SpinVox offers voice updates to Facebook
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Members of social networking services  like Facebook will soon be able to update their profiles by  simply making a phone call, instead of having to type on a  computer keyboard.
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group is counting on the MySpace.com social networking site to drive its U.K. customers to use their mobile phones for more than just talking. The two companies have struck a deal the to distribute software for updating a MySpace user profile from a mobile phone, the companies announced on Wednesday. The agreement is the first MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., has reached with a European carrier, a MySpace spokesman said. It calls for Vodafone to ship an application on new mobile phones it sells that will allow MySpace users to e-mail, blog, manage their community of friends and post comments to other users' profiles. The application, which will also be available for download, will be launched before the end of the year for U.K. users, the companies said. Pricing for use of the application has not been set, a Vodafone spokesman said. The agreement could help Vodafone nudgeÂ slow overall revenue growth in Europe, by drawing on the MySpace's popularity to boost use of mobile data services. Vodafone saw growth in mobile data services revenue accelerate in the fourth quarter, but the total still lagged far behind revenue from voice services. MySpace counted 90 million unique visitors worldwide in December, the spokesman said. Vodafone has about 16.9 million customers in the U.K. MySpace launched a similar dealÂ in the U.S. in December with Cingular Wireless. Cingular subscribers can download a Java application that lets them manipulate MySpace for $2.99 per month plus standard use charges.
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Facebook, the social-network site  that has enjoyed explosive growth in new members over the past  three months, said it plans to let users tell the rest of the  world how to find them on the site.
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The company announces a new program called FBFund to provide grants to developers who are interested in creating applications for the Facebook Platform.
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Belatedly recognizing the importance of social networking as an online service and advertising vehicle, Google this week will unleash its strongest response yet to the rising threat and skyrocketing popularity of MySpace and Facebook.On Thursday, Google will announce OpenSocial, an initiative with a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) at its core that is designed &quot;to spread social applications across the Web,&quot; the company said.These common APIs have been designed to let developers create social networking applications that will run on multiple Web sites, simplifying the making and distribution of these programs.Partners supporting OpenSocial include various well-known software developers and social networking sites: Oracle, Salesforce.com, Hi5, iLike, LinkedIn, Slide, Ning, Friendster, and Plaxo. Neither Facebook nor MySpace is on the list of partners at press time.The move is also no doubt intended to dilute the massive&#160;success Facebook has had in attracting external developers&#160;since it opened up its Web site platform to third-party applications in May.About 7,000 such applications have been built for Facebook so far, helping to make the social networking site more attractive to people and thus boosting its usage.&#160;MySpace recently announced it would follow Facebook&#39;s example.By allowing developers to write an application once and have it work in multiple social networking sites, the OpenSocial initiative could, in theory, water down the appeal of Facebook&#39;s ballooning applications catalogue.Once considered a fad of interest mostly to teens and young adults, social networks have significantly broadened their demographic appeal, attracting many people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.Along the way, social networking sites have been created for other purposes beyond entertainment and staying in touch with friends. For example, there are social networks tailored for specific occupations, such as doctors, and interests, such as sports.Google has had a social networking site named Orkut for several years, but it doesn&#39;t seem to have merited much attention from the company until recently, and only after the popularity and potential of this type of site became evident.Google was reportedly locked in a battle with Microsoft&#160;over which one would be chosen by Facebook to buy a stake in the social networking company and earn a deal to provide advertising to it.Microsoft eventually won, buying a 1.6 percent stake that values Facebook at an eye-popping $15 billion, although the social networking company reportedly will have revenue of just $150 million this year.With about 300 employees now, Facebook expects to have about 700 a year from now, its CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg recently said. About 250,000 new users register every day at Facebook, which was founded in 2004.In June, MySpace had 114.1 million unique visitors worldwide, ranking first among social networking sites, followed by Facebook with 52.2 million, according to comScore. Hi5 ranked third with 28.2 million, while Friendster was fourth with 24.7 million. Orkut rounded out the top 5 with 24.1 million.More information about OpenSocial and resources for developers will be available in this Web site later this week. There will also be a developer sandbox.
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Social communications company jaxtr today launched the world's  first service that brings voice to social networks and blogs. By linking  their phones with their online network, jaxtr users can hear from  callers worldwide while keeping their existing phone numbers private.
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Photophlow enlivens the Flickr experience with photo-sharing chat rooms--and shows what the Yahoo photo-sharing could be. Next up: a new face on Facebook.
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A new feature allows users the chance to make the news.
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The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook's request to be online friends.
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Facebook introduces a Spanish version of its popular social networking site, and promises German and French versions soon.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft's Popfly technology for building mashups is now available in a public beta that allows users to publish applications built on it directly to the popular Facebook social-networking site.
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The deal is expected to include an expansion of the software maker's advertising deal with Facebook, which only covers the U.S.
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The social networking site will supply APIs and test apps to support integrated widgets.
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New software from Ribbit could make it easier to stay in touch.
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A Facebook application can be hosted on any Web site that serves static HTML, the social networking site says.
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Facebook.com on Thursday took the  wraps off its highly anticipated makeover from a members-only  club into what it hopes can allow it to become a software  operating system for all sorts of Internet media.
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MarsEdit, the Mac OS X blogging app from Red Sweater Software, has gained support for Vox, adds Growl notification support and can upload pictures to Blogger.com blogs.