SNS, kind of

NYTimes has implemented a new "service" called TimesPeople.  Not really much to see right now, but apparently you'll be allowed to "follow" readers and see what your friends are reading.  

This, to me, seems to be even more of a harbinger of saturation than the infant SNS.  Think about it this way...

There's already several ways to accomplish this end.  Hell, NYTimes itself allows you to send to individuals and post pages to Facebook, Digg, Delicious, etc...  I'm not convinced that this new application fills a need.  And I know, we've reached the point that people are now looking at applications replacing applications in the user sphere, but this NYTimes application should have a higher usability built in to it.  You can update from your e-mail server, but what about having a built in/automatic suggestion based on the entry page?  At the very least NYTimes should actually be set to initally import your "friends" based on past usage.  After all, the application is introduced to Times members, we wouldn't be too surprised to see that NYTimes has been doing some data mining now would we.

New SNS

Well it's probably about time, no? NYTimes has run a trend piece on SNS for newborns. Twittering before learning that your feet are attached to your body, if you will. Personally, I'm of the belief that kids should be involved in online networking (of course offline networking should come first). But in this instance, could it be damaging for the children to grow up later and see what their parents have said in their own voice.

""It does feel a little funny to personalize it in his voice and be connecting to other babies as him,” said Kristin Chase, 29, Cameron’s mother, who updates his page at least every other day." Indeed.

CIA's A Space Social Network

So, the ODNI is ready to launch A Space, a Facebook-like social networking site for Intelligence Analysts. It seems like a good idea on the surface. Use crowd psychology and an open network (obviously only open to those with proper clearance) to help integrate the dozen or so US intelligence networks. The only problem (other than the fact that every anarchist hacker alive will now have a giant bulls-eye on the network) is that the agency is planning on tracking usage of the network to determine that none of the users are double agents.

"We're building [a] mechanism to alert that behavior. We call that, for lack of a better term, the MasterCard, where someone is using their credit card in a way they've never used it before, and it alerts so that maybe that credit card has been stolen," Wertheimer said. "Same thing here. We're going to actually do patterns on the way people use A-Space." - see the CNN source

Note to the agency...you're doing it wrong. The reason that networks like Facebook and LinkedIn work so well for distributing information is that their users have at least the impression of freedom. While it's true that FB recently had a coding problem that had people thinking that they were tracking users, they've never come out and declared that as their intent. In fact, the official party line from FB is that the glitch didn't reveal the usage information at all. By telling their agents (who are undoubtedly used to feeling followed and tracked as only a intelligence analyst can) that their usage of the site is going to be tracked and analyzed the agency is prematurely limiting the effectiveness of what could be a very valuable tool.

Hasbro vs. Scrabulous

Well, what I never thought would happen has happened. Scrabble manufacturer Hasbro has sued the creators of the Facebook application Scrabulous for intellectual property infringement. They've also asked Facebook to remove the application. This of course follows the creation and release of a Scrabble application on Facebook by Hasbro.

This brings up a number of very touchy subjects, mainly those of IP and free/bad publicity. It's been pretty obvious from the beginning that Scrabulous was a bootlegged version of Scrabble designed for Facebook. Even the most ardent fan can attest to that. But the question is, has Hasbro shot itself in the foot with this lawsuit? Internet groupies can be pretty petty, and can hold a grudge for a long, long time. While Scrabulous has nearly 500,000 registered users Hasbros new app (created by EA) has less than 10,000. And to be honest I'd be surprised if it grows past that. Hasbro came late to the party and then kicked out its competition. I'd personally like to see Hasbros sales data over the past 12 months. I'd bet that Scrabulous has served as pretty nice free PR for Scrabble sales. Hasbro might have avoided some serious bad sentiment by simply partnering with the Agarwalla brothers and let them continue to provide this service to them.

Long time, no post

So it's been quite some time since I've posted anything here. I figured that I should post an update.

The reason there has been precious little movement on this blog is that I have a new job. I am now the Internet Communications Associate at the Actors Fund. I've been working there since April, focusing on increasing the viewership of the Actors Fund website through strategic use of existing social networking services. So yes, I'm officially one of the few people in this country that is doing what they went to school for. Crazy. Things are going well and we're in the process of going live with a new e-commerce section of the website, all new territory for me, but fun nonetheless. And viewership is up, ~10% since I came on in April, although the most exciting news is that average and median visit duration is up (10.47% and 48.39% respectively) in only three months and following a dip of 4.97% and 21.19% in the previous three months.

So I'm happy, healthy and pretty tired. But it's worth it.

Video: How to Behave on and Internet Forum

I won't generally post videos on here (especially animations) but I came across this today and it's not only relevant, but just plain funny.



How To Behave On An Internet Forum

Facebook's in a "Death Spiral"?

Well, according to Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine and FOXNews Facebook's recent opt-out feature (which allows users to erase their profiles easily with an e-mail to Facebook staff) is the first horseman for the social networking giant. Well maybe the second or third actually. You tell me.

Full Article

Google, Networking or Data Mining?

Google seems to be considering another venture into the social networking world (see NYTimes blog). From the looks of it, they might be missing the boat though. Social networking needs to be a collaborative effort on the behalf of users. User created content is the backbone of these networks and Google is going over the heads of its users and creating these connections for its advertisers without user input.

Facebook drops in the UK

The Guardian is reporting that in the UK Facebook has posted it's first loss of users (article), down 5% from December 2007 to January 2008. While certainly not a sign of the end of days for online social networking, it will be interesting to see what Facebook's response will be. Why were the nearly 400,000 members lost? MySpace and Bebo also posted user losses, but Facebook was hot on a 17 month spree gaining 712% in the previous 12 months. Could a push from more specific networking sites undermine the dominance that Facebook currently enjoys?

First Post - About me

Well, the first post is often the hardest to do, so don't expect too much:

I am a two-time graduate of New York University (B.S. 2002, M.A. 2007) and an alumnus of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (2003). While in graduate school I developed an interest in online social networking, which led into a thesis project looking at the effects of these networking sites on existing offline networks and relationships. This work led to the development of a very important project for me, Project Bike. To date we have raised over $7000 for various cancer related charities including the Youngs Survival Coalition and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I have been utilizing social networking services and social media to raise money for non-profit organizations for 5 years, and I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoy what I do.

Aside from education and work I live in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn with my wonderful wife Beth and our cat Toby. My family has been in the New York metro area since the 1920's, so I think it's safe to say I'll be here for a while.

Well, it's not much but it's a start. In the future I will be posting opinions of new media communications tools and online social networking. But for now, I think I'll end before I regret it.

-Daniel