Microsoft's latest software update that brought with it Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, the Zune Marketplace and?Sky Player?in the UK is turning their gamers into social butterflies according to the latest figures released by the company.

Microsoft?has said that over 2 million Xbox gamers logged into their facebook profile on the console since the social network became available on the 17 November.

In a bevy of stats which suggest that gamers aren’t just gamers, Microsoft has said that users also made over 1 million Last.fm profiles, spending approximately 40 minutes using Last.fm on Xbox LIVE to discover music and customise radio stations, and have streamed more than 120 million minutes of music already.

Microsoft, who says it has around 20 million active members around the world also saw around 8% visit the new Zune video store, however they haven't stated how many actually watched anything.

They are still playing games though. More than 2.2 million unique gamers played "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" in one day on 10 November, the day of the launch, a new one-day record for Xbox LIVE the company says.

Related links:

• Link - Xbox.com

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Xbox Live Facebook Twitter Lastfm Microsoft Social networking

Xbox 360 gamers actually social butterflies originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:51:24 +0000

As do other such companies, the New Oxford American Dictionary has revealed the new words it is considering for inclusion, and revealed its choice of "Word of the Year" for 2009.

The 2009 Word of the Year has been named as "unfriend" with the definition reading "unfriend – verb – to remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook".

"It has both currency and potential longevity", says Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program.

"In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most 'un-' prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar 'un-' verbs (uncap, unpack), but 'unfriend' is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of 'friend' that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal".

Other words that were considered are heavily influenced by another social networking site - Twitter - with "hashtag" high on the list, while "Notable Word Clusters for 2009" include the following:

Tweeps, Tweetup, Twitt, Twitterati, Twitterature, Twitterverse/sphere, Retweet, Twibe, Sweeple, Tweepish, Tweetaholic, Twittermob and Twitterhea.

Do you know what they all mean?

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Tags: Software Dictionaries Facebook Twitter Social networking OUP

"Unfriend" named Word of the Year by OUP originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:04:26 +0000

Email extinction could be a reality in the next 10 years, says TalkTalk, proclaiming the younger generation has no need for such long-winded communication.

No doubt echoing similar studies from 10 years ago that predicted the absolute death of snail mail, this most recent effort suggests the "young digerati" prefer "one and done-style messages" such as tweets and IM.

Backed by a social anthropologist from the University of Kent, the research states that Britain has over 2 million "First Lifers", defined as those in their late teens or early Twenties who are tech savvy but don't like being stuck at a desk with just 51% regularly using email.

Older generations are now more likely to use email with the stats coming in at 98% of people aged 65-plus, 96% of 45- to 64-year-olds leading TalkTalk to conclude that email is turning into "grey mail".

Tags: Software Email Survey Social networking Instant messaging SMS Twitter TalkTalk

Email extinction predicted in 10 years originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:38:02 +0000

As?Twitter?continues to gain popularity with brands and people alike, how should you go about using it as a tool for communicating rather than a way of telling the world what you just had for lunch?

We sat down to watch the "Mayor" of Twitter, Chris Brogan, at Web 2.0 expo in New York to find out his top three tips for using Twitter to grow your social knowledge and reputation.

According to his bio, Chris Brogan advises businesses, organizations and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.

1. Use Twitter search

According to Brogan, Twitter search is a key tool here. "There is so much value not what your friends are saying, but what people are saying on Twitter, that you should use the search", affirms Brogan. ?

Before you jump in expecting to use it to find a new pair of shoes on Zappos, use it not as you would use Google, but rather to see stories develop and move in real time. "You should be listening more than saying", says Brogan.

2. Engage don't just shout

If you're like most, you use Twitter as a gloat machine, shouting about your achievements. This is bad says Brogan:

"Spend 12 times more talking about other people as you do talking about yourself. The more you talk about other people, the more you will gain respect, reputation, and trust", says the social media expert.

3. Use your mentions more than you are now

It's one of the biggest errors a Twitter newbie can make, just sucking up the noise.

"80% of my tweets are responses to other people", comments Brogan. "The result is that "I see you" and you are seen".

The concept here is that engaging in the conversation allows you to be a part of it, rather than just feeding information out into the masses without any purpose.

Photo by?James Duncan Davidson

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Related links:

• Link - Chris Brogan

Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking Features

Three ways to get the most out of Twitter originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:29:58 +0000

With Twitter all the rage as a marketing tool, Stephen Fry gave a stern warning this morning to businesses not to turn the mirco-blogging service into something of their own. The actor, writer and self-proclaimed "twillionaire" was speaking at the 140 Conference today at the O2 in Greenwich, attended by a large number from the corporate world and those looking to start-up businesses when he said:

"So many of you are here to talk about your strategy and your selling and so it's up to you to understand the nature of the phenomenon [Twitter]. It is human shaped, not business shaped. It's up to you to remember the shape of it, not for Twitter to shift for business. If this happens the great buzz of Twitter will be removed".

