Week of May 12, 2008

Mobile web surfers go to social networking sites

Friday, May 16, 2008

Web browser company Opera, which also produces one of the leading mobile browsers in the world, has released data that shows 60% of mobile web browsers in the US access social network sites on their phone. Top mobile site in the US? Myspace.

Youtomb!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

If you've ever wondered what kind of videos get pulled from YouTube, why they were taken down, and who requested their removal, then Youtomb is for you. Created by MIT, Youtomb is a repository of screenshots and information about videos taken down from Youtube. So if you have a few free moments, check it out. It's informative and a lot of fun: youtomb.mit.edu.

A Social News Exclamation Point

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

You should by now be aware of Twitter, the platform that allows people to send others updates about their life and interact via text messaging and the web. Its community has grown enormously, and Twitter is without a doubt one of the real tech stories of 2007. We are starting to see examples of how Twitter's instantenous communication to the community is being leveraged, and one example came up two days ago--The earthquake in China. The interconnected network of Twitter users got their first news of the China earthquake before anyone else in the world other than those who actually experienced it. In fact, the Twitter announcements began not only before the earthquake was announced by the mainstream press, the word was out a full three minutes before the US Geological Survey announced there had been an earthquake! Now THAT'S an example of an interconnected community.

So Good It Made A Tech Blogger Cry

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Microsoft released its Worldwide Telescope program today at worldwidetelescope.org. Worldwide Telescope is a way for users to scan the heavens in a highly interactive and rich visual interface. You can literally zoom through space, looking at asteroids, planets, suns, and moons in the process. The experience of using Worldwide Telescope was described as so overwhelming by tech blogger Robert Scoble that he admitted in a blog post that he cried. Check it out for yourself, and maybe your view of your place in our awesome universe will change, as well.

Mobile Not Forgotten By Social Networking Companies

Monday, May 12, 2008

Nielsen just released data that shows over 4 million people accessing a social network via their mobile phone per month. This is a significant number of people, and it is growing every month. One of the key results, however, is that the leading online esocial networks are also leading in mobile. This is due entirely to them investing a lot of money and resources into their mobile products. Myspace and Facebook both have amazing mobile interfaces. As they had hoped, this is apparently limiting the success of pure mobile social networks. The implication is very important for traditional media: If a mobile interface isn't part of your strategic plan, then you may be in for rough times.