Palo Alto-based publisher platform ShareThis, the maker of those “social sharing” buttons scattered across the web, is today announcing having closed on $ 23 million in Series C financing, in a round led by T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom. Additionally, in another move signaling its intention to unify its platform across web and mobile, ShareThis has also acquired Socialize, a startup whose developer toolkit helps make any app social.
Tag Archives: Social - Page 2
Social Networks Reveal Structure (And Weaknesses) of Businesses
Posted by Gsurface
on March 19, 2013
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Line: We’re A Social Entertainment Platform, Not Just A Free Calls Messaging App
Posted by Gsurface
on March 18, 2013
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Line, an app made by South Korea’s Naver Corp which has grown rapidly since its launch in summer 2011, is typically labelled as a messaging app – and compared to the likes of WhatsApp, Viber and Skype. But in reality Line’s feature-set positions it closer to being a social network. In other words, Line is going after disenchanted Facebookers as much as it’s hoping to woo Skype calling addicts.
TechCrunch
Dennis Crowley Of Foursquare On Social Search, Platforms And Rivals
Posted by Gsurface
on March 16, 2013
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TechCrunch interviewed Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley a couple of weeks ago during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (referenced here). It was his third time visiting and speaking at the event, and perhaps Foursquare’s most engaged visit of all in terms of going there: Crowley says that, all told, he met with 33 different companies this time around. It’s a sign of how the company is looking for new business and new partnerships, and trying to extend itself as more than an app: as it gears up for whatever comes in its future, Foursquare is positioning itself as a location platform.
Facebook Brings Down The Hammer Again: Cuts Off MessageMe’s Access To Its Social Graph
Posted by Gsurface
on March 16, 2013
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MessageMe, an app that launched last week and raced up the charts to the #2 spot in social networking in the U.S., is confronting Facebook’s touchiness around access to its social graph. The app’s integration with Facebook stopped functioning earlier today (see left), the result of the company’s decision to cut MessageMe off from its “Find Friends” functionality, according to sources familiar with decision. MessageMe CEO Arjun Sethi declined to comment in this story and Facebook didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The move resembles Facebook’s decision last month to shut off Voxer’s access to the graph, even though Voxer connected to Facebook for well over a year. Voxer is another communications app that supports calling and voice chat. Facebook cut the app off around the same time that it launched competing functionality with free voice calling to other users. In that decision, Facebook cited Section 10 of its platform policy (which is the same one it’s using in MessageMe’s case): Reciprocity and Replicating core functionality: (a) Reciprocity: Facebook Platform enables developers to build personalized, social experiences via the Graph API and related APIs. If you use any Facebook APIs to build personalized or social experiences, you must also enable people to easily share their experiences back with people on Facebook. (b) Replicating core functionality: You may not use Facebook Platform to promote, or to export user data to, a product or service that replicates a core Facebook product or service without our permission. MessageMe apparently replicates too much of Facebook Messenger’s functionality for the company to be comfortable with it. Facebook has long been touchy about providing access to the biggest of its strategic competitors like Google and Twitter. Back in 2010, Twitter’s then-CEO Ev Williams griped about the company’s unwillingness to let Twitter users look up their Facebook friends on the service or to send Facebook updates to Twitter. In the same year, Google and Facebook had a back-and-forth over Facebook’s access to Gmail’s contact importer because the social network wouldn’t send data the other way. But it’s only in the last year that the company has really stepped up enforcement against other startups. After cutting off Voxer last month, Facebook clarified its policy, saying that apps needed to share content back to Facebook and couldn’t replicate too much of Facebook’s core functionality. It cited the same policy in cutting off Twitter’s Vine hours after launch and Russian search
TechCrunch
Foundation: Chad Hurley Talks Collaborative Social Content and Hints at a New Video Platform
Posted by Gsurface
on March 14, 2013
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In today’s episode of my Foundation series, I talk with Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, and founder of AVOS. Chad talks about life after YouTube, hints at his latest ambition in the video collaboration space and recalls one very important breakfast meeting at Denny’s.
TechCrunch
With Users In Over 83 Countries, Social Discovery Platform At The Pool Wants To Be The Anti-Facebook
Posted by Gsurface
on March 8, 2013
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At The Pool, the Los Angeles-based social discovery platform, is today rolling out a big re-design that sees the startup becoming laser-focused on creating the “anti-Facebook” social network for young people. In its February 10-K report, Facebook said that it is at risk of losing young users to other services that are similar to or act “as a substitute for Facebook.”
