Social networking site chooses Intelius to run its searches

A social networking website has just announced that for the first time since its launch, its searches will be powered by an outside company.

Friendster has decided that Intelius, an information commerce company, should run its searches from now on. The new Intel-powered search bar will be located at the top of every Friendster web page.

'We're excited to work with Intelius on this important feature as it will bring a more robust and comprehensive search experience to our community,' said Friendster's VP of sales Aaron Barnes. 'It allows over 115 million Friendster users to find and connect with one another, and our users can even find people from across the web.'

Friendster says that it is a top global website. It bases this claim on the amount of traffic the site has seen since it was founded in 2002.

Intelius offers a variety of services, including background checks, employment screening and identity theft prevention. According to the internet marketing research company comScore, the Intelius website is in the top 100 of most trafficked locations on the internet.

Digitize your money for Facebook gaming

An alternative payment platform has introduced a new way for gamers to spend their money on social networking websites.

Offerpal Media is a virtual currency company. Rixty describes itself as an alternative payment platform. Together, the two have developed a solution for social networkers who don't have credit or debit cards but want to spend their money on online games anyway. You take your cash to Coinstar, the kiosk gives you a voucher and then you go online and start spending.

'We are very excited to partner with Offerpal and give game developers access to the $3 billion in coins that Coinstar sorts each year,' said Rixty CEO Ted Sorom. 'Offerpal has created an extremely easy way for online publishers to facilitate payment by their users, and Rixty extends this functionality by giving users a way to capture the value of their idle coins for virtual goods and currency purchases.'

Rixty says that many Massively Multiplayer Online game publishers already use its system. The company also says it plans to expand its network in order to further support online publishers.

Offerpal Media is headquartered in Fremont, California and claims it has served more than 115 million consumers to date.

Facebook game company continues to grow

A company that thought to combine the world of social networking with the world of video games was apparently on to something, as its growth is reportedly explosive.

Zynga is the company that developed FarmVille, Zynga Poker (obviously), Mafia Wars, YoVille, Vampires and a few others. The San Francisco-based operation just announced that it has quadrupled its monthly users over the past six months.

'The rise in social gaming reflects the immense popularity of Facebook and the need for people to connect, play and express themselves with others,' said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. 'While it is still early in social gaming, the success of our games with the user community underscores the sheer size and potential of this new movement which will finally let fun become the biggest way people interact.'

Last April, Zynga says it had 30 million people playing its games. By September 30, that number had grown to 129 million. About 34 million people all over the world play a Zynga game every day.

Zynga games are available on MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, Friendster and several other sites too.

New social networking service allows trade show exhibitors to communicate with customers

Virtual Press Office (VPO) is an online trade show news distributor that is now taking advantage of social networking.

VPO recently announced EventBuzz, its new service that lets exhibitors follow social media conversations that could have an impact on their businesses. The monitoring system will cover communication taking place on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

'Social media measurement is all about listening, and based upon what you learn, responding in an appropriate manner,' said VPO's CEO Peter Brand. 'EventBuzz will allow companies to get real-time market feedback on products, technologies, competitors, and people with the added advantage of being able to respond in real-time.'

EventBuzz becomes available on October 1 for any trade show or corporate event in the world. The service costs $399 and allows individuals to monitor up to 10 keyword searches.

VPO was established in 1996 and says it has changed the way exhibitors and the media communicate by offering its online press office. The company claims it provides 400 events with support.

Online dating site for the disabled

A new online dating website recently launched and its services are designed for people with disabilities.

Disabledates.com is a free dating website that caters to men and women who have disabilities. The site also functions as a regular social networking platform, as users can meet friends there too. Furthermore, able-bodied people can join if they would like to meet people with disabilities. The site says all of its members must be committed to respecting other users.

'We are very pleased with the look and features of the site,' said William Banks, the website's founder. 'The site has been a goal of mine for some time as a person with a disability I have found it most challenging to find a great dating site. Being a web developer I decided to take matters into my own hand and develop a custom site for people like myself.'

Though the site is free at first, this is for a limited time only. After 90 days, users are asked to begin a paid subscription. Disabledates.com intends to connect people with disabilities from all around the world.

Online Dating Site Launches Free Video Chat

An online dating website recently announced that it has launched a video feature that it says will reduce first date anxiety.

SweetLuck.com is a free online dating and social networking website that goes beyond simple profile images and allows users to take advantage of digital video.

