social networks: ShortFormBlog

13:59 • 4 weeks ago

Behind this image, you’ll find 100 a bunch of App.net invites

So, cool deal for our readers. Our friends at App.net, the ambitious Twitter-like platform started by Dalton Caldwell, have given us 100 invites to give to whomever we want. The invites are for free accounts, which allow you to get a taste of the service, which went freemium earlier this year. We want to give them to you guys. It’s a cool network looking for cool people, and there are some apps for the service which run circles around Twitter’s own apps (we recommend the super-slick Riposte, though definitely take a look through the app directory, which shows some true lightning-in-a-bottle creativity). Anyway, these 100 invites won’t last forever, so we recommend clicking this link as soon as you get a chance. You’re welcome! :)

EDIT: The first giveaway worked so well that they gave us more invites. You can find those over here.

13:18 • 2 months ago

Tags: app.net dalton caldwell es social networks social media 9 • Permalink

Remember that for-pay social network, App.net? They just went freemium, so now's your opportunity to try them out. Here's why they're doing it now:

We wanted to build a pleasant out-of-the-box experience for new users. We have since introduced a 3rd-party app directory, dramatically improved our signup experience, and have constantly tweaked aspects of the service based on feedback.

Remember, a very short time ago App.net existed as an idea proposed in a blogpost… not a functioning service. As stated at the time, the goal of the backing period was to determine whether a paid market existed for our platform. Since there are numerous examples of freemium business models which didn’t succeed, we wanted to be very careful in our approach to pricing. We have been spending the past few months learning and analyzing data in order to come up with a plan for a sustainable and beneficial free tier.

The free tier does have some limitations — the free accounts are invite-only, you’ll only be able to follow a maximum of 40 users, and you will have limited access to the recently-launched file mechanisms. (But this will allow you the opportunity to try out some of the really cool third-party apps for the service, such as Felix and Riposte).

By the way, now’s a good time to point out that ShortFormBlog recently joined App.net and you should follow us.

20:41 • 3 months ago

Tags: tumblr tumblr redesign es redesigns dashboard redesign social networks from staff 40401 • Permalink

staff:

An upgrade, years in the making…

When we imagined Tumblr more than seven years ago, we dreamed of offering creators a new canvas. Every post would be a raw look through the author’s eyes and mind. We imagined the interface disappearing as these subjects came to life.

For years, this vision was challenged by limits in browser technology and an increasingly daunting set of Tumblr features to support. But today, we take a huge step.

After months of careful crafting, we’ve reduced creation on Tumblr to its essence, while carrying over every single feature and making room for some BIG new ones (like completely customizable drag-and-drop photoset creation, faster uploads, and inline reblogging!). We can’t wait for you to try it.

The upgrades have started rolling out and will be available for everyone by the end of the weekend. Most of the bugs and omissions you’ve reported have already been fixed, but please let us know if you run in to any other issues!

The entire internet just started screaming. People do that with change. The real story will happen a month from now, where we’ll see whether or not people are still screaming about this redesign.

09:12 • 5 months ago

Tags: John Pavlus twitter facebook social media social networks instagram es 37 • Permalink

The essential value of these information technologies – their ability to seamlessly interface with each other as only bits, rather than atoms, can – is being purposely eroded.

MIT Technology Review contributor John Pavlus • Discussing the current trend of social media networks breaking their apps’ ability to share to gain competitive advantages, particularly in the case of Twitter and Instagram. Pavlus, understandably, mocks them: “The vision is almost comically retrograde: Twitter, Google, Apple, and Facebook each seem to think that they can provide every conceivable digital functionality to the user all on their own at each other’s expense, much like GM’s ‘kitchen of tomorrow’ at the 1964 World’s Fair promised to meet every need of a 20th-century housewife with one brand.”

17:02 • 6 months ago

New Myspace is about as profitable as old Myspace…

Tags: Tech Social Networks Myspace WTF sc numbers 18 • Permalink

$25M in funding will be lost by the new Myspace at the end of 2012, following a year of disappointing revenues. The company has lost more than $40 million this year after only raising $14 million in revenue following yet another rebranding.
$50M in new funding will be sought by the current owners, according to leaked documents obtained by Business Insider. The site’s new owners now hope to relaunch the seemingly perma-failed social network as a direct competitor to Spotify or Pandora. We’re sure this will be the plan that ultimately makes Myspace profitable again. source

22:55 • 6 months ago

Tags: es dailybooth daily booth shuts down daily booth social networks photo sharing 16 • Permalink

New to the deadpool: DailyBooth, a photo-sharing service that basically tried to be what Instagram became, is shutting down. After November 14, no more photo uploads will be allowed. After December 31, the content will be gone for good. Sad. :( (ht @ohmykevin)

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19:06 • 7 months ago

Tags: pheed es social media social media pheed social networks chris brown miley cyrus 44 • Permalink

Pheeding the Beast: Social network attempts rise to top with B-list celebrities, Chris Brown

