Webware

Corporate tools take note: You can tell Twitter exactly what you're doing, and it'll tell LinkedIn too.

Chalk one up for the cringe-worthy marketing term "personal branding": there is a new partnership between Twitter, hub for informing the world exactly what you're doing and thinking at all moments of the day, and LinkedIn, the business-networking tool on steroids. In an announcement Monday, the two companies explained that LinkedIn status messages can sync with Twitter.

"The business use case of Twitter is turning out to be very important, and more and more people are finding that the persona they create for themselves on the Web is part of their resume in many ways," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said in a joint video with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman that was posted to the LinkedIn blog.

So, in short, LinkedIn's "status" feature now syncs with Twitter with an optional check box--a feature that the two companies say should be rolling out over the next few days. Likewise, can set your Twitter status as your LinkedIn status by using the hash tag #li or #in, so that you can rest assured that your tweet about "watching Gossip Girl and eating cold pizza" won't immediately show up to potential clients or employers trawling your LinkedIn profile. (Full disclosure: This was my Twitter status tonight. If you believe that it renders me professionally unsound, please feel free to let me know.)

All snark aside, this is probably a very good bet for LinkedIn, which continues to grow fast and make money but which hasn't yet really jumped into the latest social-networking trend of real-time, streaming information. Inking a partnership with Twitter is much easier than launching some other kind of initiative to get members to update their statuses more often. Tweets sent to LinkedIn, presumably, could also be grouped in with LinkedIn status messages to form some kind of business-intelligence live stream. The sort of information that people want to share specifically with colleagues and professional associates could be of interest to high-end advertisers or the market research community.

Twitter, meanwhile, is going to want to stay in the limelight of the business community as it considers a long-term business model--one of the microblogging service's potential moneymakers has been launching a "dashboard" of analytics for people and companies who use it primarily for professional purposes rather than, you know, filling the world in on which beer was just discovered in the back of the fridge.

Also for Twitter, this is yet another potential source of tweets as it attempts to become the world's foremost repository of real-time information. Earlier this year, MySpace announced an official way to sync Twitter and MySpace status, and in a matter of weeks its link-shortening service had become the second most popular on Twitter (trailing Twitter's preferred Bit.ly).

Facebook, meanwhile, appears to have been more reluctant: a Twitter app on its platform has pulled tweets into status messages for some time, and an unofficial app lets members tag selective tweets with the hashtag "#fb" to cross-post them to Facebook, but the only time that Facebook has put out a big, official announcement about syncing with Twitter was when it added an easy-sync feature for "fan pages," profiles for brands and marketers.

Not surprising. Twitter is a hot name in marketing these days, and in order for Facebook to establish fan pages as an ideal spot for brands to build a presence, an easy Twitter sync is a selling point. But in the long run, it's an advantage for Facebook, which once tried to buy Twitter and was snubbed, to keep its treasure trove of what-the-world-is-thinking somewhat to itself. After all, it can get away with it: with well over 300 million active users, Facebook is significantly bigger than Twitter, and could be diluting its own product by openly sourcing status messages out to Twitter. LinkedIn, better known for its networking features than any kind of status updating, isn't running that kind of risk.

Until then: "At SFO airport at bookstore. Deciding between @gladwell and @tferriss. Need real, serious insights. Thoughts? #li."

A new study released on Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has found some rather interesting tidbits of information about social network users.

According to the study, 19 percent of Web surfers use "Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others." According to the organization, its earlier findings in April 2009 found that just 11 percent of Internet users were using a status-update service.

But the reason why there has been such an uptick in status updates has much to do with the users themselves, Pew found. According to the organization, the growth is being driven by "social network Web site users, those who connect to the Internet via mobile devices, and younger Internet users--those under age 44."

The study found that 33 percent of those who are updating their status range in age between 18 and 29. Those aged between 30 and 49 make up 22 percent of the group. Just 13 percent of those who update their status are 50 years of age or older.

