Daily Bits

Social Networks

Facebook Acquires Vague Patent on News Feeds, Questions Abound

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There are ongoing discussions right now among social media experts and analysts over a recent patent that was awarded to Facebook. Many analysts are considering this patent crucial in the social media industry. Why? Because Facebook has just been granted the patent for news feeds.

Yes, you read it right. Facebook now owns the technology for delivering news feeds. The patent was first discoverd by All Facebook which was filed by Facebook sometime in 2006. Just before other social networks started publishing news feeds as part of their social networking features.

While this may seem just another case of patent filing by a major Internet player, the thing is – it is not.  This is Facebook, claiming rights to the news feeds which is making other social networks thrive.

And what’s causing the commotion is the fact that nobody knows how Facebook is going to use this patent. Will Facebook use it to kill of rival social networking sites? Or will it use the patent to defend itself?

Another question is what exactly does Facebook own by getting the patent? Is it the technology that generates  the news feeds? Is it the distribution of news feeds? What are the components of these news feeds? Individidual status updates, uploading of contents?

Facebook has not issued an official announcement regarding this issue.  Mashable has published a statement which they got from Facebook saying:

“The launch of News Feed in 2006 was a pivotal moment in Facebook’s history and changed the way millions of people consumed and discovered information on the site. We’re humbled by the growth and adoption of News Feed over time and pleased with being awarded the patent.”

How far Facebook would bring this patent remains to be seen.

We Are Now Posting 50 Million Tweets Daily

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Funny how a short post on the Twitter blog could spark an online discussion that even led to the long-standing Twitter vs. Facebook war.  Yesterday, a post on the Twitter blog announced that we, Twitter users are now sending 50 million tweets into the Twitter-sphere everyday. Now, how’s that for another issues that says Twitter is not growing?

But anyway, yes Twitter has just grown to 50 million tweets a day. Up from 5,000 times a day in 2007, 300,000 in 2008 and 2.5 million in 2009. Right now, it’s at a 50 million per day or 600 tweets per second. If you won’t call that exponential growth, I have no idea what else you can call this phenomenon.

And that doesn’t include spammy tweets. Twitter has removed tweets from accounts that were identified as spam.

Now, the issue that were raised by some analyst is whether Facebook has all the reason to be afraid of Twitter’s growth. Facebook updates were last reported at 60 million per day.  That means that Twitter is fast catching up. But that is in terms of daily updates. When it comes to total number of users and even monthly page views – Twitter is still far inferior to Facebook.

I really think that there is no point of comparison here and we should all try to pause for awhile and rethink how we view Twitter vis-a-vis Facebook. I’m more inclined to think that Twitter compliments Facebook. Facebook is more of a social networking site while Twitter is more of a real-time online communication tool.

But then, who am I to change this predominant mindset, anyway?

Facebook Allows PayPal Payment for Ads, Virtual Goods

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If there’s one important point that you can get from this news, it’s got to be the fact that Facebook wants you to advertise on the social network. And to make it easy for you to do that, Facebook is now accepting payments through PayPal.

With PayPal activated as a form of payment, you can now run your ad campaigns and get wide visibility through the this planet’s most famous and widely used social networking site. Like what the Facebook PR said, the site reaches 400 million people, 70% of whom live outside the United States. Can you imagine how huge your the audience for your ad campaigns would be?

If you’re running a small business which caters to exporting and importing, here’s your chance to expand your market.

In addition to accepting PayPal payments for ads, Facebook is also doing the same as a payment option for Facebook credits that ca be used for games and apps as well as for buying items from the Facebook Gift Shop.

“We want to give the people who use Facebook, as well as advertisers and developers, a fast and trusted way to pay across our service,” said Dan Levy, director of payment operations, Facebook.

And PayPal’s VP of Platform and Emerging Technology  sums up what this development is all about:

“Put simply, PayPal’s business is payments. We make it easier for customers to send and receive money online in 24 currencies and 190 markets around the world,” said Osama Bedier.

So, if you don’t have a PayPal account yet, now maybe the right time to create one and proceed with your advertising plan on Facebook.

