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40 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

July 24, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment


Coming at you with the weekly roundup of features you may have missed on Mashable. Can you handle our collection of Google+ tips, mobile how-to’s, and general geekery? We thought so.

We especially hope you love the editors’ picks this week because we have a hunch they’re exactly what you need. Read on for the latest in tech resources, gathered together for your convenience in this handy one-stop guide.

Editors’ Picks

Social Media

For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business & Marketing

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

 

Image courtesy of Flickr, webtreats.

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7 Things Facebook Should Do To Increase Security [OPINION]

July 19, 2011 By Eugene Kapersky Leave a Comment


This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Eugene Kaspersky is CEO of Kaspersky Lab, the company he co-founded in 1997, which is now the world’s largest, privately-held anti-malware company. You can follow him on Twitter @e_kaspersky and his blog at eugene.kaspersky.com.

For the past seven years we have seen how Facebook has dramatically changed the way people communicate while it has formed a new culture of online socializing.

For most people, Facebook has been about keeping in touch with friends and family in a totally new way. But for security researchers, such as myself, it has led to seven years of new challenges for the security industry. The main issue with social networking and security is that social networks are, well, social, and when the human mind gets involved, vulnerabilities can be exploited. I’m talking about human vulnerabilities, those against which it’s hard to defend.

Many Facebook users lack knowledge and experience about how to protect themselves in the social networking environment, which has made the situation worse. Facebook appeals to new Internet users who often lack the computer savvy to identify online threats, and the most vulnerable segment of the audience — kids — have little life experience required to make reasonable decisions.

Because of this, I believe Facebook needs to enhance the security and privacy features of its site so the problems don’t escalate out of control. With the help of my colleagues, here are seven key recommendations I believe will make Facebook a safer place:

1. Enforce Full HTTPS Browsing

This way, all users can make sure no one is snooping into their conversations, even if they’re browsing Facebook through an untrusted Internet connection. Additionally, it will render attack tools such as Firesheep completely useless.

I admire the fact that Facebook has enabled optional HTTPS browsing in its recent security features roll-out. However, I don’t think the option is clearly marked enough for most users to find and utilize it. Therefore, I feel that this feature should be made mandatory for everyone.

2. Implement Two-Factor Authentication

Banks are offering e-tokens to their customers to safely access their online banking accounts; but in a world where social networking sites are becoming more and more important to what we do online, users should also have the same technology available for protecting their Facebook accounts.

This option should be enforced and mandatory, otherwise it may easily be lost in the depth of account settings. Following Facebook’s initiative to send verification codes via SMS, I suggest the company develop a mobile application that will generate a one-time password in addition to the master password. This way, an attacker would have to compromise not one, but two devices to access a Facebook account. This is not an easy task even for an experienced hacker.

3. Make Clear Which Facebook Apps Are Trusted

Malicious Facebook apps are being analyzed and reported by researchers on a daily basis. Facebook needs to perform a thorough security check and approve all incoming applications to make sure no malicious app makes its way onto a user’s profile.

At the very least, allow users to add a list of trusted/approved applications to his or her profile. If the person wants to use an application that is not trusted, they should be able to run it in some sort of “profile sandbox,” so that any malicious activity would not affect their friends and family.

4. Tighten the “Recommended” Privacy Controls

Currently, Facebook’s recommended privacy settings easily allow for an attacker to become the friend of a friend of a target, and consequently to access data needed to reset a password for an email account, or to misuse other personal information. Why does Facebook allow “everyone” to access status, photos, posts, bio, favorite quotes and family and relationships by default?

In the security market we follow a simple rule that works: “Disable everything, then enable the things you really need.” If Facebooks wants to take steps to actually make its site safer, the default setting should make personal information visible only to friends. Allow the users to decide later whether they want to change their data exposure.

5. Make Permanent Account Deletion Easier

Permanently deleting a Facebook account should … permanently delete the account. Respect the user’s will to entirely wipe out his presence on Facebook, without worrying that some materials have been left available on the Internet, and make permanent account deletion a simpler process that doesn’t require a special request to Facebook customer support.

