Facebook vs MySpace: College vs the street

The BBC reports on research by Danah Boyd which found that Facebook users come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college while MySpace users tend not to have gone on to further education. While “class” in the US does not map directly to income it is more about social life and networks. Hence Facebook users tend to be white and education oriented while MySpace teenager tend to

Social networks go niche

From Brand Republic: “The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and 10Duke have launched the first specialist tennis-dedicated online network, claiming that vertical communities will displace the likes of YouTube and MySpace. The ATP is using 10Duke’s technology platform to take its existing offline community online. Users can upload footage to 30Love.net via online and mobile to show off their tennis skills. Tennis fans can access behind the scenes clips from

NewsFlash: Social network users are unfaithful

It’s all very well for Facebook to be smug about it’s new found success but a new report suggests that the latest vogue for social networking is built on the same shaky ground as any other site on the Net which is but a click away. In particular, MySpace users are chronically unfaithful, according to Parks Associates‘ “Web 2.0 & the New Net,” a new report that focuses on the

CBS buys Last.fm for $280m, plans more ads

As hinted at back in February, Last.fm has been trawling around looking for a buyer and today it found its harbour in the form of a US media giant. The 'social music' site has been bought by CBS Corporation for $280m (£140m). This is less than the earlier rumour, but still the largest-ever buyout of a UK-based "Web 2.0" site. The site was founded in the UK five years ago

Europeans dominate Second Life

There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason why there are more Germans in Second Life than Americans even though there are more American firms advertising inside the virtual world. Could it be down to better broadband in Germany? For now we'll have to ponder the results of a new Comscore study which finds that Second Life has a rapidly growing and global base of active residents. The report

Yahoo dumps Photos to push Flickr

Breaking news: Yahoo! Photos will officially be axed today in favour of the Yahoo-owned Flickr, according to several news sites today. The closure will occur over the next few months, after Yahoo found that Flickr, with its social tools, is growing much faster than Yahoo! Photos and recently past it in traffic terms, according to Comscore. Users will be given the option of choosing one of a number of the

Digg screwed by its users

What do you not want from a social bookmarking site? Everyone linking to information that it is technically illegal and could take your company down. And that’s exactly what Digg faces today. When Digg took down a user’s post that contained a copyrighted series of codes designed to unlock the encryption on HD-DVDs, the Digg community revolted, posting the codes again and again. Last night, and this morning the Digg

Bebo hires Gambino to take on MySpace

Whatever happened to Angel Gambino, she of “MTV 2.0”? Well she’s been hired by Bebo to a new position of VP-music. Bebo is interested in rivaling MySpace in the music stakes. Until January this year she was VP commercial, strategy and digital media for Viacom in the UK, where she worked across 11 channels, and was previously controller of business development and emerging platforms at the BBC. Gambino announced the