The war for dominance in the social media space will never really be won. Even with Facebook and Twitter dominating the scene at the moment, there’s always going to be other players looking to draw eyeballs and attention to their networks and platforms.

One such player in this war is search giant Google, whose Google+ social network debuted towards the end of last year. Sadly, even with some impressive user numbers, over 100 Million at last count, a new study suggests that “social activity and user engagement” on the service is far from good. In fact, it’s downright terrible.

Over at Fast Company, the findings of an RJ Metrics study that analyzed data from a sample of 40,000 public Google+ accounts in an effort to determine just how successful the social network is was revealed. The reports main conclusion? Google+ is a ghost town.

According to the report, the average post on Google+ gets fewer than one “+1,” the equivalent of a “like” on Facebook, and fewer than one reply. Links and other items shared publicly by Google+ users are re-shared just 0.17 times per post, on average. In addition, users averaged about one post every 12 days, usage per user declines each month after they make their first public post and about 30% of users who make a first public post never make another one.

As a daily user of Google+ (here’s my profile) I find this report interesting. On the surface it paints a pretty grim picture of Google+ and its user base. However, it only takes into account public post on the service, something I almost never make.

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Google+ hasn’t quite caught on with people as much as something like Twitter or Facebook, at least not yet. However, that hasn’t stopped Google from trying make it the best social networking experience possible.

Going a long way towards that goal is the update to its Google+ app or iOS users, which the company rolled out late yesterday. With the new update, users will see a completely redone user experience and Google’s goal is to basically simplify and beautify Google+. They released a statement on this new philosophy:

To be clear, we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive.

Sounds good. And if you check out the app, you can see they’ve done pretty much what they set out to do. The new version of the app is extremely well done and, dare we say it, quite beautiful.

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As geeks and nerds ourselves, we know it’s sometimes tough to get a girl to notice you, let alone pay enough attention to you to get a date or, dare we say it, a relationship. These days with the popularity of the online world and sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterst, it’s often more difficult to meet people in real life, connect with them and try to take things to the next level.

Fortunately, there’s an upside to the isolation of the online world and if you’re too busy, too shy or too lazy to leave Mom’s basement long enough to meet people IRL, there’s a way for you to simulate having most of the benefits of a girlfriend — and all it will cost you is $5.

That’s right fellow nerds, we introduce you to the website GirlFriendHire. It’s a place where you can go, pick from one of the many attractive (and less so ) girls listed there and pay them to be your girlfriend on Facebook or perform other tasks for you.

What do you get for your hard earned scratch? Well, your new gal can post sexy messages on your Facebook wall, send you sexy text messages or even send pictures of herself to your phone to make all your fellow nerds jealous. The girls will also perform other mundane tasks like help with homework or teach you how to use your iPhone.

No, they won’t actually meet you in real life or perform any “personal” services, but hey, who cares? At least you’ll look like a stud where it counts: on Facebook, in the Skyrim forums or wherever else geeks and nerds congregate en masse online these days.

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The seventh season of the revamped run of Doctor Who will unfortunately be the last for the Ponds. Amy and Rory have been with the Doctor since the beginning of the fifth season, and have been by Matt Smith’s side during his entire run.

So with that info common knowledge, show runner Steven Moffat took to twitter to reveal their choice for the Doctor’s next companion:

We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!

That Jenna of which he speaks is Jenna-Louise Coleman, the stunner on the right. She will be introduced in this year’s Christmas special and finish off the seventh season run in early 2013.

Being the companion during the Doctor’s 5oth anniversary year is a fantastic opportunity for the young actress. The show has retained a high level of popularity over the past seven years and looks to boom in 2013.

In other Doctor Who twitter related news, Moffat did also confirm that this upcoming season will indeed split at the half way point like last year. However, with the split coming around Christmas it will likely only face a small holiday hiatus. Nothing near as excruciating as the summer brake in 2011.

Look for new Doctor Who on BBC America this fall.

There has been talk of a third Bill And Ted film for quite some time. A few weeks ago it was stated by Alex Winter that the script has been written, by the original writers no less, and is waiting on a green light. Winter intially made this proclamation at a screening of his cult classic film Freaked, but it didn’t really register.

Yesterday Winter actually re-affirmed the news via a twitter back and forth:

@kelly_carlin: is it true? Bill & Ted’s 3? > Hey Kelly. -Script done? Check. -We love it? Check. -Green light? Working on it!

That’s so totally awesome! Knowing that there is a completed script, written by the guys that did the originals, and loved by at least half of the original Wyld Stallyns is most excellent news indeed.

Part of what makes this story so fun, beyond the reaffirmation of a completed script, is that Kelly Carlin, to whom Winter was responding, is George Carlin’s daughter. There is an awesome symmetry to the impetus of this story comes from Rufus’ daughter herself.

Here’s hoping that the powers that be decide to put a little money down and give us a chance to take another wild ride with the saviors of humanity. San Dimas High School football Rules!

With the popularity of smartphones like the iPhone and myriad of Android-powered handsets, one of the things users love to do is take and share photos with friends and family. One of the best apps for doing this when using the iPhone is Instagram.

This app allows you to take a photo, manipulate it if you choose and then upload it to your photo stream for all to see. People can then subscribe to your photo stream and view your photos on their devices. Or, you can upload them to Twitter, Facebook or Flickr.