In a speech which compared the power of the social network to the huge impact on politics of the first magazines when the printing press was invented, Mr Fry emphasised the need for Twitter to remain about the conversation, the prattle, the idle chat for it to continue.

"These first publications, many of which still continue, had names like the Idler, Rambler, Tattler, Spectator".

"We are human beings. We shouldn't have to justify something by what function it has. It is simply a way of getting people to babble inconsequentially to each other. It's called Twitter. Not Serious Debate or Marketing Tool. If you forget that, you forget the purpose of it".

Only a matter of weeks since Mr Fry threatened to quit the service after some negative remarks about his tweets being boring, the national treasure also took the time to highlight Twitter's darkside as much as a reflection of the Internet as a whole, describing the online world as a city.

"Just like a city it has its art galleries and museums but it also has its slums and its red light districts. It has an anarchy and a liberty and sometimes we don't want to be in these cities anymore, but cities aren't places that we allow corporations like Apple and Microsoft to come into and redesign at will".

Mr Fry also took the time to outline his distaste for the section of the press he described as "dead wood journalists" making reference to those comment columnists who originally slated Twitter and now use it to push their stories. He also described a shift in power away from the hacks who no longer sit as the gate keepers to PR. With so many followers, who needs to give interviews to promote their books any more?

Interestingly the epilogue to the speech was delivered by the subsequent speaker, Andrew Keen, long after the awkward moment when Mr Fry was crowned king of Twitter live on stage with a very real, or unreal as it were, plastic crown.

Keen pointed out that the new order may have cut out the power of the companies who cannot stop their customers talking to one another and the power of the journalists as Mr Fry demonstrated, but it's not as if that power has gone. In fact it's only shifted and condensed in a more potentially dangerous way by being handed over to the twillionaires like Stephen Fry who can trash products such as Vista Vaios and the BlackBerry Storm or anything else with a single phrase of less than 140 characters.

Fortunately, there's no doubt that Mr Fry is a thoroughly honourable man but it's an interesting by-product of Twitter to be pointed out. One can only hope that someone who would abuse such a position would not be the kind of person to attract so many followers in the first place.

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Related links:

• News - Stephen Fry attacks copyright
• News - Orange debuts MMS Twitter updates

Tags: Software Twitter Stephen Fry Social networking

Stephen Fry: "Twitter is people-shaped, not business-shaped" originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:18:54 +0000

LG has announced a few more details of its first Android smartphone, the LG GW620, that launches with a focus on social networking.

The GW620 is a QWERTY slider with an HVGA 3-inch LCD. Features include a 5-megapixel AF camera and "high-res" video recorder, offering one-touch uploads as well as DivX and Xvid support and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The device offers LG's "SNS Manager", claims to integrate all the user's social networking needs in "one convenient platform" for managing of multiple accounts while receiving real-time updates.

Unique to the LG GW620, there's "Auto Face-Tagging" and "Face To Action" that lets users tag a friend's face in a photo. The phone also has instant messenger, threaded SMS and real-time push email functions.

The LG GW620 is the first of a number of Android devices LG plans to introduce to the public in the coming year, says the company.

The LG GW620 will be available worldwide starting in Europe from now on, apparently - we will keep you posted with more as we hear it.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG Android LG GW620 Social networking

LG reveals a little more about the Android-based GW620 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:25:18 +0000

LinkedIn has announced it is testing a new "site navigation experience" that will show up for certain users.

The new design sees a "global navigation bar" at the top of the page that provides what's said to be convenient access to all LinkedIn services while overall there's said to be a cleaner, less-cluttered look.

The revamp also intros more simplified local navigation within each of the LinkedIn areas (Profile, Contacts, Groups, etc.) meaning more room available for page content.

"One of the key features of the new design is that it allows much more space for page content - information about you and your professional network", says LinkedIn.

The site is currently asking for feedback about the new design for those that can see it, as well as from those using the older format.

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Tags: Software Online Websites LinkedIn Social networking Biz

LinkedIn testing a new site design originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:04:44 +0000

Twitter has dropped a message onto its status blog to say that it's testing a new set of notifications for those who use Twitter.com to interact with the service. If you see a yellow bar at the top of your Twitter stream on the site, then don't be alarmed.

It'll say something like "3 new tweets", and clicking the bar will expand the page to show those tweets. Similar functionality has appeared in Twitter's search results for some time. The idea behind the move is to keep people staring at the Twitter site, "maximising engagement" as some marketer would probably put it.

