LinkedIn Launches Market Research Survey Service

LinkedIn has launched a new survey feature that will enable its members to conduct market research. LinkedIn is an online social network built around business and careers and has 30 million members.

“LinkedIn overcomes quality and authenticity issues that other sample providers face,” said Dan Shapero, Director of Business Services, LinkedIn. “Because of the public and self-policing nature of LinkedIn, members provide deep and accurate profile information and they update that information constantly.”

LinkedIn also announced that it raised $22.7 million from Goldman Sachs, The McGraw-Hill Companies, SAP Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.

“We secured this investment with innovators in enterprise software, investment banking and business information who see the potential to create value and transform industries through the LinkedIn platform,” said LinkedIn CEO, Dan Nye. “These leading companies understand that LinkedIn is building a network with broad and enduring value.”

Source: Click Here

Orkut faces Facebook challenge

Social networking site Facebook is growing rapidly in India according to a report by comScore. From 238,000 users in January 2007, Facebook has grown by 230 per cent to 785,000 users from India in June 2007. According to the report, Facebook's growth in India was remarkable between April and June 2007, when it added 323,000 users.

I created my Facebook profile in the same period and I find that Facebook is a much better product that Orkut.

But Orkut is still ten times larger than Facebook, with 7.2 million Indian users as of June 2007. It added nearly a million new users during April-June 2007.

Among social networking websites - Orkut, Facebook and Linkedin are very popular in India. While the world leader MySpace does not have much traction here, slugging with 399,000 Indian users.

Here are the Alexa rankings of popular social networking sites in India.


* Orkut = 2

* Facebook = 21

* Hi5 = 53

* Myspace = 65

* Linkedin = 75


About 40 per cent of Indian Facebook users are women, while they constitute 28 per cent in Orkut. Indian companies like NDTV, Info Edge, SBI and Indiatimes are already advertising on Facebook. (Source: Agencyfaqs)

Orkut's popularity is also landing the site in trouble with Indian authorities. It was involved in quite a few controversies, most of which are cases of obscene or defamatory fake profiles and hate communities.

Homegrown social networking sites like BigAdda, Rediff iShare, Fropper, Yaari and Minglebox are gearing up to challenge the international heavy weights. Their success will depend on whether they are able to leverage their local knowledge and understanding of Indian sensibilities to differentiate their offering. The global social networking giants start with a huge advantage - that of a large exisiting userbase - which helps in creating the network-effect and boosting viral growth.

Source:www.cnet.com

Mobile operators see 10 times more potential in social networking

The success of social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and even YouTube could represent the next boom for the mobile phone operators.

Revenues from putting so-called user-generated content - meaning content such as videos and blogs created by consumers rather than media organisations - onto mobile phones is expected to rise more than tenfold over the next five years, according to estimates by Juniper Research published yesterday.

Allowing the legion of bloggers, Facebook posters and comedy clip makers to upload and view each other's every movement on their mobile phone could be worth $5.74bn (£2.87bn) by 2012, according to Juniper, from just $576m this year.

"One of the most attractive elements of social networking on a mobile phone is that it's universally accessible so people can look up their friends, update their status or whatever on the move, which for the young demographic is particularly appealing," according to the study's author, Dr Windsor Holden.

Social networking has become one of the fastest-growing internet trends of the past two years. According to internet metrics firm Comscore, Facebook saw users increase 270% from June last year to June this year. It now has more than 52 million users worldwide. MySpace registered lower growth of 72% but still leads the market with 114 million users. Bebo, with a majority of users in Europe, grew 172% to more than 18 million users. The mobile phone companies reckon the people who are using sites like Facebook are exactly the sort of people likely to be interested in using the internet on a mobile phone.

Further research by Comscore shows that people who are already experimenting with the internet on a mobile phone are younger than users who access the web only on a computer. In Britain, more than 25% of mobile internet users are aged 15 to 24, compared with 20% who go online using a computer; a further 41% of mobile internet users are 25 to 34 compared with less than 20% using a computer.

The concern for the mobile phone companies, however, has always been that offering the sort of flat-rate mobile internet access packages likely to lead to an explosion of usage would leave them as little more than big dumb pipes in the air. Their worry has been that once they offer fixed-rate packages, all they can compete on is price and over time they will end up as sidelined as internet service providers (ISPs) have become in the fixed-line internet world.

