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Once again, Facebook rumours are all the talk in the blogosphere. The newest gossip, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, states that Microsoft is in talks to buy a 5% stake in Facebook for a reported $300-500 million. But the plot thickens… The article goes on to say that Google may also be interested in buying a stake of its own, further upping the ante.

Surprisingly, we’re not hearing about any full-blown acquisition rumours anymore. Why not? No-one can afford the damn company anymore. Apparently, Microsoft is pegging the social network at a current valuation of $10 billion. Are you kidding me? The company is only slated to pull in $150 million in revenues this year. Now, I’m not a financial analyst, but I can tell you that such an amount is rather ridiculous based on historical valuation methods. Furthermore, previous acquisition talks this year started at $1 billion and escalated to a seemingly preposturous $6 billion.

And get this… Facebook may be turning down the high profile deal in hopes of attaining a $15 billion valuation. Yes, you heard me right. The bubble may be closer than we think. Either that or Zuckerberg’s ego has ballooned to Donald Trump-like proportions.

A friend sent me an invite to Yahoo Mash, so now I have some Yahoo Mash invitations to give out. The service is fairly simple (and similar to Facebook). If you want to check it out, link to my blog or give me a shout-out and I’ll do my best to send you an invitation as soon as possible.

I wrote an initial analysis of Yahoo Mash here: Yahoo Mash review.

Digg is at it again. At midnight, they launched a whole new set of social features. The ultimate goal is to increase user participation and engagement. Why? According to Digg, only 15% - 20% of site visitors are registered users. In other words, the company is banking that a ’social network’ strategy will encourage participation.

So, what features have been added? Well, users can now:

• Send “shouts” to specific Digg users. This is similar to the traditional link submission process, but only to a chosen subset of friends. 
• Discuss stories or chat via a profile page message board. 
• Post photos, personal info, a bio, and links, essentially creating an online identity.
• Control their privacy settings.
• View comment history.

Digg also outlined plans for the near future. The two major features mentioned included a dedicated image section, as well as a recommendation engine. The latter would suggest stories to read or potential Digg friends, based on user behaviour.

I look forward to seeing these new features in action. An image section has been a long time in the coming, and a recommendation engine would up the ‘cool’ factor (assuming it works well).

What’s eerie (to me) about these newest features is how closely they mimick those of Pownce - Kevin Rose’s other project. Sharing links with specific friends? Discussions threads? An extended profile? Privacy control? All of these features scream Pownce. Is this so-called Twitter competitor so revolutionary that Rose feels Digg needs to copy it? I have yet to make a decision on that. Who knows… if Pownce adds news submissions, they might as well amalgamate the two.

Here is a screenshot of the new Digg features, courtesy of BusinessWeek: Digg screenshot of social features. Also see Paris Lemon for added coverage.

Google officially launched its Microsoft PowerPoint killer. The cleverly named Presently is a very simple, slick presentation builder. The project appears to be the culmination of Google’s acquisition of Zenter earlier this year. Now, users of Google Docs can quickly and easily create a document, spreadsheet, presentation, or folder, essentially completing the office suite.

What do I think of the offering so far? Friggen sweet. I highly suggest everyone check it out. It’s a must for anyone looking to put together a stellar presentation. Here are some of the features that sold me:

• Group-editing - numerous users can edit a given document, not just the creator.
• Revision-viewing - the ability to view revisions allows you to revert back to previous editions.
• One-click functionality - most features and functions are a single click away.
• Slick, intuitive interface - all elements are well presented; this minimizes the learning curve. 
• Web-based - presentations are saved on Google servers and can easily be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection. 
• Free - no money out of my pocket. 

If Google Docs really wants to make a solid impact in the ‘office’ space, it is going to have to crack the enterprise market. The company has made steps toward doing, most notably with a partnership with CapGemini last week. Nevertheless, I still think there are many doubts, hesitations, and concerns from the institutional side. Large corporations, organizations, and goverments will be difficult to penetrate, as they have historically used Microsoft. Such a dramatic change would not only present huge infrastructure changes, but it would also incur huge costs. Furthermore, education around the new system would be critical. In other words, I still think Microsoft can breathe safely for a *bit*. However, complacency will ultimately lead to failure, as we have witnessed over the years with this giant. Constant innovation is key.

[Google Presently screenshot via TechCrunch]

For more info, be sure to check out posts from Mashable and Read/WriteWeb.

On Friday, Yahoo officially unveiled its newest entry into the social network space, Mash. Though there are many notable names in the space already, I’m certain that Mash is looking to compete head-to-head with Facebook in particular. Upon closer inspection of the feature set and interface, I think this can easily be confirmed.

Much of the buzz and PR created by Facebook can be attributed to two key components: the news feed and the developer platform. Yahoo took notice of this and incorporated similar features into Mash. “Pulse” is the term used to described Mash’s version of the news feed. In addition, users of this new social network can customize their profile with individual modules which are akin to Facebook apps. These drag-and-drop pieces can easily be moved around to create a personalized space. Yahoo plans to open up their platform to 3rd party developers in the coming months. Sound familiar?

Two deviations from Facebook include the ability to edit other people’s profile pages, as well as some level of layout customization. To be honest though, the interface itself isn’t overly appealing. It is quite bland. Don’t get me wrong - I love simplicity. But there is a difference between simplicty and elegance. Facebook has found that balance. Mash hasn’t. It looks to me like Yahoo has created a quick-and-dirty version of Facebook with future plans to refine the interface, improve the experience, and expand the feature set. Simply put, I think that Yahoo is still a bit pissed that they didn’t snap up Facebook. They wish they would have offered that extra bit and sealed the deal. Now, they are kicking themselves and trying to play catch-up.

Currently, the service is in (yes, you guessed it) BETA mode. In order to access or test the service, you must be invited by a friend or colleague. This marketing tactic is lame and played-out. I suggest heading over to InviteShare if you are in dire need to try out the new service.

TechCrunch has kindly posted some screenshots of the new service:

• Yahoo Mash screenshot 1
• Yahoo Mash screenshot 2
• Yahoo Mash screenshot 3
• Yahoo Mash screenshot 4
• Yahoo Mash screenshot 5
• Yahoo Mash screenshot 6
• Yahoo Mash screenshot 7

Overall, I was fairly disappointed by my initial analysis of the service. Nevertheless, I will hold back from making any firm conclusions until I actually test out the social network. I am unaware of how much Yahoo has allocated towards this project (both in terms of financial and human resources). By the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like enough.