The feature is being rolled out slowly, initially to a "limited" set of users. Twitter says that it "hopes to roll it out to everyone as soon as we can". For many hardcore Twitter users the feature won't be that useful - it'll rise too fast - but for more casual fans, who follow fewer people, this could prove a handy tool.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking

Twitter testing new tweet notifications originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:17:03 +0000

Twitterpeek, the dedicated Twitter device announced earlier in the week?in the US could be making its way to the UK in the early part of next year according to the company behind it.

"Someday TwitterPeek will cross the pond to the UK. someday could be early next year I would guess", said Amol Sarva, the founder and CEO of Peek on Twitter.?

The TwitterPeek as it is called, has a dedicated colour screen, and is a QWERTY keyboard sporting device that allows users to dump their smartphones, email and phone calls and just check their Twitter stream regardless of what they are doing.

The new device, available at Amazon.com, will cost $99 and include unlimited nationwide service for the first 6 months, which jumps to $7.95 per month for service thereafter.

The company is also offering a $199 package, which includes unlimited Twitter service for the lifetime of device without the need for a contract.?

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Related links:

• Link - peek

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Twitter Twitterpeek peek Social networking

TwitterPeek UK bound? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:48:38 +0000

Peek, the company that offers a dedicated handheld email device, has today announced a new device just for twitterholics.

The TwitterPeek as it is called, is a dedicated colour screen, QWERTY keyboard sporting device that allows users to dump their smartphones, email and phone calls and just check their twitter stream regardless of what they are doing instead.

"Twitter has become a worldwide phenomenon, but – until now – the millions of Twitter users without a smartphone haven’t been able to fully experience the fun of Twitter on-the-go. TwitterPeek will make it easy and affordable for everyone who doesn’t have a smartphone to really enjoy Twitter on–the-go", said Peekster-in-Chief Amol Sarva hoping Twitter fans won't just opt for a free app instead.

The new device, available at Amazon.com will cost $99 and include unlimited nationwide service for the first 6 months, which jumps to $7.95 per month for service thereafter.

The company is also offering a $199 package, which includes unlimited Twitter service for the lifetime of device without the need for a contract.?

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Twitter Twitterpeek peek Social networking

TwitterPeek device aims to appeal to the Twitterholic originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:19:08 +0000

Twitter has released a new "goodie" that allows users to display lists on their site as they update.

Called Twitter widgets, the new feature "lets you display Twitter updates on your website or social network page" according to the blurb on the new widgets page.

Users can opt for four different types of widget; Profile, Search, Faves and List with the tool auto generating the code so you can paste it on your website, facebook or MySpace page.

Users will be able to set a number of preferences for the widget such as update speed and behaviour, as well as which information to show.? Users will also be able to change the size and appearance of the widget to make it fit in with their page (see below).

Once created, users can opt to have the site spit out the code for them to cut and paste anywhere on the Web.

With the results pumped out in real time rather than delayed, it seems Twitter is happy to empower people to drive traffic to their own site rather than pushing people back to Twitter to see the results.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking

Twitter widgets brings Twitter to the rest of the Web originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:14:35 +0000

Google's new "Social Search" Labs feature that looks to your contacts for relevant results during searches is being rolled out now. You'll find a neat demo video above that does a good job of explaining the changes, while Google says:

"Your friends and contacts are a key part of your life online. Most people on the web today make social connections and publish web content in many different ways, including blogs, status updates and tweets. This translates to a public social web of content that has special relevance to each person. Unfortunately, that information isn't always very easy to find in one simple place. That's why today we're rolling out a new experiment on Google Labs called Google Social Search that helps you find more relevant public content from your broader social circle".

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Tags: Software Online Google Search engines Social networking Social Search Video

VIDEO: Google demos Social Search originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:30:12 +0000

Facebook is a funny old creature and it does like to throw changes at its users faster than most. Well, good on Zuckerberg Inc for doing its best to keep up with the times - it's just a shame that for many it can cause a little confusion as to where to find all the bits and pieces that we've only just got used to. So, with today's little switch-aroo on the world's favourite social network, here's the Pocket-lint guide to News Feed and Live Feed, which to use and just where everything else has gone anyway.

News Feed

When you log in to Facebook and navigate to the home page, you'll find the real-time feed - the central column - looking a little different. It now comes in two different formats according to which words are highlighted at the top of the feed. The default setting will be News Feed and what company has done here is to bring back a couple of features that were lost last time around and make this into more of an overview of the activity in your social network

Instead of offering a chronological view of what's been going on, it presents users with what it thinks are the most interesting updates at the top of the list moving down to the least important ones at the bottom - if you really want to go back through that many years worth of notifications that is. That idea is that it offers a better overview of what's been going on and it works it all out with an algorithm which factors in how recent the update has been made, how many friends have liked it, how many have commented on it and how likely you are personally to interact with the news at all.

