Xponex Social Media News Blog

Facebook Privacy Concerns Remain Despite Changes

2012-02-10T14:35:00.005-05:00

According to users, most social networking sites these days don't do enough to protect the privacy and security of their users. A recent survey has shown that both privacy and security concerns are still persistent for many users on Facebook, despite the social networking site's recent attempt to address such concerns.

With regard to all the concerns users have, security and privacy are still the top two according to research from the Social Media Habits and Privacy Concerns Survey administered by uSamp. uSamp surveyed almost 600 men and women from across the country about their active social media accounts and the types of information they put on them.

Social media is dominated by Facebook with 80% of all those surveyed logging into the site regularly. The second highest was YouTube with 46%, followed by Twitter at 33% and, surprisingly, MySpace with 32%. The main thing this survey found was that even though 65% of the survey takers said they were pretty comfortable with their privacy protections, they were still concerned about privacy risks.

28% of the survey takers showed some level of discomfort about the privacy protections offered by their social media site of choice. What's more is that of all the people who stay away from these sites, a staggering 73% say they stay away due to privacy concerns. In addition to that, the survey found that social media users are aware that they need to express caution about what they reveal. However, they also believe that companies aren't doing enough to protect their privacy either.

Nearly 85% of those surveyed stated that users should be primarily responsible for their own privacy, though at the same time 75% agreed that the sites themselves should also assume responsibility for the protection of their users' privacy. According to uSamp Vice President Lisa Wilding-Brown, "User privacy is an enormously dynamic area, and even as site operators attempt to address the issue, consumer perceptions are slow to change."

Source: Information Week - Social Media Survey: Privacy, Security Concerns Persist

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Facebook Talks About Its Major Competition

2012-02-02T14:29:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday, February 1 Facebook filed its $5 billion IPO and listed its top competitors including Google, Microsoft and Twitter.

According to Facebook, the company is also competing for advertising dollars and dealing with the rise of smaller social network sites.

"We face significant competition in almost every aspect of our business from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, which offer a variety of Internet products, services, content, and online advertising offerings, as well as from mobile companies and smaller Internet companies that offer products and services that may compete with specific Facebook features," said Facebook on Wednesday when filing with the SEC.

Facebook went on to admit that it definitely has its eye on Google’s Google+ network. "We compete broadly with Google's social networking offerings, including Google+, which it has integrated with certain... products, including search and Android," Facebook said.

Right now Google+ only has 90 million users, while Facebook has 845 million users; however, now that Google is requiring users who sign up for any kind of Google account to also create a Google+ account, the Google+ numbers will most likely spike quite a bit.

Facebook said that some of its rivals "have significantly greater resources and better competitive positions in certain markets than we do." Google could definitely fall into this category.

"Certain competitors, including Google, could use strong or dominant positions in one or more markets to gain competitive advantage against us in areas where we operate including: by integrating competing social networking platforms or features into products they control such as search engines, web browsers, or mobile device operating systems; by making acquisitions; or by making access to Facebook more difficult," Facebook said. "As a result, our competitors may acquire and engage users at the expense of the growth or engagement of our user base, which may negatively affect our business and financial results."

Facebook is also on the lookout for smaller social networks that could pose potential threats. Some of the networks that Facebook is watching out for include Korea’s Cyworld, Japan’s Mixi, Brazil and India’s Google-owned Orkut and Russia’s vKontakte. "As other companies introduce new products and services, we may become subject to additional competition," the company said.

So far Facebook has not really detailed the competitive pressure that it feels from companies like Twitter and Microsoft; however, they have said, "We…face competition from traditional and online media businesses for a share of advertisers' budgets and in the development of the tools and systems for managing and optimizing advertising campaigns."

Source: PCMag - Facebook Names Google, Twitter, Microsoft as Major Rivals

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Facebook Filing for IPO

2012-02-02T00:04:00.004-05:00

According to Forrester Marketing Analyst Nate Elliot, “Media reports suggest that Facebook will file for an IPO this week that could value the company at $100 billion — and leave the company sitting on $10 billion in cash.” Now what will Facebook do with all that money, you may ask? Well, Elliot said on Tuesday, January 31, that with this money Facebook would have the ability to revamp revenue streams in an attempt to capture “global domination.”

"The fact is this new-found wealth could not only allow Facebook to solve its biggest business challenges, it could also help Facebook finally achieve its longstanding goal to change how marketing works," Elliott wrote in his blog post.

Elliot continues stating that Facebook makes “almost all” of its revenues from advertisements. However, he also said that the social network "harbors a dirty little secret: Marketing on Facebook doesn't work very well." According to research conducted by Australia’s Ehrenberg-Bass, only about 1 percent of Facebook users that are “liking” certain brands on Facebook are actually engaging with the company.

“Facebook can – and must – do much more to turn the data it has on users into effective ad targeting,” wrote Elliot. “(Buying a demand-side platform would be a good start.) And it must build or buy much better tools for building, managing and measuring branded pages.”

He went on to say that Facebook must "swing for the fences – and data is the key. Two years from now, Facebook should be competing with Google to see who can best use your own data to help marketers target ads to you, no matter where those ads appear."

Facebook has faced some major scrutiny concerning the use of user data to provide targeted ads. Back in November the FCC decided that Facebook had "deceived customers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public."

Elliot made sure to mention this issue in his blog post. "One external threat it can't outrun, though, is the government," he wrote. However, with extra money Facebook will be able to defend itself better. "One of the first things Google did after its IPO was to hire an army of lobbyists, and I expect Facebook to follow suit — especially if it follows the advice above and looks for creative and expansive new ways to use its data," Elliott said.

"Expect lots of blue business cards floating around Brussels and Washington by the end of 2012. After all, $10 billion buys a lot of influence," he said.

Elliot went on to discuss the success of Facebook across the globe. In Brazil Facebook has just recently become the largest social network in the country. Elliot believes that Facebook needs to focus on progress like this as it plans for the future.

"In the global markets where users are most enthusiastic in their use of social media — including Asia and many large emerging markets — Facebook isn't doing as well," Elliott said. "It's behind in Russia, Japan, and Korea, and it's not even playing in China."

Back in November, when appearing on Charlie Rose, Mark Zuckerberg was asked about the expansion of Facebook into China. He said that, at the moment, he would much rather focus on "places in the world where we can connect people more simply." He continued saying that "if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress." Therefore, China is "not the top thing we're thinking about right now."

Sources: Forrester - How Facebook’s IPO Could Transform Marketing and PCMag - What Will Facebook Do With $10 Billion?

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Twitter Now Censoring Tweets

2012-01-31T16:39:00.004-05:00

CEO of Twitter Dick Costolo announced on Monday, January 30 at the “Dive Into Media” conference that was hosted by All Things D that Twitter’s ability to censor tweets on a country-by-country basis is not meant to be a way to proactively filter out content.

There has been a lot of backlash from Twitter users after the micro-blogging site announced that it now has the ability to block any tweets that go against the restrictions on speech that some countries have. Costolo went on to explain that this new policy will allow Twitter to handle government requests to remove certain contents from Twitter in a much more transparent manner.

"This is purely a reactive capability, we don't proactively go do anything," Costolo said.

So now, when Twitter is issued a legal takedown of certain content, the company will be able to hide that content from users in the specific country that requested the takedown, while everyone else not in that country will still be able to see the content.

"There has been no change in our stance or attitude or policy with respect to content on Twitter," Costolo said. He added that Twitter believes "this is the most honest, transparent, and forward-looking way for a company to deal with the myriad of complex issues around the world that you experience when you have to operate in these countries."

Costolo said that such a policy is necessary for Twitter to be able to operate in certain countries. However, he went on to explain that this policy is not an attempt for Twitter to expand into China, where Twitter is currently banned.

"I don't think the current environment in China is one in which we think we could operate," he said. "We would love for people in China to be able to use Twitter the way we want them to be able to use it, which is speaking freely and letting their voices be heard by as many people around the world as possible, we would love that."

While Costolo was being interviewed, he also discussed several other topics, including Twitter’s stance on the use of the social media site in the 2012 election.
"I really think 2012 is going to be the Twitter election," he said.

So far, almost all of the Republican presidential candidates have utilized Twitter.
"Candidates that don't participate on Twitter while the conversation is happening will be left behind," Costolo said. "Tomorrow morning will be too late to react to what was said the day before."

Costolo also made sure to mention that Twitter is not concerned with its competition. It is focusing only on itself. "We are going to be really patient about the way we build the business," he said. "We are trying to build a decades-long, lasting business."

Sources: All Things D - Twitter’s Dick Costolo on Ads, Censorship and Google (Video) and PCMag - Twitter CEO Talks Censoring Tweets, Politics, and IPOs

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McDonald's Kicks Off #LittleThings Twitter Campaign

2012-01-25T17:14:00.005-05:00

Needless to say, McDonald's last foray into Twitter campaigns didn't exactly pan out. The campaign, themed #McDstories, garnered harsh criticism, but this hasn't stopped the restaurant giant from starting a brand new Twitter campaign on Wednesday. This new attempt is known as #LittleThings and was introduced with the following tweet on McDonald's official Twitter page, "No line at the bank, a large tax refund, & those extra fries at the bottom of the bag. What are some #LittleThings that bring you joy?"

Naturally, this campaign slogan, if you will, has a very wide berth for interpretation, which could prove devastating for McDonald's. However, very few people have used the campaign to openly bash the fast food giant or by going in different directions with the hashtag. Some of the responses to the campaign include "a good cup of coffee" and "a child's laugh."

These are drastically more positive than the stories of the $McDstories campaign, which produced wonderful mental images of "Fingernail in my Big Mac once" and "ordered a McDouble. Something in the damn thing chipped my molar." However, there may be another problem with this Twitter campaign aside from horror stories of the restaurant. DoublTree by Hilton also recently launched a campaign on Twitter with the same hashtag.

McDonald's currently has 300,000 followers on Twitter as well as 13.8 million fans on Facebook, numbers that can be attributed to strong brand recognition. However, McDonald's has also been largely tentative with its use of social media. This trend started to slowly change last year when the LivingSocial deal was launched, offering a booklet of five Big Mac vouchers and five vouchers for large fries for $13, or half of the original price. In addition to that, McDonald's ran a program in December crowdsourcing 10 mini-movies that promoted the newest addition to the McDonald's menu, McBites.

More information about McDonald's social media strategy is on the horizon according to the company's social media director Rick Winon, who also stated, "We are actually launching a larger-scale social effort for a new menu item that includes but goes far beyond Twitter soon."

Source: Mashable - McDonald's Follows Twitter Fiasco With Another Hashtag Campaign
Round Rocket Media - McDonald's Follows Twitter Fiasco With Another Hashtag Campaign

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New Google and Gmail Users Required to Create a Google+ Account

2012-01-22T17:02:00.005-05:00

It’s not a huge surprise, but just recently Google enabled users signing up for an account with Google to be automatically signed up for a Google+ account as well. Whether users are signing up for a Gmail account or simply a generic Google account, they will be given a Google+ account as well, whether they want it or not.

On Friday, January 20 a Google spokesperson stated that Google has been working on this new setup since November. He also discussed how there will now be just two main entry points for Google, Gmail and Google+.

"We're working to develop a consistent sign-up flow across our different products as part of our efforts to create an intuitive, beautifully simple, Google-wide user experience," the Google spokesman said. "Making it quick and easy to create a Google Account and a Google profile enables new users to take advantage of everything Google can offer."

In the past Google has worked to integrate its many services to provide users with the best possible experience. Users have been able to share Picasa pictures or YouTube videos via Google+; however, it seems as though Google is taking it to a whole different level of integration with these new steps.

"Your Google Account is more than just Search," Google said. "Talk, chat, share, schedule, store, organize, collaborate, discover and create. Use Google products from Gmail to Google+ to YouTube, view your search history, all with one username and password, all backed up all the time and easy to find at (you guessed it) Google.com."

As of right now, Google Wallet is not one of the services that is integrated into merely signing up for a Google or Gmail account; however, it is currently listed as being available “soon.”

I think that this is a pretty good ploy from Google to boost its Google+ numbers. The Google social networking site is about 800 million users behind Facebook, but numbers are definitely increasing. Google announced that on Thursday, January 19 Google+ currently has 90 million users. This is an increase of 50 million people since November 2011.

"Google+ total U.S. visits reached more than 49 million in December, a 55 percent increase from November 2011," Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, mentioned recently.

Sources: Google Operating System Blog - New Google Accounts Require Gmail and Google+ and PCMag - Signing Up for Gmail Now Means Signing Up for Google+

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Google AdSense, Panda Teams Out of Sync

2012-01-20T14:01:00.000-05:00

Credit Suisse in its most recent report dated today January 20, 2012, believes that Google's Q1 algorithm change, code named Panda, was the cause of its 4.5% Google Network revenue growth forecast miss.

The Google Network is a large group of websites and other products, such as email programs and blogs, who have partnered with Google to display Adsense ads. Panda is a change to the Google's search results ranking algorithm that was first released in February 2011.

The 4Q11 revenue performance was fueled primarily by Google Site revenues of $7.3 billion (up 29% year over year) vs. our $7.7 billion estimate. Revenue from the Google Network totaled $2.9 billion, improving 15% year over year, but 4.5% under our $3.0 billion estimate. We believe that Google Network revenues was affected by the change (in 1Q11) to its algorithm to focus on sites with higher-quality content. Credit Suisse

Panda aimed to lower the rank of "low-quality sites", and return higher-quality sites near the top of the search results. This change reportedly affected the rankings of almost 12 percent of all search results according to Steven Levy of Wired.com.

Image: (left) Google Adsense Support, This "heat map" illustrates the ideal placing on a sample page layout. Note the small area for primary content. (right) Google Panda Team suggests fewer ads and more content.

The Adsense group at Google is separate from Google Search. The Google Search quality team put together the Panda update. Website publishers receive mixed messages from Google.

The Adsense team advises users to 'put ads all over the site, while the Panda team is looking for quality websites with more high quality content rather than sites with little content and lots of ads.

It is logical that Adsense revenues would be adversely impacted by devaluing low quality sites that contain lots of ads and promoting sites with better content but lower ad quantity.

What doesn't make sense (coming from a shareholder point of view) is doing something that negatively impacts revenue without communicating the goal changes with the Google Adsense Team. Its like one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

An example:

At the June 2011 SMX Search Marketing Expo in Seattle, Google Search Engineer Matt Cutts had this to say, "There's this mass perception outside the search industry that there's too much low quality stuff in the search results."

I guess Adsense, being outside the search marketing industry, didn't get the memo that they should be advising their publishers a better way to place their ads.

As a Google stockholder, a customer and a vendor, it is essential that Google Network and Google Search get on the same page. For a better world, and a higher stock price, we need one consistent signal about content from Google, not two.

Summify is Acquired By Twitter

2012-01-19T21:13:00.006-05:00

On Thursday, January 19 Twitter confirmed that it has acquired a company called Summify. Summify is a service that sorts through your social media profile to find some of the most relevant updates and statuses and sends them to either your inbox or an iPhone app.

Summify looks at all of the items that your friends have shared on Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader, monitors how often the items have been shared and then looks at how often they have been shared by all users of the network. This is how the service decides what is most relevant and interesting to you.

"We're excited that Summify has joined Twitter," a Twitter spokesperson said. "Cristian Strat and Mircea Pasoi have created a product that curates the best and most important stories in your Twitter timeline and Facebook newsfeed. Cristian, Mircea and their team of three engineers will join our Growth team and explore ways to help people connect and engage with relevant, timely news."

Summify also expressed their opinions about the deal in a blog post that was released on January 19.

"Our long-term vision at Summify has always been to connect people with the most relevant news for them, in the most time efficient manner," Summify wrote. "As hundreds of millions of people worldwide are signing up and consuming Twitter, we realized it's the best platform to execute our vision at a truly global scale. Since Twitter shared this vision with us, joining the company made perfect sense."

Summify went on to discuss that the service will be shutting down in the next few weeks, and it is no longer allowing new registrations. The company also said that it has already disabled some of the features that Summify users used to enjoy. The blog post stated, “We will keep the email summaries for a few more weeks, but at some point we will shut down the current Summify product. In the meantime, if you’re a user of Summify, you’ll still receive your summaries just like before.”

Summify was comprised of a five-person team that was located in Vancouver; however, the team will soon be relocating to San Francisco where they will be joining the Twitter Growth team. There they will “continue to explore ways to help people connect and engage with relevant, timely news.”

“It has been an incredible journey,” the company said.

Sources: Summify - Summify Joins The Flock At Twitter! and PCMag - Twitter Acquires News Aggregator Summify

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Facebook Is a Good Information Source

2012-01-17T21:02:00.008-05:00

Do you get tired of all of the whiny Facebook statuses that people post about their breakups and the constant sports-related updates about teams that you could care less about? Do you feel like every time that you get on Facebook and scroll through your news feed that you pretty much see the same basic things that you see every time that you get on? Although Facebook may seem like what PCMag refers to as an “echo chamber,” research was just released that says differently.

The newly released research states that Facebook actually provides its users with the opportunity for exposure to a variety of different viewpoints, instead of just being a constant stream of things that have nothing to do with you or your interests. That may be some of the things that you see, but it definitely isn’t all of it.

"We found that even though people are more likely to consume and share information that comes from close contacts that they interact with frequently (like discussing a photo from last night's party), the vast majority of information comes from contacts that they interact with infrequently," Facebook's Eytan Bakshy wrote in a blog post. "These distant contacts are also more likely to share novel information, demonstrating that social networks can act as a powerful medium for sharing new ideas, highlighting new products and discussing current events."

People within your social circle can be a very good source of information. Bakshy wrote, “Economic sociologist Mark Granovetter was one of the first to popularize the use of social networks in understanding the spread of information. In his seminal 1973 paper, The Strength of Weak Ties, Granovetter found that surprisingly, people are more likely to acquire jobs that they learned about through individuals they interact with infrequently rather than their close personal contacts.”

He goes on to discuss how restraining oneself to a small group of close personal contacts can really limit your prospects for discovering information. It is very likely that you will discover something that you never have seen and never would have thought of via mere acquaintances rather than close friends. This is because, most likely, your friends have very similar interests to you.

“We are exposed to and spread more information from our distant contacts than our close friends," Bakshy wrote. "Since these distant contacts tend to be different from us, the bulk of information we consume and share comes from people with different perspectives."

"This may provide some comfort to those who worry that social networks are simply an echo chamber where people are only exposed to those who share the same opinions," he stated in conclusion.

Sources: PCMag - Facebook Actually Useful, Not An Echo Chamber and Facebook Data - Rethinking Information Diversity in Networks

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Is Facebook Tracking Its Users' Online Activity?

2012-01-12T12:21:00.007-05:00

Two Congressmen have said that Facebook is dodging the question concerning whether or not the site tracks its member activities when online in order to provide advertising directly targeted at each individual user.

Edward Markey, Democratic representative for Massachusetts, and Joe Barton, Republican representative from Texas, are co-chairmen of the Congressional Privacy Caucus. They are currently stating that they are simply unsatisfied with the answers that Facebook has been providing to the questions that have been raised. In February there was a patent application that was filed by Facebook that suggested that the social media giant was tracking the websites that its users browse throughout the day. According to Facebook, this is not the case, and although the company has denied that it tracks its users, lawmakers are saying that Facebook seems to be “refusing” to explain why they filed the patent application.

“Facebook’s seems to be saying one thing and doing another,” Barton said in a statement. “In the company’s response, it talks a lot about how they don’t currently ‘track’ users online, but they just asked for a patent that would allow them to do just that. Why ask for something you don’t ever plan on using?”

In November Markey and Barton wrote to Facebook questioning the submission of the patent application. In response, Erin Egan, the chief privacy officer at Facebook, claimed that the company collected information about its members for “internal operations,” which included things like analysis, research and development.

“The practice of obtaining patents on inventions without launching products based on them is common in the technology industry, and no conclusions should be drawn about a company's practices, products or services from the patents it files, acquires or holds in its portfolio," Egan said in the Dec. 21 response letter, which was made public on Monday, January 9, 2011.

Markey and Barton have said that they still are not satisfied with the answers that Facebook has provided. They claim that the company is still not answering the questions concerning whether or not it is using third-party data tracking to target advertising at certain individuals. Markey said that he plans to question Facebook further and will also continue the investigation of why Facebook submitted the patent.

I think that this is a great idea because, according to the FCC, Facebook has "deceived customers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public," and that is something that would probably concern many Facebook users.

