LinkedIn is the social networking platform that’s generating buzz today, but Facebook would like to remind you that it still exists. Many, many times.

Facebook users have been reporting excessive invite mails over the past 3 days - between 3 and 5 mails are sent from Facebook for every event or group you’re invited to. The problem would appear to be site-wide, although we’ve yet to confirm that claim. So, let’s go ahead and ask: are you getting Facebook invite spammed?

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Facebook’s Most Helpful Set of App Regulations to DateSpammers Send Emails from YouTube ServersAre Gmail’s Antispam Filters Leaking?Why Social Network Spam MattersFacebook Spammy? Not if They can Help it.Are 33% of Blogs Really Splogs?GMail Gloats About its Superior Spam Protection

Source:Mashable!

BigTent, a networking and group management service that earlier this year made some news in the venture funding world, is opening itself to the general public today and is marking the occasion with a fresh design.

The company, based in San Francisco, is touted as a connector for “real-world communities.” Thus, it is interesting to find that it has developed into a heavily parent- and club-oriented composite, providing tools for PTA and preschool collectives and the like. Its creators claim that over 50% fall into the “mom group” category.

The objective behind BigTent’s creation is very simple: to cut time typically wasted with administrative busyness so that organizations of all sizes can work together in-person and in remote settings more efficiently. Which is really the pursuit of virtually any social service now residing on the Web.

The formula employed by BigTent is straightforward. Things like newsletters, calendars, review and recommendation components, classifications leaders, groups, and sub-groups, and any assigned roles or permissions associated with particular user profiles, are all part of the BigTent weave. Better still, because it is all free and fully ad-supported, groups without any financial support structure to speak of (which are plenty in number) can engage with their respective networks in ways that can prove as productive as business-level arrangements might be.

Whether you have a club of only several people or a network that counts thousands of members at any given moment, BigTent appears able to handle things in ways that merit consideration amid a competitive market home to names like Ning and Amazee. With a public launch now officially out the door, it seems fair to say BigTent may grow into six- and seven-figure territory quite soon.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Ning Competitor Big Tent Raises $5 MillionPownce To Launch Public APISocially Enabled Legal Documents?Google Calendar Launches Public DirectoryGoogle Social Graph API Spotted in the Wild: Plaxo Public ProfilesPownce Releases Public APIGet Your Web 2.0 Idea Funded with “You Be the VC” Contest

Source:Mashable!

Vlingo is an application that lets you perform various tasks on your mobile using your voice. Earlier this year, the company launched an application for Blackberry, allowing users to perform basic tasks like voice dialing, composing emails, and sending text messages, all through speaking. Today, that application is getting an update, allowing users to do a lot more, including update their Facebook Status and Twitter.

How do you do it? Once you’ve downloaded the Vlingo for Blackberry app, the thing to do is assign the application to one of your convenience keys. Then, when you want to update your Facebook Status or post a Tweet, you just hold down the key, say “Facebook Status is …” or “Twitter Status is,” which will then prompt you to fill in the blank.

Where might this come in handy? With more and more states requiring “hands free” cell phone usage, if you’re so addicted to Facebook and Twitter that you feel compelled to update while driving, Vlingo lets you do it. The voice recognition is fairly good – I’ve been able to use it for making calls and occasionally sending brief responses to emails or texts.

In addition to the Facebook and Twitter add-ons, Vlingo has also added support for a number of Blackberry’s built-in programs. Using your voice, you can now pull up your calendar, camera, calculator, maps, and several other applications.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Twitter Updates Now Connected to Facebook StatusMyBlogLog Lets You Add Twitter UpdatesFacebook Removing “is” from Status UpdatesVoice-to-Text Messaging to Facebook, Twitter & JaikuTwitterBerry: The Convergence of Two Technology AddictionsPlaxo Pulse Wants to Sync Your Status UpdatesPing.fm: Update All Your Lifestreams from One Site (Invites)

Source:Mashable!

The Mashable team can’t wait to see these 5 apps coming to our LinkedIn profiles. What are your top 5 most wanted LinkedIn apps? Share in the comments!

9 LinkedIn Apps Debut

LinkedIn, the undisputed leader of business networking online, pulled a Facebook today with the launch of its applications platform. The pitch: add new features to LinkedIn by plugging in third-party apps which access your network of contacts.

