MIAMI--Joseph Smarr, chief systems architect at Plaxo, has become somewhat of an icon of social media's future. An ardent supporter of open standards, Smarr is arguably one of the biggest proponents of Google's OpenSocial who can't officially claim to be a Googler. So it's fitting that Smarr has played a prominent role at the Future of Web Apps conference; CNET News.com had a chance to catch up with him on Thursday and find out some more about what "open" really means and what's next at Plaxo.
We did the math: If you bought popular apps instead of trying their gratis counter-parts, at the manufacturers' list prices you'd be out $5,183 and change! Why spend money when you can get what you need for nothing? Sometimes, you do get what you don't pay for.
I don’t know what they feed the developers at Plaxo but they just keep on coming up with new products and services. We have written about Plaxo a lot here at The Next Web Blog and there are two reasons for that. We like their service and they produce a lot of news.
Google Social Graph API Spotted in the Wild: Plaxo Public Profiles
While most of the day has been devoted to coverage of the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo deal, there is some pretty significant news out of Google as well: the launch of the Social Graph API. As Mark described earlier, \"it’s used by social app developers to let their users grab information on their social connections across the internet.\"
Google unleashes Social Graph API - indexes people connections
Following on its OpenSocial APIs for building cross-social network applications, Google has created a Social Graph API that searches the Web for explicit public statements of connections between people. The Web crawler looks for XFN (XHTML Friends Network) and FOAF (Friend of a Friend), which are standard formats used to indicate people connections.
One thing about "Web 2.0" is that it doesn't take long for companies to copy features that are working well on other sites. A prominent example of this is the ubiquitous "Status Updates" feature, which first gained popularity on Facebook and has since been copied by MySpace, hi5, and is in a sense the main purpose of Twitter.
Plaxo Pulse recently made its application available on Windows Mobile OS, and now it’s also available as an optimized application for the iPhone. Both of these releases come within the same time frame as Plaxo Pulse’s integration with the Mac address book as well as Microsoft Outlook. It’s very clear, as it always has been, that Plaxo is looking to insert itself into every possible social application that a large number of people are likely to use.
Plaxo Pulse recently made its application available on Windows Mobile OS, and now it’s also available as an optimized application for the iPhone. Both of these releases come within the same time frame as Plaxo Pulse’s integration with the Mac address book as well as Microsoft Outlook. It’s very clear, as it always has been, that Plaxo is looking to insert itself into every possible social application that a large number of people are likely to use.
Yahoo Implements OpenID; Massive Win For The Project
The rumor last week was that Google (as well as Verisign and IBM) were mulling over the idea of joining the OpenID 2.0 single sign-on framework. But the real news comes today, as Yahoo and its roughly 250 million user IDs officially jump on the bandwagon. Today, there are only approximately 120 million valid OpenID accounts. In one move, Yahoo more than triples that number.
At some point last year people started to realize that the email inbox was not only the “original” Internet social network, it’s also going to be the backbone of social networking going forward. You already have your friends (people in your address book), and the social graph is already filled (people you email, and who they email, etc.).
Facebook, Google And Plaxo Join Data Portability Workgroup
After publishing an invitation to Facebook to join the DataPortability Working Group January 4, we never thought that Facebook would accept it. Today changes everything you’ve ever thought about social-networking data and lock-in before, because today Facebook, Google and Plaxo have joined the DataPortability Workgroup.
If Facebook wanted more bad blog coverage it couldn’t have done a better job than picking on Robert Scoble, the publicity-seeking blogger. Mr. Scoble was kicked off of Facebook because he used a preview version of a Plaxo service that logged onto his Facebook account to download the names and e-mail addresses of his friends.
Spice up Outlook: New Plaxo Toolbar puts the Social Web in Your E-Mail
Plaxo has announced a new version of its toolbar for Outlook which now integrates your Plaxo Pulse feed, allowing you to see what your friends are up to before you try to contact them.
Plaxo Pulse Toolbar for Outlook = Real-Time Updates on Your Contacts
Plaxo is pushing its newest social networking tool, Pulse, even further into our existing applications with a new Outlook toolbar. Yes, Plaxo already had Outlook integration, which gave you updated contact information on the folks in your address book, and more recently offered up map and direction options and click-to-connect VoIP options.
