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At the All Things Digital conference, AOL announced that it would be joining Google’s OpenSocial. AOL recently acquired social network Bebo, which had already joined OpenSocial. First up will be the adoption of gadgets on myAOL.com.

Writing on the OpenSocial blog, AOL Principal Software Engineer Eric Staats said, “We’re excited to work toward supporting Gadgets and OpenSocial across AOL’s many products, platforms and services. By working with Google and other leaders in the industry to create products based on a more open, uniform standard, AOL and AOL users will be able to safely take advantage of a wide variety of new applications within our products that have been built by developers around the world.

Related Reading:
Google, Yahoo & MySpace Team Up for OpenSocial
Microsoft Tries to Compete with OpenSocial

AOL has announced the completion of its acquisition of Bebo, a social network based in the UK. Bebo boasts an estimated 40 million users worldwide.

Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO of AOL, said of the deal, “AOL is now fully focused on growing our business in three key areas – our advertising network, publishing and people networks – by delivering relevant content and advertising across the Web, and we’re making great progress in each area.”

But will the acquisition threaten another ad network? Last year, Yahoo UK inked an ad deal with Bebo for the social network’s display advertising.

Google FriendConnect friended Facebook. It looked as if Facebook (stocked with former Google executives) might become BFFs (best friends forever).

Then Facebook blocked Google FriendConnect.

The message is clear:

Dear Google,
Facebook is just not that into you.

Facebook says Google has forced them to break off their FriendConnect relationship. Apparently, Google has invaded the privacy of Facebook users without their permission.

Facebook hasn’t turned a cold shoulder or abandoned the search giant. The social network has “reached out” to Google to find a way to make it work.

We view this trial separation leading to divorce, not an open marriage.

Here’s what Facebook had to say in their developers’ blog, under “Thoughts on Privacy.” Read, “I want to be alone.”

Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology.

We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service.

Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance.

We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

What this means to you: the search engines are becoming more like car dealerships where certain models can be sold under the same roof. Facebook and Google will form their alliances and consumers will lose out.

The full text of the Facebook “Dear Google” blog post is after the jump.

Click to read the rest of this post…

eMarketer is lowering projections for social network advertising from $1.6 billion to $1.4 billion for 2008. Two reasons are attributed to the adjustment: a slowing economy and the uncertainty over what advertising actually works on social sites.

Adjustments have been made for site-specific projections as well. MySpace’s projection has been lowered from $850 million to $755 million, while Facebook has been lowered from $305 million to $265 million.

Related Reading:
Consumers Ok with Social Ads, But Rarely Find Them Targeted

Though Bill Gates was out there telling people Microsoft is not interested in making non-Yahoo acquisitions right now (at least in the search/social world), word comes that Microsoft bankers have sent “feelers” to Facebook about a full acquisition.

Here’s why this is a solid move:

1. Microsoft already owns 1.6% stake in Facebook, worth $240 million
2. Microsoft formed a data portability partnership with Facebook and 4 other networks
3. At least two Google execs have jumped ship to Facebook in recent months

While Facebook has yet to “overtake” MySpace in the social media market, it is a viable competitor. And I’m sure Ballmer would love for Microsoft to own a social network that even Apple has used as a marketing ploy as of late. Recent commercials for the iPhone entice potential customers through the ability to access Facebook on the popular mobile device.

Additionally, internet users are turning to their social networks during their search process. Consumers want answers and reviews and social networks help them get opinions from trusted sources.

The Facebook move would likely be seen by many as a better fit than Yahoo. But expect just as many to see it as a negotiating ploy in their bid for Yahoo. Though Microsoft has officially withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, many analysts expect Ballmer and the team to return to the table for another stab at a grab for the search engine.

TechCrunch recently had a post lamenting the fact the Barnes and Noble’s new How-To site, Quamut, is being spammed by SEO guys looking for some free link juice. The B&N site wasn’t adding nofollow to their external links, so it’s been open-season for SEOs. (Before you get all excited, they’ve now changed the links to nofollow.)

To many people, that SEO spamming may look like a bad thing. I think it’s the best thing that could ever happen to Quamut.

Unlike other types of spam, good link spam carries with it a wealth of benefits for the site being spammed:
1. It brings users. When a new social site debuts, especially when it is a “me-too” site like Quamut, getting users is tough. Unless you offer some special incentive, or your site provides something necessary that other sites don’t, you have to fight a tough battle for users. If someone wants to add link spam to your site, they need to sign up. The thousands of SEO Spammers out there can quickly become thousands of new members of your site. And when the spammers sign up under multiple accounts, they can quickly become tens of thousands of new members.
2. It adds content. It might not be the best content ever written, but SEO spammers do know how to write content that, at the very least, is unique, keyword-rich and geared to any user that might stumble upon it. Contrary to popular belief, SEO spammers are not interested just in backlinks, but also in filling up the SERPs. If they can get a page on your site to rank by combining their content with strength of your site, and then convincing the user to shift to their site, the bottom line stays the same.
3. It raises stature. When your brand spanking new social network has 10,000 members and 50,000 UGC articles after only one month, your site starts to get noticed–even if most of those members are spammers and that content is primarily spam. There’s a reason companies like MySpace and YouTube didn’t crack down on spammers–and even explicitly allowed spam in their original Terms of Service. If you want to grow–and grow fast–no one will help as much as spammers.

