Daily Bits

Social Networks

Three Sensible Facebook Apps

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Facebook – you either love it or you hate it. No matter how much some people might hate this social networking site, though, there is no denying that it can be addictive. And, for those who are so into it, there’s no stopping them from being online practically all day.

Even those who are certified Facebook addicts have to admit that the social networking site has its downsides. Its applications, for one – they are so many and more often than not, useless and irritating. I have to say, though, that there are some Facebook apps that are useful and actually make sense. Let’s take a look at three apps – two I would recommend to any friend, and one that I need advice on.

Good Reads
As the name implies, it’s all about books. In this day and age where watching TV shows and movies (or listening to music) is considered more convenient than reading a good old book, it is refreshing to see an app about books. Good Reads helps you keep track of what you have been reading, together with your friends. As with other Facebook apps, the joy is in sharing. You get to rate your books and write your thoughts about them; and then you can share ideas with friends. Call it a virtual book club if you will. There’s a similar Facebook app called Visual Bookshelf, which I actually use more often. The idea is the same, although there are fewer users than Good Reads.

Travel Buddy
For people who like to travel, there is no better app than this. (If you find one, let me know!) Organize trips and share photos, experiences, and more using this app. You can tag your real life travel buddy; reminisce about your past trips; and plan your future adventures together!

Language Exchange
This last app, I am still thinking if I should use or not. The premise is very attractive – meet people who can teach you a foreign language, and share your own language as well. I am unsure about the privacy issues, though. Does anyone use this app?

Have You Got Flock Yet?

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Social networks left and right – that’s what you’re bound to see and experience if you go online even for a few minutes. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these social networks, if you think about it. It’s just sometimes, some people go overboard – both users and the brains behind the networks.

Anyway, if you can’t get enough of social networking, here’s something for you: Flock. It’s nothing new, really. This social network browser has been around for some time now, but there are new developments that will make its fan base happy.

It used to be that Mozilla Firefox was the browser of choice for a lot of people, but when Google came out with Chrome, some loyalties changed. And now, Flock has switched loyalties as well!

The new Flock is now using Chromium, the open source platform that is found under all the layers of Chrome. This is a milestone is many respects, one being the fact that Flock is the first non-Google browser to implement such a thing. For the end-user, this means S-P-E-E-D!

They say that this new “super fast” Flock beats Firefox by a factor of two when it comes to certain tasks. Some features that social network addicts will find very useful include integration with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and RSS feeds. There is also a new thing called “What Friends Are Saying,” which is basically going to let you know what your contacts are doing across various platforms.

Download Flock for Windows if you’re into this kind of thing. Mac users, you have to wait a little bit longer for summer to come around.

Who Wants To Be A Twitter Jockey?

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You read that right – there is now such a thing as a twitter jockey! Forget about being a DJ OR a VJ, for that matter. The cool thing – or the next cool thing – is to be a Twitter Jockey. (So does that make that person a TJ?)

MTV has just announced its plans of making social networking a larger part of their operations. No one can deny just how popular social networking sites are today, and it is not surprising that an enterprise such as MTV will not jump into the bandwagon and try to take advantage of what’s happening.

As such, they have launched the first-ever (I am under the assumption that there has never been a TJ search) search for a TJ. So what exactly will this kind of jockey do?

The idea is for the person – whoever it is – to “serve as a bridge between the audience and network bosses, with Twitter and Facebook, among others, as platforms.” Not much unlike what a lot of (PR) people already do for other companies, is it?

Of course, MTV has already selected some contenders, who will appear in a show specifically created for the TJ search. The network aims to get 20 people who are vying for the position. These 20 will then be narrowed down to 5. The top 5 will then take part in the finale, which will be aired live on the 8th of August.

Anyone interested in the position? I think the last 2 slots are open for nomination.

Are You Happy with Facebook’s New and Simpler Privacy Controls?

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Here’s could probably be Facebook’s last ditch effort at convincing everyone of us that it minds user privacy. And this could possibly make or break Facebook, either retaining loyal users to driving them away to other “more secured” social networking sites.

So as Facebook is confronted with issues about its “complex” privacy policy, it now announces a simpler privacy control measures via a long post on the Official Facebook blog. But essentially, there are three major issues addressed by Facebook’s new privacy controls.

