Many long term users of Digg are currently in revolt against this social media site. It is being called the ‘digger revolt’ and it has come about due to recent changes made at the website. These changes mean that the site can no longer be controlled by a small group of users, but instead intends to be more inclusive. This change though has made a lot of regular users angry about their loss of control and they are currently attempting to harm the website in revenge.

The digger revolt does not involve any physical violence; Kevin Rose has not needed to go into police protection – at least not yet anyway. The revolt is more about trying to lure other users away to other social media sites like Reddit.com and posting articles critical of the new Digg. The protesters want things returned to how they used to be. At the start Digg was blocking a lot of the protest but it now seems to be just letting it flood the website; it is not nice to watch and is sure to damage the reputation of the site.

This current revolt is fascinating to watch and just goes to show how much power users have on a website like Digg. Maybe those in charge of social media sites like FaceBook should sit up and listen – if they push their users too far they too could be looking at a revolt. In this instance you have to feel a bit sorry for Digg though, they are only trying to improve the website and make it a bit fairer.  Digg had turned into an almost exclusive group of users who seemed to dominate everything – in some ways their current revolt can seem a bit childish; like a baby throwing their rattle out of a pram.

Privacy fears have driven a group of New York University students to create a new alternative to FaceBook. Diaspora is due to be launched in September and this will be an open source social media site that not only intends to equal FaceBook but eclipse it.  You have probably heard all the recent hysteria about FaceBook reaching over half a billion users, and this might have people believing that Diaspora is facing an impossible task if it wants to compete. The reality is though that there are probably many people who would jump ship if they were going to something better. Most of us are not happy with the current privacy issues and are just putting up with it.

The money for the creation of Diaspora has all come from donations; they managed to get over $100,000. This money has all been put to good use and we expect to see the fruit of these efforts in the not too distant future. Once it is released it will be up to the user to decide what content it will include – this puts privacy back in the hands of the user. For those of us who have concerns that FaceBook is getting a bit above itself we will be watching with interest.

I’m eagerly awaiting the release of Diaspora but find it hard to even guess what type of impact it will have. Maybe it will just have novelty value for a few weeks and people will hardly take any notice of it. On the other hand though, this could be something that really gets big and will prove to be a serious challenge to FaceBook. If this does happen then we can probably expect that those good folks on FaceBook will need to take their user’s privacy concerns a lot more seriously.

In the past it was possible for people to get away with all types of evil acts. The sad fact is that it is possible to do lots of bad things without breaking the law. That is why it is so nice to see the wicked woman who stuck a neighbour’s cat in a bin is getting the attention she deserved. Apparently she hasn’t broken any laws, but few would doubt that she deserves some type of payback. Luckily her wicked ways were caught on a close-circuit camera and are now being viewed across the social media world. It is doubtful that even a person this nasty will be able to escape at least a bit of shame.

Mary Bale has achieved a level of celebrity that few talented people manage in their lifetime. Her only claim to fame is that she likes to stick people’s pets into bins. This sorry excuse for a human being claims that she did the dirty deed because she thought it was funny; the fact that the cat was left there for over fifteen hours means that most people don’t see the funny side. Her later comment that ‘it was only a cat’ isn’t helping to lower the amount of outrage felt against her.

As soon as the video of Mary Bale’s actions hit YouTube there was an outcry and this led to protesters appearing at her door. The police have needed to intervene because of the threat to her life. Some people do seem to be taking it to extremes and it is good that the FaceBook page that wanted her killed has been removed. Maybe this will warn people that random acts of cruelty can be punished even if you are not breaking the law – most serial killers start off by torturing pets.

It seems that Google have huge hopes for their new Chrome web store. Google seemed a bit untouchable up until about two years ago but they have had a lot of failures recently. They seem keen to take on Apple and social media websites like FaceBook, but every time they try to do this they seem to fail. The recent winding down of Google Wave seems just one more sign that the company really has lost its golden touch. It is certain that Google are now feeling a bit desperate to have another great success; it may be that the Chrome web store will help them do this.

