May 12, 2008

Google "Friend Connect" to Make Advanced Social Features Easily Available

Many site owners dream about adding deep social features allowing users to interact with their friends in external communities. However the cost and know-how required to script against various sites' APIs have traditionally been prohibitive for all but the largest publishers. Google's Friend Connect bridges the programming gap by offering standardized tools to facilitate "richer social experiences" to mid and small size publishers. But what are the benefits to the average site owner? Why does this matter?

Background First The Friend Connect "preview release" announcement today may foreshadow, in palpable terms, the ultimate street level impact of OpenSocial platform-thinking. Though not fully aimed at data portability objectives," webmasters will download cross-site "widgets" using a wizard starting sometime later today. The "social gadget" engine will generate turnkey code which includes "built-in functionality like user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting, and reviews, as well as third-party applications built by the OpenSocial developer community."

According to the press release any site which deploys Google Friend Connect widgets will be able to "see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more."

Site Owner Benefits These new tools will engage visitors and drive traffic by offering opportunities to interact with friends who publish their activities to other social sites, a technique many of us practice to various degrees. However Friend Connect offers all of this functionality without hiring a team of programmers...just download the widget, hook it up and rock.

Visualize your users inviting their Facebook and other social community friends (contacts) to "join" them to participate in your site. Users can them "publish back" to other social communities they're active in, making the promotion of your content truly exponential as it ripples amongst friends of friends, etc... While this type of viral propagation has long been in the vocabulary of social media publishers, in past years activity has been largely limited to closed-loop thinking. In other words, what happens in one site stays in the site absent specialized configurations and a lot of know-how.

Already cross pollination add-ons like the StumbleUpon Facebook Application mingle multiple social site experiences to where recommending a site on SU results in publishing the thumbs-up to your FB profile for all of your friends to see. There are many third party widgets which accomplish similar ends including WordPress Twitter Plugs which automates pulling tweets into your blog and creating new tweets on blog posts and from within WordPress.

It takes a lot of research to put together custom suites of such tools. The excitement surrounding Friend Connect is in regards to standardization, expanding reach and lowered cost to make a wide array of previously unavailable social integration available to mid and small size publishers

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google's Friend Connect: Add Social Networking to Your Site

If you've wanted to ride the social media marketing wave by adding social features to your website, but the economy has you worried about spending lots of money on apps, then get excited. Google is again coming to the rescue by offering a free service for you to get your social media game on.

After Google's Campfire One event tonight, website owners will be able to utilize Friend Connect (http://www.google.com/friendconnect). Basically, it's social applications for the coding-challenged. Visitors to sites using Friend Connect will be able to "see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more."

David Glazer, Director of Engineering at Google had this to say: "Google Friend Connect is about helping the 'long tail' of sites become more social. Many sites aren't explicitly social and don't necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other. That used to be hard. Fortunately, there's an emerging wave of social standards -- OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, and the data access APIs published by Facebook, Google, MySpace, and others. Google Friend Connect builds on these standards to let people easily connect with their friends, wherever they are on the web, making 'any app, any site, any friends' a reality."

What do you think about Friend Connect? Plan to add it to your site? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Related Reading: SLI Systems Joins Bazaarvoice Radius to Help Marketers Execute Integrated Social Commerce Strategies

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

December 19, 2007

Google Orkut Spreading Worms

A worm is infecting users of Google's Orkut, PC World reported.

Seems Google's social networking program is getting a little too social.

"Some Orkut users received an e-mail telling them they had been sent a new scrapbook entry -- a type of Orkut message -- on their profile from another Orkut user.

They only had to view their profile to become infected by the worm, which added them to an Orkut group, "Infectados pelo Vírus do Orkut," wrote the blogger Kee Hinckley on his site TechnoSocial," PC World noted.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:33 PM | Permalink

October 3, 2007

Google Hits Snag in Monetizing Orkut

Google removed ads from its Orkut social networking service in August after facing complaints filed with a Brazilian advertising body, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Brazilian nonprofit group SaferNet lodged a complaint alleging that Orkut contains child pornography and other illegal content on some users' pages. Google removes such content when it's found

According to Google, the ads were part of a test, and only appeared on only 1% of Orkut pages. A Google executive in Brazil, Alexandre Hohagen, told the WSJ that the company was working closely with Brazilian authorities, and future plans for ads on Orkut were unclear.

