Voices

If You Think “Social” Means Viral, You’ve Got It All Wrong

There are different ideas of what “social” can mean on the Web, and not everyone knows where the gold lies. (Hint: You won’t find it with the South Park underpants gnome plan.)

Venpop Makes a Case Against Adding Shopping Carts on Facebook

Retailers have flocked to Facebook, looking to create a community of users who “like” their brand. But now the big question is how do you drive additional sales?

Trying to Define the Opportunity for Commerce on Facebook

Adgregate Markets, which helps brands build storefronts on Facebook, has conducted a study to help define the opportunity for social commerce.

Will Facebook Be the Mall of the Future?

It’s where teenagers go to hang out. It’s where they gossip. And it’s where more than half a billion people spend a lot of their time. No, it’s not the mall. It’s Facebook.

Voices

How Does Twitter Verify Celebrity Accounts?

While Twitter continues to give celebrities, athletes, musicians, actors and others a platform to directly connect with their fans, the social networking site remains tight-lipped about how it determines if those stars are really who they say they are.

SkyGrid Groups Social Media Conversations and Fans

SkyGrid, the creator of news filtering apps, today launched a new tool that gives public figures and organizations the ability to bring together fan conversations.

News Byte

Drugstore.com Buys Into Social With Stores on Facebook

Drugstore.com and its subsidiary site, Beauty.com, has launched stores on Facebook to allow users to share with their friends what they purchased –from collapsible cupcake holders to Anti Monkey Butt Powder (available in the “hard to find” category). The stores, which are found in Facebook’s apps section, were built by Adgregate Markets’ ShopFans platform. The two e-commerce sites, which collectively have 182,000 Facebook fans, eventually kicks consumers out to their homepage to finalize the purchase.

Google Deal for SayNow to Make Google Voice More Interesting

Ever since GrandCentral became Google Voice, it’s been a lot less fun to use. Maybe that’s one of the reasons behind today’s acquisition by Google of SayNow, which made its name connecting celebrities with fans.

There's a One in 200 Chance You're Tweeting From Inside Justin Bieber

Or at least somewhere very close to the teen idol: Some are “in Justin Biebers heart” or “Bieberacademy” or “Bieberville, California.” Big picture: Sometimes people aren’t truthful when they fill out their Twitter profiles!

News Byte

Election 2010: Facebook Fan Favorites Fare Well

Well, what do you know–in elections, the most popular candidate usually wins. True in the real world, and apparently true in the virtual world. Plumbing its community sentiment for political insights (as it did all Election Night on ABC), Facebook today noted that in 98 key U.S. House races, the candidate with the most Facebook fans won 74 percent of the time. In 34 Senate races, the figure was 82 percent. Lots more fun facts on the site.

Yahoo Snags Citizen Sports