Klout has been in existence for about three years, but so far hasn’t reached the popularity of some social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, even though these ones are used inside of Klout’s program. It utilizes one number to measure a user’s influence across the amount of social networks that this user may be a member of.

As soon as you open a profile in Klout and connect all of your data through the personal social networks, one number called a Klout score will instantly pop up on the screen. The company explains this number as your influence of power across your network and it is calculated based on algorithms that are able to check the size of your network, the amount of content created and how the others are interacting with that content through sharing possibilities and likes, for instance.

The algorithm that is used to calculate the influence level of a user based on the ability to drive action on social networks is being constantly improved. The actual Klout website connects social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Tumblr, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Intagram, Blogger, LastFm, and Flickr and it is also trying to increase to include other ones.

The constant updates are also intended to show the user’s influence on the web. In the beginning it was possible to find metrics as True Reach, Amplification and Network Impact, but these scores have been removed to give space to Moments. According with the company’s explanation, this section will work as a report of the user’s activity from the past 90 days and how each activity has impacted a user’s Klout. This new feature is going to come in the next few weeks.

The Klout score has received attention mainly in the job recruiting processes. It came out that few companies had been hiring the candidates with higher “influence power” according to Klout, but the discussion has started to show that one number related to one’s virtual influence may not be a strong argument for such definitions.

Many candidates with work experience have been declined for companies that choose by Klout score. The job recruiters must give the right weight for such score, and a few professionals are actually saying that this weight should be zero. It is possible that one’s influence on social media could mean that a person actually doesn’t do so much besides posting and updating his or her social profiles.

Many companies have been discussing what the best way to use Klout score is. Airlines, the hospitality industry,  and big retailers are trying to develop one way to reach those with the best influence, and through this method drive actions through the social network. Offering special gifts, VIP areas, or cards to develop a premium experience for those with higher Klout scores can be on the plan for such companies, but so far, there aren’t any real public actions that correlate.

Many strongly divergent opinions have risen debating if Klout is good or bad. The best solution for the user is to be aware about the functionality and goals of the Klout score and how this can impact their security and privacy, and from the companies’ point of view, there are always chances to reach key people to increase influence.

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Virginia, U.S.A. — After a year in incubation, Zoomph—a new social media engagements and analytic tool—launches at Wikimania 2012.

Zoomph allows users to engage their online audience by making it easy for them to display tweets and Facebook posts/comments on live event displays. The content is filtered to keep the conversation relevant and free of any potential spam all while analyzing the data collected in real time. Brands can now easily see who their top contributors are, their geolocation, and common themes. Analyzing who is saying what about their brand, users can react to this feedback faster and more effectively than before.

After streaming social media messages from the Euro2012 soccer championship and making widgets available for bars and fans to post, Zoomph will be turning its attention to another global event. The social media engagements and analytic tool will be officially launching at Wikimania 2012—the annual international conference of the Wikimedia community—on July 12. Wikimania is a forum for attendees to discuss free knowledge initiatives all over the world. Previously held in Germany, the USA, Taiwan, Egypt and Poland (to name a few locations) Wikimania makes its way back to the United States this year with Washington playing host.

Zoomph will be driving the event’s social media engagements by featuring tweets and Facebook comments with the hashtag #Wikimania2012 on screens throughout the event. To further spur the conversation, Zoomph’s question and answer feature will pull questions from the online community to answer during panel sessions.

Since its first event at the State Department, Zoomph and its partner, MetroStar Systems, Inc., have worked together to provide social media engagements and analytic to various organizations, websites and events. Its past projects include engaging runners and fans at the Marine Corps Marathon, assisting high-profile government officials like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israel President Sharon Peres, launching Kuwait’s first national poetry contest, and debating the state of the environment at Rio in Brazil. “We hope to take Zoomph to retailers, restaurants, sports games, you name it. It’s a user-friendly product geared to brand managers, community managers and event planners. You don’t have to be a tech-geek to set it up and leverage the tool,” said Zoomph Product Owner Theresa Kattula.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands – AVG Technologies, the provider of Internet and mobile security to approximately 108 million active users, has released its Q1 2012 Community Powered Threat Report. The report highlights the growing use of mobile devices to connect with social networks and how this is fast becoming a preferred method for cyber criminals to spread malware, particularly on those devices running Android.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Chief Technology Officer at AVG, said: “We detected a big increase in the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to target Android users. Cyber criminals are finding it very convenient to distribute their malware straight to a mobile device via these networks.

The growth of the Android platform has been phenomenal, which has not gone unnoticed with cyber criminals who have discovered it to be a lucrative target for their malware. In 2011, Google had to remove over 100 malicious apps from the official Android market, Google Play.”