Sources: PCMag - Facebook Evading Privacy Questions, Lawmakers Say and MarkeyHouse.gov - Markey, Barton: Hard to Decipher Facebook’s Commitment to Consumer Privacy

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Facebook Sticks Ads into Users' News Feeds, Disguises Them as "Featured Stories"

2012-01-11T13:22:00.007-05:00

It's official, Facebook has begun to add sponsored stories to user's news feeds, just like the social media giant had previously announced. Every sponsored story will have a little indication next to them that notes that this particular story is "featured" and that you do not need to worry about random ads spamming your news feed every day. In addition to that, the only sponsored stories you will see are from products, brands, companies etc... that you have already liked on Facebook.

In addition to ads from pages you liked, however, content from pages your friends have liked may also appear, though advertisers are unable to alter the messages included with that particular content. It has already been reported that Facebook will, at first, limit sponsored stories in the news feed to only one per day and that they will not operate when the social network is accessed on a mobile device.

A lot of people are taking issue with the specific verbage that Facebook is using. TechCrunch notes that the word "featured" does not denote that the content is paid advertising and that any post that has a "featured" label could very well be confused as popular content from other users. It has also been reported that Facebook joined forces with Which Which, a sandwich chain, to test the offering of coupons to users who have liked the restaurant's page.

As of Tuesday over 4,300 of the restaurant's 104,000+ Facebook fans had claimed a coupon for a free 22-ounce beverage with the purchase of a sandwich. It is wondered whether or not this type of coupon distribution will be an option for featured stories in the future. This could work very well for companies on the social media site and some users may even be excited about getting coupons off of Facebook. However, this could also very well turn Facebook from the pure social media and networking site that it is praised for into a social network of spam.

Source: All Facebook: The Unofficial Facebook Resource - Facebook Puts Sponsored Stories Into News Feed And Calls Them Featured Stories

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Occupy Techies Working on Their Own Social Network

2012-01-02T14:04:00.003-05:00

According to Wired, an online magazine that publishes reports on new and developing technology that could affect either culture, the economy, or politics, some tech-savvy individuals involved with Occupy Wall Street (OWS) are currently working to build their own protest-focused version of Facebook.

"I don't want to say we're making our own Facebook. But we're making our own Facebook," said Ed Knutson, one of the developers that has joined other activists working to build the new social network.

It is understandable why the protestors would like to have a social network with which to communicate with other protestors. In both 2010 and 2011, the world saw how effective social media could be when it came to protesting. In Egypt the use of Twitter and Facebook to inform Egyptian citizens about protests was so successful that the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak shut down the Internet in the country.

Twitter was also able to turn a small OWS rally on September 17 into a national movement simply from the top-trending hashtags that were listed. Clearly, social media can raise mass awareness; however, Knutson does not want to use any of the current social media networks. "We don't trust Facebook with private messages among activists," he said.

Since most of the OWS camps that were spread across the country have been broken up, the activists working on the new social network hope that other fellow protestors will use it as a tool.

“A lot of what we are trying to do is build a better conversation so that this cacophonous discussion can be more coordinated,” said Sam Boyer, a developer and activist currently involved with the group of network developers.

Both Boyer and Knutson believe that the site should be able to be used by protestors across the United States, as well as around the world. However, it is important to note that not just anyone will be able to use this social network. In order to join the network, users must be invited by an existing member.

"You have to know someone in real life who sponsors you," Knutson said.

Activists realize how important it is that they have a secure network that they can communicate through, especially after the incident concerning Massachusetts district attorney slapping Twitter with a subpoena last week dealing with the viewing of information from the @OccupyBoston account.

Boyer also believes that it is important to make sure that someone is truly trustworthy before they are allowed to join the network. How exactly he plans to measure that, he didn’t really say, but I don’t think trustworthiness is the easiest thing to measure; however, it is very important if this network plans to be global. In other countries sometimes it means risking your life to be involved in a protest.

Although the group is working to create an incredibly secure network, Boyer said, "These networks will be perfectly fine—until they are not, and it will be a one-day-to-the-next thing."

Sources: Wired - Occupy Geeks Are Building a Facebook for the 99% and PCMag - Occupy Nerds Building Their Own Facebook Alternative

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Facebook Saves the Lives of a Woman and Her Son

2011-12-29T09:18:00.005-05:00

Facebook is a great place to learn about what is going on in the lives of your friends and families. It’s always been thought of as a great way to keep updated, but this was taken to a whole new level this weekend. A Facebook status was able to save the lives of a woman and her 17-month-old, disabled son who were being held hostage by her boyfriend in their home in Utah for five days.

According to the Associated Press, the woman told the Salt Lake City Police that she and her son were forcibly detained in their home by her boyfriend, 33-year-old Troy Critchfield, for nearly a week. She said that he choked her, repeatedly hit her and sexually abused her. While holding them in the house, Critchfield took the woman’s cell phone and would not allow her to feed her dog. He was arrested and detained by the Salt Lake City Police on Saturday, December 24 while they looked into the various charges which the AP said included aggravated kidnapping, forcible sodomy, aggravated assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty, among other things.

Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Jon Arnold told the AP that the woman was able to hide in a closet with her laptop and submit a Facebook status that stated that both she and her son would be “dead by morning” if they did not receive any help.

The post that she wrote caught the attention of one of her friends who called the police. The police were then dispatched to the captive woman’s home to see if she was alright.

"Facebook was her only outlet that she had at the home," Arnold said. "It just happened that she was able to use it."

According to the Salt Lake County Jail records, when the police first arrived, Critchfield would not let them into the house. Once he let the police inside, the AP reported that the police asked the woman if she was okay. She indicated that she was not by shaking her head “no.”

The police then separated Crichfield and the woman, and she revealed the details of the past five days. She also told them that Critchfield had grabbed her son’s arm, hit him on the head and treated him roughly.

According to the AP, the woman refused to go to the hospital to be treated; however, it was noted that she did have "bruises and other physical injuries consistent with [the] allegations."

"She claims that any time she went to go to a door, he physically assaulted her," Arnold said.

As of right now, Critchfield is still being held in jail. It is unclear as to whether or not he has a lawyer yet.

According to Utah State Court records, Critchfield was involved in a domestic violence incident in December 2010 and plead guilty to charges of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced by a judge to five years in prison; however, the punishment was reduced to 120 days in jail and three years of probation.

Sources: The Associated Press - Police: Utah mom, son rescued after Facebook post, The Washington Post - Man charged in Utah hostage case that ended with Facebook post was convicted for similar crime and PCMag - Facebook Status Saves Woman From Hostage Situation

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How to Ruin Your Business in a Day with Twitter

2011-12-28T12:26:00.005-05:00

There are quite a few stories out there about businesses responding poorly to negative feedback they have found on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. These social media tools are supposed to make communication on a personal level with customers easier, but instead, some business owners often use them as a way to "vent" about negative things said about their businesses and in not so polite ways.

Take this following Twitter conversation between a restaurant owner and a potential customer that I found on Social Media Today. Let me set the scene: A social media strategist and a friend stopped by a new local restaurant to grab some dinner only to disappointingly find the place closed. The following is the result.

Customer: We were going to go to @restaurant but they closed at 10. Kelley was going to eat her 1st burger in 3 years. #sadsies

Owner: @customer we will be here tomorrow, open bright and early at 11am...im sure yall will need a hangover cure

.

However, this is where things take a turn for the worse. The customer's friend apparently posted on the restaurant's Yelp page "we're so bummed!", causing the following verbal attack from the restaurant owner.

Owner: @customer really u have ur friend post a yelp review because yall couldnt tell time and accept the fact that we were closed? #badmove

Owner: @customer to go after someones business because you couldnt get u want is pathetic and spoiled.

Customer: @restaurant I don't know why you are angry at me?

Owner: @customer even tweeting about it is lame...its whiny. get over it.

Customer: I stated that we wanted to go there & were sad. It's the same as someone saying they wanted to go on Tues & you're closed.

Owner: @customer yea i know its amazing, restaurants close sometimes #knowthehours

Customer: @restaurant Dude, you need to relax. I don't feel like I said anything negative. I am sorry if I have upset you.

Owner: u need to tell ur friend to take that s*** off of yelp

Oh yeah, the owner cursed at potential customers, and on Twitter, where every single one of the restaurant's followers can see it. Smart. The conversation didn't stop there and even other Twitter followers added their 140 characters of complete shock at the conversation. The restaurant owner did issue massive apologies the next day but the damage had been done. Customers, social media professionals and even other local restaurants were firebombing Twitter with the conversation.

If you want a perfect example of how NOT to use Twitter, this is it. Be honest, would you have responded like that if it were your restaurant? I know I wouldn't have. I mean the feedback wasn't even negative. It was like saying "We wanted to go to the movies but misread the times, we we're so bummed because Kelley was going to eat popcorn for the first time in 3 years."

Business owners take note. If you want to completely ruin your business in a single day, please, by all means, verbally attack your customers on Twitter. They'll love it, restaurant reviewers will love it, even your mother will love it, and you will love it all the way to bankruptcy.

Source: Social Media Today - How NOT to Tweet With Your Customers

Facebook Users in Britain Drunk in 76% of Pics

2011-12-15T16:22:00.006-05:00

Social media users love to drink. Whether it be coffee or beer, social media users just have to satiate their thirst at all times, even in the pictures they post to these sites. And nowhere is this more prevalent than Great Britain where a recent study found that the average British person is under the influence of alcohol in three-fourths of his or her tagged Facebook pictures.

Researchers surveyed British people to reveal exactly how many Facebook pictures they have that show them consuming alcohol or were taken after they consumed alcohol. The study estimates that a total of 76% of the people's photographs surveyed had some connection with alcohol. According to Rebecca Huggler, Co-Founder of MyMemory, the conductors of the survey, "We're guilty of going out and having a good time, but nowadays the photos inevitably catch up with us online, so we wanted to look at how much these photos dominate our presence on social media sites."

In addition to that, researchers looked at their privacy settings and found that only 12% of the 1,781 Facebook users that were surveyed have their profiles set to "Private" with 58% allowing only their friends to see their pictures and an astonishing 26% of users allowing anyone and everyone to see their pictures whenever they want.

Over half of the people surveyed (56%) admitted that they had "drunk photos" that they would not want coworkers to see with 8% saying their photos may cause some "serious trouble at work". But it doesn't stop there as an additional 93% stated that they had tagged pics that were deemed "too embarrassing." Huggler also noted that many of the pictures with alcohol were taken during special occasions or get-togethers with friends or family. Huggler also predicts the holiday season will fuel more photo activity involving alcohol.

Source: Mashable - British Facebook Users Are Intoxicated in 76% of Their Photos [STUDY]

Need to Vent? You Can Now Use More Than 60,000 Characters on Facebook

2011-12-01T15:15:00.005-05:00

Facebook just announced that users now have the opportunity to share more than 60,000 characters as their status update if they choose.

"In September we increased the character limit on status updates to 5,000 characters," Vadim Lavrusik, journalist program manager at Facebook, wrote on the site. "Today we're announcing that you can now write posts with more than 60,000 characters."

The actual status update character limit is 63,206. Bob Baldwin, the software engineer that made the change for Facebook, said, “I set the exact limit to something nerdy.”

"Facebook ... Face Boo K ... hex(FACE) - K ... 64206 - 1000 = 63206 :-)," he wrote.

An image that was posted on Facebook about the new amount of character space for statuses brought up the point that “a novel has roughly 500,000 characters. This could be shared in nine posts.”

The image also takes a trip back in time to Facebook’s earliest days. Originally, Facebook was very Twitter-like. It limited users to 160 characters. In March 2009 Facebook expanded that to 420 characters. In July 2011 the character limit was boosted to 500 characters, and then two months later it made the leap to 5,000 characters. Now, users have 63,206 characters to vent with; however, I know that if my friends start writing status updates with over 60,000 characters, they will find themselves blocked. Who on earth needs that many characters? I think that it is slightly over the top.

Although I think that Facebook is now giving users way too many characters, maybe some users will enjoy this new freedom. I just hope that this new freedom doesn’t become ridiculous.

Source: PCMag - Facebook Boosts Character Limit to Over 60,000

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Social Media Users Love Coffee, Something that Surprises Nobody

2011-11-30T21:57:00.006-05:00

We already know that social media users love beer, but a new report from Amplicate has also found that social media users also love American coffee chains. The most popular bean brewers in the states, as far as social media users are concerned, is definitely Starbucks with 89% of users expressed positive opinions about the Seattle-based coffee king. In addition to that, social media users were the most positive about Starbucks' sweet specialty coffees, specifically the Pumpkin Spice Latte and the Caramel Mocha.

What's even better is that no American coffee chain performed poorly on the survey, though Dunkin Donuts was the least favored over the past year with only 77% of the comments about the chain being positive. Social media users also criticized the company's iced coffee and expressed some dissatisfaction with its bagels. Nearly 80,000 opinions were posted by social media users in the past 12 months, in which they shared over 42 million times. Other coffee chains that were mentioned included Caribou Coffee, Tully's Coffee, Peet's Coffee and Tea and Costa Coffee.

It could be surmised that there is a definite connection between social media usage and the coffee shops where users tend to gather to use free WiFi and get a little work done. This report also revealed that fans of coffee chains were not only more vocal than the same chains' detractors, but their opinions reverberated further through the internet. The average fan of coffee chains had 573 friends or followers on social media sites with the average detractor only having 402 friends or followers. However, how you determine a fan from a detractor is simply based on whether the opinion expressed was positive or negative, according to some.

These results are not at all surprising, however, as many coffee shops have always been havens for those constantly working on the go. Plus, coffee shops also set themselves up to be social places, whether it's to discuss work issues or to catch up with friends or family. The most common coffee shop conversations? Talking about the coffee and the shop itself.

Source: Technorati - New Report Reveals Social Media Users Love Coffee

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Social Media's Favorite Beer? Guinness

2011-11-17T19:21:00.005-05:00

I feel like social media sites and beer go together like Dick Cheney and an accidental gun shot wound to the face. In a recent study, social media users were very positive about popular beer brands on social media over the past 12 months with Irish brand Guinness gathering the most praise from users according to a new social media analytics report from Amplicate.

Amplicate's report discovered that 77% of all opinions on social media sites about popular beer brands, which included Heineken and Budweiser, were positive. In addition to that, social media users were also generally very positive about all the major beer brands with the only brand receiving any significant negative feedback being Budweiser, which ranked as the least liked popular beer brand over the past 12 months with only 31% of opinions expressing a negative view of America's predominant beer brewer.

On the other hand, Guinness was the most loved beer of them all with 82% of opinions about the dark brew expressing enthusiasm for the beer. In addition to that, social media users made a positive association between Ireland, pubs and Guinness that led to an onslaught of positive comments for the world-famous Guinness.

What isn't surprising is that nothing got social media users talking positively about beer more than the marketing of the beer companies themselves. Social media users loved discussing marketing efforts and commercials from the brewers themselves on social media networks, according to Amplicate.

Amplicate's new report is a part of its new social analytics reports service. Amplicate offers in-depth social media analytics reports on everything you could possibly imagine, as this study on popular beer confirms. These reports explain what people are saying about a topic, when and where they are saying it and why.

Source: Market Watch - Social Media Users Love Beer, Really Love Guinness, According to Amplicate

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Facebook Tracks Down Recent Spammers

2011-11-17T15:02:00.007-05:00

If you have been on Facebook sometime this week, I’m sure that you noticed the pornographic and violent material that was plaguing the social networking site. I myself was shocked at some of the things that were popping up in my feed. Well, on Wednesday Facebook said that they were able to track down the hackers that were responsible for the spam attack.

"In addition to the engineering teams that build tools to block spam we also have a dedicated enforcement team that has already identified those responsible and is working with our legal team to ensure appropriate consequences follow," said a spokesman for Facebook.

On Tuesday a security firm called Sophos released a blog post stating that Facebook had been overwhelmed with objectionable content for the previous 24 hours. Security consultant Graham Cluley said, "The content, which includes explicit hardcore porn images, photoshopped photos of celebrities such as Justin Bieber in sexual situations, pictures of extreme violence and even a photograph of an abused dog, have been distributed via the site—seemingly without the knowledge of users."

Facebook confirmed a little after the release of Sophos’s blog post that it had been hit with "a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability." The company also mentioned that its efforts "drastically limited the damage caused by this attack."

Facebook went on to say that users were "tricked into pasting and executing malicious javascript in their browser URL bar causing them to unknowingly share this offensive content." After these attacks began occurring, engineers worked to build “enforcement mechanisms” that shut all of the inappropriate pages down, as well as all of the accounts that had published them.

"We have also been putting those affected through educational checkpoints so they know how to protect themselves," Facebook continued. "We've put in place backend measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defenses to find new ways to protect people."

Hopefully all of these issues truly have been fixed, and Facebook will continue taking precautions to prevent attacks like this from occurring. If the company doesn’t, I know that there will be plenty of parents that will have issues with their young teenagers being on the social networking site. It sounds like Facebook is really working to prevent things like this, and they were able to shut down the attack, in my opinion, very quickly. I think that they did a great job handling a very difficult situation.

Source: PCMag - Facebook Identifies Porn Spammers

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Rumors of an Anonymous Attack on Facebook for November 5

2011-11-03T13:03:00.006-04:00

"Remember, remember the 5th of November". These lines were spoken by none other than vigilante for justice V in the graphic novel-turned film V for Vendetta. What's more is that the mask popularized by the character is also the same one the hacktivist group Anonymous uses for all their demonstrations and media. The group typically targets big name corporations and has seen quite an influx in activity in recent months. Companies like Bank of America and Sony, along with a few government sites, are some of the more recognized attacks though the group might be setting its sights on Facebook next.

The reason people should care about this is that Anonymous is good at what they do, really good in fact, and they are definitely good enough to pull off a successful attack on the social media giant. On the other hand, there is some good news, at least for users of the site. The group usually uses threats and warnings in order to get people thinking about their targets without actually doing any real damage. Facebook has become a target for abusing the privacy of its users.

There has been some talk about the attack happening on the 5th of November, a date which corresponds to Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes Day is a U.K. holiday celebrating the failed plot by Fawkes and a crew of conspirators to blow up British Parliament in 1605, subsequently killing King James I. The day is supposed to recognize the saving of King James I's life, however in recent years it seems to favor Fawkes' attempt on the King's life as well as the thought of speaking truth to power.

However, it seems as if Anonymous has given up on the Facebook attack, codename "OP_FB". There has been very little recent activity on the group's Twitter account and there have also been no new significant statements specifically targeting Facebook. Anonymous is instead turning its attention to more public-friendly targets, like disrupting child pornography sites and threatening to attack the Zeta Mexican drug cartel.

There was a posting on PiratePad.net, an Anonymous open forum (so to speak). The post stated, "Ideas for OP_FB: Post ideas here guise. We are more powerful than DDoS attacks, and Facebook isn't going to keel over from something small. We have more power than this and we should utilize it."

However, this doesn't really seem like a well thought out attack but more of a brainstorming session. Even if the group leaves Facebook alone, the fact that the social media site was even targeted by the group suggests that what the site is doing with personal privacy is unacceptable. I guess we will just have to wait until the 5th of November to find out though.

Source: Mashable - Will Anonymous Target Facebook on Nov. 5?

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Facebook Ups Security

2011-10-27T13:54:00.004-04:00

On Thursday, October 27 Facebook decided to implement security features that should work to further protect its users. The new security features include adding the option for passwords for apps and “trusted friends.”

"What are 'trusted friends'?" one might ask. The trusted friends feature will allow users to choose three to five friends that they obviously trust that can help them if they are ever, for some reason or another, locked out of their account. "We'll send codes to the friends you have selected, then you can log back into your account using these codes after your friends have passed them along to you," said Facebook.

Facebook claims that the feature is just like giving a friend of yours a key to your home while you are on vacation.

Since there have been recent security issues that Facebook has faced surrounding third party apps, Facebook will now let users add a password to many of its apps.

"There are tons of applications you can use by logging in with your Facebook credentials. However, in some cases you may want to have a unique password for that application," Facebook said. "This is especially helpful if you have opted into Login Approvals, for which security codes don't always work when using third party applications."

To enable the feature, users simply need to go to Account Settings, Security Tab and then “App Passwords.” "You can generate a password that you won't need to remember, just enter it along with your email when logging into an application," Facebook said.