Lack of control over the content ads appear near has been an issue for advertisers, especially big-brand owners. Add to that the reported poor performanceof ads, along with the risk of offending the core audience by disrupting their user experience, and it makes one wonder how sites like Facebook will ever be "the next Google," or why folks like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer think the hype around social networks is going to die down.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:30 AM | Permalink

October 30, 2006

Google Appeals Federal Judge's Orkut Ruling

The International Herald Tribune reports that Google has appealed a federal judge's order to hand over the IP address information to Brazilian authorities. Google claims the "federal civil court did not have the proper authority" for such information. But Google spokesperson, Debbie Frost said Google will help Brazilian authorities identify individuals accused of illegal activities on Google's social networking platform, Orkut. This history goes way back, just start from here and keep clicking those links back to the previous stories. This amazes me that it is still going on since early this year.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:13 AM | Permalink

October 10, 2006

Court Issues Notice To Google For Allegedly Spreading Hate In India Via Orkut

The Times of India reports that Google is in hot water over Orkut once again, this time for allegedly spreading hatred for India. The article says, "The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to issue notice to Google for the alleged spread of hatred about India by its social network service Orkut." The problem is over a "We Hate India" community in Orkut that posted a picture a burning Indian flag.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:35 AM | Permalink

October 6, 2006

New Search Patent Applications: October 6, 2006 - Google Takes Over the Patent Office

There were some interesting new patent applications this week from Yahoo, Microsoft, and IBM, but nothing on the scale of the outpouring of intellectual property published and assigned to Google - I uncovered 15 new patent applications from the Mountain View search giant. I'll address patent applications from those others in a later post. This post looks at Google's filings.

Some of the topics covered include:

• Natural language questions and answers from a search engine,
• Query rankings and mid-page refinements,
• A detailed personalization system,
• Advertising and email contacts amongst members of a social network,
• Bringing together advertisers and advertising agents,
• Addressing different audience segments with ads,
• Improving the value of pay-per-impression advertising,
• Data embedded in hardware devices to help target advertisments, and;
• Sharing Settings and other data across browsers (and Office applications).

A Question Answering Search

I thought of Danny's post from yesterday, Hello Natural Language Search, My Old Over-Hyped Search Friend, when reading this patent application. Will people ask actual questions to a search engine if the anticipate that they will receive relevant answers? Here's an exploration of that question:

User interface for facts query engine with snippets from information sources that include query terms and answer terms Invented by Andrew William Hogue US Patent Application 20060224582 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

A method and a system for providing snippets of source documents of an answer to a fact query are disclosed. Snippets of source documents may be provided in response to a user request for the source documents from which the fact answer to a fact query was extracted. The snippets include the terms of the fact query and terms of the answer. The snippets may be displayed along with Uniform Resource Locators (URL's) of the source documents.

Middle Page Query Refinements

Danny also mentioned in his rant the need for better query refinements, and how Google has been offering them for a couple of years. (His timing is pretty good.)

Just how does Google decide to present some of the suggested alternative queries that it shows in the middle of some results pages? What triggers their appearance, and determines which queries and results appear? How are alternative queries ranked?

I examined this patent filing in considerable detail at SEO by the Sea, in a post titled Google's Query Rank, and Query Revisions on Search Result Pages.

Query revision using known highly-ranked queries Invented by David R. Bailey, Alexis J. Battle, David Ariel Cohn, Barbara Engelhardt, P. Pandurang Nayak US Patent Application 20060224554 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: November 22, 2005

Abstract

An information retrieval system includes a query revision architecture providing one or more query revisers, each of which implements a query revision strategy. A query rank reviser suggests known highly-ranked queries as revisions to a first query by initially assigning a rank to all queries, and identifying a set of known highly-ranked queries (KHRQ). Queries with a strong probability of being revised to a KHRQ are identified as nearby queries (NQ). Alternative queries that are KHRQs are provided as candidate revisions for a given query. For alternative queries that are NQs, the corresponding known highly-ranked queries are provided as candidate revisions.