To answer your question: No, Pheed isn’t the new Twitter. (In fact, it’s already been banned by Twitter for spamming.) Instead, it reminds you of what MySpace was back in 2007 … with few (or, as cofounder O.D. Kobo claims, all) of the innovations that have come since. This is a network where you can pay $2.99 to hear what Chris Brown is talking about at any time. (The per-feed charges are the big selling point.) It’s a place where you’re encouraged to read the deep thoughts of the DJ from Limp Bizkit. Where the biggest star currently on the site is Miley Cyrus. This is a place so “hip” in the Total Request Live sense that it has a maximum character count of 420, and you get the impression that the designers chose that specific number because they thought it was funny. In an age where clean social network design is becoming increasingly important and sites — like, well, MySpace — are upping their game, and individual social media users are becoming more creative by the week, Pheed feels like a dark, hollow place devoid of that creativity. So hollow that not one, but two technology sites have already called Pheed a cheap money grab. We’re not strictly a technology site, but make us number three.

22:09 • 9 months ago

Tags: app.net dalton caldwell app.net stats social networks infancy app dot net 22 • Permalink

App.Net, one week later: What a $50-per-year social network in its infancy looks like

A little over a week in, the hyped for-pay social network App.Net is proving to be an interesting (if in some quarters controversial, and in other quarters mocked) experiment in building a new Twitter-style community from nothing. Wondering how it’s going? Check out App.Net Stats, which literally shows the ebb and flow of a community, its most powerful and influential users and what’s rising to the top of the community — warts and all. (Many users have compared the global view to Twitter, circa 2007, for what it’s worth.) Also worth noting is the quick growth of apps on the network — including one well-known social app, Buffer, supporting the platform before its funding goal was reached.

20:12 • 11 months ago

On the LinkedIn lawsuit and whether or not it’s a good thing

Tags: thenoobyorker lawsuits linkedin social networks linkedin password leak hacking class-action 4 • Permalink

thenoobyorker asks: Ugh, what are your thoughts? Personally I don’t like the lawsuit.

» SFB says: If the LinkedIn lawsuit gets its desired class-action status, it makes more sense, because some serious security problems were caught after the fact. They could encourage LinkedIn and its partners to focus on better security. If not, it’s frivolous. — Ernie @ SFB

00:52 • 11 months ago

More on what iTunes Ping was and why it’s dead

Tags: jasonstiff facebook ping itunes ping social networks itunes apple 17 • Permalink

jasonstiff asks: Okay…I’ll say it…what the hell is Ping? Oops…sorry…what the hell WAS Ping?

» SFB says: Apple’s stunted attempt at a social network, tied very closely to iTunes. Few people used it (partly because the network was mostly inside iTunes and therefore didn’t integrate with the Web or mobile very well), and considering that Spotify runs circles around it on the social media front, it actually probably hurt Apple in the long run, especially because it became one of the sticking points that hurt the company’s recently-mended relationship with Facebook. Famously, it launched with Facebook Connect, then lost it hours later after Facebook took away Apple’s API access because they didn’t run the launch past them first. The situation was part of the reason iOS 5 didn’t have Facebook functionality like Twitter has. — Ernie @ SFB

Heads Up: Three reasons that you need to change your password(s)

Tags: eHarmony eHarmony Password Leak last.fm Last.fm Password Leak linkedin linkedin password leak linkedin privacy News Online Dating security security breach social media social networks Tech 95 • Permalink

one Social networking site LinkedIn was hacked yesterday, and those responsible managed to steal approximately 6.5 million user passwords.
two Online dating service eHarmony discovered its servers had been hacked as well. Ars Technica reports that 1.5 million passwords leaked.
three This morning, music recommendation site Last.fm revealed that they too were looking into a potential leak of users’ passwords. source

» A suggestion for everyone: Now might be a good time to secure your e-mail, especially if you share passwords between accounts. Our suggestion is to switch to a two-step verification process for your e-mail, something that Gmail makes extremely simple to do. You’ll need a phone nearby for this, and you’ll need to repeat it on every device you use to check your e-mail, but it’ll be worth it. Trust us.

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10:14 • 11 months ago

Tags: ios linkedin linkedin password leak linkedin privacy linkedin security password leak privacy security breach security breaches social media social networks 112 • Permalink

Security warning: LinkedIn facing privacy issues on two fronts today

First off: If you’re a LinkedIn user, change your password, stat. The company reportedly suffered a major security breach this morning and 6.5 million passwords are currently floating around the Internet in encrypted form — but that doesn’t mean hackers aren’t trying to break the encryption. So don’t screw around. Log into LinkedIn and change it — ESPECIALLY if you use that password other places. (If you do, change it in those places, too.) But that’s not the only privacy fail the company’s having this morning. Here’s the other:

cause A new LinkedIn mobile app feature allows the company to access your personal notes from your iOS calendar to sync them with your LinkedIn account ahead of meetings — a feature which is opt-in, but drew security users’ scrutiny because it was accessing calendar information and transmitting it in unencrypted form.
response While the company is attempting to address privacy concerns, it insists the feature is useful and well-intentioned: “We hope you try it out. If at any time you decide it’s not for you then you can always go to the mobile apps settings page to turn off the calendar feature,” said Joff Redfern, the Mobile Product Head at LinkedIn. source

(photo via TheSeafarer)

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