6. Commit to Parental Controls

Allow parents to set up limited-access accounts for their children, as sub-accounts under their own Facebook presences. The limited sub-accounts could automatically be turned into full-access accounts once children reach the age of consent.

My colleagues and I support initiatives to protect users under 18, as expressed in California’s SB242, which extends the opportunities for parents to control their children’s social media accounts.

7. Better Educate Users

I value Facebook’s commitment to educate users about security and privacy in social networks, including the initiative to set up dedicated Pages to these topics (Facebook Safety, Facebook Security and Facebook Privacy). However, no matter what sort of protection surrounds Facebook users, those privacy features will remain useless should users lack the awareness.

For this reason, I recommend extending the practice by introducing more opportunities for user education. A good example would be to launch daily webinars that cover the most important aspects of Facebook security in the clearest and simplest way possible for the general public.

It is also the belief of myself and my colleagues that a closer interaction with security vendors will assist in building a stronger community to bolster critical Facebook initiatives and allow for more informed decisions. An advisory board consisting of the most authoritative experts in the security community, and regular summits to review past and future initiatives could bring additional value to the development of a safer Facebook.

These are seven realistic, doable and actionable steps that can dramatically increase the safety and privacy of Facebook’s users. Of course, no technology can guarantee 100% security as long as the human factor is involved. Still, Facebook can and should do everything it can to protect its users and keep them safe.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, malerapaso

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5 Ways Journalists Are Using Google+

July 17, 2011 By Meghan Peters Leave a Comment


Already using Google+? Follow Mashable News for the latest about the platform’s new features, tips and tricks as well as our top social media and technology updates.

Social networks have proved to be incredible distribution platforms for real-time news and continue to fascinate journalists as communication tools. It’s no surprise that many media professionals have jumped quickly on the Google+ band wagon to explore its potential for journalism.

Some are updating personal accounts while others have created profiles for their organizations. They’re in experimentation mode, testing out which features are most beneficial for messaging and engaging with their audiences.

Google+ has yet to be defined. For the news industry, it will become what the early adopters of the field make of it. Here are a few ways we’ve seen media professionals using the platform and what that might mean for the future of Google+ in journalism.

Talking About Google+

It’s no surprise that Google+ users want to talk about Google+ — and journalists are no exception. Many have been posting tips and tricks for using the platform, such as how to get a more accurate circle count and ways to bring your Facebook stream into your G+ stream.

Even conversations about Twitter and Facebook seem to steer right back to Google+. For example, Matthew Ingram of GigaOm started a discussion about ads hitting Twitter feeds. While some responses stayed on topic, many started talking about whether Twitter users would run to G+ or if Google would begin including ads in streams.

As journalists continue to join the platform, further discussion and collaboration around Google+ as a communications tool will shape the way it’s used for creating and distributing news content.

Hosting Audience Hangouts

Sarah Hill, an anchor for KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri, has been inviting her Google+ fans to join her in Hangouts, the network’s video chat service. KOMU hosts a Hangout during the 5 p.m. newscast to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the newsroom. She then interviews people in the Hangout on-air about their reactions to the day’s news.

“G+’s video chat feature is turning into KOMU’s own version of a satellite window,” Hill said. “It’s free. The video and audio are of air-able quality — no lugging gear to 9 different places to get 9 different opinions. You simply invite 9 viewers to your Hangout and the news comes to you.”

One chat brought in people from Pakistan, New Zealand, Orlando, New York, LA, Missouri, Iowa and England. Hangout participants were floored by Hill’s ability to multitask.

“It was quite amazing. There’s Sarah broadcasting on live TV with one earpiece listening to us folks on G+, the other to the TV station folks; she’s probably reading a teleprompter as well,” wrote Christopher Scott, a viewer from New Zealand who joined in. “She even welcomes new folks to the Hangout and chats to them like she’s home enjoying a drink with friends. I was seriously impressed.”

