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Google Keeps Track of Where You Have Been With Service

posted on May 27, 2010

I would suspect that you have had enough of talking about privacy and Facebook so we are going to take a look at other things that have gone on in the world. One of those ‘things’ is the announcement by Google that they are in Beta with the Google Latitude and Google Location History to provide a dashboard for users to see where they have been and generally keep track of just what the heck happened to them. The Google Mobile blog explains a bit here.

Today we’re launching an experimental new view in Beta for Google Location History to visualize your location history in a different — and hopefully more interesting – way more than just a string of locations.

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Facebook Press Conference and Zuckerberg’s Thoughts on Privacy

posted on May 26, 2010

Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook heavies stepped up today to address their new privacy controls. This happens a day before they take the message to DC in a less than public forum. I suspect that’s where the real magic will happen which is what this is all really about: keeping Facebook off the radar of government and private sector groups who think that ‘Facebook privacy’ is an oxymoron.

On the Facebook blog, Zuckerberg tells in the first paragraph

When we started Facebook, we built it around a few simple ideas. People want to share and stay connected with their friends and the people around them. When you have control over what you share, you want to share more. When you share more, the world becomes more open and connected.

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Twitter Users Refer Videos – A Lot

posted on May 26, 2010

Twitter does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s obviously not for everyone (which is a dirty little secret of the social media industry) but it is very powerful with the right folks. One of the uses of Twitter is passing along favorite video clips. In fact, some recent ‘research’ by TubeMogul as reported by Mashable shows far and away Twitter’s dominance in passing video through the social graph (or whatever pithy term you want to call social networking as a whole). Here’s a picture to ‘prove’ it by examining the growth of this activity.

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Yahoo Adding More Facebook Features to Email

posted on May 26, 2010

Yahoo is still trying to get itself repositioned in the market as the clock ticks down on its life as a search company. As part of that effort they are integrating more Facebook features into their popular e-mail client. This process started on Monday and will continue to be more evident moving forward.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

For more than a year, Yahoo has been adding social features to make its email platform look more like Facebook; now, it’s rolling out a change that just brings part of Facebook itself to Yahoo mail.

The move is another step in Yahoo’s attempt to keep up with competitors in social networking without relying on a social network it builds itself.

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Facebook Setting Up A DC Dog and Pony Show About Privacy

posted on May 26, 2010

Facebook is certainly knee deep in the whole privacy thing now and the evidence can be seen in what they are busy trying to accomplish in Washington, DC. Of course, the best way to manage this kind of delicate issue is to do things in a way that does not draw attention to yourself from the nation’s capitol but that shipped sailed long ago for Facebook.

As a result they are busy trying to show the folks in DC who can make live rather miserable for them that they are not all that bad as a company. Even though the founder and CEO went and wrote a ‘letter’ in the Washington Post apologizing for their actions this is starting to look worse and worse for Facebook. Honestly, it’s simply their own fault so I guess they will get what they paid for.

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Facebook’s Simplified Privacy Controls Will Start Appearing Tomorrow

posted on May 25, 2010

Now that Facebook has taken the obligatory ‘walk of shame’ following “The Great Privacy Train Wreck of ‘10” it has to actually do something. Talk is cheap and Facebook has been doing an awful lot of talking as of late. Thankfully at TechCrunch Disrupt they are starting the rumor that their action is just a day away.

TechCrunch tells us

On stage today at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York City, Facebook’s vice president of product Chris Cox announced that starting tomorrow, Facebook will be rolling out “drastically simplified” and improved privacy controls. He didn’t give any details, but did suggest that they should alleviate some of the recent privacy problems Facebook has faced.

While giving no details gives little satisfaction to those who are curious at least there is something to look forward to right?

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Google’s AdSense Splits No Longer a ‘Secret’

posted on May 25, 2010

For years Google has kept the splits it gives its AdSense publishers those using Google search services on their sites. It has successfully avoided this revelation but some recent pressure from Italy has created the environment where Google pretty much has to give the info in order to help its cause.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Google Inc. revealed how it splits advertising revenue with search and content publishers, a move made in response to calls from publishers and regulators for greater transparency.

The Internet company said in a blog post Monday that it pays publishers 68% of the revenue Google collects from advertisers for content ads that appear on the publishers’ sites. Google said it pays publishers 51% of revenue for search ads.