The platform launches with 9 apps: an Amazon reading list app, a Box.net file sharing app, a presentations sharing app from Google Docs, collaboration tools from Huddle, two blog syndication apps from Six Apart and WordPress, slideshow sharing from SlideShare, travel sharing from Tripit, and Twitter tracking from LinkedIn’s own Company Buzz app.

5 LinkedIn Apps We Want

The possibilities are endless, and we can’t wait to see our favorite Web services integrating with the platform. Here’s our wish list:

1. Google Docs. All of it. Not just presentations, but documents and spreadsheets too. Let me invite my LinkedIn contacts to view and edit them. A competing app from rival Zoho would be nice too.

2. Google Calendar. Yes, more Google. Let me see public calendar items from my network, and share private events with selected contacts.

3. Basecamp. OK, all the 37Signals apps. Some of the world’s best business productivity apps combined with the leading business network has endless possibilities.

4.

If you’re an Apple user then you’ve probably come to appreciate the sharing options that are available to you through various applications like iPhoto’s Share to iWeb or iMovie’s send to YouTube options. YouSendIt, the digital content delivery system that recently raised an additional $14 million in funding, has created a couple of plug-ins for Apple Final Cut Pro and Apple iPhoto.

The plug-ins let you send content directly from these applications to yourself or others via YouSendIt, with the added benefit of 25% faster uploads. Both plug-ins also let you add multiple files and folders (of any type) to the same upload batch, which will be paused and resumed should you lose your Internet connection. Other features include password protection for files, as well as certified delivery and control for file expiration dates, both of which are features already included in YouSendIt accounts. A feature that’s more specific to the new Mac plug-ins is the right-click send option.

This is a handy desktop integration for YouSendIt’s service, which has been looking to make itself available in as many places as possibly lately. Earlier this year YouSendIt released its SiteDrop embeddable option, enabling site visitors to send the site owner content through a widget placed on that site.

The introduction of such desktop app plug-ins is a sensible development for YouSendIt. There have been plenty of times where I’ve found myself needing to send another Mashable team member a video from my Mac–when you’re in a hurry during a conference, such plug-ins really simplify the media-sharing process. The new YouSendIt plug-ins are available for Mac OS X versions 10.4.9 or later.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:YouSendIt Raises $10MYouSendIt SiteDrop: Embeddable File-SendingYouSendIt Gets Another $14M Check In the MailWordpress Plugins Directory - Thanks, Wordpress!FilesTube Launches Community Tools7 Ways to Send HUGE Files: 25X Bigger than GmailGMail Attachments Double to 20MB

Source:Mashable!

Sometrics, an analytics provider to more than 1,300 social applications, will announce a partnership later this week with Zembly, a platform for developers of such apps. The deal will integrate Sometrics within the Zembly environment, allowing developers to analyze their traffic, demographics, and user actions from the same place they build their applications. Currently, Zembly provides tools for building apps for Facebook, Meebo, OpenSocial, iPhone and Google Gadgets.

For Sometrics, the partnership positions the company as an all-in-one resource for developers of social applications. Last week, they also announced a deal with AppsSavvy, an ad agency specializing in social networking inventory. Combined with the company’s own platform for ad management, its core analytics product, and now its deal with Zembly, Sometrics is able to provide its customers with a complete tool set from development to monetization.

While that might paint a rosy picture for the company, the cloud lingering over this model is the fact that end-user demand for applications – especially on Facebook where the majority of the company’s customers are - is no longer in the boom cycle it was back when the application platform launched. While recent changes to the platform announced last week at F8 may eventually re-invigorate demand, Sometrics is looking beyond Facebook for future growth. The company is set to announce deals with a dozen other social networks outside of the Facebook and OpenSocial ecosystem in coming weeks, according to CEO Ian Swanson.

While Sometrics currently offers all of its tools for free, there is a big upsell in the works that is the company’s business model. Eventually, Sometrics plans to offer ad serving to its customers – a strategy that should work well if they are able to continue establishing relationships with ad agencies and expand their base of developers using their free analytics and ad management products through more partnerships with companies like Zembly.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:FamilyBuilder Hits 10M Profiles, Links Trees Across Facebook, MySpace, BeboThe Daily Poll: Would You Build Apps for the MySpace Developer Platform?Google I/O Ticket Giveaway: Answer This Question and Get Conference TixThank You!Box.net Upgrades Facebook App & Opens Platform For DevelopersApple Making a Directory for iPhone Apps?Lookery to be Advertising Network for Facebook Apps