What's it best for?
Don't use the news feed option if you're the kind of person who sits on Facebook 24 hours a day. This isn't a blow-by-blow account of what's going on. The News Feed works best as a quick catch up tool. If you've either been away from the internet for a few days - heaven forbid - or perhaps for your first check of the day, or if you're not someone who uses Facebook on a daily basis, then this is the one for you. It's an excellent way of catching up on the important stuff quickly.

The downside is that the algorithm used to work out what should be at the top of the list is only as good as you are. If you never comment on other people's updates, then the system won't have a very good idea of what and who you like most, so the updates will pretty much come in the order of the time they came anyway. Otherwise, it works well.

Live Feed

Your other option is the Live Feed which is much more like the real-time stream used to be. Without ever having to manually refresh the page, the Live Feed offers all the updates of everyone in your network - no matter how large or small - with the latest appearing at the top of the list as it happens.

If you hit the options next to the updates on either feed, you can customise your streams to edit out and block anyone who you don't want to listen to. They won't be notified of the fact and you can always reinstate them in the Edit Options section any time you like.

What's it best for?
The Live Feed is the much more Twitter-like approach from Facebook. All the really big notifications will get lost of the pages just as quickly as the small stuff, so this is the option that's more for people who monitor their stream on a regular basis. If you just dip in and out once a day, then stick to the News Feed, but if you want a real-time chat-type minute-by-minute interaction, then the Live Feed is the one to use.

Are there any other changes?

Apart from these major shifts, the birthday notifications box is more in-depth than before and in a better place - not lost quite so far down the screen. Then other change is that the highlights box has been axed with the idea that its function is mostly served by the News Feed option. Coincidentally, it also frees up a nice bit of real estate above the fold in the top right corner where the company can render the sponsored ads.

Related links:

• News - Facebook makes more homepage changes
• News - Facebook touchscreen homepage launches
• News - Facebook has added music to its gift store
• Link - Pocket-lint Facebook page

Tags: Software Facebook Social networking Websites Online Features

The new Facebook feeds and which to use originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:07:11 +0000

Facebook has made more changes to its homepage that go some way to undo recent tweaks by offering a more tailored version of the stream of info that users see.

The social networking site is now offering two views of News Feed: a summary view of the "most interesting" activity that's happened in the last day and a real-time view that shows what is happening right now.

"You will be able to catch up on what you may have missed while you were away from Facebook and then easily switch to the real-time stream when you want to see posts as soon as they're shared", says Facebook.

The "most interesting" things that happened in the last day are chosen on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

As it suggests "Live Feed" lets users see what's happening right now, offering a more Twitter-esque view of happenings.

"Some of you may ask why we are changing the home page again. Like you, we know it can be disruptive when things are moved around, but we hope that these changes make Facebook a more valuable experience for you", says Facebook.

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Tags: Software Facebook Social networking Websites Online

Facebook makes more homepage changes originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:17:05 +0000

If you've just accessed your Twitter page and seen that you now have the ability to create and manage lists, then you are one of the 5% of Twitter users that Twitter opened up the service to.

"We are expanding availability of Lists to 5% of users and will work our way up to a full roll-out in the coming weeks", the micro-blogging service announced.

Twitter Lists, was officially launched earlier in the month to a select handful of Twitter users, allowing them to create lists of their favourite or most relevant Twitter folk.

The new offering, which isn't available to everyone at the moment, gives the opportunity for those lucky enough to be included the ability to create numerous lists based on whatever they want, be it their employees, favourite celebrities or?the top 100 tech people to follow in the UK.

The idea, which has strung from #followfriday, encourages users to share good twitterers and hopefully make the service more meaningful.

Early reports suggest that the service is very basic with no search facility to be able to search for people you want to add to a list. Instead you will have to manually find them and then add them to a list.

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Expect third party applications like TweetDeck and?Tweetie?to add List functionality to their applications in the not too distance future.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking

Twitter expands Lists availability originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:30:31 +0100

Facebook?has released a new homepage for users of touchscreen phones that can't or don't want to be burdened with downloading a dedicated app.

The new homepage, available at touch.facebook.com has been optimised for handsets like the iPhone and Android powered HTC Hero.

Users will get a tabbed system to access their Home page, Profile, Friends and Inbox as well as News Feed, Events and Requests. You'll also get to see your latest notifications as well.

Available to all handsets and desktop machines via the url, the experience is unlikely to be as good as a dedicated app, but will appeal to those just wanting a quick glance at what is going on in their social circle.?

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Tags: Software Online Facebook Social networking

Facebook touchscreen homepage launches originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:17:30 +0100

While Google waits to implement Twitter search?functionality into its organic search it is testing yet another social element; Social Search.

The new offering, which will launch in Google Labs shortly, promises to allow users to see results for queries from people in their social network.

The system will work by tying in your contacts from various services like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or Friendfeed, and give you results from that data as well as the Web as a whole.

