Tag: Social Networks

  • How to NOT Suck at Foursquare (and other location-based social networks)

    If you’re just joining the rest of us on the internet, there’s something you should know.  There are several websites that allow you to use your physical location in the world (typically via the GPS in your mobile phone) to virtually “check in” to venues like restaurants, sporting events, and movie theaters. Checking your location…

  • The Facebook Gift Shop Closes Its Doors, Focus Shifts to Improving Other Features

    Topping the list of Facebook features I’ll never miss, the Facebook team removed the Gift Shop as of August 1st.  No longer will you see the nagging option to give your friends images of cakes or puppies for their birthdays (I’m still baffled by the whole virtual item/currency thing). Jared Morgenstern, Facebook’s product manager for…

  • How to Prevent Embarrassing Status Updates on Facebook with Alerts

    As I rapidly learned in my fraternity days, you can never be too careful with your unattended computer.  All it takes is for you to leave your door unlocked, forget to log out of a public computer, or leave your laptop somewhere, and a stranger can have complete access to your entire Facebook account. Even…

  • How to discover what public information is available on your Facebook Profile

    Facebook has made headlines recently with the company’s questionable approach to user privacy.  Many of the new changes to Facebook allow more of your information to be shared without your knowledge. Unknown to most people, some of your Facebook information is available to anyone on the internet through the Facebook API.  You can use a…

  • How to Filter Your Facebook News Feed with the New Version of Facebook

    About a year ago, I wrote a guide to filtering the noise from your Facebook News Feed that worked for the old version of Facebook.  The News Feed can get really messy when a lot of your friends are playing games like Farmville, Mob Wars, etc., and the old version of Facebook provided you with…

  • Firefox Tip: How to Easily Save Websites for Later Reading

    I’m constantly running across interesting articles and posts I want to save for later reading.  Bookmarks work well enough, but I don’t need to save these websites for long-term use – I want to be able to quickly check them out later when I’ve got free time. Read It Later is a free add-on for…

  • Create a Simple, Awesome Browser Start Page with Fav4

    I recently asked my friends on Twitter what they used for their browser start page, and it seemed like most people used about:blank, Google/Firefox Start, or iGoogle.  I personally use iGoogle because I can combine a lot of information into one page, but I often find myself wanting something a little simpler.  Fav4.org is an…

  • Stay Up-To-Date with the Olympics and Olympic Athletes using Twitter

    The 2010 Winter Olympics are in full swing and many people are using social networks to follow and become more involved with the Olympics and Olympic athletes.  Many Olympians are using social networks like Twitter this year to communicate with their fans and give great behind-the-scenes stories and pictures from Vancouver. The best part about…

  • Google Announces Upcoming Option to Disable Buzz (for real this time)

    Google Buzz is a new Twitter/FriendFeed-esque social network which was released last week for all Gmail users.  Buzz allows you to share messages, photos, and links with your friends that use Gmail and is built right into your Gmail inbox so you’ll never miss a message. Google Buzz has had several privacy concerns since its…

  • How to Add Facebook Chat To Your Desktop Instant Messaging Software

    When Facebook Chat was first launched in early 2008, it added a powerful feature to the growing social network.  Almost two years later Facebook Chat has received an upgrade – the ability to use Facebook Chat from your favorite desktop IM software. This new feature works by utilizing the XMPP messaging protocol (the same protocol…