Daily Bits

Social Networks

Picplz: New iPhone App

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Apps for the iPhone are all over the place, and yet people are on the perennial quest to find a new one that they will obsess about.  For those who cannot get enough pictures and cannot wait to upload them to the Internet as soon as possible, here is a new iPhone app that will satisfy your needs easily: picplz.

This app has been around for a while, but not specifically for the iPhone.  It is developed by the founders of Imeem, the social media service that gained popularity several years ago.  In its heyday, lots of people availed of Imeem’s sharing service – videos, music, and photos.  It has been closed down, though, thanks to its acquisition by MySpace.

Anyhow, the same people behind Imeem have made picplz available for use on the iPhone.  It’s really not that revolutionary if you think about it  -it functions much like Twitter, except that it’s meant especially for photos.  Now that the iPhone has a decent camera, it is a simple matter to snap pictures and share them with your friends anytime.

You may be thinking – but there is a host of other apps that offer a similar service.  So why should anyone bother to give picplz a try?  For now, the value lies in instant uploading and tagging the location (which seems to be all the rage these days).  The founders are also working on providing more features in the future.  Besides, the app is FREE, so you really have nothing to lose by trying it out.  Oh, and this app is also available for Android phones.

Facebook Places: Let Everyone Know Where You Are

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Why would you want that? Well, I am sure that it can come in handy sometimes, but whatever I think about the idea, the fact is that Facebook has just launched a new feature for US users: Facebook Places. The application is available on the iPhone and allows Facebook users to share their locations. If you are thinking of Foursquare, you’re right on.

In the Facebook Blog, you can read the official announcement for Facebook Places:

Ever gone to a show, only to find out afterward that your friends were there too? With Places, you can discover moments when you and your friends are at the same place at the same time.

You have the option to share your location by “checking in” to that place and letting friends know where you are. You can easily see if any of your friends have also chosen to check in nearby.

I don’t know about you but that second paragraph just doesn’t cut it for me. Anyhow, with the app, you can choose your settings so that your location will be published. You can also tag your friends who are in the same location as you are. More so, you can see other friends who might have “checked in” in the same area.

This brings to mind what happened to Adam Savage and his geolocation boo-boo. With Facebook’s privacy issues, do we really want to use Facebook Places? You tell me!

Photo credit: Facebook Blog

Say Goodbye to Facebook Gifts

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The Facebook Gift Shop is closing its doors starting August 1, says Jared Morgenstern in the Facebook blog. In the announcement, he says:

The Facebook Gift Shop is closing on Aug. 1 as we focus instead on improving other products. As of that date, you will no longer be able to give new gifts from the Gift Shop.

The gifts you’ve already received on your Wall will remain visible, and you still will be able to view your sent and received gifts on your gifts page. People also can continue to use the many third-party applications on Facebook for giving and receiving gifts, such as Birthday Cards, Hallmark Social Calendar, Pieces of Flair and someecards.

If you are wondering what the “other products” are, he mentioned such things as Photos, News Feed, Inbox, games, comments, the “Like” button and the Wall. I suppose these areas could use some work. I would have liked to see “Chat” included in that list since we all know how buggy Facebook Chat can be.

In terms of purchasing currency on Facebook, it seems that we are going to be seeing more of Facebook credits now. These credits are going to be used to purchase everything that can be purchased on Facebook. This includes premium items in Facebook games. And, just so you know, Facebook is earning 30% of all sales made for Facebook Credits. Yup, there had to be some business ideas buried behind the decision somewhere.

How do you feel about the closing of the Gift Shop?

Easy Unfollow with ManageFlitter

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I think it is safe to say that 98% of us have a Twitter account, active or inactive. Like with all social media applications people are driven by the amount of “friends” or “followers” they have. I also started with that drive, following people who’s time line seemed interesting and hoping the would follow back. But after almost four years with a Twitter account I can’t really care anymore, and that notion was confirmed with the clear overview of my account given to me by ManageFlitter.

ManageFlitter is a web application that helps you to easily unfollow people based on criteria such as are they following you back? How active are they on Twitter? I follow people that haven’t tweeted in so long I forget I follow them. With ManageFlitter I can easily pick them out and unfollow them.

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Twitter To Make Money With Earlybird?

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There is no doubt about the phenomenal rise of Twitter. The recent infographic we posted is but one testament to that. For many Twitter users, it has been somewhat of a blessing that the service has been free for four years now. While it doesn’t seem likely that they will start charging everyone to use Twitter, it is but time for the service to start generating considerable revenue for itself.

And, it looks like that’s exactly where they are headed. If you noticed about two weeks, a new account called Earlybird was launched. Yesterday, it was opened up to followers. No one knows much about it, but speculation is rife that this is the beginnings of Twitter’s campaign to make money. To matters more mysterious, Earlybird’s tweets are private, leading people to think that it is going to be a channel for good deals and exclusive stuff from outside retailers.

Twitter has not made a formal announcement as to what Earlybird is really all about, but the guys at ReadWriteWeb were able to get tidbits of information from Twitter:

Carolyn Penner, friendly communication contact at Twitter Inc., said to us by email after publication: “There are interesting things in store for @earlybird. Keep waking up early and you might be the first to find out what they are.”

So what do we know? It’s gonna be interesting. We need to wake up early. We’re being led by a carrot on the proverbial stick. We’ll keep watch and wait anyway.

Google Me Rumors Continue To Mount, We Continue To Get Excited

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facebook googleOn June 26th I reported that Google Me, a new social network from Google was in the works. During that announcement I quoted Digg founder Kevin Rose who leaked the announcement, today we have further confirmation of the Google Me program.

The full-fledged competitor has been outed further by former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo who said during a Quora Q&A session that Google Me is very real:

“This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident about this.

They realized that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook. [Read more…] about Google Me Rumors Continue To Mount, We Continue To Get Excited