The new Chrome web store is likely to have learnt many lessons from the success of the iTunes store. There is likely to be a way for people to rank all the different applications and there are sure to be many of these to choose from. Everything from games to Google TV is likely to be merchandised through this new web store. Apparently it has leaked out that the store is going to have a function that suggests gifts for some of your friends.  This really sounds intriguing and probably works the same way as Amazon suggests books to people based on their previous purchases. Some people though, might be a bit concerned that their friends can find out information about their previous purchases – it will be interesting to see how Google manages all this.

I love new ideas so it will be great to see what this Chrome web store really has to offer. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the whole thing is up and running and we can try it out for ourselves. I also hope that there are plenty of innovative applications available and not just the same old same old.

A recent survey in the UK has shown that an increasing number of people are finding out about the news from social media sites like FaceBook.  It has been known for a while that people are favouring online news sources over the traditional newspaper, but this move to relying on social media for breaking news is new.

A study by the Insight, Consultancy & Delivery (iCD) research group looked at the habits of 1,000 people. It found that over half of them got their news from online websites like the BBC online, but it also found that 18.5% of people use social media as their primary source of news. This is an impressive increase on previous studies and seems to indicate a likely increase in the future. Now half a billion people have joined FaceBook, and it has become an important part of people’s online lives.

The idea of people getting their news form FaceBook sounds a bit odd to me – if I’m honest. There are an awful lot of misinformed people out there, and this would make it easier for them to spread their ignorance. You also get a lot of people with their own agendas who will use social media to push their causes. It is true that even media like the BBC is biased, but at least the journalists are required to supply facts and do have a code of conduct which they are expected to adhere to. People using social media sites like FaceBook can post whatever they like and a good proportion of people are likely to believe them.  One of the most exciting things about the web was the possibility that it could widen our horizons, but maybe it will end up having the opposite effect – especially if we all start getting our news from FaceBook.

A report in the Guardian newspaper this week reports that one in ten web users in the UK now use Twitter. This might not be quite as impressive as the statistics for people joining FaceBook, but Twitter is showing impressive growth; not only in the UK but around the entire world. In fact there are now believed to be 93 million people around the world who use Twitter. It seems to be in Asia that the biggest increase in Twitter accounts is occurring. It should also be remembered that these figures don’t take into account all those people who regularly use Twitter from devices like Tweetdeck.

Twitter is a bit like Marmite; either you love it or hate it. Many people just don’t get and even some famous Twitterers have given up in frustration because they no longer understand what it is all about. How can any meaningful conversations occur when you are only allowed 140 characters? And what’s with all the links? It can sometimes seem like everyone on Twitter is trying to sell something. Despite all this though there is a lot of fun to be had when you get into it. Otherwise why would so many people spend so much time using it?

Personally I have a lot of time for Twitter. It feels a bit more on the edge than Twitter and I like the fact that so many people just don’t get it. In fact it is really pleasing when famous people try to boost their careers by using Twitter, make a mess of it, and then have to admit that they don’t really get it. There is probably no other social media outlet where so many public figures have announced they are no longer going to be using it.

It seems that the UK TV Channel 5 is taking the bold move of putting their TV programmes on FaceBook. This is an exciting idea and who knows? Maybe this will be the way of the future. Five are planning to put an embedded player on their FaceBook page and allow fans to watch old episodes of shows that normally appear on the channel. They are not the first to put TV programmes online, but what they are doing is something different; they intend to mix it with social media.

Initially at least, the content on this FaceBook page will only be available to those living in the UK. In this way it is very similar to BBC iPlayer and 4onDemand. This is a bit of a pity because there are lots of Brits living abroad who would like to use this service. There are also sure to be many non-Brits who would love to see what goes on with TV here. Channel 5 has a bit of a reputation for its cutting edge programmes and it is a shame that it won’t be showcased to the whole world. Mind you there would probably be a few countries that would ban it because of the occasional soft porn.

