Facebook launches Campus to keep college kids connected (again)

When you see Mark Zuckerberg being grilled by Congress or listening to people discuss his company's role in presidential elections, it can be easy to forget Facebook's roots as a college-only social network. Now, with a new school year upon us, Faceb...

Recommended Reading: The 15th anniversary of ‘Halo 2’

When 'Halo 2' invaded planet earth Anthony John Agnello, The Ringer In the latest installment of "things that will make you feel old," Halo 2 was released on November 9, 2004 -- which makes it 15 years old. The Ringer takes an in-depth look at the...

Ello, The Disruptive New Social Network, Has Filed As A Public Benefit Corporation

Even if you haven’t really looked into Ello, you’ve probably heard of it. In case you haven’t, I’ll sum it up for you: Ello is a new social network that’s billing itself as an ad-free, privacy-minded alternative to Facebook with a serious penchant for design. It’s a great idea (that you’ve probably already had), and that’s why as many as 40,000 people per hour are requesting invites to join.

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Enough people liked the idea that Ello raised $5.5 Million, but that’s not the news today. The news is that the company then filed as a Public Benefit Corporation, which means that it will never legally be able to sell ad space or user data or be sold to a buyer who plans to do either of those thing. Yes, that means that Ello is now a non-profit organization. Once you go non-profit, there’s no going back either; upon dissolution of a not-for-profit corporation, all assets have to be donated to another not-for-profit, since they are technically property of the public.

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Also, unlike Facebook, nudity is fair game; be warned.

[via TechCrunch]

There’s A Facebook Clone That Charges $9,000 For Membership

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If you’re tired of rubbing elbows online with nothing but, you know, regular people, you’re going to want to take a look at Netropolitan. It’s an exclusive social network that charges $9,000 to enter. $6,000 of that is the initiation fee, then it’s $3,000 annually. In exchange for all those dollars, you gain access to “the online country club for people with more money than time”. But instead of a spa, jacuzzi, free towels, and rudimentary gym equipment (typical country club amenities), you’ll get to socialize with people just as, uh, special as you.

Netropolitan’s founder, James Touchi-Peters, 48, a composer and former conductor of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, said he had trouble finding people to whom he could relate on other social sites. “I saw a need for an environment where you could talk about the finer things in life without backlash — an environment where people could share similar likes and experiences,” he said.

The hefty initiation fee, he said, “ensures that our membership remains exclusive, but also private.”

Members must be at least 21 years old and must register using their real names. Once in, they may form groups around common interests, but will have access to posts and status updates by all other users. There are no ads, the site is not indexed by search engines, and moderators are active at all times to police bad behavior (like spamming ads for your own business).

Allegedly, the site has already attract hundreds of members, although you can’t really check it out right this minute since it seems to be down.

[ Netropolitan ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

The post There’s A Facebook Clone That Charges $9,000 For Membership appeared first on OhGizmo!.

Twitter Profiles Get a Facelift, Look More Like Facebook

Twitter Profile Redesign

Social networks resemble even more one another, now that Twitter went for a visual overhaul of its profile pages.

Ever thought that Twitter profiles would look better if they had a cover photo, much like Facebook profiles do? Well, the wait is over, as the new visual profiles include so many big images that it may become difficult to tell them apart. It has been a while since Twitter profiles were redesigned in such a radical way, and it’s good that this social network took this measure now, in order to improve the experience of its users. It should be noted that Twitter also redesigned the Homepage of each profile back in January, so this current step was really necessary for completing the overhaul.

The redesigned Twitter profiles appear only in the desktop version, and that only in several countries. Users of the mobile app, as well as the ones from other countries than the ones selected for the test, will have to wait a while. Still, such features are rolled-out rather quickly in general, so you shouldn’t worry.

The current design features header photos measuring 1252 x 626 pixels, while in the test version, the recommended size is 1500 x 1500. Tweets including links to pages that have images will now include big thumbnails, so from this point of view, the resemblance to Facebook’s News Feed is even more shocking.

The content, the thing without which Twitter wouldn’t exist, will be available in tabs that make navigation a lot easier. On top of that, the new Twitter profiles will also feature Facebook- and Pinterest-style cards. I think that such changes could make relevant content more obvious. After all, it’s easy to miss a tweet when you are following hundreds, if not thousands of other users, and bigger images could help us a lot with figuring out which tweets are more important for us. Personally, I think the new design is a major step forward for Twitter, as it’s less difficult for us now to focus on the things that truly matter.

In case Twitter wanted its new profile pages to look specifically like the ones of Facebook, I guess this must be payback for the Trending Topics that the latter plans to implement. However, if a thing is done right, there’s nothing wrong if it serves as inspiration for others.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the world’s first Twitter hotel and Facebook’s Trending Topics.

Virgin America Targets Business Travelers with In-Flight Social Network

Virgin America In-Flight Social Network

Making connections is very important in the business world, so why not do this while flying? While contained in such a limited space, you might as well try to make new friends.

Using Gogo Wifi and the Here on Biz geo-location app, Virgin America put together what they claim to be the world’s first in-flight social network. Anyone interested in this new way of making connections needs to log into Here on Biz using a LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook account. Since many airlines offer Wi-Fi while in-flight, accessing these social networks has never been a problem, but exchanging accounts would have required a previous interaction, whereas Virgin America’s in-flight professional social network works as the ideal ice breaker between business travelers.

People we’re traveling with no longer have to be single-serving friends, as Tyler Durden called them in Fight Club. Until now, people seated next to each other either didn’t speak at all to one another, or they kept everything to a minimum. Using Here on Biz, however, helps people get more details about their flight partners.

HereOnBiz, the developer of the eponymous app, also implemented chat functionality in this social network, but in order to carry a conversation, the participants need to have a professional connection. The major downside of Here On Biz is that it is available only on the App Store, so Android users are neglected, at least for the moment. After downloading the app and connecting through Gogo, business travelers are required to use another social network account to connect to Here on Biz.

In conclusion, anyone who wants to “take advantage of downtime in-flight to build or renew their professional connections,” as Virgin America puts it, should buy an iOS device, in case they don’t already own one, and give this in-flight social network a try. Who knows, they might actually make the deal of the century with a total stranger who claims to be a billionaire.

In other news, 24-year old Gabe Whaley developed Wingman, an app that helps people to hookup while in-flight. Whaley and Virgin America obviously have different target audiences for their apps and social networks, but the ultimate goal is the same. Both of them help you make friends, either for business or for personal matters.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about these Internet-connected light fixtures that reinvent physical social networking and the smart glasses that enable nurses to see through your skin.