Technological advances radically alter dynamics of social change. The election of President Obama is a watershed moment that represents an evolution over a decade in the making. For the first time, social networks were mobilized on a scale that silenced critics of the technology’s limited utility to society or the “realness” of online social connections. [...]

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Yeah, this is old news.  Gree, one of Japan’s largest social networks (at least in the mobile arena, No. 2 or 3 depending on who you ask) is headed for an IPO.  The timing couldn’t be worse with the sub-prime global meltdown, especially considering all the paperwork and red tape involved and all the restrictions [...]

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Barack Obama ’s successful bid for president is probably just as significant as having our first (at least openly) multi-racial president (remember his mother is white and he only met his father once or twice). He changed the nature of campaigning for good and finally delivered on the promise of information technology driven movements. Just [...]

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Usually, internet fads come and go but the ones that last usually come in waves.  Facebook had a big wave and then another when they released the platform.  The iPhone set off shock waves and will probably see another resurgence when they wifi App store goes live (if there are any interesting ideas left by [...]

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I don’t know how to express the mild disappointment of finding out that the OpenSocial API, despite its alluring name, is anything but.  Why couldn’t they name it the OpenWidget API or UniversalSocialWidget API or something less misleading.  OpenSocial sound so much like a common API interface for web services that third-party developers can take [...]

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One of the things about social networks is that they’re completely useless without users. You can create the best solution out there but unless you attract users to your site, it just wont spread. You need the momentum. So how do social networks get the initial momentum? They encourage you to spam everyone you know [...]

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The issue of privacy on social networks like MySpace or Facebook are nothing new. We’ve all heard of stories where potential recruits lost their chances of landing a job because they had too much revealing information on one of the networks. Others have been fired from their social network addiction. Campus administrators snoop and sniff [...]

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I caved into curiosity and happened on an invite to i’m in like with you. I was curious about it despite the unfortunate name or more because the unfortunate name. It begs the question, “what makes it so different?” and “how do they keep the buzz?”. Usually I try to avoid Flash-heavy sites like movie [...]

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I’ve read a good chunk of Inside Facebook thanks to Mashable’s free promotion. It’s a great insider’s look into one of the fastest growing social networks by a former senior engineer. The book is fascinating because it captures the author’s experience at the best moment, immediately after the party comes to an end. It’s written [...]

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Today I added a couple friends to MLB only to discover that suddenly the count dropped quite a bit. Checking on the people that showed up in my contacts it looks like only mutual contacts show up in your friends section and that they’re making a major change in their policy. Unfortunately, there’s no official [...]

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