The idea is that if one of your contacts has been to New Zealand for example and has referenced that somewhere on the Web, that search would show up in your search query, allowing you to gain relevant information from someone within your network rather than random people on a site you've never heard of.

However, in order to use social search, users need to be logged into a Google profile, from there, the search engine can then suggest connections to those listed as friends by crawling your Gmail contacts for example.

The system is expected to launch in the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday also saw the launch of Twitter on Bing, allowing users to search Twitter feeds via the Microsoft search engine.?

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Tags: Software Online Google Social Search Social networking Search engines Bing

Google Social Search brings your friends to the search engine originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:27:49 +0100

Atari has launched a new social networking app - Atari Photo Sauce. This new application lets Facebook users "express themselves" by dragging and dropping digital stickers across their pics.

The stickers include "cute graphics, irreverent sayings and funny accessories", such as "gold chains, teddy bear helmets and over-sized shades".

"Atari introduced the world to computer entertainment with simple and fun games for everyone", says Paulina Bozek, development director at Atari London Studio.

"Atari Photo Sauce builds on that heritage with a social application that is universally appealing and instantly fun, allowing social networkers, who share billions of photos online, a new way to be creative with photos and share them instantly with friends everywhere".

Tags: Software Online Facebook Atari Social networking

Atari offers "Photo Sauce" Facebook app originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:23:53 +0100

Flickr has launched "People in Photos", describing it as "a new feature that will help put a face to the Flickrverse enabling you to highlight people that you've photographed in a whole new way".

While the photo sharing site already offers the option to allow users to identify people in pics with text tags, this new feature takes a step towards Facebook functionality by tagging people with their Flickr username and adding a "people in this photo" info box.

This means that users will be able to search, or click through, for more photos of a certain person as well as see tagging action in the "Recent Activity" area in their account.

Along with the new features, Flickr has added privacy and notification settings that means users can choose who can add them in photos, which photos they are added to, or opt out of the feature completely.

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Tags: Software Websites Flickr Social networking

Flickr goes Facebook with "People in Photos" originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:32:18 +0100

MySpace has announced what it says is "the next phase" of its music offering with a wave of new products and tools now available to artists and fans.

As well as allowing users to buy music on iTunes in addition to Amazon MP3, the global rollout of a new "MySpace Music Video" experience has begun, while the "MySpace Artist Dashboard" - a free data and analytics tool for artists - has hit beta.

MySpace Music Videos launches with the boast of being one of the most comprehensive online collections of music videos available anywhere.

The MySpace Artist Dashboard offers detailed analytics about artist's content within the MySpace community offering trending data and info on song plays, profile views, friend count, and profile visitors.

Tags: Software Online Websites MySpace Social networking Audio Video on demand iTunes Amazon MP3

MySpace hits next phase of music offering originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:38:35 +0100

Microsoft's digital head Qi Lu has confirmed, as rumoured earlier today, that it has signed a non-exclusive deal with Twitter and Facebook to provide status updates to its Bing search engine.

The two new services will allow users to use Bing to search tweets in real-time posted on the micro-blogging service.

"We have two deals to announce", said the demo man at the Web 2.0 summit conference. "The first is Twitter, which will be going live in the beta straight away, the second is Facebook which will come later".

Both systems will access all public data, leaving direct messages secure and out of sight.

The tweets will, however, be vetted for quality and factor in a number of features including quality of tweet, the length and relevancy of the tweet, the twitter users social standing (ie number of followers) as well as the tweet is being re-tweeted.

Users will be able to search tweets via a real-time stream as well as a cloud trending option.

Microsoft has also said that it will strip out bit.ly links turning them back into full url's so users can see what the domain is before clicking on it.

The beta, which can be accessed via bing.com/twitter should be live in the next hour.?

UPDATE: Google has now said that it will be offering Twitter status updates as well.

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Tags: Software Online Social networking Search engines Microsoft Twitter Facebook Bing

Twitter comes to Bing originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:45:55 +0100

Microsoft is about to sign up both Twitter and Facebook in a non-exclusive deal to help improve the Bing search engine.

The deal, which will see both sites integrate their real-time feed of status updates into the Bing search engine is, if true, expected to give Microsoft's fledgling offering a massive boost in the real time search game.

According to All Things Digital "sources, Microsoft (MSFT) digital head Qi Lu will announce the deal onstage in a few hours at the Web 2.0 Summit".

Although the article states that neither offering is expected to be up and running for weeks if not months, it does expect Qi Lu to demo the new project at the conference.

However, the article also states that any deal is expected to be non-exclusive suggesting that similar offerings could be coming to Google as well.

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Tags: Software Twitter Bing Facebook Social networking Search engines Microsoft Biz

Twitter and Facebook Status updates coming to Bing originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:50:13 +0100

Foursquare, the location-based social network which launched in London recently, has rolled out its service in fifteen more cities, adding to the 21 already available to bring the total up to 36.