Only 10 people are allowed in a Hangout, so spots fill up quickly and some commenters are bummed when they miss out. Still, Hill’s experiment illustrates the reach of the Google+ community.

“It’s like we have viewers from around the world on a video speed dial,” she said.

Hangouts could be a great way for journalists to get audience reactions to news events in real time or find story ideas by asking Hangout participants what’s important in their communities.

Engaging Readers

Despite Google telling brands the platform isn’t ready for them yet, media organizations have quickly jumped on board. Like many of the early adopters from the journalism world, Canada’s top news source CBC has been posting links to stories with prompts that solicit reader feedback. They truly tested the engagement waters with a caption contest. The contest was also posted on Facebook, Twitter and the CBC website.

“We’ve noticed that there’s a bit of a competition to be witty right now on Google+,” said Kim Fox, senior producer for community and social media at CBC. ” We figured our daily photo caption challenge would play into that, and it has, outperforming other platforms.”

Fox said she’s seen smart dialogue and a deeper level of engagement with the content on Google+. She and her team plan to avoid replicating their Facebook and Twitter posts, and figure out what works for the Google+ community specifically.

With the natural enthusiasm for engagement and intelligent conversation, Google+ could become a place for journalists to generate solid feedback from their audiences. It’s important journalists grasp the full potential of the platform. From there, they can optimize its features to create a social dialogue around news content.

Analyzing News Coverage

Google+ is fostering rich conversation about journalism. It’s cultivating a community of thought leaders who rely on each other for feedback about their opinions on news events and the media industry.

When tweeting news commentary, a journalist is limited to 140 characters. Unless the discussion has a hashtag, it’s tough to see the full scope of the conversation as respondents may not be following all involved. With Facebook, conversations on journalists’ personal profiles don’t take off because many don’t friend professional contacts. Even if the journalist has a public page, his or her discussions are competing with updates from their fans’ friends and other pages because of the news feed algorithm. Google+ brings conversations back to the top of a stream when new comments arise. Though Facebook has a number of groups self-organized by journalists, grouping and sharing to professional contacts is more intuitive on Google+.

It also seems Google+ posts inspire more engagement than those on Facebook. For example, Mashable started discussions on both platforms about a study that claims 34% of iPhone users think they have 4G. The posts were published at roughly the same time and had similar prompts, posing questions about the study’s results. On Facebook, there were 57 likes and 40 comments, while the Google+ post had 183 +1′s and 116 comments. Granted this is only one post of many, but it’s still quite telling.

Though starting discussions about the news and their analysis of the news is nothing new for journalists, Google+ seems to be a more natural platform for these conversations.

Showing Personality

The media industry’s focus on journalistic objectivity makes some reporters more apt to withhold their opinions, beliefs and other details about their lifestyle. But Google+ is about people and has become a place where journalists can let their personalities shine.

Amidst the news links and discussions, streams are peppered with jokes, photos and anecdotes about life. Not unlike his Twitter feed, Jeff Jarvis is making people laugh with zings like “LAX Continental terminal isn’t 3rd world, it’s 5th or 6th. Expect to see pigs and goats running through.” Others are re-sharing posts from followers they can relate to, such as Evonne Benedict of Seattle’s KING-5, who was touched by a story from a fellow University of Washington alumnus.

We sometimes forget that journalists are people too. Google+ is a good reminder that for media professionals, there’s more to life than the news.

Overall, the future of journalism on Google+ has yet to be determined. What are some other ways you’ve seen media professionals using the platform? What effect might it have on the news industry?

Image courtesy of Sarah Hill.

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46 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

July 16, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment


Get ready for Mashable‘s weekly roundup! This week, we’ve performed original Google+ analysis, prepared you for the Mac OS X Lion release, and pointed you toward the best fictional Twitter accounts. We’ve celebrated startups and mourned space shuttle finales.

So review the list of important resources you may have missed over the past week. Tune in for more great stories and tools coming at you sooner than you can say “Spotify.”

