Stillinger mærkede ‘Facebook’
Facebook fordobler størrelsen af datacenter
Allerede inden Facebooks første datacenter i Oregon er bygget, er det blevet besluttet at fordoble størrelsen.
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Twitter App Wants to Help You Find Facebook Friends to Follow
Twitter has revamped its friend-finding features today to make it easier for Facebook friends to follow each other. However, the feature isn’t completely working and the reason why is unclear.
First, how it’s supposed to work. If you’re coming from Twitter’s site, you’re presented with the option to sync with Facebook by clicking through to add Twitter’s Facebook application. You’ll need to install the app, thereby providing Twitter with access to your basic information as well as your personal interests.
The app then lets you sync your profile photos between the two sites, as well as status updates from Twitter to Facebook (which the app has allowed you to do for years). You’ll also get the option to find friends on Facebook who have also installed the app; if your Facebook friends are on Twitter but have not installed the app, they won’t appear here.
The app shows you which Facebook friends you’re already following on Twitter, and which ones you haven’t. If you want to follow new people, you can either do so directly or else create a list. The latter option gives you an easy way to see what all your tweeting Facebook friends are up to, and it defaults to private, meaning that unless you make the list public, those friends won’t know that you’re following them.
Right now, however, the find-Facebook-friends functionality isn’t working. At first, Twitter described the problem as an intentional block from Facebook, but now both companies are saying that they are working together to solve the problem. Given that the Twitter app is using the Facebook platform in the same way as many other third parties, we expect the problem — whatever it is — to be resolved. In the meantime, Twitter is has stopped directing users from its site to its Facebook application.
The fascinating history between the two companies adds a new dimension to this product, and its problem.
Twitter has emerged as Facebook’s leading social service rival in the last couple of years, although Facebook is more focused on private, real-life connections and Twitter is more focused on public sharing (on a related note, it’s not clear why Twitter is asking for Facebook users to provide it with their personal interests). Facebook tried to buy Twitter in late 2008 and started to compete with it more directly — even altering its algorithmic news feed to be a raw stream of status updates in early 2009, although it then switched back later last year. In hindsight, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tells us that he “paid too much attention to it.” Check out our recent interview with Zuckerberg for more on that.
Although Twitter’s traffic has been climbing slowly for the last 12 months or so, it continues to expand around the world — and it also appears to have attracted a significant number of Facebook users. A recent update to Facebook’s publicly available application traffic showed Twitter (along with a wide variety of other apps) to be far larger than previously visible. It has 6.7 million monthly active users, according to AppData, rather than the few hundred thousand it had previously shown.
Assuming the Twitter app works as intended, the result should be more Facebook users getting more value out of Twitter. While this is unlikely to affect how people use Facebook, the two companies are both actively evolving their products; whether or not they become more direct competitors is something that even they appear to be unsure about. Regardless of how the companies see each other, many users themselves seem to be getting value out of both: Twitter tells TechCrunch that the ability to find tweeting Facebook friends has been the number one support request for some time.
Facebook Tests Show SEO May Be Possible With Open Graph
While Facebook has never been known for their powerful search functionality, the Open Graph may quickly be changing all of that. Thanks to integration with Facebook’s new Open Graph protocol, sites like TripAdvisor.com are now showing up in Facebook’s search results, with links back to their website, something Facebook previously never offered. We’ve been able to surface similar results, and our conclusion is that this could help Facebook expand their competition against Google.
Right now Facebook’s Open Graph has a relatively extensive list of types of objects that can be indexed. As described on the Open Graph protocol site, there are numerous objects that are broken down into the following categories: activities, businesses, groups, organizations, people, places, products and entertainment, and websites. Within each category is a number of specific object types.
In order to drive website administrators to adopt this open graph, Facebook will begin surfacing these objects within Facebook’s search results. Any publisher would love to show up in such results which is why this dynamic is so powerful. As Mark Zuckerberg has emphasized on numerous occasions, the future of Facebook is not on the site itself. Such a shift will not take place overnight however.
Right now, media companies appear to be the quickest to adopt Facebook’s new Open Graph standards, as online publications thrive on referral traffic. While we haven’t been able to find many examples of external objects showing up within search results, the screenshot below makes it pretty obvious what the future holds.
This also supports our argument that the like action is rapidly replacing the link. As Facebook focuses on reducing the friction on both the publisher end, as well as the users end for interacting with “Likes” around the web, the company is effectively creating the most structured search system on the internet. While the company invites others, like Google, to adopt the standard, Facebook is the only one who’s tracking the likes of each of those objects.
One strange aspect of the example posted below (which we’ve been able to duplicate), is that there is no Open Graph meta-tags included in the source code of the TripAdvisor page. We reached out to Facebook last night for clarification but haven’t heard back yet. We’ll be sure to update if we do. According to Brian Bagel of TIG Global, who tipped us off about this functionality, Yelp and a few other sites are also occasionally showing up in results.