The cities added are all in the USA and Canada, and the full list runs: Baltimore, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, St. Louis, Montreal and Toronto.

Foursquare challenges its users to "check in" at locations using GPS, describing itself as 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide and 20% nightlife game. The idea is that you discover new things while being aware of where your friends are. It comes as an app for the iPhone and Android platforms and a mobile site for other smartphones.

If you'd like to find out more, Pocket-lint has a guide to Foursquare, as well as a set of Foursquare tips from an addict.

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Tags: Software Websites Online Foursquare GPS software Social networking

Foursquare gets 15 more citites originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:01:12 +0100

Twitter has started to roll out its Lists feature to some twitter users, allowing them to create lists of their favourite or most relevant twitter folk.

The new offering, which isn't available to everyone at the moment, gives the opportunity for those lucky enough to be included the ability to create numerous lists based on whatever they want, be it their employees, favourite celebrities or the top 100 tech people to follow in the UK.

The idea, which has strung from #followfriday, encourages users to share good twitterers and hopefully make the service more meaningful.

Since its launch Twitter offered a recommended list of Twitter users on its homepage, however that list was randomly generated and disliked by many people, mainly those not on the list.

Early reports suggest that the service is very basic with no search facility to be able to search for people you want to add to a list. Instead you will have to manually find them and then add them to a list.

Expect third party applications like TweetDeck and?Tweetie?to add List functionality to their applications in the not too distance future.

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Tags: Software Twitter Online Social networking

Lists come to Twitter... originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:37:54 +0100

Following some tragic news regarding the negative side of Facebook, the social networking site has announced it has improved its process to better respond to offensive behaviour on the site.

In a blog post, Facebook says: "While only a small fraction of people on the site ever experience abuse such as bullying, harassment, unwanted contact or offensive behaviour from others, we're constantly improving our processes to better respond if you do have a problem".

Facebook says that after its users have provided them with "accurate and detailed information", via a new, more detailed form system, it will be able to "locate and remove abuse on the site as quickly and efficiently as possible".

Users can report abuse on the site by selecting the "Report" link located near photos, videos, notes or other content they find offensive or inappropriate, however, "keep in mind that we won't remove a photo or video just because it's unflattering", says Facebook.

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Tags: Software Websites Facebook Online Social networking

Facebook improves system to report offensive behaviour originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:24:03 +0100

Twitter, it seems, hates spammers as much as you do and to show how much it has added a new button to the site that allows you to report an account as such.

"Today we've added another tool to our spam fighting toolbox that will give users the ability to flag bad accounts on Twitter", the company said on its official blog.

All users have to do is click the "Report as spam" button under the Actions section of a profile’s sidebar and Twitter's Trust and Safety team spring into action.

However, before you get any funny ideas, the micro-blogging service says that you won't be able to use it to wipe out real people although it will automatically block said user from following or replying to you, suggesting it will be a good way to rid yourself of that ex-girlfriend or boyfriend stalking your every move.

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Tags: Software Online Twitter Social networking

Twitter declares war on spammers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:17:26 +0100

The world's first online seance will take place this Hallowe'en via micro-blogging site Twitter, and predictably, it's been dubbed a "tweance".

Dead celebs are the target for the session and Twitter users can nominate expired stars as well as send in questions they'd like asked.

Jayne Wallace, a "top psychic" recently used by The Sun to supposedly contact the spirit of Jade Goody, will conduct the tweance.

The contact with the deceased stars - questions asked and presumably "answers" - will be tweeted between 10am and 12pm on Friday 30 October at twitter.com/tweance.

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Tags: Software Twitter Websites Social networking Tweance

Twitter "tweance" to take place on Hallowe'en originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:22:32 +0100

It's being reported that Twitter is currently in mega-money talks with Microsoft and Google, discussing using Twitter content in searches separately with each search giant.

All Things D reports: "According to sources familiar with the situation - Twitter is in advanced talks with Microsoft and Google separately about striking data-mining deals, in which the companies would license a full feed from the microblogging service that could then be integrated into the results of their competing search engines".

Microsoft's Bing already encompasses some Twitter content in its results while Google recently announced Hot Trends that offers real-time results for popular search terms, so it's a little unclear at this stage what the talks may result in.

All Thing D's sources say "a number of scenarios are being discussed to compensate Twitter for its huge and potentially valuable trove of real-time and content-sharing information, generated from the data stream of billions of tweets from its 54 million monthly users".

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Software Websites Twitter Google Microsoft Biz Rumours Search engines Social networking

Twitter in talks with Microsoft, Google originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:00:50 +0100

So yes, Foursquare is coming to London, and with it are all the badge-unlocking, social-drinking, night-life infesting, mobile gaming experiences that Yanks have been experiencing for the better part of a year.