Social networks have become a key source of information and communication. Twitter now has more than 140 million active users^[1]; and Facebook has over 845 million users^[2], with some analysts expecting that figure to reach 1 billion this year^[3]. The result: targeting those who use Facebook is like targeting around 14 per cent of world’s population or approximately 43 per cent of global internet users.

Consider also that there are over 300 million Android phones already activated, with over 850,000 Android phones and tablets added to that number each day^[4], and it is clear these two trends combined result in a new threat: infecting Android devices using social networks.

Most mobile devices are tied into operator billing systems making monetization of malware a lot more effective than on traditional computer systems. All the attackers need to do is trick users to install a malicious app on their device through which they can then gather cash using the phone companies’ billing systems by utilizing premium SMS services. In many cases, this is done by charging low amounts on an infrequent basis so users don’t even notice.

The Q1 2012 Community Powered Threat Report includes examples of this:

• On Facebook, all it takes for a cyber criminal to attack is to set up a fake profile which downloads malware to a device and randomly invite Facebook users.
• On Twitter, a cyber criminal creates a spam profile and then posts tweets containing shortened hyperlinks to malware using trending hashtags. The way in which Twitter works makes sure the tweet appears on the top of many people’s Twitter feed.

About the report

The AVG Community Protection Network is an online neighborhood watch, where community members work to protect each other. Information about the latest threats is collected from customers who participate in the product improvement program and shared with the community to make sure everyone receives the best possible protection.

The AVG Community Powered Threat Report is based on the Community Protection Network traffic and data collected from participating AVG users over a three-month period, followed by analysis by AVG. It provides an overview of web, mobile devices, spam risks and threats. All statistics referenced are obtained from the AVG Community Protection Network.

AVG has focused on building communities that help millions of online participants support each other on computer security issues and actively contribute to AVG’s research efforts.

To download the summary of the Q1 2012 Community Powered Threat Report:http://www.avg.com/filedir/news/AVG_Community_Powered_Threat_Report_Q1_2012_summary.pdf

To download the full Q1 2012 Community Powered Threat Report:http://www.avg.com/filedir/news/AVG_Community_Powered_Threat_Report_Q1_2012.pdf

Visit the AVG Newsroom at: http://www.avg.com/press-releases-news

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Many of the most useful automotive websites share a common thread—they consistently integrate access to social media platforms throughout their pages, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study(SM) (MWES) – Wave 1 released recently.

The semiannual study, now in its 13th year, measures the usefulness of automotive manufacturer websites during the new-vehicle shopping process by examining four key measures: speed, appearance, navigation and information/content.

All automotive brand websites provide users with the ability to access various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to connect with the brand’s social media presence or share information about a brand or model under consideration. However, there is wide variation among websites in the pervasiveness of social media access—for example, whether it’s available from only the site’s home page, or from a variety of pages.

The study finds websites that are the most useful tend to provide users with social media access from a variety of pages, including the home page, model pages, configurator tool and photo gallery. Brands that do not perform well in usefulness tend to have limited social media availability throughout their sites, such as access only from the home page and model pages.

“The widespread usage of social media has created an expectation of constant availability,” said Arianne Walker, senior director of media and marketing solutions at J.D. Power and Associates. “By integrating links to social media platforms throughout several site features, automotive brand websites enhance convenience for users and also increase the possibility that website users will promote the brand within their social networks.”

Overall satisfaction with the usefulness of automotive brand websites has decreased significantly to an average of 772 on a 1,000-point scale in Wave 1 of the 2012 study from 784 in Wave 2 of the 2011 study, which was released in August 2011. Much of this decline is due to decreased satisfaction with navigation and information/content. These declines may be attributable to the challenges that automotive brand websites are facing in designing sites that are usable on both tablets and desktop computers.

While only 20 percent of new-vehicle shoppers say they own a tablet, among those who do, 47 percent say they have used their tablet to access automotive information. Tablet ownership is expected to increase during the next several years, which makes it particularly important for brand websites to be able to accommodate both tablets and desktop computers without sacrificing usability on either type of device.

“As automotive brand websites attempt to accommodate the dimensions, resolution and layout best suited for tablet use, some have changed their design in ways that inhibit usage on desktop computers,” said Walker. “For example, pages that require scrolling to view all of the content on a particular page may be preferred by tablet users, but they are quite frustrating for desktop computer users, who are used to clicking to access content directly, rather than finding it on the page by scrolling.”

In addition to differing levels of tolerance for scrolling, following are two key differences in navigation conventions between tablets and desktop computers:

• For tablet devices, big button links are preferable to text links, while text links work well for website navigation on desktop computers.
• Users of tablet devices often utilize finger swiping to access website content, while desktop computer users click and drag their mouse cursors. Effective websites should allow for navigation both ways.

Acura’s website ranks highest with a score of 808 on a 1,000-point scale, and performs particularly well in the navigation and speed measures. Rounding out the five highest-performing automotive websites are Honda (806), Hyundai (803) and Infiniti and Lincoln, in a tie (802 each).

