Posts tagged Real
[STUDY] A Friend of a Friend in Real Life But Not on Facebook
Feb 3rd
Picture this: You’re at a party, and your good friend introduces you to one of their friends. You two hit it off, and boom – a new friend! You’ve just become friends with a friend of a friend. In real life, this is a common occurrence. On Facebook, a friend of a friend isn’t necessarily an actual friend.
A new study from Pew Internet discovered this and an array of other interesting facts about peoples’ Facebook friendships. The researchers found that most peoples’ friend lists were not very interconnected. In a friend list with a density of 1, everyone knows everyone. On Facebook the density is quite low at .12 with a maximum density of .42, which means that your chances of knowing a friend of a friend on Facebook fall between 12% and 42%. In its its S-1 filing on Wednesday, Facebook toted 100 billion friendships. What it probably meant to say was 100 billion connections, many of which are dormant.
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To understand the friend ties idea, here’s an example. Say you have 10 friends; this means that the number of possible friendship ties among everyone in network is 45. The average Facebook user has 245 friends, which means there are 29,890 possible friendship ties in the network. With an average density of .12 and a total number of 245 friends, that means there are only 12% of 29,890 friendship linkages between “friends.” A 1992 study from Pew found that offline social ties had a density of .36, or three times the density size of Facebook’s.
“We suspect that Facebook networks are of lower density because of their ability to allow ties that might otherwise have gone dormant to remain persistent over time,” the study says. Those ties that should have gone dormant are the people who you’ve Facebook friended from grade school, middle school, high school and other pubescent times in life. These are the people whose friend requests you naïvely and curiously accepted. This is where the Facebook “drama” potentially begins. “Facebook is a giant emotional locker,” writes Andy Kessler on the Wall Street Journal.
“We expect that new Facebook users typically start with a core group of close, interconnected friends,” the study says.”But over time their friend list becomes larger and less intertwined, particularly as they discover (and are discovered by) more distant friends from different parts and different times in their lives.”
The study also reports a curious finding: People are more likely to be friends with people who have more friends than they do. They are less likely to become friends with people who have less friends than them. Hence, the popular kid syndrome: Everyone wants to be friends with the popular kid, and few willingly try to buddy up with the loner who sits alone at lunch.
Tagging friends in Facebook photos is the only activity that the study says is associated with having more close ties. These people tend to be friends who the user interacts with both online and offline. This does not account for those awkward photo taggings that happen on the fly, without a user’s permission. Lifehacker’s Jason Chen argues that no, you shouldn’t tag someone in a photo without their permission. For if someone is truly your friend on- and offline, they’ll show some rexpect by first asking if you’d like to be tagged in the photo they’re about to upload. When it comes to more innocuous taggings, such as a status update or photo, permission isn’t completely necessary, but it’s still quite welcome.
The study reinforces findings from past research, which suggest that heavy Facebook users are more trusting than others.
Images via Nikki Lynette’s Facebook page and Shutterstock.
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Breaking Down the Myths of NFC, Mobile Payments and Real World Adoption
Feb 1st
From a technological perspective, near field communications (NFC) is one of the most powerful and prominent innovations to come about in the last several years. But from a functional, real world standpoint, NFC is a technology without a clear-cut purpose. What problems does it actually solve? When it comes payments, how much different is a tap with your smartphone than a swipe of your debit card? What about the ability to open doors or share content with your friends? There are solutions already available on mobile devices for many of these “problems.” So, what is the real future for NFC?
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NFC Growth Not Tied To Payments?
Those that read the ReadWriteWeb series on mobile payments know that I have never really been all that high on NFC. To me it is a curiosity that I keep track of because the technology is extremely interesting. The ability to tie a mobile wallet to a physical retail space through NFC has some disruptive opportunities and could be a game-changer in how money flows from one place to another.
