Google's Gay Rainbow

It's not the first June when Google changes the search results interface when you search for [gay] and other related terms. While in 2009 and 2010 Google added a colorful bar below the search box, this year there's a rainbow next to the search box.

June is the "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month" and there are many pride parades all over the world. Last year, Google's blog included an article about gay parades and the Google employees who participated.

"Google supports its LGBT employees in many ways: raising its voice in matters of policy, taking a moment to remember the plight of transgender people around the world and going the extra mile to ensure that its employees are treated fairly."

Twitter ‘Follow Recommendations’ Let You Make A Personalized ‘Suggested User List’

Grace Chu Lee from Twitter’s Business Development team earlier tweeted out and then deleted a Twitter feature that has as of yet gone unheard of beyond a select few, “Follow Recommendations.” “Follow Recommendations,” which lets you create lists of people you think others should follow, has been around for months we’re hearing but hasn’t been publicized much outside of Twitter itself (Lee calls it a “hidden” feature in the tweet).

Ostensibly “Follow Recommendations” allow you to create a personal Suggested Users Listfor people who sign up for Twitter directly through your profile (for example if they encounter one of your hilarious tweets in the wild and are inspired to sign up for Twitter).

Users wishing to take advantage of Follow Recommendations can do so by creating a plain old Twitter list and including the hashtag #WelcomeToTwitter in the list’s description (more detailed instructions in the slideshow above).

Users who sign up for Twitter from your profile will see your recommendations like in the screenshot below. But why would this be useful to anyone you ask? Well from what I’m hearing it wasn’t really intended for hoi polloi, but was mainly marketed to celebrities and brands that have a critical mass of people joining Twitter through their profiles presumably. Which is probably why it hasn’t seen the light of day until now.

When asked if Twitter was sitting on similar hidden features, Twitter Communications Rep Carolyn Penner told me in a DM, “There might be other ‘secret features’ but I don’t know what others don’t know!”

Exciting! Keep an eye out Twitter sleuths.

click to see it bigger

Study: You’ve Never Met 7% Of Your Facebook “Friends”

A just-released Pew study on the ways people use social networking sites has found, unsurprisingly, that the most popular social network is Facebook, with 92% of social networking users reporting that they have a Facebook account.

The study also found that on average Facebook users have about 229 Friends, with about 22% of their total Friends list being comprised of people they know from high school, 12% extended family, 10% coworkers, 9% college friends, 8% immediate family, 7% people from extracurricular groups and 2% being neighbors.

According to Pew, the average Facebook user has never met 7% of their Facebook “Friends” in real life, which means that on average about 16 people on a given Facebook Friends list are actually more like strangers. Users on average have only met 3% of their list (around 7 people) just once.

These numbers seem about right: A quick scroll down my Facebook Friends list reveals a smattering of people I’ve just added because I know “of” them and a few people I’ve added who I’ve met once at a conference. These not-quite friends Facebook Friends serve as reminders that Facebook should make it easier to mass “un-Friend.”

Either that or come up with a different word for the relationship.

Will Facebook Launch a Music Service in August?

The music/tech rumor mill has been grinding away — not yet sated by the release of cloud-based music services from Google and Apple. The most recent grist? Facebook.

In May, Forbes reported that Facebook was working with music subscription service Spotify on an integrated platform that would allow users to listen to tunes via Facebook.

Both companies declined to confirm the rumor. In fact, at the eG8 forum in Paris, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also implied that there’s no such deal, stating: “We don’t have the DNA to be a music company or a movie company.”

Now, however, GigaOM is reporting that Facebook has been reaching out to several online music services — not just Spotify — and that the next f8 developer conference (which will likely take place in August) will center on music.

Here’s how GigaOM outlines a possible music service:

• A new tab titled “Music” will appear on the left-hand column of Facebook for those who listen to music via one of Facebook’s partners.
• Clicking on that tab will open a “Music Dashboad,” which will feature music notifications (if your friends listen to songs recommended by you or featured on your profile), recommended songs (which you can listen to in-Facebook), top songs from friends, top albums from friends (with art), what your friends are listening to and a “happening now” ticker.
• “The Persistent Playback/Pause Button” will show up where your chat icon is located. This is basically your music controller and will show you what music you’re listening to via any music services you may be logged into via Facebook Connect.
• You’ll also have a page that shows all the songs you’ve recently listened to, as well as top tracks and play counts.

Again, these are all rumors right now. GigaOM doesn’t name any of its sources or the specific services that Facebook is allegedly in talks with. As we know from rumor magnets like Google Music Beta, many things can change from the whisper stage to actual conception.

Still, if these rumors turn out to be fact, this could be just the final push the social network needs to become the new location for band promotion and music discovery.

Skype Adds More Facebook Features

Skype‘s beta version 5.5 of its desktop software for Windows adds even more Facebook extras to its already deep integration with the social network.

In the new version, out Monday, Skype for Windows users can instant message their Facebook friends via Skype, “like” and comment on friends’ Facebook status updates without logging into Facebook and view all their Facebook contacts in a new Facebook-dedicated contacts tab.

Skype for Windows 5.5 beta also includes a redesigned call control toolbar and other visual call-related adjustments.

Previously, Skype for Windows users could view their Facebook news feeds from within the application and place Skype calls or send SMS messages to their Facebook friends, if friends included their phone number in their Facebook profile.

The latest infusion of Facebook functionality further cements the connection between the two applications and makes cross-platform messaging more seamless.

Skype was acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion in May. The deal was approved by the Federal Trade Commission June 17.

Tweetalicious Serves Up Fashion Deals To Your Twitter Account

If you’re a shopper and a deal-hound, you’ve got to check out Tweetalicious.com. It’s a new deals site that breaks the mold of serving up a deal a day, and instead finds you as many deals as possible – and then tweets them to you.
Tweetalicious is set up to offer you all the basic functionality of Twitter.com, combined with a focus on bringing you the latest deals in the categories you care about most.

When you sign up for Tweetalicious, you’ll be asked to choose at least one category of deals you’re most interested in seeing. You can choose from “Computers & Electronics”, “Fashion & Apparel”, “Health & Beauty”, “Toys & Games”, and others to come in the future. You’ll then be asked to select the specific brands within those categories that you’d most like to hear from.

Next, you’ll see the Tweetalicious dashboard. From here, you can browse your live Twitter home feed, @mentions and Direct Messages, as well as send a Tweet – everything Twitter.com allows you to do. However, Tweetalicious also brings you the deal tweets from the brands and categories you selected earlier.

You’ll see one current deal highlighted in the featured deal section of the dashboard at a time. You can flip through to a new deal by clicking “Deal Me”, and you’ll see another deal in tweet form from one of the categories that you’ve selected. These are actual deals, like 40% off coupons and the like.

The column to the far right of the dashboard displays “Trending Deals”, which are the most-liked deals within your shopping preferences that have been voted on by the members of the Tweetalicious community.

Harrison Lee, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Tweetalicious, has this to say about his service:

“Tweetalicious allows shoppers to window shop the web. Easily finding deals on Twitter used to be impossible. Now it’s as easy as selecting the brands you like, hitting our ‘Deal Me!’ button, then start getting and sharing offers from your favorite brands anytime you want.”