TechCrunch
Adobe Announces A New Social Interface For Its Marketing Cloud, Says It’s Breaking Down Silos
Posted by Gsurface
on March 6, 2013
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Adobe is in the middle of Summit, its annual digital marketing conference, and as expected it’s making a bunch of product announcements. The biggest one is a new interface for Adobe Marketing Cloud, the company’s suite of products that includes Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Adobe Social, Adobe Experience Manager, and Adobe Media Optimizer.
Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager of Adobe’s digital marketing business, said that as consumer expectations change and as companies have access to more and more data, marketers need to deliver great “last millisecond interactions” — that, he said, is “where we’re either heroes or we’re average.” And that means it’s increasingly important for design, advertising, and analytics teams to work together in an efficient way.
TechCrunch
After Recruiting Founding StubHub CTO, Buzzmob Overhauls Its Social Events App To Help Brands Connect With Fans
Posted by Gsurface
on March 1, 2013
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If you’ve been to a live event recently, like a football game or a, you’ve probably noticed that the majority of people around you spent most of their time huddled over their smartphone. It’s true of life now, too, as people now interface with the world through Instagram rather than their eyeballs, but this even more true for live events.
BuzzMob launched in 2011 to capitalize on our mobile obsession with a location-based fan engagement app, designed to help facilitate and channel the social chatter at live events. The app aims to create a more engaging experience at live events by offering a focused, virtual community message board, which allows users to tap into a realtime community feed of images, tips and status updates from fellow event-goers.
An Autopsy of a Dead Social Network
Posted by Gsurface
on February 27, 2013
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With $2M From Zynga Co-founder & More, Sokikom Wants To Use Social, MMO Gaming To Help Kids Learn Math
Posted by Gsurface
on February 23, 2013
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Sokikom, a new startup that wants to help K-12 teachers motivate students to learn using games, is announcing today that it has raised $ 2 million in seed funding, half of which comes in the form of a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (a research branch within the U.S. Department of Education) and the other half comes in the form of angel funding from former Intel Chairman and CEO Dr. Craig Barrett and Zynga co-founder Steve Schoettler, among others.
TechCrunch
The Social Network That Really Matters to Startups
Posted by Gsurface
on February 22, 2013
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Expanding beyond simply connecting investors and new companies, AngelList aims to create a more global startup community.
AngelList started as a website for investors looking to connect with fledgling startups and vice versa. Now, three years later, it increasingly looks like an indispensable part of the startup scene—and in recent months it has introduced new features that could give it an even more central role.
Social pollution masks? Winning wearable tech ideas
Posted by Gsurface
on February 21, 2013
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Frog Design asked designers to invent wearable tech concepts, with results ranging from interactive tree displays to a wristband that helps wearers navigate NY subways. [Read more]
CNET News
BillPin Wants To Save Friendships By Making Social Expense Sharing Quick And Easy
Posted by Gsurface
on February 21, 2013
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Out of all the problems that friends run into, money is one of the stickiest. There’s nothing that can degrade a relationship in quite the same way as an argument over rent, a restaurant bill, or even who owes what for a pack of toilet paper. BillPin, a new app that launches today, wants to make it easy to split social expenses–its logo is even “keep friendships squabble free.” It is available online, and for iOS and Android devices.
TechCrunch
With $1.4M In Tow, Celly Launches On iOS To Let Anyone Create An Instant Mobile Social Network
Posted by Gsurface
on February 20, 2013
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Once upon a time, the pinnacle of social networking was the ability to connect with former classmates and share what your cat had for breakfast. Today, the requirements for social networking have evolved and are more immediate. We need social networks to quickly connect us with the classrooms, businesses, hospitals, rallies and neighborhoods we frequent on a daily basis to allow private communications between parents and teachers, to notify neighbors about a burglary, to alert co-workers about emergencies, and so on.
TechCrunch
Braess’ Paradox Infects Social Networks Too, Say Computer Scientists
Posted by Gsurface
on February 19, 2013
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A terrific Twitter tutorial — and saying thanks in social media
Posted by Gsurface
on February 18, 2013
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Digital expert Steve Buttry shared a deck of his recent presentation about how journalists can use Twitter in better ways. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to use the service better. [Read more]
CNET News
Fresh Stats On Social Networks: Pinterest Catches Up With Twitter, Digital Divide Shrinks
Posted by Gsurface
on February 18, 2013
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I find statistics absolutely delicious. Pew research released fresh stats on what slice of Americans are addicted to all of the various social networks as of December 2012. There are a few big business and cultural implications.
