Facebook buys WhatsApp: the $16 billion quest to conquer messaging

[~Time Published February 20, 2014 at 03:35PM]

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Facebook shocked Silicon Valley and Wall Street alike in February 2014 when it announced it would acquire WhatsApp, a global mobile messaging app, for a staggering $16 billion, plus another $3 billion in options. But with a firm commitment not to advertise and to maintain its own stand alone product, WhatsApp has a murky path ahead as it begins its journey into the bowels of the Facebook empire. Follow all the latest news from one of the biggest deals in tech history so far.

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Twitter claims Venezuela is blocking its images to stifle protests

[~Time Published February 15, 2014 at 01:26PM]

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Venezuela’s government has been trying to silence protests over shortages of basic goods, and that crackdown appears to be extending into the digital realm as well. A Twitter spokesperson tells Engadget and Bloomberg that pictures on its social network are “currently blocked” for at least some users. The country hasn’t confirmed anything, but President Nicolas Maduro has already taken a TV station off the air after it showed unflattering protest footage (pictured here); this may be just a continuation of his policy. Whatever is taking place, Twitter is encouraging Venezuelans to sign up for text message updates to keep the news flowing. And locals can take comfort in knowing that government attempts to censor online content aren’t always effective at crushing dissent — if there’s enough demand for political change, it can happen.

[Image credit: Eduardo Massieu / NTN24, Twitter]

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Twitter Spanish (translated), Bloomberg

The post Twitter claims Venezuela is blocking its images to stifle protests appeared first on AIVAnet.



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Klout, controversial service that measured online 'influence,' reportedly being acquired for $100 million

[~Time Published February 12, 2014 at 07:25PM]

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Klout, a San Francisco startup that quantified people's online influence by assigning it a Klout score, has reportedly been acquired by Lithium Technologies for $100 million. It seemed the service was struggling to build a successful business, and in fact founder and CEO Joe Fernandez blogged publicly about his trials and tribulations. Six days ago Klout launched a major redesign of its website that shifted the focus towards helping users improve their scores, but it seems that the final result was a sale and soft landing.

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Make ‘business connections’ with Virgin America’s new in-flight social network ;)

[~Time Published February 12, 2014 at 06:28PM]

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Haven’t had much luck buying alluring strangers a drink on your last few Virgin America flights? What you need, my friend, is a service to expand your circle of potential prospects and make the in-flight connection you deserve. At least that’s what the airline must be thinking with its announcement of the “first-ever” in-flight social network, developed with Gogo Wifi and the Here on Biz geo-location app.

Once you’ve downloaded Here on Biz from the App Store (sorry, no Android types need apply) and connect through Gogo, the service lets you register via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to contact fellow travelers at the gate, on your plane and even on other Virgin America flights. But don’t think the social network is all about helping you get lucky at 35,000 feet (the sexy skies are the furthest thing from Richard Branson’s mind, after all); Virgin America says the service is targeted at business travelers who want to “take advantage of downtime in-flight to build or renew their professional connections.” It’s unclear, though, whether Virgin will claim rights to any startup ideas hatched on board.

Filed under: Transportation, Internet

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Source: Virgin America, Here on Biz (iTunes)

The post Make ‘business connections’ with Virgin America’s new in-flight social network ;) appeared first on AIVAnet.



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US intelligence agencies have their own private Twitter

[Author: ]

[Time Published November 01, 2013 at 08:25PM]

[ < - - Content ]
Twitter occupies a strange place in national security circles, officially banned within most workplaces but still a go-to source for political gossip and occaisonal cause for a high-profile firing, as with the recent @NatSecWonk account. As a result, Pentagon and other intelligence officials decided to copy the service with a privately run, internal microblogging service called eChirp. Established in 2009, it's a copy of Twitter in nearly every respect, right down to the blue bird.

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[Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/1/5055330/us-intelligence-agencies-have-their-own-private-twitter] | Image URL: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9226481/echirp_large.jpg]

Politie onderzoekt 200 ernstige Twitter-bedreigingen per dag

[Author: ]

[Time Published October 31, 2013 at 11:33AM]

[ < - - Content ] Nederlandse gebruikers uiten per dag zo'n 35.000 bedreigingen op Twitter. Daarvan zijn er circa 200 zo ernstig dat de politie onderzoek uitvoert. Dat leidt bijna elke dag tot het oppakken of berispen van een twitteraar. [ - - > ]



[Source: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/92299/politie-onderzoekt-200-ernstige-twitter-bedreigingen-per-dag.html] | Image URL: http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png]

Hyves stopt met sociaal netwerk en gaat door als spelletjessite - update

[Author: ]

[Time Published October 31, 2013 at 11:29AM]