“At the same time, it is hard to ignore that NFC is not yet a leading differentiator while customers shop for new phones (most are simply unaware),” wrote Cherian Abraham at Drop Labs today. “Solutions outside of payments that leverage NFC are still maturing (e.g. authentication, access control, discovery and media sharing to name a few).”
Abraham is right. Outside of payments, there is a significant development community working on NFC related material. One of the cheekier uses was announced today. Something called “Sound Pound,” which ” lets you share an audio greeting (a Sound Pound) with friends just by touching phones. It’s like a fist pound (or a high five) with sound!”
Honestly, I cannot tell if this is a step back or a step forward. It reminds me of some of the first popular iOS apps that did nothing but make fart noises.
Sequent on NFC “Myths”
Companies like Sequent, a NFC software maker, have a stake in seeing NFC rolled out to more than just payments. Sequent’s team shared some thoughts on what CEO Drew Weinstein believes are the “myths” about NFC.
Here are Sequent’s myths with my reaction to each.
The mobile wallet is important: “Google Wallet is the predominant storyline in the NFC dialogue, but NFC isn’t very interesting if it just serves to recreate a physical wallet on a phone. Digital wallets are simply one kind of mobile app, and NFC only becomes a dynamic technology when it goes beyond the wallet and is applied to all apps. NFC needs a more consumer-centric approach, one that offers people a variety of NFC-enabled apps that make their lives easier.”
- Reaction: I actually agree with this one. Mobile wallets at this point are some kind eclectic choice by some technological early adopters. I do not have a mobile wallet and do not expect to have one for some time, whether that revolves around NFC or some other technology. My experience is probably closer to the consumer experience than what Google, MasterCard and the banks would like you to believe.
Payment is the best use case to drive adoption of NFC technology on mobile devices:
NFC is really a technology solution looking for a problem: “Those same [banks and payment processors] parties have not been successful in defining the commercial and operational dynamics of mobile payments, due to friction with mobile network operators (like Verizon) and operating system owners (like Google). Merchants have also been slow to install the new payment terminals needed for NFC. This offers a huge opportunity for non-payment NFC use cases – such as ticketing (like movies or concerts), transit, access control, and tag-enabled advertising and promotion – to lead the NFC mobile consumer adoption curve.”
- Reaction: This is the top-down approach to NFC and mobile payments. Really, is user behavior going to change just because the large corporations of the world start brow beating people to use NFC? No. Adoption is going to have to start from the infrastructure layer, not the app layer and that means more use cases for NFC outside of the payment arena.
NFC is really a technology solution looking for a problem: “NFC solves a very real problem – enabling mobile apps to interact in the physical world. Technology is about removing friction, making things more intuitive and enriched. The ability to bring two NFC-enabled devices together to allow instant, secure and auditable data exchange is not trivial.”
- Reaction: While Sequent posits this as a myth, I actually agree with the statement. I do not think that payment delivery needs a fundamental overhaul. Nor do I think NFC is an absolute must-have technology that bridges the digital and physical worlds. It is the fringe benefit of technological growth, not a quintessential piece of a digitally connected world. As a professional early adopter, I will likely have NFC and use it in a variety of use cases. As a consumer, I am not sure I realized that NFC solved a problem until I have the solution actually in my hand.
Overall, NFC will likely be a common technology that is prominently used within the next three to five years. That has more to do with the fact that companies and payment processors will start to adopt it and push it on consumers than any real consumer groundswell in which users realize they absolutely must have NFC and have it right now.
Note: This story has been edited from its original version.
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Power Marketing Offers Real Estate SEO Services To Improve Search Engine Rankings – Connectus.net (press release)
Jan 31st
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Power Marketing Offers Real Estate SEO Services To Improve Search Engine Rankings
Connectus.net (press release) Power Marketing is offering real estate SEO services to improve your ranking in search engines. Power Marketing is a full-service real estate marketing firm that offers real estate SEO services to improve a company's website rankings in search engines. |
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Third party real estate sites’ alleged black hat SEO tactics – AGBeat
Jan 28th
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Third party real estate sites' alleged black hat SEO tactics
AGBeat For years, third party real estate media sites have been under scrutiny by SEO experts for using what some call “questionable tactics” as they are accused of hurting real estate brokerages' ability to achieve search engine visibility for their own … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
[UPDATED] Anonymous Trolls Tech Bloggers, But Who Are The Real Trolls?