Editors’ Picks

Social Media

For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

For more tech news and resources, follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business & Marketing

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

 

Image courtesy of Flickr, webtreats.

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40 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

July 9, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment


Whew! This week was awash with news. So, we transformed that news into advice, tips and how-to’s that you can reference for years to come.

Take Facebook’s video chat launch — we’ll guide you in setting it up. Or the space shuttle launch — we provide the Twitter accounts for dozens of astronauts and space experts. And Google+ has been on the minds of millions — we present its pros and cons. Mashable not only releases breaking news, we help you learn how to apply it to your business, your interests and your personal life.

If spare time for reading didn’t exactly factor into your busy week, here’s a roundup of resources that appeared on Mashable.

Editors’ Picks

Social Media

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10 Top Google+ Users Weigh In on the Web’s Newest Social Network

July 7, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment

google image

A list ranking the top users on Google’s invite-only social sharing platform Google+ turned up some interesting results. Mark Zuckerberg topped the list, but his profile is almost entirely inactive — that is, if the profile is actually his to begin with.

We’ve scoured the profiles, Twitter accounts and blogs of the top Google+ users that aren’t Google employees or Mr. Zuckerberg. You might be surprised to read their thoughts and reviews of the recent social networking phenomenon.

Do you agree with what they have to say, standing atop their invitation-only soapboxes? Let us know in the comments below.


Robert Scoble




Tech blogger Robert Scoble ranks #5 on the most-followed Google+ list. This week he posted a link to Cinch in which he interviews his wife Maryam about her hesitations to join Google+.

She says: "I have only so many minutes during the day, and the minutes that I choose to waste I like to waste on Facebook. Why do I have to go somewhere else, be lonely by myself and waste time when I can be on Facebook like everybody else? ... If within a year, I see that a lot of family and friends are there, and they're doing things I cannot do on Facebook...then I'll probably get on Google+, but that's far away from now."

Robert Scoble himself posted some thoughts to his Google+ profile:

"Google+ sometimes removes me from following someone that I know I already followed. This has happened dozens of times now, so I think it's a bug but I haven't figured out a pattern to it."

"Even with all of its noise, Google+'s feed is 600x more interesting than my Google Buzz feed. Why? No Tweets. All organically added stuff."

"I'm getting more engagement here than anywhere else."

"The speed of notifications and new items here doesn't match Twitter, yet, but blows away Facebook's speed."

"The Google+ mobile experience on web is quite nice. I am using Google+ exclusively this weekend on Safari on iPhone. Yes, it is missing lots, like I dont see a way to upload photos. But the UI and your posts are great looking ... This week I will be using G+ on Android, which is a lot better."


Leo Laporte




Twit.tv technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte reserves precious space on his phone's home screen for a Google+ widget. Here are some reviews Leo Laporte posted on his Google+ profile:

"Add TWiT (and BBC, Al Jazeera, and more) to your Google+ toolbar. Perfect for people who live in G+. Freaking awesome."

"It's really hard to remember that G+ is still in closed beta. I was going to talk about it on KFI this morning, but I don't think it's a good idea to sing the praises of something most people can't access."


Markus Persson




Markus Persson is the founder and game developer at Mojang, creators of the indie gaming megahit Minecraft.

"Dear Google+, I want to be able to have public circles that people can join. That way, I can post to the "wants to know about Minecraft" circle when I want to talk about Minecraft without having to invite every single fan out there manually."

"Holy moly, I have like 2200 followers! (but my profile page seems to be stuck at 191)."


Kevin Rose




As the co-founder of Digg and Milk, Kevin Rose isn't the most active Google+ user yet, but he certainly has an opinion about the service. Here are some of his thoughts we found on Twitter:

"just started using Google+, i get it.. just not sure if I need it.."

"liking Google plus, hoping the Sparks get better / more news integration, those could be powerful"


MG Siegler




The TechCrunch writer shares his reactions to Google+ on both the site itself and his Twitter:

"If only Google+ had search..."

