Friday 28 October 2011

Facebook Gestures And The Dislike Button

Facebook
I was reading an interesting post today on Mashable which asked should the new Facebook Gestures allow a "dislike" button? In my opinion, no, but there are arguments for why it should be allowed.

As you've probably heard, Facebook will soon be rolling out "Watched," "Listened" and "Read" buttons and at last month's f8 conference, the company are giving developers the power to create their own actions called Gestures. These actions are the next step in integrating Facebook with every part of the web.

Peter VanRysdam who posted the article on Mashable raises some interesting points, which looks at both the positives and negatives of allowing such a feature.

One of the positives Peter has suggested is that the "dislike" button may come in useful if for instance, you don't feel comfortable "liking" a status update about a friend's dog being put to sleep, but you may want to click a "dislike" button in order to be alerted of other comments on that post. This is a good argument and one where a "dislike" button would indeed come in useful.

The negatives however, could simply outweigh the positives.

For instance, the "unlike" button as Peter suggested, may be used to "dislike" your wedding photos or the announcement of your new nephew. Although this may not be nice if you're on the receiving end, it could also lead to worse things such as cyber-bullying of which you have no control.

There are also implications for businesses in which the "dislike" button could have a negative impact. Peter says rather than encouraging people to "like" its own page, a company could promote the link to "dislike" its competition. He goes on to say that although there is nothing illegal about this, it's not exactly business friendly. With advertisers funding Facebook, this kind of activity could have serious financial implications for the social network.

Facebook have already blocked developers from using the word "dislike" during the Open Graph development process. As Peter mentioned in his article, words like "loathe" and "doesn't like" are not on the blocked list, leading to speculation that "dislike" was specifically excluded, presumably along with a long list of profanities.

Although the "thumbs up/down" are employed on many blogs and sites such as YouTube, for Facebook, it comes down to money Peter thinks. He says "The site has built a platform that is without a doubt the most targeted marketing tool for brands of all sizes. Where else can you target potential customers down to their specific interests, age, sex and zip code? Sure, dissatisfied users can post negative comments on a brand's page, but that company has complete control to moderate and address those issues."

From this perspective, you have to agree that Facebook have indeed created a solid platform for advertisers but it's also correct in saying that they're also thinking about their revenue and the implications if such feature was allowed.

So there you have it, a handful of positives and negatives regarding the Facebook "dislike" button. Given the above arguments, will Facebook ever allow this feature or give developers the opportunity to create one? I don't think so but what do you think?


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Tuesday 25 October 2011

Blogger Introduces Google+ Integration

Blogger
Further to my post yesterday, Blogger Buzz have just announced the integration of Google+ on their testing platform, Blogger in Draft. The option to use a Google+ profile on the normal blogging platform (www.blogger.com) will be available in the coming weeks.

The announcement came not long after it was found that the "Edit User Profile" section on Blogger's profile settings showed a message and links to connect Blogger to Google+. Although the links were redundant, this message caused quite a stir and incited speculation on what the integration might mean for users of it's platform. This message and links were later removed and the announcement posted shortly after on Blogger Buzz.

The integration is exciting news and by logging into Blogger in Draft, you are now able to replace your Blogger profile with your Google+ profile by clicking on the "Get started" promotional message that will appear at the top of the screen or alternatively, by using this link.

Although the switch is seamless, Blogger have suggested that you backup your original profile information as it will not be transferred to your Google+ profile. If for some reason you want to switch back, you can do so within 30 days by using this link. If you don't switch back during this period, your Blogger profile will be permanently deleted from their system once the 30 days is up. Once you switch to the new profile, blog comments that use your original profile will be automatically redirected to your new Google+ profile.

The integration certainly has a lot of benefits. For one, you don't need to maintain two separate profiles and as announced on Blogger Buzz, you will be giving your readers a more robust and familiar sense of who you are and your social connections will see your posts in their Google search results with an annotation that you've shared the post.

Blogger have indicated that blog owners who switch to the new profile, will automatically get access to the new Google+ integrations as and when they are rolled out. One of these new integrations could see the replacement of the old (and probably soon to be discontinued) Google Friend Connect widget with a Google+ widget which will give blogs and their owners a wider social connection.

