First there was Ning, which allowed you to create your own social media site. Now there’s Twingr, which allows you to create your own ‘Twitter’.

You choose any group you like, and Twingr, the brainchild of KillerStartups.com, will host your version of Twitter on its servers. Currently in closed private alpha, the service will allow you to send out 140-character messages, follow what other people in your Twingr group are saying, and also send direct messages to them.

In addition, Twingr offers a box where you can paste links without taking up any of your allotted characters.

Source: Erick Schonfeld, “Build Your Own Twitter With Twingr (Private Alpha)”, TechCrunch, November 13, 2008, Twingr

If Michael Arrington from TechCrunch is right, Google’s iPhone voice recognition application should hit Apple’s iTunes store today. (Apparently there was a misunderstanding between Google and Apple that created the widespread belief that the free application would be available last Friday…)

In any case, Google’s technology is pretty neat. Basically, it enables iPhone users to generate Google search results based on a question they ask into the phone. The sound is converted into a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which attempt to decipher the words spoken, and then send them to Google’s search engine.

Using some of the iPhone’s features, the technology will also take into account the user’s location to generate localized search results.

Source: Michael Arrington, “Update On Google iPhone Voice Recognition App: Look For It On Monday”, TechCrunch, November 16, 2008

According to TechCrunch, Facebook may become a victim of its own success. With a 118 percent in growth in unique million visitors - from 74 million unique visitors per month a year ago to 161 million uniques per month now (according to comScore) - the company is still not profitable. Which means it may need a substantial cash injection sooner rather than later to continue.

TechCrunch reports that with 750 employees and an estimated $10 million monthly payroll, along with $1 million per month for electricity, $500,000 per month for bandwidth, up to $2 million for each NetApp 3070 storage system it’s buying on a weekly basis, $15 million per year in office and data center rent payments, and $100 million earmarked for 50,000 servers… it all adds up to annual expenses of $200 million or more.

And while Facebook’s 2008 estimated revenue is $265 million, the company is still losing money at current revenues, with no assurance that revenue growth will meet or exceed the growth in costs.

Writes Michael Arrington:

“If revenues don’t grow substantially, the company’s runway of cash gets much shorter. 2008 revenues are likely $100 million less than the company anticipated a year ago. If the economic train really derails, Facebook could be in big trouble.”

If Facebook has spent most of the $500 million it has raised to date… and revenues don’t substantially increase… the company will need further funding. Which, according to Michael Arrington, it should grab as soon as possible.

Source: Michael Arrington, “Facebook May Be Growing Too Fast. And Hitting The Capital Markets Again”, TechCrunch, October 31, 2008

GoldMail has built a platform that allows you to send media-rich messages.

Basically, you can use GoldMail’s client to create a Flash slideshow that can include images, Powerpoint slides, and text, all accompanied by your voiceover. The slideshow is uploaded to, and hosted on, GoldMail’s servers. Then an email is sent containing a text introduction and a link to the full multimedia presentation.

Hmmm… sounds a bit like sending an email with a link to a video.

Then again the service may make it easier for you to create and send multimedia presentations if you can’t whip up a video or slide show yourself in 10-15 minutes (the average time it takes to create a GoldMail presentation and email).

And the cost? Until recently it was a hefty $5,000 for an initial license and $500 per user. Recently GoldMail dropped the price to around $100 per user, per year, with no initial license fee.

Source: Jason Kincaid, “GoldMail Brings Media-Rich Presentations To Email”, TechCrunch, October 4, 2008

In a public relations disaster, StomperNet’s website was DOWN when both the company and its numerous affiliates sent thousands of potential customers to the site in order to get their free copy of the Stomping The Search Engines 2.0 home-study DVD-ROM course.

In a somewhat risky move, StomperNet is freely giving away its highly rated search engine optimization (SEO) course - originally priced at $497 - in the hope that those who order will end up subscribing to StomperNet’s Internet marketing journal, The Net Effect.

Customers also get a free copy of The Net Effect when they order Stomping the Search Engines 2, but will start paying $39 per month for the second issue of the journal and for all subsequent issues.

At a time when the Internet marketing community is sick and tired of “servers crashing” and ploys to create artificial scarcity, the technical issues which caused StomperNet’s website to go down couldn’t have come at a worse moment.

StomperNet insists its problems were real and that there is no intention to create the impression of scarcity since the company plans to fill every order.

“We’re not kidding when we say this is not a scarcity play - we want to get this stuff into as many hands as possible!” Brad and Andy told affiliates in an email today, “We’re going to FILL EVERY ORDER.”

As an affiliate I personally feel let down and embarrassed - especially since I am one of those who have criticized Internet marketers over servers crashing during product launches. However, I have no reason not to believe StomperNet when they say this was a genuine mistake.

As a result of the debacle, StomperNet has delayed the launch of Stomping The Search Engines 2 until Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 2pm EST.

You can, however, go to the site NOW and sign up to be notified as soon as the course is available.

==> Click Here To Get Stomping The Search Engines 2.0 For Free

Either way, I still recommend that if you want to get tons of traffic to your website via SEO, you should definitely pick up a free copy of the Stomping The Search Engines 2.0 course.

Thursday 2pm EST is:

• Thursday 11am in Los Angeles
• Thursday 7pm in London
• Friday 4am in Sydney
• Friday 3am in Tokyo

Depending on when you read this, this is only a few hours away.

==> Click Here To Get Stomping The Search Engines 2.0 For Free

Source: Stomping The Search Engines 2.0