Pew determined that the Twitter user's median age is 31. MySpace's median age is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008. LinkedIn has also gotten younger by a year, featuring a median age of 39. But Facebook is one of the few social networks to buck the youth trend, upping its median age to 33, from 26 in May 2008.

Some believe that Twitter has the power to change big events like Iranian elections. I think that its strength may be in much smaller, but still significant, ways.

In fact, I was the matchmaker recently between a Barcelona cabbie and an American employee of a pharmaceutical company. Well, a matchmaker between the cabbie and this lady's BlackBerry, anyway.

It happened like this:

I have a Twitter search in TweetDeck that alerts me every time the word "Asay" is used on Twitter. (I need to be able to track down libel somehow!)

Is this taxi a twitterer?

(Credit: CC Robertrd/Flickr)

On August 30, I saw this tweet:

Hi! I'm a taxi driver from Barcelona. Somebody knows Jennifer Asay? She works for (pharmaceutical company). I've her Balckberry [sic].

I happen to be married to a Jennifer Asay, but not this one. So I looked up her name on the Web and quickly found her on LinkedIn. I reached out to her there to give her the e-mail address of the taxi driver, which he provided in his tweet. I also replied to him to give him her e-mail address. No big deal, right?

On Wednesday, I heard back from Raúl, the taxi driver:

Hi! I am the taxidriver from Barcelona.

She has found me thanks to you.
I will be with her for I will give back its telephone.
Thank you very much by your work.

Raúl

Nice, right? It gets better. Today, I heard from Jennifer, and it sounds like everything worked out, thanks to the power of Twitter (and LinkedIn):

I can't tell you how grateful I am that you reached out to me....by a miracle, Raúl brought me my BlackBerry today!

What are the odds? In our increasingly networked world, the odds are getting shorter all the time.

Again, it's a simple story, but one rich in possibilities too. Think about it. A twittering taxi driver reaches out to the massive echo chamber that is the Web and is heard by a complete stranger in Utah who also uses Twitter (me), who then turns to LinkedIn to find the sought-for person and connects them over e-mail.

There are lots of problems in the world. Communication--at least the possibility of communication--isn't one of them.

P.S. There's a very good chance that I've now ruined Jennifer's life by getting her back in touch with her BlackBerry addiction, but I want this story to have a happy ending.

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay. And if you find my iPhone, please tweet it. :-)

You might be using LinkedIn to stay connected with your business contacts, but there are alternatives on the Web that will help you network and enjoy some extra features while you're at it. Whether you want to hang out at some professional parties or you're more interested in sharing best practices, there are some really neat business-centric social networks on the Web you'll want to visit.

Go pro with these social networks

Focus If you're looking for answers to important business decisions, Focus is the social network for you.

After signing up for Focus, you can immediately start researching topics that have some relevance to your business. From finance to customer service, the site is filled with professionals both asking and answering questions on topics that impact business. To push its social element, Focus allows you to write a blog, connect with others in groups, or simply post comments to discussion boards. If you're looking to learn more about your industry and you want peers to help you do it, Focus is for you.

Focus will give you some insight on important business topics.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Netparty If you're a young professional, networking is one of the most important elements of your career. If you don't know colleagues, you might lose a competitive advantage over others vying for the same job. That's where Netparty comes in.

Netparty's goal is to connect young professionals in a party atmosphere. The site arranges networking events for young professionals in several cities across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and even South America. It sets up parties at different places around the city you live in, charges an admission fee, and even gives you directions on getting there. From the site, you can buy tickets and get on the V.I.P. list, so you don't need to wait in line. It's a great service. More young professionals should be using it.

Netparty connects young professionals in local hot spots.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Not a particularly surprising move: LinkedIn president Jeff Weiner has taken over as CEO of the company, according to an announcement Wednesday from the business networking site.