First OpenSocial Application Generates Traffic Surge
Plaxo Inc., the first company to launch applications built using Google Inc.'s OpenSocial APIs, has seen a surge in traffic in the three weeks since the APIs were released. Google unveiled the APIs on Nov. 1 as part of an effort to help developers build social applications that can run on multiple sites.
Ever since Plaxo joined Google’s OpenSocial platform a couple weeks ago, the number of connections on Plaxo has skyrocketed from about 200,000 to over a million. Here is a graph from Plaxo marketing VP John McCrea (nice hockey stick, John)
Plaxo Sees Exponential Growth as First to Use OpenSocial
The company that got first dibs at implementing OpenSocial gadgets has seen its service grow more than tenfold in the 3 weeks since roll out. Plaxo Pulse, the service that lets you receive live updates on activity going on across your social networks based on the contacts you have in Plaxo, was quick to jump on the OpenSocial train; and that has turned into a gravy train since then.
The web is being reinvented, and this time it is people — or, more precisely, the personal information and social connections they enter into social networks — who are at the centre...
John McCrea of Plaxo Talks about Google’s OpenSocial Platform
Google wants in on the social networking game and, as we mentioned this morning, the company plans to unveil a new set of APIs designed to give developers a cross-network platform — think the Facebook platform without the Facebook lock-in...
Anyone remember Friendster? It was an early entrant into the social networking scene. If they had done their work right they SHOULD have been a much bigger player than they are now. Why aren’t they?...
Google-led Gang to Take on Facebook — Google’s OpenSocial to Launch
A host of Silicon Valley companies led by Google are ganging together to take on Facebook — the social networking company that is the toast of the town right now. A group of Facebook’s cross-town rival, including Google, LinkedIn, Hi5, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning, are apparently responding, in an effort to see if they can stop Facebook from running away with the lead in social networking...
Google and some of the Web’s leading social networks are teaming up to take on the new kid on the block — Facebook. On Thursday, an alliance of companies led by Google plans to begin introducing a common set of standards to allow software developers to write programs for Google’s social network, Orkut, as well as others, including LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning...
Details Revealed — Google OpenSocial to Launch Thursday
Details emerged today on Google’s broad social networking ambitions, first reported here in late September, with a follow up earlier this week. The new project, called OpenSocial (URL will go live on Thursday), goes well beyond what we’ve previously reported...
Plaxo's Pulse social network aggregator is now offering an embeddable widget for those of you looking to jump on the "lifestream" bandwagon. Pulse, which is a social network in its own right, makes it easy to pull in data from a variety of sources — Flickr, Twitter, your blog and pretty much anything with an RSS feed — and view it all in one place...
Pulse, which launched earlier this summer, is Plaxo’s foray into social networking. After years of collecting users’ contact information and address book contacts, they took the next step and created a social network around all that data...
Cisco should buy Plaxo as another layer to its unified communications strategy, reckons Web and social media commentator LaSandra Brill, writing in her Marketing in a Web 2.0 World blog...
Today’s center of attention is upon Google’s acquisition of Jaiku and what it means for every man and his dog. In the meantime people forget about Plaxo...
Plaxo last night quietly launched a new feature called Pulse Groups. Pulse now lets you create as many groups as you want. When you create a group, you declare it to be private, moderated, or public...
Analysis: Social Networks May Become Interoperable
For now, Plaxo's Pulse might be an indication of where social networks are headed: user control. Plaxo puts the user at the center, basing the network on...
Effort seeks to implement social Web 'bill of rights'
’This is PR 2.0, which is to say it is very much about the conversation and the medium being intertwined,’ said John McCrea, VP of marketing at Plaxo...
Plaxo news: microformats based online identity consolidator
Plaxo, sometime in the next few hours will ship an online identity consolidator (that’s what they call it) based on microformats. What does that do? Lets you keep track of your identity from a group of online social networks...
One of these, Plaxo, now with some 15 million users, recognizes any changes to the contact information of any Plaxo member and automatically updates that ...
Given the opportunity to leverage the social graph and collective intelligence in a corporate context, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo or another company will ...
Plaxo launched today its social network, Pulse. Pulse pulls in what they call "people feed" or RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to allow for conversation ...