This isn't the first time a website has incorporated video into its service, but normally the resolution of the clips isn't very good.

'Our team took that into account and really pushed and pulled our resources together until we got it right,' said SweetLuck CEO Martin Encarnacion. 'Our site prides itself in being one of the few in the market to have successfully rolled out this new feature and thereby enriching the experience of our vibrant social networking and dating community.'

The free video chat feature has reportedly been tested and retested, and with a broadband connection users can get good quality video without any delay.

According to a study conducted by the Online Publishers Association and comScore, an internet marketing research company, online dating will be a $932 million industry by 2011.

Facebook involved in a good cause

Intel had a contest on its Facebook page in which nonprofits could compete to win advertising for their projects and a deserving organization won.

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is the largest nonprofit in the U.S. that focuses on curing Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne). Patricia Furlong is PPMD's CEO and she is happy to say that her nonprofit will receive $50,000 in co-branded advertising with Intel and Facebook.

'PPMD is a relatively small organization focused on a rare disease,' said Furlong. 'We don't have hundreds of thousands of supporters, but we have some of the most devoted families and friends you could ask for.'

Furlong said that she was inspired to see such a big name offer support to a nonprofit organization, especially since she says the current economic climate has forced many companies to neglect their corporate social responsibilities.

Duchenne is reportedly the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children. It is a progressive and fatal muscle disorder that affects boys and young men. People who suffer from this unfortunate condition often experience a decline in respiratory and cardiac function.

Jesse Eisenberg to play social media magnate

There's a movie that's going to be made about the creation of a popular social networking site and Jesse Eisenberg from The Squid and the Whale and Adventureland got the lead.

The Social Network is a movie about Facebook that's in pre-production and expected to be directed by David Fincher, the man whose IMDB profile includes Benjamin Button, Fight Club and Se7en. Eisenberg is going to play Mark Zuckerberg, the 25-year-old millionaire founder of the site, according to MTV.com.

The story starts off with Zuckerberg and his pal Eduardo Saverin at Harvard hacking into the university's computer system to create a database of all the school's women, said the website. Although they were almost expelled for the offense, it did give birth to the foundation of Facebook.

Justin Timberlake will make an appearance in the film as Sean Parker, the young man who co-founded Napster and was the founding president of Facebook. Eisenberg told MTV that parts of The Social Network would be filmed on location at Harvard some time in November. He says he isn't sure how much Facebookers will like the movie, as it's 'very adult.'

Ghostface Killah to perform at MySpace show

A member of the illustrious Wu-Tang Clan is going to perform at a show held by a popular social networking website.

Dennis Coles, better known as Ghostface Killah, is going to be at the Hiro Ballroom in New York City on September 30 for MySpace's concert series entitled THE RELEASE. Ghostface is originally from Staten Island, which he and the rest of Wu call Shaolin, and has released critically acclaimed albums including Ironman and Fishscale in between collaborations with the rest of the Clan.

The rapper's next album, Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, will be released on September 29, according to AltSounds.com. It will feature artists such as John Legend, Fabolous, Lloyd, Estelle and others.

Ghostface's MySpace page says that he will be in Georgetown, DC the night after the MySpace show for a performance sponsored by Adidas. The show will be held in the shoe company's store on Wisconsin Avenue and it begins at 5 p.m. The first single from the rapper's new album is called Baby and features Raheem DeVaughn.

New social networking site addresses three basic needs

There is now an online dating website that combines three things that most people can't get enough of.

YouLoveMe.com is a site that incorporates the concepts of dating, social networking and revenue sharing. Don't worry, it's not as sleazy as it sounds because the website uses some of the money for a good cause.

Members get paid by uploading photos and videos and also by making more friends and writing blog entries. Each month PayPal makes a deposit into your account, depending on how much you have contributed (you have to be a top active member).

Once the deposit has been made, you're told that the site will make a donation in your name to Child Fund International. If you'd prefer a donation be made to a different charity, it is your responsibility to choose one so the website can make its donation. See? It's actually a really nice idea.

YouLoveMe.com was created by a Rutgers engineering graduate and the site is currently looking for angel investors. It is based in New Jersey.

UK dating website expands overseas

A dating service that was at first only available in UK has recently begun offering its services to people living in other countries.

Chatix Dating has launched its new site and this means that millions of people outside of the UK can now access its services. The website says that users now have a better chance at finding someone they like.