Google Personalization

After more than a few hours, I'm just partially into breaking down the processes described in the following six patent applications detailing some of the things that Google is looking at in a personalized search system. They share a single detailed (and long) description and abstract, and were all originally filed on March 31, 2005 and published on October 5, 2006. The claims section in each application different and explain how the different documents play a role in the overall personalization scheme.

Systems and methods for analyzing a user's web history Invented by Andrew Fikes, Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, Lilly Christine Irani US Patent Application 20060224583

Systems and methods for modifying search results based on a user's history Invented by Oren E. Zamir, Jeffrey L. Korn, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224587

Systems and methods for combining sets of favorites Invented Oren E. Zamir, Jeffrey L. Korn, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224608

Systems and methods for providing subscription-based personalization Invented by Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224615

Systems and methods for managing multiple user accounts Invented by Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, and Andrew Fikes US Patent Application 20060224624

Systems and methods for providing a graphical display of search activity Invented Andrew Fikes, Jeffrey L. Korn, Oren E. Zamir, and Lilly Christine Irani, Avni Upendra Shah US Patent Application 20060224938

Abstract

A user's prior searching and browsing activities are recorded for subsequent use. A user may examine the user's prior searching and browsing activities in a number of different ways, including indications of the user's prior activities related to advertisements. A set of search results may be modified in accordance with the user's historical activities. The user's activities may be examined to identify a set of preferred locations. The user's set of activities may be shared with one or more other users. The set of preferred locations presented to the user may be enhanced to include the preferred locations of one or more other users. A user's browsing activities may be monitored from one or more different client devices or client application. A user's browsing volume may be graphically displayed.

Social Networks

Both of these next two documents mention Orkut, as well as some other social networks.

Methods and systems for member-created advertisement in a member network Invented by Kevin David Fox US Patent Application 20060224446 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 29, 2005

Abstract

Methods and systems for members of a member network to create and target advertisement to other members of the member network. A member can target advertisement to other members in the member network by establishing a member profile that includes associations and/or nexuses with the targeted members. Fees can be charged to members who create and disseminate advertisement to other members in the member network.

Methods and systems for providing current email addresses and contact information for members within a social network Invented by Kevin David Fox and Duane Scott Hess US Patent Application 20060224675 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 30, 2005

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing current email addresses or contact information to members within a social network are described. In one described method, an email program application requests an email address for a member within a social network. Using profile information associated with the member, the email address is provided to the email program application which sent the request. The email address is then entered into the send-to parameter field of an email message. In another described method, contact information associated with a first member of a social can be provided to a second member of the social network. The contact information is provided if the relationship between the first and second members is an authorized relationship. The contact information associated with the first member can be used to update the contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the second member.

Advertising

Some past patent applications made it appear that Google wanted to help make it easier for advertisers to create their own advertising campaigns and ad copy. This next document looks instead at making it easier for advertisers to find people willing to help them with those activities.

Networking advertisers and agents for ad authoring and/or ad campaign management Invented by Ross Koningstein and Sumit Agarwal US Patent Application 20060224444 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 30, 2005

Abstract

As online ads are becoming technically and artistically more sophisticated, advertisers will need a way to efficiently request assistance with ad creations that offer richer ad formats. An online ad business environment helps connect advertisers with ad service providers (also called agents or advisors) who can meet their needs for more complex and sophisticated ad creatives. The online ad business network may use a job listing board where advertisers can enter request for assistance and agent can view them. The business network may also include an agent directory where agents can post their profiles and services and advertisers can view them. Using the job listing board and agent directory, advertisers and agent can contact each other through contact operations available in the business network, and enter into business relationships. A payment from an advertiser to an agent may be made via the business network. The amount of compensation paid to the agent by the business network need not be equal to the amount of payment received by the advertiser.

How helpful would it be if it were easier to understand and manage the serving of ads based upon different audience segments and factors like different geographic areas, different times, different user devices, different audience demographics, etc.?

