Kristen Nicole

OneRiot, the real time web search engine, has added MySpace user content to its aggregated search results. The MySpace content comes from users updating their public profiles, along with other publicly shared information such as shared links and media. The news comes with MySpace’s announcement of its new Real-Time Stream API, which made its debut this morning at LeWeb Conference in Paris, France.

What the MySpace real time search API does is give other third parties access to public MySpace user content. The positing of this content in search engines expands the distribution of that content, making it more visible and accessible across the web. While MySpace has yielded high search engine ranking for its public profile pages for some time, the incorporation of real time content is riding MySpace’s hopes of taking things to the next level.
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Bebo Games has officially launched this week, with the company reporting successful numbers for developer and user interest. Bebo Games are offered through several partnerships with game developers, and the top-down approach taken by AOL-owned Bebo means a more uniform game experience for end users.

What Bebo has done with its game platform is integrate it with several of its existing features, such as chat, messages and other forms of notifications. This means that users can do things like challenge other users to a game directly from their chat window. It also means that developers have more immediate access to users for the purpose of encouraging them to return to their games.
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Amie St. has been known for its unique and dynamic pricing model for some time, but in choosing this fan-driven music site you used to have to give up access to much of the artists signed with major labels. That’s all about to change, as Sony is the first major label to introduce some of its bigger artists to Amie St. and it’s notable pricing structure.

If you recall, Amie St. is a music platform where artists can sell their songs and albums, but the price of their products are determined by the people. This means that the more popular your song is, the more expensive it becomes. Artists’ products start low and increase in price as Amie St. users purchase, download and recommend albums and songs.
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How many Twitter messages have you received in the past few weeks, inviting you to play one of those mafia games? You may be getting more messages from friends inviting you to join their squad on World of Blood’s Twitter version of its existing games already available on Facebook and MySpace.

The new Twitter-based version is called 140Blood, and this particular adaptation leverages the microblogging platform to make the game social for players. Find friends, invite members to your squad, and share your adventure online via Twitter updates.
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Freemium was once the law of the land, but in the past year we’ve seen major moves towards infrastructure development to support virtual goods and other alternative streams of revenue. Sevral social networks have turned to virtual goods, including Facebook, hi5, and myYearbook. But we haven’t heard much in th way of the success or failure rate of recent initiatives.

This week, myYearbook released some metrics regarding its own successful implementation of virtual goods and other forms of alternative revenue-generation. Between its new subscription-based VIP Club, virtual goods and a CPA platform that ties in with its virtual currency program, myYearbook is reporting an increase in revenue of 120% from 2008 to this year, keeping myYearbook in the black.
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Spurring the technology and web startup economy, especially in areas outside of the valley, is of particular interest to Social Matchbox, an event bridging entrepreneurs with industry professionals in the DC area. The group’s next event takes place Thursday, August 20th, and will feature the launching of eleven DC startups.

What started out as a job fair for startup founders seeking sweat equity and full-time, paid employees has evolved into a more inclusive event for debuting companies as well as networking with others in respective and cross-fields of interest. With two years of events for the startup community, Social Matchbox is moving its event to a new location and kicking off the autumn season with a renewed sense of encouragement for professionals out there.
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Data collection has been big business since the Internet became a widely adoptable means of communication. But there are still a slew of privacy concerns that arise from the use and misuse of data collected, especially when it contains personally identifiable information and can be used for targeted advertising and other marketing efforts.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Tagged, naming Miriam Slater and Sarah Golden as the individuals representing those bringing the case against the social network. The lawsuit states that Tagged misappropriated user information by using their email address books to reach out to those contacts for the purpose of obtaining new users, without the knowledge of the initial Tagged user.

This isn’t the first time Tagged has been threatened with legal action regarding its email marketing. The New York State Attorney General has let Tagged know of its intent to sue for reasons similar to the Slater v. Tagged case.
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Bandsintown has come a long way. What was once a useful widget for tracking the tour dates of your favorite musicians has evolved into a socially integrated network and recommendation service. The site has undergone a complete redesign, the first since its 2007 launch. With a reported 30,000 registered members, Bandsintown has a healthy user base but is clearly seeking growth and increased usability, based on its new features and relaunch.

There are two areas of improvement with the redesign, the first of which is the social integration of Bandsintown with other sites including Twitter. Bandintown is leveraging Twitter to help users gain a remote concert experience.
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It’s not the best time to be a URL-shortening service right now. Tr.im has been dead-pooled and others are being used once again to help spread spam and malware across Twitter. But one major concern that’s been brought up with Tr.im closing its doors is the possibility that the URLs shortened with its service will no longer be available by next year.

That’s a lot of lost data, and it’s a concern that we as web users have when dealing with startups. We ask, how long will this service be around, and what will happen to my data if this company doesn’t succeed in the long run? Granted, these are questions we haven’t had to ask as readily as during the first dotcom bubble bust, but this does feel like deja vous. With the current developments around real time search, however, I’m beginning to wonder how URL-shortening services and their ongoing issues will affect/be affected by real time search trends.
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How has the recession affected you? Perhaps you lost your job and you’ve turned to the online market to become an entrepreneur. Maybe you already had a web presence but the recession has forced you to step up your game. Or you could be an advertising company that’s witnessed severe budget cuts and now is the time for you to be more creative with spending and marketing campaigns. There are a few ways in which social media could be of great benefit for you, when it comes to continuing to build your brand.

Network Socially

Online social networks all seem to do the same thing, but there are only a handful of social sites that enable you to actually network. That means that you can leverage real relationships with people in order to work your way through a crowd, albeit a virtual crowd. You have a social graph, and everyone else has one too. Turn to sites like LinkedIn and Facebook for actually expanding your social graph and reaching the people you need to get in touch with.
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