“Wiki” a term used in almost all the business discussions today. But unfortunately this term is not very apparent to a number of people. This blog is an effort to make readers understand about Wikis, the importance and benefits they can offer being used effectively within large companies. Read more…

With the world hopping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, your not alone thinking of how to make a difference in the Web 2.0 Marketing approach and exercise this ubiquitous inflatable term in the best possible method. If you don’t care enough about Web 2.0, you might skip this article, and if you do you likely to spend some time learning about it. So read on, because we’re going to talk about the dos and don’ts of Web 2.0 Marketing. With every company on the web targeting on Google ranking, we can see this art of marketing heading nowhere. But the way content is changing on Web, I’m sure the manner people interact is highly affected. Given this time I shall share my personal list of Web 2.0 Marketing “Do’s and Don’t’s. Read more…

Most of us must have become aware of companies these days making an attempt to craft some very remarkable offerings in the social Networking Space. Majority of businesses believe that social networking will infuse their practices with everything around. You take my example; I must have signed for more than 20 social networks and member of different Web 2.0 community groups. In the last few months I have been keeping track of the apparently never-ending flow of news and blog coverage about Google’s new OpenSocial model for social networking applications. A lot of specialists have remarked this Google? move, as a shot to corner Facebook. To me this is a captivating set of developments to watch since Google’s own growing social networking platform, Orkut, was overshadowed by Facebook in terms of overall traffic back in September. Read more…

I’m certain a lot of people would concur to the heaps of recommendation floating when you start a Web 2.0 blog to endorse your business. With a number of blog solutions out there, any one can simply get lost! So I think its very important to pick the right solution that implies to each business. Each and every blog service has their own set of benefits and drawbacks, each carry some basic characteristics that make blogging easy and fun, although some platforms may require more technical knowledge than others. There are on the whole three common blog platforms on can choose from: Read more…

During the early years of Web, it was all about feeding content and syndicating content. But today, instead of applications being fixed in a single URL or in your desktop, they live in a cloud, are portable and embeddable. People are actually taking this a step further, putting things on top of each other, inside each other, etc. Given this, there are many roles you can play in this new ecosystem. This is one of the reasons that widgets are so important. Users can now receive information on a need-to-know basis in spoonfuls from various sources, which forces the sources to think collectively. Read more…

Since their introduction, social network sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, and Bebo have attracted millions of users, many of whom have included these sites into their daily practices. As of this writing, there are a number of Social networks with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices, I have written for. But the more I wrote the more I realized there is much to mention. Today each and every one of us is more or less a part of different social networking sites. Did we ever imagine that this social networking model will be part of social communities to such as extent that it would consequence the way most of the companies and individuals function today? Read more…

If I could give one tag that bandied about more than Web 2.0, these days, it will be social networking. This very effective self fulfilling site that is almost entirely driven by user content - content that users post on their own accord because, well, all their friends are posting and they don’t want to be left out of the fun. Facebook is the ultimate success story in this model, with over 100 million registrations in its first three years, an impressive statistic considering that the site effectively runs itself. Read more…

Just as I thought after doing my last blog on Microsoft deal with Facebook, I was so sure that Google won’t let it go so easy. Soon after the Facebook and the Microsoft deal, Google hits back by providing an open source platform community to Internet social networking leader MySpace and Bebo, a move that may undermine the rapid growth of their common rival, Facebook. Google announced the coup two days after revealing its plans to create a distribution network for open source web applications, known as widgets or web apps. Widgets make it easier to share music, pictures, video and other personal interests on social networking sites
We all knew Google will surely brew some kind of response to the Facebook and Microsoft deal just took place few weeks back. So here’s the thing.

Google lined up Bebo for the UK, MySpace for the UK and Friendster for Asia. That’s the social network API audience sewn up. Developers all over the world can now build widgets from the annoying (vampire battles and food fights) to the very functional (video players and photo galleries) that will work across all these sites with only minor tweakage.

Why did Myspace join Google’s OpenSocial?

With so much competition and so many new platforms opening everyday, limited resources is the major problem faced by most of the app developers these days. There are ample amount of opportunities but not enough people to pursue them all.

But i think MySpace is in itself big enough to require any platform, so why did they join?

It all comes down to competition for app developer’s time and resources. In the last few months since Facebook opened its own platform, a lot of competitors including MySpace have seen its lead fading. Facebook started winning more users day after day, and share more user time, because app developers were adding new features to the Facebook experience much faster than Myspace could do on its own.

Read more…

I may be the only one or maybe one of you caught wind of this last few weeks or have thought it reasonable given the Facebook and Microsoft developments of late. Well Google, out-bidded by Microsoft, is out to seek a share of the social networking profit.

But wait?

