Sep 262012
 

With the rebirth of MySpace, introduced by a slick video featuring Justin Timberlake, new owner Specific Media (and Timberlake) is looking to get the social network’s swagger back. The new look centers on a image-heavy, horizontal layout similar to Pinterest. Taking pragmatic view, the new MySpace incorporate “rivals” Twitter and Facebook but will remain focused on music.

Specific Media purchased MySpace for $35 millon from Rupert Murdoch after he, several years earlier, had paid $580 million.

In the video, we are told MySpace will be “staying true to our roots in one important way – empowering people to express themselves however they want.”

 

 

 

MOREOMG! OMG! MySpace Gets Its Swagger Back! – Adrants.

 


Sep 262012
 

DudaMobile in February reported that nearly 20% of visits to small business sites led to an immediate call to the business e.g. with click-to-call, with some local businesses skewing much higher e.g., pizzerias at 32%, car services at 27.8%. But businesses have to earn that call with a mobile-friendly site that puts that phone number above the fold and in eyeshot. Google concludes from the new study that non-mobile friendly sites actually damage a company’s reputation: 36% of respondents said they felt like they’ve wasted their time by visiting those sites, and 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company.

MOREGoogle Warns, 6 in 10 Will Leave Your Mobile-Unfriendly Site – MarketingVOX.

 


Sep 252012
 

I’m not the only one to be getting these spammy direct messages on Twitter that lead to bogus Facebook links. Apparently a lot of people have been complaining of these messages, according to Sophos analyst Graham Cluley who wrote about it on the Naked Security blog.

Different variations of the direct messages include, “your in this [link] lol” and “lol ur famous now [link]” (I got this one too).

Of course, I didn’t click on the link. However, according to Cluley, those people that do click are led to a video player that says, “An update to Youtube player is needed.” Users are asked to download what is supposedly called “FlashPlayerV10.1.57.108.exe,” but Sophos antivirus products detect it as Troj/Mdrop-EML, which is a backdoor Trojan that can copy itself to accessible drives and network shares.

A Slate reporter wrote that he clicked on the bogus link and was directed to Facebook where he was told he had to log in to access an app. It’s unclear if this link also contained some sort of virus, Trojan, or malware.

MORETwitter users may be victims of direct message malware | Security & Privacy – CNET News.

 


Sep 252012
 

Once a media darling Orkut has been steadily  going downfall and following the MySpace way  has  seen the numbers of its daily visitors dwindle nearly 86% over the last year, suggesting that it  the Google powered Social Network is all ready to be bought over or sold to the largest bidder. Either way this once confirms what “ most of us “  already know ..Google ‘s experiments in social media has been more than a disaster. After shutting down more than 10 social products over the last   4 years

MOREOnline Marketing Trends: The End of Orkut : Why Google will never succeed in Social Media.

 


Sep 252012
 

Top 50 Web Site Properties in US

Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in  Q3,2012 ,August with 187 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites with 170 million and Yahoo with 164million

Facebook  was at  no 4

Linkedin was no 26

Twitter.com  was at no 28),

Tumblr.com   ranked no 39

Myspace ( no 43) and Instagram.com ( no 48) all ranked among the Top 50.

MOREOnline Marketing Trends: Comscore Ranks 2012 Top 50 US Web properties ad networks.

 


Sep 202012
 

After severing ties with LinkedInTwitter inadvertently helped opponent Facebook snag 1000% more page referrals from the professional social network.

PageLever, an analytics tool for Facebook pages, points to Twitter’s June 29 decision to stop syncing updates with LinkedIn as an explanation for the spike.

“The spike happened because without Twitter, there is now a significantly lower volume of content in the LinkedIn News Feed, and therefore less competition for clicks and attention,” Brendan Irvine-Broque, PageLever’s director of growth, tells Mashable in an email. “So any non-Twitter content (including links to Facebook Pages and Page Posts) is performing much better than before.”

Irvine-Broque adds that the spike happened “immediately after the change.”

MORE:  Referrals to Facebook Spike 1000% After Twitter Cuts Off LinkedIn [CHART].

 


Sep 202012
 

Popular video-sharing site Vimeo has added a tip jar, which allows Vimeo users to accept payments from anyone who enjoys their movies.

To use the new Tip Jar you’ll need to be a Vimeo Plus or Vimeo Pro member, but provided you’re already set up with a paid account, enabling it is as simple as adding a PayPal account and checking a box on the video’s advanced settings page. Once that’s done a “Tip This Video” button will appear underneath the video player on Vimeo.com, allowing viewers to leave tips in appreciation for your cinéma vérité efforts.

MORE:  Make Your Movies Pay With Vimeo’s New ‘Tip Jar’ | Webmonkey | Wired.com.

 


Sep 192012
 

Pinterest remains a fascinating case study in how it draws such a large number of women to its platform. With its stylized yet simple logo and interface, Pinterest has tailored itself toward females as much as it possibly can, while being as covert as possible, so it’s not construed as too feminine. But subliminally, the signs are all there, as evidenced by its “About” page:

“Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.”

It doesn’t sound like a male-oriented user experience! Pinterest also retains a valuable level of anonymity that doesn’t require a large personal commitment to the community. Compare this with Google+, which is text-heavy and has a busy interface. Entering a social network into the pool at such a relatively late stage, Google needed to exist on its own terms and merits. As such, while it offers a lot of interesting and unique innovations, it requires a deeper understanding in order to get the most out of its vast capabilities.

A Wired magazine panel recently pinpointed the two core problems for females: “the way Google+ works, and the people who are on it.” Research has shown that women much prefer to engage in predominantly female circles, a big reason why Pinterest is a huge opportunity for brands.

MORE:  Women are from Pinterest, men are from Google+ – iMediaConnection.com.

 


Sep 192012
 

Today, Twitter announced all-new header photos, which appear to be rather similar to those Facebook introduced some months ago and that Google+ also uses. In Twitter’s case, the argument for the introduction and inclusion of such images is to “make your presence on Twitter more meaningful”, and to “help you get to know people better through their pictures,” according to Product Manager Sachin Agarwal. The reality is the profile now takes up more space, forcing down tweets. Worse, Silktide founder Oliver Embarton argued Twitter’s poor design potentially makes it harder, not easier, to discover more about someone:

MORE:  Twitter’s new profile headers slammed | News | .net magazine.

 


Sep 192012
 

Some Bank of America Corp customers in the United States said on Tuesday they were having trouble logging into its online banking website, reviving memories of a serious outage last fall.

The scope of the problem could not immediately be learned, and a Bank of America spokesman did not have immediate comment.

via Customers reporting BofA website problems | Reuters.