Facebook also released an infographic that shows the security features that they have released over the past few years. It is included below:

"Our considerable work has undoubtedly made Facebook a safer environment—less than half a percent of users experience spam on any given day and only a fraction of a percent of our users ever experience any security-related issues," Facebook said. "But we know there's plenty of more work to be done, so we will keep striving to make sure that every time you log in to Facebook, you have a safe and social experience. We are adapting and responding to new threats everyday and will continue to bring the people that use our site new ways to protect themselves."

American Airlines Voted Most Hated Airline on Social Media Sites

2011-10-20T20:18:00.007-04:00

If ever there was a company that is happy Facebook doesn't have a dislike button, it is American Airlines. That is because the airliner has been given the not-so-wanted honor of being the world's most hated airline on social media sites, thanks to a analyses of multiple social media analytics firms.

Amplicate, which tracks sentiment for businesses and services on social media sites, has just revealed the results of the research it has conducted over the past year. The research from Amplicate has revealed only 12% of opinions on American Airlines were positive on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

When you compare this to the 97% positive opinions garnered by Virgin America, the numbers are pretty detrimental. However, travelers are usually chock-full of complaints against U.S. airlines on social media sites. Overall, 57% of comments on U.S. airlines were negative according to Amplicate.

Thankfully, at least in American Airlines' opinion, the airliner wasn't the only one to receive negative reviews. Other airlines that received less than stellar comments include United Airlines, US Airways and Delta, which ignited a firestorm with social media enthusiasts when it charged men and women returning from war extra fees for extra baggage.

This move resulted in outrage, making June the most active month for airline hatred on social media news sites and earning Delta over half of all the negative comments made during the month. However, this didn't seem to be even enough to keep American Airlines from becoming the most hated.

Other top positive airlines aside from Virgin America include JetBlue as well as Southwest according to Amplicate. On a world-scale, British Airways holds the top spot for most loved airline, followed by Virgin America, GFaruda, JetBlue and Southwest.

Source: NYDailyNews.com - American Airlines voted 'most hated airline on social media' due to most Twitter, Facebook jeers

Microsoft to Make Another Offer to Acquire Yahoo

2011-10-05T16:17:00.008-04:00

According to sources, Microsoft is supposedly considering the launch of a renewed bid to acquire Yahoo a mere three years after first attempting to do so.

In order to complete the potential acquisition, Microsoft might seek to partner up in the deal according to a report from Reuters. Microsoft's internal management team is divided on whether to make another bid at Yahoo, which has recently been deemed one of many struggling online media companies.

In January of 2008, Microsoft offered over $44 billion in order to acquire Yahoo in an unsolicited bid. The management team at Yahoo eventually blocked the deal which ultimately led to a sharp decline in the site's stock price as well as the ousting of CEO at the time Jerry Yang. Eventually, both Microsoft and Yahoo agreed on a search partnership.

If it decides to move forward with the new proposition, Microsoft would acquire Yahoo at a major discount. The stock of the internet company has taken a major beating in price since the rescission of Microsoft's acquisition offer. Shares for Yahoo dropped from a high of over $29 in the beginning months of 2008 to less than $15 when the company fired CEO Carol Bartz. However, with the news of a potential new acquisition bid from Microsoft, shares have risen by more than 9%.

A majority of Yahoo's value is tied to its Asian assets, most notably China-based Alibaba Group. The 40% stake in the company held by Yahoo is estimated to be worth more than $13 billion and Alibaba is supposedly interested in acquiring Yahoo as well, though U.S. laws governing foreign acquisitions could put a damper on the deal. News Corp, recent seller of MySpace, is also said to be interested in acquiring Yahoo as well.

Regardless of who acquires the company, Alibaba will be either a key player or key partner. The company has the right to buy back its shares from Yahoo if control of the company ever switches hands.

Source: Mashable - Will Microsoft Make Another Run at Acquiring Yahoo?

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Twitter Acquires Julpan

2011-09-29T18:05:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday, September 21 Ori Allon, the creator of Google’s Orion search technology and founder of Julpan, announced a deal with Twitter. Julpan is a company that analyzes social media, and Twitter has just acquired it.

"I am very proud to announce that Julpan has been acquired by Twitter," Allon wrote on Julpan.com. "We founded Julpan more than a year ago. In that time we've created innovative, early-alpha-stage search technology that analyzes social activity across the Web to deliver fresh and relevant content to users. "

"Twitter houses an industry-leading engineering team that is tackling some of the Internet's most interesting opportunities. With more than 230 million tweets per day on every subject imaginable, Twitter gives us a chance to make an even greater contribution toward instantly bringing people closer to what is most meaningful to them. We look forward to joining forces with Twitter's engineering team to explore how we can best integrate and optimize Julpan's innovations.”

"I'd like to personally thank the talented engineers, architects and designers of Julpan. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people with whom to invent some of the world's best social search technology."

Until Wednesday, Allon had been the CEO of Julpan, but in his post he signed it “Director of Engineering, Twitter.” So far, there has not been any mention of the financial details of this deal.

In 2006 Allon sold the rights to Orion to Google. He then worked for Google until last year when he left to start Julpan. Julpan allows users to sort through blogs, tweets and online social content "to help determine what exactly people care about at any given moment."

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Roast of Charlie Sheen Dominates Social Media

2011-09-21T19:22:00.009-04:00

The premiere of Two and a Half Men sans Charlie Sheen aired on Monday night, "conveniently" at the same time as The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen. Coincidence? I think not. However, despite losing its main character, the show, which replaced Sheen with Ashton Kutcher, received 28 million viewers, the largest audience for any episode in show history. And while it may seem that Two and a Half Men is thumbing its nose at Sheen, the "total freaking rock star from Mars" himself was all full of "winning" Monday night, on the social media front that is.

While Kutcher and Men may have won the ratings battle, it was Sheen and his roast that won the the social media battle garnering nearly 400,000 tweets throughout the night while Two and a Half Men clambered behind with only 150,000 according to Visible Technologies.

Bluefin Labs, a Social TV Analytics platform, also released their numbers for the show's discussion on a plethora of social networking sites including Twitter, Facebook and thousands of fans located on micro-blogs. Sheen stood on top of his internet throne bringing in a total of 148,000 comments from 98,000 unique posters. Compare that to the 92,000 total comments from 75,000 unique posters on Two and a Half Men and it looks like Charlie Sheen is smoking the show harder than the seven gram rocks he is already famous for.

The best part, at least for Sheen, is that Two and a Half Men didn't even come in second place overall for the night. In addition to Sheen's roast, Dancing with the Stars also beat out Kutcher and his premiere. The famous tweeter that he is, Kutcher added his own tweet on Monday writing, "Man I wish I had the east coast feed so I could watch it with you all... #2.5." But Kutcher wasn't the only celebrity hitting the Twitter feeds as Sheen sent a plethora of tweets from his viewing party on Monday night, giving thanks to friends, family, fans and roasters alike.

"Thank you @comedycentral...! I'm moved... speechless and grateful! (and glad it's over...) Well done my friends. Well done!" Sheen tweeted Monday night. As far as ratings for the roast, it didn't do too bad either. Sheen's roast was the most-watched roast in Comedy Central history, gathering 6.4 million total viewers and delivering a 4.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter - Charlie Sheen's Roast Wins Social Media Battle

ASK not about Santorum Search Scum

2011-09-21T10:36:00.000-04:00

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is being SEARCH SCUMMED by Google, Bing, and Yahoo, but not ASK.

When you search for 'santorum' in Google, the first result is a website splashpage (spreadingsantorum.com) that is so nasty, so raunchy, so disgusting, that I will not publish it, nor link to it here.

Isn't that cleaver, the splash page has a splash of what they call santorum. gross

As of this publication 27,053 people facebook liked that lude splash page. And as of this publication there were over 2400 links from 135 linking domains, linked to spreadingsantorum.com.

Getting 135 domains to link to a person's name would be easy for any SEO. Why the major search engines would accept this as a fair result for a presidential candidates name appears political.

What about ASK? Why isn't spreadingsantorum.com not coming up as #1 in ASK search results? (It's not even on the first page). Is ASK making a statement or is ASK behind the curve on data aggregation and search results?

Just as anyone who has been attacked on the web, Rick Santorum has taken his appeal to Google. But a representative from Google recently stated that they don't remove results from the web. This leaves Candidate Santorum in a difficult position.

"I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they'd get rid of it," Santorum told Politico. "If you're a responsible business, you don't let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country."

I suppose your right. Besides what's changed? Google had removed certain search results in the past. For example, in an article by Danny Sullivam, clearly Google made adjustmets.

Google Kills Bush’s Miserable Failure Search & Other Google Bombs

Google bombing isn't anything new. According to Google Watcher Danny Sullivan, Google bombs date back as far as 1999, when a search for "more evil than Satan himself" resulted in the Microsoft homepage as the top result.

Rick Santorum makes a good point, and perhaps a basis for legal action against Google, Bing and Yahoo,
"To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can't handle but I suspect that's not true," Santorum said.

Skype Update for Mac Users

2011-09-19T14:27:00.004-04:00

On Thursday, September 15, Skype introduced its users to an interesting new update. The update allows all beta Mac users to utilize Facebook integration, an ability that has already been available to Windows PC users for a while.

“We now release updates for Skype for Mac quicker than ever before,” said Skype in a blog post. “We've released a number of updates in 2011 which included, amongst other features, a brand new interface, video call control bar and HD-quality video calling.”

"Just like in our Windows client, you will now be able to IM and connect with your Facebook friends without leaving Skype. You will also be able to read and update your News Feed, as well as comment and 'Like' your Facebook friends' posts - all within Skype for Mac."

It’s really easy to set up the Facebook integration. All you have to do is sign into Skype, click the “Connect to Facebook” tab and then enter your Facebook details. It’s that easy!

The Facebook integration feature for Windows was introduced to users in October 2010. When Skype added that feature, they also added “Facebook Phonebook.” The Facebook Phonebook feature allows users to call and text their Facebook friends from their mobile phones and landlines with just a few clicks. Skype also allows users whose Facebook friends are also on Skype to make Skype-to-Skype calls for free.

All of this follows the Facebook-introduced video calling with Skype which was released about two months ago. Skype CEO Tony Bates stated in July that the company has been working on the Skype and Facebook integration for about six months now. Skype has a goal of one billion users and Bates says that he believes that the Facebook video calling via Skype will “help us get there.” He continued saying, "We want to be as ubiquitous as possible."

The Skype blog also stated, “We are also introducing an advertising platform in this new release, but if you are a paying Skype consumer or have Skype Credit, you won't see any display ads; similar to the model that is currently being used in our Skype for Windows client.”

If you’re a Mac user and you want Facebook functionality, Skype 5.4 is just for you. It is now available for download.

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Amazon Develops a New Strategy for Social Media

2011-09-07T22:37:00.007-04:00

Amazon.com has recently decided to step up its efforts on the social media front after missing out on potentially one of the biggest and hottest technology trends to come about in recent years. The company just hired John Yurcisin as Director of Social Media earlier in the year to help Amazon come up with better social strategies.

In addition to that, Amazon is also building a Social Games Group in an attempt to compete with Zynga, the current leader in social internet gaming, who is also planning an initial public offering. Amazon is also hiring developers and engineers for the project with a poster in the company's new Seattle campus unveiling the Social Games Group as "Worldwide Breaking News".

According to the poster, Amazon is most interested in software development engineers and Flash developers with the latter most likely related to Adobe's Flash Player, a software that is also used to add video, animation and other interactive content to websites.

Amazon also posted social games jobs on Linkedin as well as Dice.com. One post that was added on August 15 stated that the company was looking for a Senior Social Games engineer and that the group is working on a "cutting edge initiative within Amazon." Despite its leading advancements in other technological areas, Amazon has lacked in terms of social media as well as social networking.

However, it is still unclear as to what exactly Yurcisin is working on over at Amazon, especially considering the fact that a spokesman from Amazon declined to comment on any of the company's social plans. However, Yurcisin's Linkedin page does have him listed as "Director, Social" at Amazon and says that he has held that position since May.

Source: Reuters - Amazon steps up social media efforts

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Fox Searchlight Releases Movie Trailers Via QR Codes

2011-08-25T23:00:00.006-04:00

So has anybody else noticed all these scanable bar-code thingies all over the place recently? I mean, you can't go anywhere without seeing them. I've seen them in magazines, on products in a store and even on the ketchup bottles at Applebee's! These little things are known as QR codes and if you scan them with a bar-code scanner app on your smartphone or tablet, then you can win stuff and be entered into things.

Well, Fox Searchlight is taking these QR codes to a whole new level. Instead of doing the traditional process of releasing teasers and trailers for its upcoming movie Martha Marcy May Marlene, set to hit theaters on October 21, the film company is instead rolling out an elaborate QR code campaign for the film.

The studio has put these little codes on ad materials, like posters, theater standees and coasters, in New York City as well as Los Angeles. There are two separate trailers for the movie embedded within the codes. According to Fox Searchlight, this is the very first time the studio has exclusively released trailers via QR code.

If you are one of the unfortunate people who doesn't live in either New York City or Los Angeles, then you can always access the QR codes online through a website that is designed to emulate the theater standees.

The film stars Elizabeth Olsen, who just so happens to be the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Academy Award nominee John Hawkes. The plot focuses on a young woman who has problems reconnecting with her family after escaping a cult. The film made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival back in January where Sean Durkin, director of the film, won the U.S. Directing Award in the Dramatic category.

Source: Mashable - Movie Trailers Released Exclusively Via QR Code for The First Time

Police to Start Monitoring Facebook

2011-08-11T19:43:00.005-04:00

The rise and relevance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter never ceases to amaze me. The vast popularity of sites like these is astounding and the way they have begun to shape our world into something revolutionary is mind-boggling. In recent social media news, the NYPD has just opened a social media tracking unit.

This news comes in the wake of some earlier reports that prisons will be cracking down on the profiles of inmates using sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to perpetuate crimes while incarcerated. Facebook will pull profiles of California inmates in order to make any type of use of the site by inmates even more difficult, if not impossible.

These new crime divisions will be headed up by the new Assistant Commissioner Kevin O'Connor and will monitor social media sites for potential wrongdoings. In a post from Policeone.com, "Criminals have been known to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media [sites] to choose targets, boast about crimes or alert one another about the location of police."

While this may seem highly illogical, sites like Facebook and Twitter have led to the capture of multiple criminals, even before a unit was dedicated to monitoring them. After the recent Tottenham riots and looting, a man posed for a twitpic with what he had stolen and was later arrested as a result of the picture. Yes, that actually happened, you can't make up someone who is that idiotic.

Over here in the United States, a man was arrested by the NYPD back in March for murder after bragging about killing a gay teenager at a house party on Facebook. This prompted Kelly to advise officers to monitor house parties advertised on Facebook more closely in order to prevent something like this from happening again.

Online police divisions are not a new invention, however. "To Catch a Predator" was proof enough about how police monitor chat rooms that have the potential to catch people engaging in sexual perversion or potentially unlawful activities. As social media use has grown, police are taking special measures to employ the sites just as criminals do in order to stop potential crimes.

So the next time you decide to do something unlawful, how about you don't plaster it all over one of the biggest social media sites in the world? If you are going to do that, then you might as well just walk into the police station with all the evidence of your crime and your hands already cuffed.

Source: CBS News - NYPD opens Social Media Tracking Unit

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Teacher-Student Social Networking Banned in Missouri

2011-08-01T21:24:00.003-04:00

According to Missouri’s Senate Bill 54, which was just signed by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, all forms of social networking are now prohibited between teachers and students. ABC News said that this does not mean just Facebook. It means any social networking "that is exclusive and allows for private communication."

So why has this legislation come about? Mashable said that "inappropriate contact between students and teachers is at the root of the legislation," which is "designed to protect children from sexual misconduct by teachers, compelling school districts to adopt written policies between teachers and students on electronic media, social networking and other forms of communication."

The bill states: “Teachers cannot establish, maintain, or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child's legal custodian, physical custodian, or legal guardian. Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student.”

The bill also requires that all Missouri school districts develop a written policy that addresses the "appropriate use of electronic media" by the start of the New Year. The policy will include the guidelines for social network use.

So, how exactly has this been received by Missouri? Well it does seem to give residents the idea that they should not trust teachers, but Mashable said that “on the surface this seems like a good idea.” However, they did point out that "inappropriate relationships will be hard to detect, especially since teachers and students engaged in such relationships would probably be concealing their communications, electronic or otherwise."

A very key word in the law is “exclusive.” This means that teachers will still be allowed to set up social networking pages that are focused on friendships, class work or program support. These will be okay as long as the site is public and available to all. However, Missouri teachers are still not exactly happy about the law. Some claim that sites like Facebook are a valuable tool because they allow students to bring up issues to teachers that otherwise might be uncomfortable for them to talk about face-to-face.

Randy Turner, a middle school communications arts teacher in Missouri's Joplin School District, blogged that the law was signed "in spite of the positive effect that teachers and students being Facebook friends had on Joplin Schools' effort to locate students after the May 22 tornado.[and] in spite of considerable evidence that social networking has been a positive force in education, and little or no evidence to the contrary."

"For some students, that move could very well prevent them from confiding in a trusted adult friend who might be able to help them get through serious problems in their lives," writes Turner.

"For Joplin students, that could be dealing with the aftermath of losing their homes and having their lives uprooted on May 22. For others, it may be confiding in just the kind of horrific crime that the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act is supposedly designed to eliminate," she adds.

Hidden Facebook App for iPad is Discovered

2011-07-28T10:44:00.005-04:00

It’s been close to a year and a half since Apple first released its oh-so-popular iPad, and although there are tons of apps available for the device, there is still a very important app that has yet to be released for the iPad…a Facebook app. Rumors were flying around that Facebook might be kind enough to reveal an official app sometime this summer, but as we count down the last few days of July, there still has not been announcement.

However, just this weekend, TechCrunch’s MG Sielger claimed that he had discovered Facebook’s app for the iPad. He said that it was hidden within the code for the most recent version Facebook’s iPhone app (version 3.4.4). Sielger said that the app is written in HTML5, and although it is incredibly different from the iPhone app, he said that it is very good.

"In particular, the navigation system is great… the Facebook iPad app uses a left-side menu system that can be accessed by the touch of a button or the flick of the iPad screen," he writes. "The app also makes great use of the pop-overs (overlay menus) found in other iPad apps. When you flip the iPad horizontally, the list of your online friends appears and you can chat with them as you do other things on Facebook."

Sielger said that other features that are included with the app are a photo viewer that is very similar to the photo app that comes with the iPad and a map that shows the locations of your friends on Facebook Places. So far, there has not been any comment from Facebook reps about the app. Sielger, however, said that he had confirmed that the app is legit by checking with a “source who had previously seen the app."

People have been patiently waiting for an official Facebook iPad app. Since Facebook still hasn’t officially offered customers anything, there has been plenty of room for third-party developers to come in and offer their own unofficial versions of Facebook apps like Friendly and iFace. These have been some of the most popular iPad apps from the App Store.

Right now it is unclear when Facebook might offer this app, if it is indeed the real thing. Hopefully, either Facebook will release this newly discovered app or release some kind of official app because customers are definitely ready for a Facebook iPad app.

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Facebook or Google+: What Will You Choose?

2011-07-27T20:15:00.003-04:00

Social media users cannot ignore the newest direct competition to Facebook, Google+. You cannot help but look at the two platforms side by side and compare to see which would best serve your needs. There are quirks about Facebook that some people get extremely frustrated about…does Google+ solve that frustration? The two companies obviously are not the best of friends, but will one put the other out of business, or will they both coexist in peace? I believe that it all depends on how they cater to their users' needs.

Although it is still early in the game, so far, Google+ has been very well received by the social media world. Just last week, Google CEO Larry Page announced that Google+ already had 10 million users that were sharing more than a billion items on the site per day. Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, estimated that the number of users had risen to 18 million this week, and ComScore confirmed on Friday, July 22 that the number had risen to more than 20 million users.

However, is this enough progress to pose any kind of serious threat to Facebook, the reigning social media giant? Facebook has seven years, 750 million users and an Oscar-nominated film on Google+. Although recently, Facebook has been dealing with low customer satisfaction and some privacy issues, Google+ has a lot of catching up to do if they want to play with the big boys.

So, have you joined Google+ yet? Have you been able to capture a highly coveted invitation to the newest social media platform yet? Right now, the site seems to be utilized by tech folks and early adopters, but it really is growing. Numbers definitely got a nice little boost when Apple released the Google+ iOS app into the App Store. It quickly became the number one downloaded free app.