Plaxo Aims to Turn Address Book Into Social Network
Plaxo today announced plans for its Pulse service to allow users to receive feeds of content created at sites like YouTube and MySpace by their friends and ...
Plaxo launches new social network, Pulse--and it's a lot like Pownce
As expected, address and calendar organizer Plaxo unveiled on Monday its new Pulse social networking site. Rumors about Plaxo expanding into social ...
Slap in the Facebook: It's Time for Social Networks to Open Up
On Monday, the contact management service Plaxo will launch a new social network called Pulse. Offering a customizable profile page, the service will allow ...
Plaxo’s forthcoming entry into mainstream social networking with its Pulse service is all over TechMeme this morning. What was formerly a way to synch your ...
Launched by contact and schedule management service Plaxo, this will apparently be a sort of midpoint between the strictly-business LinkedIn and the ...
Plaxo is launching a new social network, dubbed "Pulse," and it should offer a number of interesting features; indeed, a couple of them will address flaws...
Has Plaxo created a new FaceBook? Report from MashUp Camp
At MashUp Camp 4 at the Computer History Museum, Plaxo showed its Pulse application, which looks very much like FaceBook, with similar features. Are we heading into a mashup world where everything shares addresses, photos, movies, etc? Does FaceBook hold pole position?
Social networking company Plaxo has enhanced its support for emerging open standard technologies for online identities and personal information management.
Plaxo Reinvents Itself As 'Switzerland Of Personal Information'
Plaxo released a beta version of its service, which unifies address books and calendars from disparate providers and also allows members to share streams of information with one another.
A few years ago, Philippe Kahn, who headed up Borland and started a couple of other companies including LightSurf and Starfish Software said, “Synchronization between various devices needs to happen quite automatically, without complication and has to be transparent.” With the new Plaxo 3.0, Kahn’s wishes are almost coming true.
New Version Of Plaxo Launched: More Sync More Often
Plaxo has announced Plaxo 3.0, a new version that builds on its multi-point sync product by offering improved sync options as well as a feed-style people tracker.
Plaxo has launched a brand new version of its popular online contact manager app as well as new and improved desktop clients. Plaxo 3.0, as the company calls the updates, boasts a number of synchronization improvements and aims to be your one-stop address book and contact manager.
Plaxo turns address books into Web social networks
Plaxo, which makes software for PC users to keep address books up-to-date, said on Sunday it is helping millions of members open up their online datebooks to build social networks like MySpace or Facebook.
Online address-book company Plaxo Inc., which stumbled in the last few years amid privacy concerns, is launching an overhauled service to reinvent itself and compete better with Internet networking companies such as Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp.
Plaxo has eliminated the annoying spam-like email feature from its synchronization service, and this week introduced the beta of version 3.0, which now offers multi-way sync of contacts and calendar between various services from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, AOL, Mac, Thunderbird, and mobile phones.
Plaxo introduces new address book with better sync
The company offers to synchronize multiple online address books and services from companies and organizations like AOL, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, and Yahoo.
...Comcast created SmartZone in partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co., Zimbra, a specialist in messaging software and Plaxo, an online address book service.
...Comcast isn't pulling off SmartZone alone, though... The alliance with Plaxo will let customers merge their contacts into a single address book that will synchronize with and be accessible from a wide range of tools, services, and Web-enabled devices.
While the dot-com era focused squarely on aggregating data on the Internet, one of the most defining characteristics of Web 2.0 is the deconstruction of the Web into small, single-purpose applications called widgets or gadgets.
...according to John McCrea, VP of marketing for Plaxo. Our head of customer support has a good eye for cinematography and editing," he said. "The streaking is a special talent we found in our product management team."
In a savvy move, a group of internet startups have turned their backs on the Super Bowl completely and created their own miniature advertising extravaganza on the web...
The service takes computer-based contact lists from commonly used e-mail systems, such as those of Microsoft or Yahoo, and sends the contact details wirelessly to the customer's cellphone
The service is designed to give subscribers access to a self-updating address book on their mobile phones, which will synchronize their contact information with other communication tools, such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, AIM, Yahoo! Mail, the Mac OS X Address Book and Thunderbird.
