Posted 10/28/08 at 01:06:41 PM by Paul Lilly

According to the U.S. intelligence community, terrorists might be turning to web 2.0 tools for their nefarious plans, including a specific reference to the popular Twitter social messaging service. Most of the report, which was published by the U.S. Army's 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, focuses on cell phone use, but a section titled Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter: A Red Teaming Perspective points out how terrorists could use Twitter to plot their schemes.

"Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance," the report warns. "This could theoretically be combined with targeting."

The reports lays out three different scenarios in which Twitter could be used for evil, including one in which a cyber terrorist operative could find a Twitter account belonging to someone serving in the U.S. Army. Information derived from the hacked account could then be used "for a targeting package (targeting in this sense could be for identity theft, hacking, and/or physical."

Does the report have a legitimate cause for concern? Give it a read, hit the jump, and let us know what you think.

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twitter, Social Networking, terrorist

Posted 10/24/08 at 04:15:20 AM by Pulkit Chandna

SRI International, a Silicon Valley startup, has armed three online military communities with its social network analytics technology called iLink. The technology will allow the disparate set of users of these online military communities to share information in a more efficient manner than previously imagined.

The social network analytics technology intelligently summons relevant information - content, discussions, and other network members – for users when they want it. "iLink learns to deliver the right answers to the right people at the right time," SRI International's David Gutelius explained. The military is currently dwelling upon the various ways it can utilize this technology.

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Software, Social Networking, us military, ilink, sri international

Posted 10/10/08 at 07:57:40 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Facebook is the most visited social network globally and Britain is no exception to this fact. The website is the second most popular website in the UK after Google UK, according to Hitwise. Its popularity in recent times can be gauged from the fact that it registered a staggering growth rate of 2905% from September 2006 to 2007. Of course, the website is probably never going to replicate its performance during that period – its halcyon days.  Its annual growth rate has come down to a more digestable level of 88%.

Its growth in the UK is certainly slowing down. There was only a 4% increase in its traffic between August and September, which is almost negligible compared to the 50% growth during the same period last year. Facebook’s average session time has also come down to 20 minutes.

Is there a message hidden in these numbers? Are social networking websites marching towards their popularity threshold?  Will there be a corrective decline in their traffic?

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Internet, facebook, Social Networking, traffic, websites, web, uk, britain, google uk

Posted 10/09/08 at 06:40:30 PM by Mark Edward Soper

The Eye-Fi line of Wi-Fi enabled SD cards just keeps getting more social. The October update of the Eye-Fi Manager, in addition to adding à la carte support for geotagging, webshare, and hotspot access service updates, also adds support Twitter and RSS integration. You can use Twitter to tell your contacts when you have new photos posted on line, and RSS support enables you to publish pictures in real-time to your preferred RSS aggregator.

Eye-Fi now offers cards through its online store as well as at an ever-growing list of retailers.

RSS logo courtesy Variawa.co.za.

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twitter, digital photography, digital imaging, web 2.0, Social Networking, SD, Eye-Fi, rss, Secure Digital

Posted 10/08/08 at 06:33:37 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Now that the possibility of Microsoft acquiring Yahoo has been wiped out, Microsoft is steadily trying to improve its standing amongst search engines through strategic acquisitions and deals. To this end, its Live search service has now been integrated into Facebook. Users can now search the web using Live search from the familiar search bar on the top right corner of the popular social networking website.

The search results are displayed within Facebook and are accompanied by advertisements on the right side - as is the norm with search ads. This particular move is being viewed as a giant stride – at least potentially - for Live search, although Facebook will still has to convince users to use the search feature.

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microsoft, Internet, facebook, Live Search, Social Networking, search engine, web

Posted 10/01/08 at 11:29:47 AM by Paul Lilly

Newsflash: The internet can be pretty damned groovy. So much so that Australian men are finding happiness from being online, whether it means fragging with buddies or getting neck-deep in social networking sites. But is the internet gender specific?

According to the "Happiness Index" study, which surveyed over 8,500 Aussies ranging in age from 18 on up to 64, more than half of the male respondents find happiness by surfing the web, whereas only 39 percent of women respondents felt the same way, instead preferring family time.

"This index gives insight into the way we tick, with the results being useful to Australian businesses who want to better communicate with their customers," said Karen Phillips, managing director of The Leading Edge, who conducted the survey.

So what else did the survey reveal? How about that more men (48 percent) than women (40 percent) find happiness between the sheets, or that more women than men prefer reading a book and eating comfort food.

We needed a survey for this?

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online, Social Networking, survey

Posted 09/13/08 at 11:34:30 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Even though many managers find the sly social networking habits of their employees detrimental to their organization’s output, a new survey has revealed that a considerable number of bosses screen social networking sites before hiring people. Twenty two percent of bosses value social networking profiles of job applicants as much as their résumés, a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com revealed. The figure has shot by a 100% from 11% in 2006. And 34% of those managers that scrutinize social networking profile of candidates have the audacity to even drop candidates based on their profiles. The survey sampled the opinion of 3,169 managers. So rush to put your online house in order, your future boss might just land uninvited.

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facebook, myspace, Social Networking, survey, jobs

Posted 08/19/08 at 11:11:07 AM by Paul Lilly

Another social news voting system gets added to the web today as Yahoo opens up its Buzz to the public. Prior to the public release, only about 400 publishers could contribute new links to the service, though anyone could see them and vote buzz up or down what they consider to be the most/least interesting news stories.

The release comes with little fanfare or hype, an interesting move for a service that hopes to contend with similar sites like Digg and Reddit. Separating itself from the pack, Buzz's algorithms also analyze search engine popularity rather than remain purely community driven, and Yahoo's editors still program the Yahoo.com front page.

While it's far too early to predict how Buzz will fare, the social service could gain some traction both by leveraging other Yahoo communities, and by luring participation by having some of the most popular news items posted on its main page.

Thoughts on Buzz - can you dig(g) it?

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windows, Software, digg, Yahoo, Social Networking, buzz