A process that began about six weeks ago has now reached its conclusion. Twitter for iPhone and iPod Touch, an app that was known as Tweetie until Twitter acquired it on April 9th, was (re)released today, and as promised, it's free and doesn't take direct aim at third-party developers.
The concern was that Twitter might label this app "official" - much as it had labeled a BlackBerry app in the same fashion - and thus draw all the attention away from competing apps. Twitter stopped calling its BlackBerry app "official" a while ago, though, and hasn't used the word again here.
Indeed, rather than steal developers' customers, it looks like Twitter's trying to appeal to people who have never used the site at all. A post on the Twitter Blog explained, "Something worth noting is that you don't need a Twitter account to enjoy this application. Browsing trends, reading Top Tweets, finding popular users, and checking out public tweets geographically nearby are all possible immediately upon download. Discovery and consumption of interesting, relevant information is a central focus."
The post then continued, "However, quick and easy signup exists within the application so new users won't need to visit our web site to create an account."
Initial reactions to the reborn app have been positive. Twitter seems to have succeeded in satisfying potential users while not alienating its/> [...]
PR industry bible PR Week caught up with the debate about Sidewiki this week.
While it isn’t the best idea Google has come up with (the company needs to balance user experience with its business relationships) and is a serious headache for pharmaceutical companies, it isn’t all that bad and some reactions have been over the top.
Sidewiki is a toolbar plug-in that users will have to download to see wiki content on pages. The question remains as to how many will actually bother installing it.
Social Search
You may well have noticed Google Social Search pop into Google Labs this week, or read Patrick’s post highlighting what it means for SEO.
At the moment it is an opt in option that presents relevant search results from social networks you subscribe to in universal search results. Google says:-
With Social Search, you’ll be able to more easily find relevant public content from your social circle, such as the following:
Websites, blogs, public profiles, and other content linked from your friends’ Google profiles.
I think this post could be categorized in several ways. The reason for this is because I don't think there has ever been a more polarizing, misunderstood, loved, revered, admired, hated and puzzling entity in the history of business than Facebook. Depending on who you speak to they can either be completely dependent on the service (ask some kids at a Ridgewood, NJ middle school) while other industry bigs, like Matt Cutts, deactivated or deleted their accounts.
Facebook brings out some very visceral reactions from many people. There is infatuation with the ability to be involved with everyone else's lives. Many people crave the strange cocktail of voyeurism mixed with direct involvement in other people's stuff topped off with a shot of "Privacy? What privacy?". They alternately love the service and the business opportunities it presents but then bemoan how Facebook basically flips the bird at their users with regard to privacy.
I am not sure how I feel about it all. Honestly, I suspect I could live without Facebook pretty /> [...]
*** Apologies about the dark video. I #blamedrewscancer. ***
The name Jeremiah Andrick first popped on my radar at BarCamp Seattle 2009 when I saw a fiery-haired man with dark-rimmed glasses standing on a bench in the lobby area of the Adobe Center. He was reading off conference center rules and normally this wouldn’t be worth mentioning, but this was different. He was reading off rules that anyone would already understand, yet all of the attendees were locked on him as if he were emitting some gravitational pull to which they were powerless. “Don’t… or I’ll punch you in the throat.” Each time, the entire room would explode with laughter. “This is going to be a great weekend,” I thought to myself. Turns out I was right.
Copyright 2009 (c) Dylan Rosario - The founder of www.FleeQ.com a new semantic search and discover agent. Utilizing web 3.0 technology, fleeQ levels the playing field for small publishers and advertisers alike. www.fleeq.com and www.xyppy.com are based upon fleeQ technology.
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The concern was that Twitter might label this app "official" - much as it had labeled a BlackBerry app in the same fashion - and thus draw all the attention away from competing apps. Twitter stopped calling its BlackBerry app "official" a while ago, though, and hasn't used the word again here.