So, as more social networking sites pop up, ask yourself the question: do you really have time for yet another social network? I mean we already have Facebook and Twitter to waste plenty of our time, do we have room for another site? Do you think that users could possibly dump their Facebook account and give Google+ a try? Will some people use both? I truly do not know. All I know is, it's going to take one heck of a site to beat out Facebook!

Social Networking Platform in the Works for Microsoft?

2011-07-21T11:21:00.004-04:00

It’s been just a few weeks since Google launched Google+, but there are already rumors swirling around concerning the possibility that Microsoft might be creating their own social networking platform.

The rumors began the evening of Thursday, July 15 when a certain image was posted online (the image included with this article). The rumors seemed to revolve around a platform that would seek to compete with Google+ but not Facebook.

Socl.com displayed a welcome page for a service called Tulalip. The page read, "With Tulalip you can find what you need and share what you know easier than ever." The side of the page then featured buttons for allowing users to sign in with Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Since that evening, Microsoft has replaced the friendly page that sparked all of the rumors with a boring, simple page stating, “Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn’t mean to, honest.”

When questioned about the possible site, Microsoft spokeswoman Jackie Lawrence simply echoed what the company posted at the site.

According to a report by Fusible.com, Microsoft purchased the domain rights to Socl.com from Marksmen. The purchase was reportedly made sometime after June 21. This means that Microsoft really only had about three weeks to work on the project; however, besides the leaked picture, there is no real evidence that Microsoft is planning to create its own social networking platform.

Andre Eisner, the director of community and content at Retrevo, said, “This is such a vague rumor, I think it's hilarious that people are jumping on it. People are jumping on it and they're already bashing Microsoft, saying it's no Google+ killer."

Eisner continues saying that he simply does not believe that Microsoft could have put together such a project in a three week timeframe.

"They can't even get copy and paste into Windows Phone 7 and you think they'll create a world-class social media site within two or three weeks? Not going to happen," Eisner stated.

"It makes more sense to integrate Bing into social media environments," Eisner said.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine (which I personally think doesn’t even compare to Google’s search engine) already offers users the option of social search capabilities via a tie-in that Microsoft worked out with Facebook. It was first introduced in 2010 and allows users who are searching through Bing to see what their Facebook friends “like.”

Just in June, Microsoft took things a step further by updating Bing Mobile to allow users to have Facebook integration involved with their Bing searches on their phones as well. Microsoft and Facebook have been partnering on projects for years.

Who knows what the picture was all about, but it is definitely uncertain as to whether or not it means that Microsoft will be providing users with a social networking platform. Maybe this was all a publicity stunt that Microsoft came up with to get people excited about the possibilities of a Microsoft platform, but maybe it wasn’t.

Unfortunately for those who are curious, Microsoft’s Lawrence says, "We have no more information at this time.”

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Revolution of the Internet?

2011-07-13T13:38:00.007-04:00

According to Rebecca MacKinnon, an internet freedom activist (yes, they actually exist) who recently spoke at TED Global in Edinburgh, Scotland, the thought that "technology created by innovative companies will set us all free" is completely bogus.

MacKinnon opened her speech by contrasting the famous "1984" ad by Apple where the company asserted its role as an agent of empowerment. With Apple's recent, and controversial, removals from the company's App Store, MacKinnon stated that the internet is increasingly in need of a new system of "checks and balances".

This "need" apparently comes from the increasing power big corporations have over the internet as well as their ability to direct and shape what a person can and cannot do with their own internet lives as a result of that "power".

This problem is less prevalent in the United States but does rear its ugly head in other countries abroad like China where internet providers are rewarded with "Self-Discipline Awards" for conforming to the censorship policies set forth by the government. While this problem may seem very vast and nearly insurmountable, MacKinnon noted that it is more often Western technology that allows the government to enforce restrictions like this.

MacKinnon also points to post-revolution monitoring as well as restricted access to certain websites in countries like Tunisia and Egypt. "Even in democratic society we don't have good answers for how to balance the need for security on one hand and the protection of free speech on the other in our digital networks," MacKinnon stated.

In response to this, MacKinnon believes that the people of the internet should take a more active role in pressuring the government as well as corporations in order to preserve our digital free speech. MacKinnon added, "Each of us has a vital role to play in building a world in which the government and technology serve the world's people and not the other way around."

MacKinnon is so passionate about this topic that she even has a book out entitled "Consent of the Networked: A Citizen's Guide to the Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom" which is due to be released early 2012. What do you think? Do you think the people of the internet need to "take up arms" so to speak and rebel against the governments and corporations to free ourselves in the digital world?

Source: Mashable - Do We Need an Internet Freedom Movement?

Are You Cancelling Your Netflix Account? I Am!

2011-07-12T23:54:00.004-04:00

Netflix announced on Tuesday, July 12 that they will no longer be offering unlimited Netflix streaming for free with their DVD rental plans. They are also introducing new pricing plans that have customers in an uproar.

Netflix has decided to introduce plans that allow users to choose to separate their DVD rentals from the Watch Instantly streaming. As of today, new Netflix members can get unlimited streaming or unlimited DVDs one at a time for $7.99. If customers want both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs one at a time, they will be shelling out $15.98. Just yesterday this exact same plan only cost $9.99.

There are plenty of other plans that Netflix is now offering with its new spiked prices as well. Unlimited streaming plus two DVDs out at a time is $19.98 per month, unlimited streaming with three DVDs is $23.98 and streaming with four DVDs is now $29.98 per month. If you aren’t interested in the instant streaming, there is also an option to only rent two DVDs at a time without streaming for $11.99 per month.

Customers are outraged by the huge jump in Netflix’s prices. Protests are breaking out across social media networks. Threats of cancelled subscriptions and switching to Blockbuster’s DVD mailing rental services are being hurled across the web. The company is getting rammed for a 60 percent price hike, but doesn’t it seem reasonable for customers to be upset about something so outrageously ridiculous?

The announcement about the new rental plans was posted on the company’s Facebook page a mere ten hours ago, and in that time close to 19,000 people have expressed their at times brightly colored opinions about the company.

Here is just a snippet of what customers are saying:

“60% increase in price -- but, no positive change in service?? Insane!”

“Wow... I've been a member since 2003. When I got the email, my first thought was CANCEL. Yep, canceling.”

“Bye Bye Netflix! I will find another way to spend my money, rather than pay your price increases for decreased service.”

“Good news! I just saved a bunch of money by canceling my account.”

“Netflix just saved Blockbuster from bankruptcy.”

Netflix’s Facebook page has gotten plenty of “likes” today. That may seem like it doesn’t fit with all of the protests against the company. Well, see, the issue is that to comment on the Netflix page, you must first “like” the company. I went right ahead and liked the company so that I could get a few words in myself. Many people claim that Netflix has deleted their comments about the new plan, but even with the alleged deletes, anyone can see that customers are clearly not happy.

Facebook users are also going as far as creating new anti-Netflix community pages with group names such as “Cancel Netflix,” “I Unlike Netflix Today” and “I used to love Netflix until they decided to rip me off.” Many of the pages are encouraging users to join in the mass cancellation day on September 1. This is the day that the new rental plan changes take place for people who were members before the announcement.

Facebook is not the only site that is blowing up with disgust for Netflix. Twitter is being bombarded with “Dear Netflix” tweets highlighting users rage over the recent changes.

Users are saying that it is impossible to get through on the phone to talk to a Netflix customer service representative due to the overflow of enraged callers expressing their opinions about the announcement today.

Clearly Netflix has a huge problem on their hands. They will be losing plenty of customers over a stunt like this. It’s sad because I used to like Netflix so much. It was so convenient for me, but now I am forced to look elsewhere. Blockbuster, here I come!

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What Does Facebook Think About Google+?

2011-07-11T12:08:00.004-04:00

If you haven’t noticed, Google+ has been popping up all over the place. At first I was very confused about what this new Google+ was, but when I looked into it a little bit more, I was intrigued. I honestly don’t know exactly how well it will do, but Google was right to give it a try. The chief executive of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg said at the launch of Facebook’s video-calling partnership with Skype that he thinks Google’s social strategy is a validation of everything that he has been saying all along.

The Facebook video calls were launched Wednesday, June 6 at an event in Palo Alto, California at Facebook’s headquarters. Last week, Zuckerberg said that Facebook had “something awesome” planned, but unfortunately for Zuckerberg, sources close to Facebook leaked details about the Skype partnership to the Web site TechCrunch.

Facebook is definitely at the very top of the social networking ladder, but Google is hoping to maybe make a dent with their newly released social network Google+. Recently, Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook has more than 750 million users. He said that the most important thing when it comes to the growth of a social network is the amount of information and data that can be shared. He added that each and every year the growth is increasing exponentially.

So how does Google’s Google+ Hangouts compare to Facebook’s new video chat feature? Well, it all just kind of depends on your personal preferences. Zuckerberg and Tony Bates, the chief executive of Skype, have been advertising the new video calling feature at Facebook as extremely easy to use. On the other hand, Google’s Hangouts seems rather complex. There are multiple messaging options and the ability to group chat with as many as 10 users.

Although it may be more complex, Susan Etlinger, an industry analyst for the Altimeter Group, seems to think that the options Google+’s Hangouts offers are a plus for users. "Google has an advantage because Hangouts is a lot more robust," she said.

"Now Skype is part of Microsoft, and we have an even more longstanding relationship with Microsoft," Zuckerberg said. "But I wouldn't undersell the importance of what we announced today. The vast majority of video chat is one-to-one chat, and this is going to be rolled out to everyone on the Web, and I think that is super awesome." Zuckerberg also commented on Google+ saying that it shows the constant evolution of social networking and how all of the companies scramble to keep up with one another.

"I'm not going to say a lot about Google+, as I've only spent a little bit of time on the service," Zuckerberg said. "But in terms of the narrative, as I was saying earlier, where the last five years have been about connecting people, and now that you have the social infrastructure in place a lot of the next five years will be about building these apps. You're going to see a lot of companies who haven't traditionally looked at social networking, not just companies like Google...but there's going to be a lot of apps, lot of companies out there, Netflix is a good example."

Zuckerberg continued saying that although Netflix has added a social aspect to the company, they didn’t really do it well. Companies are now looking to social networking sites to see how they can become a part of the social networking world. "I view a lot of this as validation as this is the way the next five years are going to play out," Zuckerberg added. "Every app is going to be social, and I think our job is to stay focused and to build the best value in the world, and if we don't do it, someone else will do it."

200 Million Tweets a Day On Twitter

2011-07-03T16:10:00.003-04:00

Do you tweet? If so, how many times a day do you tweet? Once? Twice? Maybe a dozen times? You may not be part of the group of Twitter users that are taking major advantage of the mico-blogging site, but someone out there definitely is because Twitter announced on Thursday, June 30 that the site is now handling 200 million tweets per day.

According to Twitter’s blog post, these numbers have skyrocketed since 2009. In January 2009, Twitter was dealing with about 2 million tweets a day. In June 2010, that number had jumped to 65 million, and now those numbers have exploded to 200 million per day.

"For perspective, every day, the world writes the equivalent of a 10 million-page book in Tweets or 8,163 copies of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace," the company wrote. "Reading this much text would take more than 31 years and stacking this many copies of War and Peace would reach the height of about 1,470 feet, nearly the ground-to-roof height of Taiwan's Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world." Now that is a lot of writing!

In March Twitter celebrated its five year anniversary. At that time, there was an average of about 140 million tweets going out each and every day. Twitter also revealed at that time that it took their site three years, two months and one day to get to its first billionth tweet. Now Twitter says that a billion tweets is nothing. Twitter users now send one billion tweets every five days.

So what is it that people find to talk about so much on Twitter, you might ask? The most popular trends of 2011 so far in terms of world news have been AH1N1 (the swine flu), while in the pop culture world Rebecca Black of “Friday” was the most talked about pop culture figure.

Some of the most popular news-related trending topics so far this year have surrounded the uprisings in the Middle East and the earthquake in Japan. After AH1N1, the top five most popular terms were Mubarak, Easter, Cairo and #prayforjapan. To finish up the top ten of the year were Chernobyl, Libia/Libya, Fukishima, William & Kate and Gadafi.

Some of the trends in the pop culture world included topics such as Britney Spears and Charlie Sheen. Spears’ latest album titled “Femme Fatale” was the second most popular trending topic, while good old Charlie Sheen came in third. Sheen’s #tigerblood catchphrase came in fourth, while Rapper Nate Dog, who passed away in March, fell into the number five spot. There were also a mix of other things that made the list including Brazilian mixed martial arts artist Anderson Silvia, Tom & Jerry, British band Mumford & Sons, “Bieber alert” and “Queen Gaga.”

Computer Service Now

Obama to Hold First Twitter Town Hall on July 6

2011-06-30T16:13:00.007-04:00

On Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Barack Obama will hold a live town hall...using Twitter. That's right, our nation's leader will be answering questions about our current economy and jobs during a live webcast. Questions may be submitted via the askobama.twitter.com website or by using the Twitter hashtag #AskObama.

In addition to that, there is also an official Twitter account for the town hall, @townhall, that users will be able to follow in order to receive all the updates. The July 6 live webcast will begin at 2 p.m. ET, 11 a.m. PT. Twitter has designed and hosted the website for the event. The news came via tweet that read, "BREAKING: 1st Twitter @townhall w/ Pres Obama at the WH on 7/6 @ 2ET. #AskObama your Qs on the economy & jobs: askobama.twitter.com."

Politicians have recently increased their Twitter usage by using the website to connect with constituents, announce their future plans to run for higher offices and even share important news. One example includes Republican presidential candidates planning on debating via Twitter on July 20 using 140TownHall.com as a platform. What is so interesting about this is that Twitter has yet to actively involve itself in the political process to this extent before.

A lot of people like this idea and see Twitter as the perfect digital version of a traditional town hall. The site allows users to voice their opinions and questions to not only the politician but also to the community as a whole. It stands to reason that in the buildup to the 2012 presidential election Twitter will continue to play a more prominent role in the discourse.

I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I can see the benefits from doing something like this as a way for Obama to receive questions from citizens all across the country. On the other hand, it feels a little gimmicky to me. What do you think? Do you like politicians' use of Twitter to connect with the public? What questions are you going to Tweet to Obama on July 6?

Source: Mashable - President Obama To Hold First Twitter Town Hall on July 6

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Google PageRank Updated Today

2011-06-27T14:54:00.002-04:00

There was a PageRank update today from Google. I noticed many of our blogs, magazines and websites all had higher PageRank. Looking to verify if others had the same experience, Barry Schwartz posted this report with his post earlier today.

Barry posted:

So after almost 6 months, Google has finally updated the toolbar PageRank values. At least that is what everyone is reporting in the forums. Personally, I did not look - but based on all the threads and posts, it seems like a global PageRank update was indeed pushed out.
The last one was about 6 months ago, and this comes about a month since Google's Matt Cutts said a PageRank update is coming soon.

Who Really Owns Facebook?

2011-06-26T09:45:00.003-04:00

The fight over who has stakes in Facebook continues. According to court documents that were filed on Friday, June 17, Paul Cegila, the man that claims that he owns half of founder Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking giant, has passed the lie detector test that he was given. The test focused in on the authenticity of a contract that Cegila and Zuckerberg allegedly signed back in 2003. Facebook claims that the documents are forged, but according to Cegila’s lawyers, the test showed “no deception.”

In 2003 Zuckerberg was hired by Cegila to do some programming for a company called StreetFax. It was after this encounter that Cegila was then convinced by Zuckerberg to invest in Facebook. At the time Facebook was in its beginning stages and was only available to Harvard students. According to a transcript that was revealed in April of an alleged email correspondence between Cegila and Zuckerberg, Cegila was given a 50 percent share of Facebook for a $1,000 investment. He was also allegedly promised an additional 1 percent share for every day that Facebook was not online past January 1, 2004.

Despite the results of the lie detector test, Facebook lawyers were not convinced.

"This latest court filing confirms that the bogus emails are, literally, a cut-and-paste job, just like the so-called contract is a fraud," attorney Orin Snyder of Gibson Dunn said in a statement emailed to media. There is a deafening silence in these papers: Ceglia does not dispute that he has a track record of forging documents to rip people off.

"And the fact that this plaintiff now has to rely on a polygraph test says it all. Everyone knows polygraph tests are easily manipulated, which is why courts routinely disregard them."

The supposed email contract is not the only document that Cegila is releasing. He also put out emails in which Zuckerberg allegedly requested to use a source code from StreetFax to power Facebook’s search engine and a proposal to charge a fee for alumni to be able to use the site.

Yet another email detailed an additional $1,000 that Cegila supposedly invested in the company, and others featured back and forth about Cegila’s alleged stakes in Facebook. In one, Zuckerberg even supposedly offered to refund Cegila’s investment.

Some of the emails that Cegila claims are genuine feature Zuckerberg referencing the “upperclassmen.” It seems most probable that this reference would be aimed toward the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. These two young men were champion crew athletes that claimed to be the actual originators of Facebook. In 2008 the twins were able to secure a $65 million settlement from the company, and they continue to pursue legal filings against both Facebook and Zuckerberg.

In one of the alleged emails that Cegila has filed, Zuckerberg writes, “I have recently met with a couple of upperclassmen here at Harvard that are planning to launch a site very similar to ours. If we don't make a move soon, I think we will lose the advantage we would have if we release before them. I've stalled them for the time being and with a break if you could send another $1000 for the facebook project, it would allow me to pay my roommate or Jeff to help integrate the search code and get the site live before them."

In response to all of these claims that Cegila is making, Facebook has requested that they be allowed to immediately review the original copies of the contract and a few other emails that Cegila claims to have but has not yet released. Cegila’s lawyers are requesting that both sides turn over any relevant evidence that they have simultaneously. A court date has currently been set for June 30. There these motions will be decided.

"Not only does Mr. Ceglia possess an original agreement, it has been examined by two forensic document experts," attorneys for Ceglia said in an email to the media.

Facebook Topped Out In the U.S.?

2011-06-17T10:30:00.005-04:00

The social networking giant, Facebook, is continuing to grow. It now has close to 700 million users, but the continued user growth on the website is not necessarily occurring within the United States. Has Facebook reached its growth limit within the states?

According to data provided by Inside Facebook, a popular blog that tracks the sites and its development platform, just in the past month the social networking site lost more than 7 million active users in the United States and Canada alone. However, growth is not declining everywhere. Inside Facebook reported that more than 1 million users from Mexico have been added to the sites network in the past month. Mexico did offer its citizens Facebook access at a later date than either the U.S. or Canada did, but it still begs the question whether or not Facebook has topped out here in the United States.

Inside Facebook reported that there have been ups and downs in terms of gains and losses of users in Canada, but this is the very first time that the United States has had a loss of active users.

Facebook is questioning the accuracy of these reports by Inside Facebook.

"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions," said a statement Monday from a Facebook spokesperson. "Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn't designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook. We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook on any given day."

According to the stats, Facebook reached 687 million users at the very beginning of June; however, the overall growth rate of the site does seem to be slowing down. In April there were 13.9 million active monthly users on Facebook, but in May the number of active users slipped to 11.8 million.

The U.S. and Canada are not the only places where the active user numbers have dropped. In the United Kingdom, Norway and Russia, all countries where Facebook has been available pretty much since the explosion of the site, active users in May dropped by 100,000 active users in each of the countries.

Despite these drops, Facebook is focusing on the globalization of the site, and there are plenty of countries where expansion is occurring. In Brazil, India and Argentina, there was more than a 5 percent growth increase.

Inside Facebook did offer up some possible reasons for the decrease in the U.S. and Canada. They noted that seasonal changes like graduations, issues with the Facebook software or any other one-time anomalies can skew data.

Inside Facebook went on to raise a few questions:
"By the time Facebook reaches around 50% of the total population in a given country (plus or minus depending on internet access rates in that country), growth generally slows to a halt, as we've noted before," read the post, by Eric Eldon.

"So far, Facebook has been able to make up stalls and losses with big gains in heavily-populated developing countries like Mexico, Brazil, India and Indonesia."

Eldon went on to recommend that if Facebook wanted to reach the 1 billion user mark, moving into China would be a definite way of securing that goal; however, he noted that if the social networking site were to agree to the terms of the Communist country, it might hurt its popularity in the states.

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Maximize Your Blogging Efforts with Linkedin

2011-06-15T13:34:00.004-04:00

If you are a blogger like me, then you know the value of getting your posts out to the public. I mean, what good is a blogger if nobody reads your blog? Over the past few years since blogging has really started to catch on, there have been a number of sites designed to help you get your blogs read and to connect with other bloggers and other people with similar interests to what you are blogging about. One such site is Linkedin.

