Perhaps we should start cataloguing all the quagmires and quandaries that social networks have gone and created for us. I actually have a queue of friend requests stagnating at each and every social networking site I belong to because I just don't feel like I'm "friends" with these individuals. And I feel guilty, because even though I know that the web wants me to accept a very broad definition ... Read full entry

Let's take shallowness and superficiality to a new low by taking advantage of Friendfeed's new fake following utility. The Friend Lists also support "Fake Following" - a seemingly unintuitive feature that allows users to look like they're following their friends without actually getting their updates. Users often expect to have their "Follows" reciprocated by their peers, and a failure to do so can lead to bruised egos. ... Read full entry

Dylan Davis published a method of routing the Facebook update statuses of both you and your friends to Twitter a few days ago as a Facebook note. I thought this was something people might be interested in trying out, and Dylan was happy to let me republish his update status routing recipe. Enjoy! Here's a recipe for routing all your and your friend's Status updates from ... Read full entry

Here I was thinking I am reasonably up with the play in social media and social networking spheres, so I was mildly surprised to learn a new word, or neologism, today: frolleague. Apparently there is nothing new about the word though, as the Oxford English Dictionary has been considering its inclusion for sometime. As to frolleagues however, they are to be avoided at all costs, according to LinkedIn...... Read full entry

A list of jobs where you could utilise the knowledge, and networks, you have acquired through the use of social networks and micro-blogging websites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Pity the college kids who are readying themselves for the boredom of working in an office where online profile views are sharply limited or not allowed. Don't they know that there are jobs that demand this stuff? More and more ... Read full entry

If you thought social network hi5 was a has-been, think again. In the six months from December 2007 to June 2008, hi5 experienced almost 80 per cent growth, twice as much as Facebook, and is now ranked the world's third most popular social network. hi5 enjoys a large membership across Latin American, European, Asian and African countries. Facebook and hi5 are winning the vast majority of new users coming ... Read full entry

I'm starting to wonder if the new Facebook, which looks all very dandy by the way, has been especially optimised for use with Internet Explorer. "Optimisation" harks back to the days of Web 1.0, when websites used to bear, on their splashscreens (remember those?) notices announcing that the site was better suited, or optimised, to a certain browser, usually IE, or the old Netscape browser. Then there were the ... Read full entry

Don't leave home without your... calling cards. I'm not entirely sure of the exact difference between calling cards and business cards (which I do sometimes forget to take when I leave home), but the former are apparently making a comeback. In the 1800s, there was a certain logic - and a cool distance - to the formal calling card. Those who were part of, or sought a place among, ... Read full entry

Social network Bebo, and the producers of British TV show Wife Swap have combined to undertake an incredible mission; the search for intelligent life in the universe. That's an intriguing pairing for such a momentous task... Dr Zaitsev will use a Ukrainian radio telescope, normally used to identify and track asteroids that pose a threat to Earth, to beam the messages to a planet orbiting the star ... Read full entry

Not only are employers trawling social networks for a little extra information on job applicants, court prosecutors are doing something similar, hopeful of finding discriminating or inappropriate photos featuring those they are trying to convict. Online hangouts like Facebook and MySpace have offered crime-solving help to detectives and become a resource for employers vetting job applicants. Now the sites are proving fruitful for prosecutors, who have used damaging Internet ... Read full entry