"The Google+ photo uploader is pretty great. Fast."

"Yep, the G+ realtime comment sections are pretty great."

"All I know for sure is that Google+ needs to figure out a way not to have comments boost an old story back to the top of the stream. Makes everything feel very stale, even though it makes some sense to do this. FriendFeed battled with this issue as well, but there was more data constantly flowing in due to Twitter imports, etc."

"Whether or not Google+ succeeds remains to be seen, obviously. But they're adding a sh*t ton amount of users like I've never seen before."

"Whereas previously 90% of the talk on Google+ was about Google+, now it looks like only 75% or so is. That's good, but it needs to keep dropping fast."


Gina Trapani




Coder and blogger Gina Trapani is the most-followed woman on Google+. She shares her thoughts via the site and her blog.

"I'm fine with comments from strangers on public posts (though I'm a blogger first, so very used to that). However, the fact that strangers can start Huddles render that feature useless for me. Otherwise, an interesting take on Google's social effort from a Facebooker."

"Is it possible to enjoy the Circles interface TOO much?"

"I've been been watching Google flail around social web apps for a few years now, so what I appreciate most about Google+ is that it's a well-thought out product informed by past experience. The more I use Google+, the more I see just how many lessons Google learned from Wave and Buzz..."


Tom Anderson




Tom Anderson, creator of MySpace, uses his Google+ profile to pose questions about the product. He's generated thought-provoking discussions about the features of the site and released his own views as well:

"Analyst video about Google+ — suggests Google won't disrupt FB or Twitter, that the cost to build/retain engineers has been a big hit to Google's bottom line, and monetization is unclear. Suggests Facebook gets social search ... He seems to be missing that Google+ has already integrated +1 and Twitter into search ..."

"I've also noticed that my own 'circle' count is quite different than what I see on my circles page (like it's showing I'm 3,000 and I actually have 6,000). Guess there's some lag between counts/dbs."

"If you're following a huge user (like MG [Siegler]) and he chooses to upload 500 photos (go MG!) then you're stream is going to be inundated till the end of time with people commenting on his photos. You can "mute" the sharing of his album, but each photo is its own item, and thus you'd have to mute each photo as it comes up with its first comment, right? Am I missing something here? I know the potential for feed noise is crazy on Google+ right now, but this example seems nuts. It really seems like Google+ will have to provide a "sort by post date," at the very least."

"Google+ does seem like it could take a bite out of Twitter - it seems to let you do what Twitter does (but maybe better), and it definitely lets you commmunicate with your followers in a more normal fashion (not stuck with 140 character DMs)."


Jeff Jarvis




CUNY professor and blogger Jeff Jarvis sounded off on Google+ pros and cons on his blog:

"To paraphrase Mark Zuckerberg, it is too soon to know what Google+ is. But I've been trying to imagine how it will and won't be useful to news. You should add rock salt to anything I say, as I thought Google Wave would be an important journalistic tool."

"Note this good news: Google+ made 'ranking changes ... that demote such comments if the commenter is not in your circles.' That's a good start. I still want the option of a feed of only latest posts, regardless of comment timing."

"RWW looks at how Google+ could be useful in teaching. +Rebecca MacKinnon sees potential. So do I."

"I REALLY want to be able to embed links in posts here. That alone makes this far inferior to blogs and even Twitter for writing pieces with responsible linking."

"This whole notion that one can/should be able to "disable reshare" is setting a treacherous precedent for the rest of the web. Will news organizations tell me I can't share their story? We never had the expectation until G+ gave it to us. Don't go too far with it, friends."


Loic Le Meur




Founder of Seesmic and LeWeb conference, Loic Le Meur reviews Google+ on his Twitter account:

"I wish google did circles for just gmail contacts too, I would totally use them, wouldn't you?"

