social networks

Flickr Adds People Tagging à La Facebook

12:00PM Adam Pash | One of the better features in Facebook (and now both Picasa and iPhoto) is people-tagging — allowing users to identify who’s in a picture by mousing over the image. Starting today, Flickr’s joined in the fun. More »

SwingVine Tracks And Sorts Trending Topics

11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Curious about the buzz online? Wondering which movies, TV shows or new products are lighting up the switchboards? SwingVine aggregates trends and presents them to you in an easy-to-scan format. More »

Qik Brings Video Sharing App To iPhone 3GS

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Qik, a streaming video app that’s already shown up on Android and jailbroken iPhones, has an official app for the iPhone 3GS out. It’s Wi-Fi only, and without live streaming, but the developers say that will change. More »

The Reading Room Is A Social Network For Book Lovers

11:00AM Angus Kidman | Fancy chatting online about books and don’t think existing social networking sites like Facebook quite cut it? The Reading Room is a social network specifically for book lovers. More »

Map Motive Mashes All Your Facebook Friends On A Google Map

11:00PM Kevin Purdy | From the thin files of the Decently Useful Facebook Apps Dept.: MapMotive puts your Facebook friends on a Google Map, making it easy to visit acquaintances while travelling, or just marvel at your social spread. More »

Namechk Finds Where Your Username Is Taken Or Available

4:00AM The How-To Geek | Web application Namechk finds available usernames or vanity URLs on more than 80 web sites—so you can own your online presence. More »

Ping.fm Updates All Of Your Social Networks From One Place

6:30AM Adam Pash | Web site Ping.fm creates a single entry point for updating all of your social networks in one fell swoop, from Twitter and Facebook to AIM and GTalk. More »

NutshellMail Consolidates Social Network Alerts Into Scheduled Emails

4:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Email consolidating web application NutshellMail takes the inbox-overloading status updates from social networks like Facebook or MySpace and sends periodic emails with a quick snapshot of everything you missed. Once you’ve created a free account on NutshellMail, you can add accounts from social sites Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter—or even infrequently checked email addresses—set the dates and times you would like to receive email updates, and you will receive a single email showing you everything you missed. The only downside is that you have to give their web application access to all your social accounts—a potential privacy and security problem for many readers—but after turning off email updates in the other social networks, this service could really come in handy for cutting down on the email clutter. NutshellMail is a free service, signup required. NutshellMail [via Download Squad] More »

Get Accommodation From Twitter Users Around The World

1:30PM Angus Kidman | Guest blogger Ilaria at TwiTip writes about how she used her network of Twitter contacts for a real-world benefit: inviting people to stay with her in New York and (in return) making new friends from around the world (and lining up possible holiday visits for the future). The post also runs over some of the trust issues involved in this kind of arrangement, with a useful reminder that electronic communication shouldn’t automatically equate to massive paranoia: The truth is that at some point we just have to decide to trust people. And this goes for people we know in the flesh and people we meet online. How Twitter Can Get You a Home in Every Port More »