Facebook: 500 Million Friends

Since its launch in February of 2004, Facebook has held the title of "Most Popular Social Site" and has been growing at a rapid rate since. As they now approach the 500 million user mark, Facebook wants to connect with its users and have them share their own "Facebook Stories." Not that many users don't already share more details about their lives than necessary, users will be limited to telling their story in no more than 420 characters, the same as a Facebook status update.

I find this to be an interesting concept! Although Facebook has established a foundation within the social networking market, both globally and domestically, the industry is growing too rapidly to just sit back.

Here is the link to submit your Facebook story: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=user_stories

Foursquare; "Where"

This NYC based mobile social networking service has grown to have a user base of 2 million in a short period of time. There are talks of adding a search feature to the service to which it will aggregate all data from its site and show which venues and locations are currently trending. Moving forward off of the idea that Twitter had to show all trending topics of "what" people are talking about, Foursquare is working on implementing trending topics of "where" people are going. Search giants like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are looking to partner with Foursquare, but details are not clear as of yet. If this does in fact go forward, it would certainly make going out that much simpler!

As a user of Foursquare, I personally find it to be an interesting location-based social networking service. By unlocking electronic badges, earning points, and even deeming users "Mayor" of specific locations, it turns going out into a gaming experience. However, I must confess that I tend to forget to check-in to these locations until after I have left, which by then, it is too late to do so! Oops.

"I Poo in Blue"

Earlier this afternoon, I was exposed to an ever-so-adorable commercial [see above] that I just could not stop talking about for the rest of the day. It was for the limited edition Huggies jean diaper, created by JWT, a highly acknowledged marketing communications brand. Although the voice over is a bit on the "creepy" side, I must say, the copy for the commercial is clever! I mean, c'mon, "My diaper is full of chic," "When it's a number two, I look like number 1." These lines are fully backed by the toddler's confident strut as he charms onlookers in his blue diaper, classic white button down with rolled up sleeves and what looks to be converse sneakers. With this, Huggies is taking on an entirely new stance. Often time ahead of their competitors, it's a good decision on behalf of Huggies to offer this as a limited edition in order to see if consumer interest for such a product exists. Now, is a fashionable jean diaper necessary? In my opinion, no. But hey, we are after all living in a material world...literally!

Will You Have a Pulse? With Yahoo, that is

Back in February, the search engine giant Google launched its very first social networking feature, Google Buzz. To their dismay, they were unsuccessful in gaining user interest. For starters, they failed to offer privacy settings, which is essential as users today are more concerned about privacy than ever before. Secondly, Buzz lacked the integration of other social networking sites, like Facebook. Back in march, Facebook was the most visited website among all others. By not integrating such a popular website into their application, Google struggled in drawing user interest as it seemed to lack any benefit to the user.

Yahoo on the other hand, has trailed Google as the foremost site Internet users visit. In contrast to Google’s simplistic appeal, by incorporating a “Quick View” feature that gathers Facebook and Twitter feeds, Yahoo has been trying to leapfrog Google in that regard. In the coming days, Yahoo will launch its very own social networking service, Pulse, which will have an aggregation of real-time updates from a variety of social networking sites. This may be in fact the answer to what Google was trying to do with Buzz! Whether or not Yahoo learned from its competitors fundamental mistakes with privacy, not to mention Facebook’s recent troubles facing privacy, Yahoo will have a full privacy menu for its multiple services.

I am not much of a Yahoo user myself; however, I am curious to see what this launch can do for me. Hopefully its functionality will be easy to use.

http://mashable.com/2010/06/06/yahoo-pulse/

MTV F'in Movie Awards 2010

What the F? The "F" bomb was being used so frequently that even the people on the button weren't able to bleep them in time! However, I think it may have all been part of some marketing ploy -- I noticed many spots airing for Orbitz gum, you know, the remedy to a "duhty mouth." And clearly, there were plenty of duhty mouths throughout the show. If intentional, it was clever!



As for the actual show, not bad! The whole Team Edward vs. Team Jacob thing feels too played out already, so eh. Sandra Bullock on the other hand was as classy as ever. Not to mention sexy! Sandra gave a speech filled with wit and humor. I didn't expect anything less! But overall, the award show had some good laughs and awkward moments. Pretty much what MTV is good for! As for the Popcorn Man, I kind of want one!