Automated offer management using audience segment information Invented by Ross Koningstein US Patent Application 20060224447 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

An advertiser's management of an advertising campaign may be assisted by (a) accepting information defining a plurality of audience segments to which an advertisement may be served, (b) accepting a first offer, and (c) determining, using the first offer, a second offer associated with at least one of the plurality of audience segments. The act of determining a second offer associated with one of the plurality of audience segments may use an indication of value assigned to the one audience segment. The indication of value may be automatically determined, and/or provided by an advertiser. The indication of value may be expressed as functions, rules, and/or parameter values. The information defining a plurality of audience segments may be one or more of (a) location information, (b) user information, (c) temporal information, and (d) client device information.

Can something be done to improve the value of pay-per-impression advertising? That's the topic of this next patent application.

Adjusting an advertising cost, such as a per-ad impression cost, using a likelihood that the ad will be sensed or perceived by users Invented by Brian Axe, Gregory Joseph Badros, and Rama Ranganath US Patent Application 20060224445 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 30, 2005

Abstract

A price paid for an ad impression may be adjusted using an estimated probability that the ad will be viewed, or otherwise perceived or sensed, or using one or more factors which may be used to estimate such a probability. The price and/or probability may be adjusted using events occurring after the impression of the ad.

Data can be embedded in hardware, such as digital cameras and PDAs, and identified in software that can help an advertiser target the users of those devices. For example, I may take pictures with my camera, and then upload the images to the web with a program like Picasa, or send them to someone through Gmail. The data from the device may be included in metadata from the pictures, and might be used to send me advertisements related to my camera in some way. That's the area that this next patent application covers.

System and method for obtaining content based on data from an electronic device Invented by Michael Bryan Herf US Patent Application 20060224448 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

In one embodiment, data from an electronic device is identified. The data may describe an electronic device (e.g. a hardware or software device) on which a document was created or modified, the subject matter of a document, the state of a document, or the like. Content relating to the electronic device is obtained based on the data. The content may be obtained in response to viewing, editing, printing, emailing or other accessing and/or processing of the document.

Sharing setting information and other data across browsers

Browsers collect a lot of information, such as bookmarks, security settings, web surfing history, autocomplete information, password data, location of toolbars information, and much more. It would be great to have an easy way to share this kind of information between browsers on different computers or on the same computer, to different versions of the same browser, or to different browsers (such as between Internet Explorer and Firefox. The techniques involved might even be applied to other types of applications, such as transferring settings between Microsoft Word to Powerpoint.

No mention of Google Office applications are made here, and the patent application was originally filed over a year ago, but the thought crosses my mind that it might be helpful to copy settings from Word to Writely, or from Excel to Google Spreadsheets.

Method and system for transferring web browser data between web browsers Invented by David Marmaros US Patent Application 20060224967 Published October 5, 2006 Filed: March 31, 2005

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for transferring web browser data between web browsers includes collecting browser data pertaining to a first web browser, packaging the browser data into an intermediate format, and storing the packaged data for a subsequent import into a second web browser.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Google area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 3:40 PM | Permalink

September 28, 2006

Google Not To Deliver Orkut Data To Brazil Authorities

Google won't hand data to Brazil judge from the Associated Press reports that Google will not be meeting the deadline to provide Brazilian authorities with the data they requested on specific Orkut users. This comes after Google saying they will hand over the data to Brazil. So the question is, will Google be fined $23,000 per day by the Brazilian judge until they comply? Google has promised to issue a court explanation as to why they cannot provide the data Brazil requested. The AP article also quotes Debbie Frost of Google saying, "We have and will continue to provide Brazilian authorities with information on users who abuse the Orkut service, if their requests are reasonable and follow an appropriate legal process."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:55 AM | Permalink

September 4, 2006

Google Says They Will Give Brazil Orkut Data

The Washington Post reports that Google will give over the Orkut data of specific users including; IP addresses with time and date stamps that can help trace a specific user and registration information including names and e-mail addresses. This comes after Brazil gave Google 15 days to comply or else be fined $23,000 per day.