TechCrunch
Social Money Transfer Service Azimo Adds Facebook Integration To Squeeze Western Union
Posted by Gsurface
on February 12, 2013
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Azimo, the UK-based social money transfer service aiming to disrupt an industry dominated by legacy players Western Union and Moneygram, is rolling out integration with Facebook to make it easy for users of the uber-social network to send money to one another. A first for the remittance industry, claims the company, with perhaps PayPal-to-PayPal transfers coming closest.
TechCrunch
How To Sneak Into the Super Bowl With Social Engineering
Posted by Gsurface
on February 11, 2013
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danielkennedy74 links to an instructive story captured on video introduced with these words: “Sneaking in near press/employee access points without going thru them, zigzagging through corridors, and once carrying a box so someone opens a door for them, two jokers from Savannah State University social engineer their way into Super Bowl XLVII for the most part simply by looking like they belong.” USA Today has a slightly longer article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
7 social media lessons from the Grammys for organizers of other events
Posted by Gsurface
on February 11, 2013
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The 2013 Grammys shows us some good ways to use social media. [Read more]
CNET News
Enterprise Social Network Startup Batterii Closes $2.5M Seed, Led By CincyTech, As It Builds Out Feature-Set & Adds Android App
Posted by Gsurface
on February 8, 2013
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Cincinnati-based enterprise social network startup Batterii, which describes itself as a co-creation software platform, has closed a $ 2.5 million seed round let by public-private seed stage investor CincyTech — which contributed $ 500,000 to the round. Other investors include Batterii CEO Kevin C. Cummins, Los Angeles-based investor Ken Salkin, and undisclosed individuals.
TechCrunch
IBM's mainframe chief eyes mobile, social workloads
Posted by Gsurface
on February 8, 2013
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The head of IBM's mainframe group is looking to bring mobile and social workloads into the platform in another move that would help the mainframe stay relevant and fend off competition from lower-cost systems.
Computerworld News
Tagwhat Aims To Become The Go-To App For Local Deals With Social Media Aggregation And A New Design
Posted by Gsurface
on February 3, 2013
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Tagwhat is a mobile startup trying to present users with content that’s relevant to their location — descriptions of nearby points of interest, social network messages related to those locations, and now, with the latest app update, with local deals and events.
The deals are pulled from Facebook and other social networks, and then recommended to users based on the time and location. Co-founder and CEO Dave Elchoness argued that this approach is significant because it means a user can see relevant deals without having to follow a bunch of different businesses on Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, the businesses get access to potential new customers (rather than just promoting themselves to existing fans), and they don’t have to change their behavior at all — which also means that Tagwhat doesn’t have to go out and recruit a bunch of businesses.
TechCrunch
Social media takes over at the Super Bowl
Posted by Gsurface
on February 1, 2013
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When the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers meet up in New Orleans, social networks are expected to light up with users talking about great passes, touchdowns and, of course, those Super Bowl commercials.
Computerworld News
Dropbox Photo Upgrade Threatens Facebook’s Idea of Social
Posted by Gsurface
on January 31, 2013
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Socialising doesn’t have to mean giving up control of your content by handing it over to a social network
The CEO of Dropbox, Drew Houston, has told Technology Review more than once that he is building the “file system for the Internet” (see here and here). But news from the company yesterday suggests they may actually be enabling something more – decentralized social networking that doesn’t rely on everyone’s content being entrusted to one central store, such as Facebook.
How App.net Plans To Power The Next Viral Social App
Posted by Gsurface
on January 30, 2013
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Dalton Caldwell’s alternative paid social network launches a file-storage feature that could serve photos, videos, or anything else app developers dream up.
When I asked “who will create Instagram’s App.net?”, I imagined an app that simply cloned the popular photo network’s features and asked users to pay for them in exchange for “not being sold” to advertisers. Dalton Caldwell, the founder of App.net, has a much more ambitious idea: build a paid social-media file-hosting service and let a thousand would-be Instagrams bloom from it instead.
Gartner: Social business efforts largely unsuccessful so far
Posted by Gsurface
on January 30, 2013
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Many large companies are embracing internal social networks, but for the most part, they're not getting much good from them, according to analyst firm Gartner.
