Social Media Makes Strange Bedfellows As MSN & Renren Begin An Affair

While China is the country everyone wants to get a piece of these days – the two major Internet giants in the world – namely, Google and Facebook – face major hurdles with the government’s insidious “firewall” and its strict censorship regulations.

Renren, on the other hand is China’s own home-grown version of Facebook and as such is allotted more leniency than a foreign company. Microsoft however might be said to lack the social media gene, a criticism that up till now was often reserved for Google and its inability to create its own social network. Now with Google+ scaling well, it looks like MSN has just slipped into those shoes.

Last month, there were rumblings throughout the blogosphere that Microsoft might be covertly developing a social network under the code name “Tulalip.” In my previous post, titled, “Is Tulalip Microsoft’s Seward Folly,” I theorized that Microsoft might be reacting to the sudden popularity of Google+ and its own obvious omission from the playing field.

Already, with an albeit small foothold in China, MSN China has made overtures to partner with Baidu, China’s answer to Google.  So it made sense when news broke out of Shanghai on August 24, that Renren had also acquiesced to MSN’s advances and would be signing an agreement to collaborate on joint social networking initiatives.

According to an MSN press release, the two firms will share a wide range of applications and services across both of their platforms, including instant messaging, unified account log-in, content synchronization, and the ability to search for new followers.

When Renren entertained an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in early May, forecasters thought their opening bid of $US14 would ramp up significantly in the short-term. Unfortunately, they were wrong as the stock fell to an all-time low of US$6.78  on June 16. When the economy received another blow during the US’s debt ceiling debates, it has had a hard time scaling back up to double digits. However when the MSN/Renren agreement hit the airwaves, as of closing on August 24, the stock ended the day at US$7.38 (for more on this topic, see my previous post titled, “China’s Facebook Launches Social Credit Card While It Slides On Stock Exchange.”)

So while the graphic novel, “Facebucks Dumb F*cks” satirizes Google for lacking the “social media gene,” only to have Google+ potentially prove them wrong, they might have been dismissing the other Internet giant as well. At this juncture, Facebucks (aka Facebook) and Mark Zuckerberg (aka Z-Man) might also be considering Microsoft and Renren as formidable foes in the very near future. Your thoughts readers?
Page from Facebucks Dumb F*cks graphic novel

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Facebook as a medical solution

IOWA CITY, IOWA – The sky seems to be the limit in terms of applications for the popular social-networking site Facebook. Now one University of Iowa doctor is using the site to help get his patients to take their medications.

For young transplant patients, often between the ages of 13 and 21, keeping up-to-date on their medications may be the last thing on their mind.

“Often they’ve had chronic illnesses. They want to be like their peers, which I don’t blame them, so sometimes they forget to take their medications,” Patrick Brophy M.D. University of Iowa Children’s Hospital said.

Falling behind on meds could mean losing a vital organ like a kidney. Patrick Brophy, a doctor at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, was discussing the problem at home when his son came up with a solution.

“He kind of looked at me and said, ‘Well, why don’t you just put it up on Facebook?’ And I said, ‘That’s a pretty good idea,’” Brophy said.

Brophy helped develop new software called Iowa Medminder.

The Facebook application shows patients a list of all the medications and the frequency in which they should be taking them for a given day.

“Some kids are on three medications, twice a day. Some are on 10 medications, twice a day,” he said.

The patients then check off the medications when they take them. The information is then sent to a secure hospital health care server for doctors to monitor.

“If they don’t take it, hopefully we’ll be able to set up a notification system to either text them through their phones or email them,” he said.

That information compared with later blood tests for drug levels will help doctors determine if patients have really been taking their medications. Brophy says he’s been contacted by providers from the United States and Canada, interested in his idea.

“There’s so many potential applications of this thing, and I think it’s got legs of its own,” he said.

A possible glimpse of the future of better health care delivery. Officials are working to meet privacy laws. The information will only appear on the patient’s Facebook page and not for others to see. The software was funded by a grant.

(Copyright © 2011 NBC Universal, All Rights Reserved)

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