"Testing the google plus app on samsung tab honeycomb, not optimized but it works"

"What's my incoming stream? Anyone who added me in a circle? I don't get it"

"So, if I do a circle "assholes" and add people in them, they won't even be able to know I tagged them that way? That's disappointing :-)"

"Google+ is entirely streaming, no delay, all push, no reloading a page or clicking anywhere, that's way cool."

"Google+ might hit Twitter more than Facebook, it's so clean..."

"okay, I'm more and more impressed by Google+, I think it's a real competitor to Facebook in the making."

"One thing that frustrates me with G+ is that I don't have a stream of every feedback I get: plusses and comments, see all interactions only. Do you not?"


Felicia Day




Actress and gamer Felicia Day uses some humor to review Google+ on the site and her Twitter account:

"Lots of appealing features in Google+. Can't wait to see what Twitter updates next to counter."

"WHOAH when can you collapse comments? The train gets crazy-sauce long in the feed!"

"This service is confusing! I'm part of people's circles but I didn't agree to be in them, I don't know who I'm sharing with and how ... eeep! Trying to figure out how to use it more like Twitter than involuntary Facebook groups. #1: Email notifications OFF!"

Image courtesy of Flickr, halilgokdal

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10 Top Google+ Users Weigh In on the Web’s Newest Social Network

July 7, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment

google image

A list ranking the top users on Google’s invite-only social sharing platform Google+ turned up some interesting results. Mark Zuckerberg topped the list, but his profile is almost entirely inactive — that is, if the profile is actually his to begin with.

We’ve scoured the profiles, Twitter accounts and blogs of the top Google+ users that aren’t Google employees or Mr. Zuckerberg. You might be surprised to read their thoughts and reviews of the recent social networking phenomenon.

Do you agree with what they have to say, standing atop their invitation-only soapboxes? Let us know in the comments below.


Robert Scoble




Tech blogger Robert Scoble ranks #5 on the most-followed Google+ list. This week he posted a link to Cinch in which he interviews his wife Maryam about her hesitations to join Google+.

She says: "I have only so many minutes during the day, and the minutes that I choose to waste I like to waste on Facebook. Why do I have to go somewhere else, be lonely by myself and waste time when I can be on Facebook like everybody else? ... If within a year, I see that a lot of family and friends are there, and they're doing things I cannot do on Facebook...then I'll probably get on Google+, but that's far away from now."

Robert Scoble himself posted some thoughts to his Google+ profile:

"Google+ sometimes removes me from following someone that I know I already followed. This has happened dozens of times now, so I think it's a bug but I haven't figured out a pattern to it."

"Even with all of its noise, Google+'s feed is 600x more interesting than my Google Buzz feed. Why? No Tweets. All organically added stuff."

"I'm getting more engagement here than anywhere else."

"The speed of notifications and new items here doesn't match Twitter, yet, but blows away Facebook's speed."

"The Google+ mobile experience on web is quite nice. I am using Google+ exclusively this weekend on Safari on iPhone. Yes, it is missing lots, like I dont see a way to upload photos. But the UI and your posts are great looking ... This week I will be using G+ on Android, which is a lot better."


Leo Laporte




Twit.tv technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte reserves precious space on his phone's home screen for a Google+ widget. Here are some reviews Leo Laporte posted on his Google+ profile:

"Add TWiT (and BBC, Al Jazeera, and more) to your Google+ toolbar. Perfect for people who live in G+. Freaking awesome."

"It's really hard to remember that G+ is still in closed beta. I was going to talk about it on KFI this morning, but I don't think it's a good idea to sing the praises of something most people can't access."


Markus Persson




Markus Persson is the founder and game developer at Mojang, creators of the indie gaming megahit Minecraft.

"Dear Google+, I want to be able to have public circles that people can join. That way, I can post to the "wants to know about Minecraft" circle when I want to talk about Minecraft without having to invite every single fan out there manually."

"Holy moly, I have like 2200 followers! (but my profile page seems to be stuck at 191)."


Kevin Rose




As the co-founder of Digg and Milk, Kevin Rose isn't the most active Google+ user yet, but he certainly has an opinion about the service. Here are some of his thoughts we found on Twitter:

"just started using Google+, i get it.. just not sure if I need it.."