Whatever the reason this information is being displayed, the possibility of SEO from Facebook in addition to traffic from sharing illustrates how Facebook could soon be competing with Google as publishers race to have their content indexed by the company.
Facebook And Skype Become More Integrated
Last week reports began surfacing that Facebook was now prompting users to invite their Skype friends to Facebook. Now, Facebook is testing deeper integration which enables Skype users to start calls, chat, and send files if their friends on the service. While we’ve received at least one report, we aren’t quite sure if this is a feature being tested by Facebook or if this something that is part of an upgraded Skype application.
We’re reaching out to Facebook for clarification but since it’s late I wouldn’t expect a response before tomorrow. Given that Facebook has an existing chat platform, and has even tested a video chat product, one has to wonder why Facebook would be the one behind this product. Also, the multiple occurrences of the Skype icon within Facebook’s product below makes it seem a little bit questionable.
Whether or not it’s Facebook’s own product or a feature within Skype, it’s pretty clear that the two products have become increasingly integrated. Just in the past month I’ve personally noticed a dramatic increase in the number of contact requests on Skype. I’d assume it’s a result of the increasing integration between the two services. In this case, I’m not quite sure how Facebook would benefit from such robust integration with Skype.
And why wouldn’t they allow users to choose which icon users are linked to. Have you seen Skype show up in Facebook like the screenshot below?
Thanks to Noah for the tip!
Facebook’s 500 Million Milestone To Come In Mid-July
When we previously covered Facebook’s impeding 500 million user celebration, we projected the event to take place at some point toward the end of June. However according to sources inside the company, it’s expected to occur in mid-July and may officially be announced a few days after the milestone is crossed.
At this point it’s difficult for Facebook to put their finger on the exact number of users at any given minute, but they will be able to confidently state when the milestone has been surpassed. We’ve heard from a number of sources that Facebook is working on celebration plans that all users can participate in, potentially including a virtual gift, something they released when they surpassed 200 million.
We’ve also confirmed that the company is actively engaged in plans to release other possible projects to celebrate the 500 million user milestone. While we’ll find out what those projects are in the next few weeks, mid-July is now officially the time frame for the 500 million user announcement.
So has the company’s growth slowed? Possibly, but we don’t think it’s a significant slow down in growth. The company surpassed 350 million users back in December, which means Facebook’s 6-month doubling phase, which previously catapulted the company beyond most other internet sites, has come to an end. However the growth is still staggering and there’s no doubt that Facebook could easily surpass 600 million before the year is over.
Due to Facebook’s distributed system, it will be practically impossible to determine exactly who the 500 millionth user is, however they will be able to narrow it down to a chunk of users. When it comes to the grand milestone of 1 billion users, Facebook will probably have to wait at least until the end of 2011, if not 2012. Whenever that happens, we’ll be here marking the monumental milestone.
Facebook skaber mode
“Jeg synes om”-knappen i Facebook får gang i de kreative hjerner.
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Kun få er Facebook-ven med chefen
Kun få vælger at tage chefen med blandt Facebook-vennerne. Det viser ifølge HK/Privat, at netbrugerne har lyttet til advarsler.
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Facebook Continues To Take Over World [Image]
An updated map which was recently published by Vincenzo Cosenza illustrates the ongoing global expansion of Facebook. While it has only been eight months since he last published the “World Map Of Social Networks”, the updated map shows Facebook continuing to gain ground over local competitors abroad. While Facebook has yet to take over Brazil, the map shows Facebook overtaking Orkut in India.
The statistics are based on Alexa, a global internet traffic reporting service, and while the service has provided questionable data in the past, it’s a good overall indicator of how sites are performing. In this case it illustrates Facebook’s ongoing expansion and domination over localized competitors. Right now Facebook’s ads system suggests that Facebook has just under 10 million users in India which has a total internet population of 81 million (via Internet World Statistics).
For Facebook to win over Brazil and India will be significant as it will effectively eliminate the last places where Google-owned Orkut has served as the primary social network. You can view a comparison of Facebook’s growth since September in the chart below.
De sociale medier slår søgemaskinerne i England
Så kom tendensen, vi tidligere har set i USA, også til Europa.
Ifølge de seneste tal fra webanalytikerne fra Hitwise, så står de sociale netværk nu for 11.88% af alle internet besøg i England i maj måned, mens søgemaskinerne er faldet ned på 11.33%. Facebook står for 55% af den samlede trafik blandt de sociale netværk og overgår klart YouTube (17%), Twitter (2%), Bebo (1%) og MySpace (1%).
Det er første – men formentlig ikke sidste gang – vi ser denne udvikling i Europa.
Virksomheder begejstrede for Yammer: Socialt netværk til seriøs snak
Det Twitter- og Facebook-agtige værkrtøj Yammer deler viden på nye, mere effektive måder og skruer ned for email-støjen, fortæller to danske virksomheder, der har kastet sig over værktøjet.