Invision Plus Blog

This link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/11/zuckerberg_pix_expose/

has photos of Facebook CEO.  I don’t think he looks very drunk, and even if he is, good for him he has a lot to celebrate.

A pretty funny quote from the article, is “Facebook CEO shown ‘plastered’, possibly while devising new policy”.  

While the photo grossly exagerrates the embarassing factor of the photos, I do disagree with how they handled the privacy change.  This Facebook satirical cartoon sums it up without requiring me to try and explain myself…

Perhaps this news feed popup would have been more clear!

Friendster is back and making a big promotional push.  They recently released a video that highlights some of their differences, which takes strides to differentiate themselves from social media big boys Facebook and Myspace.  Instead of reintroducing their site as another place to connect and communicate with people, Friendster presents themselves as a customizable virtual meeting place where people can play games, collaborate on projects, and communicate with people of similar interests.  At one point in the video the narrator even says, “I mean, if everyone’s there, woop dee doo.”  The new Friendster allows for some customization of profile aesthetic, while maintaining some basic restraints applied by Facebook, helping to maintain the fluidity of the Friendster experience (that is lost in a more customizable paradigm such as Myspace’s).

I’m just not sure that without everyone there is any woop, dee or doo…

You can now use your Google or Twitter accounts to login to either service and they will, yes that’s right, connect automatically.  Why is the giant looking to connect?  Obviously the exponential growth of social media is one reason, but I bet that Yahoo’s longterm agreement with Facebook (which has now been expanded) is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

With all of the emerging social networking sites, we are all more and more connected. Of course, the more connections you make within a network, the more utility you will be able to enjoy. The other side of this connection is that whoever you’re connected to has access to every move you make within that community. Sure, you can utilize limited profiles, but often times using those are blatant to whoever they are applied to, and it can create awkward situations. You have kids, coworkers, bosses, and old friends all connected in one place, and although it’s great to be able to easily stay in touch, there are some things that do not need to be public. Politics is a great example of something you may want to discuss with family, or certain friends, but not bosses or coworkers. The Internet is still the most efficient medium to have these convos, especially with an array of people from all over the world, but social networks just aren’t the right space.

So, what’s the alternative? With forums you can choose which info you want to share. A soccer mom may have some views on same sex marriage or abortion that she wants to discuss, but she may not want her entire personal network involved in the conversation. Our new profile feature (coming soon) allows users to decide which information is important and should be shared, allowing you to have the flexibility to feel like your private info is private.

As TechCrunch discusses in great detail (with screenshots and detailed explanations), Twitter’s new mobile retweet feature is a HUGE update.

Of course, savy users have been retweeting almost since day 1 (of Twitter), and tons of applications support the re-tweet feature, but official support by Twitter promises to take this feature mainstream.Official support for retweeting was recently in beta, limited to a few users, but it looks like that feature has not only opened up, but also gone mobile.

Why is this huge?  First of all, do we remember what made Twitter so popular…and timely?It was mobile support (and a totally open API) pretty much from the start, as opposed to Facebook status updates, which just recently have become more open and “Twitter-like”.  

I know we certainly will be making mobile tweets from our new twitter account, let us know if you agree/disagree that official support by Twitter actually is a big deal…after all, the end-user experience for many is not going to change.

I just wanted to make sure and thank everyone who has been helping us with the development of the IP Profile Tool.  Thank you!  We know that this will create another great way for our communities to connect.  As of know were are definitely going to have these profiles:

1. Personal
2. Academic
3. Work
4. Current Project
5. Political
6. My Charity
7. Wishlist (great for holidays or birthdays)

Are there any others that you think could work well within IP.  Obviously none of the profile are mandatory, so people only share the info that they want.

Everyone definitely seems to use Google, whether its search, Gmail or more “fun focused” tools such as Google Earth, but how about Bing? We’ve all been bombarded by the influx of new Bing ads (I’m not sure why they went with the “decider” tagline so soon after the Bush era)– so how are they working?

As you can see, over half of you haven’t even tried Bing–52%.  One in ten have tried it and like it better than Google, while only 8% say it is, “Not even close,” to Google.  The good news for Bing, and what I found surprising, is that of the 48% of people who have tried Bing, one in three either can’t tell a difference between Google and Bing, or believe that Bing is comparable to Google.

Based on the data, I’d say that Bing has a real chance to finally give Google some true competition, but I doubt their “Decider” tagline is what will push them over the edge.

We did some research into how our users prefer to interact with Google, and you may be surprised by some of the results. Aside from Gmail and Google Search, everyone thought that Google Maps and Google Earth were both the most interesting, as well as most widely used, taking a combined 30% of the vote. Interestingly, less than one percent of respondents said they used Picasa or Google Finance. Although I know that Google Earth is fun to use, I definitely was not aware of how much more popular, at least within our community, it is than the more robust and traditional tools like Google Finance.

Another sign that our community is using the internet for enjoyment as much as utility?

Recent article by Chris Crum on DreamTeamMoney discusses the role forums play in today’s growing world of social media.  A huge aspect–Google’s searchability!