The internet in figures

The internet is a vast country. 247 billion e-mails per day, 126 million active bloggers, 27 million tweets per day. 30.000 servers to store your idiotic Facebook Fan Pages.
And that's 2009. 2010 is bound to break all those records!

The American web agency Jess3 collected different statistics into The State Of The Internet.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Source: Focus Knack

'Hidden Facebook' has much more 'users'

Even though you might not have a Facebook account, mind you that Zuckerberg’s team knows who you are! The idea behind it is as simple as it is terrifying. When a new Facebook user signs up, he is requested to automatically let Facebook find friends. He can upload his address book which is then scanned for known Facebook users. But next to them, also people in his adress book without a Facebook account are saved in the Facebook archives. Also, names that are searched for, even if they don’t have an account are saved and analysed. That way the system can create your personal web of friends just as if you were on Facebook. The advertising possibilities are ample.

One might feel assaulted by this, but Facebook puts the responsibility for breaking people’s privacy with its users. It says this quite clearly in its terms of use. The thing is; who reads those?

Sources: T-Zine

Microsoft and Google deal makes Twitter profitable

Like many other SNS'es, Twitter was not profitable from the start. It is only after three years that the microblogging site will be able to pay out dividends to its share holders. This is announced by BusinessWeek who is aware of Twitter's financial situation.

Because of a huge deal with Microsoft and Google, 25 million dollar could be added to Twitter's 2009 earnings. In return for the money, Twitter makes its tweets accessible to Google and Microsoft's Bing.

With 58 million users, visiting the site via the web or their cell phone, Twitter is one of the fastest growing websites in the world. Although this is nothing compared to Facebook's 350 million, Zuckerberg's project won't be profitable for the next few years.
Analysts had feared Twitter would never be profitable. However, because of the deal, the SNS now has a stronger negotiation power allowing it to further cut back telecom expenses.

Sources: De Tijd, Wikipedia, Newsweek

Satnav meets SNS

Garmin has recently brought out its new nüvi 1690. The satnav has lane assistance which always keeps you on the right track, photo navigation, ecoRoute fuel saving routes and park position recalls.

But what is really cool is that the device has a built-in mobile phone connection, allowing it to connect to a whole range of communication services like those of the TomTom LIVE range. Because of this technology, Garmin provides Instant Traffic information, Speed Camera alerts, Google Local Search and Telephone Directory, weather forecasts and Ciao! Friend Finder (Garmin’s Social Networking application which also features on the nuviphone range).

According to Garmin, Ciao! is a patentpending social network application that can link multiple networks onto one application. Caught in traffic and already late for an appointment? Put it on Twitter. Cruising around in your vacation? Immediately post your photo's on Facebook feeds via your satnav device.

On its site, Garmin says: "Imagine you’re out and about and you’re hungry. You really don’t want to eat alone. With one click in Ciao!, you can see the location of your friends who are near your location! Then you can use your phone to call, text or email them with the location of a restaurant and see if they would like to join you."

Sources: Gadgeteer (October, 14 2009), Garmin (October, 16 2009)