Chatix Dating is separated into six chat rooms. Of these, one is meant to be used by Americans, another by Canadians, a third is exclusively for teens and there is a Christian chat room as well.

There are rooms that cater to the needs of users living in particular areas of the UK and the U.S. too. For example, there are chat rooms for people living in Birmingham, England and Ohio.

Chatix invites internet surfers to visit whenever they like. You don't need to register and joining a chat room is free. While Chatix made no mention of how successful its new website has been in the U.S., it did say its service was on a list of popular chat rooms in the UK.

Family-oriented social media

A free web service has just announced a new networking platform designed specifically to keep family members connected.

Cozi.com says it helps you manage your family life with features like an online calendar, shopping menu and to do list. Now the site is offering the Cozi Family Journal with SimpleShare. SimpleShare will allow family members to customize how their online stories are presented.

'All families have a common desire and need to stay connected with relatives and friends,' said Cozi CEO Robbie Cape. 'But, every family has a different communications requirement and a different comfort level with sharing on the web.'

SimpleShare will allow users to send out a monthly family newsletter and quick email updates for emergencies or big news. Facebook and Twitter can be linked to SimpleShare so that members of all three networks can access certain information.

Cozi will also allow parents to turn their online family journals into a website by supplying a unique URL. This feature is similar to blogging, but the company says its platform is easier to use.

Cozi is based in Seattle, Washington and currently has more than two million users.

Traditional and social media: Leno show gets different reviews

Almost 75 percent of viewers gave Jay Leno's new show either an A or a B rating, according to a recently published study. But one social networking site wasn't as generous.

Twitter users, or tweeters as they like to be called, did not like Leno's debut, even though it looked like a really good show down on paper. Kanye West was a guest and he spontaneously apologized for his outburst at the VMAs, but that just wasn't enough.

A study conducted by Empower MediaMarketing entitled The People Have Spoken: Comparing Opinions on The Jay Leno Show had mirror-like results with 75 percent of tweeters providing negative responses to the Leno poll.

However, the show's first night ratings were the best NBC has seen in the 10 p.m. time slot since November 2008. Empower's survey included 1,000 participants over the age of 18 and was conducted on September 17 and 18. Upcoming guests on the Leno show include radio personality Rush Limbaugh and actor Hugh Laurie, according to its website.

Thousands of virtual tattoos available

A company that develops free applications for social networking websites has arrived at a milestone.

Make The Web Better (MTWB) is a company that creates apps that take advantage of the connectivity that sites like Facebook and MySpace provide. The company's main product is My Web Tattoo, which is associated with Tattoodle, an application designed specifically for social networking.

Tattoodle features graphics MTWB calls tattoos that depict butterflies, hearts, flowers and a variety of other eye-catching designs. Now Tattoodle has 10,000 graphics to choose from.

'Tattoo number 10,000 was certainly a big milestone for us,' said Mike Goldberg, head of product development. 'But we're not done yet. Every week, we continue to release fun and innovative graphics.'

The purpose of these virtual tattoos is to help social networkers express themselves as individuals. The company says that it employs world-class illustrators and colorists so that it can offer users a wide spectrum of graphics. Some are very vibrant and glittery, while others are more tranquil, according to MTWB. The company also offers a collection of virtual wallpapers.

Online dating sites keep evolving

Men and women from different parts of the world are getting closer via online dating websites, and the services these sites provide just keep getting better and better.

AnastasiaDate.com connects men from North America and Western Europe to women from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On September 19, the website launched its new live chat feature that allows hopeful singles to IM real-time.

The website caters to thousands of women across the former Soviet Union and each has a chat window. Prowlers are invited to contact these ladies and watch the sparks fly. The service will reportedly get even hotter, as it will soon get a visual upgrade.

Anastasia was founded in 1993 and the site says it's the industry's leading International Introduction and Romance Tour Company. Millions of people visit Anastasia each year and about 600,000 letters are exchanged on the site every day.

Anastasia works with more than a thousand dating agencies located all over the former USSR. One user named Jerry H. commented, 'You may contact me if you want 100 percent proof, that this is a great website, it's always improving and it is fair and friendly people to work with.'

Social media doesn't have a home in workplace regulations

A recent survey revealed that many businesses still haven't written any rules about social networking into their company policies.

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) did some research about what happens to people who get caught on Facebook, Twitter or (this would probably be the worst one) LinkedIn while at work.

