Let look at what People have been searching on Google

Top & Popular Keywords of 2008 by Google

1. obama
2. facebook
3. att
4. iphone
5. youtube
6. fox news
7. palin
8. beijing 2008
9. david cook
10. surf the channel

Top & Popular keywords of 2008 by Yahoo

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)
3. Barack Obama
4. Miley Cyrus
5. RuneScape
6. Jessica Alba
7. Naruto
8. Lindsay Lohan
9. Angelina Jolie
10. American Idol

So what does it tell us ?

Well this data does show an insight on what kind of people use Google and what kind of people use Yahoo so here is what i think :

1. People using Google are more interested in global events, spend most of there time online watching tv / news & videos
2. People using Yahoo are slaves to Hollywood celebrities & Entertainment.

So what do you have to say on this ?

According to facebook the new design took about an year in making. During which many public opinions was taken in ground.

Face book face uplift bring the following enhancements

• The feed technology has been enhanced .Content from indirect contacts can be written on the user wall. The user wall now portrays more recent images and stories related to the user
• The stories now include add on features. The types of stories include short stories, long stories and one liner. User can customize their stories according to their suitability. This includes story content and appearance.
• The content limits have been enhanced with the help of publisher. Users can manage videos, images and text all in one place instead of individual applications. A user can also design content on the profile of any of his contacts through his profile.
• The navigation menus have been improved. Individual menus have been designed for user information, photos, boxes and the wall, for each user.
• Users have been provided rights to accept or reject a particular design. Each user can use a particular application and decide whether he wants a particular application on his profile.
• The security features have been enhanced. Users can restrict the viewing of all their content including photos and videos .They can allow particular users to view their content as well as restrict the ones they want.

Why did facebook change its design?

Although Mark Zuckerberg wrote a complete letter stating the three goals which they wanted to achived by the new layout :

We had three goals to improve Facebook in this version. First, we wanted to make everything clean and simple to use. Reducing clutter makes it easier for you to find what you’re looking for and share information with others. Second, we wanted to give you more control over your profile. Everyone should be able to express themselves how they want, which means privacy controls and control over how content appears on your profile. Lastly, we wanted to show the most recent and relevant content. People share so much on Facebook that it’s easier to keep up with your friends by focusing on the newest and most important information

But the real reason for a new layout design for facebook might be a little different. One of the biggest flaw with the previous version of facebook was very small adspot size. The only size facebook could sell was 110px by 80px box which didn’t made much use for advertisers. But the new layout brings new spots for ads and my prediction the first one is going to be 300px by 300px for the main page and a 200px by 200px for the profile page.

Source [ Facebook Press Release ]

So i logged on to orkut to see what really happened and how could some one from orkut poke me! Once i entered the orkut word allot had changed and made me immediately comfortable as there was allot of similarity of what the new orkut had offered with an application that i had been using before. So i decided to write a review on how the orkut has improved and brought in BRAND new services to its social networking site.

1- Support for Applications >
Add applications and customize your profile with music, games, and more! a new feature by Orkut. Facebook allows its users to ad and customize applications along with privacy settings for the applications.

2- Notifications >
Facebook sends notifications when ever actions are taken …… Orkut sends you notifications via eMail, message ….

3- News Feed – Updates from Friends
Now orkut offers updates from friends see which of your friends added new applications, updated there image gallery and with facebook you get all the notices in the form of mini feeds on your landing page.

4- Privacy Features >
Orkut has now introduced privacy settings,that allows you to be as public or private with your information as you wish. With facebook’s privacy you Control who can see your profile and related information.

Google Friend Connect is in alliance with the previously launched opensocial project by Google which is build on “many sites and one api” logic thus allowing developers to develop small web widgets which can interact and use data from multiple websites. Thus the Google Friend connect will use those open social gadgets build by the opensocial community managed by a central location called Google Friend Connect central to add social network features to your websites.

Google Friend Connect provides a core set of social gadgets such as member management, message board, reviews, and picture-sharing. The key gadget is the members gadget. This gadget provides core social features for your visitors:

• sign-in with their existing Google, Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID account
• invite and show activity to existing friends from social networks such as Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more
• browse member profiles across social networks
• connect with new friends on your site

For More Info

• Google Friend Connect Page
• Sign Up for Preview Release

Social Networking Addons for Firefox
1- Facebook Extension for Firefox.
First Comes “Facebook” with an average of above 150 million user subscription, facebook has made its self the no1 social networking website. So the “Facebook toolbar for Firefox” is an essential.

Once installed the Facebook Toolbar brings your facebook life to your browser every time you open up the browser you are logged into facebook, you can search facebook, get notified of the pokes, friends requests and messages you receive. A pop-up will notify when friends update there status, write a note or interact with you on facebook. You can also open your friends sidebar, sort them and keep in touch with them. Apart from that if you run groups or a network on facebook you can share content directly from your browser what else do you need.

An essential facebook extension to keep in touch.

Facebook Toolbar Download , Addons Page

2- Twitter – TwitBin
Are you addicted to twitter just like me ? well if yes then you can add more to twitter, you can answer the question “What are you doing ?” right from your browser, simple download and install TwitBin Send and receive messages to all your fellow twitterholics, right from your firefox browser. While you browse you keep your Twitter alive.

TwitBin Download, Addons Page

3- Social Network Content Sharing – Shareaholic
Share, bookmark and e-mail web pages quickly without leaving your browser.

Shareaholic makes it easy for you to submit the web page you’re on to your favorite sharing or bookmarking service, including: digg, del.icio.us, facebook, friendfeed, google bookmarks, magnolia, mixx, reddit, stumbleupon, tumblr and twitter. You also have the option to e-mail the web page directly to a friend.

Shareaholic Downalod, Addons Page

3- YouTube & Video Sharing Website Add On
Video Download Add on, this add on adds the capability to download any video you see in the web. Download the Add on and then once installed, just right click any video and download. With this ad On you can download videos from YouTube, Metcafe, MSN Soapbox, Yahoo Video and many more.

Video Download Add One, Download, Addons Page

4- Get an Internet Explorer Inside Firefox.
This is the essential for web designers, web developers who have to spend hours after hours fixing the cross browser issues. IE Tab ads a tab and Opens any webpage as IE inside Firefox. The interesting part is it creates its own session and maintains its own history. So far i am not sure which version of IE it opens but my rough guess is IE6.0.

Addons Page