MySpace Has Most Popular Social App for Android

MySpace announced today that it has the most popular social app in the Android Market, and the third most popular app on Android altogether.

"Our deep integration with the Android platform is one of the reasons why we’ve seen a surge in usage," says MySpace's Scott Goldberg. "Unique to this app, we have three home screen widgets. One of them allows voice-enabled status updates. We also allow users to set MySpace photos as background wallpaper on their phone's home screen. Close integration with the native Android camera contributes to the customized experience and makes it easy for MySpace users to take, upload and share pictures of their friends out having fun."

"Even beyond Android, MySpace Mobile has also proven to be a very engaging experience across all platforms with 70% of MySpace Mobile users checking in three or more times per day," adds Goldberg. "As a nod to our popularity on the mobile web, MySpace was the fourth most popular mobile web destination according to Morgan Stanley’s report on The Mobile Internet in Dec. 2009. We have also found that the average MySpace Mobile user translates into a more engaged online user, dedicating more than an hour of additional time on the site per month."

Currently, looking at the Android Market's social category, MySpace Mobile is followed by Facebook for Android, Tweetcaster, AIM, and Truth or Dare. The top two most popular apps overall are Pandora and the Weather Channel.

One of the best parts about having the most popular slot in any category in the market is the visibility that comes along with that. Any user who gets a new Android device, and goes to look for apps, will see MySpace Mobile right at the top of the list, and that could could drive continued growth.

Mobile should play a key role in the continued success of MySpace. Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter are seeing big mobile gains themselves.

Are you surprised that MySpace has the most popular social app on Android? Share your thoughts.

Google’s CFO: “It’s Been A Great Time For Us”

Patrick Pichette joined Google as its CFO on August 12, 2008, and since then, he's seen the company through both good times (a stock price of $620 per share) and bad (try $262).  So Google fans should find it comforting that Pichette, with his range of experience, has said the company's doing quite well again.

Pichette spoke during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, and according to John Letzing, stated, "[T]he mood at Google kind of continues to be electric," which is certainly a positive sign.  Not that he'd admit to low morale, but using the term "electric" says a lot.

The CFO then continued, "It's true there is a recession out there, but for the broad data world, everything that's the data space, there's really no recession.  It's been a great time for us in the last 12 months, 18 months."

Pichette also shrugged off the idea that Google's being anticompetitive, arguing that large companies are often scrutinized, and acknowledged that display ads, apps, and mobile have become increasingly important to the organization.

Here's the only catch: investors may or may not be impressed by all this, considering that Google's stock is down a little in after-hours trading at $532.30.

Important Product Director Moving From Google To Digg

When Google's current director of product management arrived at his desk this morning, he did so for the last time, according to a new report.  Keval Desai is supposed to be leaving Google in order to start a position at Digg.

Desai - who's been with Google for about six and a half years - didn't exactly do unimportant work.  In fact, he led the development of AdWords, which is one of the search giant's most recognizable products, and was also a force behind TV Ads, which has outlived Audio Ads and Print Ads.

Previously in his career, Desai cofounded a company with Michael Arrington and put in some time at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, too.

As for what Desai's supposed to do for Digg, Arrington wrote this afternoon, "He'll be Digg's first head of product, a responsibility that has been shared at various times by founder Kevin Rose, CEO Jay Adelson and Chief Strategy Officer Mike Maser."

It seems Desai's headed almost to the top of the organization, then, and will probably exert a big influence over whatever "ballsy" changes are on the way.

Have You Read This?

> More Stories Get A Shot At The Digg Homepage

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Twitter Traffic Slows as Money Increases

You might say Twitter is "in the money." As WebProNews previously reported, Twitter has been raising funds at a $1 billion valuation. Twitter CEO Evan Williams wrote on the Twitter Blog today:

There's a lot of talk today about our financing. Yesterday we closed a significant round of funding with a group of investment firms that we're excited to publicly thank: Insight Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Morgan Stanley.

It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value. Twitter's journey has just begun and we are committed to building the best product, technology, and company possible. I'm proud of the team we've built so far and I'm confident in the future we'll build together.

Internet research firm Hitwise Intelligence has taken a look at Twitter traffic, to see if the visitors match the hype.

While the graph above doesn't count Twitter use via mobile devices and third-party app (which certainly account for a lot of Twitter's use), Hitwise notes that visits to Twitter.com should still show some correlation to new use adoption.

Hitwise also tracked the number of searches on Twitter (below). Both visits and searches at Twitter.com hit what Hitwise refers to as a "resistance point" in April.

Finally, Hitwise looks at reports for Twitter's top traffic sources, comparing April to last week. The charts reveal a significant drop between the two.





It's hard to really put Twitter use into perspective without some kind of stats that reflect mobile and third-party app use. The slowing traffic growth is interesting though. It's hard to believe that it is occurring, considering that you can't turn on the television or radio without hearing about some new celebrity discovering Twitter. Perhaps Pee Wee Herman will inject some good traffic for this month's numbers.