Seems there's no standard operating procedure for managers who catch their personnel updating their statuses or playing FarmVille. Moreover, employers haven't really been monitoring such behavior in an official way. It's just the sort of thing where someone gets caught and then the boss says not to do that anymore, which isn't even the equivalent of the proverbial slap on the wrist.

When the internet first showed up about a decade ago, many companies foolishly thought that it was nothing special; that it would just go away. It will be interesting to see if these same companies will take a similar approach to the social networking trend. Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again.

Food-book

A company that develops technology for restaurants in California has just launched an app for a popular social networking website.

GetQuik announced its Facebook app on September 23. The purpose of the app is to allow a restaurant's returning customers to order whatever it was they ate and/or drank last time from the comfort of their favorite networking site.

'Facebook has proven to be a hugely popular destination site,' said Ken Ryu, CEO of GetQuik. 'Facebook offers developers a robust application framework. Providing a Facebook app is a natural extension of the GetQuik service.'

The company says that the app is meant for people who want to be able to get food without having to go through the long, complicated process of leaving the Facebook site, placing their GetQuik order, then going all the way back to Facebook to sign back in and continue perusing the feed.

GetQuik was founded in 2005 and provides technology and services to over 400 restaurants in the Bay Area. The company claims it can help reduce costs by decreasing labor expenses while improving customer satisfaction.

Virtual room app for Facebook launches

An new application for the social networking website Facebook has launched.

Zorap says that it's the first company to leverage the power of real-time multimedia group engagement. The company says that it's added a new dimension to social networking by offering Facebook users the opportunity to share videos, movie trailers, music videos and YouTube content, which is sort of like saying the same thing four times.

You can also share photos and web content, something that was already be possible on Facebook.

What stands out about Zorap, though, is that it allows you to participate in online audio or video group meetings, which wasn't exactly beyond the realm of the imagination to begin with, but cool nonetheless, especially since the self-described 'virtual room' can hold up to 50 people.

'Social networking and social media are the fastest growing online mediums,' said Zorap's founder Barry Spencer. 'We give people a way to hang out with friends and co-experience the abundance of rich media content available on the internet, as well as private content stored on local computers.'

The private content Spencer mentions is also a nice feature, as Zorappers can interact via group playback of MP3s, AVIs, WMAs and all the rest. If you prefer hanging out in virtual reality, maybe you should check out Zorap. It's about as virtual as virtual can be.

Bring your Facebook pics elsewhere

A certain social networking site now has over 300 million users, which translates into about 15 billion photographs and a few million videos that one website says users should exploit for marketing purposes.

If you have 500+ friends on Facebook but you just feel like you're not getting the exposure you so desperately need, you're going to love Diditz. The application allows you to convert your Facebook media into other web pages or blogs that can be shared with anyone who has an internet connection. One thing though: don't forget you can make your FB pictures accessible to anyone (users and nonusers alike). Diditz just helps you move them to another location, should you want to.

'Diditz is starting a new trend of rich Facebook applications that add immense value to the existing platform,' said Matt Marshall, who produces a conference series called DEMO that focuses on emerging technology trends and was created by Network World Events and Executive Forums.

It seems many internet users think it's a pain to have to maintain their accounts, blogs and web pages and wish they could just do everything at once. Diditz allows them to selectively share their digital selves and allows them to become searchable so that anyone can enjoy them, not just their Facebook friends.

Texan students could benefit from Second Life

A university in Texas is experimenting with an online virtual reality site that could help students save money by allowing them access to cheaper education.

The University of Texas is moving forward with a year-long plan to use Second Life to host classes at all of its campuses, according to InformationWeek. The school hopes that its efforts to do so will eventually result in eliminating costs related to the maintenance of facilities and energy consumption.

Dr. Leslie Jarmon is the primary investigator for the initiative, according to Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life. Jarmon, who on Second Life goes by Bluewave Ogee, says that it was hard to find a way to present the idea.

'Challenges for winning this initial 1-year launch included finding the most effective language and concrete examples from within the generous educational community in Second Life itself to craft a proposal that would be hearable by key administrators,' she said on a Second Life blog.

The University of Texas has nine academic campuses and six medical and health science campuses. Each is involved in the Second Life plan.

MySpace blog tells story of Hiero's crash

A 37-year-old hip hop artist was recently involved in a car crash but he and the other people in the vehicle are apparently OK.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien, founder of the group Hieroglyphics, was on his way to Denver with his friends A-Plus, Zac Hendrix and Bukue when the car was suddenly bashed into by a Ford Expedition.

