Ping this
I’ve been getting odd and cryptic messages through AIM from usernames PersonalTrout, ImplicitTrout and other trout-like nicks. I replied as you would when a stranger messages, “who is this, how can I help you, etc.” The only replies were equally odd. Today I got a reply from a fishy friend. Apparently there is a bot that harvests recently updated Twitter profile names and uses IM networks to bridge together 2 strangers with the intent of confusing both.
Mystery solved. Glad to know I’m not being stalked by a crazy fisherman.
The Semi-Mini FAQ
Q: What is this?
A: It’s like a three-way phonecall - but over an IM, with a computer program creating the link.
Q: How did they get my screen name?
A: These bots search the recently updated pages of web sites (LiveJournal, Xanga, deviantArt, Twitter, etc.) to find screen names and connect random people.
Q: Did I just get h@x0r3d?
A: No, the bots aren’t malicious. And you’re not 1337, stop typing like that. They’re completely harmless.
Update: h/t to Tim
Looks like there is more history to this one. TheGreatHatsby article on Wikipedia for more trout / coho / salmon bot fishing.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Ping this
photo by Martyn Starkey
I just noticed over on Jerry Ong’s blog that Ping.FM has updated their service to support friendster, Yahoo 360, Delicious. Great to see more social networks added.
I’m still hoping for Skype status updates.
Popularity: 66% [?]
Ping this
photo by teenage jesus
Best not to talk local politics when your an American in Malaysia. I’ll let Raja Petra talk instead.
“There is a growing consensus in government that those who run websites and blogs should be held accountable and this means that laws should be used to take action against those who defame and spread disinformation.
“If not, we are going to have a situation where everyone will be free to make all sorts of allegations with no downside at all. There is a fear that the trust level with BN would be very low if nothing is done, ” said a senior government official familiar with details of the meeting.
The prevailing mood in the government against the alternative media is one of frustration. After decades of being able to control newspapers and television stations through a raft of legislation, government officials and politicians are finding that their tools are useless in setting boundaries for new media.
via mt
Popularity: 67% [?]
Ping this
photo by miskan
According to Nicholas Guan, an OgilvyOne social media researcher, the best social network reach Asians is not always Facebook but on alternative social networks. Does that mean you should advertise on Friendster instead of Facebook if you are selling electric scooters in Malaysia? Of course not because online marketing often about targeting influencers much of whom I suspect are on Facebook. If you are targeting a mass audience your ad dollar might not always be best spent on a social network anyways. Interesting research though.
via PaidContent
Popularity: 63% [?]
Ping this
image by jonrawlinson
I’ve just heard from Ashod at MeBeam that he’s released personal MeBeam server. According to Ashod this is “full backend mebeam is now running on - single exe, no installs, 760k file.”
MeBeam is opening its network to the public, with a vast array of back end services, including dedicated servers, private networks, and co-location services.
Some of our more exotic services will include, flash to SIP telephony, 3G video gateways, Web to Polycom transcoding, and of course, high end video conferencing.
This is a bold and smart move. I’m excited to see how this performs on an intranet. Attention universities, law enforcement, medical technologists, this is one the most promising multipoint video conferencing platforms I have seen. Windows only for now.
Popularity: 54% [?]
Ping this
logo by EMMEALCUBO
Thanks Andrew Mager at ZDNet for the great coverage of Wordcamp SF 2008.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Ping this
Anyone received a job offer initiated through facebook, LinkedIn or others? As we all know the best way to get a job or a client is by referral from a friend or associate within. Social networking is just another form of communication although it certainly helps keep you in the thoughts of others when an opportunity comes up. People looking for jobs still use job search sites but they also increasingly put the word out on their social nets that they are available - or that a friend of theirs is looking.
Social Networking is growing, but use of Job Search Engines, isn’t - and therefore, people are finding, more and more, jobs using their network of friends, and often, bypassing traditional job search engines, as they don’t offer the richness of experience that a social network comprising of friends, has.
via Webmetricsguru
Popularity: 20% [?]
Ping this
A recent study by The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research reveals that of the fastest growing fortune 500 companies, 77% reported using social media in their business.
According to the study’s authors, “26% of respondents in 2007 felt that social media is “very important” to their business and marketing strategy. That figure rose to 44% in approximately one year. It is clear that this group of fast-growing companies considers the use of social media as a central part of its strategic plan.”
Social networking is the most familiar of the technologies. In 2007, wikis were the least familiar but they have since leapfrogged over podcasting.
It’s notable that the study’s authors found much more extensive use and growth in use in the fastest growing 500 US companies than they found in the Fortune 500, the largest companies. It would be a logical fallacy to argue that the fastest growing companies are growing fastest because of their use of social media, but it could be a factor. It could also be the case that insurgent companies have a greater incentive and proclivity to experiment than incumbent industry leaders.
via ReadWriteWeb
Popularity: 17% [?]
Ping this
photo by callme_crochet
According to a new study by Rapleaf, women significantly outnumber men on most social networks. This makes sense because women are generally better at keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones.
Will this give women an edge in business since they’ll have more privy to new jobs offered, access to new clients and events? Or will they be missing out on real world opportunities because they are too busy catching up on facebook?
via Read/WriteWeb
Popularity: 14% [?]