Why turn over data to Brazil when Google famous resisted the US government earlier this year for a data request? Reports the Post:

"What they're asking for is not billions of pages," said Nicole Wong, Google associate general counsel. "In most cases, it's relatively discrete -- small and narrow."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:16 AM | Permalink

September 1, 2006

Google Has 15 Days To Provide Data To Brazil Or Be Fined $23,000 Per Day

AFP reports that Brazil has given Google Brazil 15 days to turn over the data on the Orkut users they have been asking for. If Google Brazil does not comply, they will be fining them $23,000 per day. Google has said that they would work with Brazil to shut down Orkut some communities but according to the court filing in Sao Paulo yesterday, those requirements have been 'unsatisfactorily met.'

We have a good historical round down of this whole Google & Orkut & Brazil issue here. Business Week also has a nice write up on the issues named Google's Brazil Headache, highlighting why Google is saying they'll comply if only the requests were sent to Google in the US, rather than Google Brazil.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:20 AM | Permalink

August 22, 2006

Brazil To Close Google Brazil's Offices Over Orkut Issues?

A post in our SEW Forums and a report from Xinhau says that Brazil's federal prosecution service is moving to close Google's operations in Brazil. So far, there is no other news about this that we've seen. An injunction is apparently being requested ordering the release of information from Orkut, with a threat for closure of Google's Sao Paulo office if they don't comply.

Postscript From Danny: Reuters has a story up now here: Google refuses to hand over data to Brazilian authorities. It covers that prosecutors want permission to file a civil lawsuit against Google, with a $61 million fine and the threat of closure if it fails to comply with the information request.

Postscript From Barry: For an historical line up of these events over time, see the links below:

- Aug. 16, 2006 :: Orkut Causing Trouble In Brazil Again - Jul. 21, 2005 :: Drug Pushers Using Orkut Arrested In Brazil - May. 25, 2006 :: Google Works With Brazil To Shut Down Orkut Communities - May. 18, 2006 :: Google Faces Criminal Charges For Child Porn & Racial Material - May. 3, 2006 :: Google & Brazil Fight Over Orkut User Data Rights - Mar. 10, 2006 :: Brazil Asks Google To Help Orkut To Stop Organizing Organized Crime - Mar. 9, 2006 :: Al-Qaeda Likes Orkut

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 5:21 PM | Permalink

August 16, 2006

Orkut Causing Trouble In Brazil Again

Komfie Manalo reports that Brazil has threatened to bring Google to court over their social networking application, Orkut, again. Yesterday, the Federal Prosecution Service of Brazil, said Google refused "to cooperate with authorities about user information" on Orkut. Google said in the past that they would work with Brazilian officials to shut down Orkut communities that were participating and helping criminals traffic drugs and distribute pedophilia. Google says they have cooperated with Brazilian authorities, stating, they have "provided information to eight investigations, and kept secret information regarding 60 other cases since June."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 2:33 PM | Permalink

August 7, 2006

Google & MySpace In $900 Million Deal On Search & Contextual Ads

Just in, an announcement that Google and MySpace have reached a deal for Google to provide search and contextual ads to MySpace, in return for giving MySpace (well, the entire Fox  Interactive Media network) $900 million in guaranteed payments through 2010. From the press release:

MOUNTAIN VIEW and LOS ANGELES, Calif., August 7, 2006 - News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced a multi-year search technology and services agreement whereby Google will be the exclusive search and keyword targeted advertising sales provider for Fox Interactive Media's growing network of web properties including MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com).

The agreement calls for Google to power web, vertical and site specific search for MySpace.com and the majority of Fox Interactive Media properties. Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense program, for inventory on Fox Interactive Media's network. Google will also have a right of first refusal on display advertising sold through third parties on Fox Interactive Media's network.

The integration of Google's services including consistent search navigation across Fox Interactive Media's network of properties is slated to begin in the fourth quarter 2006 and will provide users with access to Google's industry leading search capabilities as well as text and display advertising from its global advertiser base.

Under the terms of the agreement, Google will be obligated to make guaranteed minimum revenue share payments to Fox Interactive Media of $900 million based on Fox achieving certain traffic and other commitments. These guaranteed minimum revenue share payments are expected to be made over the period beginning in the first quarter of 2007 and ending in the second quarter of 2010.

