Facebook Roundup: Apple, Places, Hot Potato Acquisition and More

Apple, Facebook ‘BFFs’ - This week “The Facebook Effect” author David Kirkpatrick gave an interview to Chris Hill in which he asserts that because the Facebook app is the most widely used across Apple’s products, and that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Steve Jobs have been spending some quality time together. We’ve written about this relationship before, but Kirkpatrick put it in very plain terms: “The Facebook application is by far the most important application on both the iPhone and the iPad. Without the Facebook application, my own opinion is the iPhone would never have become as important as it is. It's the single most widely used application." He continued, "It's so heavily used compared to other apps that I have been told by someone who thought he knew the data — this is highly secret data and I don't know the actual numbers — that more than half of all usage of the iPhone of apps, other than those provided by the phone itself like telephony and email, is coming from Facebook. And on the iPad, too, it's just a huge, huge part of usage.” [Image via] Hot Potato Confirms Facebook Acquisition - Social sharing service Hot Potato has confirmed that it has sold to Facebook, following reports about the acquisition last month. The deal was in the works then, because it closed just this week. In a blog Hot Potato announced today that the startup was acquired by Facebook; within a month the company will completely shut down and delete user data. None of this data will roll over to Facebook, according to the post. This is clearly a talent acquisition. Places Info Available Only by Warrant - The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote a somewhat positive review of Facebook’s new Places product. Amid the focus on privacy, EFF brought up the issue of whether Places information would be available to law enforcement authorities. Facebook replied, “We consider our Places product to generate content of communications, and would require a search warrant for prior generated content or a wiretap to capture forward generated content.” For more on Places privacy settings, see our recent product review. Topguest, Travel Prog, Integrates Places - A frequent traveler program was the fourth company to integrate Facebook’s new Places app after Yelp, Booyah and Gowalla. The check-in program has partnered with big companies such as Soho & Tribeca Grand, Viceroy Hotel Group and InterContinental Hotels Group and is set to provide Places users with automatic rewards for checking in via the new service at hotels, airpots or other hospitality locations. FTC Interested in Places, Privacy Implications - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has a hand in regulating Internet-related matters, is set to take a look at Facebook’s new Places service. The Center for Digital Democracy, which bills itself as a group working to ensure the public interest with regard to digital communications, is scheduled to discuss Places and related privacy concerns with the FTC soon. Social Location, Imagined Visually - The blog Jess3 developed an infographic of the geo-social landscape by size, sharing its evolution on Flickr. The final product shows cell phones, Facebook and Skype taking up most of the space, followed by Gmail, MySpace and Friendster. New iPhone Facebook App Launches, Fixed - Facebook launched its latest version of the iPhone app this week, which we wrote about. There were some bugs with the app that have since been fixed. TrialPay Adds Videos for Credits - TrialPlay has introduced video offers, as have other companies recently, to help gamers earn virtual currency. Basically by watching the videos, which amount to commercials, gamers can earn more game credits for their games. Fake Dislike Button Scam - Fake apps have been advertising themselves as Dislike buttons on Facebook, but any such claims are inherently fake since Facebook hasn’t authorized such a button. Facebook Chat via Microsoft’s Messenger - Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger now enables users of its services to chat with Facebook friends via Facebook Chat. Most recently Microsoft enabled Facebook functionality with its Outlook product. XIHA Translates Facebook to 55 Languages - XIHA Life is a new service allowing users of social networks like Facebook to translate things like status updates, polls, interests and comments from among 55 different languages and in 200 countries. Using the translating service is as simple as clicking on a button. Singapore May Allow Legal Docs on Facebook - Singapore — following the example of the UK, Australia and New Zealand — may allow lawyers to share legal documents on social networks like Facebook. The Singapore High Court is circulating a paper for public comment which would allow lawyers to swap legal docs informing litigants of civil judgements and filings, closing out comments on Sept. 15.

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Facebook Roundup: Apple, Places, Hot Potato Acquisition and More

Sara Inés Calderón

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Sara Inés Calderón