Hollywood-based Geni , the venture-backed firm which has developed an online, Web 2.0-style genealogy and social networking web sites for families, has connected the company's service with the popular Facebook social networking web site. Geni said that users can now connect their Facebook account to Geni, allowing users to use Facebook's standard invite tools to invite relatives to join Geni's family tree serviecs. The new Facebook connection also allows users to post their Geni activity to their Facebook newsfeed, the Facebook feature which posts status updates and information to other users.

Social networking sites and microblogs are used not only to build company brands, but to foster productivity; social media tools help build communities around the question, "What are you working on?" Companies also use social networking sites in the hiring process, and increasingly, to do innovative advertising (such as the recent Jack in the Box campaign). This Panel will Just a quick note that I'll be moderating a Technology Council Event : Social Networking as a Business Strategy May 19, 2009 - Culver City Social networking media are used on a daily basis to grow businesses and expand career opportunities.

Los Angeles-based genealogy and family networking site Geni has rolled out a new "Family Finder" feature, the firm said Friday, allowing users to import addresses from Microsoft Outlook, web email programs like Google's Gmail and Yahoo, or other sources. According to Geni, the new feature will look through your address book and select anyone that the company's software thinks is related to you. The new feature also allows Geni users to invite other contacts to share photos, videos, and events. Geni operates a Web 2.0

When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess this is a sign of the times. The Scott Sanfilippo Interview Media Optimization Firms Are Red Hot In Southern California in 2009 Proliferate

Los Angeles-based Geni, the online genealogy and social networking site run by ex-PayPal cofounder David Sacks, has rolled out two new features. In addition, the company said it has enhanced its Geni Pro service, the firm's subscription version of its service, to provide better information about blood relations; exports of a family tree to the industry standard GEDCOM format; priority support; and an ability to show a "Geni Pro" badge on profiles in a family tree. According to the firm in an announcement to users Friday, it has added popular holidays to its calendar, and also added new virtual gifts for those holidays which can be sent to family.

Los Angeles-based Geni , the online family tree and genealogy web site started by David Sacks, was hit by unexpected downtime Tuesday and today, the firm told its users Wednesday afternoon. According to Geni, it had "network difficulties" starting the morning of Tuesday, October 20th, with the firm taking the site down at 3:45PM to investigate. The company said it managed to get the service No reason for the downtime was given, however, the downtime at Geni paralleled a similar, more widely reported downtime issues at sister firm Yammer. Instant messaging service Yammer--which

West Hollywood-based Geni.com , the online family tree and genealogy site backed by the Founders Fund and Charles River Ventures, told its users today that it has created a new "Geni Lab" for experimental features from the firm. As part of the lab, the company said it has created a new feature to enable translation of pages on the site, tapping Google Translate for the translations. Geni said its Geni Labs effort will allow users to experiment with features that the company is working on, with no guarantee that they will be updated or supported. READ MORE>>

Los Angeles-based Geni was one of the firms hit by a fire in Seattle, which took down the firm's payment processor, Authorize.net on Friday. According to Geni, due to the issue with Authorize.net, it was unable to process payments for the firm's virtual gifts and subscriptions on due to the downtime. Geni was just one of thousands of companies hit by the downtime at Authorize.net, which is a major provider of payment processing for The firm was back up on Friday afternoon. Authorize.net apparently was unable to switch over to a backup site when the fire at Seattle's

This morning, Knowledge Genie (www.myknowledgegenie.com) launched a new web site that helps experts and authors publish online information to the web. What is the idea behind Knowledge Genie? Milo Milo Sindell: Knowledge Genie is a software platform that anybody can use to capture, package, and publish what they know into an interactive online software application. We sat down and spoke with Milo Sindell, one of the founders of the firm, to learn more about how the firm came about and what it's trying to accomplish. What Essentially, it guides the author through

We sat down with David to catch up on what Geni and Yammer are doing, plus got his insights into entrepreneurship and the Paypal mystique. Thanks David Sacks: As you know, Geni is creating a family tree of the whole world, and layering in a family social network and family wiki on top of that. What's the ultimate business model behind Geni? David Our interview this morning is with David Sacks, CEO of Geni.com, an online family tree and social networking site, as well as Yammer, the instant messaging startup spun out of Geni.com at TechCrunch50. David has a unique