I'm at our Search Engine Strategies show in San Jose at the moment, so I don't have time to do a long post on the news, which I'm still digesting. I've taken a number of phone calls on it already, so I'll provided what I've given to some other reporters who have asked.

• Big win for Google? Sure. Lots of traditional players are worried about MySpace, even if the site itself isn't earning that much now, from what I understand. This gets Google in, keeps Yahoo and Microsoft out, and might be a cheap payment to protect Google's front in the social networking wars. In other words, even if Google doesn't make a net profit off of MySpace, the intangibles could be worth the cost. The closer ties also give Google deeper insight into the MySpace traffic, since it will soon see everyone going to these pages. That will be very helpful for Google if it wants to do a renewed social networking effort of its own.  
• Big loss for Microsoft and Yahoo? Maybe, maybe not. If social networking is hot, both of them -- unlike Google -- have very healthy communities in several international markets. In fact, that potentially could have been an issue in trying to win MySpace. Revenue-wise, Yahoo indirectly provides ads to MySpace, but current revenue doesn't appear to be substantial, plus Yahoo already would have been giving a big chunk of this to whomever is the unknown middleman.

John Battelle notes there's a conference call going on, plus he's working on some follow-ups, so keep an eye on his post. I or Barry will also postscript stories from elsewhere to our post here or do a fresh round-up tomorrow.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 5:47 PM | Permalink

June 13, 2006

A Look At 20 Googlers Via Orkut

Philipp Lenssen complied a list of 20 Googler Orkut profiles. Orkut is Google's social networking software, and many Googlers have profiles and accounts with Orkut. Some of the 20 compiled by Philipp include; Sergey Brin, Adam Bosworth, Jeff Huber, David Krane, Marissa Mayer and more. Nice work!

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:47 AM | Permalink

May 25, 2006

Google Works With Brazil To Shut Down Orkut Communities

The Associated Press reports that Google has finally agreed to pull the plug on some communities within Orkut, Google's social networking software. Google has specifically agreed to shut down any community that violates Orkut's terms of service. This includes "any illegal or unauthorized purpose" such as;

+ Drug Pushers Using Orkut Arrested In Brazil + Brazil Asks Google To Help Orkut To Stop Organizing Organized Crime + Google & Brazil Fight Over Orkut User Data Rights + Google Faces Criminal Charges For Child Porn & Racial Material

About time I guess.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:24 AM | Permalink

May 3, 2006

Google & Brazil Fight Over Orkut User Data Rights

AmericasNetwork.com reports that Google and Brazil are at it again, in terms of Google's Orkut, social networking product. Google appeared in front of the Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights Committee to protect Orkut users data from Brazilian authorities. Brazil wants the data to help prevent crimes, such as a recent fight Brazilian police broke up between "rival football fans," which was organized on Orkut.

Google has been asked before by Brazil for data. We are also aware of some drug pushers being arrested in connection with using Orkut.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:58 AM | Permalink

March 20, 2006

Google And Nike Team Up To Create Soccer Social Networking Site

Nathan Weinberg reports that Google and Nike have launched Joga.com, a social networking site specifically targeting soccer fans worldwide. The site is invite only, like Google's Orkut is, and the login is reportedly through Google Accounts technology. BusinessWeek.com also has a write up on this, describing that Google is the technology partner and Nike is the content partner.

Joga.com is currently running in 140 countries and 14 languages. Nike reportedly approached Google with the idea, and they have been developing the site for over eight-months now. If Joga.com works out well, they are very likely to create social networking sites for not just soccer fans, but also individual fan sites for basketball, baseball, football and so on. For more information on Joga.com, visit the help center.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:53 AM | Permalink

March 10, 2006

Brazil Asks Google To Help Orkut To Stop Organizing Organized Crime

Poor old Orkut, Google's social networking service. First it's knocked for only being popular in Brazil. Then it's knocked for being a haven Al-Qaeda sympathizers. Now it's back to Brazil, where "Google Brasil summoned on chat room complaint" from Reuters covers how the Brazilian public ministry is asking Google to explain what it is doing to curb organized crime activities allegedly being committed or planned within Orkut. The story notes that 73 percent of Orkut's users are apparently Brazilian. The story makes mention of child pornography in Orkut. The service has also been dinged for drug sales, with ten arrests made in Brazil last July.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:21 AM | Permalink

March 9, 2006

Al-Qaeda Likes Orkut

Apparently, it's not just Brazilians who like Orkut. Bloggers Blog points to "Orkut Home to Osama Bin Laden Fan Clubs" from USA Today, which reports that Google's social networking service is popular with Al-Qaeda sympathizers.

