Category Archives: social networks

Facebook Home: Another Android Lock Pick

April 7, 2013 – 9:15 pm

Tweet  Facebook’s new Home on Android smartphone is an audacious attempt to demote the OS to a utility role, to keep to itself user data Android was supposed to feed into Google’s advertising business. Google’s reaction will be worth watching. Amazon’s Kindle Fire, announced late September 2011, is viewed as a clever “Android lock pick“. [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Also posted in mobile internet | Tagged , | Comments (18)

Facebook’s Gen Y Nightmare

September 23, 2012 – 5:12 pm

Tweet  GenerationY will — paradoxically — pay a high price for giving up its privacy to Facebook.                   Taos, New Mexico, Fall 2012. At 18, Tina Porter has been on Facebook for four years. Duly briefed by her parents, a teacher and a therapist, she takes great [...]

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Read, Share and Destroy

April 24, 2011 – 5:36 pm

TweetThe social web’s economics are paradoxical: The more it blossoms, the more it destroys value. In recent months, we’ve seen a flurry of innovative tools for reading and sharing contents. Or, even better, for basing one’s readings on other people’s shared contents. In Web 2.5 parlance, this is called Social Reading. For this, the obvious [...]

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The Facebook Money Machine

October 17, 2010 – 8:51 pm

TweetAn update to this column: According to the Wall Street Journal, any of Facebook’s most popular applications have been transmitting identifying information — in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names — to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies. See here (paywall). This year, Facebook will make about [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in advertising | Tagged | Comments (51)

Mark Zuckerberg, The Architect

October 11, 2010 – 3:21 am

TweetThe Social Network is an excellent movie. It’s fast, entertaining. And words crafted by Aaron Sorkin, one of Hollywood’s most talented screenwriter, flatter the Harvard crowd and make it sound wittier than it actually is. In addition, digital imaging enthusiasts will enjoy the Red Camera’s performance, demonstrating its extraordinary low light and depth-of-field creative potential. [...]

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The Facebook Gravitational Effect

August 2, 2010 – 7:16 am

TweetOver the next twelve months, the media industry is likely to be split between those who master the Facebook system and those who don’t. A decade or so  ago, for a print publication, going on the internet was seen as the best way to rejuvenate its audience; today, as web news audiences reach a plateau, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in online publishing | Tagged | Comments (30)

Understanding the Digital Natives

July 25, 2010 – 8:30 pm

TweetThey see life as a game. They enjoy nothing more than outsmarting the system. They don’t trust politicians, medias, nor brands. They see corporations as inefficient and plagued by an outmoded hierarchy. Even if they harbor little hope of doing better than their parents, they don’t see themselves as unhappy. They belong to a group [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in Uncategorized | Comments (32)

The Facebook Micropayment System

August 31, 2009 – 8:09 am

TweetThis week’s question: Will Facebook launch a so-called “PayPal killer”, a micropayment system for members to pay for goods real or virtual? To me, this is a Flat Earth debate, meaning there is no debate, Facebook is ideally placed to become a powerful payment system player. First, a bit of history: the Minitel. Once upon [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Tagged , | Comments (7)

Monetizing a social network, the Skyrock case

June 21, 2009 – 4:38 pm

TweetIn the social network business, the European success story is called Skyrock. Built on top of the #1 FM radio station for 18-25 year-olds, it first expanded into a blog platform, then into a full-blown social network making full use of links users waved between themselves. In Europe, according to ComScore, Skyrock.com ranks #3 among [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in advertising, radio & TV | Comments (17)