Social Media Butterfly

FriendFeed’s New iPhone Version vs. FF2Go

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Compared to most websites, FriendFeed is extremely mobile browser friendly. Still, I felt the need recently to see if anyone had used FriendFeed’s api to create an even more mobile-friendly version that I could view on my iPhone.

At first, I couldn’t find anything. But eventually someone told me about FFtoGo (fftogo.com). This was exactly what I was looking for.

Now, FriendFeed has released its own iPhone version. FriendFeed will automatically detect if you’re connecting from an iPhone. You can view the version from a “normal” browser by going to friendfeed.com/i. That should also work if you’re browsing from another mobile device.

There’s hardly any difference between FriendFeed’s iphone version and FFtoGo. FriendFeed has its logo at the top and FFtoGo lacks a logo altogether, but it’s not intrusive. There looks to be a slight font difference between the two, but it’s barely noticeable.

So, I can confidently recommend both for FriendFeed mobile viewing!

Friendster Continues to Embrace Mobile with Text Alerts (for Asia)

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Friendster recently released a mobile version of their site and now they’re taking mobile social networking to the next level with their site by offering text alerts. The text alerts will be made available to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippine. The service has been tested in the Phillipines.

“Since SMS text messaging technology is universally available on over 1.2 billion mobile phones in use today in Asia, all of our 52 million users in Asia that have mobile phones can subscribe to Friendster Text Alerts and stay connected when they are on the go and away from a computer,” said David Jones, vice president of global marketing for Friendster.

52 million of Friendster’s 70 million users hail from Asia. Out of the 40 million unique monthly users, 36 million of them are in Asia. So while you may feel the need to balk at Friendster from the comfort of your American desk or couch, Friendster’s making bank across the Pacific.

Steve Job’s WWDC Keynote and iPhone Announcement: Underwhelming

Posted by Nathania Johnson

For weeks, Apple fanboys have been in anticipation of the iPhone 3G launch. I’ve heard or read on Twitter people pondering whether or not they should camp out at their nearest Apple Store. I certainly hope you didn’t. Especially with this heat wave that’s been going on.

Today, Steve Jobs took the stage at Apple’s development conference and took a whopping 90 minutes before introducing the next iPhone. I, personally, was underwhelmed.

Here’s what the new iPhone offers:

• 3G speeds. Jobs said it was faster than the Nokia N95 and the Palm Treo. But what about the Blackberry Pearl, Blackberry Curve, HTC Touch, Palm Centro, or a whole host of other smartphones?
• GPS (the current Google Maps works fine for me)
• Better audio
• Flush headphone jack
• 8GB at $199, and 16GB at $299. I’m assuming these prices will be subsidized by a 2 year contract. This is a smart move by Apple as energy prices are so high. But this should have happened with the first iPhone, especially since it didn’t have all the capabilities of a true smartphone.

So there you have it. Oh yeah, you’ll have to wait until July 11th.

If any of this had happened with another handset maker, there would be an abundant number of blog posts slamming the company. I mean, Apple could at least have let the launch date slip into rumorville, right?

But I suspect most fanboys will forgive Apple. After all, it was A-listers like Michael Arrington that perpetuated false rumors about the iPhone. I hope the hype leading up to this event is a good reminder that it’s more important to listen to the rockers rather than the rock stars.

Last but not least, not selling the iPhone until July 11th leaves the market WIDE OPEN for Blackberry, HTC, and Samsung. They all have hot phones coming out this summer. And if we’re really lucky, we’ll see progress on the Google Android.

Don’t believe me? iPhone actually helped to boost sales of other smartphones last year. And don’t forget that 3G won’t make anyone type faster on that virtual keypad. And it’s not guaranteed to keep Safari from crashing either.

The apps might make it worth it, but shelling out $9.95 for some of them (and $99 a year for MobileMe) won’t be appealing to consumers faced with $4/gallon gas. And they won’t stand up once Android hits the market either.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on Steve Jobs’ keynote. What do you think? Leave a comment, but bashers beware - I will not approve yours if you have nothing better to say than “apple rocks and everyone else sucks.”

Friendster Launches Mobile-Ready Site

Posted by Nathania Johnson

As more and more social networking takes place on mobile phones, the race has begun to compete in what will inevitably become a cutthroat field.Friendster, our favorite first social network, has launched a mobile version of its site.

And in case you thought Friendster is a thing of the past, think again. Did you know…

• Friendster is the 8th largest website in the world
• The #1 social network in Asia
• They also boast 70 million users (almost twice as much as Bebo).

You can access the mobile version of Friendster at m.friendster.com.

What do you think of the mobile version of Friendster?

Google Android Developer Contest Produces Exciting Mobile Social Apps

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Today, I viewed a document published by Google about the finalists in the Android Development contest. If you’re not familiar, Android is Google’s mobile platform that many are predicting will launch the second half of 2008 or early 2009.

I was happy to see several apps that enable social networking on phones. Many of them involve maps, so you can see where your friends are - and what they are up to at that location. It’s like a visual Twitter maps mashup.

Check the apps out for yourself here (PDF).

In all, 46 out of the 50 finalists consented to having their apps shared.

A Social Network for Your Mobile Phone

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Bluepulse is a social network for your mobile phone. You can create a group of friends and you all share the same inbox and outbox. It’s kind of like a group chat on your mobile phone.Recently, I read a blog post by someone who attended the South by Southwest interactive festival who said she wished she had been able to just follow Twitterers who were at the festival during the time she was there.

Bluepulse would have helped her do that. She could have invited her SXSW-attending Twitter followers to join a Bluepulse group and they could have made plans to meet up or chatted about the different seminars they were attended.

I could even see businesses or departments at large companies using a group chat like this. It could be great for trade shows or meeting deadlines. It could really streamline conversations and decrease redundancies.

The platform’s design looks clean and modern, which I really like too.

What do you think? Could you see yourself using a network like Bluepulse? Do you like the design?

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