Social Networking and Web 2.0

Filed under: Internet, Photo, Video, Holiday Gift Guide, Social Software

If you know someone on your gift list is getting a camera or is a new shutterbug, you might want to consider getting them a “pro” photo sharing account where they can upload all their new photos. This is a nice gift for several reasons: 1. A pro account is a must have since most free accounts have a storage limit that the average photographer will easily exceed. 2. Pro accounts are ad free. 3. Pro accounts have more features and allow the upload of larger file sizes. 4. As the giver of the account, it stands to reason you might be given access to your shutterbug’s photostream, although, it’s equally possible you might not.

Here are my top picks for investing in a pro account. (Many thanks to our readers for enthusiastically recommending Smugmug).

Continue reading 3 photo sharing sites for your new shutterbug - Holiday Gift Guide

3 photo sharing sites for your new shutterbug - Holiday Gift Guide originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adam Ostrow over at Mashable has an interesting piece online this week about what the Open Web Awards say about search engines. While Google is among the top ten vote getters in the “favorite Search Engine” cetegory, it's not number one. Some smaller search engines seem to be mobilizing their fans and getting the vote out in these user-choice awards.

Of course, Google is at a disadvantage. People use Google because it works. But lots of us love to hate Google. So why would we vote for it?

Mashable has a clickable list of the the top vote getters at the moment.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 6321121

See full article.

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Two weeks ago, Google released a so-called Search Engine Optimization starter guide for webmasters. While the Google document does not tell you how your website can be listed on Google’s first result page it will tell you what you shouldn’t do if you want Google to index your web pages.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Freeware, Social Software

Until about 15 minutes ago I was a big Digsby fan. When I fired up the installer on my clean Vista x64 machine today, I was greeted with an unpleasant sight.

First off, you don’t even download the actual installer from Digsby.com anymore - it’s a downloader application. While I’m not a fan of downloaders in general, this one in particular got me all riled up.

Apart from half a dozen crapware install offers, the final screen before anything actually happened asked to change my homepage and switch my default search provider to Yahoo. I’m all for supporting an app, but this was more than I’m willing to tolerate from an installer.

Are you kidding me? Digsby, tell me you’re kidding. Looks like it’s time for me to give Pidgin another try.

What about you? Are you willing to put up with skipping over the crapware so that you can still install the latest version of Digsby? Sound off!

New Digsby installer loaded with bloat and adverts originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Social Software, web 2.0, Web

Everybody says there’s no right or wrong way to use Twitter, but sometimes a ridiculous Twitter app comes along to make me wonder whether that’s true. Right now there are two of them: Tweetstalk and Twollow. Tweetstalk lets you “stalk” a Twitter user, reading his or her tweets without formally following. Twollow automatically follows anybody who posts the keywords you specify.

I’m conflicted about these two services. Tweetstalk is a Firefox plugin that adds a “stalk” button next to the follow button on users’ Twitter pages: click it to subscribe to their tweets without following them. This doesn’t do anything you can’t do by going to a user’s Twitter page and reading it. But if you intend to do it on an ongoing basis, you might as well let him or her know you’re doing it by following.

Twollow could be useful for business Twitter accounts, and marketers who want to reach out to people who are discussing their clients. Depersonalizing it by making it automatic hardly seems productive to me, though. Why not use search.twitter.com to see who’s talking about a topic, and decide whether to follow them yourself? Otherwise, you might end up following some really lame people, based on only one of their tweets.

Two new Twitter ideas that miss the mark originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

If you’ve been to a tech event since SXSW in 2006, you’ve probably seen some kind of large monitor displaying info from the conference-goers. Often, this means Twitter tweets by attendees. Brightkite has just taken this a step further, with their own “Wall” feature. Because Brightkite is a location-based service to begin with, the wall has a built-in way to gather data. This means the usefulness of the wall isn’t limited to events: you can just display it in any place (like a coffee shop, for example) and show all the people who are posting messages nearby.

I love the Brightkite Wall. It could turn out to be a brilliant way to show new users what the service is all about, as well as making an interesting public installation. It also opens up Brightkite to people who don’t even have Brightkite accounts: you can put the appropriate location at the top of the wall, next to the Brightkite shortcode, and anyone can text a message onto the wall via SMS.

Brightkite’s new killer feature is … a wall? originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's easy for laymen to develop the impression that Search Engine Optimization is about keywords and tag and such, but I came across o very interesting article the other day by David Snyder that looks at a more foundational concept: information architecture.

