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Hitwise: Facebook growing fast, MySpace still on top

The good news for Facebook, according to new statistics from Hitwise, is that its traffic is up 50 percent in the U.S. since last August. The not-so-good news for Zuckerberg & pals? The same numbers say that News Corp.'s MySpace still owns a whopping 67.5 percent of the social-networking market in the U.S.

Hitwise gathered its data from an analysis of traffic to 56 different social-networking sites, and concluded that Facebook has gone from a market share of under 14 percent to slightly over 20 percent in the past year. MySpace, meanwhile, has seen a 10 … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 816: The fog of charm

I bet you think this podcast is about you. Don't you? Don't you!? On today's show, we learn how easy it is to spot a narcissist on Facebook (stay away!), terrible ideas that will criminalize professional eBay sellers and kill eBay even faster than it's killing itself, and how video games might be the only thing that can survive a recession.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 816

Bill would give retailers power to halt online auctions http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-bill-would-give-retailers-power-to-halt-online-auctions.html

Users fail to spot fake pop-ups http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7633402.stm … Read more

NYT's TimesPeople feature enters public beta

The New York Times has started rolling out TimesPeople, a sharing-and-recommending tool that the publication first announced earlier this year. It's essentially an extension of the free user accounts that are already required to read the Times' Web site: You can now build up a friends list, recommend stories to people you know, and see what they've been recommending or commenting on.

In other words, it's a social news feed for Times readers. You can also sync it up with your Facebook account to push your feed--stories you've commented on or recommended--to your profile on the … Read more

The 404 189: Where Dee is not Eric Franklin

Our No. 404 fanboy Dee Wren takes time out of his busy filming schedule to bring some positivity to our Monday morning. After revealing some news about the upcoming Google Android release tomorrow, we talk about the weekend box office, touch on Facebook porn, and make an overall attempt to shade ourselves from Jeff's rays of hate (unsuccessfully). Happy Monday!

To make up for all the lives we've ruined with The 404, we invite our buddy Dee Wren into the studio to pimp his philanthropic project, From Us With Love. It's a nonprofit organization that supplies aid to children in South Africa and Dee is helping to shoot a documentary on their efforts to send a group of them to Australia for the Homeless World Cup. We'd love for you to contribute as much time, money, and resources as you can to their foundation. The best part of this endeavor is that For Us With Love is already corporate-sponsored, so the full 100 percent of your contribution will go directly into the project, no filters. It's a very noble cause, please check out the Web site and do what you can to help!

Episode 189 Download today's podcast … Read more

Facebook has the Monday morning blues

Update (1:18 p.m.): This story has been modified to include comment from Facebook.

For some of the legions of Facebook users eager to get on the site to see what their friends have been up to, play Scrabble or look at photos, Monday morning has not been the best of times.

That's because some users of the popular social-networking site--though not all--have found themselves locked out due to some sort of Facebook-initiated downtime.

"Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance," a message received by some users when they tried to log in said. &… Read more

Hole unveils Facebook fan pages

A new hole in Facebook allows members to see the fan pages of people on the networking site who they aren't friends with, an outside researcher revealed on Friday.

In verifying the hole, CNET News--signing onto the site as someone who is not a designated "friend" of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg--was still able to see that he is a fan of Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, Green Day, Nirvana, Central Park, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Apple Students.

All a would-be spy has to do is go to anyone's profile page, click on the "Info&… Read more

The looming crisis: Personal syndication overload

Today, for kicks, I tried to draw a map of all the places I write content, all the places it is displayed, and all the intermediate services that re-post my content in places other than where I originally write it. It's a spaghetti of interlinked services, and it's becoming unmanageable. I think it's just dumb luck that I haven't created an infinite loop of republishing so far. Adding one more service could push things over the edge.

Although my profession is creating content and publishing it, my problem is hardly unique. I post a few times … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 813: Gonads: It's a science word

Quit laughing. This is serious business, related to cell phone radiation and sperm motility and viability. Also today, we talk about the new, NEW Microsoft ads (again), EA backtracking on its unpopular decision and Mark Zuckerberg sticking with his, and whether weather will make a difference in PlayStation 3 sales. Our bet: no. With guest host Jeff Bakalar! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 813

New Microsoft Commercials Are Live http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/18/new-microsoft-ads-are-live/

EA Relaxes Rules on Installing ‘Spore’ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178384121054773.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10046288-16.html

Zuckerberg: ‘Change … Read more

Zuckerberg: 'Change can be difficult,' but the redesign stays

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has caught on to the fact that a sizeable handful of his 100-million-plus users say they aren't too thrilled with the site's new redesign. But he won't change anything, as Facebook occasionally has in the face of user revolt.

A post on the company blog, authored by Zuckerberg, wrote that the site's new focus--which emphasizes the sharing of media and information--is "an important step for us."

"In the last four years, we've built new products that help people share more, such as photos, videos, groups, events, wall posts, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 812: No, we have no politics today

Yes, we talk about politicians, and we crack a couple of non-jokes about politics, but we're definitely not talking about politics. Because we want us all to get along. Natali Del Conte joins the Buzz crew today to bid a (fond?) farewell to the Gates-Seinfeld ads, talk about Mark Zuckerberg and all his money, and whether Windows 7 can save the day.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 812

Latest Microsoft Vista ad defends “I’m a PC” guy: Seinfeld out http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007763.html http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2639

Windows 7 … Read more