The largest community there has 2,000 members, and there are at least 10 different Al-Qaeda related communities. Google says it may remove objectionable material from Orkut and decided to do some with some of the stuff posted in these communities, after USA Today contacted them.

Google recently explained to analysts wondering why Orkut wasn't more popular outside of Brazil that:

Brazilians are just very community-oriented.

I found that a pretty lame explanation, especially given there are plenty of successful community sites in other countries such as, hmm, the United States. But at least they've got something new to say at the next analyst day -- Al-Qaeda supporters are community-oriented as well, it seems.

Postscript: Loren Baker's Why Brazil Loves Orkut! gives you 10 reasons why Brazil is hot on Orkut.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:46 AM | Permalink

August 11, 2005

Battelle: Google Will Not Acquire Meetro

John says that the Google will not be acquiring the social networking/location-based software provider meetro. Stories and rumors about a possible acquisition have been circulating this week.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:01 PM | Permalink

August 8, 2005

Report: Google To Acquire Location-Based, Social Networking Service

InternetNews.com's, reports that later this week Google will announce the acquisition of Meetroduction.

This is Google's second acquistion in the social networking/location-based services space in recent months. In May, Google acquired dodgeball.com, a service that allows users to find "friends" and new friends using text messaging.

Meetro combines instant messaging with automatic local buddy finding. Users can log in and browse or search profiles of other members in order to find someone compatible who's nearby and also logged in. The area to be searched can be narrowed to a quarter mile. "The beauty of Meetro is the direct way in which you connect with people nearby," Paul Bragiel, CEO of Meetroduction, said in a statement about the software release. The software is compatible with AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ, adding the ability to find people outside of one's personal buddy lists. Before the acquisition, the company planned to eventually support MSN Messenger and Jabber as well.

It's not difficult to envision the marketing opportunities especially with very focused local advertising especially with being able to narrow down to a quarter mile.

Review--What does dodgeball.com offer? It works, explained founder Dennis Crowley, by having users check in with text messages announcing where they are. Then, because dodgeball maintains a database of hundreds of nightspots in each city, anyone on a user's friends list who is within 10 blocks gets a message that his or her pal is nearby.

Postscript: I'm still wondering what Meetroduction and dodgeball.com have to do with Google's mission, "to organize the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible." Maybe it's time for Google to better define their mission these days.

Postscript 2: Battelle: Google Will Not Acquire Meetro covers how this acquisition is apparently not happening.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:22 PM | Permalink

July 21, 2005

Drug Pushers Using Orkut Arrested In Brazil

During today's Google conference call, Sergey Brin said that Orkut's growth in Brazil is phenomenal. Sadly, this Reuters article: Police: Orkut used as Brazilian drug network, offers details about a few people who were taking "social-networking" a bit to far.

Brazilian police arrested 10 people on Thursday accused of selling drugs using Google's international social networking site Orkut, which is hugely popular in the Latin American country.

Posted by Gary Price at 6:44 PM | Permalink

May 11, 2005

Google Makes An Acquisition: Dodgeball.com

Reuters is reporting that Google has acquired dodgeball.com. Will Sergey, Larry, and Eric soon be out there promoting dodgeball games around the world? Nope, not even close. Google is now in the mobile social-software business. Here's an FAQ about the acquisition.

dodgeball.com is currently available in 22 U.S. cities (the company has been around for about 5 years) allows you to find other dodgeball.com users via text messaging. In other words, use dodgeball.com to meet-up with friends, make new friends, etc.

Still confused? Here's how dodgeball.com was described in a recent issue of New York magazine. The story ran in the "mating" column.

