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Will Google “Friendster” Facebook? « Scobleizer

Scoble makes a really interesting point. He says “Can the social graph be componetized so that I could add a social network to my blog, for instance?”

OpenSocial is blasting open the door to the long tail of social networks. Every blog on the planet can roll it’s own “MyBlogLog”-like social network and applications that work with it.

So many angles to think about. How fun.

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Tags: facebook, google, opensocial, blogs, social networks

Google’s Response to Facebook: “Maka-Maka”

Amazing, I was just writing up something like this yesterday. I said:

For good measure, you could also add in GPhone data - who is in my address book, what I’m saying over SMS and phone conversation (transcribed into text via a service like Jott), and my location. The only part (and I admit it’s a crucial part) that I don’t understand is how Google will benefit by “out-opening” Facebook. My guess is that more data = googly goodness. Google will know more about you if you take Google with you, or bring the places you visit to Google.

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Tags: Google, social networks, platform

Leak: More Evidence of Comcast’s Non-Net Neutrality

This might push me to cancel my comcast subscription.  Collecting metrics about bandwidth demographics and mix is OK with me, as is various Security features, but controlling bandwidth is a no-no (even if it is for “non-Comcast customers”.

The utility companies scale with consumer needs. Why shouldn’t ISPs?

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Tags: netneutrality, comcast

The User-Generated Content Reality

Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins gets it right - there is more to User Generated Content than content that users explicitly create. Web 2.0 includes what Read/WriteWeb calls the “Implicit Web” - people’s clickstream, searches, and purchasing behavior. This, of course, is what we at Amazon.com’s Personalization team have been doing for almost a decade.

At Amazon.com, we have a popular feature called “Customers who bought this also bought”. This feature could not exist in any form without customer actions, which makes it (IMO) User Generated Content. Now, it’s not User Created Content, like customer reviews are, but the product relationships are certainly generated by users.

More Amazon.com examples - Personalized Recommendations, Behavior-based search, Top sellers lists, Personalized ads.

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Tags: amazon, web 2.0, implicit web, personalization

Web Warrior - Forbes.com

This article reminded me that the Facebook vs. MySpace vs. Google platform wars may be a little premature. The biggest platform, outside the OS, is the browser. Everyone uses it, and through the browser, everyone accesses all other sites. Your browser stores your account information, commonly submitted form fields like email address, street address, credit card numbers. There are already a multitude of extensions.

This article reminds me that Google is working on a Google-branded Firefox browser. My guess is that this ties right in with Google’s claim to release a platform that is more open than Facebook’s. What if they centered it around the browser?

Here’s how this would work. Google knows my social network from Gmail, GTalk, and Orkut (if I use Orkut). Google knows all of my login credentials for all sites on the internet because every time I log into a new site, Google asks me if I’d like to save that information with them so that I don’t have to be bothered with logging in to Amazon, Netflix, eBay, etc. Google has access to my areas of expertise by applying semantic analysis (like what Twine does) to my emails (Gmail), documents/spreadsheets/presentations (Google office suite), and local files (Google Desktop). Google knows my financial portfolio (Google Finance). Google knows what areas I’m interested in (Google Reader, iGoogle, and my browsing history).

Mozilla could do this too - Combining Thunderbird (email) and Sunbird (Calendar) with Firefox  would get you a social network, areas of interest, and login credentials. Various extensions have been created for RSS aggregation, messaging, bookmarking, etc. I think it would be a hell of a bold bet, but an interesting one.

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Tags: facebook, google, firefox, platform

Facebook Wish List: Five Apps I’d Actually Like to See

Sorry, but I think there is a serious disconnect between what Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins wants and what most Facebook users would want.

A podcast client? How many people know what a podcast is?

A Top 40 list? We know now that most adds are from the Profile box. So again, most users won’t care what’s in the app directory.

A PR Connection Tool? Right, because everyone needs to initiate a little PR.

IRC and FTP clients? How many people still use those? Way back when, Facebook launched a P2P media sharing client named Wirehog, which was a total disaster. I’m not convinced an FTP client would do better.

I admit I actually have no understand of his 5th wish list idea, so I won’t comment. I think he’s trying to describe Ning.

My top 5 wish list

1. A personalized version of Google News, taken from the shared items posted from your Friends.

2. Tagging of friends. This is something suspected is in the works. I want to be able to send messages or invites only to certain friends.

3. OpenID for all facebook users. Every facebook user should be able to easily link their Facebook account with their Amazon or eBay or Paypal or Skype accounts. E-Commerce has a large role to play in Facebook, and lining up who you are in facebook to who are you in Skype is crucial.

4. Stronger integration with local Neighborhoods. So yes, there are a few Neighborhood apps, but Facebook would be well served by growing the connectedness of a geographic community. Want to throw a party for the neighborhood? Find playmates for your kids? Tell your neighbors to look for your lost cat? The internet can help counteract what Robert Putnam describes in Bowling Alone.

5. A real email client. Sure, there is Facebook messaging, but what Facebook really should do is build Gmail right into Facebook. They could easily tack on features found in Xobni and Twine, and you’d get a heck of an email application.

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Tags: facebook

Senators Threatening Telcos With Probe Over Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is important, so tell your friends. I’m not one for pushing agendas, but the internet is the gateway to the world’s knowledge. The ISPs cannot be allowed to control access.

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Yahoo Internet Cafes Launch in Vietnam

I can’t say enough about this - I think one of the most valuable ways to invest in the future is giving people access to the Internet. Yes, even in the poorest areas. I rank it up there with giving people access to clean water.

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Tags: Yahoo, education, internet

After another long layoff, it’s time to get back into blogging. I’ve just installed Flock 1.0 RC, and it’s great. I love the People sidebar, where I can track my Facebook friends’ status updates as well as my Twitter friends’ updates. Now if only they could also integrate the Meebo FF sidebar, then we’d be in business. I didn’t like the earlier beta version of flock, but this one is going to stick, I think.

So what’s been going on in my life? I’ve moved from being a Software Developer to a TPPM (Technical Product/Program Manager, but who’s checking?). My new group - Personalized Recommendations, still at Amazon.com. It’s… fantastic. Exactly the job I want. We’re doing some great, great work, and I’ll be posting when we have some updates worth talking about.

Some new developments - Amazon launches a Digital Music store thats (1) cheaper than iTunes, (2) better quality than iTunes, (3) DRM-free, and (4) we’ll pay Associates 4x for referrals compared to iTunes. Plus, more selection, thanks to a general disgust for Steve Jobs from the record labels.

Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg grabs Ballmer by the balls and laughs all the way to the bank. Nice one. Microsoft’s bright earnings report notwithstanding, I don’t see how Microsoft benefits from this. It’s really going to come down to what special perks MS gets from Facebook, because cornering the Facebook in Europe market doesn’t get me excited.

FriendFeed is pretty cool - as long as you read it in your RSS reader. It’s not a destination site by any means, so I’m not sure where the money is going to come from, but that’s not my problem. Besides, Paul Buchheit can afford it - he did, after all, create Gmail.

More tomorrow.

Dave

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Tags: blogging, Flock, Facebook, Amazon