In the past couple of years, Linkedin has taken its site and added a lot of really cool and free features that are designed to help you maximize your efforts online as a blogger. Linkedin has a ton of different features that are sure to make your blogging efforts easier and more fruitful. Here are just a few activities that Linkedin has available to help you.

Ability to Make Friends - Linkedin allows you to immediately start connecting with friends, coworkers and fellow groupies. Think of the site as a mini-directory. The more people you connect with on the site, the bigger your blogging network will become.

Join Groups - Linkedin is free to join and limits you to being a part of 50 different groups and if you want the most out of the site, it may serve you well to take advantage of all 50. Try to join groups that are key to your core market and that cover topics similar to what you blog about. The best thing is that you can also join and leave groups whenever you want to.

Share Your Content - If you are going to post on Linkedin, make sure you are posting relevant and current content that links back to your blog. Make the discussions you post in groups relevant and make sure your comments on other posts are the same. You can also get into RSS and have things posted automatically if you wish.

Enjoy Your Self - Linkedin is free and easy and is a great way to promote your blog posts while building a network at the same time. You can share as much as you want but do try not to overpost. Posting too much looks spammy and is off-putting to most readers.

Follow these tips and your initial jump into Linkedin will be a smooth one. Once you're in and you start to feel comfortable, you can start to investigate all the other features and services the site provides. I happen to use Linkedin every day for my blog posts and it is one of the best ways to get your content out to the public.

Source: Social Media Today - Keep It Real: How to Use Linkedin to Maximize your Blogging ROI

Computer Service Now

Facebook's Facial Recognition Technology Under Fire

2011-06-10T09:43:00.004-04:00

Facebook always seems to be under fire about something. Well, this time it’s the social media giant’s facial recognition software. A single day after a security blog discussed how the facial recognition software was turned on by default for any photo tagging on the site, European data protection officials are allegedly beginning an investigation of the issue.

According to Bloomberg, the EU’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party will be looking into the situation for any “possible rules violations;” however, not only is the EU investigating the issue, but so are Ireland’s data protection authority and some government officials here in the states. Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is making his concerns about the technology known.

"Requiring users to disable this feature after they've already been included by Facebook is no substitute for an opt-in process," Markey said in a statement. "If this new feature is as useful as Facebook claims, it should be able to stand on its own, without an automatic sign-up that changes users' privacy settings without their permission."

Facebook announced their plans for the facial recognition technology way back in December. They explained it as similar to many photo editing tools and marketed it as a very helpful, time-saving upgrade. For those unfamiliar with this technology, Facebook explained it like this: “If you upload pictures from your cousin's wedding, we'll group together pictures of the bride and suggest her name. Instead of typing her name 64 times, all you'll need to do is click 'Save' to tag all of your cousin's pictures at once. By making tagging easier than before, you're more likely to know right away when friends post photos. We notify you when you're tagged, and you can untag yourself at any time. As always, only friends can tag each other in photos."

Sounds pretty harmless, right? Facebook says that the technology examines any newly uploaded pictures and compares them to any photos in which you and your friends have been previously tagged. Then it can make a tagging suggestion.

On Tuesday Sophos, a security firm, expressed some concern over the fact that Facebook has the facial recognition technology turned on by default. "Now might be a good time to check your Facebook privacy settings as many Facebook users are reporting that the site has enabled the option in the last few days without giving users any notice," Sophos' Graham Cluley wrote in a blog post.

Facebook is "rather creepily ... pushing your friends to go ahead and tag you," Cluley wrote. "Remember, Facebook does not give you any right to pre-approve tags. Instead the onus is on you to untag yourself in any photo a friend has tagged you in. After the fact."

"Unfortunately, once again, Facebook seems to be sharing personal information by default," Cluley wrote. "The onus should not be on Facebook users having to "opt-out" of the facial recognition feature but instead on users having to 'opt-in.'"

Facebook responded saying that they definitely should have been more communicative to their users about the software.

"We should have been more clear with people during the roll-out process when this became available to them," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.

So far, there do not seem to be any plans to make the feature an opt-in thing. Facebook claims that the tool is only meant for speeding up the photo uploading process and is used by users “more than 100 million times a day.”

I can say from personal experience that I believe that facial recognition software is incredibly helpful! It saves me so much time, which is a great thing to me. Now, I will say that when I first uploaded pictures and Facebook was telling me who the people in the picture were, I was a little bit creeped out. I just wasn’t expecting it because I had never seen anything like that in action before, but now that I am used to it, it so convenient! To me it seems like some people are simply blowing things out of proportion. If Facebook users have an issue with the facial recognition technology, all they have to do is turn it off. It’s simple. Go to your Facebook account’s privacy setting, click on the “Customize settings” button, go to “Things others share” and find the option for “Suggest photos of me to friends.” If you want to see if it is enabled on your account, simply go to “Edit setting,” and the box should either say it is enabled or disabled. It is that simple folks!

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Man Tweets Apology to Settle Defamation Accusations

2011-06-06T11:14:00.006-04:00

We keep saying that social media is everywhere. Well, that may be very close to being true because it is even beginning to creep into our forms of punishment now. A recent defamation case in Malaysia was settled in a very unusual fashion just recently. A Malaysian blogger was accused of defaming a magazine publishing company, so what punishment has he agreed to…why tweeting an apology one hundred times of course!

According to the Daily Mail, Fahmi Fadzil will indeed tweet an apology to the publishing company one hundred times as his punishment for the defamation accusations. In January activist Fadzil made an accusation via his Twitter account that caused quite an uproar. He claimed Blu Inc Media, the publisher of Female Magazine, had mistreated his friend who was pregnant, causing her to leave her position with the company. He later retracted the brash statement that he had made, but the lawyers for Blu Inc Media still made sure to send Fadzil a letter demanding financial damages and a formal apology published in a newspaper.

The issue was settled out of court, and both parties agreed that Fadzil would tweet an apology via his Twitter account one hundred times. They decided that the tweet would read as follows: “I've defamed Blu Inc Media & Female Magazine. My tweets on their HR Policies are untrue. I retract those words & hereby apologize."

Fadzil began his long line of tweets on Thursday and sent them out about every 30 minutes or so. The editor of Female Magazine, Seema Viswanathan, said that she believed that the punishment was very appropriate. She went on to say that Fadzil’s tweet could have had a harmful effect on Blu Inc Media as a company, so the retraction and apology seemed fitting.

"Problems began when he first tweeted that his pregnant friend had resigned due to our treatment and there were a dozen or so follow up tweets," Viswanathan told CampaignAsia.com. "It wasn't just one tweet and he had an audience of about 4,200 followers. These followers on Twitter added to the negative posting agreeing that Blu Inc was a bad employer who discriminated against women. The main thing you have to realize is that it was all untrue."

The odd punishment that was decided upon for Fadzil sparked plenty of discussions. The conversations (under the hashtag #defahmi) revolved around some of the issues in the country surrounding the use of social media. In past years there have been some issues including the punishment of some who dare to raise their negative opinions concerning the Malaysian royalty.

"First time witnessing a 'community service sentence' on Twitter," tweeted blogger Christopher Tock. "Will this be something common in future years?"

John Syahredzan, a lawyer at Blu Inc Media, confirmed that this is indeed the first time that the company has utilized Twitter as a means of settling a defamation case. I guess we will just have to monitor if this continues to occur in the future.

$750 Million IPO Filed by Groupon

2011-06-02T17:09:00.006-04:00

Groupon, the immensely popular online group coupon service, has recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to go public in a $750 million IPO which was underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.

This filing reveals all of the details on Groupon's financials which, if you have been following the news, have been the subject of some speculation. For the entirety of 2010, Groupon's revenue totaled $713 million. This number was up an astonishing 2300% from the company's revenues in 2009. However, Groupon's revenue in the first quarter of 2011 was $644 million, which perfectly demonstrated how fast the company continues to grow.

The subscriber base for Groupon has also shown a similar trajectory of growth with Groupon pumping out deals to more than 83 million subscribers as of the end of the first quarter 2011. This number is up 50 million from the end of 2010.

Groupon, which has raised over $1 billion in venture capital, has paid a price for this spike in growth, however. As of right now, Groupon is not profitable. In its filing Groupon stated, "We have incurred net losses since inception and we expect our operating expenses to increase significantly in the foreseeable future. We incurred net losses of $389.6 million and $102.7 million in 2010 and the first quarter of 2011."

CEO and Founder of Groupon Andrew Mason recently wrote a letter to the company's shareholders talking about the unprecedented growth, strategy and interesting approach that was also included inthe filing. In a section from the letter, Mason writes, "We want the time people spend with Groupon to be memorable. Life is too short to be a boring company. Whether it's with a deal for something unusual, such as fire dancing classes, or a marketing campaign such as Grouspawn, we seek to create experiences for our customers that make today different enough from yesterday to justify getting out of bed."

The letter went on to say, "If you're thinking about investing, hopefully it's because, like me, you believe that Groupon is better positioned than any company in history to reshape local commerce. The speed of our growth reflects the enormous opportunity before us to create a more efficient local marketplace. As with any business in a 30-month-old industry, the path to success will have twists and turns, moments of brilliance and other moments of sheer stupidity."

This filing by Groupon has been highly anticipated for some time now, even though the hot performance of other recent offerings from other companies like Linkedin and Yandex, the major search engine from Russia, have accelerated the timetable for Groupon. When it makes its debut, Groupon will trade under the symbol GRPN.

Source: Mashable - BREAKING: Groupon Files for $750 Million IPO

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Facebook or Sense of Smell...Should This Even Be an Option?

2011-05-31T21:59:00.004-04:00

How much to do you value your Facebook profile? The answer to that question varies of course, but it just seems that some people are completely obsessed with the social networking site. How much would those people be willing to sacrifice for secure, guaranteed access to the site? A recent study shows that some people would go to extreme lengths to keep this access.

A study conducted by McCann Worldgroup discovered that 53 percent of “young people,” individuals ranging from the ages of 16-22 years old, would much rather sacrifice their sense of smell than give up social networks. The study stated, “For this generation, technology is not an add-on. It is a tool that enables them to sense the world and make sense of the world.”

The researchers polled 7,000 different people between the ages of 16 and 30, and this group of researched individuals didn’t just come from the U.S. McCann Worldgroup polled people from the U.K., Spain, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and several other countries as well.

The biggest thing that they discovered while conducting the research is that without social networking technology, a majority of the people polled seemed to think that they would feel isolated and “out of the loop.” Global IQ director at McCann Worldgroup Laura Simpson said, "Technology is the great global unifier. It is the glue that binds this generation together and fuels the motivations that define them. Young people utilize technology as a kind of supersense which connects them to infinite knowledge, friends, and entertainment opportunities."

Another thing that the study found was that the younger the individual, the more that the person seemed to care about the connections that they had versus the experiences. This current generation simply maintains friendships in a very different way than their parents do. The research found that the average, everyday teenager is "likely to manage and maintain multiple, intersecting groups of friends” through social media instead of focusing on a single, smaller core group of friends. Researchers were told by 47 percent of the participants that they want their friends and family to remember them for their connections.

"This is the 'strategic generation' who effortlessly manages different identities, evaluates the usefulness of specific connections, and occasionally strips back those who no longer make the grade," the survey said.

Currently, there are more than 500 million Facebook profiles. The sheer vastness of this number, in conjunction with the McCann research, seems to suggest that a good portion of people really do care about their activity on the site. Thank goodness they won’t be choosing between their sense of smell and access to the site since we would end up having 53 percent of our population between the ages of 16 and 22 without their sense of smell. That’s insane to me that someone would care about a social networking site so much. I mean, it’s just Facebook…but I guess that is not all it is to some people.

Zuckerberg Would Like to See Younger Kids On Facebook

2011-05-23T07:54:00.006-04:00

According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, younger children should be allowed to use Facebook. Earlier this week Zuckerberg said that he truly believed that younger kids should be given Facebook access for educational purposes.

According to Fortune magazine, Zuckerberg spoke at the NewSchools Summit in California saying, "In the future, software and technology will enable people to learn a lot from their fellow students."

As of right now, Facebook only allows individuals who are 13 and older to sign up for a Facebook page. Of course, it is incredibly easy for kids to get around that rule by simply saying that they are older than they really are. Consumer Reports stated that there are approximately 7.5 million underage kids who are currently using Facebook.

With regard to allowing kids younger than 13 to join the site, Zuckerberg said, "That will be a fight we take on at some point… my philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age."

What stands in the way of this occurring is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This act prohibits Web sites from collecting any kind of information from users who are under the age of 13. Because of this Zuckerberg said, "we haven't even begun this learning process. If they're lifted then we'd start to learn what works. We'd take a lot of precautions to make sure that they [younger kids] are safe."

I honestly do not know if this act will be overturned anytime in the near future though. The chief technology officer of Facebook Bret Taylor visited Capitol Hill on Thursday, May 19 where he was grilled by Senator John Rockefeller about the issue of underage kids using the site.

Rockefeller got right down to the point, telling Taylor, "I want you to defend your company here because I don't know how you can.”

He continued saying, “Whenever we find out that someone has misrepresented their age on Facebook, we shut down that account. We don't allow people to misrepresent their age."

In Facebook’s defense, the site reported that in March it removed as many as 20,000 profiles from the site each and every day due to certain infractions, including the issue of underage use.

In a recent statement, a Facebook spokesperson claimed that the site is currently designed to cater to the needs of two different age groups: 13 to 18 and 18 and up.

"However, recent reports have highlighted just how difficult it is to implement age restrictions on the Internet and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don't circumvent a system or lie about their age," the spokesperson continued. "As Mark noted, education is critical to ensuring that people of all ages use the Internet safely and responsibly. We agree with safety experts that communication between parents or guardians and kids about their use of the Internet is vital. We believe that services such as Facebook have a role to play in encouraging this."

Computer Service Now

Gaga Glamming Up FarmVille

2011-05-19T22:26:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday, May 17 GagaVille, a Lady Gaga-themed version of the incredibly popular game FarmVille, was released. This special edition of FarmVille will be open to the public until May 26. Users will be able to "execute Gaga-themed quests" so that they can unlock songs from Lady Gaga’s upcoming album “Born This Way.”

Although Gaga’s album is not released until May 23, she wants her fans to have the opportunity to have first access to “Born This Way.” It was last week that Zynga announced that GagaVille would be coming into existence as a result of a marketing partnership between Lady Gaga and Clear Channel Radio.

"Radio has been Lady Gaga's virtual stage from the very beginning enabling fans to connect with her 24-7, and this is another extension of that stage," said Bob Pittman, chairman of Clear Channel's media and entertainment platforms, in a statement.

"We are deeply invested in working with both platform partners and record labels to promote new music in creative ways that reach fans wherever they are, and most of all, we're excited to partner with Zynga to give Lady Gaga fans who play FarmVille advance access to 'Born This Way', one of the most anticipated albums of the year," he continued.

Lady Gaga has been described by some as “hands on” when it comes to her marketing campaigns. She said, "I want to celebrate and share 'Born This Way' with my little monsters in a special way that's never been done before. Zynga has created a magical place in FarmVille where my fans can come play and be the first to listen to the album."

Gaga fans who buy $25 worth of FarmVille game credits from Best Buy will be able to download the entire “Born This Way” album for free.

So, what is the difference between GagaVille and the usual FarmVille? Well, GagaVille is very similar to FarmVille just with a lot more glamor. GagaVille offers new crops including Chrome Daisies, Electric Roses and Crystal. There are also new goods (Shiny Daisy Cake, Spark Rose Mead, Crystalmist Wine, Rose Flame Candles), market items (a Crystal Fountain, Gem Tree) and new quests. As users complete the different quests that they are given, they unlock free songs from Lady Gaga.

Now, these aren’t the only differences. Some of the animals in GagaVille have been glammed up as well. Sheep wear Gaga’s Fame Monster costume-inspired “two-story hats,” and a Purple Ponytail Horse is outfitted with a leather choker and bracelet.

"Lady Gaga is as passionate about her fans as we are about our players," Zynga's Raquel DiSabatino, director of entertainment and media, told the Associated Press. "This really was a great meeting of the minds to create an innovative and playful experience for those folks."

If you are a Gaga fan, than GagaVille will be loads of fun for you. If you’ve got some extra time to spend on fun and games, you should definitely check out the Gaga version of FarmVille.

Security Camera Solutions

WordPress Officially Ends Support for Internet Explorer 6

2011-05-19T16:29:00.007-04:00

Internet Explorer 6, which is probably the most widely used internet browser ever, is about to be shut off completely. This is not anything new, however. People have known this day was coming for some time but another big name web service is ending their support for IE 6, WordPress.com.

According to WordPress, their reason for shutting down support for Internet Explorer 6 is due to "increasingly complex code trickery to make the WordPress dashboard work." The WordPress dashboard will still load for any users still using Internet Explorer 6, it just won't work very well.

Users of IE 6 will be alerted that their internet browser is outdated and will also be given direct links to browser updates or links to download alternative browsers like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

In addition to dropping support for Internet Explorer 6, WordPress has also unleashed some new features to its site which include a revamped and redesigned dashboard as well as a new "distraction-free" writing mode.

These new features, along with the ending of IE 6 support, will hit the self-hosted WordPress installs with WordPress 3.2. The beta version of WordPress 3.2 is currently available for download with the final version expected to be available sometime in June.

WordPress.com, which is one of the biggest website hosting services on the internet, is just another addition to the already long list of providers that have officially cut ties with Internet Explorer 6 for good. Back in March, Microsoft launched its very own global campaign calling for the demise of IE 6 and it looks like that day is quickly approaching.

Source: Mashable - WordPress.com Drops Support for IE 6

Upgraded Mobile and Mac Twitter Apps

2011-05-13T15:57:00.004-04:00

Just this week Twitter released a new and improved version of its mobile site and Mac version of the site. Twitter said in a blog post, “We want you to be able to access Twitter no matter where you are; regardless of what device you use; or, whether you prefer to access Twitter through a mobile application or the browser.” The new versions offer users cleaner interfaces and even more options for accessing their feeds.

Before the newest version was released, Twitter.com on a mobile device looked just like it did on the Web, but now, the mobile version of Twitter.com will look much more like a Twitter app. It will offer users the ability to scroll through timelines or access @mentions, trending topics and more. “This web app allows us to provide a high-quality and consistent Twitter experience on high-end touchscreen devices – whether or not an official Twitter application is available,” the blog continues. “It was built from the ground up for smartphones and tablets, which have more advanced browsers that support the latest web technologies, including HTML5.”

With all of the changes that have been made, Twitter promises users that they will have a much faster tweeting experience that takes advantage of the possibilities of touch and larger screens. “It’s simple – it’s easy-to-use and has the features you’d expect from a Twitter application, including your timeline…messages that you can read in conversation view, search, lists, and more,” the blog said.

A small percentage of iPhone, iPod Touch and Android smartphone users received the new and improved version of the mobile app on Wednesday, April 11. Additional users will have access to the app sometime in the next few weeks. For now, if users do not have the upgrade, they will be seeing the traditional Twitter.com.

As I mentioned earlier, Twitter for Mac also received an update. This was really the first major update that Twitter for Mac has received. The changes included the ability to tweet much faster, see multiple timelines and complete actions much more quickly.

Twitter for Mac users will now be able to view the timeline, @mentions, lists, multiple accounts and more all at once. This is a huge improvement over the old version. Twitter says that they made all of the changes because they wanted to make Twitter for Mac much easier for its users. The new version now features a bar along the top of the page that allows users to click back to previous pages or send a new tweet. Twitter also said that they improved the Direct Message feature so that it is now much easier to view a conversation or access user profiles.

Twitter for Mac first appeared in January of this year and has since been a popular app. I’m sure that these updates from Twitter will only make it more popular. The upgraded version of Twitter for Mac is now available to download in the Mac App Store.

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Social Media Etiquette?

2011-05-05T18:40:00.007-04:00

So apparently everything has its own form of etiquette these days including social media. It appears that not everybody knows how to interact in social media and it is affecting some businesses and companies that are looking for potential customers. People are snubbing potential contacts and are missing the bullseye because they are unaware of the basics of social media etiquette.

Despite the fact that most social media users hop online and divulge their entire lives to the viewing public, there are still a few basic rules that you should follow if you are attempting to make anything of your social media experience.

