Social Networks

Social networks are the Internet-powered relationship engines of the twenty first century.  Popular sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn are all examples.  These services specialize in facilitating connections between people who share similar interests or professional pursuits.

The magic of social networks lies in their interconnected nature which constantly delivers updates on the background and daily activities of users’ “friends.”  Social networks make it easier than ever before to stay in touch with old friends and make new ones, too.

The rapid adoption of social networking services worldwide demonstrates the hunger for human interaction that we all share.  While these services are quickly changing the definition of a “friend,” they are concurrently exciting online marketers with the promise of extremely targeted customer audiences for their products.

Whether for fun, family, or business purposes, social networks are the online rolodexes, resumes, singles bars, career fairs, and watering holes of the digital age.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “Social Networks”

• 20091210-Blocked Stupidity

  
  Flynn's Blogs — Authority: 151
  Been blocking relatives from viewing my Facebook.com profiles. Saw Anjelica’s hate msg on the boy’s iPhone. Blocked both b/c of such non-sense posted on walls..
  3 hours ago

• PSFK Talks To Dietmar Offenhuber Of MIT’s Trash Track

  
  PSFK — Authority: 677
  PSFK talks to Dietmar Offenhuber to get his insight on the future of design and technology.
  4 hours ago

• Insurers trick Facebookers into writing Congress

  
  Covering Health — Authority: 431
  This year, Facebook launched a virtual currency that allows users to buy extra items in popular games. Now, according to Silicon Alley Insider’s Nicholas Carlson, health reform opponents are using that currency to lure Facebookers into sending a prefabricated anti-health reform letter to their congressman . ...
  4 hours ago

• Facebook Wants to Steal Your Friends [Disasters]

  
  Gawker — Authority: 865
  Facebooks new "privacy" settings are even more nefarious than they first appeared : The social network has formally nationalized your friends list, like some Cuban sugar plantation, and published it to people who hate you. You have no choice. Thats because the social network has codified this new state of affairs ...
  4 hours ago

• Intermorphic releases Mixtikl 2

  
  rekkerd.org — Authority: 448
  Intermorphic has released Mixtikl 2 , a generative music mixer for mobile, web & tweets. With its magical mix of sound sources, FX and music engines, Mixtikl 2 has firmly ushered in the “tweet mix revolution”. You may not believe your ears, but the 140 characters of a tweet really are easily enough for ...
  5 hours ago

• Review: HootSuite vs. SocialOomph

  
  Sazbean — Authority: 133
  Both HootSuite & SocialOomph provide features for managing Twitter and Facebook (and other accounts).  The services are very similar, and I’ve been a fairly loyal user of SocialOomph for several months now.  But, recently downtime at SocialOomph led me to re-explore HootSuite and I’ve been using it as my ...
  5 hours ago

• Tech Talk Around The Internets

  
  MissTheda.com — Authority: 148
  60 Million People A Month Use Facebook Connect Will Journalism’s Hottest Job (Social Media Director) Pay Off? The Rise And Fall Of Myspace … I do my personal social networking on Facebook but If I’m looking for info about a band I still search for them on Myspace. Top SocNets 53% Women; Bebo Most Female ...
  6 hours ago

• On visibility in public

  
  Tiffany B. Brown — Authority: 138
  By and large, those who are looking are those who hold power over the person being observed. Parents look. Teachers look. Employers look. Governments look. Corporations look. These people are often looking to judge or manipulate. Given the powerful position they are in, those doing the looking often think that they ...
  7 hours ago

• Pingo – a social-networking robotic penguin gadget

  
  GadgetLite - Latest gadgets and technology news — Authority: 571
  Christmas SPECIAL: Win a Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console bundle with loads of extra gadgets, its worth more than 600 pounds! Pingo – a social-networking robotic penguin gadget Its tiny, it befriends you and appears to me as slightly creepy. But if you like your social-networking, you’re going to like ...
  7 hours ago

• How to give money away with your iPhone

  
  Gadget Reviews — Authority: 157
  Bookmark this categoryThere aren’t enough ways to give away money, so now you can do it with your iPhone.Mobile payments firm Obopay is announcing today that you can use its iPhone app to give away money to your friends or family. It’s part of the company’s strategy of turning your mobile phone into a ...
  7 hours ago

• Facebook Connect Has Impressive First Year

  
  WebProNews Feed — Authority: 703
  Facebook Connect has now been around for a year. In that time it has accomplished quite a lot, and perhaps allowed developers and webmasters to accomplish even more. "From social widgets like the Comments Box, Share button and Live Stream Box to deeper integrations including log in, Facebook Connect is helping ...
  7 hours ago

• Finding Balloons

  
  Geary Behavioural Economics Blog — Authority: 141
  This has run for the last few days. Fascinating project funded by US defence department. Offered a cash prize to find 9 weather balloons hidden in undisclosed locations in the US. Took an MIT team 9 hours to do it using a simple incentive package they devised (described by Tyler Cowen here  )
  8 hours ago

• Cisco says social network, banking scams on rise

  
  Anti spam and general email security in a business environment — Authority: 420
  In 2010, spam volume is expected to rise 30 to 40 percent worldwide over 2009 levels. Money and large sucker pools attracted increased  attention by Black Hats this year and will continue to do so in the next, according to Cisco Systems’ 2009 Annual Security Report released this week by the company. When the ...
  8 hours ago

• Says Danah Boyd, Leverage the Webs Most Disturbing Content

  
  ReadWriteWeb — Authority: 820
  Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd took a decidedly different approach when considering social networking at todays LeWeb conference. In speaking to a room packed with more than a thousand entrepreneurs, investors and journalists, Boyd explained how we tend to focus on the positive aspects of social networking ...
  8 hours ago

• On-Line Networks: Value-Add Or Distraction?

  
  Commitment Matters — Authority: 123
  Social networking sites and their application in the world of business have been receiving a mixed press recently. In theory, our ability to build new contacts with such ease should be a powerful tool to support information flows, knowledge development and personal advancement. But to what extent has that happened – ...
  9 hours ago

• Lokale Soziale Netzwerke

  
  Wir sprechen Online. — Authority: 138
  Totgesagte leben länger : Die VZ-Netzwerke wachsen ebenso wie andere lokale Soziale Netzwerke ; http://j.mp/8frLfk
  13 hours ago

• MOL Buys A Social Network [FRIENDSTER SOLD!]

  
  New Web 2.0 Magazine — Authority: 156
  “The merger with Friendster will continue to transform the social networking industry, combining a highly intuitive and successful social media site and online marketing channel with an integrated payment platform and content network ...
  15 hours ago

• Small rivers of content for a new discovery system

  
  TheWayoftheWeb — Authority: 121
  I don’t often get contacted with sponsored posts, and sadly when I do they’re generally about topics completely irrelevant to my writing – so being offered information about a new way to create networks of related content sounded too interesting to ignore. It’s called Small Rivers , a tool for bloggers to ...
  16 hours ago

• New Facebook Privacy Settings: For Better or For Worse?

  
  spylogic.net — Authority:
  Everyone has probably already heard that Facebook rolled out new privacy settings today.  If you haven’t seen them or gotten the following pop-up box on login…you will soon: There are a great deal of articles already out about how this is such a great improvement and how these new settings give you more ...
  16 hours ago

• Friendster’s Fate: Sold to Malaysian E-commerce Giant

  
  Mashable! — Authority: 859
  Just a few days ago we heard rumours about the imminent sale of Friendster , one of the first-generation social networks that originally kicked off the craze. Through self-reinvention the site has managed to stay relevant to a large audience in Asia, though its influence is notably diminished in the West over the ...
  18 hours ago

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