Social Networking Watch: News on the Social Networking and Social Media Industry

Social Networking Phishing Attacks Up More Than 240%

DARK READING -- June 29 -- Social networks are increasingly becoming a favorite method of attack for phishers according to a newly released report by MarkMonitor. Overall, phishing attacks rose 36 % in the Q1 '09 compared to the same period in 2008. Phishing attacks on social networks increased more than 240% compared to the same time last year. The good news, however, is that social networks are relatively quick to shut down phishing attacks on their sites. FULL ARTICLE @ DARK READING

Translators Wanted At LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 An Hour

NY TIMES -- June 28 -- LinkedIn hopes to be translated into more than its current four languages — English, Spanish, French and German. But when LinkedIn asked thousands of its translator members to complete a survey this month that asked whether they would consider volunteering to translate the site into other languages, many said “nyet.” Nico Posner, the LinkedIn product manager who circulated the survey, wrote that the survey was not asking translators to volunteer per se. He said he was trying to find out whether they would consider “crowd sourcing,” borrowing the term applied to companies like Wikipedia that rely on volunteers’ collective wisdom. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

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LoopDesk: Another Social Network For Businesses

SNW TIP -- June 28 -- LoopDesk is a new social network formed to connect businesses. Members sign up as a Business; therefore they use their brand to gain awareness, create business relationships, partnerships, find customers, and interact with other business owners through discussions, events and articles.

Marketers Like Social Media For Direct Marketing

RESEARCH BRIEF -- June 24 -- StrongMail Systems, released new survey data that points to the emergence of social media as a direct marketing channel and a significant planned investment in email marketing and social media programs in the second half of 2009. The survey revealed that social media is a hot initiative with email marketers, with 66% planning to integrate the two channels in 2009, and 48% who have already formulated a strategy for achieving this initiative. Of marketers planning to increase budgets in 2009, 83% will increase spend in email marketing, followed by social media at 62%. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Startups Smell Userplane Blood

TECH CRUNCH -- June 29 -- There has been no shortage of talk about the apparent demise of Userplane, the text, voice and video chat software provider that was acquired by AOL in August 2006 for around $40m. Darin Ohlandt, General Manager of Userplane, responded to the rumors saying they are definitely not shutting down. A recent thread on OnlinePersonalsWatch suggested that the site would be deadpooled by its owner soon. A developer commented on the thread claiming he had tried to contact Userplane for weeks through e-mails, voice calls and social networks and received no response.  Many startups with competing solutions are taking advantage of the rumors about Userplane's impending shut-down. Toksta is the most outspoken one, having set up a special page for Userplane clients who are looking to switch to an alternative provider. Other competitors include Meebo and ekkoTV. FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST

Mark Brooks: I had two high trust sources that I've known for several years confirm that Userplane was to be retired. Not sold, just quietly retired. Userplane is having life breathed back into it.  Good.  It would be a shame to lose the company to the deadpool.   

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This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Thanks To Our Sponsors

The Top Viral Video Ad Campaign For The Week Of June 15, 2009

Brand: Nike Basketball
Campaign: Most Valuable Puppets
Agency: Wieden & Kennedy
Source: VisibleMeasures.com

Glubble Scores $1 Million

TECH CRUNCH -- June 25 -- Glubble, social network for families, is launching several new features to improve photo sharing within its social network for families. Formerly a Firefox plug-in that let parents control what websites kids could visit online, Glubble evolved into a social network that resembles a FriendFeed but for families. Glubble has also raised $1m in Series B funding from European investors, bringing the site’s total funding to $4m. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Twitter Breaks In To Top 40 Most-visited UK Websites

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK -- June 24 -- Twitter is now the 38th most-visited website in the UK, and the fifth most-visited social network, according to Hitwise. Twitter is becoming a crucial hit-generator for other websites, with over half of all links contained within Twitter messages directing users through to sites such as social networks, blogs, news and entertainment sites. During May, Twitter was the 27th biggest source of traffic to media and newspaper websites in the UK. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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EU Data Protection Laws Apply To Social Networks

IDG NEWS SERVICE -- June 23 -- Social networks, and in some instances their users, are responsible for protecting the privacy rights of the people whose information they exchange online, according to an influential European data protection committee. Social networks should be classified as data controllers rather than mere data processors. Data controllers must inform people before uploading their data under European Union data protection laws. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE

Jeff Weiner Takes CEO Spot At LinkedIn

TECH CRUNCH -- June 24 -- LinkedIn had a management shakeup last December - CEO Dan Nye stepped down. Founding CEO Reid Hoffman stepped in again and former Yahoo exec Jeff Weiner joined the company as President. Weiner has been named CEO of LinkedIn, according to a statement released on Wednesday. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Mixi Faces Challenges As Competition Grows

THE JAPAN TIMES -- June 24 --Early last month, Mixi announced its financial results and forecast for the year: Its profit would fall by 15% from the previous year, the first such decline in growth since the company went public. The company is now opening its PC and mobile platform to third-party developers, and new applications created by them are expected to become available this summer. Mixi's move comes amid the mobile-gaming boom among Japan's young generation. GREE, Japan's third largest social network, saw the number of users to its site more than double to nearly 10m, and its profit increased multiple times over the past year on the back of popular mobile games created in house. FULL ARTICLE @ THE JAPAN TIMES

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Virtual Greats Partners With Viximo

PR WEB -- June 23 -- Virtual Greats, a virtual goods and sales distribution system, and Viximo, which provides content, analytics, and virtual currency solutions to publishers (social networks, dating sites, gaming sites, etc) and content creators (brands, media, digital artists), today announced a partnership deal providing publishers with turnkey virtual goods solutions, including an unrivalled library of branded entertainment, sports and fashion content. FULL ARTICLE @ EMEDIA WIRE

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This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Jajah Connects 1 Billionth Call

TECH CRUNCH -- June 23 -- VoIP service provider Jajah is announcing an important milestone: the one billionth call connection on the its platform. Jajah CEO Trevor Healy says the service has attracted 25m users since its launch. By comparison, rival Skype boasts over 405m registered users globally and in a recent press release claimed people have made more than 100 billion minutes worth of free Skype-to-Skype calls alone. Other competitors include Jaxtr, Truphone and Nimbuzz. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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IMVU Virtual Currency Cards Now At Rite Aid Stores

PRESS RELEASE -- June 23 -- IMVU, an avatar based social network and virtual world now offers prepaid virtual currency cards at Rite Aid Stores in 31 states nationwide. IMVU prepaid virtual currency cards can be purchased in $25 denominations. IMVU credits can be used for purchases from IMVU’s digital goods catalog. FULL ARTICLE @ PR LOG

Five Reason Why People Send Virtual Gifts

VIRTUAL GOODS INSIDER -- June 23 -- Last year, Viximo, released its first product in partnership with BigDates Solutions, makers of the Birthday Calendar, one of small number of Verified Applications on Facebook. Viximo’s first product is a drop-in virtual gifting system that allows developers of social networks, apps, and other community based websites to add a virtual gifting based revenue stream to their businesses. When Facebook launched its Gifts program in Feb '07, many predicted that the program would be a dismal failure. During its first year, Facebook Gifts generated an estimated $15m revenue. People are willing to pay for virtual gifts. Women are responsible for 80% of virtual giftings while men are responsible for 20% of virtual giftings. Why are people giving virtual gifts?

- Virtual Gifts as Greeting Cards

- Virtual Gifts as Signals

- Virtual Gifts as Accolades - Virtual gifts can be used in the place of ratings as the basis for a reputation system.

- Virtual Gifts as Social Play

- Virtual Gifts as Reciprocation - People give gifts, in part, because they want to elicit a positive response from the recipient, and recipients tend to feel indebted to the giver until they have reciprocated in kind.
FULL ARTICLE @ VIRTUAL GOODS INSIDER

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This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Twitter's First Revenue To Come From U.S. Corporations

READ WRITE WEB -- June 22 -- According to a recent Bloomberg report, Twitter plans to target large corporations currently using the service to generate its first revenue this year. Services to be offered to the companies may include account verification, statistics and analytics, and multiple account management. FULL ARTICLE @ READ WRITE WEB

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Gays And Lesbians Love Social Networks

EMARKETER -- June 22 -- According to a May 2009 Harris Interactive poll, gay and lesbian Internet users were more likely to be social network members than straights—55% of them were on Facebook, versus 46% of heterosexuals, and the differences were similar for MySpace and LinkedIn, too. In addition, 55% of homosexual Internet users reported reading blogs. Only 38% of heterosexuals said they read blogs. FULL ARTICLE @ EMARKETER