First off, there is friending. If you are using Facebook, then you will notice that there is a natural buffer, for most people, between you and another person. If you want full access to a person's pictures, information, updates, etc., you will have to become friends with that person. Now the term "friend" in the online world does not mean the same thing is does in the real world. In online terms a friend is the same as a friend, buddy, acquaintance, family member, classmate or even your old third grade teacher. The good news is that you are able to turn down a person's friend request without them seeing it so don't worry about that.

The next thing is following. This applies more to Twitter folk. Now nobody is saying that getting friends on Twitter is easy because gathering a strong following, unless you are a celebrity, famous sports player or big shot company, is tough. Twitter is interesting because you can have a different number of followers which is different from the people you are following. Just because I may be following the tweets of Gilbert Gottfried does not mean that he is following mine. However, it is apparently quite rude to not follow somebody who takes time out of their precious schedule to follow you. You should at least send them a private message saying thank you for their following.

The last element is commenting. If you are a blogger, then a comment is proof of your success as a blogger. If a person comments on something that you write, that means they were interested enough to read the entire blog post and enjoyed your post enough to say something about it. The best way to attract attention to your blog is to update it at least once or twice a week. If you only update every few months, you might as well not even have a blog at all. It is also good etiquette to respond to a person's comment as well. Let them know you care about what they have to say.

These are only a few things you can do to make sure you have good social media etiquette but these principles do apply elsewhere too. Social media can be great for your business or it could make you appear boring, mundane and push people away. Always make an effort to interact and you should do fine.

Source: Roswell Patch - What To Do Social Media Etiquette

Shorter Relationships for Active Twitter Users

2011-04-20T14:44:00.004-04:00

Are you an active Twitter user? Do you have hundreds of followers or are you following hundreds of people? Can you not go a single day without tweeting something? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then your romantic relationships are more than likely not going to last long, well not as long as normal, non-Twitter folk.

According to stats posted by the online dating site OkCupid, the romantic relationships of active Twitter users do not last as long as the rest of the population. OkCupid, which publishes information about dating trends and statistics, has gathered up a number of different charts that deal with the sexual habits of the millions of people that use the site.

While sifting through their findings, OkCupid came across two conclusions that deal specifically with Twitter users. The first conclusion is that people who use Twitter every single day tend to have shorter relationships. It was also seen that this problem tends to get worse as the person gets older.

The average relationship of an 18-year-old avid Twitter user is roughly nine months with the rest of the non-Tweeting population of 18-year-olds having relationships that last about nine-and-a-half months. However a 50-year-old avid tweeter stays in a relationship for 15 months with the average non-tweeter lasting about 17 months.

The other conclusion is a little more...interesting. OkCupid also discovered that if someone is a frequent user of Twitter, then that person is more likely to masturbate, or at least report that they are. Based on their research, OkCupid concluded that there is a 2-to-1 chance that a person who tweets daily is also masturbating on any given day, which is a higher chance than anybody else.

OkCupid published multiple different sex-related correlations and conclusions based on the data they found. Some of the data even included the fact that GDP has a greater influence on a region's sexual habits than religion or culture. If you want all the intimate details, you can read all about them on the OkCupid blog.

Source: Mashable - Active Twitter Users Have Shorter Relationships [STATS]

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$400 Million Raised by LivingSocial

2011-04-06T14:06:00.005-04:00

It had previously been rumored that daily deals platform LivingSocial, which recently landed a $175 million investment from Amazon back in December, was going to complete a $400 million round of funding. Well, those rumors have come true. LivingSocial has declined to name the sources of their funds and have only stated that they came from a mix of public and private investors both new and existing. LivingSocial does plan to use cash to carry on their aggressive domestic and international growth. They will also use cash to continue their product innovation according to a statement from LivingSocial. LivingSocial also announced that they have over 26 million members and that former CBS Interactive President Neil Ashe is joining their board of directors. This new $400 million in funding raises LivingSocial's value to over $2 billion. LivingSocial had previously disclosed that, as of December, their deals were bringing in over $1 million per day in gross sales. LivingSocial also expects to generate $500 million in revenue for 2011. LivingSocial has raised $632 million to date. LivingSocial's main rival, Groupon, raised $950 million in a Series D round of funding in January, barely a month after they rejected a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google. Groupon has raised $1.1 billion so far. Both LivingSocial and Groupon offer discounts on local businesses, like salons and restaurants, daily via the internet, email and a host of mobile applications. Source: Mashable - LivingSocial Raises $400 Million

Facebook Removes 20,000 User Profiles Per Day

2011-03-24T17:50:00.004-04:00

Facebook announced this week that it removes more than 20,000 profiles from the site per day. The site claimed that these removals are usually due to different kinds of infractions, like users who are underage.

On Monday, March 23, Mozelle Thompson, Facebook’s chief privacy advisor, met with the Australian Parliament’s cyber safety committee to discuss some Internet-related security issues that the site has been facing. There were also representatives from Microsoft and Yahoo who were at the discussion.

Thompson really began making headlines when the Daily Telegraph quoted him stating that Facebook “removes 20,000 people a day, people who are underage.

In the same statement that Thompson began making headlines for, he continues saying all of these removals are due to a variety of different policy violations including spam, inappropriate content and underage use. Underage users would be anybody who is under the age of thirteen. "There are people who lie. There are people who are under 13 [accessing Facebook],” said Thompson.

"At Facebook, we take safety very seriously and we were pleased to participate in a hearing in Australia to talk about our safety policies, practices and systems," the company said. "As we explained in the hearing, these efforts include removing numerous accounts every day for activities including spamming, posting inappropriate content, and violating age restrictions."

Facebook went on to say that the average 20,000 users that the site removes every day do "not include the proactive efforts that actually prevent fake or underage accounts from being created."

Seven million Australians access Facebook every day, nine million access it each week and nearly 11 million visit the site each month.

It was suggested by the Labor MP, Graham Perrett, to Mr. Thompson that maybe teenagers should be forced to get some kind of parental permission before they join Facebook.

The Daily Telegraph also told the committee that they planned to soon hire an Australian employee, who would be based in Australia, to deal with any policy issues. Currently, Facebook has about a dozen Australian-based employees that deal with selling advertising, but they don’t have anyone to deal with any of the local complaints and issues.

Chair of the cyber-safety committee Dana Wortley said, "We know there are potential risks that young people face including cyber-bullying, identity theft and privacy issues, illegal content and contact from online predators."

I think it’s great that Facebook has realized their needs in Australia and plans on taking action. It will just be interesting to see how long it takes before they hire the person needed to handle everything.

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Increase in Employee Firings Caused by Social Media Updates

2011-03-23T13:44:00.005-04:00

Social media is one of the greatest things the internet has ever given us. However, it is also one of the worst. If you are looking for a quick way out of a job, then 140 characters is all you need.

While social media usage is rising, so is the rate of employee firings over tweets and other social media updates. If you post something on Facebook or Twitter and think that it is your own business, then you are sadly mistaken. A lot of employers out there are considering what employees post on social media outlets bad for business.

Facebook has around 350 million users with Twitter having over 75 million accounts resulting in more than 27 million tweets every single day. According to Terri Stewart of Fisher and Phillips, "So what you say is now memorialized in written form. So it has lasting power."

Sure we all have the freedom of speech and the ability to post whatever we want on these sites but sometimes what we say can be detrimental to our employment. Just ask Gilbert Gottfried. Looks like we will be hearing a new voice from the AFLAC duck.

Ashley Payne, a former English teacher in Barrow County, Georgia, lost her job back in 2009 after some pictures of Payne on a vacation to Europe with an alcoholic drink in her hand reached her bosses. Payne released a statement back in 2009 saying, "I wasn't doing anything illegal, I wasn't doing anything provocative."

Terri Stewart, who is also a lawyer based in Atlanta and who specializes in employment law and social media, stated that she thinks the line between personal and professional responsibilities is not as blurry as many people might assume.

"Employers do have some rights in that regard because you're essentially a spokesperson and now what you do in your off time can reach back to your employment," she said.

According to Stewart there are laws that provide some privacy protection in regards to social media. However, if you value your employment, and let's be honest who doesn't in these times, it is probably best to think twice before you tweet or update your Facebook status.

"There isn't an all out ban that you can never say anything against your company but it brings us back to the golden rule: would you want your employers to read this?" Stewart added.

Source: My Fox Atlanta - Social Media Use Leads to Rise in Firings

Twitter Ordered to Hand Over User Info for WikiLeaks Case

2011-03-12T00:05:00.004-05:00

On Friday, March 11, a federal magistrate judge in Virginia ruled that Twitter must hand over all of the records concerning three of its users who are part of an investigation into WikiLeaks.

On December 14, 2010, there was a court filing that required Twitter to hand over private information about the users’ accounts. At first the government wished for the proceedings to be kept private, but the documents were unsealed at the request of different lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The users whose account information is being investigated are Rop Gonggrijp, Jacob Appelbaum, and Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of the Icelandic Parliament.

Twitter said in a statement, "Our policy is designed to let users defend themselves. Twitter will continue to let the judicial process run its course."

The ACLU and the EFF have said that they both plan to appeal the court’s decision.

"This ruling gives the government the ability to secretly amass private information related to individuals' Internet communications. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the government should not be able to obtain this information in secret. That's not how our system works," Aden Fine, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in a statement. "If this ruling stands, our client may be prevented from challenging the government's requests to other companies because she might never know if and how many other companies have been ordered to turn over information about her."

"With so much of our digital private information being held by third parties – whether in the cloud or on social networking sites like Twitter – the government can track your every move and statement without you ever having a chance to protect yourself," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "We're disappointed that the court did not recognize that people using digital tools deserve basic privacy and that the government should be required to meet a high standard before it demands private information about you from the online services you use, be they Twitter, Facebook, Gmail or Skype."

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The Obamas Team Up with Facebook to Stop Online Bullying

2011-03-09T13:53:00.007-05:00

President Obama and wife Michelle have been popping up on the social media news feeds here and there since Barack became president. They have used social media sites like Facebook on many instances and now the presidential couple is using Facebook to help children deal with cyber bullies.

The couple posted a video exclusively to Facebook which serves as a promo as well as a curtain raiser for the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention set to take place on Thursday. Facebook is not, however, only the messenger. The social media giant will also take an active role in the summit along with the Department of Education, the Department of Health and concerned students, parents and teachers. Facebook will also hold a Facebook DC Live event at 12:20 p.m. ET.

Facebook DC Live is a live conversation that will tackle how people can make the internet safer and also how to promote a shared sense of digital citizenship. The event will occur over several Facebook pages and will also include people from Facebook Security, MTV and the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Obama joked in his video about not nagging the viewer for a friend request but rather brought to light the upcoming conference. "This isn't an issue that makes headlines every day, but it affects every single young person in our country," he said.

Michelle Obama helped make the video personal when she brought the Obama's kids into the picture. Bullying used to be a part of growing up, however, Barack Obama refers to cyber bullying which can exist between school, your phone and your home life.

Both Facebook and the White House see cyber bullying as a growing concern and both have put renewed resources into stopping online bullying. The attempts to hinder cyber bullies included such things as making a Safety Page as well as a Safety Center for Facebook whereas the White House has created its own personal website on Facebook StopBullying.gov.

This is not, however, the first video Barack Obama has made addressing the issue of bullying. Barack Obama created a YouTube video in October in support of "It Gets Better" in order to address bullying directed at homosexual youth.

A lot of people find it easy to shrug off cyber bullying just like shrugging off name calling as opposed to physical violence. However, cyber bullying, as we have seen, can be just as painful and even more dangerous. A lot of young people today are putting their lives online and cyber bullying is becoming a bigger and bigger problem.

According to Adam Hildreth, founder and CEO of Crisp Thinking, a digital watchdog agency concerned with behavioral analysis and Internet safety, "Out of 15 million children's IM accounts analyzed we found that 5.6 million children received cyber bullying messages." Some are even saying that this estimate could be conservative according to the Crime Prevention Council.

The Crime Prevention Council claims that cyber bullying affects almost half of all America teens. Another shocking statistic from the Crime Prevention Council states that 19,000 attempted suicides occur each year in the United States alone as a result of cyber bullying.

If this is as big a problem as it seems, then it is quite refreshing and inspirational to see our nation's leaders, both in government and in media, working so hard on fixing the issue.

Source: Mashable - President Obama Fights Bullying on Facebook

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Charlie Sheen with Record Twitter Followers

2011-03-06T17:12:00.004-05:00

Charlie Sheen has been all over the news recently. His personal and professional life seems to quickly be going down the drain. His ex-wife has taken out a restraining order, Two and a Half Men was cancelled, and his two sons were taken away from him, but some interesting things have come out of all of Charlie’s troubles.

Charlie Sheen now holds the Guinness World Record title for the fastest Twitter user to reach one million followers. Sheen was able to do so in a little more than a day. According to the Los Angeles Times online, he was able to get one million followers in 25 hours and 17 minutes. Sheen signed up for his Twitter account on Tuesday, March 1, and as of Sunday, March 6 at 2:28 p.m., Sheen had 1,931,334 followers.

On Thursday, March 3, Sheen tweeted, "In all sincerity... Thank you Twitter community for the warm reception & the followers that helped get me to 1M in 24 hours!!! #teamsheen."

This record set by Sheen on Twitter follows another record that was set a little less than three weeks ago by Lil Wayne. The rapper set a Guinness World Record for the “Most Likes” on one single Facebook page in 24 hours, 588,243 likes in all.

"Guinness World Records is excited to continue expanding the number of social media records it holds and looks forward to new records emerging from the rapidly evolving world of social media," the organization said in a statement.

As I said previously, Sheen has been all over the news every time that you turn your TV on. Some are calling the interviews that have been plastered on the news hilarious, while others are saying they are slightly unsettling. From the interviews, Sheen has developed some catchphrases, which he has recently been capitalizing on through his Twitter account.

The most popular phrases that has come from his interviews have been “tiger blood” and “winning”. In his interview with NBC earlier last week, Sheen said that Alcoholics Anonymous was for "people that aren't special. People that don't have tiger blood, you know, Adonis DNA." Since then, Sheen has used the TigerBlood# hashtag on his Twitter account. This quickly drove it to the very top of Twitter’s trending topics not only in the United States but also the world.

In several of his interviews that he gave last week, Sheen was questioned about being a “winner.” Sheen was even asked if he was bi-polar. Of course he denied it, instead saying that he was “bi-winning.” On Sheen’s Twitter account, it says that he is an “unemployed winner.” Winning seems to be a theme of Sheen’s more than just his interviews and Twitter bio. Sheen went ahead and actually tweeted, "Face it folks, you just feel better when you say it. #WINNING."

All of this publicity and especially the recent tweeting seems like it’s really starting to pay off for Sheen. He just signed a celebrity endorsement deal on Twitter and Facebook with the ad network called Ad.ly. Ad.ly said that Sheen will be joining stars like Mariah Carey, Mandy Moore, Snoop Dog, and about 1,000 other celebrities that have signed social media endorsement contracts with the network. What Ad.ly really does is connect celebrities with certain brands that will pay them to send out posts or tweets via Facebook and Twitter. Celebrities can then earn anywhere from $200 to $25,000 per post.

"Endorsed tweets either includes #ad, #endorsed, or it is disclosed in the message that the celebrity is working with a certain brand," he said. Kim Kardashian, one of Ad.ly’s celebrity endorsers recently tweeted, "It's never too cold to show a little ankle...Check out @OldNavy and their super cute ankle jeans http://jol.ly/0rLI #ad," which was then re-tweeted 43 times. This is a great example of how Ad.ly works.

For now, everyone is fascinated with what Sheen will say next, but how long will that last? How long will it take before people are sick of all of the fuss surrounding Charlie and his long list of problems? I honestly don’t think it will last much longer, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Facebook's Revamped Privacy Policy

2011-02-26T17:11:00.004-05:00

Facebook has been formulating a draft of its privacy policy and plan to make the revised privacy policy much simpler. The policy pretty much mirrors the current official privacy policy of Facebook, but it is written in a much more appealing, understandable way.

Right now, the draft policy features the disclaimer: “We're working on communicating about privacy in a simpler, more interactive way. Let us know what you think by commenting here. This isn't our official privacy policy, which can be found here," with a link to the old policy.

"At Facebook, we are constantly developing new experiences and features to help you control your information," Facebook said in a blog post. "Some of our recent work includes simplified privacy settings and publisher privacy controls that let you select your audience every time you post something on Facebook. We plan a lot more innovations in the months ahead so check back from time to time.”

“However, there is more to controlling your information than just settings," the site added. "It's also important that you understand how information is used and what your choices are. That's why the privacy team took on a new project and applied Facebook's unconventional, innovative spirit to develop a new privacy policy written for regular people."

It went on to say that the new policy is being designed to be easily understood, visual and interactive and focus on the real questions that people are most likely to ask.

Facebook now has more than 500 million users. They have to have some kind of understandable privacy policy that clearly states how the site can use the data that more than 250 million users provide each and every day. Early in 2010, when Facebook first attempted to revamp and simplify its privacy policies, was the last time that the site’s policies were under scrutiny. Some privacy groups simply did not think that they did a good job with the process.

However, privacy policies are not the only thing that Facebook has been criticized for.

Back in December, Facebook received a letter from South Korea. The letter claimed that Facebook was doing an “inadequate” job of protecting the privacy of their users. A week or so after Facebook received the letter from South Korea, the U.S. Commerce Department attempted to formulate an online privacy plan that offered guidelines for how online companies should be using their user-supplied data.

One of the Commerce Department’s main recommendations was that there be a clear set of principles that all companies would have to follow when they collected or used any personal information for commercial purposes. The Commerce Department said that these would be like a “Privacy Bill of Rights.” These rights would hopefully help to promote corporate transparency and put clear limits on the use of user data.

So that the situation could be monitored, the Commerce Department suggested that a privacy policy office be created within the department. That office would then work with the White House, other agencies and stakeholders. The agency also was pushing for greater international collaboration so that they could “find practical means of bridging differences in our privacy frameworks."

Facebook sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Commerce Department concerning all of their work on online policy. The letter concluded:

"Facebook applauds the commission and the Commerce Department for their work in developing an updated framework for protecting privacy in a way that encourages the growth of innovative new services. We believe that both reports contain the essential principles that, taken together, can serve as the basic building blocks for a meaningful re-evaluation of our approach to privacy in the United States. We also agree with the FTC's observation that any privacy framework must be dynamic. By implementing the principles in a way that accommodate the evolving and often unpredictable privacy norms of the twenty-first century, we can create a framework that is sensitive to the different expectations of privacy users have in different contexts, maximizes users' ability to control their privacy as they see fit, and promotes continued innovation."

So, yeah, the new draft policy that Facebook is working on may look very similar to the old policy, but there are a few changes. The font is larger, and there are now navigation elements that are built in to the policy. The policy also is now accompanied by illustrations that show users what information will be shown according to which settings they choose.

I personally haven’t had any problems with Facebook’s privacy policies, but obviously, some people have. Hopefully the adjustments that they are making will help to fix any problems that have been arising. Until the plan is fully implemented though, I guess we won’t know.

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A Comic Book About Mark Zuckerberg? You Better Believe It

2011-02-23T17:00:00.010-05:00

I have seen a lot of crazy things happen in the world recently, and the amount of things I have seen has grown immensely since the "Era of the Social Network", as I like to call it, has taken off like a bat out of hell. Sites like MySpace and Facebook have definitely left their mark on society spawning a lot of interesting things from an award-winning film to numerous law suits over privacy and debates about how secure these sites are. But now I think we may have taken it a little too far.

If you are wondering what I am talking about, then let me enlighten you. I am talking about the comic book portraying the life of one of the co-founders of the social media megalord Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, which hit store shelves today. Bluewater Productions, a comic production company out of Canada, released the "giant-sized" 48-page issue which was written by freelance journalist Jerome Maida and illustrated by Sal Field.

According to Maida, "Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire on the planet and created something that has already had a profound impact on the world. Yet hardly anyone knows much about him. It's amazing." Maida added that he is trying to give context to the complex public figure with his portrayal of Zuckerberg. "Rightly or wrongly, Mark dealt harshly with some people on his way to where he is today. As we see, he left many people feeling betrayed. I try my best to be fair here," Maida added.

Zuckerberg became the unwilling center of David Fincher's award-winning film The Social Network thanks to his billionaire status and the multiple lawsuits surrounding Facebook itself. Zuckerberg may also become an animated character thanks to Maida's comic book due to the fact that production company Hayden 5 Media optioned to script the comic into an animated film.

If you want the comic book about Zuckerberg, hop on over to your local comic book shop with $6.99 and pick it up today.