Some mobile phone companies have tried to retain their position in the value chain by setting up their own UGC services. For instance 3 has scored with its SeeMeTV portal, which lets users upload clips and share them with other 3 customers. SeeMeTV has also created its own social networking service called Moko (formerly Kink Kommunity) with users paying £2.50 a month to keep in touch.

But Frédéric Huet, director at Greenwich Consulting, says that the mobile operators have a real opportunity to persuade more customers to use their mobiles to access the internet by "mobilising" sites such as Facebook.

"I would not be too dismissive of data revenues. If the mobile operators can start increasing take-up of data services they will increase revenues for quite a few years before commoditisation and price competition sees those revenues erode again," he said. "By then the operators will be in a position to offer other services such as mobile advertising.

"The trick is to start building an audience now and the mobile phone operators are starting to understand that."

Sensing this opportunity, several mobile phone companies - such as T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone in Britain - have launched flat-rate mobile internet tariffs.

Facebook, in fact, is already available on mobile phones in the US through the AT&T, Verizon and Sprint/Nextel networks, with users able to update their profiles and check on their friends. Several of the UK's mobile phone networks are understood to be eagerly chasing deals to add Facebook to their mobile web offerings. In addition, Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal to put YouTube clips on its mobile internet service.

Juniper Research's Dr Windsor, meanwhile, points out that the transition from social networking on the fixed-line internet to the mobile internet could allow new entrants to muscle in.

One such new entrant is Itsmy.com, owned by German tech company Gofresh, which has already signed up more than half a million users.

But these new entrants are going to have a fight on their hands once people can easily update their Facebook status to "I'm on the train" using their mobile.

Source:www.guardianweekly.co.uk

Top 5 new Facebook applications: Buffy, Beer Diary, Heat and more...

You can't beat a good Facebook application, although you can bury it with hundreds of rubbish ones - something that due to the popularity of Facebook's development platform, is in danger of happening.

I wonder if the site will introduce proper five-star ratings for apps, so you can sort through them that way. In the meantime, I've been combing through the list of recent new apps to find five worth putting on your profile. Starting with...

1. Buffy Photos, Quotes and Trivia (pictured). It's new, but has already sailed past the 2,500-user mark. Show your Buffy fandom by adding it, and you can even chat to other fans from within the app.

2. Interactive Friends Graph. Another neat app that plots your friends and their interconnections, but the big selling point here is the way you can actually interact with it, sending messages, pokes and add people from within the graph.

3. Beer Diary. Keep an accurate record of just how many units you've drunk, and then show it off to the world (and, er, your boss / mother / AA counsellor).

4. Heat RSS. Simple way to get the latest gossip from Heat magazine's website on your profile. You didn't know Heat had a website? Join the club!

5. Social Chat. The latest Facebook chat app to set up private rooms for friends, or meet random strangers for red hot cyberlove stimulating interaction.

Source:www.techdigest.tv

Education 2.0: The Best Social Networks for Students

Back when your parents were in school, they actually had to initiate in-person conversations if they wanted a social life. Of course, that was when they weren't walking two miles to school, in the snow, uphill -- both ways.

You pesky kids have it so easy these days with your darn social networks!

Online social networks have certainly made it easier to make -- and stay in touch with -- school friends. Whether you're trying to get back in touch with an old school posse, or looking for a new one, the process is less risky and can often be more fruitful when it happens online. And it can help you find the right group, too. Why be alone this fall when you could be getting together with fellow members of the "Emo Is The New Rad" group on Bebo?

But no matter how big of a slacker you are, you surely won't have time for all the social networks out there. No worries. There is no need to pledge allegiance to just one. At last year's Web 2.0 Summit, Marc Canter, chief executive officer for Broadband Mechanics, estimated that the average user is an active member of five social networks.

So if you're going to choose five, you might as well be judicious in your selection. Here are Wired News' top picks.

MySpace

Despite a reputation for being trashy, ugly and over-hyped, MySpace is still the largest social network out there. In June, the site claimed 70 million active users, with one in four Americans having logged in at some point. Teenage members dominate the site, which is why MySpace has the unfortunate reputation of being a breeding ground for pedophiles. Forrester Research reports that 80 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds use MySpace weekly.