[ < - - Content ] De Telegraaf Media Groep stopt met de sociale-netwerksite Hyves. Het sociale netwerk gaat als site voor spelletjes verder. Gebruikers kunnen in november hun content, waaronder foto's en krabbels, downloaden. [ - - > ]



[Source: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/92306/hyves-stopt-met-sociaal-netwerk-en-gaat-door-als-spelletjessite.html] | Image URL: http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png]

TMG trekt stekker uit Hyves als sociaal netwerk

[Author: ]

[Time Published October 31, 2013 at 11:29AM]

[ < - - Content ] Hyves houdt op te bestaan in zijn huidige vorm. Gebruikers kunnen hun content downloaden, de site gaat door als gaming portal. [ - - > ]



[Source: http://webwereld.nl/e-commerce/79911-tmg-trekt-stekker-uit-hyves-als-sociaal-netwerk] | Image URL: http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png]

Sociale netwerkdienst Buffer ging offline na hackeraanval

[Author: ]

[Time Published October 27, 2013 at 08:41PM]

[ < - - Content ] De sociale-netwerkdienst Buffer, waarmee postings op Facebook en Twitter via timers verstuurd kunnen worden, is tijdelijk offline gehaald nadat hackers de dienst hadden aangevallen. Via Buffer werden door de aanvallers berichten met spam verstuurd. [ - - > ]



[Source: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/92209/sociale-netwerkdienst-buffer-ging-offline-na-hackeraanval.html] | Image URL: http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png]

Pinterest pairs up with Getty Images, tells you who shot your pinned photos (among other things)

[Author: ]

[Time Published October 26, 2013 at 04:47AM]

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Pinterest may be all about pictures (and some ads), but a deal sealed today with Getty Images will provide users with some very important words as well: photo metadata. Why should you care? It means that you’ll now get a whole host of info along with any Getty pictures you pin. So, you’ll be able to see things like the title, caption and the photographer’s name from any of Getty’s vast catalog of pictures. And, that info will make it easier for you to find similar and related photos to stick on Pinterest’s digital boards. As for the deal itself, Pinterest is paying Getty an undisclosed sum for the data and will make sure all photos will be properly attributed. In return, Pinterest gets the aforementioned benefits for its users, and eliminates any copyright complications it might have faced from Getty. Two birds, one stone. Well played, Pinterest.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Pinterest

The post Pinterest pairs up with Getty Images, tells you who shot your pinned photos (among other things) appeared first on AIVAnet.

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[Source: http://www.aivanet.com/2013/10/pinterest-pairs-up-with-getty-images-tells-you-who-shot-your-pinned-photos-among-other-things/] | Image URL: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/10/2013102601.jpg]

Twitter 'strongly considering' shutting down #Music just six months after launch, says report

[Author: ]

[Time Published October 20, 2013 at 12:31PM]

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Twitter #Music may not be much longer for this world. All Things D's Mike Isaac reports that multiple sources say the company is "strongly considering" shutting down the music discovery service, which has seen little public interest. Those sources didn't reveal how long #Music could last, but the report says that the service's fate "is nearly sealed."

The service first went live in April after a number of rumors that sparked a noticeable amount of hype. Activity on the site spiked in the early days, but since then the service has been largely forgotten. The sources tell All Things D that since launch downloads and engagement has been "abysmal." #Music is based around using data the social network has on you — like who you follow —...

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[Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/19/4856212/twitter-strongly-considering-shutting-down-music] | Image URL: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9148115/Screen_Shot_2013-05-20_at_10.56.46_AM_large.png]

Google gaat Google+ aan Youtube-reactiesysteem koppelen

[Author: ]

[Time Published September 25, 2013 at 11:56AM]

[ < - - Content ] Google heeft aangekondigd dat het reactiesysteem van YouTube gedurende de komende maanden gekoppeld zal worden aan Google+. Daarmee worden onder andere threaded comments toegevoegd en ook hoopt Google dat reacties relevanter worden. [ - - > ]



[Source: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/91488/google-gaat-google+-aan-youtube-reactiesysteem-koppelen.html] | Image URL: http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png]

Belgische koning trekt tweet in

[Author: ]

[Time Published September 19, 2013 at 09:39PM]

[<-- Content]
Koning Filip van België heeft een enthousiaste tweet ingetrokken. "Ik voel me goed als Koning! Leve België!", stond er kort te lezen op MonarchieBE, het officiële Twitteraccount van het Belgische koningshuis. Na enkele minuten verdween de tweet zonder uitleg.

Wat er precies is gebeurd, is niet duidelijk. Misschien was het account gehackt, maar het kan ook zijn dat men ten paleize de tweet toch iets te populair vond. Opmerkelijk is in ieder geval dat de tweet alleen in het Nederlands was, terwijl alles normaal gesproken ook in het Frans geplaatst wordt.

