Twitter has seen the development of a strange phenomenon in recent weeks, whereby thousands of user profile images have been ominously replaced by plain black squares. However this is not due to a a server error or code glitch, but is instead an act of co-ordinated protest against new proposals for internet regulation from the government of New Zealand.
The ‘blackout’ has also shown signs of spreading to other social networks like Bebo, Facebook and Myspace. Organised by the Creative Freedom Foundation, the action has had some impact already in causing the offending legislation to be delayed. Whether it can actually stop it remains yet to be seen, but the wider question really is – just how effective can such internet protest ever…
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Power.com, the recently launched social network aggregator which lets users easily transfer data and files from one network to another has had some tricky hurdles to overcome already since its November 2008 launch. There was a lawsuit and fallout with Facebook over privacy and data storage which was eventually resolved (though Facebook is not currently one of the networks accesible via Power) and now Myspace is the latest to take issue with Power’s use of its users’ data…
Myspace has blocked the aggregator from accessing its data for the latter’s decision not to use Myspace’s OAuth system for user logins, citing considerable (and valid) security concerns. The development leaves Power with only Orkut and Hi5 as its remaining significant networks, representing a considerable setback…
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Web 2.0 take-up across the business sector has continued to rise this year with more and more companies integrating features such as blogs, RSS feeds, Wikis and podcasts into their operations. However the use of some services is actually falling – and overall there still remain many who are reluctant to adopt such tools, often to their detriment. Question is; Why does scepticism still prevail over Web 2.0 in a business context?
(N.B. All data referred to is from a recent survey by management consultants, Mckinsey, who asked nearly 2,000 executives a range of questions concerning web 2.0 attitudes and practice).
With only roughly one-third of participating companies using blogs, RSS and Wikis (the most increasingly popular tools) it seems there is…
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