So you've got the basics of what Foursquare is, but how do you get the most out of your Foursquare experience? We sat down with an addict in the US, Randall Bennett, who has been playing the game since it's launch in March in the US to grab some tips on how to do well.

Don't cheat

It might seem like a good idea to check-in when you're not actually going places to get some extra points, but in all seriousness, Foursquare is competitive socializing, with a larger focus on socializing rather than competition. Adding your home as a venue and checking in when you wake up is against the spirit of the game, and will earn you countless eye rolls among fellow players.

That being said, feel free to retroactively check in to venues you last visited, or check in early before heading to a venue. Catching up and checking in early aren't cheating, they keep the game moving. In fact, it's always good to tell people where you're going, so friends can catch up with you before you get there.

Control your contacts

It might seem like a no brainer, but I keep getting friend requests from people who I've never met. While with Twitter or Facebook, I don't really mind putting myself out there and oversharing some of my life, Foursquare is where I draw the line.

Sure, there's an inherent creepiness to have random people knowing where you are, but the game is actually more fun when you keep your contacts controlled. Since the game works as a way for friends to meet up, an overabundance of random strangers can throw off things like your leaderboard, and other elements of the game. It's most fun to see where your friends are headed, and to meet them there if you're free. If you have thousands of random strangers who are checking in constantly, the "random connection" value of the game is diminished, and Foursquare becomes another place overrun by random internet people.

m.Foursquare.com

The Foursquare iPhone app is killer, to be clear, but since many of us don't rock Apple's golden child, head to the mobile site. The game is primarily advertised as an iPhone app experience, and with the iPhone app players get benefits like the ability to find close venues via the built-in GPS, but fruit-less phoners can still participate with the mobile site.

The mobile version is essentially a WAP-style application, so it'll work with virtually any phone on the market, which can access the Web. On the plus side too, use the mobile site in your browser to catch up your check-ins when you forget on the road.

The company says there's an Android app out as well, and other OSes should follow soon.

Contribute Top 12 tips

A great way to discover new experiences is to pay attention to the Top 12 tips section of any friends' Foursquare profile, but it only works if you actually fill it out. Start simple, by filling in the info of your most frequent watering hole / restaurant of choice, but as you find a new experience, go and fill it on your list. I've found many-a-new restaurant by checking out the tips around Foursquare.

Have fun!

Foursquare takes one of the most enjoyable aspects of urban living, discovering new nightlife, and makes it more simple. While everyone likes to be the mayor of a new place, don't get so caught up in "winning," but instead network socially with your friends in real life.

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Randall Bennett is a recovering Foursquare addict, and runs?TechVi.com. The site is focused on video news, video commentary, and keeping people up to date on the latest in gadgets and tech with a video slant.

Related links:

• Link - Foursquare

Tags: Software Foursquare Social networking Features

Foursquare tips from an addict originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:33:30 +0100

You may have heard this morning that foursquare is launching in the UK. And if you haven't, shame on you for not having Pocket-lint open all day. If you don't know what foursquare is on the other hand, then that's a whole lot more forgiveable seeing as the service only started in March this year at the SXSW technology, music and film extravaganza. So, for the majority of us...

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What is foursquare?

In a nutshell, it's a location service-based social network-come-game. What it does in effect is to tell you where your friends are and add a little fun to going out in the evening. It's like Google Lattitude meets a little bit of Facebook, a touch of Twitter, a dash of Qype and even a twist of World of Warcraft. And if that's not a cocktail for hopeless addiction, then we're not sure what is.

How does it work?

The whole system is based around what is known as "checking-in". You check-in from bars and restaurants and any kind of nightspot or watering hole, perhaps with a little message about where you are and what you're doing - all very brief - and the system will then register what you're up to. People who you're friends with will then get pinged a message to let them know your whereabouts and activities, and the idea is that they can then join you if they fancy or just be pleased that you're out having a good time. From the other side of things, if you're out on your own somewhere, suddenly mateless in town or stuck at home and bored, you can see where everyone's at and get yourself down to the party. All pretty simple. The other two things you can do are create a to-do-list of places you've always wanted to go and add to a Top 12 list of your recommendations for other people.

And what about the game?

The clever, or clever-er, part is that you get points for checking-in. The idea is that it encourages you to do so, which then gets the system running and propagates the idea and the fun even further. It's all rather new, even for the developers, and much of the system is still evolving but, at the moment, you get a point for checking in, you get five points if it happens to be from a place you've never checked-in from before; a further point if it's the second, third, fourth etc place of the evening; and another still for checking-in multiple nights in a row, you old booze hound, you. You can only get points for checking-in outside of work hours - presumably to prevent potential mass job loss and alcoholism - but you're always eligible for the five discovery points no matter what time of day it is.

