Facebook under attack

The fallout from the Ashleigh Hall murder case is continuing this morning.As mentioned in the previous article,the Mail leads with the story that Facebook is putting children at risk' by snubbing the paedophile panic button.

Meanwhile the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is calling for social networks to adopt an online abuse reporting button.

The button was launched back in 2006 and it allows young people to report online abuse and danger straight to the police from social networks and websites.

According to the Mail,human rights laws are stopping the Government from implementing powers to force sex offenders to disclose their online identities.

There is an interesting piece on his very subject in the Independent this morning.Rhodri Marsden writes that

While websites such as Facebook usually play a passive, benign role in crimes that headlines might suggest are entirely attributable to them, this is one case where the death of a young woman was indeed caused by the ease of constructing a false Facebook identity, coupled with a tragic ignorance of the signs we should all look for, and the rules we should all follow.

The debate fuelled by the tragic consequences of the death Of Ashleigh will rumble on.

Survey claims twitter costs the economy £1.4b

In its latest swipe at social media,the Telegraph is reporting this morning that twitter costs the economy nearly £1.4b.

According to a survey by Morse, the IT services and technology company,

More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.

The Content bubble and how to build your brand

David Murray over at the Biving's report writes that it is all very well having an online profile such as Twitter of Facebook but

You would be doing yourself a disservice by simply posting content without taking some time to think about the community you want to build. With the wealth of information available on just about every niche, you can create a valuable social network that people will want to follow.

He gives the example of an Italian restaurant building up a brand and here are some examples

* Italian food has a rich and incredible history. Share this in your feed.
* What region of Italy does your restaurant represent? Are there stories and facts which you can talk about?
* Highlight specialty dishes.
* Share some links about all the different grades of olive oil.
* Who doesn’t want to know more about Italian desserts?
* Go on YouTube and find some relative videos to post.
* Talk about how certain ingredients became known. How is ricotta cheese made?
* What about Italian songs or music?
* Spotlight some famous Italian chefs.
* Explain how all the different types of pasta come about.

Facebook to the rescue over International terrorism

The latest use of social media gets the attention of the Independent this morning.

The paper reports that

Intelligence agencies are building up a Facebook-style databank of international terrorists in order to sift through it with complex computer programs aimed at identifying key figures and predicting terrorist attacks before they happen.

adding that

By analysing the social networks that exist between known terrorists, suspects and even innocent bystanders arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, military intelligence chiefs hope to open a new front in their "war on terror"

Social community can be money but it needs to be private and socially exclusive

Is this the magical formula for making an online community pay its way?

The Huffington Post reports that ASMALLWORLD

has reported an 11% increase in ad revenue from Q1 to Q2 and plans to be profitable by Q4. This remarkable turnaround — the site laid off 40% of its staff last fall — is all the more surprising given the downturn in the advertising market and the debate lingering over the profitably of social networking sites as a whole.

But before we all rush out and copy the model,one thing to bear it mind,

It describes itself as a private international community of culturally influential people who are connected by three degrees

Milk or social media with your coffee?

Today's topic has been the time at which we look at our multi media devices and connect to the internet.

The New York Times reporting that

After six to eight hours of network deprivation — also known as sleep — people are increasingly waking up and lunging for cellphones and laptops, sometimes even before swinging their legs to the floor and tending to more biologically urgent activities.

and an even more worrying picture of

Weekday mornings have long been frenetic, disjointed affairs. Now families that used to fight over the shower or the newspaper tussle over access to the lone household computer — or about whether they should be using gadgets at all, instead of communicating with one another.

via Mashable

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

Presentation is well worth a look.

Thanks to Marta Kagan,

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

The continuing development of social media but don't fear the technology

Vice-President of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Phil Jones took part in a panel discussion on social media and business networking last week.

He made three points

1.That he thought that Social media networking is a trend. In the same way that vinyl went to cassettes, then to CD's, then to MP3's. Traditional methods of networking are also transitioning.

2.Social media networking allows you to have a different type of conversation direct with a key stakeholder, bypassing traditional gatekeepers

3.Social media networking requires human capital investment, more than financial investment.

They are all good points.How much of a fad social networking is,we will have to wait and see but both the fact that it bypasses traditional communication channels and its need to have sufficient human resoures devoted to it are both very valid points.

On the topic of return on investment,Brian K. McDaniel makes a case for an alternative measure pointing out that

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are clamoring for a spot on the social media landscape, opening accounts and buying domain names at a furious pace and then trying to figure out how to use them and who to outsource to or purchase training from.

ad concludes that

the return on my relatively minimal investment of time and energy in social media has resulted in a profit.

One thing that puts people off is the fear of technology and over at the Biving's report David Murray writes that this should not be the case

Technology is a scary word. It means new and expensive. These words can spell death for a business or organization who is thinking of trying new things .

but he adds

Social Media is not new and it doesn’t need to be expensive (though, it can take time when done right). The point is, forget about technology.