SEO Spammers contributed to padding out Wikipedia; for every great article that was written to insert a spammy link, Wikipedia got a great article. They helped get YouTube to critical mass; for every YouTube embed done to get a YouTube backlink, YouTube got more video views. SEO Spammers keep MySpace growing. Do you still know anyone with a MySpace account? Can you tell me how their growth keeps skyrocketing? Check the inbox of your old MySpace account and you’ll see how.

In short, SEO Spammers are helping the internet continue to grow. As each once-spammed site gets big off of the shoulders of spammers, they introduce methods to lock the spammers out, and the spurned SEOs move on to new sites. The cycle continues–and, with it, innovation in the social and user-generated content fields.

If popular sites are suffering under a flood of spam, I sympathize with their decision to add nofollow their links and put barriers to stop spammers–as long as they don’t forget who made them popular to begin with.

If social media success = 1/2 social network + 1/2 quality content … an understanding of both social network building and content development is necessary. I’ve written extensively about developing a social media network previously, so now I’ll focus more on social media content with a view to finding ways and means to assess quality of content. More specifically, in this post we’ll look at segmenting social media into different types of content.

In its simplest form, there are 3 types of social media content:
1. News Content
2. Sensational/Entertainment Content
3. Resources/Educational Content

1. News Content
This is content that is time-sensitive, and is based on facts, events, and happenings. As thousands of news sites exist, the latest news is almost always syndicated and distributed to these thousands of additional sites within minutes of its release. This makes the news itself a commodity … and ultra-competitive. Only the original source of the story typically gains.

News content does exceptionally well in the realm of most social media sites. In reality, there are two types of news in terms of social media opportunities:
a. the news you read about from other sources … and submit
b. the news you make (by using research, scoops, etc.)

2. Sensational/Entertainment Content
This type of content is most often not based on fact, but rather on personal opinion or speculation, and is designed to entertain or attract attention. You’ve seen the thousands of submissions to this effect, many of which are “Top 10″ type lists, staged videos (e.g. BrideZilla), majestic images, and the like. These entertainment-focused submissions typically perform very well on general social media sites like Digg, Reddit, or Stumbleupon, but do poorly on industry/vertical sites.

3. Resource/Educational Content
Resource/educational posts are based on research and facts in most cases, or at the very least professional opinion. These types of posts are typically well researched, and where conclusions are drawn, they are based more on deductive reasoning than inductive. Conclusions need not be drawn in these posts, as the posts/articles can also take the form of very large and relatively comprehensive lists (e.g. U.S. Universities Offering MBA Programs by State).

The fact-based nature of these posts, and the depth and comprehensiveness of information, increases the likelihood that they’ll be bookmarked or saved for future reference. As a result of the time and effort invested, these types of posts are relatively rare, and perform exceptionally well on certain types of social media but not others.

Second Level Combinations:
Obviously, people do not necessarily think in terms of these categories when creating content. Accordingly, most social media submissions will involve some combination of the above types. All tolled, there are 4 additional possible types based on combinations of the original 3:
1. News/Entertainment - this would be the type of content piece that might make the National Enquirer (you know … Brad Pitt meets Jennifer Aniston [the News] for a secret rendezvous [the Entertainment])
2. News/Resource - an example of this type of content might be a post on a recent sighting of a Tasmanian Tiger (the News), in which it shows a comprehensive list of the locations of all sightings since the late 50s (the Resource).
3. Entertainment/Resource - a post of this type might be “the definitive guide for alternative uses of a power nail gun” wherein a number of the uses are more humorous in nature.
4. A combination of all 3 - cannot think of any examples at the moment, and they are rare, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Why Do Types Matter?
Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the 3 types of social media content (and the 4 additional combinations), is important for many reasons, including:
a. selecting the right type of content to fit your blog’s purpose and personality
b. selecting the right type of content to fit the medium (Digg, Delicious, Flickr, Stumbleupon, etc., all differ somewhat)
c. selecting the best type of content pieces for your industry

In future posts, I’ll delve much deeper into each of the above. Next week’s post will look specifically at finding good blog content that also performs well on social media. Stay tuned …

Yahoo, MySpace and Google have pledged their support to open standards for social media development and data by joining together to form the OpenSocial Foundation. The group will ensure that OpenSocial continues as an open, community-governed specification.

OpenSocial is a specification, launched by Google last year, that defines a common API for social applications across multiple Web sites. It has implications for search marketers and application developers, since it will speed up the development of cross-platform applications. It could also force the hand of non-members, such as Microsoft and Facebook.