It’s extremely popular on the iPhone (many of us here use it, in fact) but so far, it’s only been available for iOS devices. Apparently, that’s not going to be the case much longer.

Speaking during the LeWeb conference in Paris this week, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom confirmed that an Android version of the company’s popular iOS application is coming soon. ”We have two people working on Android now,” Systrom said.

I know what you’re thinking. Two people doesn’t sound like very many. However, keep in mind that the whole company probably isn’t that much bigger and has been exclusively an iOS app since launch.

No launch date was forthcoming from Systrom but we expect to see the Android version of Instagram sometime early next year.

Let’s face it, there’s a lot of apps out there for the iPad and iPhone. Many of them are even useful and, on occasion, fun to use. You can add Flipboard to that list.

In case you haven’t tried it yet, Flipboard is a very popular magazine-style news application which, up until today, was available only for the iPad. Now, those of you who want the same experience on your iPhone or, for some reason, don’t have an iPad yet, can now enjoy Flipboard on your iPhone because it’s now available.

The app allows users to flip through a single feed of articles and photos that have been shared across various social networks. It can also display stories from a variety of news categories including technology, design, “Flipboard picks,” photography, business, sports, style, travel, food and more.

It’s a great app that really helps you digest a lot of information quickly and easily and does it inside a very user-friendly interface. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Flipboard for iPhone is free and available in the App Store now.

We told you last month that Harry Potter director David Yates was gearing up to make a Doctor Who feature film. At the time there was some ambiguity as to where it would stand in relation to the current, and extremely popular, British series that just finished up it’s sixth season. Yates seemed to suggest that this would be a new incarnation, with no relation to the current Doctor or his television show.

Current show runner Steven Moffat thankfully provides some more information that should be great news to all the Doctor Who fans out there. He recently tweeted:

“To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot.”

Leave it to the Grand Moff to assuage fans the world over in a concise 140 characters or less.

Of course this is far from official, there are still several years before this movie hits the screens, and we are still over a year off from a very big 50th anniversary year for the Doctor, which I am assuming will come with it’s ample share of surprises. Still, it is good to know some one deeply involved with the project has his head screwed on strait.

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JC and WallE are back with the 7th epic edition of the Bitcast. In the News of the Week, the two discuss the announcement of the PlayStation 3 Smash Brothers inspired brawler Title Fight and the characters that may be coming to it. They also talk about a recent study that links violent video games to slower brain activity. Finally, they look at how Angry Birds developer Rovio passed on a $2.25 billion dollar offer from social media games developer Zynga who incidentally lost almost a million players in their game Mafia Wars 2 in just one month.

In the second edition of The Long Grind featuring The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, JC discusses the story (spoiler free) and the open world adventuring aspects of the game.

In this week’s Topic of the Week, social media in gaming such as Facebook integration and community sites like Raptr are brought up. Finally, in Now Playing, JC gives some more insight into his longer than expected play sessions on Saints Row: The Third and WallE discusses his review of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Make sure to subscribe to The Flickcast iTunes feed to get each weekly episode of the Bitcast downloaded right to your iOS device.

Daniel Day Lewis is a badass. The There Will Be Blood star is infamous for never breaking character during a film’s production, and it seems that his latest portrayal of the iconic American president in Steven Speilberg’s Lincoln is no exception.

Spotted at a local cafe in Richmond, Virginia by Michael Phillips, this image has been making the rounds as the first glimpse of what this film could look like.  Even though he’s enjoying his meal in jeans and a turtleneck, his hair an makeup certainly make a spot-on Abraham Lincoln.

Take a look at the candid image in full after the jump.

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The fine folks over at La La Land Records recently released a fantastic 3-disc collection of music from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Focusing on the music of Dennis McCarthy, Jay Chattaway and a few choice guest composers, the set features the music of some all time classic episodes. You can check out are full review on this week’s film score friday, but right now you have the opportunity to win a copy of this limited edition set.

All you have to do is follow us on twitter @TheFlickcast and @reply us with your favorite Starfleet captain and why. Now that covers a wide array of captains from the movies, TV shows,even the books, comics and video games is fair game so don’t hold back.

After this weekend we will take all the responses and pick the winner, good luck!

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How the once mighty have fallen. Remember when MySpace was the place to go for everything “social”? Well, those days are long over and now the site has been sold for quite a bargain price.

According to AllThingsD, Specific Media has acquired Myspace from News Corp. for $35 million. Which, as I said, is a real bargain considering NewsCorp paid $580 Million for it in 2005. I would call that a pretty big loss for NewsCorp. Myspace’s CEO, Mike Jones, will remain for “an interim period,” and the social network will lay off about 50% of its staff, which is around 200 people. Sorry to hear that.

MySpace’s decline in recent years is not really all that surprising considering how horrible the site is to navigate and, of course, due to the popularity of Facebook and Twitter. By comparison, Facebook looks like the most clean and easy to use UI ever invented, which we know isn’t really the case as it still has its share of problems as well.

Who knows, maybe MySpace will rebound and climb back out of the pit it finds itself in? Anything is possible and people do love an underdog. However, first order of business: a complete re-design. Then, we can talk.