Increase in local ads on social networking sites

More evidence on the rise of social media and social networking sites comes from Borrell Associates.

They report that nearly 20 per cent of advertising on social networking sites comes from local business in the United States

Our assumption going into this research was that commercials on social networks were almost purely national. We’re estimating that local advertisers will account for about $641 million of nearly $3.3 billion this year trying to reach consumers via these sites.

The figures for the UK would be particularly interesting

Ht-Nieman Lab

A bill of rights for social media

Over at the Blue Skunk blog they have set up a bill of rights for members of personal networks.

1. I have the right not to be social 24/7 - either online or in person.

2. I have the right to time for reflection and responsibility for doing so.

3. I have the right to use only the tools that suit my learning style.

4. I have the right to stop using a tool when it is no longer useful.

5. I have the right to not be on the cutting edge all the time or feel I need to always know all there is to know.

6. I have the right to choose those with whom I learn in my personal learning network and responsibility to learn from those with whom I don't always agree.

7. I have the right and responsibility to disagree and the responsibility to do it professionally.

8. I have the responsibility to become familiar with a tool before sharing it with others.

9. I have the responsibility to share my knowledge with others in my network.

10. I have the right and responsibility to not let online activities keep me from my friends, my family, my workplace, or my community.

Ht-Stephen's Lighthouse

Can we distinguish quality from white noise?

Rory O'Connor asks over at the Huffington Post

With mainstream media brands in tatters, a tsunami of information inundating us online, and "quality journalism" in decline how can we be sure that the news we see and hear is really true?

His arguments centres around the question is the average citizen

interested in and capable of decoding that which is useful, credible, "quality journalism" -- and that which is not? And even if they are, will they take the time to do so?

He also questions the role of social networks

do they merely serve to confirm our prejudices? Do they offer just the "reassuring womb of an echo chamber,"

According though to Miriam Metzger she believes that people

are already using media tools as trust filters in a sophisticated way.

Social networks are a double edged sword according to Miriam

"Technology changes the problem, making it more urgent and giving us a greater burden to verify, but it also provides new tools to grapple with credibility questions. This means the technology is opening up more possibilities for solutions -- as well as simultaneously contributing to the problem.

"My parents are on Facebook"

I wonder whether Facebook and its younger users are happy with the news that the number of its US users oner 35 has doubled in the last two months.

Yes of course it is additional users,more hits greater advertising revenues but in the long term will this be a defining moment.

"My parents are on Facebook" may have recuperations for the social networking service.

For Facebook this may produce opportunities as well.An older demographic means greater potential for advertisers but it may also mean the staple users will move to another platform.

Interesting times perhaps?

Nielsen reports increased trend for social networks and blogging

Figures released yesterday by the Nielsen group suggest that social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular form of internet use and have overtaken email.

The report published yesterday called Global faces and networked places says that one in 11 minutes spent online is done on social network and blogging sites with the sector becoming more age diverse as well.

Facebook is dominating with 3 in every 10 people visiting the site on a monthly basis.

A success story for local paper networks

The Newspaper project reports on the attempt from California of a local paper to generate new readers.

The Bakersfield Californian has according to the report

launched an online social network, called Bakotopia.com, aimed at reaching nonreaders, especially the young people in this city of nearly 329,000.

Businessweek reports that

The Web site has caught on to the point where Bakersfield Californian now publishes 20,000 copies of a free magazine with content from Bakotopia twice a month. The articles range from reviews of the local theater scene to goings-on at various hot spots. Because the magazine's audience is young, hip, and hard to reach, "advertisers do pay full rates," says Dan Pacheco, senior manager of digital products at the company. The magazine even turns a profit.

Watch out Cyburbia has arrived

A good review of James Harkin's book Cyburbia appears on the register-Ht-Alfie Dennen in which the author has according to the review

produced the first proper full-length critique of Web 2.0 - tracing the daftness back to the cybernetics pioneers of the 1940s.

The piece contains a question and answer piece with Harkin who tells us that

The central image of the book is Cyburbia, this strange alternate world where we watch each other and the minutiae of each others' lives.

and

You might have stared out of your window in suburbia in the 1950s and seen a few people across the street, but now you can stare at millions of other people. The danger is that when you spend all your time deciphering what other people are up to, you never get around to doing something original on your own, because you're so swamped by opportunities to go onto other people's lives on blogs, social networks and Twitter.

shades of the front of yesterday's Daily Mail front page perhaps.

Steven Poole reviewed the book in the Guardian on Saturday and began by saying that

When you're just a node on the network, no one can hear you scream. James Harkin's dystopian essay portrays users of Facebook et al as people staring out of their windows on a suburban street, signalling to one another by flashing lamps on and off. The only winner is the disembodied "system", which passes information around itself to no scrutable purpose, using us as its automata.