Weiner, a former executive vice president at Yahoo, joined the company in January after then-CEO Dan Nye stepped down in December and founder Reid Hoffman took over as interim CEO. Hoffman will remain executive chairman of the company.

"LinkedIn was founded to harness the power of the Internet to create a tool that would help individuals become more effective and successful professionals," Hoffman said in a release. "Over the past six months, Jeff has done an exceptional job leading the company and I look forward to continuing the work that we have begun together."

LinkedIn now has over 42 million members, the company said, and hopes to be profitable this year for the second year in a row; it makes money not only from ads, but from premium subscriptions and "corporate solutions."

The company was aiming for a billion-dollar valuation just around a year ago when it raised a $53 million Series D funding round. Hoffman has gone on the record saying that he hopes LinkedIn will eventually go public.

Over the past few days, I've been using an upcoming e-mail helper called Gist.

Similar to Xobni (coverage) Gist is all about piggybacking on the e-mail systems you're already using to unearth information that's often tucked away. This includes the relationships you have with people you're e-mailing--both professionally and in your personal life.

The big difference is that Gist makes URLs, attachments, and conversation threads easier to get at. And instead of being relegated to Microsoft Outlook, like Xobni is, Gist works with Web mail too.

The service can tap into both Gmail and Outlook, as well as your LinkedIn account. In Gmail's case, this analysis requires giving Gist your log-in credentials. It checks in once a day, syncs up with the last 90 days of your in-box, then figures out the value of each one of your contacts by past correspondence.

Gist sorts out all my contacts to tell me who it believes to be the most important of the bunch. If I think it got it wrong, I can simply adjust the slider, and the list gets reordered.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

It's not a perfect system, as illustrated by the fact that it rated my boss' boss a 1 out of 100, but people with whom I regularly corresponded got high marks. Luckily, users can adjust the values that Gist has guessed to get it right.

"We believe that the algorithms can do a strong amount of the work, but ultimately, users generate that system," Gist founder T.A. McCann told me. Gist keeps two scores on each individual, one made by the user and one automatically generated by the system. McCann says the one created by the algorithm changes depending on your correspondence habits, so over time, the values should get more and more accurate.

Any links from your e-mails are gathered by Gist too.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

In addition to tracking people, Gist tracks companies. If you've got it hooked up to a work account where you're corresponding with people from different companies, it will give you a breakdown of each one, using data it pulls in from Dow Jones. This includes a news feed of related Internet news stories based on keyword. Likewise, it will cross-reference and list any other contacts you're e-mailing at that company.

For those using Gist with Outlook, McCann says the plug-in Gist has developed is super lightweight and will not slow the program down. Instead of doing the heavy lifting in the background, it will tap only into given messages when you click it on from Outlook's toolbar. It then opens up any information related to that contact or e-mail thread, using a small borderless browser window, which can be dismissed in an instant.

McCann hopes to get Gist into public beta by this summer, alongside an iPhone application that will let users tap into all their data when away from their machine. The service is in a free private beta test version right now, but McCann says it is looking at going with a monthly subscription that throws in some advanced features to paying customers.

Amber Ettinger, better known as "Obama Girl," has teamed up with Stickam for coverage of the presidential inauguration. Live coverage will be streamed live Monday at 8 p.m. EST from InauguralFest, and viewers will be able to see what she is doing all day at the inauguration starting at 10 a.m. EST Tuesday.

Integrated Media Measurement, an online research firm, found (PDF) that women between the ages of 15 and 48 tend to watch a television show and surf the Web an average of 17.5 minutes per day, while men do the same for just 15.7 minutes each day. Women between 30 and 39 average 23.3 minutes of simultaneous Web and TV usage each day. More importantly for marketers, women tend to multitask more as they get older, while men multitask less often. According to Amanda Welsh, head of research for IMMI, "women are more inclined to multitask than men" while using the Web.

