MarCom Professional

As you'll have seen from the newspapers today and yesterday, AOL have just snapped up social networking site Bebo for the bargain price of $850 million. But what will become of Bebo under the helm of the internet giant that has a penchant for buying smaller companies? Let's look at some of the other websites or companies AOL has bought in the past, and see what became of them...

• Ubique maker of Virtual Places - bought in September 1995.... eventually abandoned by AOL in favour of other chat programs, due to the difficulty of controlling avatars.
• The CompuServe ISP - bought in February 1998...

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The boffins at Nielsen have put out a report showing that social networking use has seen a drop in user numbers for the first time in ages - and it's getting picked up by a lot of major news outlets, including the Guardian, the Times, Telegraph, Forbes and even the Mirror. But are the numbers a good indication of the "Facebook Fatigue" they're all hailing them to be? The answer is a definite maybe...

Ignoring the fact that Facebook seems to be bearing the brunt of the reporting (despite MySpace seeing the same drop in numbers), the numbers match up pretty well with the numbers that Facebook gives advertisers as part of the Social Ads platform - the same numbers I've been basing my graphs on below. More...

(Originally Poster on the Tamar Social Media Blog)

Here's some tips from a seasoned Facebook user, which should help even the most experienced Social Networker get a little more out of our favourite social network...

1. Added applications don't have to sit on your profile

Contrary to what the default options for most applications would have you believe, adding and interacting with an application on Facebook DOESN'T automatically mean that it has to clutter up your profile. As well as getting an opportunity to restrict this at the "add new application" stage...

...you can also click "applications" in your left-hand menu at any time, and customize it from there too. More...

I've collated a little quiz for you to try. All the answers were based on stats provided by Facebooks new Social Ads tool, and are correct at the time of writing. Come back tomorrow for the answers!

1) Which are you more likely to find UK people playing - Cricket or Rugby?
2) Where would the Chili Peppers sell more concert tickets - UK or Canada?
3) UK Film fans found which more enjoyable - Toy Story or Monsters Inc?
4) Which would French fans prefer to watch - Grease or High School Musical?
5) Which is more popular with US men - Classical Music or Musical Theatre?



6) Which city contains more single ladies (18+) - New York, London, Washington DC or Montreal?
7) Which Country would be best for wedding planners (i.e. More...

.. But just how 'new' are these additions?

My curiosity was piqued this morning when I received the new monthly newsletters from MySpace and Bebo. Glossing over the fact that both went straight to my junk mail, and noting the coincidence that both arrived within an hour of each other, I was excited to see they promised some great "new" features on the two social networks.

However, my excitement was soon replaced by a nagging feeling of Deja Vu which I just couldn't shake off for some reason. Perhaps you'll get it too - let's look at these "new" features in a bit more detail... More...

As I will be heading to New York this week for the SMX Social event, I thought I would share my Top 10 tips for having a happy social networking life. There are all sorts of articles in the news at the moment with scare stories of social networking gone wrong, but what sort of things should you be careful of when living your life online?

So, I've joined Marcom professional - though I have to admit I am not sure why. I guess it's mainly to make sure I'm not missing out - but I'm not entirely sure I have enough of a life to spread so thinly over so many social networks.

 What makes this network stand out over all the others, bearing in mind I think I have pretty much everyone I know on one or the other network. I look forward to finding out...