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08 Jan 2011 13:02

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Biz: Does Goldman Sachs’ Facebook deal hurt their image rehab?

  • The committee was undertaken in the hope and the commitment to do some things that were going to help restore and improve trust … [Instead] people are going to look at it and say do those standards seem credible in light of the Facebook deal?
  • Boston University School of Management professor James Post • Suggesting that the recent Facebook deal that Goldman Sachs put together may be questionable in the light of Goldman’s recent ethics troubles. The company even put together a business standards committee to help prevent future kerfluffles. They have a report that’s coming out next week. But instead of the story being the ethics report and the image rehab work that Goldman is doing, it’s Facebook. Somebody somewhere screwed up. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2011 10:31

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Biz, Tech: Goldman Sachs investment: Facebook worth more than God

  • $450
    million     the amount that Goldman Sachs just invested in the massive film-worthy social network
  • $50
    billion     the valuation of Mark Zuckerberg’s baby, based largely on Goldman’s huge investment source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2010 23:19

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Tech: Here’s their hard work: The boys of Diaspora show their stuff

  • There it is guys. Diaspora. The Kickstarter project that led to many thousands of dollars in donations now has a code release. It’s now open-source. It’s not a real release yet (that’s coming in October), but it’s definitely off to a good start. Imagine it as Facebook without any of the ads and extra crap that makes Facebook Facebook. Too early to decide if it’s overhyped yet. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2010 11:01

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Tech: Eric Schmidt: Google’s doing social integration, not “Google Me”

  • Everybody has convinced themselves that there’s some huge project about to get announced next week. And I can assure you that’s not the case.
  • Google CEO Eric Schmidt • Regarding the rumored launch of “Google Me,” which is expected to be a Facebook killer. But it may not be that. Rather, Schmidt makes it sound like a full-site integration of social features akin to Facebook’s “Instant Personalization.” “If you think about it, it’s obvious,” Schmidt continued. “With your permission, knowing more about who your friends are, we can provide more tailored recommendations. Search quality can get better.” So, in other words, a actually useful Google Friend Connect. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Sep 2010 11:12

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Tech: Apple’s Ping service has some pretty big problems right now

  • bands The service doesn’t currently have a lot of popular bands on it, mainly because Apple inexplicably decided to do it by invitation at launch. Dumb.
  • control Profile pictures have to be APPROVED by Apple. The app approval process, we could maybe understand. This? What the heck, guys? This is stupid.
  • spam Apple’s social networking service is also overrun with a lot of spam because of a pretty thin spam filter. Those links will not earn you free iPads.
  • The root of the problem: Apple is trying to run a social network, which by definition needs to be open, the same way it runs its hardware business. They’re setting themselves up for a pretty embarrassing fall as a result. If they bought Lala to build this, they wasted their money.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Aug 2010 20:27

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Tech: Diaspora to launch September 15th, crush under its own hype

  • We are spending a good chunk of time concentrating on building clear, contextual sharing. That means an intuitive way for users to decide, and not notice deciding, what content goes to their coworkers and what goes to their drinking buddies.
  • The dudes from the Diaspora project • Giving an end-of-Summer update on their well-funded project. While some of the more technical things won’t make the launch, they plan to have a working version ready to go by September 15, which means we get do decide then whether or not these guys are full of crap or actually have the goods. To celebrate, we’re going to set our Facebook settings to the loosest available. We don’t need it anymore; we have the goodness that is Diaspora. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Aug 2010 20:31

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Tech: Activity or followers: Which matters more on Twitter, anyway?

  • More active users are more influential, according to HP Labs. The company’s Social Computing Lab did research into whether or not users with a high number of followers are really the site’s most influential. And the answer? No. “To become influential, users must not only catch the attention of their followers; they must also overcome their followers’ predisposition to remain passive,” the report notes. So in other words, annoy the crap out of your followers! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Aug 2010 00:12

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Tech: Facebook buyout: Friendster’s patents worth more than Friendster

  • $39.5 million the amount MOL Global paid for the also-ran, down on its luck social networking site, with a very depressing history, last year
  • $40 million the amount Facebook then paid MOL Global for Friendster’s broad patents on social networking (and a couple minor unrelated things) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Jul 2010 10:15

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Tech: Facebook doesn’t know what to do if your friend dies

  • It kind of freaked me out a bit. It was like he was coming back from the dead.
  • Courtney Purvin • Regarding how weird she found it that Facebook was telling her to get back in touch with a family friend who recently died. Think ghosts in the machine. It’s a problem that Facebook is aware of, but admits that even it doesn’t know how to handle. “It’s a very sensitive topic, and, of course, seeing deceased friends pop up can be painful,” said company spokeswoman Meredith Chin. It was also a problem they rarely faced when their users were young and fresh-faced, but now even your grandpa’s on the site. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jun 2010 11:06

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Tech: AOL sells its forgotten social networking lemon, Bebo

  • $850
    million     amount AOL spent on Bebo, a Facebook wannabe, when they bought it two years ago
  • chump
    change     amount AOL likely sold Bebo for today; it was a terrible investment for the company source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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