Computerworld News
IBM to beef up content management, analytics in Connections enterprise social product
Posted by Gsurface
on January 28, 2013
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IBM will launch before mid-year several new and improved collaboration and communication products, including a new suite for human resources tasks and a major upgrade of its Connections enterprise social networking product.
Computerworld News
Serendip Brings Its Social Music Radio Service To Mobile
Posted by Gsurface
on January 23, 2013
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Today, the streaming music startup Serendip is bringing its “lean back,” serendipitous music discovery service to mobile with the debut of the Serendip iOS application. Like the web version which launched last fall, the new app offers a continuous stream of the music popular among friends, or others you’ve dubbed your “music soulmates.”
Addvocate Uses Kickstarter Model To Launch “Paid Beta” For Service That Coordinates Social Media Inside The Company Walls
Posted by Gsurface
on January 22, 2013
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Addvocate is launching today with a “paid beta,” that will allow customers to set their own price for for the service that aspires to take on the still primitive methods for coordinating social media inside a company’s walls.
TechCrunch
Social Network Fandalism Adds A Cheap Way For Musicians To Upload Songs To iTunes And More
Posted by Gsurface
on January 21, 2013
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Fandalism, a social network for musicians, is adding a new feature that should undercut the market for “aggregators” like CD Baby and Tunecore (which allow independent artists to sell their music on iTunes and other digital stores).
To do that, founder Philip Kaplan (who also founded the FuckedCompany blog and ad network AdBrite, as well as co-founding social shopping startup Blippy) is offering a free song upload to iTunes, and unlimited uploads to iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play ) for $ 19.99 per year. That’s significantly cheaper than most other services, he said — for example, Tunecore charges $ 29.99 per album per year, while CD Baby charges $ 49 per album and takes a cut of earnings.
TechCrunch
Social Gifting App Wrapp Hits 1 Million Users (Because People Like Free Stuff)
Posted by Gsurface
on January 17, 2013
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Social gifting startup Wrapp is today announcing that it has grown its user base to 1 million within fourteen months – proof that people really do enjoy freebies, it seems. The company, which allows users to send both free and paid digital gifts and gift cards to friends, also had a busy holiday season, hitting 1 million gifts sent per week during the period. And it saw 100,000 gift redemptions per week by the end of December.
In total, there were 7.4 million gifts given to date during the holiday peak period, the company tells TechCrunch.
TechCrunch
First Known ‘Social Chromosome’ Found
Posted by Gsurface
on January 17, 2013
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sciencehabit writes “To humans, all fire ants may look alike. But the tiny, red, stinging bugs known as Solenopsis invicta have two types of social organization, and these factions are as recognizable to the ants as rival football teams are to us. Researchers once thought that the groups’ distinct physiological and behavioral profiles stemmed from a variant in a single gene. Now, a new study provides the first evidence that the gene in question is bound up in a bundle of some 600 other genes, versions of which are all inherited together. This ‘supergene’ takes up a large chunk of what may be the first known social chromosome, analogous to the chromosomes that determine sex in humans.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Manti Te’o's fake girlfriend was born and died on social media
Posted by Gsurface
on January 17, 2013
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The hoax about the death of the famous football player’s girlfriend was wholly constructed on the Internet, but it was those same online tools left a trail that also revealed the truth. [Read more]
CNET News
Facebook enhances social search with 'Graph Search' engine
Posted by Gsurface
on January 16, 2013
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Facebook is rolling out a major new search engine designed to give users more options in sorting through topics and interests based on their friends.
Computerworld News
Facebook Announces Social Search Tools
Posted by Gsurface
on January 15, 2013
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Today at a press conference in California, Mark Zuckerberg announced a big new feature from Facebook: Graph Search. It’s a set of tools designed to quickly bring together social information involving “people, photos, places, and interests” in response to a user’s query. Zuckerberg was quick to point out that they aren’t indexing the web, and thus aren’t challenging Google. However, it will use the vast volumes of data already stored on Facebook to answer questions like “What kinds of movies do my friends like?” and “Who are friends of friends that are single in San Francisco?” Addressing the obvious privacy concerns, the company said it wouldn’t allow users to search content that wasn’t already shared with them (or already public). The searched data does, however, include location data, if it’s been shared — you can search by places your friends have been. Significantly, the official site also mentions that Graph Search will help you meet new people, something Facebook hasn’t really highlighted until now. Graph Search is being rolled out as a limited beta, with only a few thousand participants. In the coming months, they’ll open it to more users and continue working on mobile and non-English versions.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Ford drives apps for navigation, social, fun
Posted by Gsurface
on January 8, 2013
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Ford Motor Co. is looking to integrate drivers’ favorite apps into their cars, giving them someone to read them the morning newspaper, along with an app to find them the site of their next great date.
