Group items tagged

Good by to privacy. Google recently launched Buzz, a social network platform trying to compete with Facebook. Interestingly, it made the choice to include millions of Gmail users and to automatically create links between people who had corresponded via e-mail (and without asking for consent). The immediate lesson is (i) privacy probably is a value of the past, since complaints were relatively weak, and (ii) in the current paradigm the real power is no longer in software or operating systems, but in owning data on people and relationships. Google as the next Microsoft?

Internet è nata come uno strumento di ricerca. con i Social Network ha assunto anche il ruolo di strumento di sociale. L'uso sempre più diffuso dei Social Network sta forse cambiano lo scopo originario dei Internet? Si sta andando verso una nuova direzione?

Entertainment is undergoing radical change. But will it go in the content-centric direction that Apple and Google are thinking of, or will it rather be a social network-centric model? While traditional broadcasting is till strong, it would be funny to see the disrupters being disrupted.

Facebook is not only a social network, but potentially a source of disruptive innovation in many fields, from information sharing to commerce. The degree with which this will happen is of course still a big question mark. Another big question mark is related to the degree with which all this is just "emergent" or whether it is coming from a precise strategic intent

The digital generation loves social networking, but still there is no way to ensure that social networks are easy to use together. Especially because there are too many. Microsoft is playing the card "Kin", formerly known as Project Pink. Kin's been developed in collaboration with some important partners like Vodafone, Sharp, in order to be more competitive and to create a new smartphone platform., and also with Verizon, to guarantee a huge distribution for the product, in contrast with Google's strategy. The aim of the first pair of mobile Kin (in the future Microsoft could add other devices to this first generation platform) is not to simplify but to amplify the social users life and has got the difficult task of attracting the young, future consumers, within the Microsoft ecosystem, rather than in those created by Google and Apple.

What comes after client-server computing? Is is the cloud (dominated by Google?) or is it the network (dominated by Facebook)? These two companies' battle is no longer with Microsoft (who wisely has taken a stake in the latter) but among themselves. Despite its innovativeness and clout, Google hasn't been able to replicate Facebook's success. Now it is using acquisitions to strenghten its position. 

Analysts are starting to recognize that - maybe - operating systems for smartphones will follow a different story than in the past. Instead of a winner-take-all market based on standardization, diversity is likely to prevail. This because handset makers and telcos will try to push in that direction  - as long as this will not reduce customer utility - and because the real source of value (and potential locus of standardization) now sits in the web and in social networks. In this case, which device and which OS is going to be used is going to be irrelevant.

A short summary of Jeremy Rifkin's new book. An interesting perspective that we might consider meta-paradigmatic. In other words, the position is that changes we are observing in a number of fields (i.e. distributed energy generation and smart grids, social networking, open source innovation, etc.) are symptoms of a more radical change at societal level, from individualistic self-interest to collective "shared interest",from the pursuit of wealth and property rights to a broader concept of "quality of life". 

Talking about changing paradigms on the Internet, it is becoming clear that in the world of social networking the idea of privacy is changing (if not disappearing at all). One of the most extreme cases is Blippy, a seemingly successful Twitter-like service that captures all of your expenses and shows them to all on the web.

More than 120 million people play Zynga's online games. Revenue mostly comes from selling virtual hoes and machine guns and such to players of FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and other titles. Zynga's success depends on the good graces of Facebook, where almost all of its games are played. Facebook doesn't just get happier users, it also gets big checks from Zynga. Facebook is testing a service called Facebook Credits that would offer a single virtual currency for use on many different apps. If the social network forces app makers to use Facebook Credits, as some developers expect will happen this year, Zynga would have to pay the company up to 30% of every transaction. "Zynga is riding high," says Barry Cottle, general manager of EA's interactive unit. "But they may soon find out that the next three years are a hell of a lot harder than the last three."

Un curioso esempio di nuovo business model nato dall'opportunità di sfruttare le nuove tecnologie e nello specifico il social network più diffuso al mondo: Facebook. E' ancora in fase di incubazione, ma l'acquisto in community pare essere molto interessante e vantaggioso.

Mobile devices, social networking applications and other consumer-related innovations have gained notoriety and generated significant revenues for high-tech, communications and content companies in recent years. These devices and applications are dramatically reshaping the way consumers communicate, learn and entertain themselves.