WIRED This year MySpace added a page for the 2008 presidential candidates, as well as a MySpace News page, which could be helpful for your history courses.

TIRED It's doubtful that its users will ever take MySpace that seriously. A quick browse through the site will leave you with more hoochie mamas than you'll ever have time for.

Facebook

Even though Facebook started out for students only, more than half of the site's users are out of college, meaning your membership should still be useful after graduation. Currently, the site has 47,000 regional, collegiate and high school groups populated by 31 million active users. In preparation for the inevitable roommate clash, don't forget to join CouchSwap, a new travel application made specifically for Facebook. It lets you offer, find and rate couches to crash on. Perfect for the urban nomads of the world!

WIRED Within university groups, there are subgroups organized by dorms, colleges, hobbies, food affiliations, political opinion, you name it. If you can't find friends within your groups of interest, your keyboard may not be plugged in.

TIRED As Facebook grows, so does the number of random groups that seem to have no application for your real social life. Unless you really do want to meet other Rubik's cube enthusiasts.

LinkedIn

There is nothing cute or sexy about LinkedIn, but when it comes time to wean yourself from the parentals, you'll be thankful for this more business-oriented network. LinkedIn has over 12.5 million users and is growing at a rate of approximately 200,000 per week. Think LinkedIn is too uncool if you're still in school? Guess again: "Students can use LinkedIn to find mentors and to perform research," said Kay Luo, a spokesperson for LinkedIn. "It's a great place to find industry contacts for research papers and case studies. It's wise to establish relationships and maintain your network before you need it."

WIRED Nearly half of LinkedIn's users are over 34, meaning they have the money and power to get you a job.

TIRED Once you make useful contacts, what do you do with them? You can't share much content on LinkedIn beyond a souped-up resume, so be sure you get real contact information along with your introductions. Then invite your new contacts to Facebook -- it'll make them feel young and hip.

Bebo

When you're ready to network outside of the United States, Bebo is a good place to start. It is the third-largest social network in the space, with the majority of its users in the U.K.

WIRED Bebo is great for music lovers: The site links directly to iTunes music. Bebo Bands, which launched in July 2006, is the home of over 20,000 group and artist profiles.

TIRED It isn't that easy to find friends. Bebo will search through your address book for people you already know, but finding new friends by location or interest is not that easy if you don't join groups.

Hi5

Another way to make friends beyond the 50 states is hi5, a social network with over 60 million registered members. "Since members post photos and content about themselves, new students can get to know each other better using hi5," said Ramu Yalamanchi, chief executive officer for hi5. "They can also stay in touch and see how summer break was spent." The site is the number one social-networking location in Mexico, South America and Central America. Yalamanchi said 30 percent of hi5 members are from Europe, 25 percent from hispanohablantes, or Spanish speaking markets, and 23 percent from North America.

WIRED Most hi5ers are between 15 to 25 years old, making it useful for back-to-school time.

TIRED If you don't habla Español, hi5 may not be for you.

Friendster

Poor Friendster has a bit of a social-network-that-was reputation, but it still has over 47 million users in 75 countries. It may not dominate the American social-networking market but it has a strong international presence. The site had 9.5 billion page views in June, with the average user staying online for 208 minutes.

"In the back-to-school period, it kicks into overdrive," said Jeff Roberto, a spokesperson for Friendster. "On the homepage, you can add up to three schools and three colleges to your profile. Every time you add a school, we go and find the same people that went to that school during the same years and pull all those profiles to you so that you can discover new people and new content relevant to your school."

Since Friendster requires users be at least 16 to sign up, it is less useful for high school students than for college and post-college students.

WIRED School-centric profile searches makes it easy to find new friends at your new school -- or old friends at your old school.

TIRED Users in the United States tend to use Friendster less for communication, and more for simply posting updates about themselves and their friends. Comments are more of an ode to your friends than an actual timely message.

Craigslist

If all else fails, there's always craigslist. Lonely? You can post a personal this morning and get a couple dozen come-ons from strangers by this afternoon. Plus, you can also use the site to find activist groups, arts events, theater companies desperate for your juggling skills or that single-speed Bianchi you've been craving.