Using JavaScript and HTML, developers can create applications with OpenSocial that access features in a social network, like friends and update feeds. By using a common API, developers can build one application that will work across multiple social platforms, extending the reach of their applications and making it easier to add more functionality for users.

The formation of the foundation is not entirely altruistic. By uniting the interests of three of the largest Web entities, the group will have a strong voice in the development of future standards and specifications.

According to Yahoo, “The foundation will provide transparency and operational guidelines around technology, documentation, intellectual property, and other issues related to the evolution of the OpenSocial platform, while also ensuring all stakeholders share influence over its future direction.”

While Yahoo plays games with Microsoft’s acquisition bid, some are beginning to ask, “Why isn’t Microsoft buying AOL?”

One of the biggest concerns about a Microhoo is the expectation of a significant culture clash. The same sentiment does not exist when pondering a Microsoft/AOL marriage.

Additionally, Microsoft’s bid was unsolicited. Time Warner, on the other hand, has publicly said that it’s open to selling off AOL.

AOL recently doubled its audience with the acquisition of Bebo. Together, the social network and AOL’s instant messaging platform, AIM, reach 80 million users worldwide. Additionally, AOL has spent $1 billion building a display ad network. With online advertising the driving force behind Microsoft’s desire to catch Google, an AOL acquisition could make more sense for the Redmond-based software company.

It’s Day 3 at SES New York 2008 and today the folks from Pan Communications have found more than 80 stories that have been written about the Search Engine Strategies conference.

I’ve looked through the news articles and blog posts from Wednesday, March 19, 2008, to try to identify the top ten stories on Day 3 of the event. It’s getting much harder – particularly after returning from the WebmasterRadio.FM SearchBash, which was still going strong when I left.

1. Mahalo adds user reviews to search site
Elinor Mills of CNET News.com says, “Mahalo is adding user reviews to its human-powered search site in a new feature dubbed ‘My Mahalo.’ So, when you search for books, movies, music, places, and products, a box appears on the right with reviews and comments from people in your Mahalo social network, as well as an average rating for whatever is being reviewed. Underneath the results is a section for user-recommended links related to the search and user reviews from other Mahalo users, as well as a link to discuss the page with others.”

2. Jason Calacanis gives product demo of My Mahalo at SES New York
John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Jason Calacanis, the founder and CEO of Mahalo.com, who gave a product demo of My Mahalo, which was unveiled at SES New York today.

3. SES Keynote: Search Has Changed Everything…And So Can You by Gordon McLeod
Kent Lewis of Search Marketing Standard says, “Wednesday morning at SES kicked off with a keynote by Gordon McLeod from Wall Street Journal Digital Network entitled “Search Has Changed Everything…And So Can You.” McLeod initially outlined the size and shape of the current WSJ network of financial news sites, then took us back to the 1996 WSJ.com site, which had 50,000 subscribers and four firewalls.”

4. Uncovering the Real Universal Search
Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Watch says, “Ever wonder just how fast universal search is being adopted? How about the number of searchers that include a universal result? Perhaps more importantly, what’s the real impact of search result multiplicity?
You asked, and we found out. This week’s SES New York saw many new things, but Tuesday’s Orion Panel on universal search finally shed some light on the biggest change in search since Idealab launched paid listings.

5. Google Transformation from Just Search to Destination
Om Malik of GigaOM says, “Almost a year ago, writing for GigaOM, Robert Young posted a piece that billed Google as a media company and eventually more a destination in the classic media sense. Some statistics released by comScore at the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York support Young’s assertions.”

6. Web Analytics Tips – SES New York Style
Mel Carson of the adCenter Analytics Blog says, “I’m at the Search Engine Strategies 2008 conference in New York, working the Microsoft booth, meeting customers, spreading the word about adCenterCommunity.com and going to as many of the sessions as I can. For any of your not familiar with the conference it has a global footprint and is totally dedicated to search engine marketing, both PPC (pay-per-click) and SEO (search engine optimisation).”

7. SES New York: Successful Tactics for Social Media Optimization (SMO)
Andrew R H Girdwood says, “Rookie mistake! I didn’t get to the room early enough for the popular Successful Tactics for Social Media Optimization (SMO) track and all the power sources for my laptop are already in use. No batteries left. No choice… I’ll have to try and take notes by hand.”

8. Search Engine Strategies Expo

Mike Corso of Cool Site of the Day says, “Big day yesterday. I was interviewed at the Search Engine Strategies trade show in New York City (see clip below). Also, tune into WebmasterRadio.fm for an interview I did with them at SES as well.”

9. SES NY: SEM Blitz On Small Business
David A. Utter of WebProNews says, “You have to spend money to make money, but sometimes the best way to market a business means spending common sense.”

10. Link Building Basics Session at SES NY
Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal says, “Allan Dick of Vintage Tub and Bath is moderating the session on Link Building with Debra Mastaler, Dixon Jones and Degrelle.”