Archive for February, 2009

In a welcome break from the tensions between YouTube and Warner Music, Sony Music Entertainment and the video website have struck a deal to provide music videos for all to see. A blog on the Guardian site says that the labels and digital start-ups aren’t collaborating more because of the economics of digital revenues. The details of the deal often see the digital company make large upfront payments to the label with little chance of making much in revenues, with the belief that record labels stifle innovation.

ITV is poised to sell the granddaddy of social networking, FriendsReunited, if it can find a buyer, that is. Set uup nine years ago by husband-and-wife team Steve and Julie Pankhurst, Friends Reunited, which helps school friends reconnect, quickly became a news phenomenon. In 2005, when ITV bought it for £175m, Friends was the UK’s eighth-largest online presence. Nielsen reckons the average user spent 15 minutes on Friends Reunited last month against 47 minutes on MySpace, more than 90 minutes on Bebo and nearly six hours on Facebook. ITV will find it a tough sell.

Google and Vodafone have teamed up to take on Apple’s iPhone with the launch of The HTC Magic handset. Developed by Taiwanese handset developer HTC Corporation, the new smartphone will be exclusive to Vodafone users and is the second phone to use Google’s Android operating system after the G1. HTC has ditched the pull-out keypad of the original G1 phone, in favour of a 3.2 inch touchscreen, and the phone also includes Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3.1 megapixel camera.

MySpace has launched a new mobile site for its social networkers that will be rolled out in 13 languages across 29 countries. This new version is more closely integrated with its online offering, according to the social networking site. MySpace Mobile is currently accessed by over 18m unique users.

YouTube will allow its users to download free and paid-for videos, enabling them to watch footage while not connected to the internet. The move sees the Google-owned video sharing site partner with US universities including Stanford and Berkeley to offer free, educational content. In December 2008, YouTube attracted over 23m unique viewers and 33% of time spent watching online video compared to its closest rival, the BBC iPlayer which seized just 3% share, according to comScore.

Facebook has been forced to back down on controversial changes to its terms of service that would have seen it retain a copy of all users’ messages, actions and updates – even if they left the network. After thousands of angry users protested, the world’s largest social network was forced to revert to its old terms of service, which was to delete all traces of a user if they chose to quit the site.

A Japanese singleton has founded a social networking site for people like him – unpopular loners who revel in their isolation. The Himote SNS (which translates as the unpopular) has over 15,000 members who separate themselves into tribes from mo-dan (unpopular boys), mo-jo (unpopular girls), home security guards (the housebound unemployed) and mahotsukai (wizards – based on the belief that those who reach the age of 30 as virgins acquire supernatural powers). On Valentine’s Day last weekend, Himote members gathered in central Tokyo under the banner “Can I make a hundred friends? Party for me with no chance of receiving chocolate and girls with no one to give it to.”

An overenthusiastic employee from Belkin, the computer supplies maker, has sparked controversy over a twenty-first century crime – ‘Astroturfing’ – when marketers generate fake grassroots enthusiasm for a product. The Belkin employee offered to pay $0.65 for anyone willing to write a positive review of Belkin products on Amazon.com. Several people took up the offer writing gushing praise for products they’d never used. Belkin has offer an embarrassed apology and promised to ensure its employees start behaving on the web. Bigger brands, like Coca-Cola, have their own set of social guidelines distributed to employees.

As Twitter’s star rises higher and higher, observers are speculating that the pocket-sized blogging service would make the perfect social companion for Google, which is yet to make real in-roads in the world of social media. However, this week Twitter received a major vote of confidence that it make it alone as Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners led a $35m funding round, and Benchmark partner Peter Fenton joined the board.

Facebook has paid £45m to squash allegations that Mark Zuckerberg, its founder stole the idea that has grown to become the world’s largest social networking site. Facebook was sued in 2004 by ConnectU, a company founded by some former Harvard friends of Zuckerberg. While the deal was agreed last year, its details remained secret until this week. ConnectU argued that it deserved a substantial slice of the credit for Facebook.