Is social networking living up to the hype for charities? Facebook's Causes app hasn't done as well as hoped. But is this becuase charities don't entirely understand the social web?

Kevin: Stan Schroeder of Mashable takes a critical look at Microsoft's Vine, "a location-aware social networking application focused on being a robust means of local communication that’ll work even in times of emergency." Stan says: "A social network for emergencies seems important, clever and marketable; the problem, however, is that for a social network to thrive, it needs a lot of users. And I’m not sure that Microsoft will be able to get them."

Kevin: Henry Blodget says that Microsoft is late to the game again with the beta launch of Vine, a geo-targeted, social networking and notification service. Microsoft describes the service as this: "“Stay in touch with family and friends, be informed when someone you care about needs help. Get involved to create great neighborhoods, communities or causes. You select the people and places you care about most. Use alerts, reports and your personal dashboard to stay in touch, informed and involved."

I still am not sure that Microsoft knows what Vine is or what it's for.

Kevin: Brian Dudley looks at the development of Microsoft Vine, which grew out of a sense of the confusion surrounding Hurricane Katrina. The company is pitching this to "emergency management officials, who are intrigued by a new tool that could be used to broadcast and receive information during a disaster or other major event." I'm not entirely sure how this would work in such an instance and not provide mis-information and feed hysteria, which is important in emergencies. But I'll be intrigued by this project if for no other reason, it adds a geographical element to networking and information, which I'm very interested in.

Kevin: Jon Fine, media columnist at BusinessWeek, looks at the death of Conde Nast high concept business title, Portfolio. "Conde Nast made a classic mistake of spotting a consumer magazine 'opportunity' based on advertising and demographic considerations, not actual reader demand." In flusher times, profit-less magazines could limp along for years, but not in the Great Recession of 2009.