Twitter announced late Wednesday that it is starting a limited test of a new feature that displays the number of new tweets in your timeline since you last refreshed. This works in much the same way as the new tweet notification on the search page for a term. When you click the notification, the new tweets slide out in the same fashion as the search page.
While this functionality was probably not too difficult to implement, since it was already built for the search feature, it is a welcome addition and something that just makes sense. In fact, it would make a lot of sense for Twitter to build out a notification system for @replies, re-tweets, and direct messages, like Facebook has for Wall posts and other actions. Getting updates without having to manually reload the page is one of the big advantages of Facebook's current functionality, so I would not be surprised to see Twitter to follow suit.
While this feature is still in limited testing, Twitter says it hopes to roll it out to everyone as soon as it can. I, along with many others, am not in the test group yet, so please share your thoughts on the feature in the comments if you are.
Hulu has debuted a long-requested feature--the ability to find out when new episodes of TV shows will be available to stream.
The video site, which is a joint venture of NBC, ABC, and Fox, calls the new feature Coming Soon. It went live Monday.
Hulu's new Coming Soon feature.
(Credit: Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman)The schedule of when TV shows will be released online has been unclear up until this point, leaving people guessing when an episode will be posted. This new feature solves that problem.
The update includes a few additional features. First, people can choose to get an e-mail reminding them when an episode gets posted. This is definitely helpful for those of us who are forgetful and don't use Hulu's excellent Queue feature. Also, Hulu now lets you place the embed code for an unreleased episode on your blog or Web site. I embedded this week's upcoming episode of "The Office" below to show how this feature looks.
... Read more
As we speak, the Foo Fighters are playing a live show on Facebook, live from their own Studio 606, for their fans on the site. The concert is utilizing the same live-stream module we have seen in used in a variety of situations in the past, including CNN's live stream of Barack Obama's inauguration. This is combined with a live video module from Livestream to complete the experience.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman/CNET)
This is a really cool thing for the band to do for its fans and something I hope we see more of in the future. As the Foo Fighters play, they are keeping an eye on the stream of status updates coming in, sometimes responding to comments and taking song requests.
There is an undeniable trend of live events moving online. The potential audience that can be reached is fairly significant and the costs are low. As shown by the Foo Fighters, a band can just broadcast a live show for their fans, from their own studio. The social element of Facebook, combined with this event, only enhances the experience.
If you want to check out the show, we have embedded the Livestream widget below (while the show lasts).
... Read more
Pandora, with new Facebook, Twitter, and Gift sharing features.
(Credit: Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman/CNET)Pandora on Wednesday announced the arrival of some new sharing features for the service. In the past, you have been able to share Pandora stations, but you were forced to do it via e-mail instead of taking advantage of one of the modern social networks. Now, Pandora is enabling station and song sharing via much more efficient means: Facebook and Twitter.
These features work pretty much exactly how you would think they would. Clicking on the Facebook icon pops out a Facebook window, allowing you to share either the current song or station. The Twitter integration works in much the same way, enabling you to tweet out a link to the current song or station. When you click on the station link that someone has shared, it whisks you away to their Pandora station and lets you listen. However, the song links only go to a landing page that gives you a 30-second preview and an option to create a station based on that song. Oddly, this page does not give the user the "Buy from Amazon/iTunes" option that Pandora's main app features.
In addition, Pandora is bringing more attention to its station-gifting feature. This feature basically allows users to create an entirely new station, pair it with an eCard and send it off to someone. Pandora is essentially trying to create the modern version of the mixtape. This feature has been around for a little while, but it has gained little attention to this point. The more prominent placing in Pandora's music player may change that.
These new sharing features should boost usage of Pandora. Tapping into the previously untouched power of Facebook's social graph and Twitter can only be a good thing. Pandora is just coming off of reaching an agreement on new royalty rates for music this summer and it's working toward its goal of being profitable by the end of the year. They're also facing some stiff competition from companies like Slacker. Pandora still has a long road ahead, but opening up its service to sharing on Facebook and Twitter is definitely a step in the right direction.