Friends Reunited up for sale

The news that ITV is considering selling the website Friends Reunited may tell us two things.

Firstly the dire financial situation of the broadcaster which is being forced to sell a business proposition that it bought in a blaze of glory just three years ago.

Secondly that since buying the site,the broadcaster has found that its popularity has declined.As Paidcontent reports

Friends Reunited has withered on the vine - holding on to its core audience of subscription payers, rather than innovating to take on the likes of Facebook, cost Friends nearly half its user traffic between 2007 and 2008.

The fault of ITV? Quite possibly according to the same report which says that

Friends Reunited had been the star performer in what has been a lucklustre ITV web portfolio, making up two thirds of online sales (£22 million in 2007). That was before ITV decided to kill its cash cow by axing the subs, making Friends ad-supported last April - just in time for the advertising recession.

The sale will no doubt help the broadcasters debt position which stood at £663m last June.How much it would get for the site is less clear but surely in the current climate the £120m that it spent will be unattainable.

Facebook-who will pay for trivia?

Peter Schwartz thinks that Web 2.0 is now deceased.

He says that

The evidence is irrefutable and it exposes the twin fallacies the concept of Web 2.0 has depended upon: 1) that people can build their worlds around - indeed, will want to build their worlds around - social networking; and 2) that social networking offers a viable, massively scalable business model.

He has a particular disregard for Facebook which has become the provider of trivia and reminds us that

Facebook charmed the technocracy in 2007 when Microsoft purchased a 1.6 percent stake for $246 million, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. Now, as we close the books on 2008, one might wonder if Facebook is actually worth anything.

The network he says is sufferung from burnout

the acrid smell of neurons frying, and eventually a longing to return to the wholeness of the physical world

As with much of the new media,the problem is profitability

The problem with Facebook is that it feeds on trivia, and in the process has become trivial itself.

And his conclusion

Social information and communication requires targeted aim, meaningful purpose, and self-correcting standards of quality. Universal social networks such as Facebook, almost by definition, cannot maintain this focus. For this reason, they cannot survive in their current form.

How Obama tapped into Social Networking

Good piece to read in the New York Times which examines how Barack Obama tapped into Social media during the election campaign

Like a lot of Web innovators, the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans

And of course the point is that

when he arrives at 1600 Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama will have not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And there’s every reason to believe that he will use the network not just to campaign, but to govern

Hat Tip Social Media

The perils of taking Bebo at face value

A story that warns of taking social networking sites at face value.

The Independent reports that a mother is taking six national newspapers to court after sh claims they carried false reports about her daughters teenage party.

The paper reports that

It read like the teenage party from hell: a riot of sex and wanton damage fuelled by under-age drinking that only ended when the police arrived. According to media reports, the mother of the teenage hostess was so angry with her daughter that she punched her.
But Jodie Hudson's lurid description of the party on the social networking website Bebo, subsequently carried in a number of national newspapers, turned out to be fantasy. The media stories, and the accompanying pictures taken from Bebo, are now the subject of a landmark legal case that could redraw the boundaries of the use of information published on social networking sites including Bebo, Facebook and MySpace.

What the media commentators are saying.

In the Independent,Stephen Glover questions the BBC's decision to axe What the papers say.For him it is a

clear an indication as you could have that the Corporation is losing sight of its public service remit

and questions why

it has dumped the programme we can only guess. It certainly wasn't because of low ratings. Despite being buried in a dead slot, What the Papers Say usually attracted around a million viewers, about the same as Newsnight, and more than virtually any programme shown on BBC3 or BBC4

Peter Wilby in the Guardian looks at how the media reports on health stories.

newspapers believe health coverage attracts readers

he says adding

At some level, newspaper reports must influence eating, drinking and buying habits, and affect the wellbeing of readers and their families. Yet the press, sceptical about anything politicians say or do, becomes credulous when faced with medicine.

In the same paper Jeff Jarvis takes a look at the social networking site Facebook saying that it

is standing at a critical juncture. If it turns one way, it could reach its grandest ambition - to be the Google of people. If it turns the other way, it risks becoming the next AOL or Yahoo - the next has-been.

Social networking sites are looked at in the Indy as well which asks

Are ads on children's social networking sites harmless child's play or virtual insanity?blockquote> reporting that

with more than 100 youth-focused virtual worlds now either up and running or about to launch – over half of which are aimed at under-sevens, according to one estimate – regulators and parents are struggling to keep up.

Finally staying with the children's market,Alice Wignall asks in the Guardian

The tweenage mag market is growing ever stronger on a diet of princesses, ponies, pals and puzzles. But how long will parents continue to fund the pre-teen boom?