social

Coming soon: Verizon Games Portal for Android devices

Announced today, Verizon's Android devices will soon come loaded with a new Games Portal, a standalone app marketplace for games (separate from Google Play) combined with a social network similar to Apple's Game Center.

Powered by PlayPhone, an experienced builder of gaming networks, Verizon's Games Portal figures to be an attractive marketplace for developers. The platform not only offers distribution to millions of Verizon customers, but it also allows these customers to take advantage of direct carrier billing, a low-friction option that could result in more games-based purchases. What's more, since Android doesn't (yet?) have … Read more

Tips from a social media one-night stand

When you write about something called "social media one-night stand, the temptation, so to speak, is to fill it with bad puns and jokes about its name. But this is a post where that's the last double entendre.

Instead, I wanted to bring you social media tips and lessons from my most recent session, which is nothing more than a fancy name for an advanced social-media workshop.

I am just wrapping up a week in the Pacific Northwest. I spent time in digital offices as different as MSN News and Big Fish Games in Seattle, and the Oregonian … Read more

GSA vulnerability highlights dangers of SSNs as IDs

Recently, the General Services Administration sent an e-mail alert to users of its System for Award Management (SAM), reporting that a security vulnerability exposed the users' names, taxpayer identification numbers (TINs), marketing partner information numbers, and bank account information to "[r]egistered SAM users with entity administrator rights and delegated entity registration rights."

The notice warned that "[r]egistrants using their Social Security Numbers instead of a TIN for purposes of doing business with the federal government may be at greater risk for potential identity theft." Also provided was a link to a page on the agency's site … Read more

Bing tries to get its social on, again

Bing is drumming up some interest for its Snapshot feature by adding social media shortcuts into search results.

When you search for people in Bing it brings up their Wikipedia entry -- or, if they don't have an entry, their LinkedIn profile -- in a Snapshot box alongside its results. The box will also have shortcut buttons to the person's various social media accounts.

The Snapshot box is powered by Bing's Satori technology, which sounds similar to Google's Knowledge Graph.

In addition to professionals on LinkedIn and famous people, the Snapshot box will also pop up … Read more

Twitter turns seven, releases greatest-hits video

Twitter turns seven today, and to commemorate its birthday, the social networking service has released a video that highlights its many accomplishments, including surpassing 200 million active users.

The service has come a very long way since co-founder (and now patent holder) Jack Dorsey posted the first-ever tweet on March 21, 2006: "Just setting up my twttr."

Of course, it turns out that that tweet was not unique to Dorsey. Many Twitter employees tweeted the very same words that day, evidence of automated language on day one.

just setting up my twttr

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006 … Read more

Talk on Twitter corresponds to higher TV ratings

This is a classic "which came first, the chicken or the egg" scenario: more talk on Twitter and higher TV ratings, or is it quality TV and more talk on Twitter?

Whatever the case, market research firm Nielsen has discovered that there is a correlation -- but not necessarily causation -- between Twitter and live TV ratings.

Using data from analytics platform SocialGuide, Nielsen found that 32 million unique people tweeted about TV in the U.S. in 2012. This may have led to Twitter being one of the top three variables aligned with TV ratings. The other … Read more

LinkedIn Web site goes down intermittently

LinkedIn's Web site went down at least three times this morning due to an unknown issue.

The company confirmed the problem in a Tweet today. The site was up and down all morning, and is currently down again.

LinkedIn earlier posted an image telling users that it was "taking a moment to clean things up." The site returned shortly after its first bout of downtime, but certain features such as the in-box were unavailable. A second error message an hour later noted that there was a "Gateway Timing Error."

A LinkedIn representative told CNET that … Read more

Office 365 and Yammer integration: What's coming

On March 19, day one of Microsoft's annual Convergence conference, company officials shed more light on how Yammer's enterprise social-networking technology will be integrated into Office 365 and SharePoint in the coming year-plus.

Microsoft officials originally shared a road map regarding this integration in November. But today, officials provided more dates and more details around the integration of Yammer feeds into SharePoint.

Last fall, Microsoft officials said in the "immediate future" Yammer and SharePoint would be unified via a single ID/sign-on, shared document-management capabilities and feed aggregation. In the longer term, the Softies said, the … Read more

Telly is more than just a Vine clone

Telly is a video app that gives you a way to shoot and share video with effects and watch popular videos posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Telly's own network.

Instead of a YouTube client or other video player, Telly shows you a feed of videos taken from your friends' posts on Facebook and Twitter, and those of other Telly users. If you follow celebrities, sports figures, or television networks on Twitter, you'll also get whatever videos they post as part of your feed. Basically, depending on your friends and who you follow, you'll have a place where … Read more