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Facebook status updates to appear in Google search results
Major changes are coming to the way Facebook users find information about their favourite organizations, companies and celebrities on the world’s most popular social networking site. Google has decided to add status updates posted by millions of celebrities and organizations active on Facebook to its main search engine. While the updates posted by individual Facebook users will continue to remain private, Google has indicated that its crawlers would make all other material on the social networking site fully searchable. This means that companies that have developed Facebook profile pages will be even easier to locate and will gain much greater visibility, as any links, blogs, status updates or other information posted on these pages will appear in Google’s new real-time search feature.
Twitter use soars in US Congress
The proportion of congressional politicians who have signed up for Twitter accounts and keep in touch with their supporters through tweets now stands at one third of all representatives in Congress. Some of the most enthusiastic micro-bloggers are also the most unlikely candidates to take such an interest in a Web 2.0 tool often associated with the most technology-savvy young generation. Former Republican presidential candidate and Arizona’s senior senator, John McCain turns 74 years old this year, but he has more followers than any other congressional politician on Twitter. This is an especially odd turn of events, considering the fact that McCain rather proudly indicated during the 2008 presidential campaign that he never used computers before. Either the prominent Republican senator has had a dramatic change of heart, or he has some very resourceful social networking assistance, considering that he has managed to amass 1.7 million followers.
Chinese communist leader turns to blogging
China’s technocratic and colourless communist president Hu Jintao has apparently taken a page from western politicians and celebrities by entering the world of micro-blogging. While Twitter is still banned in China, the country’s main communist newspaper, The People’s Daily, runs a social networking service that many have dubbed the “Chinese Twitter,” since it is based on the same premise of tweets, followers and the ability to comment on posts. Hu Jintao has registered his very own account and more than 600 people decided to sign up to his thread each hour since he opened his profile yesterday. While Hu is clearly popular among China’s micro-bloggers—or at the very least has sparked their curiosity—the only problem is that the Chinese president has yet to utter a single tweet since joining more than 24 hours ago.
Fans use Twitter to search for missing celebrity
Andrew Koenig, a star actor in the iconic American television sitcom “Growing Pains,” has mysteriously gone missing. But as a clear sign of the growing importance of social networking, fans and fellow celebrities have turned to Twitter to try to solve the star’s disappearance. According to media reports, the last time anyone saw Koenig was in Vancouver, just before the start of the Winter Olympics. Koenig’s parents have tried to reach their son as well, but his mother told journalists that his mobile phone has been turned off since 16 February 2010. Kevin Smith, Sarah Silverman and Alyssa Milano are just some of the celebrities who used Twitter to ask their followers to help track Koenig’s whereabouts. One of the actor’s closest friends in Vancouver also turned to Facebook, in order to express her concern for a star who had reportedly been suffering severe depression.
Did Bestselling Author Steal Content From a Blogger?
Bloggers are frequently criticized by those involved in the troubled world of print journalism for borrowing from their work. The vast majority of prominent bloggers, however, give their sources proper credit, but can the same be said for authors who are inspired by the increasingly influential blogosphere? The answer to that question might be a [...]
Facebook beats Google in directing traffic to websites
In a turn of events that took even the savviest Web 2.0 experts by surprise, recently released statistics indicate that Facebook now directs more traffic to major websites than Google, the world’s most prominent search engine and one of the internet’s iconic brand names. According to Compete Incorporated’s web survey, 13 percent of all traffic to Yahoo, MSN and AOL came from Facebook profiles this past December, while Google only managed to lay claim to 7 percent of the traffic to these major portals. In fact, even eBay managed to narrowly beat Google, as 7.6 percent of the traffic to these sites was directed from the online auction giant. MySpace, a pioneer in social networking, only directed 2 percent of the traffic to Yahoo, MSN and AOL. Social networking experts note that the younger generations are surfing the internet in a very different manner than people did only five or ten years ago, and fewer of them are relying on search engines. Instead, links posted by Facebook friends are often what drive internet users to specific articles, videos, pictures and websites.
Celebrity Uses Twitter to Shame Airline
Celebrity film director Kevin Smith decided that a public shaming was in order, when Southwest Airlines threw him off a flight for being too fat. Smith immediately turned to Twitter, in order to spread the new of his ordeal on the American carrier; his story spread far and the response from his fans was furious. Smith tweeted about how a Southwest pilot decided to eject him from a flight after he had already occupied one of the seats, simply for being overweight. Smith was flying from Oakland to Burbank, but he was forced to leave the aircraft and wait for a later flight. Southwest does have a policy of requiring passengers who are unable to fold down both armrests due to their size to purchase an additional seat, allegedly in order to appease thinner travelers who are irritated if their travel mate encroaches on their personal space. But this explanation wasn’t good enough for Smith’s Twitter followers. His tweets on the subject attracted a staggering 1.64 million comments from other micro-bloggers.
Deleted Bloggers Furious Over Google Decision
Google’s unilateral decision to delete six of the world’s most frequented music blogs over claims of copyright infringement has unleashed the fury of the entire Blogosphere. Google sent out curt letters to six prominent music industry bloggers, informing them that their blogs have been deleted due to violations of the firm’s terms of service. “Living Ears,” “It’s a Rap,” “I Rock Cleveland” and “Pop Tarts” were just four of the six blogs deleted without any warning or advance notice. All of the archived posts and links to music files have also been removed, making it impossible for the respective bloggers to retrieve years of online writing, unless they saved a backup copy of their blog on their computer. All of the blogs in question were hosted by Google’s Blogger and Blogspot subsidiaries, giving the search engine the right to remove these sites without warning.
Google introduces social networking hub
Within days of the news that Facebook planned to challenge Google’s Gmail service by offering its own full e-mail program to users, the world’s largest search engine announced that it would take on the increasingly lucrative and popular world of social networking by launching a brand new service named “Buzz.” Google Buzz is connected to the company’s existing webmail service and the site has evidently borrowed many of Facebook’s signature ideas. Buzz users will be able to post status updates—just as they would on Facebook—and also track comments and feedback posted by the friends or contacts in their online social circle. Each Buzz user will be invited to add comments to the updates or thoughts posted by their friends and they may even upload or link videos, photos and news items from across the Web. Google’s new service resembles Facebook so closely that it is clear the two companies will be fierce competitors as they each attempt to retain and solidify their positions as leading social networking hubs.
Twitter Gaffe Haunts Desperate Housewives star
Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker made a highly publicized entry into the world of micro-blogging late last week, but her Twitter debut was nothing short of a cringe-worthy embarrassment for the American television celebrity. After enthusiastically sending out one of her first tweets, Longoria wanted to encourage her new followers to also check out her husband’s Twitter profile. Tony Parker happens to be an accomplished basketball player and is now also an avid micro-blogger. But rather than linking in the sports star’s Twitter page, Longoria accidentally posted a tweet linking her followers directly to a pornography site. Once Longoria realized her error, she frantically sent out another tweet to her followers advising them not to visit the x-rated website that she had unintentionally posted.
