social networking gadgets for iGoogle. iGoogle is basically a customizable home page for individuals that uses Web-based “gadgets” to deliver content to the page. The new sandbox will let developers continue to build gadgets for individuals too, of course, but the news is that iGoogle’s new social features for developers will change iGoogle from a backyard toy to a full-fledged public playground.

iGoogle’s new features, which are only for developers right now, include a new left-side navigation column and a new “canvas” view for gadgets that will let a user expand a gadget to give it more screen real estate. While these features seem handy enough, iGoogle is supporting new social features for gadgets that use the OpenSocial application programming interface (API) supporting OpenSocial 0.7.

Media Credit: Gretchen Weiss and Jerry Brunnhoelzl

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Traveling is always easier when you have friends or family waiting for you at your destination. Having someone local that you can trust makes the entire travel experience better. Whether they show you around or simply point out which attractions are must-sees and which ones are a touch underwhelming, local knowledge is invaluable. And of course, if they have a couch for you to sleep on, that saves you the expense of renting a hotel room.

Unfortunately, we don’t have friends and family to visit in all the places we’d like to go. But maybe we should.

This is the idea behind the Couch Surfing Project. The CS network brings together people who love travel, culture or both. Members connect with people around the world to serve as guides and hosts in foreign places.

The system is two-sided; members welcome travelers to sleep on their couches and also have the opportunity to find a couch to crash on in their dream locale.

The process starts on the project’s website, couchsurfing.com. Members register and form a profile similar to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. In addition to the typical list of age, interests and photos, members also indicate information like to what certainty their couch will be available; what languages they speak and to what proficiency; and details about the accommodations they offer. Profiles also display specific feedback from other members who have surfed that person’s couch in the past and feedback hosts have given to surfers.

Members can browse profiles and connect with hosts in their desired destinations. They can search for someone who shares their interests or can help them learn.

Most members offer lodging for between one and four people and indicate the appropriate length of a stay, ranging from one night to one week.

After returning from travel, members post about their experiences and hosts. Overall response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I have met and stayed with some incredible people through CouchSurfing.com. These are warm, friendly local people who a regular tourist would never meet,” said Steve Savage, a resident of Australia and ambassador of the Couch Surfing program.

Yahoo did just well enough in the first quarter for it to be able to hold its head up high as it tries to justify its continued rejection of Microsoft’s hostile bid. The company’s earnings, after special charges, were 11 cents a share, compared to the 9 cents that analysts had forecast. Its revenue, excluding payments to sites that display its ads, were $1.35 billion, $30 million more than analysts expected.

But panning back, there is still something wrong with this picture. I moderated a panel this afternoon at the Advertising Club of New York. The marketers there, like most big marketers, say they are shifting large chunks of their ad budgets from television onto the Internet.

So why, in a market where money is being thrown online, does Yahoo, the second-largest seller of Internet ads, only have an increase in its online ad revenue of 7 percent over a year ago?

There are a lot of answers: Google, social networks, falling ad prices. But a 7 percent ad revenue increase (and 9 percent total revenue increase) is hardly anything to boast about. Last week, Google posted a 42 percent jump in its revenue.

That said, Yahoo’s press release was filled with boasts. Before it even got to the numbers, the release had this from Jerry Yang, the company’s chief executive:

Not only does Yahoo! have a unique franchise, it increasingly has industry-leading tools, technology and, most importantly, people. It is the hard work, dedication and professionalism of our people that is our greatest asset—and this quarter’s performance demonstrates how well they can perform under unusually challenging circumstances.

Here are a couple of other quick thoughts.

The cost of defense: The company spent $13.9 million in the first quarter on outside advisers to help fend off Microsoft. It also spent $16.9 million related to its layoffs of employees.

Yahoo’s languishing ad network: While Yahoo’s own sites posted an 18 percent increase in revenue, the revenue from the network of other sites on which it sells ads declined by 7 percent to $606 million.

Investment: Yahoo continues to fall further behind Google in the space race to build data centers and other iinfrastructure. It spent $140 million on property and equipment in the first quarter; Google, by contrast, spent $842 million.

More after the call with investors.

SeeSaw Networks, a digital out-of-home media company offering the most extensive digital out-of-home media network, and LocaModa, a technology company providing a mobile social platform that connects consumers’ favorite online and out-of-home locations, have joined forces. The partnership leverages SeeSaw’s extensive network and LocaModa’s platform to provide advertisers with new ways to engage people using digital out-of-home media, the Web and mobile phones. This combination allows patrons to use their mobile phone to interact with a digital screen in a place like a bar or coffee shop and have those interactions posted to social networking sites like Facebook. Now people in social places like bars or restaurants can connect with others in the venue as well as their online friends by engaging with interactive digital signs. Friends with access to the Web will be able to virtually join their friends in a bar without leaving their homes, see what’s going on in their favorite hang-out, and participate in conversations through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

“The mixture of digital signage, the Web and mobile devices extends an advertiser’s investment in impressions to engage a larger community of people through viral marketing opportunities on social networks,” said Monte Zweben, co-founder and chairman of the board of SeeSaw Networks. “With LocaModa’s mobile social platform, an impression on a digital sign can turn into a conversation among the people at a location, the people monitoring a location online, and ultimately through the people connected as friends on social networks.”