With Google's latest announcement that they will soon accommodate pseudonyms (see post: Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms), it will not be mandatory to associate your blog with your real name. However and when pseudonyms are finally allowed on the social network, it is recommended that the switch should only be done by those who want to associate their real-world identity with their blogs.

As yet and probably because the integration is still in draft, new blog comments made using the new profiles are only viewable on the blog and not on Google+. It shouldn't be long however, when full integration between the two platforms is evident. This will probably happen when the switch is widely available on the normal blogging platform in the coming weeks.

As I mentioned above, this is exciting news and I personally cannot wait to see what the new integrations will bring. If you have yet to switch your profile, you can do so by visiting Blogger in Draft or find out more information by visiting the FAQs page or the Blogger Help Forum.

Have you tried the new Google+ profile integration on Blogger Draft? Do you think the new integration will improve the blogging platform? Please let me know by leaving a comment.

Related articles:
Blogger And Google+ To Integrate
Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms


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Monday 24 October 2011

Blogger And Google+ To Integrate

Blogger
As reported today by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch, Google+ will soon be integrated with Blogger providing additional social features to the popular blogging platform.

This news comes after the "Edit User Profile" section on Blogger's profile settings is now showing the message: "Connect Blogger to Google+ : Use your Google profile and get access to upcoming Google+ features on Blogger," and includes links to "Learn more" and "Get Started." Both of these links are currently redundant (broken) but it shouldn't be long before they become active and you are able to connect your Google+ profile with Blogger.

With Google Friend Connect slowly being discontinued, given the shutdown of the Friend Connect Discussion Group and the closure of the Google Friend Connect Help Forum, it's not surprising that Google are taking steps to integrate it's new social network platform with Blogger.

Once the integration is complete and according to Alex Chitu at Google Operating System, Blogger profiles will be discontinued and replaced by Google Profiles. This integration will also be used to introduce additional social features that have been provided in the past by Google Friend Connect.

If the discontinuation of Blogger profiles is correct, the integration could also mean major changes to Blogger's current commenting system. This would mean blog comments would be made using Google+ profiles with the comments posted simultaneously and viewable on the blog itself and also on Google+. This is similar to blogs that use the Facebook commenting system.

As this is mere speculation at the moment, we will just have to wait and see what Google has planned. Whatever it is, the integration can only improve Blogger and make the blogs that are hosted on it more social friendly.


UPDATE: As of publishing this post, the message to connect Blogger to Google+ has now been removed. It looks as though Google have decided to remove this message until work has been completed. If I hear any more news on this integration, I'll keep you informed by updating this post.

UPDATE 11:30pm: Blogger Buzz have just announced that you can now replace your Blogger profile with your Google+ profile using their testing ground, Blogger in Draft. The option to use your Google+ profile on the normal blogging platform (www.blogger.com) will be available in the coming weeks. For more details on this announcement, see our new post: Blogger Introduces Google+ Integration


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Friday 21 October 2011

Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms

Google+
At the San Francisco's Web 2.0 Summit on Wednesday, Google announced that they will soon accommodate pseudonyms, support Google Apps users, roll out pages for brands and be launching a developer platform for Google+.

With pseudonyms being one of the major criticisms of the new social network, Google's Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra addressed this issue by asking for a little time to figure out a way to use nicknames and handles without dramatically changing the atmosphere of Google+. "It's complicated to get this right." Gundotra said.

Google's policy to force users to go by their real names has been hit by controversy over the past few weeks. With this in mind, Google is now working on a way to allow people to sign-up under pseudonyms on Google+.

Support for Google Apps users should be coming in a matter of days, according to Gundotra with tools for brands taking a little bit longer. A developer platform is also on it's way but you might have to wait until next Spring, possibly at Google's I/O developer event before it becomes available. "We don't want to do anything haphazard to change the platform after developers come to depend on it" says Gundotra.

Gundotra also said Google+ would roll out pages for brands. Major advertisers already use Facebook and Twitter to reach large audiences on those services. This is good news for advertisers and it's indicated that this new feature should be available before the end of the year.

