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.

The vision of the semantic web was that of Tim Berners-Lee’s - to ensure it was a universal medium for data, information and knowledge.

A noble idea, I’m just not sure this is going to be a realistic goal due to human nature’s tendency to try and exploit technologies for their own ends.

Certainly if this goal is achievable now is the right time for it to take off. There is a buzz online with regard to various technologies that can be used to achieve it (including microformats) with many proponents to semantic web cause.

The issue is that all these methods rely on correct and honest use online. In it’s simplest form the semantic web attempted to use meta tags in years go by. These became a well known method for black hat search engine optimisers to try and shoe horn inappropriate keywords into pages to try and fool the search engines. The result? Search engines generally ignore meta tags because of this easy abuse.

So is this also going to be the case for the new drive for a universal information medium? Not currently maybe. As it stands the uptake isn’t large enough so there doesn’t seem to be any advantage in trying to provide inaccurate data. But just wait until the tipping point is reached I’m sure that search engines will try to lean on this extra layer to improve results. Some people will be waiting to exploit it.

The only thing we can hope is that the lessons constantly being learnt from the constant battle against the black hats can be applied against them again to ensure this new semantic vision isn’t muddied. I also feel that social media is going to become even more of a watchdog for content quality - those millions of eyes put to good use. The advantages of the semantic web can’t be ignored - machines understanding human content opens so many doors.

As usual though the main issue here is getting people to use the technologies. From a business perspective people aren’t going to adopt this without it providing some kind of return on investment. Implementation is simple in most cases so I can perhaps see people dipping their toes in the water and this gradual adoption may start the tide. I for one will be looking at the hCalendar, hCard and XFN formats as a starting point.

There is a terrible affliction spreading slowly in some digerati circles and it’s called Twitter fatigue. It tends to creep up slowly on people but eventually means their previous enthusiasm for Twitter is leached away.

So why is this happening to some people, myself included? I think ironically some people’s over-enthusiasm can be the cause for others loss of interest or even annoyance at Twitter. Why people feel the need to Twitter every trivial piece of information is a little beyond me surely they have better things to do…surely?

I do think it does depend on your use of Twitter too. If you are just checking your Twitter feed regularly or using the numerous Twitter applications available to filter the incoming information maybe you stand a chance against the tsunami of useless Tweets. If you use Twitter’s built in filtering and have Tweets coming straight to your mobile I think you’ll get tired of your text tone very quickly.

Paul Bradshaw has an excellent post on the OJB giving a wide range of information about the best use of Twitter. It does have a slant for journalists however as I would expect Journalists to be following a great deal of sources, a guide for help them might help the rest of the Twitterverse.

After cutting off Tweets to my mobile a few weeks ago I think maybe it’s about time I reviewed the alternatives to make my Tweetlife more manageable.