WIRED No photos, songs, blogs, friends, recommendations, pokes, walls, groups, videos, widgets or background graphics to distract you.

TIRED No photos, songs, blogs, friends, recommendations, pokes, walls, groups, videos, widgets or background graphics to entertain you.

Source:www.wired.com

Wired: A Social Network Primer

Here's a good quick read from Wired for the social networking uninitiated and newbies alike. Natalie Del Conte takes a thumbnail look at Wired News' top social network picks: MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Friendster.

• MySpace gets props for its 2008 presidential candidates page and news page, though "it's doubtful that its users will ever take MySpace that seriously."

• Since half of Facebook's users are out of college, it will remain useful for connecting with friends long after college is over.

• Nearly half of LinkedIn's members are over 34, so they are in a position to hire you when you need a job. Once you make contact with them, Del Conte recommends that you "invite your new contacts to Facebook—it'll make them feel young and hip."

• Bebo is for music lovers, Friendster still has 47 million users in 75 countries despite its rep as a has-been social network, and Hi5 is the number-one social network in Mexico, South America, and Central America.

Source:www.yahoo.com

Facebook, social capitalists and open networks

As the stock market roller coaster continues, the concept of social capital accrued via social networks is starting to become an important commodity. People are flocking to Facebook and other social networks, partly to experience the latest online trend and for those who latch on to a particular network, to build up their social capital via making connections.

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has said that Facebook’s main professional value is “building social capital” through interactions, including email via Facebook, with ‘friends’ that can result lead to business opportunities. Dennis Howlett has covered the social network and business intersection issues in his Irregular Enteprise blog. It’s early in the game, but it’s not hard to imagine how Facebook could adopt some of LinkedIn’s features, or vice versa.

Much of the discussion lately touches on that fact that the development of one’s social capital is contingent it being locked up by Facebook. LinkedIn or other social ‘utilties.’ services.

In a recent Wired article, Scott Gilbertson, protested the lack openness in Facebook, namely the social graph, the circle of friends and relationships data.

When entering data into Facebook, you’re sending it on a one-way trip. Want to show somebody a video or a picture you posted to your profile? Unless they also have an account, they can’t see it. Your pictures, videos and everything else is stranded in a walled garden, cut off from the rest of the web.

Like locked cell phones and copy-protected music, Facebook is on the wrong side of the open-network debate. Facebook is a sealed bubble. Facebook users are locked into Facebook, just as iTunes locks music fans to Apple’s iPod.

“We are pushing boundaries of what closed and open mean. It’s very necessary for people to take identities with them and supplement with content from elsewhere,” Moskovitz said at the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit 07 last week. He didn’t offer any insight as to what Facebook has in mind regarding making the friends network, the social graph, transportable beyond exposing it to Facebook-compliant applications.

“I’m not sure if it will happen or not. It’s fairly complicated and there are privacy issues, but interesting concept,” said MySpace’s Travis Katz, senior vice president and general manager of MySpace International, regarding making its data transportable.

Plaxo recently launched its Pulse service that is more permeable. Your friends network can be walled off. Anything put into Plaxo can be retrieved and used elsewhere, and any data made public will be accessible across the wider internet: Viewers will not need a Plaxo account. The service will be rather limited initially, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Wired is actually late to the open network discussion, which has been brewing for more than year, led by Marc Canter. In his latest post, Marc wrote:

History will prove that by freeing the end-user’s data, a distributed mesh of inter-connecting social networks and blogging platforms will create an ecosystem in which ALL software vendors and plaforms can participate in- equally.

That’s what’s wrong with MyBlogLog, Twitter and Facebook. They’re coolio platforms, but they’re closed.

The people will eventually come. That’s for sure. Humans are migratory beasts and as soon as they figure out that they’ve been locked-in-they’ll rebel.

At this point, the masses haven’t taken to the virtual streets to break down the walled gardens. The information superhighway is broken up into islands where millions of people gather and associate, separated from other islands by design.

Today, people are mostly content, experimenting with the more civilized walled gardens that aggregate information and friends and bank all the personal data and social capital. The revolution won’t happen until social capitalists realize that the capitalists–Facebook, Google, MySpace (News Corp.), etc.– shouldn’t have too much control over their digital lives.

Source:www.zdnet.com