Google Being the Guy in Clothes at the Nude Beach?

Google recently introduced Google Trends for Websites, which has sparked some controversy around the web. The tool allows users to view stats for any site they choose, and like Doug mentioned here, this could mean trouble for companies like Alexa, Compete, and their competitors.

Social Networking Found To Be Educational

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have released a study that says social networks like MySpace and Facebook offer educational benefits.The study found that low-income students are just as technologically savvy as their peers, going against what previous research has indicated.The majority (94%) of students use the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent have a profile on a social networking site.…

Paid Link Reporting Spurs Furious Debate

Matt Cutts posted a note about Google being in position to handle paid link report submissions from the Internet community; Michael Gray complained about the fairness of the request.

Who Is Searching For You On Google?

You know that just about any mention of "reputation" and "Google" is going to get my attention, so I was eager to hear about Ziggs.com. My local CBS affiliate WRAL, teased me that the new service will tell you who is searching for your name on Google.No way! No, really. There’s just no way.

Is Twitter Toast?

Self-titled "Social Applications Guru," Jesse Stay, on his StayNAlive blog, suggests its time to charge up the defibrillators* for Twitter. The reason: Third-party developers are bailing out due to Twitter's continuous technical problems. By following trends he sees among developers at the Twitter Development Talk discussion thread at Google Groups, Stay predicts that once developers go, users won't be far behind.