ReadWriteWeb

Hey, RWW friends and fans! As some of you may have noticed, we've been tinkering around with our new team Buzz account today. We've decided to do something a little bit different with this network, and we really hope you'll like it.

We know that a lot of you follow us on Twitter or are our Facebook fans, and sometimes the constant streams of blog posts and observations can be as impersonal as they are informative or interesting.

We've decided that the last thing we need to do with Buzz is use it to promote the same stream of blog content - we're not that desperate, and we know you get that news elsewhere. Here's how we're using Google Buzz instead.

As Internet users, we are becoming increasingly dependent on our social networks for a number of daily activities. We communicate with friends and family, share photos, invite and get invited to events and generally interact with the world around us. The social network is becoming the heart and soul of our Internet experience and Gigya will announce a range of new features this Thursday to help websites take full advantage of the roll of social media in today's online environment.

We spoke with David Yovanno, CEO of Gigya, this morning about the different ways people are using the Internet, how this has changed from the old model and how Gigya can help.View image

Gmail user Dan McGee writes that he's found a new feature in his Gmail that places small favicons next to certain email messages in the inbox view. The icons have appeared next to emails sent from commercial services like Netflix and make those messages stand out when users quickly scan a crowded inbox.

This new feature is not just a simple productivity enhancement or advertisement. The icons are there to indicate which messages include "enhanced content" - real-time updates within the body of the email messages, from companies sending the emails.