Archive for August 23rd, 2009
Headlines – 22 Aug 2009
by admin on Aug.23, 2009, under Headlines
This week we’ll introduce a new feature, aptly titled “Headlines”. In many cases news stories have varying layers of complexity that lend themselves to blog-length postings. Many times though, there are just short items or developing stores that, while worthy of note, need to have full comment withheld for a while. Now, you’ll find some of these stories here.
A Shoppers’ Rebellion at Whole Foods
This week Kevin Sack reported in the New York Times that what amounts to viral anti-marketing campaign was launched against Whole Foods Market. In the August 12th Wall Street Journal, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey came out against government involvement in health care. Mr. Sack reports that the Boycott Whole Foods group on Facebook stood at 22,000 members, and the Whole Foods website has logged over 15,000 comments.
Commentary: It seems Mr. Mackey needs to learn that analyst calls aren’t the only time a CEO’s voice is taken to be the voice of the company, regardless of what he’s saying.
Twitter API getting location data
Rafe Needleman from CNET reported this week that Twitter will soon allow geolocation data to be embeedded in tweets. Geolocation data would allow developers to map the source location of tweets, allowing Twitterers who are nearby to find each other. Quoting Biz Stone from Twitter, Mr Needleman writes “It’s easy to imagine how this might be interesting at an event like a concert or even something more dramatic like an earthquake.”
Commentary: The downside is that unless there is a feature to defeat this functionality, location anonymity becomes a thing of the past. So much for saying you’re checking in at the office when you’re actually at the ball game!
Facebook Buys FriendFeed: What Does It Mean?
Writing for PC World magazine, JR Raphael writes on the implications of Facebook’s acquisition of Friendfeed. Friendfeed is little known outside the digerati but has gained a wider following as result of exposure on Leo Laporte’s This Week in Tech. While it’s still unclear what this means for either platform, the pedigree of the Friendfeed developers could mean the code is a big win for Facebook.
Opera to Be Performed via Twitter
On August 11th, Time magazine published an Associated Press story about London’s Royal Opera House’s intention to perform an opera who’s libretto is currently being composed via Twitter. The article provides the link twitter.com/youropera to give you the opportunity to read or contribute.
The Financial Times of London reported this week that MySpace has acquired the iLike music application company for approximately $20 million.
Commentary: This becomes a rather complicated arrangement, because iLike is Facebook’s default music application, but Facebook dethroned MySpace as the king of social networking sites. If Facebook contiues to use iLike, they will be bolstering their own competition. If they stop and move to another application, like an enhanced version of Qloud for example, does that diminish the value of iLike? Or does it drive traffic back to MySpace? Time will tell.
Promo has pair driving next year’s car today
Sadia Latifi wrote in the Charlotte Observer about Ford Motor Company’s “Fiesta Movement”. Ford sent out a call for potential agents who would be willing to drive their 2010 Fiesta – which is not yet sold in the United State – for six months in exchange for blogging and microblogging about the car and their experience with it. In addition to having a car to drive for free, Ford is also paying for gas and insurance for their “agents”.
Commentary: People have always wondered how to monetize Twitter and Facebook – it seems bartering might be the next big wave.
