Zis Week in Aducation (Then go take a nap!) December 10, 2010

According to Google Trends for Websites and the Alexa rankings, Facebook is the market leader in 115 out of 132 countries. Most of the Americas and Europe uses Facebook as their primary social network, though there are still some major markets elsewhere in the world that use other platforms: Brazil (Orkut [I'm a member so find me!]), China (QQ Zone), Russia (V Kontakte), and Japan (Ameba). [Tech Crunch]

Google’s new notebook featuring its very own Chrome OS sparked some talk on the internet when people found out that they decided to “pull an Apple” and change the layout of the notebook’s keyboard. The biggest concern, cried the Internet, is that there is no CAPS LOCK key! Not to worry though, PCMag reveals how to change it back so that YOU CAN CONTINUE TO SHOUT ON THE INTERNET AS MUCH AS YOU PLEASE. [PC Mag]

The YouTube of China aka Youku aka “if you’re from North America and have ever tried watching a video on Youku then you probably hate it because it is just soooo slow” went public this week (NYSE: YOKU)! And many many invested in it. Daily Finance ponders whether investors will regret it since Youku, like YouTube, has been having trouble turning a profit. [Daily Finance]

To end my last “This Week on Aducation,” I want to revisit a video that went viral long before Youku or YouTube or even Facebook ever existed. It’s hard to imagine life without such sites, but there was once a time! You just have to believe and dig deep in your brain for the memories. May this will help you out. It’s probably the first video with which I ever fell in love. [YouTube]

+1 Friend Requests, +1 Events November 21, 2010

+1 for Social Media

This week, a new social media platform has emerged. It’s called Path, a photo-based social networking site that limits your connections to a mere 50 friends and whose name is very poorly optimized for search engines. The creators of Path have chosen to make these connection limitations because they believe that the more exclusive a person’s network is, the more willing they are to share any and all content. That sounds about right. Essentially, they want you to feel safe uploading anything you want. Unfortunately, it’s only available as an iPhone app, which means I cannot test drive it. Non-iphone users can create an account online. But that’s it. No photo uploading or anything. I’ve reserved my username already. Now I just have to wait until it comes to webOS or can be used online.

This is a very interesting concept for social media, for sure. But how will they monetize the site in the future? Without extensive user profile information or text-based content, it’ll be difficult to do any segmenting or targeting. I suppose these are features that can be rolled out with ease in the future. And I’m probably thinking way too far into the future. First, Path needs to gain a solid user base. Second, they need to really promote a worry-free content-sharing environment (something that is not prevalent on Facebook or Twitter). Should they achieve these two, I would say that they are on the right path to becoming a major player in the social media space. If not, then… eh.

(photo via psfk)

+1 for Facebook

We all know Facebook is king of social media, but with their announcement of a new “messages” feature, it seems like they are one step closer to becoming king of the internet. The new feature will give all users an @facebook.com email address and though Zuckerberg emphasizes that it is neither email nor an email killer, it sure does sound like encroachment into Google’s territory. Should Google be worried? I think in the long run, yes, they should. It’s easier for Facebook to do what Google does than it is for Google to do what Facebook has done. It’s kind of like McDonald’s v. Starbucks where Facebook is McDonald’s and Google is Starbucks.

In the short run, it seems like the feature is getting negative responses. But honestly Monica, how many times does Facebook roll out a new feature without the masses whining and complaining about how much they hate it? Give it a couple months and people will eventually just adapt – since we’re all too addicted to quit and all. We’re all eventually going to give Facebook more content that they can use to better target us. The ad industry should be ecstatic.

This Week in Aducation – Google, Google, & RockMEHlt. November 12, 2010

This week is a fair amount of Google news. Other than their recent announcement to increase employee salaries by 10% or their supposed $3.6M incentive to prevent one engineer from going to Facebook, how else did Google make headlines this week?

First of all, Wired reported that Google inadvertently caused the accidental invasion of Costa Rica by Nicaragua. Apparently, the border between the two countries was off by up to 2.7 kilometers. But they’ve since addressed the issue. What this means for marketing? Location-based services, however devised, should consider that technology to this day is still not 100% accurate. [Wired]

Google continues to fight with Facebook about data protectionism. Facebook allows you to import your Google contacts, but that there is no way to export this data out is Google’s complaint. The search engine giant blocks Facebook’s access  to this feature, Facebook finds their way around it, and Google issues a statement of disappointment. [Tech Crunch]

Non-Google related news:

A new Chromium-based browser called RockMelt debuted in limited beta this past week, which is a pretty brave move considering the browser space is already really crowded. What, then, is RockMelt’s differentiator? Well, it integrates your Facebook profile into the left sidebar of the browser, allowing you to update your status without actually having to go to the Facebook website. You can chat, tweet, and even pin RSS feeds to the right side. One big downside? You have to give RockMelt complete access to your Facebook account, which is potentially very scary. The feedback from tech reviewers is mostly lukewarm. That it’s similar to another browser called Flock, which most people probably don’t even know about, is just one more strike against this launch. Heavy social media users may make use of this, but that’s probably it. [PC World]

This Week in Aducation (Halloweekend) October 29, 2010

Facebook gets even creepier with a new feature: Friendship Pages! With this, you can check out each and every interaction two people have with each other on the social networking site so long as you are friends with one of them and have access to the other’s full profile. Ex-boy/girlfriend jealousies? Hindsight is 20/20. Now, you can confirm all of your suspicions!

Beloved Walmart launched a new promotion on Facebook a la the Groupon business model.  If enough people “LIKE” a certain promo, then Walmart will make it available to the public.

In the mobile phone sphere, Apple becomes the fourth largest phone vendor nudging past Rim, and Mount Everest gets 3G.

Then, the following video went viral this week. A woman appears to be talking on a cell phone in an extras clip from “The Circus,” the 1928 Charlie Chaplin film. Social media has called her the Time Traveler.

Reports though are saying that she was using a 1924 Siemens hearing aid.

Finally, iPhone on Verizon in 2011??

That’s all. Happy Halloween to everyone out there! Be safe this weekend!

Segueing into the Weekend – This Week in Aducation October 1, 2010

Facebook’s Zuckerberg’s decision not to speak out against David Fincher’s The Social Network is a good case in crisis management and communications. [Adweek] (editor note:  I think the $100 million donation might be his response)

(Go see it! It’s got a 98% rating on Metacritic and a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes)

Google turned 12-years old this past week. They celebrated with a pixilated birthday cake. [Christian Science Monitor]

Jimi Heselden, the owner of Segway, Inc., rode his Segway off a cliff and passed away. Is this bad PR for the company? I checked to see if they experienced a loss in stock price, but I found out they are a privately-owned company. No worries there. [Mashable]

ID of the Week!

The little billboard boxes on the top of taxis in New York receive a stylish new redesign. It’s LED backlit, made of the strongest aluminum, and emits less EMI emissions than ever before! [Yanko Design]

Oooooooooh!