social

Who needs downloads? Not instant-messaging fans, apparently, according to Nielsen NetRatings. The online division of the legendary statistics-crunching company just released a study that tracks the fastest-growing instant-messaging software products from August 2006 to June 2007, and the results indicate that Web-based is the way to go.

The most rapidly growing IM client, according to the study, is Meebo, which launched just over a year ago. The fact that it's so new may be partially responsible for its rapid growth--354 percent from August 2006 to June 2007. But Meebo also packs a double punch: not only is it Web-based … Read more

The founders of online television start-up Joost, who also count Skype and Kazaa as bullet points on their resumes, have announced that the service now has one million users. Still in beta and technically invite-only (though invitations are now easy to find), Joost was one of the most-talked-about tech products of last year. Originally known by the Bond-worthy codename "The Venice Project," Joost was widely touted as a "YouTube killer" before people really knew what it was--in truth, the service is a slick interface for free, ad-supported video content on-demand. No cat videos there.

Joost co-founder … Read more

BOSTON--The judge's message Wednesday to ConnectU over its intellectual property lawsuit against fellow social-networking site Facebook was clear: show us the evidence.

ConnectU, which accuses Facebook of stealing its ideas, has been in legal pursuit of its rival, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and early employees Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum and Christopher Hughes for nearly three years, and there still isn't an end in sight.

Massachusetts Federal Judge Douglas P. Woodlock repeatedly stressed that there was simply not enough evidence to back up allegations that Zuckerberg, who had performed programming work for ConnectU while it … Read more

BOSTON--A federal judge in a Massachusetts district court gave the founders of college-based social networking site ConnectU two weeks to revise the complaint that they have filed against Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and four other early employees of the fast-growing social network. The ConnectU founders, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their fellow 2004 Harvard graduating classmate Divya Narendra, have accused Zuckerberg and his company of stealing their code and business plan when Zuckerberg was casually employed as a programmer for ConnectU in the 2003-2004 academic year.

Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, during the case's dismissal hearing on Wednesday … Read more

Former Microsoft evangelist and current ubiquitous blogger Robert Scoble paid a visit to Facebook's offices yesterday and learned something pretty cool: the social networking site's "wall" feature, which lets you leave messages for your friends, will be getting an update tonight to allow users to post multimedia like photos and video in addition thanks to added developer integration.

Of slightly less importance, Scoble also informed his audience that he ate Spicy Noodles at Jing Jing near the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook's office.

Meanwhile, that's not the only news that might be coming tonight … Read more

Gideon Yu, YouTube's former chief financial officer, has been hired as Facebook's new CFO, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

Yu, 36, replaces Mike Sheridan, who joined Facebook in September, according the Journal story. Why Mike Sheridan is leaving remains unclear.

Facebook is the place to be right now, as rumors of a sale or possible public offering continue to follow the company. Employees stand to profit in the event of a sale or IPO and this hasn't hurt Facebook's recruiting efforts.

"We're not looking to sell the company, and we'… Read more

Forget the protest rally and cyberpetition, the new activist tool is Facebook.

In an unprecedented action, members of the social-network phenomenon Facebook have launched a movement to save Business 2.0 from folding. Two Canadians launched a new group, titled "I read Business 2.0--and I want to keep reading!" late last week, and since then more than 1,700 members have joined the group. The list reads like a who's-who of tech and media insiders. But, like the thousands of signatures on electronic petitions protesting everything from the Iraq War to factory farming, it's unlikely … Read more

If indie cinema hero Wes Anderson--of Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums fame--directed a quirky courtroom drama, there's a chance that it might bear some resemblance to what could unfold at Wednesday's impending showdown between social-networking sites Facebook and ConnectU.

The backstory of the legal squabble, after all, in which the three founders of college-centric start-up ConnectU have accused Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their business plan and code, reads like classic Anderson.

It's a melange of gossip about upper-crust Silicon Valley, allegations of old-school Ivy League skulduggery and an oddball cast of characters that ranges from … Read more

Tomorrow morning, I'll be heading from New York to Boston to sit in on the dismissal hearing for the lawsuit that social networking site ConnectU has filed against current Silicon Valley darling Facebook. It's a long-running drama that goes back to when the founders of both sites were students at Harvard, and no one's entirely sure how it's going to turn out.

I'll have a story on the subject on News.com very soon. In the meantime, here's what some other news outlets have been saying in the weeks leading up to the case: … Read more