Facebook Mounts Technical PR Push
November 26, 2012
Info World recently reported on Facebook’s appetite for crunching data reaching new highs in the article, “Facebook Pushes the Limits of Hadoop.”
According to the article, since the social media giant has a billion users and a requirement to analyze more than 105 terabytes every 30 minutes, it has reached the upper limits of raw Hadoop capacity. The desperate need for more data crunching has lead to the company’s launch of the Prism Project, which supports geographically distributed Hadoop data stores.
In order to compensate for Hadoop’s capacity deficiency, the article states:
“Facebook’s business analysts push the business in a variety of ways. They rely heavily on Hive, which enables them to use Hadoop with standard business intelligence tools, as well as Facebook’s homegrown, closed source, end-user tool, HiPal. Hive, an open source project Facebook created, is the most widely used access layer within the company to query Hadoop using a subset of SQL. To make it even easier for business people, the company created HiPal, a graphical tool that talks to Hive and enables data discovery, query authoring, charting, and dashboard creation.”
Facebook plans to open-source prism soon but it is pretty urgent to start generating revenue from mobile in order to supplement the money it has lost in advertising. Will it succeed? We will see.
Jasmine Ashton, November 26, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Facebook Voter Experiment
September 28, 2012
Discover Magazine hosts in interesting read on the impact of information within social networks. The Not Exactly Rocket Science Blog post is titled “A 61-Million-Person Experiment on Facebook Shows How Ads and Friends Affect Our Voting Behaviour.” Blogger Ed Yong describes the huge experiment in which, on congressional election day 2010, Facebook worked with researcher James Fowler from the University of California, San Diego.
Fowler’s team wanted to see if they could influence Facebook users to vote by applying social (media) pressure. Almost everyone who visited the site on that day saw a special Election Day message which displayed an “I Voted” link, a link to find their polling place, and a counter with a running total of users who (claimed they) had voted by that point. The vast majority also saw the profile pictures of any of their friends who had already voted. One control group saw the election messaging minus the pictures of their friends. Another control group missed out on the special message altogether.
See the article for specifics, but the upshot is this: users who saw that their friends had cast a vote seem to have been prodded to head to the polls themselves. Mobilizing voters is indeed a noteworthy thing, and this was a clever experiment. I’m most interested, though, in the following glimpse of the future:
“The internet, and social networks like Facebook, could [allow] scientists to carry out research on an unprecedented scale. It’s cheap and the results have ‘external validity’, meaning that they’re relevant to what people actually do in life, rather than in a stark controlled laboratory.
“‘It’s a brand new world!’ says Fowler. He thinks that such experiments could help psychologists to do detailed studies on very specific groups of people. ‘[That] is the first step in understanding not just average human behaviour, but the behaviour of specific types of individuals in specific types of environments,’ he says. ‘There are many human psychologies, not just one.'”
Advancing psychological understanding is a worthy goal. But how do we all feel about being unwittingly, if anonymously, enrolled in such experiments? We had better figure that out, because I see many more coming our way. Figuratively, of course; we won’t know such projects exist until (and unless) they are trumpeted in the news.
Cynthia Murrell, September 28, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Facebook May Be Jumping on the Search Bandwagon
September 27, 2012
It is no secret that Facebook and Google have been duking it out for a while now. Google created GooglePlus in attempt to out social the social media giant. It seems only natural that Facebook would do the same. Business Insider recently reported on Facebook’s alleged search efforts in the article, “Facebook is Going to Build Its Own Search Engine!”
According to the article, when speaking at Tech Crunch Disrupt, Mark Zuckerberg candidly spoke of the fact that Facebook currently has 1 million queries a day and is pretty much a search engine without trying to be.
However, Zuckerberg hinted that they might start trying soon:
“He said that search is increasingly headed towards answering people’s questions. Facebook, which has a trove of data on users, is ‘uniquely positioned’ to deliver answers for users. Facebook has a team of engineers working on improving the search engine. He said, ‘At some point, we’ll do it.’”
Google has built its empire on search, if Facebook is able to do the same, it may be able to knock the search king off of its thrown once and for all.
