The Wall Street Journal reports that Google will tomorrow announce more “social” features to Gmail, such as status updates and sharing content. Considering that Gmail is a primary, free email service, this is a really great innovation for consumers. It also threatens dominant, dedicated social networks like Facebook and Twitter unless they too can be integrated into the Gmail social streams. Hopefully they will be.

What about mobile? Currently, Gmail can be accessed by every major mobile platform through IMAP setting, but I think that a social Gmail would require an entirely new application to utilize more rich functionality. This provides Google an opportunity to differentiate Android with a best-in-class social Gmail experience and extend its presence on other phones like Blackberry and iPhone with must-have social Gmail applications — like it has with Google Maps.

At risk will be those computer and mobile applications like TweetDeck and Tweetie that already aggregate social feeds like a social Gmail would, but don’t provide that core email service to complement. Also at risk are mobile check-in applications like Foursquare, which would have a hard time competing with a social Gmail mobile application that has the same GPS functionality and services (maybe without the gaming/novelty component).

Speaking of services, this is where a social Gmail mobile application could really excel. With its recent acquisition of AdMob, Google is ramping up the mobile advertisement services. By drawing from a pool of data drawn from a connected social network, email and search, the ad services could be incredibly targeted and sink the competition.

Social Gmail may be an evolutionary step for the email platform, but it could be revolutionary for Google’s mobile strategy.

After turning off all site comments on Tuesday, AOL-owned Engadget today flipped the comment switch back on, ending a two-day hiatus resulting from its editors seeing too many comments that were “mean, ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening in some situations.”

Engadget columnist Michael Gartenberg expressed his discontent with the comments that followed his recent iPad editorial in a Tweet: “Amused. Bash me on @Engadget column. Suggest my parents were not married prior to birth, suggest I be fruitful & multiply. enclose your CV.”

With traditional news outlets declining and enthusiast blogs like Engadget on the rise, the implications of closing comments reflect how the stampede of online discourse can sometimes be too much for even mature, full-time blogs to endure. According to Alexa, Engadget today ranks 195 in the nation and 384 in the world for Internet traffic. It recently launched mobile applications for iPhone and Blackberry. It produces its own weekly podcasts and monthly TV shows (Edited per Zack’s comment). This is a full-time media company in all respects and an influential one at that – The AFP wrote a story on Engadget’s comment disabling.

Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky explains why things got out of hand in a Tweet: “I don’t think it’s about the class of the readership, it’s about scale.”

Scale is certainly an issue, but it shouldn’t excuse community behavior. Especially for a technology site like Engadget, you’d think that its die-hard community would be populated by primarily educated (either by trade or academically) and at least civil readers. Surely most are, but what caused Engadget to call “time-out” demonstrates how online media-enabled free speech can unveil the worst in us. Read more…

Today I donated $10 to the American Red Cross to support the catastrophe in Haiti by texting “Haiti” to 90999. It was that simple (See actual screenshot at left).

As of a tweet this morning (Jan. 14), the Red Cross has already raised $3 million dollars through this mobile donation method.

Mobile phones have already been a prominent way of reporting the event, but they also provide a powerful, scalable way to collect the necessary financial support to aid relief efforts.

According to a NY Times article, the texted donations are being handled by a company called mGive, which started the campaign in a joint effort with the State Department and the Red Cross on Jan. 12. The $10 donation I made via mGive will be charged by my carrier, AT&T, which will relay the donation in full to the American Red Cross. mGive typically charges a licensing fee for its software platform, $4 to $1,500 a month, but has removed all fees for this fundraiser.

Unfortunately, CEO Tony Aiello says it typically takes up to 90 days for the charity to receive the donation, but the mGive is trying to expedite the process with carriers to get the money to the Red Cross as soon as possible. So while it feels immediate to make the donation, the impact of the donation is felt long after hitting “Send.” Hopefully this process will continue to improve. Read more…

The only thing certain about Twitter may be its uncertainty. The microblogging service is booming, but more than 60 percent of users quit Twitter after a month. Partnerships are rumored, as are acquisitions, but so far these remain mere gossip.

Considering Twitter’s fickle future, Shel Israel, coauthor of Naked Conversations and The Conversational Corporation, is risking immediate antiquity with Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, which hit bookshelves and Kindles on Sept. 3. However, much like a sports commentator providing deep analysis mid-game, Israel takes a look at what’s happened with Twitter so far, explains it with enthusiasm and candor, and leaves us with a better sense of what’s happened and what’s ahead.

For those immersed in social media, Shel Israel comes with serious street cred. He coauthored Naked Conversations with blogger and tech evangelist Robert Scoble. Groundswell author and Altimeter Group founder Charlene Li provides the foreword for this book. Brian Solis, principal of FutureWorks, took Israel’s booksleeve headshot. And in the book, Israel name-drops hanging out with Jeremiah Owyang, perhaps the most visible tech consultant on Twitter. The average citizen of Twitterville wouldn’t recognize these names, but communications professionals — the intended audience of this book — recognize these names as prominent social communications experts, setting up high expectations for the book.

In an entertaining and compelling first half of the book, Israel doesn’t disappoint. Read more…

In this era of social media, companies have made headlines (for better or worse) by way of their social media policies.

With respect to this trend, I say Netflix should take Best in Show.

Netflix has posted its entire quasi-employee handbook titled, “Reference Guide on our Freedom & Responsibility Culture.” It promotes everything you’d want to read in an employee handbook – freedom, flexibility and fun. Even if this was published as a marketing ploy, it’s a darn good one.

Read more…

Today, Peter Rojas and Ryan Block – the masterminds behind Engadget and Gizmodo – launched gdgt, “a place for you to engage with your devices and hang out with people who are as passionate about their gear as you are.”

gdgt appears to be a church for gadget geeks, so it’s no wonder why the site came to a halt due to traffic shortly after its launch this morning. As proven by the success of their previous personal technology news sites, the gadget audience is lively and loyal. Read more…

After posting more than 1,800 videos to YouTube during his campaign, president-elect Barack Obama will post weekly “fireside chats” to YouTube, TechCruch reports.

According to Wikipedia, the original fireside chats were a series of thirty evening radio speeches given by president Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944. Obama hopes to re-purpose this once-popular communication to reach the digital generation. Read more…