Naturally, the points aren't good for anything other than bragging rights but that's currency a-plenty with a leader board on the site with the top users. Also, if you check-in from the same place more times and more regularly than anyone else, then you might find yourself crowned Mayor of that gaff on the site - an honour that many may try to wrestle from you but then, that's part of the fun. You'll probably begin as rivals and end up the next week amassing 50 points together on some all night bender.

You can also earn badges as you check-in which is where the parallel of World of Warcraft and its Achievements system lies. Firstly, there are badges for the number of times you've checked-in to new establishments from Newbie up to Superstar, plus all sorts of random and more cryptic titles to earn. Word has it that this is where the real addiction lies, especially with the team working on and taking suggestions for all sorts of new badges.

The really clever part

That's basically the fun side of foursquare and what you'll appreciate as a user, but while all this is going on, the owners of the service are also gathering some very considerable review and guide data for all the best spots in a whole bunch of major cities all over the world. It's the kind of user-generated content that Qype specialises in but in a much less in-depth way. What foursquare then decides to do with that is up to the business but there's certainly plenty of commercial scope, if only for the desire of new bars and restaurants to get themselves listed or even to have a badge made just for them.

How do I start?

Like all social networks, just head to the foursquare site and sign up with a free and very brief profile which will ask you for your mobile phone number so it can ping you. Then add a photo and find your friends.

Can anyone use it?

Well, yes and no. Firstly, the system has to be city specific, so there are different networks for a number of different locations. If there doesn't happen to be one in your location then, it's not going to work for you. So far you can play in: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas / Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis / St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, DC and now London as well. You'll need a mobile phone to check-in from and a decent SMS package on your price plan or, better still, there's an app for Android, iPhone and soon ones for BlackBerry and the Palm Pre too.

Related links:

• News - Foursquare launches for London

Tags: Software Websites Online Foursquare GPS software Social networking Quick Guide

What is Foursquare? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:45:54 +0100

Foursquare has announced that it's launching its location-based social networking game in London.

The service, which awards points and badges for experiencing things in certain locations, is popular in the States but relatively unknown on this side of the Atlantic.

Apps to play are available for iPhone and Android, and there's a web interface for other devices.

Over here, the only other city where the service is available is Amsterdam. London has a reputation for being open to social services, so Foursquare could do well in the town. Particularly as there's plenty to see and do in the capital.

Meanwhile, the company has also attracted investment from Digg foundeer Kevin Rose. He announced that he was involved in the service at the Future of Web Apps conference which co-incidentally was also held in London.

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• News - Twitter tests new geolocation features

Tags: Software Websites Online Foursquare GPS software Social networking

Foursquare launches for London originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:19:05 +0100

Twitter is testing a geolocation system that automatically detects and marks where users are Tweeting from. The feature is opt-in, so if you're concerned about privacy then you can turn it off.

Interestingly, however, it'll be available to third party developers - so if you're a regular tweeter then it should be relatively easy for someone to knock together a mashup that tracks your movements on a map.

Some users have reported that red pin-shaped dots are appearing on a map alongside their tweets - though many are also placed off the coast of Ghana at 00 latitude and 00 longitude - this is likely to be a result of the service being unable to detect their location.

A Twitter staff member, Raffi Krikorian, announced the development by saying: "As some of you may have already noticed, we've started going through the first steps to get the geolocation API out our door. There are a few more steps in the process that i want to share with all of you".

"There will also always be a tag in the status object regardless of whether there is a location attached to the tweet or not. If there is no location, then the tag will be empty. If there is a location, then the tag will be populated".

The new feature isn't far off a full release, Krikorian says: "We've deployed for internal testing, and soon we'll be turning this on for the general audience".

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Related links:

• News - UK Court serves writ via Twitter

Tags: Software Car And GPS Websites Twitter Online GPS software Social networking

Twitter tests new geolocation features originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:24:15 +0100

As well as upside-down English and pirate, Facebook is now available in the mother of all romance tongues, Latin.

In a blog post, the social networking site says: "Most of the time when we stumble upon a Latin phrase, it's etched in stone: carved in the hallways of universities, chiselled on facades of government buildings or carefully imprinted in cathedral foyers and churchyards. The language seems almost immovable. Yet beginning today, Latin - the staid and reliable language - springs to life on Facebook".

Now users can select to answer "quid cogitas?", rather than "what's on your mind?", keep their charta up to date and, of course, connect with their amici.

Azeri, Faroese, Georgian and Nepali also join the 70 plus languages that Facebook is available in.

Those who want to change their account settings to see the site displayed in the dead language need to go to Facebook's language drop-down menu and select it there.

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Tags: Software Facebook Websites Social networking

Facebook now available in Latin originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:31:16 +0100