Jasmine Ashton, September 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
How Facebook is Playing Close Attention to Your Internet Activity
September 24, 2012
Those who choose not to “like” anything on Facebook for fear that the social media giant will use our interests, gender, location and other information against us, you may be right. Business Insider recently reported on some disconcerting news in the article “This is How Facebook is Tracking Your Internet Activity.”
According to the article, Facebook is indeed out to sell your personal information to advertisers through the use of “trackers.” Trackers are defined as “a request that a web page tries to make your browser perform that will share information intended to record, profile, or share your online activity.”
Albine privacy analyst Sarah Downey explained why users should pay more attention to trackers, and block them:
“In addition to invading your privacy, these tracking requests can consume large amounts of data. And transferring lots of data takes time. Generally, the more tracking requests on a website, the slower that website loads. That’s why DNT+ gets you surfing at 125% of the normal speed and with 90% of the bandwidth, compared to a browser without DNT+ running.”
While not all cookies are used for tracking purposes, some are just used to store information. However, it is the broader scope of these requests that is proving to be both problematic and scary.
Jasmine Ashton, September 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Alternative Niche Social Networks Expanding and Succeeding
September 12, 2012
Social networking is here to stay. However, it seems the kings of the market, Facebook and Twitter, have some decent competition arising. “Six Alternative Social Networks” on ZeroPaid informs us of alternative social networks that have seen an increase in global market share. Obvious forerunners were Instagram and Pinterest, but other networks are also seeing a boost.
We learn in the article:
“[James Murray, Digital Insights Manager at Experian] also revealed that the future looks bright for alternative social networks, citing technological advancements as a key factor in the increased number of alternative sites:
‘Over the next 12 months, we expect to see a proliferation of niche social networks. Offering deeper functionality combined with a lower technical barrier to entry will mean new leaders in social media being created in a matter of days versus weeks and months.’”
While the numbers for the little guys arising in the social networking arena are nowhere near reaching the gladiators Facebook and Twitter, it is exciting to see where the community is heading. Newcomers are successful when they offer something different and identify a specific niche to reach consumers. No one is going to be the “next Facebook,” but there are still plenty of open opportunities for new networks.
Andrea Hayden, September 12, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Wolfram Alpha Shows the World Some Facebook Love
September 11, 2012
An exciting reveal from Wolfram Alpha is the release of the capability for anyone to do personal analytics with their Facebook data. Stephen Wolfram, creator of Wolfram Alpha, posted “Wolfram Alpha Personal Analytics for Facebook” on his blog recently, and tells us about the multiple possibilities of this data. The first round of capabilities lets users search and analyze their own Facebook history as well as their network of friends.
Wolfram asserts in the blog post:
“And today I’m excited to announce that we’ve developed a first round of capabilities in Wolfram|Alpha to let anyone do personal analytics with Facebook data. Wolfram|Alpha knows about all kinds of knowledge domains; now it can know about you, and apply its powers of analysis to give you all sorts of personal analytics. And this is just the beginning; over the months to come, particularly as we see about how people use this, we’ll be adding more and more capabilities.”
This free service generates a report that analyzes everything from a user’s check-ins and photos to responses to posts. Wolfram Alpha Personal Analytics for Facebook also allows you to share the data you gather on, you guessed it, Facebook. This extensive and impressive showing of love to Facebook is apparently just the beginning from Wolfram Alpha, which plans to add more features and capabilities as feedback begins to roll in.
Andrea Hayden, September 11, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Facebook Called to Improve Search Functionality to Compete
September 10, 2012
A call for Facebook to do a better job with on-site search is being repeated from leading advertising industry analysts. One of the next steps for the social networking giant needs to be integrating on-site search and ad targeting functions regarding these searches. In an article on MediaPost titled, “Facebook Must Improve Site Search to Stay Competitive,” we learn that better site search could (and should) improve ROI for advertisers on the social networking site.
The article also informs us:
“For Facebook to ‘truly go after Google’ it will need to compete in search, and Google must go after social to compete with Facebook, according to Brian Solis, principal at research group Altimeter Group, and Pivot conference editorial director. ‘It took years for Google to create an algorithm to serve up the correct pages from a search query, but Facebook doesn’t have the luxury of time,’ he said.”
With the stock price looking anemic, Facebook may want to follow advice and get in gear. No one at the company would respond to comments, but it is predicted that revenue should begin to increase if Facebook continues to roll out new ad products and improve search functionality of the site.