How it works

LocaModa enables SeeSaw affiliates to create a virtual presence on social networks for each of their venues. For example, a particular bar or coffee shop on Main Street can also exist on Facebook, where people in the venue or fans of the venue appear online. LocaModa also provides a suite of interactive applications like contests and games that networks can incorporate into their programming to attract people to participate, thus making the screens more engaging and rewarding for the consumer. As consumers in a venue respond via text messaging to the interactive call-to-action in a digital signage ad, those responses are posted on the venue’s social network pages and feeds. If the consumer chooses, those interactions can also be automatically posted on their Facebook page or Twitter feed, thereby multiplying the reach of that original impression.

The interaction can be customized per network. For example, on a digital screen in a bar, an advertiser can provide videos or sponsored content that guests can add to their social network profile page by sending a text message with a specific keyword and location name to a shortcode. Bar patrons can also create a “Shout Out” and have it appear as a comment on the Facebook page for the bar, as a Twitter message directing friends to meet them there, or on digital screens in other locations. SeeSaw provides agencies with a one-stop shop to buy digital out-of-home media across 22,000 venues nationally and to buy mobile marketing campaigns across those venues.

“The mobile phone is a social and interactive device that’s been underutilized in out-of-home networks,” commented Stephen Randall, chief executive officer of LocaModa. “We’re excited to be partnering with SeeSaw to make the out-of-home experience more engaging and valuable for brands and consumers alike.”

Visit SeeSaw Networks and a number of their affiliate networks — including Ripple and NTN BuzzTime — at ad:tech San Francisco now through April 17 at Booth #5679 to learn more.

About SeeSaw Networks

SeeSaw is the most extensive network of digital out-of-home media having aggregated 36 digital signage networks across 25 different categories of locations into a comprehensive national network with 22,000 venues nationally and growing. SeeSaw reaches over 100 million people in weekly foot traffic and delivers an ad-aware audience of over 35 million weekly gross impressions — more than most primetime TV spots and at a fraction of the cost. SeeSaw operates SeeSawAds.com, a media service that enables agencies to easily plan, buy and measure digital signage. On SeeSawAds.com agencies customize campaigns across different venues, markets and demographics with unprecedented precision. With SeeSaw, advertisers can intercept people in their life patterns during their work, play and social routines.

For more information on SeeSaw Networks, please visit www.seesawnetworks.com.

About LocaModa

LocaModa connects people and places. The company’s social platform enables people to access and control media in their favorite places, bringing location experiences to the web and web experiences to locations. LocaModa connects people in bars, cafes, colleges, public spaces and conferences. The company is privately held, headquartered in Massachusetts and founded by Stephen Randall, a former EVP/Founder of Symbian. True to its global vision, LocaModa is internationally backed by Dace Ventures in USA, Mahindra Group in India and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, via its US-based strategic investing arm, PresidioSTX.

For more information on LocaModa, please visit www.locamoda.com.

It’s a tale of two social network developer platforms. Hi5, a site popular in some Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and other regions around the world, launched its platform at the beginning of this month — and the third parties that have applications on the site are reporting impressive growth.

Leading widget company RockYou, for example, says its “SuperFive” application has already been installed two million times in the last couple of weeks. Why? Hi5 specifically offers ways for users to contact each other through third-party applications.

Meanwhile, applications on market leader MySpace’s platform have been seeing insignificant growth since it launched in mid-March — because MySpace has yet to introduce effective ways for applications to contact users. However, one top developer tells us that MySpace will soon be offering notifications, email messages, and other so-called “viral channels” already available on Hi5.

So MySpace may soon become the hot spot for applications that third parties have long hoped for. Meanwhile, Hi5 may have done a better job of addressing the spam problem.

Does “viral growth” = spam?

To get an idea of what I mean by “viral growth,” here’s a closer look at RockYou’s “SuperFive” application, which lets users send action messages like a “hug,” “tickle,” etc. to Hi5 friends. If this sounds familiar, it’s because 1) Hi5 already has a feature called “five” which is basically a copy of Facebook’s “poke” feature and 2) RockYou and competitors already offer Facebook applications where you can hug/tickle/poke your Facebook friends

I’ve been hearing that this messaging feature is actually useful for companies that want branded contact with users, like being able to “throw a Coke” at a friend (I made that example up, but you get my drift). Many developers have made good money from selling branded pokes/hugs/tickles.