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

For Web’s New Wave, Sharing Details Is The Point

NY TIMES (Front page) - Apr 23 - People are becoming more relaxed about privacy, having come to recognize that publicizing little pieces of information about themselves can result in serendipitous conversations. Mr. Brooks, a 38-year-old consultant for online dating sites, publishes his travel schedule on Dopplr. His DNA profile is available on 23andMe. And on Blippy, he makes public everything he spends with his Chase Mastercard, along with his spending at Netflix, iTunes and Amazon.com. “It’s very important to me to push out my character and hopefully my good reputation as far as possible, and that means being open,” he said, dismissing any privacy concerns by adding, “I simply have nothing to hide.” Blippy, which opened last fall, was the first site to introduce the notion of publishing credit card and other purchases. Last month it attracted ~125,000 visitors and closed an investment round of $11M from venture capitalists. “Ten years ago, people were afraid to buy stuff online. Now they’re sharing everything they buy,” said Barry Borsboom, a student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who this year created a site called Please Rob Me. The site collected and published Foursquare updates that indicated when people were out socializing and therefore away from their homes. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES. Also in Argentinas LA NACION, in SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS and DENVER POST.

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This post also appears on OnlinePersonals.

NY TIMES (Front page) - Apr 23 - People are becoming more relaxed about privacy, having come to recognize that publicizing little pieces of information about themselves can result in serendipitous conversations. Mr. Brooks, a 38-year-old consultant for online dating sites, publishes his travel schedule on Dopplr. His DNA profile is available on 23andMe. And on Blippy, he makes public everything he spends with his Chase Mastercard, along with his spending at Netflix, iTunes and Amazon.com. “It’s very important to me to push out my character and hopefully my good reputation as far as possible, and that means being open,” he said, dismissing any privacy concerns by adding, “I simply have nothing to hide.” Blippy, which opened last fall, was the first site to introduce the notion of publishing credit card and other purchases. Last month it attracted ~125,000 visitors and closed an investment round of $11M from venture capitalists. “Ten years ago, people were afraid to buy stuff online. Now they’re sharing everything they buy,” said Barry Borsboom, a student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who this year created a site called Please Rob Me. The site collected and published Foursquare updates that indicated when people were out socializing and therefore away from their homes. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES. Also in Argentinas LA NACION, in SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS and DENVER POST.

See all posts on 23andMe
See all posts on Dopplr
See all posts on Foursquare

This post also appears on OnlinePersonals.

Nokia’s Looking To Sell Off Dopplr

TECH CRUNCH - Oct 23 - Nokia is quietly looking for a buyer to take Dopplr, the travel social network, off their hands. According to our source, all Nokia really wanted from the acquisition was the team, particularly CEO Marko Ahtisaari and CTO Matt Biddulph. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Dopplr Confirms Being Acquired By Nokia

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 28 - So finally the official word is in, with a very short blog post by CEO Marko Ahtisaari: Dopplr has been acquired by Nokia - no word on price. The acquisition does not change the current Dopplr service which is available at Dopplr.com and on platforms where Dopplr is integrated, like Flickr and Twitter. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Nokia To Acquire Dopplr

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 23 - Nokia has been on an acquisition tear lately.  They’ve just acquired travel social network Dopplr. The purchase price, we’ve heard, is between €10M and €15M. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Dopplr's New Features

SNW -- Mar 20 -- Dopplr is launching a new set of features called the Social Atlas. The first part of it lets users build a record of places they've been, like quality restaurants and hotels. Any places they've marked will be visible to the people that can see their travels on Dopplr. The Social Atlas will be on mobile devices, part of a Dopplr mobile application which they'll be launching very soon.

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The Coming Ad Revolution

WSJ -- Feb 11 -- Companies like NebuAd, Project Rialto, Phorm, Frontporch and Adzilla use behavioral targeting but even though the ads are more "relevant", users increasingly tune them out. Facebook's Beacon was a PR fiasco. But it still familiarized users with the notion that they can control information about themselves online. Look at Dopplr, a site for travelers. Users make their travel plans visible to preferred vendors. The new model creates a more trusted environment for reaching high-value, frequent purchasers. The new value creators are companies -- like Facebook and Dopplr -- that know how to build and support online communities. FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ

 Mark Brooks: I look forward to the day that advertising becomes truly synonymous with content.  Advertising, so relevant and interesting, that its viewed more as content. The MySpace generation don't do ads. They do however define themselves by the brands that they trust, and follow, and believe in. The whole branding dynamic is changing, and social networks are going to lead the 'new' way.  A note to the CEO of Facebook... Beacon was/is brilliant, but take babysteps next time.

Btw, Dopplr rocks!  Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com if you'd like an invite to connect and see how it works. Great usability.