Jan 25th
Noticed some Facebook downtime? We have. It’s intermittent, but Facebook has some trouble with uptime right now, and a Twitter account representing Anonymous claims responsibility (somewhat obliquely, in order to troll tech bloggers).
In some kind of conflation of Facebook with the government, a puppet representing Anonymous threatened Facebook with an attack in retaliation for SOPA/PIPA (though other Anonymous sources denied involvement). That was scheduled for three days from now. The organization has declared war against Facebook in the past, but Facebook is no ordinary target. It’s the cream of the crop. It’s practically never down. Has Anonymous finally cracked it?
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cough cough, uh, looks like facebook.com is having a slight accessibility problem. #Anonymous
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 26, 2012
Well, no. Facebook is still working right now, but not reliably. It has completely failed to load in a few of our tests. Thomas Knoll posted a screenshot of the outage on Google+ at 5:17 p.m.. (Update 7:10 p.m.: We’ve confirmed with Facebook that the site issues this afternoon were caused by a code push. That’s all it was.)
Just two days ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) drafted a new readiness plan for dealing with attacks from the likes of Anonymous. Maybe President Obama’s “cyber threats” from last night’s State of the Union address are real, after all.
UPDATE 5:45 p.m.: The @YourAnonNews account claims to have called off the attack (again indirectly).
You are now free to play Farmville and Mobwars.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 26, 2012
UPDATE 6:37 p.m.: One “official” Anonymous outlet denies responsibility outright.
#Facebook.com is NOT under denial of service attack. STOP LYING.
— AnonOps (@anonops) January 26, 2012
Now the first one says it trolled us. And it did. But I ask you: Who are the real trolls here? The ones who make stuff up, or the ones who report their made-up stuff as dubious, probably made-up stuff?
Facebook down? goo.gl/lZo9n — Bwahaha, trolled! #Anonymous ^_^
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 26, 2012
See also: How Could Anonymous “Destroy” Facebook?
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Why Google+ Now Allows Pseudonyms, But Still Requires Real Names
Jan 24th
Google’s announcement that they will allow pseudonyms still requires identity verification. Q. Why is anyone surprised that a certified identity provider needs to verify your identity? A. Because of the Google+ social network indoctrination.
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Real Voters’ Disinterest In Anti-Piracy Legislation May Give SOPA New Life
Jan 24th
Interest in news about last week’s protest against anti-piracy legislation was highest among people under the age of 30, according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey. The survey was conducted Jan. 19-22 among 1,002 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
While the Stop Online Piracy Act that was pending before the House and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act, are on indefinite hold after last week’s protests, the Pew poll shows little interest in the protests outside of those under 30. The Pew poll may have politicians rethinking their decision to take political cover in the immediate aftermath of the protest, which included a day-long shutdown of Wikipedia, as people under 30 traditionally have low voter turnout rates.
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An aide to a House member that supports SOPA said it was too soon to tell how lawmakers would work to move anti-piracy legislation. The aide, who asked that he and his boss not be identified, had not seen the Pew report, which was released Tuesday.
“But I think, like anything else, if there’s not strong constituent opposition, it makes it easier for us to move forward on issues like this,” he said.
The poll, it should be noted, covers news interest for the four days following Wednesday’s protest, meaning interest may have been conceivably higher amongst all age groups on Jan. 18, the day news coverage was most exhaustive. The poll also asks respondents to rank the story they were most interested in, so lower ratings in older age groups does not necessarily mean people over 30 have no interest in anti-piracy legislation.