Andrea Hayden, September 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Former Facebooker Airs Social Doubts
August 29, 2012
Ex-Facebook employee Katherine Losse has become a rebel, of sorts. The Washington Post declares, “Refugee from Facebook Questions The Social Media Life.” The former Zuckerberg ghostwriter found herself growing uncomfortable with the level of privacy invasion her employer, and other tech companies, were engaged in. So, she cashed in some of her valuable Facebook stock, moved to a tiny Texas town, and wrote a tell-all: “The Boy Kings: A Journey Into the Heart of the Social Network”. Oh, and she took down her own Facebook page. For a little while, at least.
Losse cites an encounter with a colleague, an engineer who was working on video-upload functionality. She tells us he made, and circulated on an internal Facebook page, a video of her napping in a car during a road trip. The article relates:
“‘The day before, I could just be in a car being in a car. Now my being in a car is a performance that is visible to everyone,’ Losse said, exasperation creeping into her voice. ‘It’s almost like there is no middle of nowhere anymore.’
Losse began comparing Facebook to the iconic 1976 Eagles song ‘Hotel California,’ with its haunting coda, ‘You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave.’ She put a copy of the record jacket on prominent display in a house she and several other employees shared not far from the headquarters.”
Ah, the Eagles; it is a classic song. The article spends some time discussing Losse’s book, Facebook in general, and Losse’s new home in Marfa, NC. Not a bad read, even if it does have a bit of a conspiracy-theory feel to it. It wraps up with a description of Losses’ current search for balance in her own life between technology and the real world. Touching.
Cynthia Murrell, August 29, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Is There a Stalking App?
August 4, 2012
This next article is not about search. . . it is about stalking. CNet News reports, “Stalkbook: Stalk Anyone, Even if You’re Not Facebook Friends.” The dodgy service, developed by MIT grad Oliver Yeh, starts with a simple concept: cache the login information of Facebook friends to see friends’-of-friends pages that would otherwise be hidden. Yeh is building on this idea to develop a roster of such logins so that, eventually, pretty much anyone will be able to see anyone else’s Facebook pages. Oh, great!
Writer Emil Protalinski observes:
“Technically speaking, it is possible to do. He would have to build a very large network of individuals willing to use his app for such purposes, cache all the information he can, all while avoiding Facebook’s wrath as more and more users start using Stalkbook.
“Unfortunately for Yeh and fortunately for Facebook’s users, Stalkbook goes against Facebook’s terms of service (Statement of Rights and Responsibilities). In the Safety section of Facebook’s TOS, point number five clearly states: ‘You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.'”
The app is not yet live, and Facebook officials are aware of its existence. When Protalinski asked the social networking site for comment, a spokesperson pointed him to their Data Use Policy. Yes, Facebook’s terms-of-use shout at someone like Yeh, “you must not do this!”
What a relief! There’s no way this thing could get off the ground illicitly, right?
Cynthia Murrell, August 4, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Facebook Advertising and Business Model Flawed
August 2, 2012
It seems there is more bad news for social networking king, Facebook. In addition to new lows in its share price and rough second-quarter earnings, a newly released study suggests that Facebook’s business model may be broken.
EyeTrackShop, a firm that measures audience attention, released a study that tracked user attention to ads on Facebook’s website and apps. Users had a particularly bad recall for ads that had been seen on the iPhone and generally neglected the ads overall. The article on ReadWriteWeb, “Facebook’s Mobile Strategy is Flawed, Eye-Tracking Study Indicates,” shares more on the study’s results:
“During yesterday’s call, Facebook executives revealed that more than half of its users regularly access Facebook through mobile sites. That raised concerns among analysts and investors, as nearly 85% of Facebook revenue comes from advertising, which the company has been struggling to implement on mobile platforms. The executives stressed that while their mobile strategy is in its early stages, early tests suggest that the limited number of mobile ads that have rolled out have performed well and delivered a return on investment to advertisers.”
For a company that relies so heavily upon paid advertising, this is certainly bad, as well as surprising, news. We think that a problem of this magnitude could have been noted earlier on and are left to wonder: Perhaps Facebook has other flaws as well?
Andrea Hayden, August 2, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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