So, ultimately it looks like we can learn an interesting tidbit from this whole mini-debacle: if the Parakey co-founder is chipping in on something pertaining to friend request confirmation, that could be a cool peek into what’s to come from Facebook’s new buy.Well they’ve bought some of Mozilla’s brains anyway. Should provide some interesting competion to Google Gears. I wonder if this will mean there’s a chance the platform will open up?
BBC NEWS | Business | Social site Facebook buys Parakey
Social networking site Facebook has bought internet start-up, Parakey, run by two of the co-creators of the popular web browser, Mozilla Firefox.
Parakey is described as a platform that “bridges the gap between information on the web and the desktop”.
As part of the deal, which is for an undisclosed sum, Mozilla Firefox founders Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt will help to develop the Facebook site.
[EDIT: Just reading about a Facebook glitch and lo and behold, it’s Blake Ross who is doing the announcing:
A comment on the Mashable post Sunday night from Blake Ross, co-founder of recent Facebook acquisition Parakey, explained, “This is a bug that will be fixed soon. Trust me, we find this as annoying as you do,” Ross wrote.
So, ultimately it looks like we can learn an interesting tidbit from this whole mini-debacle: if the Parakey co-founder is chipping in on something pertaining to friend request confirmation, that could be a cool peek into what’s to come from Facebook’s new buy.
Very interesting… ]
Remember when MySpace was once cool? Most of that had to do with musicians taking it up and all that tasty tasty music on their sites.
MySpace rumoured to be flexing its News Corp leveraging muscles and maybe we will see a similar thing happening, this time with TV - but the danger remains that the audience will come just to watch the show and then leave the theatre.
More Space for MySpace: Murdoch puts a stake in the heart of broadcast TV (News Blaze)
It has quietly without fanfare, media flair, or bidding warfare, struck a deal with some Hollywood talent, expecting this little group to start new broadcasts of their first original series. Unlike traditional stations on air, this time jumping right to online shows. This once more guarantees MySpace the inalienable right to term itself once again, “A Pioneer among emerging markets”.
MySpace refuses to comment on having closed the deal.
Thomas Vander Wal has made a good point about a flaw of the ‘walled gardens’ like Facebook and MySpace - they break the communications loop.
Inline Messaging :: Off the Top :: vanderwal.net
Many of the social web services (Facebook, Pownce, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) have messaging services so you can communication with your “friends”. Most of the services will only ping you on communication channels outside their website (e-mail, SMS/text messaging, feeds (RSS), etc.) and require the person to go back to the website to see the message, with the exception of Twitter which does this properly.
Here is where things are horribly broken. The closed services (except Twitter) will let you know you have a message on their service on your choice of communication channel (e-mail, SMS, or RSS), but not all offer all options. When a message arrives for you in the service the service pings you in the communication channel to let you know you have a message. But, rather than give you the message it points you back to the website to the message (Facebook does provide SMS chunked messages, but not e-mail). This means they are sending a message to a platform that works really well for messaging, just to let you know you have a message, but not deliver that message. This adds extra steps for the people using the service, rather than making a simple streamlined service that truly connects people.