The new feature launched by Facebook is being adopted by many and available today to its vast user base of 120 million Facebookers and counting, as well as, many high-profile Websites which will also be weaving this new service into their sites.

The service, as explained by the NYT, allows its members to log onto other Web sites using their Facebook identification and see their friends’ activities on those sites. Facebook’s ID gives you easy way into these third-party sites without the need to go through the tedious step of creating new accounts in order to access certain sites,  plus your actions are re-broadcasted to all of your friends and contacts on Facebook.

Third party sites who have integrated the Facebook Connect feature since its recent launch include: Discovery Channel, CBS.com, Twitter, San Francisco Chronicle, Hulu and Digg- soon to be adopted by many, many, many more.

I’m sure there’s many of you out there who just can’t be bothered to create new accounts and remember every single nickname, ‘mother’s maiden name’, ‘favorite pet’, ‘high school teacher’, you use as your login information..it’s annoying! Facebook has come to save the day!

How does Facebook Connect open doors for you? Simple. Say you’re a blogger and you’re checking out Digg. You log into Digg using your Facebook ID or you can set it off by default by making your selection here:

You then vote, digg here digg there, basically do everything you’d normally do on Digg and your actions will come up on your Facebook’s news feed. This means all your friends will be able to tell where you’re at, what you’re watching, commenting, reviewing, etc, plus, they can join you ‘live’ while you’re at it.

Privacy issues. We still need to hear back regarding these. It’s clearly open source, but it’s also up to the user to approve which information gets broadcasted or not.  If anyone has anything to add, please let us know.

Car manufacturer Fiat is rolling out an online web series in drive for the Fiat Grand Punto in Italy.

The competition is composed of various phases, (3 to be exact) first one being an online, open-to-all-public, registration process where candidates can access the competition site through this link www.8inpunto.it, enter their personal information and record a self-video which will be uploaded into the system and available for all Internet users to see and vote for or against through an ‘interactive wall.’

It is through this interactive wall that Fiat’s professional jury will receive the most feedback as to who is most popular, funny, genuine amongst all contestants.

However, in the end, the winner will not be one, but 8; 4 guys and 4 girls who will be competing for a major prize after being put through trials and tribulation over a total period of 8 weeks in 4 different cities.

This Fiat web series is the perfect example of online interactivity through virtual communities using an innovative online branded competition which engages users to interact with the brand.

With so many choices as to how people spend their time in the digital arena, attention is becoming the most important of all. In today’s splintered media environment, new digital products and services must compete with everything available out there, (whether offline or online), making differentiation key to developing an audience that is loyal, invests, and ultimately drives value to the brand.

Fiat in this particular case, is making this possible by permitting its audience to participate in the cast-off for the final 8 lead characters in this web series and also giving them an open space where they can share their thoughts, strategies, tips and secrets as to help their favorite player solve the given mystery.

This ‘fun’ opportunity will determine user experience and user connectivity with the brand. Activities such as those that spell out ‘play’, ‘fun’, ‘adventure’, ‘we need YOU’, are all social activities that engage people’s attention and involve them with the brand, a great advantage social networks have over other online channels.

Invite users to contribute to your brand, engage them in activities, invite them to participate, let them know they’re important to the success of your brand and make them feel a part of it…!

And Here Google Comes..Again

Google has released Android, a mobile phone open source development platform allowing third party developers to create applications for mobile devices. Speculation about Google entering the mobile phone market has been around for a while, with many a rumour in the past few years about a Google smart phone called the G Phone. This definitely seemed like the obvious market move for the internet giant to directly compete with the iPhone, Blackberries and all the other smart phones out there. But instead they chose the soft over the hard and are now, rather then competing, are looking to re-invent the mobile phone market.

Open Source is the Future

The idea of open source is nothing new for Google who have developed many open source apps for the online community. Using this open ethos for the mobile phone market could change the industry all together. An open source platform means that instead of having software developed for each phone or brand, software can be developed for all phones; new applications can be downloaded and enjoyed by any user. Instead of upgrading software through purchasing a new phone the user can continually upgrade through downloading the latest software and apps that suit them.

Why Should We Do It When You Can

The genius of the open source Android project is Google’s incentive scheme to promote application and software innovation. They have set a side a modest $10m to incentivise third party developers to create ‘cool’ new applications for the Android platform awarding the best developers with large sums of cash. So instead of having to internally invest in application creation Google employ the public so they can get on with more important tasks… like ensuring their advertising revenue and developing more strategies to dominate the future off and online media spaces.

Uh Oh!

The reaction to this development from Microsoft’s charismatic CEO Steve Ballmer was the expected one. He has remarked that Google’s efforts were just ‘words on paper’, but these words come from the same man who claimed Apple’s iPhone would not be a success, and literally laughed at the now revolutionary design. Microsoft and Apple definitely have something to fear with Google’s Android project. Through developing open source development for mobile devises instead of focusing on cashing in on hardware development Google have made a lot of mobile phone producer and mobile service provider friends.

The Google Alliance

Google’s development of Android is in partnership with the open hand-set alliance, 34 mobile handset makers, application developers, chip makers and mobile service providers who believe in the future of open source platforms. This alliance includes some huge names in the mobile devices world and is looking to directly compete with the independents (Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, Symbian) who have all developed their own operation platforms.

Behind the Openness

Of course the real winner here is Google. Sure, Mobile phone manufacturers can sell more phones, service providers may be able to charge higher tariffs, but for Google this will bring another mammoth flow of advertising revenue their way and help them secure their place as a major player in the mobile device market. The Android is another step in the Google generation direction and will add to the fears of those already weary of their size and future capabilities of the media giant, but as long as they continue to develop ground breaking ideas and keep their competition on their toes we can’t complain too much.