October 10, 2008 4:24:23 PM CDT
(Newser) – Rupert Murdoch today insulted the rival of his popular MySpace, calling Facebook the “flavor of the month” and a mere “directory”—on the occasion of his social networking sinking to the No. 2 spot in worldwide traffic. The media mogul said Facebook was not a real social network, and pointed to MySpace’s entertainment focus, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
In May, Facebook had 123.9 million unique visitors to MySpace’s 114.6; the News Corp. subsidiary, however, appears to remain far more profitable. It has borrowed several features from Facebook of late, including a news feed and openness to third-party developers. Speaking at the same Cannes conference as Murdoch, News Corp’s COO allowed that competition has “really galvanized us.”
Source Sydney Morning Herald
Sep 26, 08 4:30 PM CDT If you’re a narcissist, even the relative anonymity of the Internet can’t hide your true colors, LiveScience reports. A new study shows Facebook pages are an accurate predictor of personality, with narcissists having on average more friends and posts, and more considered photos of themselves. Authors gave some 130 Facebook users personality tests, then examined their pages to find a correlation. More »
Sep 25, 08 3:50 AM CDT Apple’s iTunes meets its first serious challenge today with the launch of MySpace Music, CNET reports. The second-largest online social network has joined forces with Amazon and the world’s four biggest record labels to offer free streaming and paid downloads. The move also pitches media mogul and MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch against Apple CEO Steve Jobs. More »
Sep 10, 08 1:50 PM CDT AOL is overhauling its portal page, incorporating third-party email services and social-networking sites into AOL.com, paidContent reports. The redesigned site allows users to perform global status updates, so a message sent from AOL would show up on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and more; users will also be able to view friends’ activity from multiple sites on an incorporated feed. More »
Sep 6, 08 7:08 PM CDT The mini-missives that friends post on websites like Twitter create what experts call "ambient awareness"—a form of contact akin to picking up a friend's body language or stray remarks. Alone they add up to little, "but taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting," Clive Thompson writes in the New York Times. More »
Sep 2, 08 2:53 PM CDT Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer can rejoice: The defunct WB network relaunched last week as an interactive website. TheWB.com features on-demand episodes of its classic teen shows, alongside original programming aimed at the 16- to-34-year-old market, Advertising Age reports. The site also sports "sharing features," including an application that lets users add WB content to their Facebook pages. More »
Facebook • social networking • Rupert Murdoch • MySpace • News Corp