'Zoekende'

"Filip is nog wat zoekende op Twitter", zegt correspondent Joris van Poppel over de koning, die begin deze maand zijn eerste tweets verstuurde. "Het is nu een combinatie van officiële gelegenheden en persoonlijke boodschappen."

Zo verstuurde Filip eerder deze week de tweet: "Straks Blijde Intrede in Henegouwen, nu kinderen net op school afgezet."

De tweets van zijn Nederlandse collega Willem-Alexander zijn een stuk formeler. Hier zet de Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst alleen officiële mededelingen door.

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[Source: http://nos.nl/koningshuis/artikel/553162-belgische-koning-trekt-tweet-in.html] | Image URL: http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png]

NASA officially joins Instagram, shares historic moon photos ahead of rocket launch

[Author: ]

[Time Published September 07, 2013 at 03:07AM]

[<-- Content]


NASA is nearly everywhere on social media — Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Google+, YouTube, and even Foursquare. But it wasn't until today that NASA, as an agency, officially joined on Instagram. If you use the photo sharing service and are a fan of space, science, or generally beautiful images, NASA will end up being a must-follow. So far the agency has uploaded four historic images of the moon in a nod to the scheduled launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which is set to take place tonight.

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[via Maxim Bange shared items on The Old Reader (RSS) http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/6/4702408/nasa-officially-joins-instagram]

Add a Facebook like button anywhere!

Everybody wants to be liked in one way or an other. Facebook has exploited this with the 'Like this' feature.
Back when I was working on a couple of websites on Google Pages I noticed that I also felt the need to be liked in public.. in my search for a solution for this need of mine, I found this to be the best option. You can place it almost anywhere!

The code

New note to myself: how do I share code easily.. ?

Allright.. All you have to change is row 4, add the url/link to you fanpage

More code

Ther is more possible with this code.. I'll try to show some option as a practise in understanding and blogging but if you encounter some problems.., please just comment the blogpost (AND LIKE MY FANPAGE, but that goes without saying)

Show Faces

Perhaps your so proud that you would like to showoff the faces . Just change the value of  'show_faces' to 'true'. An Example with the IMDB fanpage:

In this example I increased the size of the total 'button gadget' from 28x400 to 60x500. Simply change all 28 values to 60 and 400 values to 500. These values represent pixels.

For the time being, thats it!
Questions, remarks or what ever, comment, below please.

Next Generation Social Networking

Note to the reader: this post has not jet been checked for errors and information cohesion  

 preparing for avalanche 3.0 and looking deeper to see a change

Social Networking is something new, something we need to get used to

I don't mean for a year or 10 years, I mean for generations.
Since the internet started to exist it has been used for sharing social information. A couple of the biggest (most known) companies in the world today prove this by their growth over the past century. These companies did not offer a new product as most might think, they offered a new experience, something I guess they would like to call: "a better experience". - Than their competitor.

I follow some rules for myself on the internet. One of these rules is that when I can imagine something concerning the Internet, I will automatically assume that it already exists. At times that I expect it the least, this rule proves it self..   Anyway, the point I'm trying to make (again) is that:
"Everything we need is already there, it is we who need to learn how to reach our goals in this new environment."
This leads to the ultimate problem and evolution in the internet; "How to find and be found?"
- And the possible answers to these questions are what it is all about right now.

We have reached the next phase in providing the answer
In the last phase we had numerous of Social Media, all with there specific 'identification points' as I just made up; What is important is that not the question; "how do I represent myself" was of concern to the users but more closer to home; "where do I represent myself".
Future users were not looking at the details, they didn't know, and - still most likely - don't care.
When you 'don't know', the first impression is what counts. Not the efficiency in reaching your personal stalker club or privacy or something. It the first impression that you have and you think your fellow users might have.

The next phase will provide 'integration'
 We are realizing what it is to be found and to find in billions of records (slightly under exaggerated).
One of those records was a small 'Social Media group' in Egypt, now they are working towards the idea of a country that represents it's people. Same for Libya, allthough their struggle is far from over..
Governmental integration. Internet is becoming a basic right.
Law, establishing the 'do's' and 'don'ts'.
..

This phenomenon sparks my interest for earlier changes in (Social) Media country and how we can 'name' these changes. How would you describe them?
For this situation, Google Plus is the best example.

Google Plus
Most readers are familiar with the term 'web 2.0', I would call Google Plus; Social Media 2.0 , .5 or 3.0.. As explained before; don't expect a new product. Expect more of the same, but with less distance. More integrated and aligned for the most likely usage.

Expect to read more about this in my next post called: Google Chrome, avalanche 3.0 passing by  (-;

-MB