Source: Mashable - The Mark Zuckerberg Comic Book Has Arrived

Twitter Apps Banned for Violating Policies

2011-02-21T00:08:00.007-05:00

On Friday, February 18, Twitter announced that it had suspended the UberTwitter and twidroyd apps because it claimed that both of the apps violated the company’s API policies.

Responding to that, UberTwitter’s Twitter account, which has now been renamed UberSocial, said that it quickly changed all of the violation issues that Twitter had discovered with the app; however, later on Friday Twitter denied this claim.

Although Twitter’s suspension announcement due to the policy violations of the two apps was released via a support post to the company’s Web site, a spokesman from the company provided a better explanation.

"Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways," Matt Graves, a spokesman for Twitter, said in an email. "These violations include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money.”

"We've had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010 when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation," Graves added ."We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon."

Twitter’s blog post also discussed how the company requests that all of their clients work with the Twitter API Terms of Service, which clearly outline all of the terms that have recently been violated.

"Regardless of how you access Twitter, we are dedicated to making Twitter better, faster and more reliable for you," Twitter said. "As part of this effort, we ask applications that work with Twitter to abide by a simple set of rules that we believe are in the interests of our users, and the health and vitality of the Twitter platform as a whole. We often take actions to enforce these rules.”

"We have suspended UberTwitter and twidroyd for violating our policies," the site said. "Every day, we suspend hundreds of applications that are in violation of our policies," Twitter added.

Now usually most of these applications are used by a small fraction of users, but UberTwitter and twidroyd are much more popular.

While these apps are suspended, Twitter has recommended that users go ahead and download the official Twitter client for BlackBerry and Android.

Like I said before, UberTwitter said that they corrected the issues for which the app was suspended. On Friday afternoon, the company tweeted, “We have made the changes Twitter requested. As soon as Twitter reactivates, you will be live again. Thx!" The company also stated that they would be changing its name.

Twitter’s PR account said that these claims by UberTwitter are not true. "We've been talking to UberMedia about policy violations since they were founded. We haven't reached a resolution."

At this same time Twitter was also busy promoting its own mobile Twitter apps via a #TwitterMobile hastag. Twitter never responded to a request for comment about this fact, but others discussed it.

"Yes, and it's total coincidence that on the day they were suspended Twitter ran the promoted Tweet #TwitterMobile and that UberTwitter was never suspended before being bought by Bill Gross & raising $17.5m," Mark Suster, a venture capitalist and partner with GRP Partners, posted on Quora following an additional explanation by Bill Gross, the CEO and founder of UberMedia. "I'm guessing these were total coincidences.”

"As a long-time user of UberTwitter I find this kind of platform behavior offensive," Suster added. "Not as a VC or as somebody who loves Twitter & always has. But as a user of a product Twitter chose to punish. It sure would have been nicer on your users if you issued a public warning and had given them 72 hours to respond. Who you f-cked was me. Your loyal user."

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Stressed? Maybe You Should Avoid Facebook...

2011-02-19T14:50:00.006-05:00

With a Facebook account come many decisions: should you approve or not approve that new friend request, should you like or not like your ex’s last status, and have you responded to that last message that your friend sent you? That’s a lot of decisions to make.

Well, a study has found that managing your Facebook account really leads to stress and anxiety. Some even go so far as to say that the negative psychological effects of Facebook outweigh the benefits that come with staying in touch with your friends through the social networking site.

The study found that there are a variety of different behaviors that come from the stress of managing your account including: delaying replying to friend requests (63 percent of those polled), feeling guilty for rejecting friend requests (32 percent), feeling anxious (12 percent) or disliking receiving friend requests (10 percent). There were other stresses that the study examined concerning getting rid of unwanted contacts, the pressures of being creative and entertaining, and using the appropriate types of etiquette with different “friends.”

The study also seemed to think that the more Facebook friends that a user has the more likely they are to feel stressed out by the site.

"The results threw up a number of paradoxes," said lead researcher Dr. Kathy Charles in a statement. "For instance, although there is great pressure to be on Facebook there is also considerable ambivalence amongst users about its benefits. "

"An overwhelming majority of respondents reported that the best thing about Facebook was 'keeping in touch,' often without any further explanation," she added. "But many also told us they were anxious about withdrawing from the site for fear of missing important social information or offending contacts."

So this whole Facebook study was conducted by a group of psychologists at Edinburgh Napier University. They gathered all of their information through a combination of focus groups, online surveys, and one-on-one interviews. They actually sat down and questioned about 200 students on their use of Facebook and then supplemented that information with research that they gathered from an online survey of 175 participants. The average age of those who were surveyed online was 30.4 years old.

I found this study fascinating. We all live stressful lives, so should we be doing something that is just going to be causing even more stress? I love Facebook. I’ll admit it, but I don’t need it to stress me out even more. That being said, even after examining the results of this study, I don’t think I can just give up Facebook. It’s definitely a very interesting study, but I don’t know if it’s going to cause any change in the use of Facebook.

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New and Improved Twitter for Android App

2011-02-13T17:42:00.005-05:00

On Thursday, February 10, Twitter released a new, updated version of its Android app. The social media giant’s upgraded app not only features a new look but also allows non-Twitter users access to the service and a variety of other interesting changes.

Twitter usage for Android has really been skyrocketing lately. According to a blog post by Twitter spokeswoman Carolyn Penner, more and more people are choosing to use Android-based smartphones, and because of this, Twitter usage on Android platforms has doubled in the past two months. Just six months ago Twitter’s Android app wasn’t even in the top ten Twitter apps, but now it’s in the top five apps. It’s sitting right next to twitter.com, m.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone, and Twitter for BlackBerry.

Because the app was starting to receive some serious usage, there was definitely a need to redesign and revamp the app. Penner wrote that it now “looks and feels like our other official Twitter applications and provides a more consistent experience across platforms and devices.”

The biggest and most surprising feature with the new app is the fact that users can now use Twitter for Android even if they do not have a Twitter account.

“You can view trends, browse your interests and see suggested users in several categories, including fashion, entertainment and travel, or search to find out what people are saying about topics you care about, such as big sporting events," Penner wrote.

If you don’t have a Twitter account and want to get one, Twitter for Android gives you the opportunity to sign up for Twitter from within the app.

Another great thing about the new app is the “significant” redesign. According to Penner, “When you first sign in, you’ll see your timeline, along with icons along the top that let you view @mentions, messages, and lists. This layout makes it fast and simple to navigate Twitter on your Android device. Also, the @mentions tab now includes Retweets; seeing replies and Retweets in one place offers a quick way to better understand which Tweets are sparking interest and engagement. In addition, we introduced auto-complete for usernames.”

She went on to say, “We’ve also introduced universal search to this version of Twitter for Android. This means that when you search, you can find Tweets with the term you’re looking for, Tweets sent by people near your location, or people whose user names include that term.”

"Last but not least, at the bottom of the search section is one of my favorite new features: you can scan your address book to find which of your friends, who have chosen to be discoverable, are also on Twitter," Penner wrote. "New users will get a chance to do this when they first go through the sign-up process on the app."
Twitter didn’t release Twitter for Android until late last April, and the last time that they updated the app was in November.

The newest version of Twitter for Android is now available on smartphones with Android 2.1 or higher.

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No Facebook for Michelle Obama's Kids

2011-02-09T13:30:00.006-05:00

Maybe it's just me, but I think Michelle Obama needs a little visit from the fun police. Our nation's First Lady appears to be a nice fun person on the outside but with some of the things she has done and is doing, I'm not so sure. I mean first, we have the dried fruit debacle during Halloween and now we have her campaigning against Facebook.

Do you think Facebook is an o.k. website for your kids to be a part of? Well, Michelle Obama doesn't. In fact, she is rather happy that her two young daughters are not using the biggest social media outlet in the world. But why would Michelle Obama be pleased that her kids are not using Facebook? I mean, it isn't like MySpace, which I deem a little worse with all the teenage girls on the site posting scantily clad pictures of themselves all over the place.

Well, the Obamas two young daughters, Sasha, 9, and Malia, 12, are not allowed to use the social networking site for security reasons. O.k., I can deal with that. I mean I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that would love to use the girls' Facebook accounts for other reasons than connecting with their friends. However, Michelle Obama is not too concerned with her children missing out on Facebook. According to her, "Facebook is not something they need."

Michelle was quoted on NBC's The Today Show as saying, "I'm not a big fan of young kids having Facebook." President Obama is also not keen on the "perils" of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. President Obama recently spoke to students at a high school in Virginia and warned them about Facebook. Obama made it a point to tell them to be "careful about what they post on Facebook" because it could "be pulled up again later somewhere in life."

I'm not so sure about that. I can honestly say that I do not believe that somebody would search through years and years worth of Facebook updates and comments to find something about a person. Now granted there are a few security risks with allowing your child to have a Facebook account but I do not feel that they are any different than the risks your child could face out in the real world.

Facebook does have a "requirement" that users be 13 years of age or older but, as we all know, it is pretty easy to lie about your age on the internet. There is also the question of what age parents should allow their child to get a Facebook account or another social media account. To be honest, I feel like that is all up to the individual parent but with how tech savvy kids are these days I don't think a parent could do much to stop them.

What do you think? Do you think there should be an age limit for kids on Facebook? Do agree with Michelle Obama about not wanting her kids on the social media site? Let us know in the comment section below.

Source: Mashable - Michelle Obama Doesn't Want Her Kids to Use Facebook

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LinkedIn is Going Public

2011-02-05T17:22:00.005-05:00

On Thursday, January 27, LinkedIn formally announced that it was planning on going public by filing an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. So, "Why is this a big deal?" you might ask. Well, this is the one of the first times that the business networking site has turned over any real detailed facts about its financial affairs.

"We believe we are transforming the way people work by connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale," LinkedIn explained in its filing. "Our goal is to provide a global platform capable of mapping every professional's experience, skills, and other relevant professional data to his or her professional graph, including connections with colleagues and business contacts."

While LinkedIn has been in business, they have actually managed to make some money. They have done this via the combination of advertising and business services. The net revenue for LinkedIn during the first nine months of 2009 was around $80 million with a profit of only $3.4 million. In that same period of time in 2010, LinkedIn was able to pull in a net revenue of $161 million and made a profit of $10 million. The company was able to more than double their profits in a year. That’s crazy!

LinkedIn is not only increasing their profitability, but also the number of registered members that it can now brag about. Last year, the total number of registered LinkedIn users reached 55 million, but this year it has increased to more than 90 million. This was a statistic that the formerly very private company was very open and vocal about. In the company’s S-1 filing, they were open about the fact that although these numbers show the number of registered members of LinkedIn that does not mean that they are active users. The company also went on to say that it is really a minority of its users that are responsible for the “substantial” amount of the 5.5 billion page views that the company can boast.

eMarketer Predicting a Healthy Future for Twitter

2011-02-01T01:16:00.003-05:00

A report released on Monday, January 24 predicted a very healthy future for Twitter. It claimed that the social networking phenomenon should triple its growth in revenues from what the site earned in 2010.

The report from eMarketer predicts that Twitter will earn more than $150 million in revenues from advertising in 2011. This is a little more than triple times the amount that they earned in 2010. They even went so far as predicting that in 2012 the company should earn as much as $250 million.

Twitter seems to have exploded in the past year. Almost 8 percent of U.S. Internet users are on Twitter. The site not only has an incredible presence on the Web but also on most smartphone platforms.

Twitter just seems to continue to expand. Just this month Twitter for the Mac debuted. Twitter’s Carolyn Penner wrote, "This app gives Twitter users another fast and convenient way to stay connected to what they care about most. Tweets appear in real-time (using our streaming API), and the app auto-shortens URLs and has lots of useful keyboard shortcuts."

Penner claims that the new app is “three times faster than its original version,” which was called Tweetie for Mac. This original app was created by a company that Twitter had acquired in April called atebits. Penner continued saying, “We acquired atebits with a focus on launching our own Twitter iPhone application. Since then, we've been asked repeatedly for a new version of Tweetie for Mac. We decided that the new version fits well into our goal of ensuring that mainstream users will have the best possible experience on all platforms."

“If Twitter can grow its user base and convince marketers of its value as a go-to secondary player to Facebook, it will succeed in gaining revenue,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst. “In 2011 it must work overtime to give its early advertisers a positive experience.”

eMarketer really believes that Twitter will bring in $150 million in revenue in 2011 and $250 million in 2012. Really though, this looks like nothing compared to what they are predicting for Facebook. The firm estimates that in 2011 Facebook will bring in $4.05 billion in revenues and $5.74 billion in 2012. Unfortunately for MySpace, eMarketer is predicting that their revenues will be heading downward. MySpace’s ad revenues in 2010 brought in $288 million, but eMarketer believes that in 2011 MySpace will only bring in $184 million and $156 million in 2012.

Twitter is really doing well and, according to eMarketer, will continue to do well. Ever since Twitter’s founders Biz Stone and Ev Williams talked at the Chip conference and promised Twitter users that they would smooth out the company’s developer relations and improve its business operations, Twitter has done even better than it was doing.

They really have been improving, and the proof is in the numbers. In November 2010 Twitter reached an uptime of 100 percent. According to Royal Pingdom’s uptime tracker, the site was only down for a single minute the whole month. In the early years of the Twitter, the site was plagued by the “fail whale.” They really have taken care of this problem though. In December and January the site hit an uptime of 99.83 and 99.92 percent respectively.

I agree with eMarketer that Twitter will have a very bright future. I have definitely personally seen the expansion of the use of Twitter among my friends, family members, and colleagues, and obviously, this seems to be happening all around the world. I don’t know if Twitter will meet the marks that eMarketer has set for them concerning ad revenues, but I guess we won’t know for at least another year.

Social Networking Sites Banned in Egypt

2011-01-27T17:32:00.003-05:00

Massive protests, some which have been arranged via social networking sites, are intensifying in Egypt; therefore, the country has reportedly decided to ban even more communication platforms including Facebook and BlackBerry Internet service.

Now neither of these bans has been officially confirmed, but according to a buzz on Twitter, both of the services are currently accessible.

A Facebook spokesperson told PCMag, "We are aware of reports of disruption to service and have seen a drop in traffic from Egypt this morning.”

According to a report from TechCrunch, it is currently unclear whether or not all BlackBerry Internet services in Egypt have been blocked because a blog said that some people were still able to use some apps.

However, TechCruch and Twitter have both been able to confirm that Twitter has been blocked for several days in the country.

"We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8am PT today," Twitter confirmed on the @twitterglobalpr feed Tuesday evening. "It's impacting both Twitter.com and applications. We believe that the open exchange of info and views benefits societies and helps governments better connect with their people."

The news that Twitter is down is now being widely reported, but just a few days ago a spokesperson for Twitter had been very leery about confirming the ban. Instead of confirming it herself, she turned to a site called Herdict Report that monitors Internet access around the world that claimed that the website had indeed been banned in Egypt.

"We prefer users in Egypt (or elsewhere) to speak for how Twitter is being used (or not) instead of us," read another @twitterglobalpr Tweet.

As I mentioned above, protests are raging throughout Egypt. These demonstrations were organized via Facebook and Twitter and brought thousands of protestors into the streets of Cairo. The people were protesting issues like economic policies, government corruption, and were demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down after a thirty year reign.

On Tuesday, January 25th more than 90,000 people had signed up with a group on Facebook called “We Are All Khaled Said.” This name was given in honor of an activist that was reportedly beaten by the police.

At first, Facebook remained unaffected, while Twitter was banned on several levels including the physical site, the mobile site, and the third-party site. However, there has been some very limited access to Twitter via Web proxies. According to The Herdict Report though, Facebook has now been reported inaccessible 86 times in Egypt. The reports started coming in on Wednesday, January 26.

"From what we know about Egypt, filtering is done at the ISP level, which explains the sporadic reports of inaccessibility we've received," Laura Miyakawa, Herdict's project manager, said in a blog post. "Coupled with reports from Egyptians on Twitter, we're able to say that some degree of filtering has been happening, but we need more reports to make a strong determination."

It is believed that Egypt is following suit with other countries who staged protests via social networking sites. Earlier this month, social networking played a huge role in the uprising in Tunisia concerning the country's President Zine el-Albidine Ben Ali. Also, last year Twitter was involved in an uprising that broke out in Iran.

Social networking is a fantastic way to reach out to your friends and family, but as we see in Egypt, Tunisia, and Iran, it can also be used for some social demonstration and even violence. I could see why Egypt has banned these sites, but I can also see why some would say that this is a violation of free speech. It’s a sticky situation and it is difficult to determine what to about it, but for now, the Egyptian government seems to think that banning social networking is the best immediate solution.

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The Pope Not a Fan of Fake Social Media Profiles or Linkbait

2011-01-26T14:53:00.007-05:00

Now I know that social media sites are the hottest thing to hit the internet since, well, the internet, but never did I think that the Pope would be interested in them nor that he would speak openly against some things about it. I didn't even know they had Twitter in the Vatican.

The Pope likes to discuss the "rights and wrongs", as he sees them, of social media in his World Communications Day message that he gives every year. Well, this year was no different as the Pope focused on integrity and honesty online for his main themes.

In his address the leader of the Catholic church seemed surprisingly well tuned in to something that a lot of social media fans are discussing right now regarding whether it is better to use your real identity or to create a fake one. Well, if you ask the Pope, he will tell you that honesty wins out hands down. The Pope discussed the risks of constructing a false image of oneself which he says can become a form of self-indulgence.

According to the Pope, "Entering cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal encounters with others, provided that attention is paid to avoiding dangers such as enclosing oneself in a sort of parallel existence or excessive exposure to the virtual world. In the search for sharing, for 'friends', there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself."

The Pope also argues against "linkbait" publishing which values audience size over truth. "We must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its 'popularity' or from the amount of attention it receives... The proclamation of the Gospel requires a communication which is at once respectful and sensitive."

There seem to be more than a few similarities between the ethics of bloggers and many religious values. These ethics, both for the bloggers and in religion, have existed for many years. In a nutshell it seems to represent the age old traditions of "Love thy neighbor" and "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

Despite warning against the dangers, the Pope does appear to be pro-social media. In a statement the Pope said, "I would like then to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible."

So despite your feelings on the Pope, it appears that he is cool with social media, or at least that what his advisors told him to say. Who knows, maybe this is all a big contest to see if the pope can get more followers on Twitter than Ashton Kutcher.

Source: The Next Web

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Where Do Facebook's Ad Revenues Come From?

2011-01-25T02:02:00.004-05:00

It was announced recently that in 2010 Facebook brought in $1.86 billion from their ad revenues. That is quite a large chunk of change. Surprisingly, though, most of the money that was brought in from ads did not come from the big name advertisers.

So, where do most of their advertising revenues come from? Well, according to a report by AdAge that cited revenue estimates from eMarketer, Facebook received 60 percent ($1.12 billion) of their ad revenues from smaller companies. They went on to say that most of these smaller companies produced the ads themselves and did not use an ad agency. The company also reported that in 2009 smaller companies accounted for close to 50 percent of Facebook’s ad sales. This shows that in just a short period of time those numbers have risen nicely.

"Those advertisers are really juicing Facebook's growth," Debra Williamson, an eMarketer principal analyst, told AdAge. "They buy advertising in bulk. They've done it for years on Google, and now they're taking that expertise to Facebook."

AdAge reported that in 2010 Facebook earned $740 million from the advertisements of bigger companies like Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Match.com. Although the smaller company’s advertisements are obviously doing well, the two biggest advertisers on Facebook are AT&T and Match.com.

Now, there definitely seems to be a big name that is missing from the list of bigger companies advertising on Facebook…Google! Google is the fifth-ranked advertiser on Facebook. Honestly, it’s a little surprising that Google even made it that high. There have definitely been some issues between Google and Facebook over the past year. It all started with Google blocking users from importing their Facebook friends through Gmail.

"You have been directed to this page from a site that doesn't allow you to re-export your data to other services, essentially locking up your contact data about your friends," read a message on Google's Gmail page.

"We think this is an important thing for you to know before you import your data there. Although we strongly disagree with this data protectionism, the choice is yours. Because, after all, you should have control over your data," it continued.

In response to this, Facebook went ahead and removed any mention of a way of importing Google contacts on the “Find your Friends” feature. It was also suggested by many that the reconstructed Facebook messaging system that was released in November was attempting to replace the need for Gmail. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg refuted these claims. Zuckerberg did comment on Gmail or Yahoo Mail though, saying, “The kids said 'It's too slow, it's too formal.'"

AdAge said that despite the differences and disagreements between Google and Facebook, the two companies do have some similarities. Both companies draw in smaller company advertising.

