Our thoughts, rants and inside knowlege of web design & development!
Adam
I work part time at Areatrade, and I am in charge of developing the internal database to help the business run more efficiently. My blog posts will focus on social media and developments in the industry.
Homepage: http://www.areatrade.co.uk
Posts by Adam
WikiLeaks under virtual fire
Nov 30th
The controversial international whistleblower website WikiLeaks has been suffering large scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks as it releases controversial leaks pertaining to American military and embassy communications around the world.
A DDoS attack involves attacking a web server so as to make the website or application it provides inaccessible. This is usually done by directing a large amount of traffic towards it, such that the server becomes saturated and unable to respond to legitimate web requests.
WikiLeaks has posted on it’s social networking profile on Twitter that the “DDOS attack [is] now exceeding 10 Gigabits a second.” A hacker called ‘the Jester’ has claimed responsibility for a previous attack on Sunday, though it is doubtful that these large scale attacks are the work of one person. There is also a strong possibility that governmental forces are at work in the background. This comes to light as the UK and US make defences against ‘cyber warfare’ a high priority.
Areatrade work hard to ensure that the servers holding your website are secure against such attacks and from vulnerabilities. What do you think about the changing face of the web and the growing importance of cyber security? Let us know in the comments below.
More >Myspace to get Facebook integration
Nov 18th
As part of the recently unveiled redesign of the Myspace social networking and ‘entertainment discovery’ website, a deep integration with Facebook has been revealed. The integration will allow new and existing users to pull in their profile information and ‘social graph’, linking their Myspace profiles to artists and bands they have listed on their Facebook profile.
The ‘beta’ version of the new site is now available at www.myspace.com, but from my own testing it seems that the Facebook integration is not functioning as announced at this time. Nevertheless, the new features sound very promising. See a video about the new features after the break. Also, try hovering over their logo on the new website – it’s a nice design touch!
Oh snap, Google…
Nov 17th
Search engine and online service provider Google has fallen into disputes with social network Facebook over ‘data portability’. Google has blocked access to its Contacts service from Facebook, citing poor standards in data sharing on Facebook’s part as the cause. Facebook allowed users to access their contacts list from Google’s Gmail service to find friends who are also using the social networking site. Google has criticised Facebook for making the export of its own contact data extremely difficult whilst taking advantage of the superior export facilities offered by other services. (more…)
10% of traffic to Mail Online comes from Facebook
Nov 15th
Martin Clarke, the Daily Mail executive allocated the role of running the newspaper’s website, Mail Online, has revealed at the Society of Editors conference in Glasgow that 10% of traffic to the website originates from the social network Facebook, and referred to it as a ‘gigantic free marketing engine’. The 10% figure is beaten only by Google, as one would expect.
Sharing options are provided on all Mail Online articles
The journalism industry is currently split on the best model for online news – News International has recently erected a paywall around their Times Online and News of the World websites, and is intending to do the same for The Sun. The issue with forcing users to pay to view content is, of course, that the ‘shareability’ factor decreases dramatically – your friends are unlikely to sign up to a newspaper subscription just to read an article you posted on their Wall.
Regardless of the tough decisions that the newspaper industry faces, it is becoming increasingly apparent that social media has a massive role in online promotion. A well organised social media strategy could increase traffic to your site dramatically. Analytics data also takes an important role in discerning the sources of traffic to More >
Rumours abound about Facebook email service
Nov 12th
The internet is abuzz with rumours that Facebook is about to launch a new email service that will be heavily tied in with Facebook’s current social networking features. Tentatively named ‘Project Titan’, it is speculated that the service will provide Facebook users with their own personal ‘@facebook.com’ email addresses. Facebook do seem to be unveiling a lot of new features after their ‘Summer Lockdown’ in which engineers at the company were directed to work feverishly on new and existing products offered by Facebook.
What do you think about this ‘Facebook Mail’ concept? Would it be a fantastically convenient option, or do you feel like the social media giant is intruding too far? Which email service do you use at the moment? Would you leave for a Facebook version? Tell all in the comments section!
Music based social network iTunes Ping gains only 2000 artists in two months
Nov 5th
Apple’s new ‘Ping’ social and music discovery network has only added two thousand artists in the two months since it went live, Mashable reports, despite garnering a massive user base numbering in the millions. The usefulness of the social network is questionable when there is a distinct lack of bands and artists for users to interact with.