Computerworld News
Iran develops software to control access to social networks
Posted by Gsurface
on January 6, 2013
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Chief of country’s national police tells local media that the “intelligent software” will give residents limited access to social networks. [Read more]
CNET News
New laws keep employers out of worker social media accounts
Posted by Gsurface
on January 4, 2013
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Employers in Illinois and California cannot ask for usernames and passwords to the personal social media accounts of employees and job seekers under laws that took effect on Jan. 1.
Computerworld News
More proof that social media experts aren’t
Posted by Gsurface
on December 30, 2012
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A survey of social media experts says President Obama is the most influential social media person of 2012. Mitt Romney came last. The same survey says politicians are the least influential people in social media. Um? [Read more]
CNET News
Michigan Becomes Latest State To Protect Citizens From Employers And Schools Snooping On Private Social Feeds
Posted by Gsurface
on December 29, 2012
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Employers and schools in Michigan, the greatest state in the Nation, are now prohibited from asking employees and students for passwords to their personal email and social media accounts. In a win for reasonable privacy and common sense, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder just signed House Bill 5523 into law introduced by state Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton. “Cyber security is important to the reinvention of Michigan, and protecting the private internet accounts of residents is a part of that,” Snyder said in a released statement on 12/28/2012. “Potential employees and students should be judged on their skills and abilities, not private online activity.” The bill also protects job and school applicants from having to give out their passwords. Offenders to the new law could be charged with a misdemeanor and charged up to a $ 1,000 fine. Bills such as these are in response to a troubling trend that surfaced in 2012. Employers and schools were found asking current and prospective employees and students for access to their online accounts. This was often labeled as voluntary but not complying often had negative effects. Earlier this year, the United States House of Representatives failed in an attempt to ratify a Federal ban, paving the way for states to take up the responsibility. California, Delaware, Illinois, and New Jersey have similar laws on the books. But remember, there’s a difference between private and personal, and anything you put online will never be completely private — right, Randi? [image via mittenmade]
TechCrunch
Online Learning and Upheavals in Social Networks
Posted by Gsurface
on December 28, 2012
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This year, the Web was dominated by online education, shifting social networks, and the continued march toward mobile.
For all the attention lavished on the Web’s growth on mobile devices this year, one of the most interesting Internet trends is still best experienced on a desktop computer: online education.
The Social Gift-Giving Wars — Which One Looked Best For The Holiday Season?
Posted by Gsurface
on December 28, 2012
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With the holiday season upon us, let’s take a look at some of the gift-giving services and how well they work, writes contributor Natasha Starkell.
Facebook’s acquisition of Karma earlier this year must have caused quite a few sighs and fading hopes of the gift-giving websites, and Giftiki was even acquired by LaunchRock a couple of months ago. Yet Facebook Gifts differs from other gift services in how much freedom both the giver and recipient of the present have to select the from the gift options.
TechCrunch
Social media: Five predictions for 2013
Posted by Gsurface
on December 28, 2012
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The big players got bigger in 2012, and they show no sign of slowing down. But Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have company. Just don’t bet on MySpace ever being an important player again. [Read more]
CNET News
Twitter Is Already Winning The Social TV War, But It Will Soon Do More
Posted by Gsurface
on December 26, 2012
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Twitter is reaching out to TV producers and showrunners to find out ways that it can further integrate with the TV experience. That could mean Twitter-based voting, in the case of some competitive reality shows. It could also mean introducing interactive elements in scripted shows that viewers could use to unlock new content or web experiences.
TechCrunch
SocialSafe, The Social Media Back-Up Tool, Raises $400K To Out-Archive Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Posted by Gsurface
on December 24, 2012
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SocialSafe, the social media back-up tool co-founded by Julian Ranger‘s iBundle and 1minus1, has announced that it’s raised £250,000 (~$ 400k) in what’s being called a Series A round. That’s because Ranger, who is a prominent angel investor in the UK, has already funded the startup to the tune of £300k, bringing the total raised by SocialSafe to £550k (~$ 885k).
TechCrunch
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