"liking Google plus, hoping the Sparks get better / more news integration, those could be powerful"


MG Siegler




The TechCrunch writer shares his reactions to Google+ on both the site itself and his Twitter:

"If only Google+ had search..."

"The Google+ photo uploader is pretty great. Fast."

"Yep, the G+ realtime comment sections are pretty great."

"All I know for sure is that Google+ needs to figure out a way not to have comments boost an old story back to the top of the stream. Makes everything feel very stale, even though it makes some sense to do this. FriendFeed battled with this issue as well, but there was more data constantly flowing in due to Twitter imports, etc."

"Whether or not Google+ succeeds remains to be seen, obviously. But they're adding a sh*t ton amount of users like I've never seen before."

"Whereas previously 90% of the talk on Google+ was about Google+, now it looks like only 75% or so is. That's good, but it needs to keep dropping fast."


Gina Trapani




Coder and blogger Gina Trapani is the most-followed woman on Google+. She shares her thoughts via the site and her blog.

"I'm fine with comments from strangers on public posts (though I'm a blogger first, so very used to that). However, the fact that strangers can start Huddles render that feature useless for me. Otherwise, an interesting take on Google's social effort from a Facebooker."

"Is it possible to enjoy the Circles interface TOO much?"

"I've been been watching Google flail around social web apps for a few years now, so what I appreciate most about Google+ is that it's a well-thought out product informed by past experience. The more I use Google+, the more I see just how many lessons Google learned from Wave and Buzz..."


Tom Anderson




Tom Anderson, creator of MySpace, uses his Google+ profile to pose questions about the product. He's generated thought-provoking discussions about the features of the site and released his own views as well:

"Analyst video about Google+ — suggests Google won't disrupt FB or Twitter, that the cost to build/retain engineers has been a big hit to Google's bottom line, and monetization is unclear. Suggests Facebook gets social search ... He seems to be missing that Google+ has already integrated +1 and Twitter into search ..."

"I've also noticed that my own 'circle' count is quite different than what I see on my circles page (like it's showing I'm 3,000 and I actually have 6,000). Guess there's some lag between counts/dbs."

"If you're following a huge user (like MG [Siegler]) and he chooses to upload 500 photos (go MG!) then you're stream is going to be inundated till the end of time with people commenting on his photos. You can "mute" the sharing of his album, but each photo is its own item, and thus you'd have to mute each photo as it comes up with its first comment, right? Am I missing something here? I know the potential for feed noise is crazy on Google+ right now, but this example seems nuts. It really seems like Google+ will have to provide a "sort by post date," at the very least."

"Google+ does seem like it could take a bite out of Twitter - it seems to let you do what Twitter does (but maybe better), and it definitely lets you commmunicate with your followers in a more normal fashion (not stuck with 140 character DMs)."


Jeff Jarvis




CUNY professor and blogger Jeff Jarvis sounded off on Google+ pros and cons on his blog:

"To paraphrase Mark Zuckerberg, it is too soon to know what Google+ is. But I've been trying to imagine how it will and won't be useful to news. You should add rock salt to anything I say, as I thought Google Wave would be an important journalistic tool."

"Note this good news: Google+ made 'ranking changes ... that demote such comments if the commenter is not in your circles.' That's a good start. I still want the option of a feed of only latest posts, regardless of comment timing."

"RWW looks at how Google+ could be useful in teaching. +Rebecca MacKinnon sees potential. So do I."

"I REALLY want to be able to embed links in posts here. That alone makes this far inferior to blogs and even Twitter for writing pieces with responsible linking."

"This whole notion that one can/should be able to "disable reshare" is setting a treacherous precedent for the rest of the web. Will news organizations tell me I can't share their story? We never had the expectation until G+ gave it to us. Don't go too far with it, friends."