According to Jeff Price, the founder of music distributor TuneCore, Apple has a rigorous sign up process for artists, so that artist profiles that are created belong to the real artist only. This quality control process is designed to avoid the pitfalls of websites like the soon-to-be relaunched Myspace, where users make unofficial artist pages making discovery and interaction with the actual artist very difficult.
However, the application process itself involves music distributors like TuneCore and CDBaby, and can take some time. Many artists were in fact completely confused as to how to apply for a profile in the first place, prompting Apple to release a submission guide.
Have you tried out Apple’s new service? How did you find it? Send a few comments our way!
Social media giant Facebook announces Single Sign-on, Places API, Deals, Mobile App Updates
Nov 4th
Popular social network Facebook announced a torrent of updates to its mobile products, namely four things: single sign-on, opening up its Places API, allowing businesses to attach deals to their Facebook Place page, and updates to its iPhone and Android apps.
Single Sign-on
Facebook are seeking to limit the amount of typing of long passwords and usernames that a user has to go through inside mobile apps by allowing integration with Facebook in a similar way to what you may see on many websites that you visit. People with the Facebook app installed on their smartphone will be able to log in to other mobile apps using their Facebook account, no giving up of private credentials necessary.
The Places API
Developers can now access the popular Places product to utilise in their own apps and websites. Places is a location based tools that allows Facebook users to ‘check in’ at locations and tag their friends, in a similar vein to location based social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla. The API allows developers to link their own products to this tool so that, for example, Foursquare check ins could be duplicated to Facebook Places. Developers will be able to read data from the tool, write More >
Google significantly breached UK Data Protection Act
Nov 3rd
The search engine technology company Google has found to be in ‘significant breach’ of UK laws regarding data protection and privacy.
Whilst collecting images for its ‘Street View’ service last year, Google supposedly inadvertently collected ‘payload data’ from unsecured wireless networks as part of its efforts to improve location services that work off of nearby wi-fi hotspots.
‘Payload data’ contains snippets of data transferred over unsecured wireless networks. This may include snapshots of email addresses, passwords and other such data.
Google claims the code was left in the software accidentally and has promised to dispose of the data as soon as legally possible. It has consulted local governments everywhere that it has contravened the law to ensure the legality of such an action.
The ICO had previously ruled that no breach had occurred but the rulings in other countries such as Canada have prompted a U-turn. The Information Commissioner says no charges will be pressed but the data protection practices at Google will be audited.
Google has since appointed a ‘Head of Privacy’ to enforce better practice across engineering teams within the company.
Do you have a wireless network? Google may not be the only one listening in. Your network is secured if you have to type More >
T-Mobile ‘Welcome Home’ Advert Promoted via Social Media
Oct 30th
This touching, amusing, feel-good advert was posted on YouTube a few days ago and has spread like wildfire through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. A great example of social media marketing done well, it joins the ranks of the Liverpool Street ‘flashmob‘ and the ‘sing-along‘ in Trafalgar Square which featured celebrities like Pink and Vernon Kay. Clever and original marketing is looked upon favourably by online users and will stick in the minds of consumers, raising brand awareness.
Have you noticed any particularly memorable and innovative methods of marketing online recently? Tell us about them in the comments section below.
A Tale of Friendship: Facebook Unveils ‘Friendship Pages’
Oct 29th
A snapshot of the new 'Friendship Pages'. Click the image to see Facebook's announcement on their blog.
Popular social network Facebook has recently announced a new feature called ‘Friendship Pages’. The new pages will allow you to view a well presented overview of the interactions between you and a friend. Blogs have lauded the ‘human’ aspect of friendship pages which summarise wall posts, photos, events, mutual friendships, comments and ‘likes’ shared between two users. The potential for the highlighting of old and fond memories is huge and will help to cement the websites position as a ‘go-to’ social hub for not only current and future events and social interactions, but also for the snapshots it can provide of the past.
Some have criticised the ever more ‘intrusive’ nature of Facebook and the increasing complexity of its navigation. Will Friendship Pages exacerbate this problem? Or are they a great opportunity to increase the value and usefulness of social media? Tell us what you think in the comments section.