Posts tagged Social Web
But You Are Just Ketchup
Of Mice and Men
I am getting a kick out of the latest east vs. west smackdown and wanted to catch everyone up on the volleys.
Last week, Arun Thampi, a programmer in Singapore, discovered that the mobile social network Path was surreptitiously copying address book information from users’ iPhones without notifying them.
– Disruptions: So Many Apologies, So Much Data Mining
Michael Arrington responds…
But more importantly, Bilton seems to think that companies do this kind of thing for some nefarious purpose, thinking they’ll just apologize if they get caught and everything will be fine. That plays to the crowd but it isn’t accurate.
– I’m So, So Sorry. Here’s My Belly. Now Please Move On.
MG Siegler jumps-in…
This morning, I woke up and read Nick Bilton’s weekly New York Times’ column. Nick is a friend and one of the best bloggers/writers/journalists out there. But with today’s column, he was way off base.
– Content Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink
Dan Lyons parries…
Anyway — Path comes under fire, and guess who rides to the rescue? Michael Arrington, who runs CrunchFund, an investor in Path, launches a blistering critique of Bilton himself, comparing him to a pit bull who attacks a dog that is already lying on its back, defenseless, saying that Bilton’s column was “a safe way to do business, but not very noble.”
– Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool
Michael Arrington returns fire…
On a related note, I just read one of the most vicious personal attacks I’ve seen on me, and I’ve seen a lot over the years. Dan Lyons suggests that my defending Path on this issue means, because we’re an investor, that we’re a paid apologist (and much worse). He calls my partner MG Siegler “a mean-spirited, egomaniacal buffoon who is not very bright.” But he never talks about is past issues with MG, or how thoroughly MG has discredited him.
– We Are Better Than This
Not to be outdone, MG Siegler fires a salvo of his own…
Looks like someone woke up from his nap of the last three years and is hungry. Sadly, I don’t have much food for him. I’ll keep this as brief as possible — and I promise this will be the last thing I ever say about Dan Lyons, as he’s clearly done.
– Bat. Shit. Crazy.
What will today bring? Will the east coast rally additional support? Stand by for answers to these important questions, in this (hopefully) ongoing saga.
Why all the Interest in Pinterest?
John Boitnott offers-up the question and provides some interesting insights into this dynamic new platform that is taking the social web by storm.
This is much more impressive than the growth of Google +, which has forced new adoption by connecting +1′s to search results, and by connecting the service at the hip to Gmail. Pinterest has received its massive influx from actual people who care about the site
I have been using Pinterest for all of about a week, now. There is definitely a different dynamic taking shape, there. The content being currated is interesting and relevant to a much broader population, than I find on Twitter or Google+.
It is also sticky. Using tweets and curration in the same sentence is a streatch, owing to the fast-pace and seemingly short lifespan of tweets. Pinterest pins, however, are instanctly categorized, tucked away and available at any time in the future via a graphically-pleasing interface.
Is Pinterest the next big thing? I would submit that it is already a big thing.
Damage Control