Loic Le Meur




Founder of Seesmic and LeWeb conference, Loic Le Meur reviews Google+ on his Twitter account:

"I wish google did circles for just gmail contacts too, I would totally use them, wouldn't you?"

"Testing the google plus app on samsung tab honeycomb, not optimized but it works"

"What's my incoming stream? Anyone who added me in a circle? I don't get it"

"So, if I do a circle "assholes" and add people in them, they won't even be able to know I tagged them that way? That's disappointing :-)"

"Google+ is entirely streaming, no delay, all push, no reloading a page or clicking anywhere, that's way cool."

"Google+ might hit Twitter more than Facebook, it's so clean..."

"okay, I'm more and more impressed by Google+, I think it's a real competitor to Facebook in the making."

"One thing that frustrates me with G+ is that I don't have a stream of every feedback I get: plusses and comments, see all interactions only. Do you not?"


Felicia Day




Actress and gamer Felicia Day uses some humor to review Google+ on the site and her Twitter account:

"Lots of appealing features in Google+. Can't wait to see what Twitter updates next to counter."

"WHOAH when can you collapse comments? The train gets crazy-sauce long in the feed!"

"This service is confusing! I'm part of people's circles but I didn't agree to be in them, I don't know who I'm sharing with and how ... eeep! Trying to figure out how to use it more like Twitter than involuntary Facebook groups. #1: Email notifications OFF!"

Image courtesy of Flickr, halilgokdal

More About: facebook, Google, Google Plus, reviews, social media, social networking, top 100, twitter, users

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The History of America, As Told by Facebook [PIC]

July 4, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment


In honor of Independence Day, The New York Times visualized America’s would-be Facebook profile in its Op-Art section, translating the history of the U.S. into Facebook’s iconic narrative structure.

The piece (below), “Like It or Unfriend It?” was created by novelist Teddy Wayne, Vanity Fair staffer Mike Sacks and designer Thomas Ng.

The graphic recalls a similar piece published by Slate‘s Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson in May, which chronicles recent U.S. events in an imaginary Barack Obama Facebook feed.

Last year the Washington Post published pieces of a real Facebook feed in “A Facebook Story: A mother’s joy and a family’s sorrow” to tell the tragic story of a young mother’s illness and subsequent death.

All three pieces acknowledge a new kind of plot structure told through the incremental and often brief updates we post on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Notably, all three pieces subvert the reverse-chronological order in which these updates are normally displayed.

Image courtesy of Flickr, ladybugbkt

More About: america, art, facebook, facebook page, social media, the new york times, united states

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42 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

July 2, 2011 By Stephanie Buck Leave a Comment


No doubt your summer celebrations this weekend will leave you little time to catch up on reading. To help you out, we’ve compiled a handy roundup of this week’s most helpful, informative and inspiring stories.

We’ve celebrated iPhone’s birthday, we’ve pondered celebrity impact on social good, and we’ve laughed over geeky gadgets. This week Mashable overflowed with engaging content. Find out what you missed!

Editors’ Picks

Social Media

Filed Under: Facebook, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

25 Most-Shared Mashable Stories in June

July 1, 2011 By Brian Anthony Hernandez Leave a Comment

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Discussions about Google+ dominated the online discourse on social sites as June came to a close, but a flurry of other hot topics got their fair share of attention throughout the month, including the Les Paul Google doodle, the Pope’s first tweet and a social media campaign against a ban on female drivers in Saudi Arabia.

Based on figures from Mashable Follow‘s M Share button, the following 25 stories got the most love, with all of them garnering about 250,000 combined shares on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and Google Buzz.

To keep track of the most-shared stories at anytime, log into Mashable Follow and click on “Top Stories” next to the Mashable logo. You’ll have the option to view the top stories of the day, week, month or year.

Thanks for reading and sharing our content. We look forward to seeing which stories you share in July.

Which stories will you remember the most as the year progresses? Let us know in the comments.

More About: apple, business, facebook, features, foursquare, Google, Google Plus, iOS, linkedin, News, Opinion, security, social media, twitter

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