Ping this
Wow, amazing amount of information here. Look if you must.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Ping this
photo by ansy
I am testing the theory that it is vital to occasionally post lists to generate viral traffic. So I present to you the top 10 lists of bloggers blogging about blogging lists.
- 8 Reasons Why Lists are Good for Getting Traffic to your Blog - Problogger
- A Guilty Pleasure of the Blogosphere and Social Media: Lists - Adam Singer, The Future Buzz
- The Resource Linkbait - Using Lists to Build Authority, Traffic and Links to your Website. - DoshDosh
- Why Lists are Good for Getting Traffic - Noeren, Inoeren
- 7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work - Copyblogger
- 7 Reasons Why I Don’t Like Lists - Matthew Peters Pandemic Blog
- Why they call me “The List Maven” - Deborah, The List Maven
- 5 Reasons You Should Write a List Post - Deb, Network Blogging Tips
- 7 Tips to Writing a Blog Post That’s Scannable - Susan Gunelius, About.com
- Top 6 list of top lists to list on your blog - Future-Phobia
Popularity: 13% [?]
Ping this
photo by luc legay
That was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. I searched for and tried several MyBlogLog plugins for WordPress and none worked. I went back today and found another plugin that was easy enough to set up and is actually working. Check out Abyss Knight’s MyBlogLog WordPress plugin.
- Download and unzip
- Place mbl_plugin_v0.5.1.php in plugins
- Activate and go to Plugins:MyBlogLog Configuration
- Enter your 16 digit tracking code from http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/yourusernamehere/widgets/ from the Your Code: field
- Configure your widget from the URL in step 4 above then copy/paste the code into your sidebar.php or create a text widget and save changes.
It’s cool to see who is visiting and to checkout your sites.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Ping this
I’ve made an account on most of the social networks however I’m not on hi5. My 4 year old is already fan of the other hi5. My theory is that whenever the adults show up, the cool kids move on to the next party. Maybe the hi5 keg was just tapped?
Facebook and MySpace get most of the press, but another social network out there is growing much faster than either: hi5. The social network is the world’s fastest growing among the top-10 networks in that category, according to June data from analytics firm comScore.
Hi5 grew 79 percent in the first half of 2008 — twice as fast as any of the other top social networks. The site’s unique visitors grew from 31.4 million in December 2007 to 56.4 million in June 2008. Interestingly, hi5, which is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., says that over 80 percent of its users are outside of the U.S.
via VentureBeat
Popularity: 12% [?]
Ping this
Beginning later this year, Flash video will contain rich metadata in the form of automated transcripts. Adobe is readying a system that uses speech-to-text technology directly into the production process.
Read more over at Beet.TV - This is very cool !!
Popularity: 9% [?]
Ping this
photo by blugoogirl
Google in talks to acquire Digg for 200m. Get ready for Digg everywhere.. In your mail, on your maps and in your medical records.
via TechCrunch
Popularity: 10% [?]
Ping this
photo by Jerry Luk
The New York Times is serious about social media. They’ve just announced a tie in with LinkedIn to share stories within your network and get targeted news within your dashboard. The NYT also launched their own social network recently.
In a brilliant move that’s sure to make both newspapers and social networks around the web jealous, the New York Times and LinkedIn, the leading US social network for professionals, are announcing a content partnership tonight that could substantially increase the value for users of both sites. The announcement will be made at the top of the hour, but the integration is live now.
via ReadWriteWeb
Popularity: 7% [?]
Ping this
I came across this at The Future of Media. Apparently elevated fuel prices have sent more people into the carpool lane. That’s a good thing. I also notice that portion sizes have reduced here in Malaysian food stalls as well. Maybe the increased fuel costs are good for the environment and our health?
PickupPal is a global service allowing passengers and drivers to choose one another based on user profiles and feedback ratings from previous trips.
Carpool, a facebook application created by the carpool community Zimride, allows you to find friends going in the same direction.
NuRide offers rewards to carpoolers from local and national sponsors hoping to generate reductions in driving and emissions.
GoLoco vows to evolve your social community into your very own public transportation network by putting your cars, friends, colleagues trips, and expenses together in one place.
Erideshare.com is a popular site with a large user base currently showing close to 18,000,000 local commuter listings and over 6,000 cross country listings.
photo by joeventures
Popularity: 6% [?]
Ping this
Photo by Vanderlin
Head over to new.facebook.com to see the changes.
via Mashable & ReadWriteWeb
Popularity: 10% [?]
Ping this
photo by Delta Niner
Indeed, one of the more impressive achievements of Obama’s organization is the way it churns out video after video–more than 1,165 posted and 14.8 million views on YouTube alone. Much of that is the work of Obama’s director of field video production, 32-year-old Arun Chaudhary. Obama’s YouTube guru shared some of his insights at an event Wednesday sponsored by frog design, the NYU’s Tisch Interactive Telecommunications Program and Fast Company.
Obama’s biggest advantage, Chaudhary said, was that his organization took video seriously from the start. The campaign has 50 staffers shooting, editing and posting video, most of it for online. Where Clinton would have just one staffer videotaping an event in Iowa, Obama often had five to provide multiple camera angles. They posted new video constantly, and quickly — 19 minutes from shoot to post, in one case. And they’d ping community voters via email to alert them to new video.
more via AlleyInsider
Popularity: 14% [?]