Although Google+ has increased it's momentum with more than 40 million users (which is up from 10 million from three months ago according to Co-founder and Chief Executive Larry Page), it still has stiff competition and some catching up to do with Facebook, which has more than 800 million users around the globe. When asked how Google could compete against the world's most popular social network, Gundotra said: "We're going to play a different game. It may take some period of time."

It certainly looks as though Google are working hard to improve Google+, but it's also very clear that they are also learning from their recent mistakes, especially with a policy reversal to accommodate pseudonyms.

Do you think Google was wrong not to allow pseudonyms in the beginning? Are you looking forward to these new features? Please let me know by leaving your comments.

Other News: In the next week, Google's Reader tool will get a revamp to add a social layer and connections to Google+. The refresh will see Google retire many of the Reader's existing social features, such as friending, following and shared-link blogs. "We think it's important to clean things up a bit," says Google's Software Engineer Alan Green in a blog post yesterday. You can read more on this story on The Official Google Reader Blog.


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Tuesday 18 October 2011

The End Draws Near For Google Buzz

Google Buzz
Google announced on Friday that it's going to shut down Google Buzz in a few weeks and focus instead on Google+. Other Google services are also being shelved including Code Search, a tool for finding open-source code on the Web and Jaiku, a Twitter-like microblogging service that Google acquired in 2007.

In a recent post on The Official Google Blog, Vice President of Product Bradley Horowitz wrote: "We aspire to build great products that really change people's lives, products they use two or three times a day. To succeed you need real focus and thought - thought about what you work on and, just as important, what you don't work on. It's why we recently decided to shut down some products, and turn others into features of existing products."

He continues to say: "Changing the world takes focus on the future, and honesty about the past. We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google+. Our users expect great things from us; today's announcements let us focus even more on giving them something truly awesome."

As of writing this post, the Google Labs site has already been shut down and in a previously announcement, Boutiques.com and the former Like.com websites will be replaced by Google Product Search.

Google launched Buzz, it's social media offering back in February 2010 and was initially seen as a threat to Twitter and Facebook. However, controversy hit when Gmail users discovered that the network's default settings automatically set members to follow their most e-mailed contacts and then posted those contacts publicly after a user "buzzed" about something. This default setting was reversed by Google two days later but the damage had already been done which later resulted in a class-action lawsuit and a settlement deal with the Federal Trade Commission.

Even though Buzz is being shelved, Google have said that while you won't be able to create new posts after Google Buzz has been shut down, you will be able to view your existing content on your Google Profile and download it using their export tool, Google Takeout.

Although seen as a flop by many, I personally use Google Buzz along with many other services to announce my latest blog posts to my subscribers and followers. However, I have found that in recent months, Buzz has lost most of it's appeal, especially since the launch of Google+. I do think now is the right time to shut down this failing service and for Google to concentrate on it's new offering.

Do you use Google Buzz and if so, how will this news effect you? Do you think Google are making the right decision to shelve this service? I would love to read your thoughts on this.


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Tuesday 11 October 2011

Don't Worry, I'm Still Alive And Kicking!

Latest News
With not posting on the blog for over three weeks, I've had many emails asking what is happening as it's unlike me not to post on the blog for such a long time. Don't worry folks, I'm still alive and kicking :)

The past three weeks have been a bit hectic here. First of all, I decided to take a week off at the end of September because we had some glorious hot weather here…it was my last chance to get some serious bike riding done before the winter months set in. You can view some of the pictures I've taken on Facebook using the following links:

Bike Ride Photo Collection:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.166986493359078.40086.100001431864818&l=6fd20cc127&type=1

Bike Ride Photo Collection 2:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.225591604165233.56469.100001431864818&l=ab103574c7&type=1

After my week of bike riding, I was suddenly inundated with a few tasks which needed my urgent attention. These tasks took longer than normal to complete, which is the reason why no blog posts have been published. Hopefully, everything should be completed within the next day or so and I can get back to my normal blogging routine…I surely could do with the rest :)

Thank you to all those who were concerned about me and thank you to all my followers, visitors and friends at Bloggers Network for your understanding and patience during this time…it will be business as usual very soon, I promise..!!


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