According to Snyder:

One of the most overlooked concepts in the construction of a website is how the information for that website will be structured. Too often the organization of this information is constructed without any usability or Search Engine Optimization in mind.

In other words, keywords and link exchanges only go so far in promoting a poorly designed website. And a website's design can in and of itself prevent it from getting more than a mediocre page rank.

People just don't use websites that aren't, well, usable. IN Snyder's words, poor information environment design will lead to user abandonment, due to poor or counter intuitive navigation. Think about how often you get fed up with a website's design and just click the red X…

You can read Snyder's piece here.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 7618994

See full article.

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Filed under: Windows, Social Software, Beta, Search

Xobni is a plugin for Outlook that adds advanced search and social functions to the email client. When we last looked at Xobni, the service indexed your email messages and created personal profiles for each of your contacts by automatically extracing phone numbers and loking users up on LinkedIn. Now Xobni has rolled out an update that adds integration with Skype, Facebook, Hoovers, and Yahoo! Mail.

Here’s how it works. You can search for email using the Xobni sidebar. When you click on a message, Xobni will pull up information about the sender, including information from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Hoovers. If your contact’s Skype profile or phone number are available, you can also initiate a call with the click of a button.

In addition to searching your Outlook mail, you can also have Xobni index your Yahoo! Mail, although in order to reply to messages you’ll need to login to the Yahoo! Mail web interface.

Xobni brings Skype, Facebook, Yahoo! integration to Outlook originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet, Social Software, Ask DLS

On Sunday, Business Week published an article stating “It’s the end of instant messaging as we know it.” In columnist Douglas MacMillan’s mind, integrated chat features on sites like Facebook and GMail have signed the death warrant.

Oh really? That’s kind of interesting, because there’s a lot of evidence that IM is alive and kicking.

Taking a quick look at some stats on Download.com, I notice that these apps still seem to be pretty damn popular. Pidgin has more than half a million downloads to date. Since Trillian was added to the site, it’s been downloaded almost 37 million times.

The latest release of Live Messenger 14 is well over 400,000 in just two months - and these numbers don’t take into account the numerous other mirrors for these (and numerous other IM) apps.

Continue reading Ask DLS: Business Week declares IM dead - what do you think?

Ask DLS: Business Week declares IM dead - what do you think? originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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About three weeks ago, Microsoft was granted a new patent with the name Web Spam Classification Using Query Dependent Data. Although this patent application was filed by Microsoft, all major search engines probably use similar methods to classify web pages. Do search engines think that your website is spam?

A number of news sources (paidContent.org, NY Times, WIRED News) are reporting that Founder and CEO Jerry Yang is stepping down as head of Yahoo - just as soon as the company can replace him.

Kara at All Things Digital has a copy of the memo from Jerry tendering his resignation.

We ran a piece earlier this month on the problems Yahoo has been facing. Jerry was on the spot at the Web 2.0 conference at the time. Deals to solve Yahoo's financial problems have fallen through with both Google and Microsoft in the recent past.

It will be interesting to see the direction Yahoo takes under new leadership…

© Nautical9

See full article.

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SEOmoz Blog had an interesting piece today about ways to “buy” Links without getting slammed for it by Google.

We all know that traffic breeds traffic and the key to starting the process is coming up with some good external Links - people linking to your content from outside your site. Google has made it clear that simply buying those external Links is unacceptable. It makes the nice people at Google feel used and manipulated (and we all know how unreasonable they can be when they feel hurt).

So how do you get those first few Links? Randfish has some suggestions…

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 5433732

See full article.

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Filed under: Internet, Video, Social Software

For years, the president of the United States has delivered a weekly radio address to the nation. President-elect Barack Obama plans to be the first to videotape that weekly address and post it on YouTube.

The move shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The Obama campaign used new media tools like Twitter, YouTube, and text messaging as a key part of its effort over the past two years. But it’s a bit silly to point out that Obama silly to pi out that Obama will be the first president to use YouTube in this way, as Obama’s transition team is trying to do. The video sharing site didn’t exist when President George W. Bush was running for office. So all it really means is that President Bush didn’t use YouTube.

While Obama won’t be sworn in as president until January, he has started to deliver the weekly Democratic Party radio address, which will also be videotaped and uploaded to YouTube and to Change.gov.