I've written about social recommendation network Glue before, noting that it is a social network that is just along for the ride as a Firefox/IE extension that slides out when you need it. The basic idea is that when you visit a site that's supported by Glue (IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia, Last.fm, and a lot more), the Glue extension will slide out and tell you what your friends thought about that particular piece of content and give you the option to review it yourself. It's a great concept where the information comes to you instead of you having to seek it out. Today, Glue is adding a more traditional profile-based system to the site, which provides more incentives for users to contribute regularly.
Glue investor Fred Wilson's new profile on the site, complete with Stickers and Guru.
(Credit: Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman/CNET)Adding a "game dynamic" to your service is a proven technique that boosts user engagement. Glue is hoping to do just that with its new profile system on GetGlue.com. It is taking a page out of Foursquare's book and adding "Stickers" for user accomplishments and declaring "Guru" status for those who comment most frequently on a particular piece of content.
The similarities to Foursquare's Badges and Mayor features are pretty apparent here. Glue's Founder and CEO Alex Iskold commented, "We've been admiring what Foursquare did to encourage people to engage with their service." On the subject of the Guru feature, Iskold told us that, "Guru is something that we developed to encourage people to really engage around things they love. Unlike Mayor, being a Guru is a bunch more work, since you need to actively comment on things to stay the Guru."
Glue is also adding suggestions, presented in the form of a stream. As you give the thumbs up to pieces of content throughout the Web, these suggestions will evolve and become more targeted. Their algorithm also takes into consideration what your friends' favorites are as well as the overall favorites for the community. Hopefully your own ratings have some more weight than popular content, or else Metallica fans might be staring down streams filled with Miley Cyrus.
Even though I like the hands-off nature of Glue's browser extension, I think that their profile system is a strong addition to the service. The new game dynamic will certainly drive more user interaction as people compete for Guru status and collect Stickers for their profile. Glue also threw a couple of new statistics our way to give us an idea of their growth. Currently, the service is getting a new rating every three seconds and a total of 1.2 million new interactions between people and things every month.
Here's a nice video that the guys at Glue put together for this release to explain the service:
Google is notoriously slow and calculating about changing it the user interface of its services.
In fact, Google hasn't made any major changes to the look and feel of Google Maps since its launch in 2005.
On Friday, the company launched several refinements to Maps--the biggest changes to its look since launch. While you might not notice these changes immediately--unless you are a hardcore Google Maps user--they are designed to enhance the readability of the maps.
As seen above, the thick street outlines that can make maps harder to read have been eliminated.
Google describes the update here:
(L)ocal and arterial roads have been narrowed at medium zooms to improve legibility, and the overall colors have been optimized to be easier on the eye and conflict less with other things (such as traffic, transit lines and search results) that we overlay onto the map. Hybrid roads have gained a crisp outline to make them easier to follow, and the overall look is now closer to an augmented satellite view instead of a simple overlay.
(Credit:
BART)
We are already seeing people offering special deals to the Foursquare "mayor" of their businesses. Today, BART (one of the San Francisco Bay Area's public transit systems) is announcing a partnership with Foursquare to reward users who check in on BART. Foursquare is introducing a special badge for regular riders of BART and offering $25 promotional tickets for the first three months of November to random users who have checked in on BART.
Programs like this are going to be what brings Foursquare into the mainstream. Foursquare already has a very loyal user base, but it still remains relatively small. By offering incentives to use the service, Foursquare will be better able to draw more users. Foursquare has been actively pursuing businesses and encouraging them to offer specials to their users.
Speaking about the announcement of this partnership, co-founder Dennis Crowley said, "We're excited about the potential for Foursquare to influence people's actions and decisions beyond things like entertainment, into broader areas, like taking public transit or getting involved in their communities." This deal with BART is a great step toward expanding Foursquare beyond a leaderboard for bar hopping.
This morning, Fred Wilson introduces us to one of Union Square Ventures' portfolio companies that is coming out of stealth and launching publicly. Tracked.com is a sort of re-imagining of a business information service that provides personalized information on businesses and the people associated with them.
The start-up is positioned to be a competitor to Google and Yahoo Finance, which are largely ticker-based, as well as user-driven information sites like CrunchBase, Wikipedia, and, to some extent, LinkedIn.
