “It’s a wonderful accomplishment involving 584,189 Kiva Lenders in our first 4 years of operations. What’s even more amazing to me is that it took over 1 year to raise our first $1 million. This year alone, we’re on track to raise nearly $60 million.“
Gerrit Eicker
Debategraph
A wiki debate visualisation tool, creative commons project, global graph of debates: Debategraph; http://j.mp/10wSsb
Gerrit Eicker 20:16 on 4. November 2009 Permalink |
Google: “Visitors to your site can get to know each other better by sharing details about themselves that are relevant to the site they’re on. As a site owner, you can help them do this by visiting the new ‘Interests’ section of your Friend Connect account, where you can add site-relevant questions that people can answer when joining your website or via the poll gadget. … We’ve also added the ability for people to send private messages to each other. … And as with any data you collect on Friend Connect, you can use open export tools and APIs to integrate this information with any other systems you might use. … The ice-breaking isn’t limited to your visitors; you’ll learn more about them too. The interests people share make it possible for you to create a more personalized experience on your website in a number of ways: send custom newsletters … personalized content gadget … Google ads”
TC: “There are actually a number of new or tweaked features in Friend Connect, but the overall gist of the changes is that they will allow site owners to offer a more personalized social experience to their visitors, while making it easier for visitors to connect with each other. … But from a social perspective, this is really about using all of this data to build out Google’s social layer. With it, Google can do things like build different social profiles for you on different sites (depending on that site’s content). The goal with that is to encourage users to interact more – you know, like on a social network, like the one that has the rival connect product and 300 million users. … So will this shift mindshare away from Facebook Connect and towards Friend Connect as the important social layer for the web? Not if Facebook has its way with the new Open Graph API in the works. Still, Friend Connect is no slouch. In the 10 months since it officially launched, there are now 9 million sites with it implemented in some way.”
RWW: “As Mussie Shore, Google’s product manager for the Friend Connect project, told us yesterday, Google wants to make it easier for site owners to engage their community. Friend Connect, which launched in December 2008, is currently in use on over 9 million sites. 2 new users join a GFC-enabled site every second. According to Shore, small communities with between 1,000 and 5,000 members represent the sweet spot for Friend Connect.”
NW: “In totality, Google is launching a number of small upgrades that in aggregate add a much greater depth to Friend Connect. The service is already massively popular, and these upgrades will only add to the draw of the service. If you have not already, get ready to be a user on Friend Connect quickly. – Friend Connect seems to be the anti-Facebook. Instead of doing all the aggregation from external points to one central dumping point, Friend Connect wants to keep your presences separate, based on niche content. I have a suspicion that both have a space, and a future online.“