Professional social network LinkedIn announced Monday that it has partnered with IBM to bring social-network functionality to Lotus Notes, an enterprise client that provides e-mail and instant-messaging services to users. The social-network plug-in will provide Lotus Notes users with contact and networking information about those they're contacting (as long as they are using LinkedIn) and browse LinkedIn's news feeds. The companies plan to unveil the new plug-in at Lotusphere later this year and hope to release it to Lotus Notes users by June.

Juniper Research released a report Monday saying event-based sales should increase the value and monetization of mobile dating and chat room sites. The report said that although subscription revenue will still contribute the most revenue to online dating sites over the next five years, charging customers to contact one another or providing virtual gifts will become increasingly important in their business models going forward. Juniper also found that free services that charge for contact are becoming more popular and could become the standard sometime during the next 10 years.

Navitell, a Belgium-based start-up that develops software that adds location-specific multimedia content to mobile phones, announced Monday that it has raised approximately $2.6 million in a round of funding that was led by FPIM. According to the company's executives, they plan to use the funding to expand their set of personalization services.

Correction, 12:10 p.m. PST: This story misspelled the name of one of the private investors in Snooth. His name is Kevin Fortuna.

Apple announced Friday that over 500 million apps have been downloaded from its App Store. Amazingly, the company only reached 300 million downloads on December 5, meaning its App Store has enjoyed accelerating growth since the holiday season. The announcement, which was made in the form of an advertisement on Apple's home page, also claims that the App Store now features more than 15,000 apps.

A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project says that more adults than ever are using social networks. That said, from a percentage perspective, there are still more teens using individual networks. According to the report, 65 percent of teens in the United States are using social networks, compared with just 35 percent of all the adults. But because there are more adults than teens in the country, the younger crowd is still outnumbered. Pew found that only 6 percent of adults in the U.S. use LinkedIn, a social network for professionals, and the majority of adults become part of social networks to "stay in touch with friends." The full report can be viewed here (PDF).

Web streaming service, Ustream, will allow its users to stream President-elect Barack Obama's Inauguration Day through their iPhone, a report from TechCrunch says. The iPhone app will be made available before the inauguration, and, once downloaded onto Apple's phone, users can stream any channel on Ustream directly to their iPhone. Ustream's iPhone app will be free and made available in the iTunes App Store.

Just in time for tax season, Intuit announced Friday that it has launched FreeLoader Nation, a marketing and social media campaign with MySpace. According to the company, FreeLoader Nation will offer access to TurboTax's free online federal tax preparation software, as well as other freebies like concert tickets. Once users sign up for FreeloaderNation, they will receive e-mail bulletins announcing updates and have the option of becoming friends with other members in the group.

Snooth, a social wine review site, announced Friday that it has raised $1 million in an angel round of financing. The round was led by private investors Joe Meyer and Kevin Fortuna. Company executives say they will use the funding to grow the service and improve site infrastructure.

Business networking site LinkedIn has confirmed reports that its founder, Reid Hoffman, will return to the CEO post to replace resigning CEO Dan Nye.

Hoffman had stepped down as CEO in 2006 but remained chairman of the board and stayed active in product development operations. This month, LinkedIn hired Dipchand Nishar as vice president of products, with the objective of taking over some of the duties that Hoffman had been handling. Meanwhile, former Yahoo executive Jeff Wiener, currently the executive in residence at Accel Partners and Greylock Partners, will take over as interim president at LinkedIn.

Nye plans to step down in mid-January. No reason was provided for his departure.

"Dan joined LinkedIn with a mission to help us build a company that was strong and sustainable. In two years, he has succeeded in this objective, transforming LinkedIn from a young start up to a high growth business," Hoffman said in a release. LinkedIn does not make its financials completely public, but says it has been profitable since 2007.

"Dan deserves tremendous credit for his contributions to LinkedIn. His passion and commitment will continue in the efforts of the team that he's helped build here."

Currently, LinkedIn has about 33 million members and has raised more than $100 million in venture capital, giving it a valuation that's reportedly right around $1 billion.