Conceived by Mike Yavonditte, formerly of Quigo, Tracked.com, of course, provides extensive information on ticker-based companies, including company financials, much like Google and Yahoo Finance do, but it's not just a stock service. Its strong point is that it also tracks privately held companies, gathering any available information on them. For all of these companies, Tracked shows a wealth of information and news as well as the people associated with the company, complete with fleshed out profiles on them as well.
Tracked helps you keep an eye on the companies and people that you find important in the business world. It has a completely customizable "My Tracker" section that allows you to pick what companies and people to watch. For public companies, it has more robust functionality than Google or Yahoo Finance. It even calls out a lot of interesting data like executive compensation. For example, you can view a list of the executives with the highest compensation in 2006. For private companies, Tracked might be the most extensive, publicly available database in existence (aside from Wikipedia) and it's sure to grow even more.
One thing that is notably different about Tracked as compared to Wikipedia or CrunchBase is that users cannot edit current entries or add new ones. This ensures that the data on Tracked is accurate since the team can check all of the data that comes in. The downside to this is that it cannot possibly include as much information as a user-driven site.
Overall, Tracked.com is a strong, customizable alternative that will pull some users away from Google and Yahoo Finance. It is a convenient and highly addictive way to browse through information on public and private businesses as well as people. The information is so extensive and interesting that you should plan to burn a couple of hours the first time that you check the site out.
You may notice that Tracked.com is operating a little slow right now with the surge of traffic from its launch. Hopefully, as they work out the kinks, performance will improve.
Here are some additional screenshots to give you a better idea of the site's functionality, but you should really just check it out yourself. ... Read more
The L.A. Times and now, Mashable are reporting that a security hole in Twitter allows protected tweets to be indexed by Google. After looking into the matter, we have determined that Google is not displaying protected tweets but rather indexing all public tweets, some from accounts that are now protected.
At first glance, there seems to be a hole in Twitter's protected tweet security, with the prime example being tweets, supposedly written by Bill Clinton showing up on the search engine. However, the tweets that appear here belong to "Fake Bill Clinton" from when he owned the @billclinton username and the account was private. One of the tweets that is indexed by Google under @billclinton can be found, migrated to @notbillclinton's account here.
A few of the "protected" Bill Clinton tweets.
(Credit: Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman/CNET)It appears that all Twitter users whose accounts have been protected since they opened them are in no danger of their tweets being indexed. It appears that if, at some point, the profile was public, then the tweets made during that time continue to live in Google's index.
This incident was definitely a scare for users with protected accounts who value their privacy on the site highly and have placed some degree of trust in Twitter to keep their tweets safe. Twitter has had some security concerns in the past, with a slew of their corporate documents being exposed and before that with several high-profile accounts being hacked. Since the "protected tweets exposed" fiasco is essentially a non-issue, it appears that Twitter has the service's security under control for the time being. Privacy and trust are big issues for companies like Twitter and had this been a real issue, surely many users would have felt betrayed.
Kevin Rose started a new side project in March called WeFollow aimed at creating a Twitter directory in which any user can add their account to a category. Users are then ranked in the various categories on the site, creating a good way to see who the top Twitterers are in a given subject area. The rumor is now that Digg has acquired WeFollow.
Mashable noticed that the copyright on the bottom of WeFollow now reads "(c) 2009, Digg Inc." This would appear to mean that Digg has in some way come into possession of WeFollow. TechCrunch reports that WeFollow has in fact transferred the ownership of the site over to Digg, with no financial transaction attached. By this account, Rose just gave the site and its technology to his real baby, Digg, at no cost.
With this "acquisition," Digg is clearly looking to add some sort of Twitter or real-time component to the site. TechCrunch speculates that this new functionality will allow Digg to surface top stories on Twitter based on the data that WeFollow can gather. Additionally, WeFollow itself is tweaking its algorithm to give more weight in its rankings to those who tag themselves properly. This should help to cut down on people putting themselves in unrelated categories just to get more exposure.
Initially, this deal appeared to be a way for Rose to be able to cash out on WeFollow at the expense of his other company, Digg. However, now that it has come to light that Digg acquired WeFollow and its technology for nothing, it just appears to be a smart strategic move on the part of Rose to bring some real-time functionality to Digg.
