And in many ways it’s Facebook Connect that makes the potential of Facebook Credits so intriguing.
Couple Connect with Credits and you get a new payment option that could, if Facebook allows it, be used as a universal payment option on the internet. Facebook would act as the go-between between Facebook users and online stores and services.
"When you confirm a new friend, you'll be presented with four people that friend is connected to - four suggestions for people who might be mutual acquaintances based on your social graph." [Jolie O'Dell @RWW]
"A source briefed on the matter tells us Facebook is working on a feature that will allow users who access the network from mobile devices to "check-in" and broadcast their current location to all their friends."
Mobcast is like a combination of Foursquare
and Google Latitude
But Mobcast does have its
"Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., for the last year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression.
The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall.
When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that "I'm available to work, because of Facebook," she told CBC News this week."
The stat that jumped out immediately was the percentage of companies that use Twitter, Facebook and a blog together: 17%. I would have guessed it would be much higher.
I think that underscores that how much fragmentation exists as brands try to cohesively stitch together the various pieces of their digital footprints. Most companies don't have the luxury (for a lot reasons) to neatly embark on a social media strategy that allows them to start a facebook page, create a twitter account, and so on.
One item that also contributes to that percentage is something that Mashable points out. Some brands skipped the Facebook fan page strategy and dove right into Twitter. I think you'll see those numbers rise as Facebook continues its Twitter-like metamorphosis and brings more publishing and status messages to the web.
Founder @ Dearing Group LLC.
George can be reached via email at george@dearinggroup.com or on Twitter, and Facebook Subscribe to this site via RSS here.
