May gave us all some glorious sunshine, a glimpse into the future with Google and a birthday where we looked back at the past five years of one of our favourite websites. This is what we were reading at KMP Towers in the month of May.
The main event in May was Google’s I/O developer conference in San Francisco on the 19th & 20th of June where they announced the latest developments in Chrome, Android OS and their biggest announcement Google TV. By combining the TV that you already know with the freedom and power of the Internet, Google plan to create a more satisfying viewing experience. With the help of Sony and Logitech Google TV will be built into TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-Ray players of the future.
A big birthday was celebrated at the end of April with YouTube turning 5 and the month of May was used to celebrate and look back at who became famous thanks to YouTube. The first ever video to be uploaded onto YouTube on April 23rd 2005 at 8:27pm and thankfully people have got a little more creative with their cameras since that first ever YouTube video.
YouTube celebrates it’s 5th Birthday
A rumour started in May that made some people panic and others jump for joy. TechCrunch reported that the relationship between Zynga (makers of Farmville) and Facebook had reached a low resulting in Zynga threatening to pull Farmville off Facebook because of the intended 30% Facebook tax on game credits. This rumour was scotched when Zynga and Facebook signed a 5 year strategic partnership, so it looks like we will see more notifications of people looking for nails to help build their barns
Facebook and Zynga sign a 5 year deal
The location based social media game Foursquare received a huge boost in May when it was announced that both Starbucks and Domino’s plan to start official campaigns offering the Mayors of their branches receive special offers. Domino’s offer of a free Pizza each week to the mayor sounds a lot more appealing then Starbucks $1 off but it’s a step in the right direction and will show how Geolocation can be used as a viable marketing tool.
Starbucks launch nationwide Foursquare campaign in USA
Domino’s Launch Foursquare campaign in the UK
Facebook has been having a tough time of it lately with all the news about its privacy settings and their CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, admitting they had made mistakes. It was the controversy with a particular page that resulted in the biggest reaction. A Facebook page created after the 200th episode of South Park invited people to draw images of the profit Mohammed. This resulted in protests followed by the banning of the whole Facebook site in Pakistan.
Facebook is banned in Pakistan
As we move into June let’s hope the nice weather continues and be sure to check the next Fantastic 5 update on July 2nd
