Microsoft and Google Score Deals with Twitter

Update: Bing has now made the announcments and Google has announced a deal with Twitter too. Google's Marissa Mayer writes:

...we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Original Article: Microsoft is expected to announce two separate deals today - one with Twitter and one with Facebook. From the sound of it, the deals would be similar in nature, both giving Bing access to index status updates from both social networks. 

Kara Swisher at Boomtown says that both deals are confirmed and are expected to be announced this afternoon at the Web 2.0 summit. The deals are non-exclusive, however. And you know what that means. 

Google has been reported to have been talking with both Twitter and Facebook too, and it would be no surprise to see deals made there as well. 

But this is Microsoft's moment. But what will it mean as far as status updates from both Twitter and Facebook?

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Facebook Really Wants You to Integrate it Into Your Site

from WebPro News

Launches New Create Application API

Facebook has launched the Create Application API, which is aimed at making it easier for users to integrate Facebook on their websites and widgets. 

"Many websites are looking for ways to integrate Facebook Connect, such as commenting using Facebook identity or showing visitors their Facebook friends' recent activity," says Facebook software engineer Vishu Gupta. "Companies like DISQUS offer widgets to such websites, providing off-the-shelf Facebook integration with just a few clicks."

"Every website that wants to integrate with Facebook needs an API key. The Create Application API allows widget providers to programmatically generate this API key and other necessary settings," says Gupta. "For example, a fourth party comment system like DISQUS can now more easily enable bloggers to integrate commenting with Facebook into their blogs."

There are two ways developers can call the Create Application API:

- FB.Connect.createApplication -- the JavaScript Client Library method.

- Facebook.createApplication -- the FBJS method.

Documentation for these methods can be found here. 

Facebook says it wants to see a "strong ecosystem" of developers giving others the ability to make great Facebook integrations. This API is designed to do just that. Facebook has done a pretty good job of getting itself integrated into more and more aspects of the web. With the release of this API, that is a trend that is likely to continue.

An equation for getting more traffic from Twitter

The Math of Optimizing Tweets for Increased Retweeting

Back in June, Hubspot shared data, which indicated that about one and a half percent of all tweets were retweets. I'd be surprised if that number hasn't increased in the last few months. More people are adopting Twitter and becoming familiar with the Twitter culture. More tools have come out, which cater to the easy re-tweet. More sites have adopted retweet buttons, such as the one from Tweetmeme. I seriously doubt people are retweeting less. 

We're still waiting on Twitter to incorporate the retweet feature onto Twitter.com. Once that happens, retweeting is almost certainly going to go up significantly. According to the rough sketch Twitter provided a while back, there will be a retweet option by the reply option on all individual tweets.




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Sun Losing $100 Million a Month as Oracle Waits

By Chris Crum - Tue, 09/22/2009 - 09:57 for WebPro News

Regulators May Not Approve Deal Until January

Sun Microsystems is losing about $100 million a month according to Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the company that's set to acquire Sun. Oracle is waiting to get clearance from European regulators before the deal can go through and Oracle can step in and try to put an end to this loss. 

Though understandably frustrated, Ellison is optimistic about the deal being approved. He conveyed this to his audience in a speech at a Churchill Club event in San Jose last night. 

If money is really being lost at the rate Ellison says, you have to think he is tapping his foot quite rapidly. This is after all a $7.4 billion deal, and $100 million a month is not exactly small potatoes. 

The deal was announced back in April. Oracle would acquire Sun for $7.4 billion at a rate of $9.50 per share in cash. The two companies have been long-term partners, for over 20 years. The acquisition was originally expected to close sometime in the summer, and it was unanimously approved by Sun's board of directors, but they're still waiting on the EU to approve it. 

The longer it takes to get the deal approved (assuming it does eventually get approved), the more jobs could be in jeopardy. "Analysts have predicted Oracle will have to make major cuts in Sun's workforce and spending, to achieve its goal of increasing operating profit from Sun's business," notes Brandon Bailey at Mercury News. "Some analysts have said an extended delay could lead Oracle to cut more deeply, since uncertainty over Sun's future may be driving more customers to rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM."

The EU is worried that Oracle acquiring MySQL would discourage competition, but Ellison maintains that it would do no such thing. He says that Oracle has no intention of spinning that unit off, which would greatly improve the chances of getting the deal approved. 

The EU says that it may take until January to complete its review of the deal. If Sun keeps losing money at the same rate, the deal may look significantly soured.

Site Hacking Facebook Accounts for $100 a Pop

By Chris Crum - Mon, 09/21/2009 - 12:25 for WebPro News

Says Only 1% of Sites Unhackable

Security company Panda Labs has discovered an online service that promises to hack into Facebook accounts for $100. They claim they will provide "clients" with login and password information to access any account on the social network. Do you feel like your information is secure on Facebook? Comment here.

"The service's real purpose may be hacking Facebook accounts as they say, or profiting from those that want to try the service," says PandaLabs Technical Director Luis Corrons. "In any case, the Web page is very well designed. It is easy to contract the service and become either the victim of an online fraud, or a cyber-criminal and accomplice in identity theft. Once an intruder hacks into a Facebook account, all personal data published on the site can be stolen."

"Similarly, those accounts can also be used to send malware, spam or other threats to the victim's contacts," adds Corrons. "In the case of celebrities or other well-known entities, they can be used to defame the account holder, spread information in their name, etc. In any event, this is criminal activity."

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