Now that people are breaking up with each other through text messaging, it?s only natural that the hottest social-networking program to emerge in recent months is Dodgeball, a free texting service that lets users tell their friends and crushes what bar they?re in at any moment so they can meet up.

This Wired story has more about dodgeball and a similar mobile social-networking service in the UK. It also has a useful overview of how the service works.

It works, explained founder Dennis Crowley, by having users check in with text messages announcing where they are. Then, because dodgeball maintains a database of hundreds of nightspots in each city, anyone on a user's friends list who is within 10 blocks gets a message that his or her pal is nearby.

The service also has a "crush" feature. Users view profiles of other members and designate ones they'd like to meet. If the object of a crush is nearby, he or she gets a message to that effect. The system maintains privacy by identifying users only by screen names.

Interesting acquisition? For sure. You know me and my interest in mobile. (-: Perhaps Google might be thinking of selling advertising in the text messages that get sent to dodgeball.com members looking to meet up. How about Google working with advertisers to offer special deals for members. For example, if you and your friends want to head to a movie after meeting via dodgeball.com, show a recent text message at a nearby movie theater and get in for a reduced rate.

What I'm unclear about is what dodgeball.com has to do with Google's mission to, "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Is it time for Google to modify their mission statement?

Whatever the case may be, let the speculation begin!

Posted by Gary Price at 7:42 PM | Permalink

March 29, 2005

Google's Orkut Media Offers RSS Feeds

With the Yahoo 360 social networking site making its semi-public debut, I thought it would be interesting to log back into rival service Orkut, offered by Google, to see what's new. But forget comparing features. What struck me the most was seeing a Google property finally acknowledging RSS as a distribution means.

Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves all offer several ways to get content or aggregate content through feeds. But web search listings from Google via RSS? Nope. Google News updates that way? Nope. Anything significant from Google via RSS? Not that comes to mind, discounting the fact that individuals using Blogger can use feeds, of course. The silence otherwise has been deafening.

Given this, it was a pretty big surprise to come across from a March 23 letter from the editor of Orkut Media, Gavin Tachibana, explaining RSS. It concluded:

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) programs allow you to get the latest news from the sites that you choose, all on one site, on a program called a newsreader. RSS lets web sites publish "feeds" that can be collected on this newsreader, say one like Bloglines.

Many of the major sites currently offer RSS feeds, including our very own here at orkut media starting today. You'll notice the fashionable orange XML button on the bottom of this week's Porch. (XML is short for eXtensible Markup Language.) Right click on the button (or hold down the Ctrl key while you click if on a Mac), then copy the link into your newsreader. To learn more about newsreaders, please read our About RSS page.

Try it out. Let us know what you think. By all means, keep reading your newspaper. And watch decent TV news. But just in case the Web takes over and RSS feeds is where you'll need to be, now you can be ready.

For more, see the Orkut Media RSS page.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:35 AM | Permalink

Yahoo 360 Community Site Opens, Sort Of

We've mentioned the Yahoo 360 social networking-blogging-photo sharing service before. Now the Yahoo Search Blog is telling the world about it officially: Yahoo! 360° - A New Model for Online Sharing.

Want to try it? In annoyingly-Googleesque fashion, like Google's Orkut social networking service or its Gmail email service, Yahoo 360 remains invitation-only right now. If that's Yahoo getting its mojo back, it was annoying to have Google play the "invite-only" card for its services last year, and it's no less so to have Yahoo doing the same this year. Note to all search engines: if you're going to tell the public you have a new service, then let the public in.

You can sign-up for the waiting list if you want to be part of the broader beta test that's planned, though no ETA has been posted. Otherwise, if you don't get an invite, here are some preview options:

• What Is Yahoo 360 is a nice rundown on the blogging features, text messaging, photo sharing and other options that will be offered.  
• Randy Farmer who is involved with the 360 project points to his own community page via the Yahoo Search Blog. It gives you an idea on how the service might be used by others.  
• Jeremy Zawodny, Yahoo's blogvangelist, has pointed to his own page as another example of what you can do.  
• Charlene Li has posted a rundown on features from a briefing she received from Yahoo .

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:14 AM | Permalink

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