I thought Google already had its own social networking site Orkut, is it? Though the Times is reporting that all of these smaller social networks are trying to take down Facebook (or at least cut away at its fast growth rate), it seems that what has been created is just a market of social networks. The ones that are more user-friendly, visually-enticing or gathered a large audience during start up and early promotional phases are the ones that will dominate the market. The other, small networks are available but seem to fill the void of niche markets. Unless you belong to a certain subset or want to identify yourself in a way that Facebook or MySpace don’t allow (or both of these lose their coolness factor), then why have 2, 3, or more social networking memberships?

So what is the entire buzz about?

Microsoft enters the splash by acquiring stake in Facebook?

Microsoft paid US $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook that values the hugely popular social networking site at $15 billion. Facebook allows users to set up personal web pages and communicate with each other, turned down an offer from Microsoft’s rival Google, which was also keen to invest the site.

Microsoft will also sell Internet ads for Facebook outside the United States as part of the deal. Microsoft already provides banner advertising and links on the US site.

Facebook soon hopes to become an advertising magnet by substantially increasing its current audience of nearly 50 million active users. Facebook. The company expects to make a profit of $30 million this year, so on conventional valuations a $15 billion price tag looks expensive.

Why Microsoft Needed Facebook & Google Didn’t

After weeks of speculation , finally Microsoft won the battle over Facebook, with Google second, and Yahoo nowhere to be seen. While it may seem that Google’s lost momentum–by not partnering with Facebook, I see it more as a sign that Microsoft knew Facebook was its only hope.

Let me explain that to you in detail.
Social networks are hot, right now. It doesn’t really matter which one you prefer–MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, or Dogster–social networks are the next evolutionary step in the growth of the internet. Now that we’ve all learned to check our email, order online, research restaurants, and read news, we’re starting to use the web to connect with each other. We’ve realized that we enjoy making connections, sharing our random thoughts with our mates. Social networking is the second generation Internet.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, social networks have to be perceived as cool, exciting, trendy places to hang out at. But, just like the rich kid in school, Microsoft has enough money to buy itself some friends–or in this case, a network of friends. For Microsoft, the only choice was to buy a piece of a popular social network.

Then there’s Google. Along with Apple, Google has one of the best brands in the world. A brand that can make us all dribble and pander after their every announcement.
If Google really wants to build a popular social network, it can. A social network that already has all of the pieces in place: email, instant messaging, blogs, image and video sharing. If Google really wanted to own a social network, it could take the $240M it just saved and put that towards building a most excellent one. A few rumors, closed beta invites, and denials of competing with MySpace later, and the whole world’s going crazy over Google Connect.

So I think, Microsoft had no hope other than to buy into an existing social network that was popular enough that even the “Windows Live” couldn’t slow it down. Google, on the other hand, knew it didn’t have to partner with Facebook at any cost, they could bide their time and decide whether they want to build their own social network.

How will Microsoft make use of Facebook network?

Microsoft is building and acquiring technologies and expertise to challenge Google for a pot of online advertising revenue that Johnson pegged at $40 billion and growing. Earlier this year, it paid $6 billion for Seattle digital-advertising shop aQuantive, which came with technology to better serve and track online advertisements.

More than just an expanding stream of online-advertising revenue, the Facebook deal represents a chance for Microsoft to tightly bind itself and its technology to the en vogue world of social networking.
Social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Google’s Orkut and many more, have skyrocketed in popularity. People spend hours building and updating personal Web pages with photos, videos, links. They stay in touch with friends, classmates and co-workers by visiting pages, which include all manner of add-on Web applications for sharing musical tastes, sending instant messages and virtually anything else.

A new Microsoft tool for making hybrid Web applications will allow programs to be published directly to Facebook pages. Facebook supports Microsoft’s new Web video platform, Silverlight, which competes with Adobe Flash. And Microsoft and Facebook have worked on other tools for software developers. Microsoft is building its own technologies, such as mapping and advertising systems, and letting third-parties use them. Facebook, on the other hand, invites developers to build applications and provides a venue for distribution to its users.

The future looks bright for Microsoft as we all know that Facebook is one of the most premium properties online today from a social-networking standpoint. This deal represents a major advertising syndication win for Microsoft.

Some Related Articles:

Microsoft acquires equit stake in Facebook
Facebook sells $250m stake to Microsoft
Microsoft acquires minority stake in Facebook
Microsoft expands advertising partnership
Microsoft contracts an agreement with Facebook

The most substantial improvement to Yahoo! Yahoo photos was a revamp of Yahoo. This photo property of Yahoo launched in the year 2000 was rolled back in few months back .

Yahoo users had a number of advantages of the new version. For starters, the information assigned to each photo included tags (comma separated tags no less - my favorite) for easy locating later, ratings to help the better photos rise to the top, sharing at the photo level.

Yahoo Photos’ breakout feature was its browser-based photo editor that handled cropping, resizing, and image adjustments (such as contrast and brightness), and also add borders and perform special effects, such as pixelate. The editing feature in Yahoo Photos was so easy to use that one might forget what a neat trick it was to have this inside a browser. Read more…