The 23% interest rate in Web protest stories for people between the ages of 18 and 29 was higher than interest in any other age group covered by the story, as well as interest by people between 18 and 29 in the presidential election (21%) and the Italian cruise ship accident (16%).
Across all age groups, only 7% of respondents listed the Web protest as the story they were most interested in for the four-day period. Overall, 26% of respondents said they were most interested in news about the cruise ship accident, followed by news about the elections (23%) and the economy (10%).
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Google+ Updates Real Name Policy to Allow “Alternate Names”
Jan 24th
Google VP of Product Bradley Horowitz has announced a series of changes to the Google+ real names policy. Google+ will now support “alternate names,” such as nicknames, maiden names or names in languages with non-Roman characters. Alternate names will appear in the main profile, as well as when a cursor is held over the name. Alternate names will appear in “other areas of Google+” as the feature is implemented over “the next few weeks.”
The update also broadens support for “established pseudonyms,” such as “Lady Gaga,” which up to this point have just snuck by on a case-by-case basis. There’s now a more uniform process by which a user can appeal if Google flags her or his name. Users can now submit off-site references to an established identity, scanned documentation (like a driver’s license), or a link to an online identity with a “meaningful following.”
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Google says the review process will take “a few days” and may require “further information” for proof. While a name is under review, the old name will still be displayed. There’s more information on the policy in Google’s support forum, and the features will roll out over the next few days.
Google’s initial handling of pseudonyms on Google+ was draconian. Critics argued that a real-names policy endangers politically active users, and that it’s not even how real peoples’ identities work. In response, Google’s Vic Gundotra said in October that Google+ pseudonym support was coming. Today’s addition of “alternate names” at least allows users to display an identity of their choice, but Google will still actively patrol the network to establish users’ identities.
UPDATE 3:40 p.m.: Violet Blue doesn’t think this update solves the problem at all.
UPDATE 7:13 p.m.: Kevin Marks has captured Google engineer Yonatan Zunger’s explanation of the policy, making clear that Google only cares that the names on Google+ sound real. According to Zunger, Google doesn’t care whether you use your own name, only that it looks like a name to Google’s algorithm. Short online handles are not allowed.
@JonMwords it was never a “Real Names” policy, but “Common Names”, ie your fake names must look American to a bot: j.mp/yl64TJ
— Kevin Marks (@kevinmarks) January 24, 2012
Does this update satisfy the needs of pseudonymous users, or should Google go further? Sound off in the comments.
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Meet the “Real” 4G
Jan 20th
It is no secret that what the U.S. cellular carriers call “4G” is really not 4G at all. It is really more like “pre-4G” or “3G+.” Real “4G”, as defined by the International Telecommunications Union, does not exist. Yesterday though, we got one step closer.
The ITU, a branch of the United Nations, announced yesterday the official standards for the next generation of wireless technology. Dubbed IMT-Advanced, the standard lays the rules of the road for what technologies like LTE and WiMax will eventually in to. What will the real 4G look like?
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To understand IMT-Advanced, you need to know how we got to this point. If IMT-Advanced is truly the fourth generation of wireless technology, there obviously are three generations that preceded it. Let’s take a quick look at the history.
1G (Pre-1990): Analog Mobile Phone System and Frequency Division Multiple Access (AMPS & FDMA). The forefather of all cellular technology. Think of satellite or car phones or those really big things that used to require a brief case to lug around. I am always reminded of Martin Cooper and the original one-pound cellphone and how people used to gawk at him while he walked down the street in New York City chatting away.
2G (1991-2000): Time Division Multiple Access and Code Division Multiple Access (TDMA & CDMA). This is where the great rift between AT&T and Verizon originated. Ma Bell used the TDMA standard while Big Red has been built off of CDMA and its evolutions. This is the era when cellphone became more commonplace but by no means ubiquitous. Cellular adoption ramped up through the 1990s as phones evolved, going from the relative blocks of Kyocera and Nokia to the concept of flip phones that would dominate well into the first half of the 2000s.
