Category — Web-o-sphere

Yeah, you heard it. Finally, orkut has launched a few selected apps for the general public. It’s been said that the apps are currently available to a few selected users only (maybe developers only, or GOD knows who are the chosen ones), and Orkut needs to first test the stability of the OpenSocial API on their container.

Earlier, Orkut had stated that they plan to roll out the applications in phases, so that they may be able to test and figure out their API, and other issues. Right now there are only a few handpicked apps (and some of them are really addictive I tell you !!), and when the next slot of apps will be available for users is not known as of now.

It’s actually good to be developer, you get all the inside scoop beforehand, and get to use the apps before anyone else on the sandbox :)

Do check out some apps, and let them know your feedback, and if possible me also. The app that we are developing will get you rolling when it comes out in the next slot.

Happy social apping till then :)

I was over at Rashmi Sinha’s (of the slideshare.net fame) weblog and there is a very interesting article that she has written about the possibility of wordpress becoming a social networking platform, and comparable to Facebook.

It’s a must read really. Go checkout the blog entry, and also do some more reading at further links in the article itself. It’s worth spending time lurking on the internet.

In the AD-age, when online advertising is growing by leaps and bounds, the search for the perfect ad network is still a delusion. In a recent survey by McKinsey Quarterly about online marketing (requires free registration to read), a large number of companies (major part of which are Fortune 500 companies) do plan to invest even heavily (if not doing already) in online advertisements. And not surprisingly, companies are in the search of new and unexplored methodologies / ways for online advertisements. The bottom line is, companies are ready to shell out money, but on newer medias

Undoubtedly, the report also carries a lot of stress on blogs, and how companies are looking at consumer generated content for marketing and advertisement. Cashing on these opportunities, are 2 of the major players who are doing exceptionally well in the text link ads business (apart from paid writing ads), notably Text-link-ads.com and Linkworth.com

Going by the bloggers’ choice, it seems that it is a much better option to use text-link based advertisement media rather than sponsored blogging, since quality advertisers with brand names and lot of investment in ads, prefer link-ads over sponsored blogging. And on the question of why - simply a lot of technical and functional reasons, and the impact on their business. No doubt, companies prefer to have a sponsored group on facebook, spending more than $30000 per quarter for the same, rather than have Mark Zuckerberg write a blog entry for them (which I doubt will be any less than $30000 !! :p ).

There might be some in the crowd who would still prefer reviews, going by the fact that there are some blogs which make more than even $1000 for one small little piece of writing that goes on their blog (a.k.a review article), but then again, they are the exceptional ones. When we talk about blogging, we mean everybody - the general lot, cause that’s the target for companies who are willing to spend millions of dollars on text link ads or some other forms of creative buys. What the average blogger needs is to have a simple method of monetizing his blog, and what the companies need is a creative way of advertisement.

In the next few articles, we will go deeper into the web and the advertising world, and try and find out the next big upcoming ideas on creativity.

Facebook with Yahoo. Sounds good ??!!. Or doesn’t ??!! Yahoo has recently come up with the “My Yahoo beta” (although it has been some time since the beta was released), there are quite some interesting features now available.

Simple things first, the whole page has been completely thrown open for customization. Not just the layout or the colors, but more than that there are widgets that you can add and play around with. Even with the colors and layouts, there are more choices available now than before. Personally, after trying out “citrus”, “blue” and “black” colors, I went a step ahead and into the “Passion” category, where I immediately found out “Football” customization. eeee . Yeah, there must be tons of football lovers using Yahoo for sure. Here’s a cool little screen-shot of “My Yahoo - Football” :)

You can add on to all these small little customizations here :

Going ahead, what was more interesting, was the modules that you can simply add to your page. I tried adding a few “Editor’s picks” - like “Salon.com”, “beauty blog”, et all !!. But the real piece of cake is “Facebook Integration”. It has become so monotonous now with everything happening around Facebook only, and I am trying to figure from a developer’s point of view as to why only facebook. Earlier, I actually wrote about the social web browser “Flock” too going for simple Facebook integration, and also about why Facebook is preferred over OpenSocial.

Anyways, here’s how easy it is to integrate Facebook on my yahoo page, and then just simply sit back and relax, and watch the facebook activities on your customized yahoo homepage only.

There’s a whole lot of activity going around at Yahoo these days, maybe after what happened earlier this year, with Microsoft trying to buy out Yahoo. Keep watching yahoo for further updates. I’m damn sure these guys will come up with something much cooler now.