The 2012 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study—Wave 1 is based on evaluations from more than 9,400 new-vehicle shoppers who indicate they will be in the market for a new vehicle within the next 24 months. The study was fielded in November 2011.

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New social networks are being released every day. What makes each one unique is their individual focuses and functions, though they all have the common goals to increase social relations and to establish contact with the professional world, educational target, medical network, travel communities, and so on.

The focus is usually developed based on the needs of the public. Opensoft, a Portuguese company, saw a need for the business environment, and they are trying to put this new model  in the competitive world of social media. Spreadd is a Portuguese startup focused on business environments and tries to differentiate itself from LinkedIn and Facebook, arguing that it is actually able to create opportunities to companies through the improvement of a collaborative environment.

Facebook offers big opportunities to reach target markets and great tools to develop marketing and communication with the public. However, there are limitations in developing sharing tools inside the company, since a social network is not a business-oriented network if it has other focuses.

LinkedIn, on other hand, is a business network. However, it allows people to connect to each other, but doesn’t solve the match problem between people and tasks, which Spreadd promises to do. The inefficiency inside of companies created by issues, such as employees repeatedly doing the same tasks and assigning the wrong employee to perform a task, can impact business performance.

It can be solved through a better sharing, communicating, and collaborating environment. The ambitious goal of the project is be a perfect network solution to small companies, big organizations, and even the ones geographically dispersed.

The network has been in the testing stage for the past six months, but it has already been seen as a solution to companies that are already using basic sharing tools, such as e-mail, instant message systems, internal networks, and blogs. Such tools have a time-gap between assigning the task and seeing the task completed, which is the issue Spreadd is trying to solve.

The Opensoft project will be going to Silicon Valley in California to accelerate the development of the business. It will be an important part of companies concerned with transparency, increase in opportunities, and creativity. There are high expectations coming from this developing season.

The goals the company have made will be able to help all companies interested in increase competitiveness through efficient information sharing. For companies that want to get a head start, they can sign up using a company e-mail address, which will be added to the Spreadd’s social network, and wait for a developed version of Spreadd to become available to the public.

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In our age, the difference between real and virtual life is often blurred — but while technology does not replace what makes us human beings; when we use it, it tend to add value to our sense of self-being. Professor Robert Dunbar of Oxford University spoke about a predefined number of 150; this is the average number designed for human beings’ capacity of close friends.

Whether you know it or not, 150 is the number of friends we can actually call friends and it is a number which is dependent on our neocortical area. 150 are those with whom we are not just saying hello or sharing jobs, but those of whom we can ask for help or share deep details of our lives. They are the ones we can distribute time and energy to, without handling it as a burden or a cost of opportunity.

Those 150 people are the average the human brain can manage. The number can vary between 100 and 230, and only the extent of our brain capacity or of our available time would let us deal with more friends, as Robert Dunbar delicately describes in interviews and in his writings. The number is not equivalent to our Facebook friends though.

Professor Dunbar explains that a human touch, a real one, is worth a thousand words and until technology can simulate virtual touch, we still have to put a line between Facebook friends and ‘real’ friends. Facebook statistics shows that the average number of friends for the average Facebook user is 130.

It seems that, although many of us live in a virtual world for more than half of our daily lives, we seem to remain in touch with reality, or maybe our brain obliges us to. We might declare 500 virtual friends because we work ourselves into a world where we are obliged to keep track with hundreds of people, but our real life is limited to the 150 number in practice.

Technology and the social networks are only tools that extend our capability to work beyond the limit. Our brain and cognitive capacity is adapted to and confirmed by the 150 number — even while we become addicted to globalization through technology. The development makes us more intelligent and more evolved as human beings.

We have to manage our time according to the technological progress, and meanwhile, we have to shape our relationships in the same pace. Life is defined by numbers. Dunbar, as well as Fibonacci, puts our lives in numbers. Instinctively we feel these numbers; our brain is limited to them, even though sometimes technology, globalization and life by itself show us that limits and numbers can be recreated.

In this way, technology brings added value to what human capacity cannot handle at this point.

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With the motto “Real-Life Sharing Rethought for the web”, Google announced its social networking site Google+ on Jun 28, but limited its access. Google sent out access to a limited group as the new platform is on trial mode. The site bears a striking resemblance to Facebook, with streaming feeds and specialized groups of friends. In fact, Google + gathers many of the features of existing social networks.

The network has five basic components: Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, Instant Uploads and Huddle. It also requires a Google profile, meaning you will need to provide Google, at minimum, with a name and a photo.

Here’s a deeper dive into the network by feature:

The “Circles” option allows you to share specific stuff with the people that you want. Circles makes it easy to put friends in one circle, parents in another, and for instance college´s mates in a circle by themselves.