It is likely FaceBook and Five will both do well out of this latest venture. Channel Five will increase their profile and FaceBook will have people spending even more time on their website. It is an exciting development and it will be interesting to see if other channels will follow suit. Maybe in a few years we will watch every television station on FaceBook and we won’t have to spend so much time looking for the remote control. Social media is certainly changing our world in ways we could never have imagined.

Steven Slater has become one of the newest social media stars after he spectacularly chucked in his job as flight attendant. His FaceBook page has attracted tens of thousands of fans already and he is been talked about all over the social media universe. Not bad for somebody who went to work with a bad hangover and ended up in a shouting match with a passenger. In the past losing your job because of unprofessionalism would be viewed as a cause of shame, but now many are claiming that Slater is a folk hero. Some of the reports are akin to hero worship and you would think they were discussing Robin Hood and not somebody who got out of bed the wrong side.

The ruckus started when an argument kicked off between two customers. Slater claims that he lost his patience with them when one of them opened the overhead locker and it hit him in the head. This was enough to drive him to the edge and he announced to the whole aircraft over the intercom that he’d had enough. He then grabbed a couple of beers, opened the cabin door, and slid down the emergency chute – luckily the plane was on the ground at the time. All passengers could do was look on in amazement – it is certainly not something you see every day.

Steven Slater was accused of putting the passengers in danger and he spent the day in jail. He has now been released. It is likely that he will probably feel remorseful about his actions once the media attention falls away. Who knows, maybe he can get a TV series and a book out of it. You never know in this crazy world we live in. Well I’m off to insult my boss to see if that will get me in the limelight.

Recent research suggests that social media might be costing the UK economy billions of pounds each year. This news is sure to worry bosses and likely to irritate employees who feel that this might be used as an excuse to reduce their internet privileges. This study suggests that employees are spending a lot of time each day on social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter when they are being paid to work. If this lost productivity is estimated for all businesses in the UK then it really does lead to a huge amount of wasted time; this time is money as any economist will tell you.

It is likely that we can expect more crackdowns by business managers around the UK in the light of this news. A lot of businesses already block social media from the work computers, but this doesn’t stop people using their mobile devices. We can probably expect that some companies will increase their efforts to reduce the amount of time their employers spend on FaceBook and other social media sites during work hours. Maybe those clever people at FaceBook will invent an application that will alert employers when their employees have logged on to the site – it wouldn’t surprise me.

I feel that a lot of this worry about the effect of social media on the economy is grossly overrated. It assumes that if people weren’t using social media at work they would be more productive. I don’t think that slacking off is a recent invention, in fact it is this ability to slack off now and again during the day that keeps us productive. If people weren’t using this time on the web they would like spend the time staring out the window or catching a sneaky nap.

Was it only last year that some of us were practically begging for an invite to use Google Wave? How things change. Google has just announced that it is going to bin the whole Google Wave project. It seems that this next thing that was going to change the face of the internet was grossly overhyped. Instead of changing the online world it has almost been forgotten even before it was released. The problem with Google Wave was that while there was no doubting that it was quite impressive and innovative nobody was quite sure what it was all about.

I remember how excited I felt last year after getting my Google Wave invite. I felt like one of the chosen people about to set foot in a new land; I was going to be a pioneer for the first time in my life. Never mind that I was one of the last to sign up for Twitter and joined FaceBook the same time as David Cameron; this time I was going to be in the vanguard. I opened the application that first time and immediately realised that I had no idea why I would want to use it. I tried to remain enthusiastic and even looked at the tutorials, but after a couple of hours disappointment set in. I tried it again a few times, but had actually completely forgotten about it until I heard today that Google was abandoning it.

Google Wave reminds me of the 80′s band Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They were hyped for ages as the greatest thing to ever hit the music scene but as soon as their first single was released everyone knew they were crap. Many of us tried to force ourselves to like them but there was just not point to them – sort of like Google Wave.