Facebook’s stock market launch is biggest test yet for the social network phenomenon. Can the young company, whose rapid expansion has often struck jarring notes over issues such as user privacy, live up to the huge expectations that could peg its valuation as high as $100bn? April Dembosky investigates as Facebook hurtles towards 1bn users.
Facebook’s release of 60 new lifestyle apps that let users track the recipes they cooked, the dresses they bought, and the trip to Paris they want to take, are turning the social network into a personal online scrapbook.
The apps, plus Facebook’s opening of its platform to any developer that wants to build on it, are clearly aimed at diversifying the experiences people can have on the site – to stem boredom, and to keep people participating. That’s a sensible business move ahead of the company’s IPO, as it keeps engagement rates up, and that keeps marketers optimistic and spending money.
But is seamlessly sharing the most minute details of daily life truly a way to stay connected with people, even within the limited confines of the internet?
Facebook names alleged Koobface gang
Facebook has taken the unusual step of making public the names and personal details of five men it believes to be behind the Koobface computer worm that attacked hundreds of thousands of computers through the social network’s profiles.
The alleged gang appear to be living in St Petersburg and were tracked by Facebook and a team of researchers over three years.
Half price Facebook ads – as long as you link back to Facebook
Facebook is heavily incentivising its advertisers to keep users within the social network, rather than clicking out to their own sites, according to a new report by social marketing agency, TBG Digital.
Twitter’s displeasure with Google’s “Search plus Your World” may have been the most loudly heard reaction, but tech commentators also took to their blogs to criticise Google’s latest enhancement to personalised search this week.
Tech news from around the web:
Talks between media companies and Microsoft over the software giant’s online subscription service has been put on hold, it was reported on Reuters.
The technology giant had been in intense talks with potential programming partners for over a year and was hoping to roll out the Netflix-style service in the next few months. But it pulled back after deciding that the licensing costs were too high for the business model Microsoft envisaged, people familiar with the discussions said.
Google and Twitter scrap publicly over social search
Google and Twitter have become embroiled in a war of words over the search engine’s new “your world” update, which has raised concerns that it would over-emphasise Google’s own social network over its rivals.
Tech news from around the web:
Google is profiting from illegal advertisements on its search engine, even though it takes them down, alleged a report published on the BBC website on Tuesday.
Yahoo’s new CEO mulls options
Tech news from around the web:
Yahoo‘s new chief executive Scott Thompson has a long to-do list waiting for him at the troubled internet company, according to several reports. Bloomberg suggests that Yahoo is interested in acquiring the Weather Channel, WebMD and AutoTrader.com, according to an anonymous source, as part of a “tax-efficient asset swap” with Alibaba and Softbank.
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