Homeworking hiccups…

I planned to start the week with a post covering some of the great benefits of working for myself and being able to work from home most of the week.

In fact it was almost written, when one of my family managed to somehow kill the extension lead, which led to the internet router, which led to me losing the work I’d stupidly not backed up during the writing process.

So working from home is still great, but it doesn’t stop the occasional hiccup, or remove the need to ensure frequent backups and failsafes. Including making sure the extension lead and router are kept away from all members of the family, especially from grown-ups not paying attention!

But will Santa check in with Facebook, Foursquare or Gowalla?

If you have concerns about location services and privacy, then spare a thought for poor old Santa.

Since 1955 he’s had the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) tracking his flights around the world on Christmas Eve, and since 2004 he’s also had Google keeping tabs on his whereabouts.

And yet again from 2AM EST on December 24th you’ll be able to track his progress at www.noradsanta.org.

He doesn’t appear to be using mobile location services like Foursquare and Gowalla yet, which is a bit of a shame, as he’d probably rack up plenty of badges over the Christmas period…

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Sincerest flattery or just coincidence?

I’m always interested in the links posted by copywriting social media chap Brendan Cooper, and the other day he linked to a nice guide to using Netvibes dashboards I hadn’t seen before.

It’s got a lot of useful info, but I have to admit I did a doubletake when I saw this:

Widgets on Netvibes

The Way of the Widget? Hmmm….

(I’m sure it’s coincidence, as we’re both riffing off the same Japanese samurai source, but it’d also be great to think someone at Netvibes might have stumbled across my blog at some point over the last few years.)

FriendsReunited advert – wtf?

I’m almost speechless.

Where to start?

So FriendsReunited is now owned by Brightsolid, a subsidiary of comic publisher DC Thompson, which paid £25 million in August but still hasn’t added the sites to the official website. (edit: This is due to the fact the purchase is being looked at by regulators, and is therefore not complete). And their first move is to buy traditional TV advertising?

Unless…

The fact that Brightsolid owns findmypast.com and the advert clearly positions GenesReunited on an equal footing to FriendsReunited gives one indication where things are going. And GR has around 10 million registered members, so there’s some potential there.

Which is why the advert seems to channel the same style and messaging as ads for stairlifts and services which will write your will. But that group already has their own social network if they’re not keen on Facebook.

So ignore FriendsReunited – as most people have. First Myspace, then Facebook came and won that battle, and nothing short of a new proposition will unsettle them. It’s in the genes, and white-label dating sites that Brightsolid will have seen the value of the purchase. The only reason I can see for influding even a mention of FriendsReunited in the advert is a more familiar name to draw people into GenesReunited. Although I’m not convinced that a social network mostly populated by tumbleweed billowing across the plains is an association really worth making…