Del's car was struck in the center/rear, and Bukue says he and the other passengers were projected forward.

'If the SUV hit us from any slight angle we would have flipped and I may not be writing this to you guys,' wrote Bukue on MySpace on September 20. He also said that although no one was too badly harmed, Del was in the back, so he felt the impact the most. He was taken by ambulance for X-rays, which showed nothing out of the ordinary.

A-Plus was featured on the classic hip hop album 93 'til Infinity, which included a track by the same name that he produced. Arguably one of the best hip hop songs ever, it has been sampled time and time again (as recently as 2009).

According to his MySpace page, Del's main influences are The Funkmob and Parliament-Funkadelic.

BAM tweets ticker picks

There's a company in California that is using a micro-blogging site to release information about the economy that was once only available to financial institutions and hedge funds.

BAM Investor (stands for Behavioral Analysis of Markets) said it would use Twitter as a new business communications platform and the company is sticking to that promise. This week BAM is offering free stock market predictions, and you can follow them on Twitter by looking up BAMInvestor.

The model is used by investors and hedge funds to make predictions about stock, commodity and currency developments. The company says its forecasting is built on quantitative analysis of human behavior and social movements.

'When compared to traditional technical and fundamental analyses, behavioral analysis creates significant value due to its inherent predictive - instead of reactive - nature,' said J.G. Savoldi, the company's CEO. 'This is the first time this new financial theory has been applied practically to stocks, commodities and currencies.'

A recent BAM tweet read, 'The Shanghai market continues to track the model and we expect to see the crash accelerate in China. Our target is 260 into October 8ish.'

New online dating site gets help from Cupid, Ph.D.

A Pennsylvanian doctor has developed a model for a new online dating site that looks at who you are to figure out who might like you and vice versa.

Robert M. Gordon, Ph.D. is a psychologist-researcher and psychoanalyst who apparently thinks that traditional algorithms are a load of you-know-what when it comes to finding true love.

He has built a model for RewardingLove.com that is based on psychology, personality analysis, belief systems and family history. He and his wife, Alla Gordon (who is also a doctor of psychology), will also be offering relationship advice on the site.

'As far as we know, we will be the only professional husband and wife team, who met online, that will be offering advice on a matchmaking website,' said the good doctor.

Since the site is still new, users can have access to all of its features for free. Naturally, this is only for a limited time. Eventually matches will cost you. A basic subscription will be offered for $9.99 and will include 100 matches.

That's why it's called social networking

A lot of teenagers are good at internet stuff and like to use that to their advantage, so it's no surprise that social networking sites have become the most exploited weapons in the arsenals of some.

The education company Kaplan recently conducted a survey that revealed 70 percent of college admissions officers in the U.S. have received messages to become friends with prospective students on Facebook and MySpace.

'Social networking has blurred previously-held boundaries, especially among those who have grown with these outlets,' said Kaplan's Jeff Olson. 'We understand that college applicants these days are seeking any competitive edge they can, so may think 'friending' college admissions officers on Facebook will help them. But students need to be smart about how they use social networking sites.'

Olson says that although many of these officers get the messages, they rarely go and explore the profiles. Moreover, depending on what's on those profiles (ahem, seedy pictures), sometimes these few visits don't work to the advantage of the college-bound.

On the other hand, some schools see the trend as a good thing. Hofstra actually goes out and invites interested students to send the university's officers a friend request.

Online dating site recommends the separation of church and dates

An online dating site recently conducted a survey that generated some surprising results.

OkCupid.com took a look at half a million introductions that occurred between singles on the site and found that when you're looking to pull, don't say you believe in God. In fact, do the opposite, because researchers came across the word 'atheist' 342 times per 10,000 messages.

Another interesting discovery was that online daters seem to be attracted to people with good language skills. People with bad grammar don't get very far, and netspelling (ur, wat, wont, etc.) is a turnoff, too.

The key to successful online dating is subtlety. Physical compliments like 'You're so gorgeous' don't work because only ugly people use them, according to the site. And instead of starting off with a rigid 'Hello,' play it cool with a 'How's it going?'

Sam Yagan, the co-founder of the site, emailed the technology publication Wired and offered the following advice on how to construct your introductory message: 'Be brief. Make a reference to the recipient's profile.'

Yagan's advice is a perfect example of how less really can be more.