I read a post today about the new ability to add comments to the Facebook mini-feed items. This happened on the 25th apparently.

Who noticed? I certainly didn’t!

All very good adding new functions into Facebook but what use if they are so subtle they aren’t noticed and you don’t highlight it anywhere how are people supposed to use them?

Perhaps something in the notification area Facebook?

Just a bit of an update with things happening with regards to online regulation and protection. Further to the posts I’ve written about whether social media networks need regulation there have been some additional moves made by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) who govern the age ratings for video content and video games.

It seems the BBFC are to introduce age ratings for downloaded content and games - obviously this is voluntary as the anonymity of the Internet means it’s virtual impossible to uphold. However as I’ve mentioned before parents must take more responsibility for this and at least the tools for them to use to do so are becoming ever more available. If parents’ methods of protecting their children is made as easy as possible you are only going to see them being increasingly adopted.

In addition there is an interesting post about the issue of informed consent posted by dot life. It correctly states that the current situation is a bit of a farce - since when do people read terms and conditions online? However a working group has been appointed to come up with recommendations by the end of the year. Hopefully with several country’s Information Commissioners and firms like Microsoft and Facebook involved there might be interesting results. Perhaps recommendations for online privacy best practices for online companies to aspire too?

AOL have bought Bebo even managing to repel the apparent attempts by Google to get a piece of the action to bolster Orkut.

After my post a couple of days ago about AOL trying to update their brand maybe I was a little premature saying they weren’t causing much of a buzz online. Buying one of the big 3 social media sites is not to be underestimated. However some people are already suggesting that maybe AOL getting involved at this stage in the game might mean that the social media bubble is about to burst.

I can’t see this by any sense of the word. Social media is just being to mature in some areas. Back in February of this year the decline of Facebook users was widely reported as negative. I personally saw this as just a change in user habits. You always get the initial excitement about the latest trend and Facebook was no exception. However the casual user of Facebook could quite happy drop off the network once they get bored that their list of friends are have grown tired of the aimless wall-posts.

The real social users have Facebook as a tool to extend their social lives. I myself don’t logon half as much as I used to - my status can stay the same for days on end. However when I’m planning to meet up or have an event on the cards Facebook is my communication tool of choice. Maybe this is because many of my friends are scattered across the UK rather than being local but all the same it works well for me.

Of course there is the inevitable photos and videos uploaded after the event and for someone who has never been one for collecting photo albums (my entire University life was contained in two rolls of film) I’ve now got far more to look back at - surely not a bad thing?…then again.

So I’m sure the user trends show even more seasonal use of Facebook over time. December was very busy, January very quiet - much like everyone social calendar. Coincidence? Not called social media for nothing. Just time has led to an amplification of this trend.

I don’t think the social media sites are blind to this change in activity either. Facebook are on the verge of a major facelift in the near future. From the screen shots I’ve seen they are trying to make the interface work for all the different types of users that frequent the site - keep those bloody applications separate please!

So no the bubble ain’t for bursting. The question is will AOL make a good go of Bebo or will Bebo go the way of AOLs other online shopping trips?

Social media websites have been in the news a lot, mainly with regard to how people’s privacy is compromised when they sign up to one. However the big sites, although slow off the mark, do seem to have realised that their future depends on getting people’s trust with regards to holding their data.

Both MySpace and Facebook have agreed to over 40 steps to protect users. What these steps are I haven’t been able to find out and therefore can’t comment on whether I think they are likely to make any real difference (if anyone has any more details give me a shout).

Google of course has been trying to get onto the social media bandwagon with OpenSocial and recently announced another initiative called Friend Connect which looks to allow people link up all their social media applications online.

Sounds great! But this of course is assuming all the data is held is way that protects to user. Google to be honest seems to have a good record for this kind of thing which is why I was very surprised to hear that Facebook had started to block Friend Connect. It would seem Facebook aren’t entirely happy with the amount of user data available to application developers which therefore breaks their own terms and conditions.

I’m very impressed with Facebook as this shows the kind of attitude needed to protect people online. This stance could be seen by some as negative as it’s inhibiting the free transfer of information in the social universe but clearly the technology is not mature enough to be main stream in my opinion.

Google won’t stand still on this of course and I’m sure the issues will be addressed and Facebook will come back on board but good on Facebook for taking this stance. More of the same and privacy issues might not be such a thorn in the side of social media.