2.5G (2000-Present): General Packet Radio System (GRPS) and CDMA 1x. The rise of the data packet, BlackBerry and the first versions of the mobile Web through Wireless Access Protocol (WAP). Speeds at 2.5G were about 156 kilobits down per second.
2.75G (2003-Present): Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution (EDGE). The iPhone was originally an EDGE phone. This is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard employed by AT&T and T-Mobile.
3G (2000-Present): Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and CDMA 2000. This is where we really started getting speeds that could handle full Internet data packets, up to 8 megabits per second down. This is also where the precursor to what the ITU calls “4G.” Before announcing the standards for IMT-Advanced, the last standards that the ITU approved were for IMT-2000, what is generally considered to be 3G. GSM and CDMA continue to be separate and incompatible. This is also the beginning of the rise of in your face marketing from the carriers in the United States all claiming to have the fastest 3G networks.
3.5G (2006-Present): High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Evolution-Data Optimized Revolution (EV-DO). The approved 3G standard starts to evolve and speeds get faster and data is carried over cellular connections more reliably. This is the foundation that the current app economy is based on.
3.9G (2008-Present): Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
(WiMax), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and HSPA+. When the carriers shout, “my 4G is blazing fast!” this is what they are talking about. Though this is not technically 4G, the ITU begin allowing carriers to market these technologies as 4G in December 2010 stating that any technology is that a significant advancement to the 3G standard can be called 4G. Speeds here have the potential to be up to 45 to 80 megabits per second down under ideal circumstances, which basically never exist. Currently, the best these standards can operate under real world conditions is about 14.4 megabits per second down. Sometimes higher, mostly lower.
Which brings us to today. IMT-Advanced is the significant jump of where these technologies can deliver reliable speeds of 1 gigabit per second down while stationary or 100 megabits per second while in motion (in a car, for instance). The technologies will be based on WiMax-Advanced and LTE-Advanced. This is also the end of the road for HSPA, which cannot evolve past its current form (though, with tweaks, can deliver speeds in excess of 100 megabits per second in ideal conditions).
IMT-Advanced is also completely IP-based and will be compatible with IPv6. IP will the prime pipeline of voice, text and data for all cellular technologies.
“IMT-Advanced would be like putting a fibre optic broadband connection on your mobile phone, making your phone at least 100 times faster than today’s 3G smart phones,” said François Rancy, director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau. “But it’s not only about speed; it’s about efficiency. IMT-Advanced will use radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently making higher data transfers possible on lesser bandwidth. This will enable mobile networks to face the dramatic increase in data traffic that is expected in the coming years”
Do not expect IMT-Advanced “4G” to come around any time soon though. It has taken AT&T more than a year to start delivering LTE capabilities and it is still only in a handful of cities in the U.S. Verizon has a more advanced LTE infrastructure but the need to move more quickly was evident for Verizon as the CDMA infrastructure started to decay and hit a dead end that could not be evolved. Sprint uses WiMax through its partnership with Clearwire, but WiMax probably does not have a future in the U.S. (as far as cellphones are concerned). Sprint has also started deploying LTE. T-Mobile will continue to build out its HSPA+ capabilities though right now it is missing the boat on LTE and will have problems conjuring up the bandwidth and financial capital to develop its own LTE network (this was the prime driver of its attempt to be acquired by AT&T).
Also, do not expect the carriers to abide by the notion of “4G” as defined by the ITU. The marketing departments will not stand for it. IMT-Advanced will likely lead us into the new and exciting realm of “5G.” It is the nature of how the environment operates.
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Foursquare Launches “Personalized Search For The Real World”
Jan 12th
Foursquare is introducing what it calls “personalized search for the real world” on its recently redesigned website. What that means as a practical matter is the introduction of the “Explore” feature, better keyword search and several new filters that enable users to drill…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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