By Paul Thomson :: 9:48 PM
Internet retailer Amazon.com has bolstered its social media efforts after being asleep at the wheel over the past several years of momentous social growth.
The company has hired John Yurcisin as their director of social media. Yurcisin comes from Ogilvy & Mather, and will help the company develop their social strategies. He Jeff Yurcisin’s brother, who is general manager of Shopbop.com, a retail apparel website owned by Amazon.
With Zynga in their crosshairs, Amazon is also developing a new Social Games group. Postings for social games jobs are appearing from Amazon on LinkedIn and the tech jobs website Dice.com. An August posting for a Senior Social Games engineer said the group is “a cutting edge initiative within Amazon.”
Amazon’s foray into social waters is slow – only earlier this year did they add Twitter and Facebook social networking features to their Kindle e-book product.
By Gilbert Falso :: 7:58 PM
It has been reported by AllThingsD that Carol Bartz is leaving Yahoo after a little over two years at the internet conglomerate. It appears as if the board of directors has removed her from the position.
No official confirmation yet from Yahoo, but Mashable has a very direct farewell memo that she sent to employees:
I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.
Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse has been named CEO, on an interim basis.
Just last week, Business Insider’s Nicholas Carlson ran a story claiming that a source said Bartz was a “Lame Duck” at the company, and had already “Checked Out.”
Carlson did not believe that Yahoo’s board would fire Bartz at the time, however.
By Gilbert Falso :: 1:25 PM
U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner has told House leadership that he will resign his seat. His decision comes several weeks after the first news of lewd Twitter exchanges and photograph sharing emerged.
Weiner spoke with Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Steve Israel yesterday to let them know of his decision. He will formally resign this afternoon, at a community center for senior citizens in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Pressure on Weiner increased earlier in the week when the President made remarks publicly that he believed Wenier should step down. House leadership had discussed removing Weiner from his committee appointments if he did not resign.
A formal inquiry has been opened on Weiner’s conduct by the House’s Ethics Committee. Some of the allegations they are reviewing include the exchange of private Twitter messages (DMs) with an underage girl from Delaware.
The whole fracas started when Weiner sent a Twitter message publicly to college student Gennette Cordova of Seattle. The message included a link to a picture of Weiner in his underpants.
By Paul Thomson :: 5:25 PM
Facebook is getting ready to unveil a photosharing app, targeted toward users of services like Instagram and Color.
According to TechCrunch, the app (right now, for iPhone only) is being referred to internally as “Hovertown†or “WithPeople.†It is a stand-alone app, but shows signs that it could eventually be integrated into Facebook’s main iPhone app.
Looking at the numbers, it is obvious as to why Facebook is pursuing such an app. Facebook is by far the largest social network, with 600 million users, and is also the most popular website for uploading photos. Last summer, the service had 50 billion photos uploaded, and now that number has nearly doubled, close to 100 billion.
The features that the app is said to include are, location connectivity, likes/comments, multipicture mode, albums, tagging and filters.
Facebook’s new photosharing app
By Gilbert Falso :: 6:16 PM
Facebook has begun testing a new Twitter-style feature dubbed “Happening Now.” It appears as a sidebar along the right-hand side of your Facebook stream.
In this new sidebar, which will be updated in real-time, you’ll see links your friends have shared, actions they have taken, and social check-ins.
According to sources currently testing the feature, there appears to be some duplication of content that appears in a user’s wall and in the “Happening Now” stream. Facebook is still working all the kinks out, most likely.
Screenshot courtesy of Amit Misra
In a statement on their blog, Facebook said the following, “We are currently testing a feature within News Feed that gives people the ability to see what their friends are commenting on and ‘liking,’ as these actions are being taken on Facebook. This test includes a small percentage of Facebook users, just a fraction of a percent. In the coming weeks, as we learn more from this test, we’ll keep making improvements and may expand it to more people.”