Week in Review

The Facebook That Isn’t

A new interface was not among the announcements made at the f8 developer conference, but maybe it should’ve been. Here’s a look at what a design group proposed back in 2006 to 2007, only to have their vision rejected, which is a downright a shame. (TechCrunch)

Cookbooks are Priciest Books for iPad

While the average prices for the top 50 titles across the major categories range from $7-$15, cookbooks, history book and biographies rise above. (O’Reilly Radar)

LinkedIn Unveils Link Shortener

About a week after murmurs surfaced about Twitter introducing its own link shortener, LinkedIn responds by also revealing its plans for a URL shortener, Lnkd.in. They decided to go with its own application so they could tie it into their own back-end, which offers them more control over the data. (TechCrunch)

Google Eyeing Travel Acquisition

The search giant is reportedly showing interest in ITA Software, which drives the Internet technology behind American Airlines, Bing and Orbitz, among a few other big travel companies, for $1 billion. Given its $26.5 billion cash pile and the strong positioning this would give them in the travel game, it might make a whole lot of sense. (WebProNews, The Rayno Report)

Facebook Ends 24-Hour Caching Policy

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be removing its Platform policy that required developers to only store user data accessed via its APIs for a maximum of 24 hours. Apparently, more than being driven by a desire to change the way developers will use the data, this move was a technical-cost issue. Cynicism abounds. (Inside Facebook, ReadWriteWeb)

Content Sites Set to See More Ad Dollars Flow Their Way

A recent survey reveals that 52 percent of marketers plan on spending more on content sites this year, while only 35 percent plan to increase budgets for ad networks.” In the last two years ad networks have taken advantage of the recession, but what’s missing from that is why advertisers advertise in the first place — it’s all about brand.” (Ad Age)

A Chat About Local Business Listings

A few key takeaways include making sure to stop by Get Listed and some other business listing sites, not to fear negative reviews (and not to fret too much about competitors giving you bad reviews) and taking advantages of all the online resources available on the topic. (Search Engine Journal)

Elements of a Good E-Mail Correction Program

Saying “I’m sorry” is hard, but mistake e-mails are a fact of life for marketers and are an area that demands some solid tactics. Among the 13 tips are focusing on the response and saving the blame for later, creating an action plan and apologizing in other channels. (MediaPost)

Faking Out the ‘Like’ Button

Uh-oh. It looks like Facebook’s newfangled, ubiquitous “Like” button is quite easy to trick for a spammer’s devious devices. While most “self-respecting” webmasters wouldn’t dare do this, an “enterprising spammer” would. Get ready, because it’s soon going to be a reality. The question now is how Facebook will remedy this issue. (ReadWriteWeb)

Facebook: The Death of Google?

The thought probably crossed your mind already, but it’s a topic that deserves some discussion: Will Facebook’s new plan to dominate the Web mean curtains for Google AdSense, and Google in general? Competitors to AdSense have failed thus far because they were unable to reach critical mass, but this is something Facebook will achieve with ease. Combine this with precise, social-based targeting and what you get is a monster that Google might have to worry about for the foreseeable future. (Blogation)

Facebook’s Ambition

Robert Scoble posted a great summary of Facebook’s recent blueprint to have its hands all over the Web. Make no mistake: while there are good things and downright scary things about it all, this is a very significant moment and shift for Facebook and all its users – and the entire Web. Zuckerberg is building the modern-day railroad and Scoble charged him to win our trust and to not abuse the enormous power he’ll soon aggregate. “The moves Facebook made today ARE that significant. Don’t miss Facebook’s ambition.” (Scobleizer)

A Better Way to ‘Like’ Stuff

If you’re looking for a better, safer way to “like” stuff on the Web via Facebook, a bookmarklet called Like-o-matic might be the answer. Not only does this enable users to avoid liking bogus sites, but it also allows users to like sites that don’t have a Facebook button. (ReadWriteWeb)

Facebook Backlash Probably Doesn’t Matter

Yes, Facebook’s new ambitions have sparked a wildfire of tweets and Facebook status updates advising friends on how to opt out of the social networking site’s new sharing features. But have users overlooked the benefits of the personalization experience? Either way, the “Age of Facebook” is upon us and there’s nothing standing in its way – for now. (ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch)

Blippy’s Credit Card Mishap

Just after the social-oversharing site notched $11.2 million in funding, an Internet user found a way to find Blippy members’ credit card numbers by way of a simple Google query. Blippy and Google have dealt with the issue but this was a pretty big misstep for the blossoming site. (VentureBeat)

Hulu Plus: A Good Thing?
According to this Forrester analyst, yes, Hulu’s apparent plans for unveiling a subscription-based premium service is a good thing – and “a necessary next step to get us where we need to be.” So long as Hulu sells this as an offering of more content, more control and more devices, it should have little difficulty making this transition. (paidContent.org)