Verizon Offers Wireless Synching of Phone/PC Contact Lists
The Plaxo service is meant to eliminate the hassle and time spent punching in contact information, such as names, telephone numbers and addresses, into mobile phones.
A service from Plaxo that allows its wireless customers to automagically sync up their contacts between their computers and mobile devices, over the air
Gags-to-riches tale of the Welsh wizard who bet on YouTube
That will not stop people poring over the list of Sequoia's investments — future hopes include… Plaxo, which automatically updates web-based contact lists — in the hope of spotting the next Google or YouTube
Forget Facebook and social networking. For a real example of networking, check out www.plaxo.com, the place where you enter your contact list and keep current on what everyone is doing and where they're located.
Meataxo founder Joseph Smarr, a Plaxo senior software engineer, says it’s a good way to save the rest of the week for uninterrupted blocks of work, and to get a glimpse into what everyone else is doing. He thinks it helps Plaxo feel like it’s still a small startup.
The company is in discussions to embed its calling technology into social-networking sites and portals. The first batch of announcements will come in October, Scharf says. These sites—online address book provider Plaxo is the only one announced one so far—will have a major monetary incentive to partner with Jajah: The startup has 30% margins, and can offer participating sites some $10 to $20 per user per year in revenue sharing, he says.
According to the survey of anonymous, aggregated data from more than 10 million Plaxo members worldwide, Argentina led Plaxo's Connected Index with an average of 479 contacts per address book.
Plaxo, an online address book that allows users to keep their contacts up-to-date, has been growing rapidly since it signed a partnership with AOL last July. The Web-based service provider hit the 10 million member mark in March and has been adding an additional 1 million members per month since.
Five fratenity brothers created the online calendar HipCal in their fratenity house at RPI. The unique calendaring service caught the eye of Plaxo, who acquired the company in May 2006 and offered all five co-founders new jobs at Plaxo. Meet the five founders in this video of their coast-to-coast road trip.
Plaxo tries the solve one aspect of the overload problem by creating a smart address book and providing data synching across all devices. If information changes in a person’s network, and that person also uses Plaxo, the address book is dynamically updated.
Called Plaxo Click to Call and available now, the new feature will let users click on any phone number stored in their Plaxo online address book to initiate a phone call, according to company officials.
The move marks Plaxo's first foray into allowing its customers to actually communicate by phone with the people they have listed in the contact management service Plaxo provides. A partnership Plaxo has with AOL lets AIM users initiate chats through the Plaxo address book.
Plaxo says they will integrate HipCal’s calendaring product directly into Plaxoâ’ free product, and expand premium calendar services as well. Plaxo, now with 11 million or so members and adding 20,000 per day, is in an excellent position to leverage its address book features into new product lines. Calendaring is an obvious next step.
John McCrea, vice president of marketing at Mountain View, Calif.-based Plaxo, said the company's approach about a centralized address book puts it in a position to become as important in personal communications as Google and Yahoo have become in search. "Other companies out there think of the address book in the context of their other services, whereas we see the address book in the context of all the services in your life," he told internetnews.com.
Other tools don't bring you new contacts but help you manage the ones you have more effectively. Plaxo Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., lets its members store their contacts in an online database. Then, whenever members update a contact's information, the update is sent to all the other Plaxo members who share that contact. So, for instance, if one member notes that a contact has changed jobs, the other members who have that contact on their list receive word of the change.
Thanks to a recent agreement with AOL to bring Plaxo's Web-based contact management services to the interactive service provider's 27 million worldwide customers, Plaxo could potentially see its user base grow by five-fold.
As people use the Internet more and more to connect with each other, the founders expect a product like Plaxo to find a home in communication tools like email as well as e-commerce applications.
…it's clear that AOL is proactively working to keep itself relevant on the ever-changing Internet. Its new Plaxo-enhanced features might just help it leverage its strengths and woo more traffic and loyalty to its services.
If you value your relationships, remember that the true strength of most relationships is determined by the content of the relationship and the effort invested by both parties…
Through this service [Plaxo Mobile Access], any mobile phone can access Plaxo information, like the address book and calendar, from any WAP-enabled device.
Two years after launching its free online address book service, Plaxo Inc. on Tuesday plans to introduce paid offerings for mobile access and for cleaning up duplicate entries in address books.
English ▼
