General

A British surgeon saved his former classmate’s life by deducing from the friend’s Facebook that he had appendicitis.

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It’s a common problem. You are having a conversation and suddenly you can’t remember what you were about to say as you get lost in some irrelevant tangential discussion. I’m not sure why but the fan page “Odio olvidarme de lo que iba a decir“, or in English “I hate to forget what I was going to say”, has surged in popularity over the past few days to become one of the fastest growing fan pages on the site.

The fan page is growing at around 60 percent a day, growing from 62,820 fans two days ago to over 130,000 fans as of the time of this post. So what are the fans actually a fan of? I have no idea! The fan page is now among the top 1,500 fan pages on the site and it continues to be growing at a feverish rate. Can you make a fan page about nothing though? I though that’s what Facebook groups are for.
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Football playoffs are coming up. Are you ready? Whether you are or you aren’t, there are a number of developers that are hoping you’ll turn to Facebook for some fun games and applications to track live scores, stats on players, and even the games themselves. Over the past couple of years, developers have managed to find more ways in which to leverage online communities for their sports-related applications.
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I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the readers of this blog for an amazing 2008. This site has grown tremendously from when I first started it last May. After looking at my Google Analytics tonight I realized one thing: persistence is key to success. This month has been a break through month for this blog and next month will be even more incredible as I’m preparing to release a number of new things.
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Last week we posted out top Facebook stories of 2008. This week it’s time to look ahead to 2009 and consider what the year may hold for Facebook. After an extremely successful 2008, it will be hard for Facebook to do much better than they did this year. We think there is still a lot of opportunity for the company still and below are 5 ways that we think the company will continue to innovate in 2009.
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Everyday I get at least 10 emails from people saying that their Facebook account has been cancelled. Their first response is to e-mail Facebook but typically they never hear back. My guess is that if I’m receiving 10 emails a day, Facebook is probably receiving a few thousand at a minimum. It’s a big problem for the company as all the people emailing me claim that they weren’t spamming.
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With all the new changes to the Facebook layout, some previously simple actions such as deleting an application became just a bit more complicated.

On your Facebook homepage go to the bottom left-hand corner of the page where it says
“Applications.” When you click on it a list of all your applications will pop up. Near the top of the list you have the option to ‘Edit.’

Once you click on ‘Edit’ you will be shown a list of all your applications. Next to each application are a set of options, Edit, About, and Remove. Click on the little ‘x’ next to ‘Remove’

A window will appear offering you the option to remove or block an application. If you choose ‘Remove’ it will remove the applications access to your information.

If you choose to ‘Block’ an application it will not appear in your profile but you will still be able to access the application and the application will continue to access to your information.If you want to remove the application entirely, just click on ‘Remove’ in the pop up window. You can also click on ‘Remove’ on the Edit page and remove an application that way.

Once you have removed an application it will no longer appear on your profile, boxes, or your application list. It’s still a fairly simple process but it takes a couple more steps than deleting an application in the old Facebook.

If you have a phone filled with lots of contacts, you have probably had the experience where you can’t remember someone that ends up in your phone. If you were obsessive about your contact list you would have entered notes about that individual in Outlook or Salesforce. Unfortunately most people don’t go through this process and as such many names can end up meaningless.

As such the developers of FriendSync have come up with an easy way to sync your contacts on your phone and get their photos from Facebook. As was the same issue with most users of the application according to the reviews on iTunes, the application crashed the first time I tried to use it. Given that I have almost 2,000 friends on Facebook I’m guessing that it’s more challenging to sync all my contacts.

The idea makes a lot of sense though. After numerous tries I have still yet to successfully sync my accounts so I guess this means the application has some serious work to do. So should you go ahead and download FriendSync? Probably not. The application is not ready for primetime but the company continues to develop the application and fix the bug they could definitely attract a lot of users.

Currently the company is charging $1.99 for the application which is a bit ridiculous considering that it doesn’t work. I was willing to pay since it is a business expense but based on the reviews I was expecting it to crash my phone. Thankfully I have an iPhone as a test platform for applications so I wasn’t really concerned.

I’d guess that we’ll see Facebook integrate many of these features in the near future but for now this application has the right idea. If you want to risk your contact list just to test this application go download the FriendSync application. Be warned though, there are people that have had their contact list completely deleted so it may not be the best idea.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Chris Cunningham of AppsSavvy. AppsSavvy is a company based out of New York which focuses on building monetization opportunities for social application developers and building custom branded experiences for companies. They do this by connecting brands with the application developers that have the proper demographics to match up with the client’s campaign.

Read more at the Social Times.

Last weekend I was at SocialDevCamp in Baltimore and came across one individual who continuously read AllFacebook but did not read the Social Times. If he had read it, he didn’t realize that he was reading it. If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you probably have noticed that the volume of posts has decreased somewhat. In reality, I’m posting the same but over at the Social Times. So if you haven’t added the Social Times to one of your regular sites, here are ten reasons you should start reading it:

1. There is more to this world then Facebook – I know it’s shocking that I, a Facebook fanboy, would say that there’s more to this world then Facebook. The reality is that the web is becoming increasingly social. It will continue to transform and every 6 months we will see large announcements that continue to move this space forward.
2. Breaking news – While I may not be breaking news with the regularity of Mike Arrington who likes to hold his sources hostage, I do work my own sources and try to provide insight into what is taking place in the industry.
3. More editorial insight – I read somewhere around 1,000 articles every day specifically about the social web. I know less than 10 people that do this specifically on this topic and it’s their job to try and break news stories. Through my experience in agencies, startups and through continuous communication with industry leaders, I’ll keep you up to date on what’s going on and why it matters to your business.
4. Events – Not only do I and others write over at the Social Times, we also host events. We are in the midst of planning some large industry events in the coming months so you should visit the site or subscribe to the feed to keep up to date on the events taking place around the country.
5. Timely information – While I don’t break every story, I will be there to provide insight as soon as the story breaks. I will also provide follow-up commentary to let you know what’s going on.
6. No bullshit – You can read a ton of blogs that will tell you about theory and extrapolate on ideas that are way to deep for most people to understand. That’s why most of those ideas never materialize. I digest sometimes complex ideas and make it understandable for the average Joe. If I think people are wrong, I’ll let you know. While the truth isn’t always pretty, at least it’s the truth. That’s what I’ll give you.
7. Interactive – If you post a comment on any of my posts, I typically respond to questions in a matter of minutes. If you don’t get a response you can always email me and I’ll respond.
8. Conference coverage – There are industry events practically every week. Often times I’m out at them trying to cover it for the readers. If you didn’t get to make it to the conference, there is a good chance we did and have coverage of it on the site.
9. Podcasts – Not only am I blogging over at the Social Times but I’m also interviewing people in the industry to find out what’s really going on. The podcasts make it easy to stay up to date on the people that shape this industry.
10. It’s me! – If you’ve been reading me for a while, you probably know that I have integrity and I bust my ass. If I’m wrong, I’ll tell you I’m wrong. My job is to get you the information you care about in a timely manner and make sure it’s comprehensible. Occasionally it isn’t (since I sometimes write at 3 A.M.) but I can guarantee you that I’m always writing. I want to help out my readers. If you want to get news that caters to the readers, you need to check out the Social Times!

If you made it through the list and still haven’t subscribed, you better go subscribe to the Social Times now! I haven’t stopped writing, I’m just writing elsewhere. Go check out the Social Times and if you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to contact me!