Social Network Users are Predominantly Young Middle-Aged Folks

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First of, I really have to commend the folks at Royal Pingdom for coming up with such a comprehensive study on the demographics of social network users. It’s a pretty good study with just about enough statistics that will really give you a good grasp of who are really into social networking today. So, what do they find out? Majority of the social network users are predominantly middle-aged folks who belong to the 35-44, not that tech savvy youngsters that we may all have thought before this study.

The study took stock of site demographics information for the United States which they gathered using Google’s Ad Planner service and then made additional calculations to come up with their final data. The report includes age data of members from 19  social networking sites including -Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Digg, Slashdot, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Friendster, Last.fm, Friendfeed, LiveJournal, Hi5, Tagged, Ning, Xanga, Classmates.com and Bebo.

So, some interesting highlights of the report include:

  • 25% of social network users belong to the 35-44 age group
  • 3% of social network users belong to the 65-older group
  • 65% of the users are in using Twitter and/or Facebook
  • Bebo and MySpace are both widely used by users age 17 or younger

Those were just some of the key findings of the report. If you want to learn more, just check out Royal Pingdom.

Meanwhile, what really puzzles me is the fact that if  the predominant users of Facebook are age 35-44 how come I still see tons of Mafia updates, senseless trivia questions, virtual gifts and other utterly unimportant stuff from my Facebook contacts?  Does this mean that Facebook users are into the site not for business and social networking purposes but rather to while away time?  Where is the maturity there, friends?

In Case You Missed It, You Can Also Create a Buzz on Google Reader

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So, have you started “buzzing around?” Has Google enabled Google Buzz on your Gmail? Or have you tried it on your mobile phone?  How was it? Revolutionary? Innovative?  Well, in case you might have missed it due to the influx of buzz that Google has created with the launch of Google Buzz, the service is actually also available in Google Reader. That is you can also post the items from your Google Reader as a buzz on your Gmail.

To activate this feature, all you need to do is to link up your Google Reader account to Gmail Buzz. And while you’re there, you might also want to link up other current services that are tied up with your Google Profile.  Once set up, everything that you share on Google Reader will be automatically be posted to your Gmail Buzz. That’s why Google Buzz is called a social sharing service.  Once your Reader item is posted as a buzz, people who are following you will be able to post comments to the items you shared.

The good thing about this, in case you didn’t notice it, is that the people you follow and who follow you on Google Reader are also the same set of people in your Gmail Buzz.

This is why I like Google Buzz so far. It’s like partaking of a new product without exerting to much effort on learning something new. Something which Google Wave did, and which is gradually leading it to its downfall.

Got one more room for a person to follow? Follow me on Twitter, I mean on Google Buzz – http://www.google.com/profiles/noli725.

Facebook’s New, Simplified Home Page Looks a Bit Complicated

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I’ve been waiting for Facebook to roll out the new and simplified home page on my account for the past couple of days and awhile ago, it finally did. I thought Facebook was acting up again as it did the past couple of days. Anyway, there it was – the new Facebook home page. And do I like it? Like with previous Facebook enhancements, I always welcome changes and enhancements with glee. And while the new Facebook home page looks all sleek and dandy right now, some of you may find it a bit confusing, like I did.

Let’s take a look at what were changed in the new Facebook home page. First thing you’d notice is that the search box which is now located at the top left corner of the page. In between the search box and the Facebook logo are the new request, messages and notifications icons.

Then on the left side, you’d also noticed something different, particularly the lower portion where it now lists your friends who are currently online. Clicking on any of your friends will fire up Facebook chat.

Now if you go back to the upper portion and click any of the content links, say photos – it will give you all the photos of your friends not your own photos. This got me confused a bit as I was hoping to see my uploaded photos rather than my friends’.

Another thing that got me confused is the News Feed. Wasn’t it just recently that Facebook introduced  Live Feed and News Feed? It seems that Facebook heeded the complaints of many Facebook members and decided to let go of the Live Feed stream. You are now given instead two options of viewing News Feeds – the Top News and Most Recent. The later of course replaces the previous Live Feed, although the time difference between these two can be as short as a couple of hours.

Overall, I find the new look and organization of the Facebook home page refreshing. It sort of gives you a fresh new start at your Facebook experience.

So how do you like the new Facebook home page so far? Any complaints? Please share it with us by leaving a comment.