[via Mashable]

Barack Obama plans to post weekly YouTube address originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Security, Web services, Social Software

OpenID is a great concept. Consolidating your online identity across multiple sites and services is convenient, and arguably offers security benefits. So why do some sites make it such a pain in the butt to use? If you support OpenID on your site, and make it as easy as possible for your users to log in, check out ID Selector.

ID Selector helps you set up a customizable OpenID picker, so your users can quickly get an OpenID or choose one they’ve already set up. It doesn’t require any fiddling with your existing login form, it “just works.” The best part is that your users only have to pick an OpenID provider once. When they return afterward, they can just log in with one click. Neat!

ID Selector: making OpenID easier originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Macintosh, Social Software, web 2.0

EventBox is an OS X desktop app that lets you watch activity on the various social networking apps you use, from one convenient window. Right now, it supports Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Pownce, Reddit and rss feeds. You can view everything in your stream, including photos, from within EventBox.

If you’re completely addicted to your information stream, and you want to see it all in one place, EventBox might be worth the $20 pricetag. The UI looks fantastic, and the app features the all-important Growl support. Apparently a HUD mode is coming soon (think Twitterrific), which will make the app’s footprint on your screen smaller. You might not be interested in what EventBox has to offer if you’re not very active on social networks, but if you’re looking for this kind of app, EventBox gets it right.

EventBox: all your social networks in one box (on your Mac) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do Links to other websites have a positive or a negative effect on their Google rankings of your website? Are there right and wrong links? Google has published an official statement.

Filed under: Productivity, Social Software, web 2.0

Twuffer is a site that lets you keep a buffer of Twitter posts that will go up at times you schedule. Twitter plus buffer equals Twuffer, get it? In theory, this is a pretty good idea if you’re someone who needs to make periodic announcements or post reminders at intervals. The thing is, I don’t think the majority of Twitter users could do that without being annoying.

Twitter is starting to become more mainstream now, but the biggest complaint people have about companies and celebrities starting to use the service is that they come of as inhuman. Pre-writing your tweets only makes you seem more mechanical. Twuffer could be excellent if you use it on an account that only you follow, to post reminders to yourself. There are already services that do this, but Twuffer might be faster to set up.

I could be completely underestimating this service, though. The site suggests a few ways to use Twuffer, but if you have an idea about how it could be effective on someone’s main account, let me know in the comments.

Twuffer: schedule your Twitter posts originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

When it comes to potential new features for Twitter, the Japanese version has always been a testing ground. For example, Twitter in Japan is supported by ads, which haven’t hit the US yet (and nobody seems sure if they ever will!). While I’m just fine using Twitter without ads, we’d love to see an English version of Twicco, which basically adds group support to Twitter. You can test it out for yourself already, if you know Japanese or use something like Google Translate.

On Twicco, you can create a group account, and members can post messages that will then be distributed to the account’s followers. The idea of a community account seems to add a lot to Twitter, especially for people whose normal accounts mix business and personal posts. Businesses could also benefit from using a community to open up a dialogue with their customers. That way, the rest of us don’t have to read the ‘ tech support discussions and feature requests our friends are sending to companies as @replies: they can post them to the company community instead.

Twicco.jp: is Japan already seeing the future of Twitter? originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's been the Week from Hell for Yahoo CEO and Founder Jerry Yang.

First, from CNET: “Bowing to federal regulators' antitrust concerns, Google pulled the plug on a search-ad partnership with Yahoo that would have given the latter major new revenue.” According to CNET, that 10-year deal would have placed Google ads on some Yahoo search results, and the companies would have shared resulting revenue. Google made the announcement Wednesday.

Then Yang got tohad to speak to the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. In the words of one commentator, Yahoo has now been left at the alter twice this year - first by Microsoft back in February and now by Google. Getting up in front of the cameras the day after being dumped can't be fun. It's a lonely world…

Yahoo's biggest problem now is a lack of vision. Okay, its first biggest problem is a lack of money and the falling price of its stock. But its second biggest problem is a lack of vision. TechCrunch writer Michael Arrington said last week that six months ago when Yang “took the stage at the D Conference to talk about the state of his business… he painted a picture of a Yahoo that was spinning in circles with no clear future.” Today, nothing has changed. And in the 42 minute interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, Yang goes back and forth between describing Yahoo as a platform company and a destination site.

The question now for Yahoo is how much longer Yang will be CEO…

© Yodel Anecdotal

See full article.

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If you want your website to be indexed by search engines, it is important that your site has a good link architecture. Here are five tips that will help you to improve your link architecture as well as your Search Engine rankings.