Don’t be private?
The issue of online privacy, or lack of it, has been a hot topic the past few days as the week started with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg declaring that people no longer see privacy as a “social norm”. Arguing the rapid rise in social media has seen people become more and more at ease with sharing personal information, and Zuckerberg states that companies like Facebook need to respond to these changes in online behavior to stay competitive.
Watch the entire interview hosted by TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington here : http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3848950
However, the major story this week has been Google v China over the issues of user privacy, cyber attacks and the Great Firewall of China resulting in Google’s likely exit from the Chinese market. Our old friends at VeriSign’s iDefense have indicated they “believe the attack is the work of actors operating on behalf of or in the direct employ of official intelligence entities of the People’s Republic of China”, which could have serious ramifications both politically and for the search engine space.
While Google may be basking in glory over this move to “not be evil”, and Zuckerberg’s comments have been met with some cynicism over whether Facebook, incidentally blocked in China, is reflecting social change or (with 350 million users) driving it. Both acts raise interesting discussions over online privacy and what it means in an increasingly connected world, who do you trust? Let us know your thoughts below!
1 comment January 14, 2010
RSS remains robust
(image credit HiMY SYeD / photopia)
RWW posted an engaging piece just before Christmas on the gradual ebbing away of the usage of RSS Readers as a means of consuming information, you can read that post here.
However, the ensuing debate and the new year have seen a new appreciate for our old friend Really Simple Syndication. Whilst it remains clear that Google sits firmly atop the RSS Reader pile people are still using RSS feeds as a handy and functional way of to keep up with news.
Readers still offer users a degree of control over content that you just don’t get with real-time streams, such as Twitter, although lists are a step in that direction. The categorisation and control that RSS Readers offer is invaluable to some, and as Readers continue to evolve, especially in the mobile space, I’m sure they will continue to have a future.
What RSS Readers do you use, any favourites? Don’t forget to check out the free Moreover RSS news feeds for content on a wide range of topics from news and blogs.
Add comment January 6, 2010
The future of print?
Sports Illustrated have unveiled a prototype of a rather snazzy looking tablet device capable of displaying rich SI content in the form of a digital magazine.
The video shows off the range of functionality the tablet should be capable off, a touch screen with plenty of customisable features to display photos, videos and interactive options certainly all looks very impressive, which could define where magazines are to go in an increasingly digital age.
Can we expect the SI Tablet to be on many a Christmas wish list sometime in the new decade or is something like the new Guardian iPhone app the future for digitalised content? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and in the meantime have a very Merry Christmas, we’ll be back in the New Year with more from the world of Moreover and beyond!
3 comments December 22, 2009
News on Newsdesk
Just in time for Christmas we have unwrapped a few goodies in Newsdesk that we hope will deliver a little bit of festive cheer!
In a final Newsdesk update for 2009 we are adding a splash of colour to things by including news images alongside headlines, where available, and displaying source favicons next to source names in both news and social media search results.
Newsdesk source and favicon images.
Also in this update is the added functionality to now search over news sources from individual US States, complimenting the existing UK Counties search filter. So should the focus of your query only be based around New England sources then this update allows you to quickly and easily isolate those news sites relevant to you.
As mentioned in our previous post the social media content and coverage is continuing to grow, so alongside the news content Newsdesk provides a complete media monitoring package. Should you have any questions or feedback on these changes please let us know!
Add comment December 18, 2009
The how and the why of social media monitoring
Sifting through news and blogs, as we like to do here at Moreover, we’ve found this great post on the ROI social media on What Was I Thinking? blog. The post gives a great overview of the many facets of social media, the measurements and metrics around it and the value in social media monitoring for your company’s brand.
The post serves as an excellent resource for anyone interested, or yet to be convinced by, the power of social media and the benefits to be gained from a coherent strategy around it.
Add comment December 16, 2009
RWW reviews 2009
ReadWriteWeb has compiled a handful of lists showcasing their selection of the best products of the past year. You can catch the full complement of lists here : http://bit.ly/8yegoy and one thing interesting to note is just how many of the products are influencing or being influenced by one of 2009’s hot trends real-time.
The two lists we’re particularly grabbed by are Semantic Web Products and our old friends RSS & Syndication Technologies. The usual suspects of Facebook and Twitter unsurprising make the syndication list, along with Tweetdeck as the leading stream reader application. It’s also good to see PubSubHubbub and RSS Cloud included too as they’re both technologies we’d expect to see become integral to the Real-time Web in 2010.
The Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2009 includes a partner company of Moreover, OpenCalais, so we’d also like to show our appreciation of the Thomson Reuters service by congratulating them for a well deserved place in the 2009 list, looking forward to further innovation well into 2010 and beyond. The US government portal Data.gov, also on the list, is an example of a topic we’ve touched upon before with Tim Berners-Lee and his championing of Linked Data, in that respect Data.gov is certainly a move in the right direction.
Add comment December 8, 2009
Real-time realities of modern media
CrunchGear have posted an excellent piece on the recent Tiger Woods brouhaha, discussing the relationships between the more traditional forms and the newer forms of media.
The connections between the two are something we’ve blogged about in the past here on the Moreover Blog, and a somewhat sensationalistic story like the Woods crash is a great example of how the different media types coexist and compliment each other. CrunchGear post a detailed dissection on real-time discussion (e.g. Twitter) and real-time reporting (e.g. broadcast), wherein the value in each lies.
Twitter will help a story like this spread like wildfire, although it is (generally) still the mainstream media that provides the initial “spark”. While Twitter users will proliferate any discussion, it is still journalists who are at the scene of a breaking news story reporting on the issues soon to be propagated by Twitter and the likes.
While social media certainly has an important role to play in today’s news, it’s worth will been seen in real-time discussions rather than real-time reporting. For more in depth (and more insightful!) analysis check out the full CrunchGear post : http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?x3718989676u&f=2179
When a major news story breaks are you more likely to turn to Twitter or the BBC/CNN for the breaking details?
5 comments December 2, 2009
Blogging bounces back
We posted a few months ago on the growing trend away from blogging and increasing popularity of ‘lifestreaming’ services such as Tumblr and Twitter. 2009 has certainly been the year of Twitter but perhaps it is slightly too soon to proclaim the death of blogs if comScore’s October estimates are anything to go by.
TechCrunch have wrapped things up pretty nicely with this post showing the relative strength of the WordPress platform (although pointing out the same can be said for Google’s Blogger), which despite the suggestion to the contrary shows blogging has never really gone away.
As we’ve seen an explosion in the various social media platforms over the past few years, we’re sure that there will be spikes in popularity for all types of social Web services as they each continue to innovate and push the technology forward.
Food for thought, and as many of you prepare to tuck into a turkey dinner we’d like to wish you all a very festive and happy Thanksgiving from the team at Moreover!
Add comment November 26, 2009
2010 to be the year of local?
(image credit GooseGoddessS)
We posted just last week about ‘local’ being the new ’social’ for news publishers and it seems the guardian.co.uk (perhaps even taking editorial inspiration from the Moreover Blog!?) agrees.
The Digital Content Blog has posted a nice write-up of just a handful of the developments over in the States where many online news outlets are already trying to take advantage of this new ‘hyperlocal‘ buzz. AOL and some former eBay execs are both taking interesting steps in this direction, with AOL looking to expand it’s recently acquired Patch network and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar bidding to kick-start his local news service Peer News. Not forgetting that we have blogged in the past about YouTube’s efforts in this area and with foursquare regularly being touted as the ‘next Twitter’ is hyperlocal getting you excited?
Add comment November 20, 2009
