Mediaboss Marketing

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Everyone in technology thinks they have the next big thing, but two University of North Florida Seniors might be right.

They launched Open Leaf, an academic social networking site at the beginning of the school year.

"I think one time we programmed for like 27 hours straight. Just lots of coffee," said Co-Founder Eric Nopanen.

Nopanen and James Hamilton didn't waste any time launching their social networking site Open Leaf.

All told, the duo spent more than 800 hours to get the program off the ground.

"My eyes were hurting from programming for so long, I put on sunglasses," he said.

Just 3 weeks in to the school year, the site already has almost 1,000 subscribers.

It's open to any student at any college or university who just wants to learn. It connects people in similar majors to brainstorm, get tutoring, or meet up to study.

"Essentially it's like opening a big virtual classroom to every course around the country," said Hamilton.

"It's just meant for students to connect and share resources, discuss relevant topics," said Nopanen.

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UNF Students launch social networking site

20-09-2012 07:19 Five Talking Points of London Fashion Week 2012 Jess Cartner-Morley and Simon Chilvers look back at London fashion week, the biggest five days in the UK fashion calendar. There were highlights from the Christopher Kane, Mulberry, Burberry and Jonathan Saunders shows; a more significant role in the fashion world for social networking technology; and hints at some new trends

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Five Talking Points of London Fashion Week 2012 - Video

Geoff Rushton said Penn State's excellence in social networking platforms can't be attributed to one person or one department -- it is a University-wide effort.

The university was recently ranked No. 1 in social networking usage by Unigo, a company that partners with media outlets like USA Today and provides statistical data for colleges and universities, according to its website.

The specific poll was listed as the "Top 10 schools where the faculty is on Facebook more than you are," but Rushton, the manager of the Office of Social Media in University Relations, said it stems from all social media platforms throughout the university.

"This recognition is speaking to the work the entire university community does," he said.

He cited specifically faculty using social media in classrooms and student groups, such as Nittany Nation and the IFC/Panhellenic Council Dance Marathon, that provide a strong online presence in addition to the administrative offices using the tools.

"For us, and I think a lot of communications offices throughout the university, social media has become very important with what we do," he said, adding that professors are finding they can use the tools more in the teaching process.

Rushton expects even more collaboration from all Penn State departments and the social media sites to grow.

He said the university always is looking into new tools that are cropping up and it is focused to stay on the cutting edge of the landscape. But it must have a practical use.

"It really kind of depends what you want to use it for, what you could use it for and just how adventurous you want to be," he said of expanding the presence to new and upcoming online platforms.

Yale University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California rounded out the list's top five.

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Penn State Ranked No. 1 in Social Media Usage

The social-networking giant now charges merchants to posts ads along with deals on its site.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

Facebook Offers aren't free for merchants anymore. As the company seeks new ways to increase revenue, it has started charging businesses to run deals on its site.

The social networking giant launched Facebook Offers earlier this year as a free service that allows business to send promotions directly to user news feeds. A company's Facebook fans are able to redeem vouchers for discounts.

The offers remain free for users to redeem, but Facebook now requires merchants to spend at least $5 on related ads to accompany their vouchers, the company said today. The amount charged will depend on the budget of the business and how much it would like to spend to boost its offer, a Facebook spokeswoman said.

"The new features will help people find the most relevant Offers, such as in their local area, and help businesses better measure the success of their Offers," Facebook said in a statement. Reuters earlier reported the change to Offers.

Both before and after its IPO in May, Facebook faced questions about its ability to grow and to make money. Chief among the worries is doubt about Facebook's mobile strategy, as well as concern about a slowdown in advertising.

Today's move heightens competition with other daily deals sites, such as Groupon and LivingSocial. Such companies provide new offers to subscribers --or fans, in Facebook's case -- each day, typically with discounts. Through the deals, merchants are able to attract new customers, while the site provider typically shares in the revenue. But increased competition in the area is pressuring Groupon and its rivals.

Facebook declined to provide details about the number of companies participating in Offers, the number of vouchers offered, or other related information.

A spokeswoman said Facebook hasn't shared any data about Offers but said it has been a "very popular offering" since Facebook released it earlier this year.

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Facebook Offers no longer free

The robust browser best suited to low-powered phones or slow connections gets a social networking and news reading boost through Opera's Smart Page.

Solid Facebook support and links to webapps like Gmail are the key features of Opera Mini's "smart" Home page.

A single new feature called Smart Page is the capstone to Opera Mini 7.5 for Android (download), finally bringing to Android Mini fans a feature that iOS Mini got back at Mobile World Congress in February.

Launching today, the Smart Page is a single-serving site from which people can check their social networking feeds, news sites, and recommended links based on their region. The social networking feature works with Twitter, Facebook, and the European social networking vKontakte.

Opera Mini is best known as a cross-platform browser that offers "Turbo," a compression option that can reduce bandwidth use by up to 90 percent. It's a good option for people on rate-limited mobile services.

Somewhat confusingly, the Smart Page is actually labeled as the Home tab, and it resides next to the Speed Dial tab.

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Android's Opera Mini gets a socially networked Smart Page