“Hangouts” is another feature which they have created to have video meetings with your entire Circle or just with one person. With this tool you will be able to see how many contacts one of your friends is talking to before you accept the invitation to that “Hangout”. Once you join the meeting you will be able to talk with different buddies at the same time, and whoever speak louder will take a center stage. Google has also integrated YouTube into Hangouts to let you watch a video together.

In addition in the pictures folder you´ll have different sections: Photos from your circles, photos of you, your albums and photos from your phone. For this last option they have created a specific feature called “Instant upload”, which make easy and fast the upload process. With “Instant Upload”, your photos and videos upload themselves automatically to a private album on Google+.  Integrated with Picassa, all you have to do is decide who to share them with.

Another of their new items is “Sparks”, this will give you the option of choosing different topics that interest you and will keep you posted on them. Some of your “Sparks” could be animals, travel, and health, so whenever you want to read something about these topics all you have to do is click on them and enjoy the different news about it.

With “Huddle”, you can text groups of people or individual friends in Google+ Mobile. When you receive a new message in “Huddle”, Google+ sends a push notification to your phone. This will make it easy to arrange to meet with several friends because everyone gets on the same page all at once.

What´s more, Google+ lets you edit posts after you post them, and it also hasn’t forgotten its usual features as Gmail, Web, Calendar, Reader and Photos.

Unfortunately, as we have said at the beginning, this is just a project and they seem to have temporarily exceeded their capacity to join them. So unless you have an invitation you cannot join it. When you try to join the network they warn you that they are in limited field trial with this message: “Right now, we’re testing with a small number of people, but it won’t be long before the Google+ project is ready for everyone. Leave us your email address and we’ll make sure you’re the first to know when we’re ready to invite more people.”

Since they announced a new service called +1 on the 30 of March which competed directly with the Facebook “like” button, they have been working for Google’s big push into social. However, will Google+ beat Facebook?

So far some analysts as the TechCruch guest contributor at The Washington Post, Semil Shah, are asking the same question:

Today’s soft-launch of Google’s new social galaxy, Google+, raises one interesting question: Can Google, a massive, multinational, cash-rich, consumer technology company with multiple successful productivity applications and services, take its dough out of the oven and bake a social network into their bread?

Over the past year, Google has undergone some big changes. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt stepped down. Co-founder Larry Page stepped in, reshuffling the deck and tying employee bonuses to creating a successful social experience. The result seems to be a slick-looking yet potentially Wave-like confusing constellation of social “circles,” “huddles,” “hangouts,” and  ”sparks” that could, theoretically, lay the foundation for new, more nuanced social networks to form. In the middle of all the reactions to today’s release, I believe it’s important to step back and ponder whether Google is focusing its efforts on the wrong problem, and in doing so, to investigate a potentially better fit that coincides with the company’s own DNA.

On the other hand, according to Business Insider website Facebook has already blocked a Google Chrome extension called “Facebook Friends Exporter” that saves loads of time by importing your Facebook contacts into Google+. As this website remarks the reason why Facebook has done this could be due to two different reasons; “Facebook could feel threatened by a new social network designed by a hugely successful tech giant, or it could simply be a noble effort playing watchdog by protecting its users’ information”. Either way the battle is served…

Scott Prokop / Shutterstock.com

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After a decision to upload pictures of their sextuplets, the McGhee family became an internet sensation. Via the social network site Facebook, a cybernaut charity set up in the family’s name has been able to aid the parents through their financial difficulties.

Their story goes to show that with today’s spread of social media, people are able to achieve amazing accomplishments through the internet. The possibilities seem endless if a certain cause is looking for support from the wider society.

In this case, the Afro-American couple Rozonno and Mia McGhee, had their life turned around with the arrival of their six sons. Their story began when the couple, unable to conceive a child on their own, decided to undergo a fertility treatment. Mia McGhee became pregnant with twins but before she could deliver them, the pregnancy was lost.

Undeterred by their loss, the couple persisted and kept trying to conceive a child. Soon, Mia was pregnant again but it turned out that she was to give birth to sextuplets. Despite the threat of financial problems, the McGhee’s decided to continue the pregnancy. After their birth, however, the economic issues became apparent.

That was when they decided to share their picture and story with the rest of the world through their Facebook profile. Shortly after that, things started to move fast – many facebook users were moved by the little family.

The pictures were so sensational that when they reached the famous American TV personality Oprah Winfrey, she gave the McGhee family and their miraculous sextuplets  a $250,000 credit at Walmart as well as a honeymoon in Las Vegas, despite the fact the couple got married 11 years ago.

The couple, who are both from impoverished backgrounds, started dating when they were in high school and married when they were 18 and 19 years old.

They were determined to create the kind of family they never had. With the help of the internet, it looks like they have.

To learn more about this amazing family visit: The McGhee Sextuplets

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