This post was written by Jody Jonnson

Facebook has sued a German social networking site, StudiVZ, saying that the site has stolen its look and feel by creating a clone site and merely replacing a blue background with an orange one. Facebook, which had filed suit right before unveiling a redesign, is seeking compensatory damages from StudiVZ but has not specified an amount. However, StudiVZ is accusing its larger rival of using the pretence of protecting its intellectual property rights to make up for its failure to succeed in Germany.
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This post was written by Jody Jonnson

Pattiann McAdams-Russell, president of Avon’s online division, said in a session with eTail 2008 that the cosmetics direct merchant is digging deeper into social networking as a way to give its sellers more power. After an online upgrade, which will be rolled out by the year’s end, Avon representatives will have the ability to blog on their personal Avon Websites. This will enable them to further tell the story of the products they sell. Representatives will also be able to offer live chat to help their customers make their decisions.
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This post was written by Jody Jonnson

The Facebook Platform celebrated its one year anniversary a few months ago. Never before have I seen the introduction of a new platform, Web site or service so quickly change the marketplace. There are more than 20,000 applications, some with nearly 2 million daily active users available on Facebook alone. Businesses and even venture capital funds have been created around the development of social network applications to capitalize on Facebook’s popularity.

OpenSocial, an open platform for application development across multiple social networks, spearheaded by Google, was quickly developed and launched to compete with (or maybe complement) the Facebook Platform. The opportunities presented by the Facebook Platform and OpenSocial are very exciting from a developer’s perspective. Now they can focus on building cool technology and not on building traffic from scratch. From the perspective of consumers, they have more choices and better ways to communicate while having fun on their favorite social networking site. But what does it mean for brands? How can brands successfully leverage these platforms to build their business?

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This post was written by Jody Jonnson

Ben Keighran, the Founder of Bluepulse, has recently announced the launch of an innovative mobile communication application also called the ‘Bluepulse.’ Based on a proprietary technology platform called OADP (Open Application Delivery Platform), this application will be used by people in over 190 countries for social networking. This social networking application will be geared exclusively for easy and free text messaging amongst the users of web-enabled mobile phones. The company is regularly expanding the list of compatible devices with this application. It has moved a step further by providing a custom-fit messaging window to the iPhone users. Bluepulse, as many other social networking software’s, is listed in Apple’s App Store and can be downloaded free of cost.
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This post was written by Jody Jonnson

Konnects, the place for professional networking, has announced a new set of features that extends the company’s vision to provide an easy platform to individuals, enabling its users to create and join various, self-governed networking communities with respect to the shared professional interests and/or corporate affiliation. The recently updated, user interface of Konnects incorporates the look and potential of immensely popular Web 2.0 social networking platforms. It implicates an extreme focus on business-related information sharing. With its updated interface and integrated communities experience, Konnects also aim towards the reduction of professional networking limitations and building new business relationships, online.
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