Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: August 13, 2008

I’m respecting your limited time by publishing this weekly digest on the Social Networking space, which I cover as an Industry Analyst –a good way to get in my head.

I’ve created a new category called Digest (view archives). Start with the Web Strategy Summary, then quickly scan the succinct and categorized headlines, read text for my take, and click link to dive in for more.

You can subscribe to this digest tag only, which filters only these posts tagged digest.

Web Strategy Summary
Security issues are starting to appear in Facebook, both from malicious software and clever phishers, expect more case studies of identity theft to occur as well as Facebook clamping down on the experience. The second bullet, we see actual numbers from Comscore, then the third piece, social networks interests around the globe gives a high level view of which social networks have the most interest, well at least by intent.

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Security: Facebook showing security flaws
Widgets and Applications have fueled growth for Facebook’s community, but it also has some vulnerabilities that leave it exposed, for one, password phishing has been problematic, and now Facebook asks that users be careful with disclosure. You can see more issues on security, as well as elaborate worms spreading, and being close to enemies.

Stats: June Global Social Networks Visitors
Comscore releases this month’s numbers and shows a slow down in North American adoption (but still at 9%) and growth in many other regions. Read the full report from Comscore.

Report: Social Network “interest” around the Globe
This interesting research piece from the Sweedish Royal Pingdom guys have triangulated how social networks are in demand using data from Google. While this doesn’t show actual social network usage, it does demonstrate ownership over mindshare and intent. A creative report thanks guys.

Brands: Tampax Marketing on Stardolls
Tampax, known for it’s creative social networks such as beinggirl, now reaches out to the stardoll community, with a creative marketing effort.

Accolades: SelectMinds, wins Always On award
SelectMinds, a vendor who provides corporate social networking solutions, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the AO Global 250 Winners.

Features: Moveable Type Adds Social Network Features
Not a surprise, (cept for the fact how quiet this announcement was) Moveable Type now has social features, given their current footprint, they could become a contender for white label social network plays.

Analysis: Social Networks Growth and Money
Datamonitor analysts report that “that growth in the number of people signing up to be a part of the cultural phenomenon, which has put the likes of Facebook on the map, will peak by 2009 and plateau by 2012.” also, “revenues from social-networking services will hit $965 million this year, swelling to $2.4 billion by 2012”.

Partnership: Avenue A and Pluck
This recent announcement (I’m waiting to see some examples) indicate the start of a trend of interactive marketing firms aligning with technology vendors to provide solution offerings to brands.

Deployment: New York Times to launch community Q4
Media companies like Fast Company have already launched online communities for their website, now media giant New York times plans to launch social networking community for readers.

Features: Gigya launches themes
While not a major update, these themes (aimed at their developer network) will improve the developer experience, perhaps more interesting is the social media press release, which announced it.

Gossip: MySpace CEO dating Paris Hilton?
Well, if it had to happen to anyone, at least it happens to one of us geeks, unconfirmed rumor has it CEO Chris DeWolfe has been dating 27 year old Paris Hilton.

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