tag: Social networks

Google+ API launching with “trusted testers” in days, general availability in weeks

September 8, 2011 11:26 AM Sean Ludwig

Good news: A few “trusted” developers will be getting their hands on the Google+ API in the next few days, with wider availability coming in the next weeks, according to a leaked letter from Google Ventures.

Developers have been clamoring …

Social food index Foodily releases Facebook app for a new kind of recipe sharing

August 30, 2011 11:10 AM Regina Sinsky

Regina Sinsky

Birthday cake in a jar, deep-fried pickles and a perfect vegan lasagna. These are a few of the recipes you can find and share with Foodily, an online recipe index. Today the company released a new Facebook app, establishing it …

Google Plus struggles to add women after mostly-male launch

August 25, 2011 9:52 AM M. M. Faulkner

Guest Post

Since the launch of Google Plus almost two months ago, Google’s social media network has grown faster than any other network, reaching over 20 million users in just a month. Google’s invite-only launch positioned Google Plus as a male-centric network, …

Benchmark plops down $7.6M to make CouchSurfing into a for-profit

August 24, 2011 6:00 PM Dylan Tweney

Dylan Tweney

CouchSurfing, the site that helps you find a couch to spend the night on or a safe foreigner to warm your own couch, is switching from the slow lane to the fast lane.

It’s converting itself from a non-profit into …

Foursquare wins major victory with death of Facebook Places

August 23, 2011 3:44 PM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

While Facebook was rolling out some changes to its privacy policies today, the company also quietly announced it was killing off the Foursquare-like Places function inside of its mobile app.

The Facebook Places feature was unveiled a year ago and …

Study: Google+ and Facebook use same ad-placement playbook

August 16, 2011 12:49 PM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Google+ might still be the new (and relatively small) kid on the social-media block, but that doesn’t mean marketers aren’t trying to figure out how to best use it to sell ads.

A new study from EyeTrackShop shows how users …

LinkedIn removes photos from ‘social ads’ after complaints

August 11, 2011 3:57 PM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

A new feature on LinkedIn called “social ads” has been modified to take out user photos after it attracted the attention of several blogs. The feature allowed the social network to place users’ names and pictures into contextualized ads that …

Anonymous fights with itself over planned Facebook attack

August 10, 2011 12:52 PM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

New details have emerged on the purported plot by hacker collective Anonymous to “kill” Facebook on Nov. 5. In recent Twitter posts, it appears the group has confirmed that some of its members are working on the plan, nicknamed #OpFacebook, …

Google+ has 25M unique visitors, but it’s not fair to compare it to Facebook

August 3, 2011 4:27 PM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Google+, the new social network from Google, is growing at a gargantuan pace. The social destination has now hit 25 million unique visitors, reaching that milestone faster than Facebook, Twitter or other social networks, according to new comScore data.

Social …

Could Google+ be the first prominent open social network?

August 2, 2011 10:02 AM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Google+ has an incredible amount of buzz surrounding it at the moment. But one element the young network lacks is open standards compliance.

It’s not unique to Google+, as almost all social networks for that matter have this problem. But …

Overwolf launches social overlay for online games

August 2, 2011 7:00 AM Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi

Overwolf is announcing the beta version of its social gaming client for overlaying social media on top of existing online games.

The Overwolf Client is visible to gamers while they’re playing their favorite multiplayer online games. As such, it’s a …

5 things Google+ does better than Facebook and Twitter

July 30, 2011 4:17 PM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Google+ has only been active for a month, and tech enthusiasts can’t seem to get enough of it. There are a few concrete reasons why: A handful of new features that Google just does better than other social networks.

While …

Google’s Gundotra admits to mistakes with Google+ ‘real name’ fiasco

July 25, 2011 9:33 AM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Google VP Vic Gundotra has admitted that the company’s new social network, Google+, has made mistakes when it comes to kicking many people using fake names off the service and says there is still much to do to perfect the …

Among Gen Y, some are abandoning Facebook for Google+

July 22, 2011 12:57 PM Matthew Lynley

Matthew Lynley

People who have grown up online might be more eager than most to make the switch from Facebook to Google.

The search giant’s social network — which delivers data in bite-sized chunks thanks to the use of Circles — is …

Google+ speeds up launch of business account test program

July 14, 2011 11:45 AM Sean Ludwig

Sean Ludwig

Google plans to accelerate the launch of its corporate account program on Google+ after thousands of businesses signed up to try the fast-growing social network.

“To the thousands upon thousands of businesses that applied to be a part: Thank you!,” …

Ning adds in-browser photo editing to social networks (exclusive)

July 12, 2011 9:45 AM Matthew Lynley

Matthew Lynley

Build-your-own-social-network company Ning announced today that it is adding Aviary, a photo-editing tool that works inside a social network’s web browser, to its social networks.

That gives social networks built on Ning a one-up over sites that are built around …

Week in review: Google opens Google+ invites once again

July 9, 2011 10:29 AM Matthew Lynley

Matthew Lynley

Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories published by VentureBeat in the last seven days:

Google resumes sending out Google+ invites: Google+, Google’s brand-new social networking site, will once again let users invite …