Facebook’s Virtual Currency Designs

Mark Zuckerberg told Bloomberg that “there’s just going to be one currency that people use” on all apps. Third-party currencies could soon be thrust into the shadows of Facebook, as it begins to implement Credits, which could act as a “Trojan horse” for an entrance into the PayPal game. (Inside Social Games)

The Web is About Sharing

While many users are more than happy to share a bevy of information about themselves online, they may be overlooking some important and potentially dangerous aspects of being so open to the world online. “People are not necessarily thinking about how long this information will stick around, or how it could be used and exploited by marketers,” said one ACLU representative. Ironically, this was written just before Blippy’s mistake was revealed. (NYTimes.com)

6 Tools to Test Your Page-Load Times

The new importance of page-load speeds is an interesting topic in light of Google’s recent announcement that it will take that factor into account in its ranking algorithm. Page Speed, YSlow and Pingdom Tools are among the six tools that webmasters can utilize to optimize their page-load times. (Search Engine Guide)

Facebook: Where Kidney Donations Happen

In the midst of so many uttering “Facebook” and “evil” in the same breath, it’s nice to read about an inspiring story of a mayor in Connecticut donating her kidney to one of her Facebook friends – and no, she didn’t use it as a political gimmick. (CNET)

Online Word of Mouth Rundown

A recent Forrester presentation revealed some interesting findings about online word of mouth. A Peer Influence Pyramid shows that there are three types of influencers: Social Broadcasters, Mass Influencers and Potential Influencers. This post recaps some tips on reaching out to these segments. For instance, Social Broadcasters don’t like traditional PR and press releases, so it’s best to pursue relationships with them. (Mashable)

Twitter Spring Cleaning

Who better to offer advice on cleaning up your Twitter feed than Gillette? The company offers a few neat tips on how to “give your Twitter account a spruce up for the spring,” including recommendations for sites to help users unfollow inactive accounts, find out who is following whom and filtering out the noise. (Mashable)

5 Types of Links

Links that generate traffic, elevate SERPs, boost PageRank, build reputation and act as backlinks for your backlinks are all fine and dandy, but each one has their own unique qualities and advantages. Find out what they are and why a mix of each is the best way to go. (Search Engine Journal)

Apple’s Transparency Problem

The notion that being open is better than being closed is pervasive on the Web – but do we understand why? Here’s an enlightening piece on the bigger picture (and problem) of Apple’s unwillingness to be as transparent as many of their storefronts. The company’s refusal to offer a clear set of guidelines presents a thick mess of censorship complications that is harmful not only to the media, but everyone. (Wired.com)

Facebook Open Graph Rundown

If you’re still wondering what the big fuss is about Facebook’s Open Graph project, this could be helpful. This post offer a handful of links and quick summaries of what some people are saying on the topic. The bottom line seems to be that there are threats and opportunities present, but users should be careful to no overemphasize either side. (MediaPost)

NYT vs. WSJ is About Digital

The Wall Street Journal unveiled its brand-spanking new local news section on Monday, giving us a peek at “the last great newspaper war.” While the main front seems to be in the arena of traditional print, this is really a matter of online audiences and dollars. (Wired.com)

Blippy Just a Blip on the Security Breaches Radar

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, nearly 354 million personal records have been hacked since 2005. The organization presents a list of every known breach, along with the number of records affected with each incident, including Blippy’s recent mishap. While the exact number of people affected by Blippy is unknown, it’s unlikely to have had the impact that other significant breaches have had. (VentureBeat, CNET)

Spotify Lies, Goes Social

The music service unveiled some pretty hefty social features yesterday, showing off new profiles that integrate Facebook accounts and an iTunes-like library. Now we just have to wait for it to come to the U.S. (paidContent.org)

Perks for Employees to Contribute Content

If you’re having a hard time getting others in your company to generate content, you’re not alone. Just take comfort in knowing that there are a handful of tangible ways to at least entice them to take part a bit more than they have been. Included are performance-based and monetary incentives, company acknowledgments and year-end prizes. (Search Engine Journal)

What Do Facebook ‘Like’s Really Mean?

After almost a week of digesting Facebook’s ambitious plans, it’s time to make sense of it all. This post discusses what Facebook’s Open Graph means for your traffic (hint: it’s good), search/SEO, local search and reputation. (WebProNews)

Malware Attacks iPad Users

According to BitDefender, a new malware attack is targeting iPad and Windows iTunes users by way of a fake iTunes update. The good news for proud iPad owners is that the malware won’t affect the iPad itself. (Mashable)

Android: Coming to a TV Near You?

Samsung, the biggest TV manufacturer in the world, seems interested in building TVs with Google’s Android OS build into them. These “Google TVs” aren’t a certainty just yet, but the interest is there. The benefits of using Android as opposed to other in-house or third-party software are clear: open source and lower costs. (CNET)

Fair Use: $4.7 Trillion in Revenue

Fair use contributed $4.7 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2007, according to a study. While intellectual property piracy gets beaten up on a daily basis, this seems to offer an interesting perspective to the matter. Maybe YouTube should take another look at those Hitler parody videos. (Wired.com, NPR)