First thing which Facebook did was to build one simple control for setting who can see content that you post. You can now specify whether the content is viewable by everyone, friends of your friends or just by your friends. Which ever settings you choose will be applied to new products which Facebook will introduce in the future.  You don’t need to set them up once new products are introduced.

Then Facebook also reduced the amount of basic information that are visible to everyone. The connections privacy model was also removed. You now have the ability to control who can see your friends and pages and those information are no longer default to public. Of course, as these are basic information, it is but logical to have these for public viewing since its the only way for other people to find you. Otherwise, there’s no point in maintaining your Facebook account anymore.

Finally, Facebook also made it simpler to control how apps and websites access any of your information. Turning this off is now easier and can be easily done via a simple click. Turning off instant personalization is also easier now and gives you the facility to allow only partner sites to see things you’ve made visible to everyone.

With that, Facebook is proud to announced that its privacy model is now complete. And it hopes that issues concerning user privacy would be finally put to a rest.

These new privacy controls will be rolled out to everyone in the next few weeks. By then, we will know whether users are satisfied with the measures and make them stay with Facebook.

Millionaire City Wants to be the Monopoly Game of Facebook

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I’m pretty sure that for once in your life you’ve wanted to become a millionaire.  To be exact, a millionaire who happens to be a CEO of a rich firm. Come on, don’t be shy, admit it. I did. Well if you are already a millionaire or a CEO, then good for you. As for us, poor, simpletons, the only way we can become a millionaire is on Facebook,  through Digital Chocolate’s new Facebook game – Millionaire City.

To be honest, I liked it when Digital Chocolate CEO Trip Hawkins tells us:

“Not even Zynga has a game like Millionaire City. We all grew up enjoying Monopoly but this is a real simulation and even easier to play. People who love property can now trump their friends on Facebook.”

Well, the game concept maybe different from Zynga’s Farmville or Mafia Wars, but bottomline is, it’s still just another Facebook game which could only be good as a time-waster, especially if you’re in the office.

So, Millionaire City lets you build a monopoly from the ground up. You purchase properties, build houses, and sign contracts to make your company grow. Yeah, just like what a normal CEO does.  The game also lets you select two game advisors to help you amass as much wealth as possible. Either you choose Ronald Goldtooth or Cindy Jewels.

Millionaire City also lets you decorate your city and build commercial buildings. To earn more experience and coins, you will be given several missions at the start of the game. Fulfilling these missions will earn you those experiences and coins.

For its social aspect, Millionaire City allows you to visit friends’ cities and help them in upgrading their houses. This deed will also earn you extra doughs and experience points. You can achieve various decoration that will enhance your city’s status and of course, in the end – for you to become a millionaire.

So, does the game appeal to you at all? Or have you grown tired of these Facebook games already that you don’t see yourelf playing Millionaire City on Facebook?

Official Twitter App for iPhone Goes Live, and It’s Good

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So finally, the official Twitter app has landed on the iPhone, following earlier release for the BlackBerry and Android devices. In case you forgot, Twitter app for iPhone is actually a “refurbished” version of the previously available Tweetie app. I didn’t get to use Tweetie before so I couldn’t really say whether this official Twitter version is better than Tweetie. But what I can say is that Twiiter app for iPhone has loads of goodies and you won’t have a hard time liking and using it from this day on.

So, what’s new and what’s hot with the  official Twitter app for iPhone? To be honest it’s probably the same as other previously released third-party Twitter apps. You get to post tweets, read timeline, retweets, see your lists, attach photos from your camera, send DMs, search Twitter and a plethora of other usual Twitter features and functionality.

One feature of the app worth noting is support for multiple Twitter accounts. And the interface for switching from one account to another is quite intuitive. Given then small screen real estate of the iPhone, I’m not expecting the app to support multi-columns. Although TweetDeck has done an easier interface for scrolling through your multiple accounts and it was quite good. I’m actually looking forward to the iPad version of  this apps and hoping that the two column format will be carried out quite well.

Another notable feature of Twitter app for iPhone is that you can now search and browser Twitter.com even if you haven’t signed up for a Twitter account yet. Wait how could you not, still?

Overall, the official Twitter app for iPhone is a very good app. It might not be the best among the currently available Twitter apps for iPhone but it is certainly among those above average.

So, have you downloaded Twitter for iPhone? How do you find it so far? Share with us you experience using Twitter app for iPhone by leaving a comment below.