Even though Facebook has been seeing an increase in revenues lately, the company really hasn’t affected Google’s market shares much at all. AdAge reported that Google brings in on average more than $2 billion in ad revenues every single month. However, despite this, Facebook is beginning to catch up with Google. The company currently comprises five percent of the ad spending that occurs on the Web. AdAge said that at the rate that Facebook is growing, it could easily be up to eight percent this year.

The estimates that eMarketer released for Facebook’s 2010 ad revenues is really a testimony of just how quickly the top social networking site is growing. eMarketer predicted that in 2009 Facebook took in $740 million in global ad sales, and in 2011 they are predicting that the 2010 numbers will show an 86 percent year-to-year increase.

adCenter aBsurdity

2011-01-22T13:11:00.002-05:00

Recently Steve Jobs wrote his Thoughts on Flash where he basically called Flash a dying technology. Apple doesn't support Adobe Flash on the iPhone or iPad. Its a war between Apple and Adobe. Adobe came out with an ad campaign against Apple. Adobe displayed in the ad ‘we (heart) Apple’. It further hit back with an ad campaign saying ‘What we don’t love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the web’. Here is their We [heart] Choice ad campaign.

The Tech War is Bigger than Apple
There is a technology war out there and it isn't just Jobs against the world. There is Microsoft, Google, Research In Motion and others too. Who will prevail in the operating system war on the majority of your devices? (HP/Palm may some day be in the group)

Microsoft Using Bing in The OS War
Now Microsoft is engaging in war to make people use their operating system AND browser to access Microsoft adCenter. If you want to advertise with Bing, you must use our OS.

Ve Vill Force You To USE OUR TECHNOLOGY.... and you will like it.

Below is the error message I got when I tried using Google Chrome:

Here are the system requirements to place an ad on Bing. (How Absurd)

Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows 98: Use with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or later.
Microsoft Windows Vista or Microsoft Windows 7: Use with Windows Internet Explorer 8, Windows Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or later.

They go on to say that adCenter doesnt support Safari, theMac, Virtural PC or mobile phones. Here are their exact words:

Microsoft adCenter does not support Safari.
Microsoft adCenter does not support Mac or Virtual PC.
Microsoft adCenter is not supported on mobile phones.

Color me stupid but this isn't very forward thinking in my book. The don't even support their phone making spontaneous, on-th-go ad campaign adjustments impossible. Reducing accessibility to the Bing ad platform is not a good idea at all. While you're at it have iPhone support too.

Arrogance gets you Nowhere
Don't copy Steve Jobs' arrogance against his competition. I know Mr. Jobs is taking a medical leave and wish him better health as soon as possible. In many ways Steve Jobs is a role model to me. It just happens that I don't agree with his method of 'dealing with those in conflict'. War may be hell, but the Art of War calls for keeping enemies closer. Dale Carnegie's advice to company executives is 'out the window' so to speak with Jobs. But that doesn't mean that Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, has to make the same mistakes. Microsoft has to buck-up and admit that there is a large user base out there with phones and start supporting more than just it's desktop operating system on its Bing Ad Platform, adCenter.

Freedom to Choose: The Market Always Decides
You can't beat your competition by forcing people to use your products. You can only win with better products as percieved by the marketplace. Sometimes in the short run, the market gets fooled by a product or service. But in the long run, consumers get it right. You have to win the markets heart, not beat-down your competition. If you don't have a compelling reason why your product is better, then in the long run your product is dead. In the meantime open up your Bing adCenter access to all the devices piratical.

Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIMM -If there's not enough room for 4, who will be the first to die?
--------------------

*About Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegies Book was first published in 1937. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated.

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MySpace Staff Reduced By Almost 50%

2011-01-17T17:02:00.006-05:00

Remember back when MySpace was the hottest teen social networking site out there, and people barely knew about Facebook? Just three years ago, Rupert Murdoch, the head of the media giant News Corp., was praising MySpace for offering so much more than the ability to “just looking up friends” like Facebook.

Well, these days, things have definitely flip-flopped.

On Tuesday, January 11 MySpace announced that they were laying off almost half of their staff so that they could have a “much tighter focus.” This layoff is affecting close to 500 people. These cuts come after the redesign of the site that occurred in October. According to chief executive Mike Jones, the Web site redesign was an attempt to illustrate the positive direction that the company is going in.

"The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly and attain more flexibility on the financial side," Jones said in a statement.

Dave McClure, founding partner of 500 Startups, a company that invests in early-stage Internet ventures, said that MySpace had a ton of potential and could have definitely beaten Facebook, Twitter, or Zynga, but now all of those Web sites overshadow MySpace.

"MySpace never really figured out which one it wanted to be," McClure said. "For the life of me I don't know why they weren't able to pull it off."

Honestly though, the layoffs were kind of expected. Top executives were calling MySpace’s losses in November “not acceptable or sustainable.”

Jones explained that the layoffs were necessary to cut costs for the company. "Today's tough but necessary changes were taken in order to provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and profitability," Jones wrote, according to reports. "These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business and in no way reflect the performance of the new product. The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side. We are also committed to rebuilding the company with an entrepreneurial culture and an emphasis on technical innovation."

According to an e-mail written by Jones, MySpace’s U.K. business will be falling under the control of Fox Network, while the business that MySpace has in Germany and Australia will be managed by “strategic local partnerships.” "MySpace will retain a core, dedicated international team to work with partners in order to ensure users, content partners and advertisers continue to be served," Jones said.

The statement also claimed that MySpace is “trending positively.” The company said that 3.3 million new profiles have been created, as well as 134,000 more Topic pages. Between November and December MySpace said that they have already seen a four percent rise in mobile users, which now total more than 22 million users.

Despite this, MySpace still has not had the success that so many other social networking sites have shared. Twitter and Zynga continue to thrive, and Facebook has exploded. Facebook now can boast more than 500 million users. Analysts say that Facebook had the best plan of all the sites. They had a very clear vision: they wanted to connect people, and they aggressively did everything they needed to do to achieve their vision.

Meanwhile, while all of the layoffs and rebuilding are occurring, it appears that certain companies are talking to News Corp. about possibly purchasing MySpace. According to reports, Yahoo Inc. is one of the possible interested companies. As of now, Yahoo has not commented on the claims.

It’s sad to see the social networking site of my teen years slowly disappearing, but Facebook is simply a much more useful social networking site. MySpace had its unique qualities, but Facebook definitely wins the fight in my opinion, and the numbers seem to show that as well. I don’t think MySpace will be completely disappearing anytime soon, but I also don’t think it will be really making much of a comeback either.

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Configuring Feedburner for Best SEO Results

2011-01-17T14:37:00.004-05:00

Feedburner is owned by Google. I like trying every Google tool because you never know what new cool tool you will find. One good find is Feedburner. I burn my all blog feeds, including this blog.

Feedburner has many benefits. Its easy to use, it does a great job with my rss feed, it creates an email subscription, provides content distribution (called buzzboost), gives me several 'chicklet' options to use on my blog, has a social component which proides automatic links to Digg and Delicious, and auto Tweets my new content. All this for FREE. (Chicklet Example: Subscribe in a reader)

Well its kind of free if you don't count page rank loss. John Lincoln makes this argument, "Why Feedburner is Killing Your SEO Strategy." John states,

"The issue with Feedburner is inherent in the name, thus, it burns (or alters) your RSS feed and channels it through a Google enhanced URL. Emphasis on “Google Enhanced URL.”"

Mr. Lincoln is concerned that link juice is being leached out to the feedburner domain, providing a net loss of page rank to Feedburner. Even though your Feedburner link is 301 redirected, as Barry Schwarts reported. Some page rank is lost with a 301 redirect according to Matt Cutts, Websapm Team Head at Google in an interview by Eric Enge.

However the 301 redirect works well and the page rank is largely passed on to the target page when Feedburner Stats are turned off. The loss of page rank is minimal and not worth giving up the numerous the benefits of Feedburner if you have your feed setup correctly. Here is how to configure Feedburner to work without default Feedburner stats settings:

Credit: Pavel Israelsky: 1. Inside your feed go to “Analyze” –> “Configure Stats”
2. Uncheck “Item views” + “Item link clicks”
3. Click on “Save”
Pavel Israelsky

The above procedure concentrates your feed into one Feedburner URL which Google redirects to the homepage of your blog.

Feedburner on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/feedburner
Feedburner API: http://code.google.com/apis/feedburner/
Outside applications and content management services, including popular blogging platforms, are already making use of this application programming interface (API) to help publishers promote feed stats in new and interesting ways.

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5 Tips for a Successful Social Media Strategy

2011-01-12T12:35:00.005-05:00

Do you know what should be at the core of your social media strategy? If you answered "no", then you definitely need to be reading this article. The core of any good social media strategy should be smart, fun and relevant content. Great content should reflect your brand as well as give people a reason to stay tuned in. That is why it is imperative to build a content strategy into your social media campaign.

Without a framework for what you want to get across and a plan for how and when you say it, you could leave your audience confused or, at worst, ignoring you. Thankfully, there are some content strategies which will help you build better relationships with your customers and earn you better recognition on the social media outlets.

Know Who You Are

Every single thing you say on a social media site, whether it be Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or whatever, should sound like you, your brand and your product. Keeping the things you put out relevant to who you are can garner a lot of followers. Skittles is extremely competent at doing this as their Facebook status updates average over 1,000 comments each as well as over 10,000 likes. But what makes their updates so special? Well, they resemble their candy, fun, imaginative, colorful and bright.

Timing is Everything

Don't just hop on a social media site and start throwing out content willy nilly, that is stupid. Instead, create a calendar that plans out what you will say and when you will say it. Also, make sure that it is relevant to where people are in their lives as well as the season. Don't talk about Halloween in February or Christmas Cookies in July, stay on topic!

Know Who You Are Targeting

Why on earth would somebody follow you on a Social Media Site? Why do they like you? Maybe because you and your brand offer them something they want or something they like. This being said, you need to make sure you deliver. SKYY Vodka on Twitter put out tweets on the ultimate Bloody Mary and even responded personally to people engaged in the conversation. They knew what their audience wanted and they gave it to them.

Solve Your Problems

Why are humans the dominant species on the planet? Because we learn how to fix something if we have a problem. On Facebook a company called Threadless received some problematic feedback on some products from valued customers. They immediately told the customers what to do and how to fix the problem. Don't necessarily fix the problem for your audience, instead give them the tools to help themselves. You also need to make sure your social media team has all the right information to give out. You build trust by making things easier for your customers.

Don't Be Fake

The best content out there is real. It doesn't promise you things it cannot do. It is honest and real. People don't like talking to machines. They want to talk to a real person and that is why they follow you. If you are being fake, your audience will know. But if you are honest, fun and real, they will recommend you to their friends and so on and so forth. Isn't that kind of the point of social media?

Follow these tips and you will be sure to increase your social media following with no problem at all. One of the keys to a good business is reaching your customers and knowing how to engage them, and one of the best ways is through social media outlets.

Source: Mashable

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Facebook Shutting Down?

2011-01-11T21:30:00.005-05:00

There seems to have been a lot of news coming out recently about Facebook. Everyone has been talking about how Goldman Sachs and the Russia-based Digital Sky’s Technologies just invested $500 million into the company, and plenty of other rumors and discussions about the social networking site have been swirling around. However, one rumor really caught me off guard. On Saturday, January 8 the Weekly World News posted that Facebook will be shutting down on March 15, 2011.

What do you think about that rumor? Well, think about it…would Goldman Sachs and other companies be investing hundreds of millions of dollars into a company that was going to shut down in a little more than two months? That just makes absolutely no sense!

Normally, it would be easy to simply dismiss these claims, just like you dismiss all the fake tabloid stories about the celebrities, but this rumor is spreading all over the Web. Everybody is talking about the disappearance of Facebook. Even Sophos’ IT Security blog Naked Security is jumping in and talking about the rumors.

"Most people would probably never believe such a load of old nonsense as the claim that Mark Zuckerberg is going to shut down Facebook, but it only takes a small proportion of people to think it might be possible to turn a joke of a news story into an internet hoax," writes Graham Cluey.

"And although a hoax is not as bad as a piece of malware worming its way between users and stealing information, it's still a nuisance, clogging up communications, increasing the overall level of spam and perhaps leading people to make decisions for the wrong reasons," he added.

So, obviously, the Weekly World News was totally wrong about Facebook shutting down, but there are definitely some points brought up by the publication and all of the rumors that are very interesting. Writer of the publication J.B. Smitts used a quote concerning Facebook that he believed illustrated that the social networking site is on its way to being extinct.

"After March 15th the whole website shuts down," said Avrat Humarthi, a made-up Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. "So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won't be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business."

Facebook addressed all of the rumors that have been going around on their Twitter account. Their tweet confirmed that their social networking site isn’t going anywhere. "We didn't get the memo about shutting down, so we'll keep working away. We aren't going anywhere; we're just getting started,” the company tweeted.

So, of course, Facebook isn't going anwhere, but the situation that brought up the false quote is really possible for many different Web sites. It’s a topic that people have definitely been voicing concern about as many people are turning to the Cloud, where they upload important family videos and pictures. These are things that people are going to want keep archived forever, but what would happen if the Cloud went away?

A prime example of this would be Geocities. Does that name ring a bell? It was purchased in 1999 by Yahoo for $3.57 billion in stock. Then, in October of 2009 the site was terminated.

After the termination of Geocities, the people behind the Internet Archive said that they would be joining in the attempt to preserve the “historical record” at Geocities. About a year later, volunteers known as The Archive Team released all of the contents of its Geocities cache. They released it in the form of a 900 GB BitTorrent file that was free to download for anyone who wanted their own personal copy of the terminated webhost.

Could this happen to Facebook at some point? Who knows? But we do know that we won’t have to worry about it any time soon. For now, Facebook is here to stay.

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Subpoena Issued for WikiLeaks Twitter Account

2011-01-10T18:01:00.005-05:00

The AFP says that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a subpoena for the Twitter accounts of WikiLeaks and some of their supporters, and an investigation has begun.

Honestly, this whole investigation isn’t really a huge surprise. In November the “whistle-blowing organization” (WikiLeaks) began to release more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. Since then, people have been speculating that the U.S. government would respond and seek justice by citing the Espionage Act.

WikiLeaks said in a statement, “Today, the existence of a secret US government grand jury espionage investigation into Wikileaks was confirmed for the first time as a subpoena was brought into the public domain.”

The site also said that the government’s move "revealed that the US State Department has requested private messages, contact information, IP addresses, and personal details of Julian Assange and three other individuals associated with WikiLeaks in addition to WikiLeaks own account, which has 634,071 followers."

WikiLeaks mentioned one certain individual, member of Iceland’s parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir.

Jonsdottir tweeted from her feed, “Just got this: Twitter has received legal process requesting information regarding your Twitter account in (relation to Wikileaks)."
The politician continued saying that the U.S. government wanted to access all of her personal information and any of her tweets from Nov. 1, 2009 to the present. She said that she is using the 10 days that she is allowed in an attempt to stop the process.

The names of the other users who were also issued a subpoena have yet not been released. WikiLeaks is saying, however, that they do not believe that this legal action is only being taken against Twitter.

The @wikileaks feed tweeted, “Note that we can assume Google & Facebook also have secret US government subpoenas. They make no comment. Did they fold?”

As of right now, this is the strongest evidence available concerning the U.S. attempting to prosecute WikiLeaks. Any legal action being sought under the Espionage Act is really going to be difficult to sort through. The Espionage Act is vaguely worded which could definitely cause some issues. Who should be included in the prosecution? Most likely, not only The New York Times and The Guardian, who helped publish the documents, would be brought into the legal mess, but also the Twitter and Facebook users that linked to the data. Jonsdottir would probably be the first user in line.

This would not be the first time that the U.S. government has brought charges against the New York Times. In 1971 the government hurled charges at the Times when they printed the Pentagon Papers. Fortunately for the newspaper, it was not held responsible because it was not the original source of the papers.

If all of the rumors that have been swirling around are true, then the DOJ has definitely been building up this case for quite some time now. In December Mark Stephens, who is one of the attorneys for WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange, said that there was a secret grand jury that was going about discussing the legal proceedings of this whole situation in Virginia.

"We have heard from Swedish authorities that there has been a secretly empaneled grand jury in Alexandria that is currently investigating this," Stephens said.

Unfortunately for Stephens, these new possible legal dealings are not all that he is handling for his client. Assange also currently has to deal with the possibility of extradition to Sweden due to the rape charges that he faces. Some say that the charges are politically motivated, but no one knows for sure. In December the 39-year-old Australian was released in London on bail. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 6.

500 Shareholder Rule Causing Facebook to Go Public?

2011-01-08T13:10:00.004-05:00

According to reports, Facebook collected $355 million in profits just last year, which may force its CEO Mark Zuckerberg to take his company public in 2012.

Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs, who just earlier this week invested $450 million in Facebook, have hand delivered the details about the financial aspects of Facebook to very high net worth clients on Thursday, January 6.

In one of the documents that the company delivered, it stated that Facebook had generated $1.2 billion in revenue (with $355 million in pure profit) in the first nine months of 2010.

Considering that Facebook only broke even in September of 2009, those numbers sound fantastic. However, Wedbush Securities analyst Lou Kerner, who owns Facebook shares, told Reuters that “the revenue kind of is in line with our expectations."

"The surprise was on the profitability. I think it highlights that Facebook is likely to have margins that are going to exceed Google's margins," he said.
One of the recipients of the documents delivered by Goldman Sachs told the Wall Street Journal that Facebook was on the right track to having more than 500 stockholders by the end of 2011.

This would mean that, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “500 Shareholder Rule,” that Facebook would be required within 120 days to become a reporting company, even if it wasn’t public. The actual Securities Exchange Act of 1934 states, “within one hundred and twenty days after the last day of its…fiscal year.”

Facebook’s current fiscal year does not end until December 31, 2011. This would make the 120 day deadline April 29, 2012.

Now, of course, all of this is mere speculation, but Goldman Sachs seem pretty confident in their prediction that this will all go down in April 2012.

There had been rumors that Facebook would attempt to get around the 500 shareholder rule via a “special purpose vehicle” that would allow Goldman Sachs high-end clients to invest in Facebook without the rule applying, but the document released by the Wall Street Journal shows that this will not be the case.

Back in 2008, Zuckerburg said that he did envision an IPO at some point in the future, but just last May, he made it very clear that he was not desperate for public cash at all.

"We are definitely in no rush," Zuckerberg told the Wall Street Journal in May. "If you don't need that capital, then all the pressures are different, and the motivations (to go public) are not there in the same way."

Who knows what may happen, but looking at all the numbers and information, it looks as though Facebook will definitely be becoming a reporting company sometime in the near future.

Record Tweets Sent Out This New Year's Eve

2011-01-07T12:57:00.006-05:00

Twitter is definitely becoming the popular way for people to communicate with the masses. It’s a way to get your feelings out, let people know what you’re up to, etc. Twitter is used by people around the world, but do you know which country utilizes Twitter the most? It’s Japan!

On New Year’s Eve this year, Japanese Twitter users set New Year’s Eve tweeting records. Immediately after midnight, Japanese Twitter users sent out an all-time high of 6,939 tweets per second. Twitter said in a blog post that it was just a mere “four seconds after midnight in Japan on January 1st, [when] Twitterers set an all-time record in the number of Tweets sent per second.”

This completely blows the previous record out of the water. Twitter said in a blog post that the previous all-time tweeting high was during Japan’s victory over Denmark at the World Cup last summer. Tweets rolled out at 3,283 tweets per second. On New Year’s Eve this year, that record was broken 68 times in a mere three minute period.

Twitter pointed out that the Japanese New Year is a very important event in Japan. "Japan virtually shuts down as people spend the day with family and the people with whom they are closest," Twitter wrote. "People make it a point to call their friends and connect with everyone they know to celebrate. With a population of over 127 million, Japanese mobile networks have been known to crash under the strain of this collective cheer. This year on New Year's Eve many people turned to Twitter to celebrate."

According to Twitter, Japan is not the only country that has been celebrating on Twitter about different events. "We saw epic tweet activity around the world as people in each time zone inaugurated 2011," Twitter said. "The East coast time zone alone almost amassed the same amount of tweets at its peak of 3,000 TPS as the entire world did during the peak moment of the World Cup."

Twitter also said that they were "humbled by moments like this that show how people around the world are connecting and celebrating on Twitter."

To give an interesting illustration of the tweeting that went on around the world on New Year’s Eve, Twitter even put together a video of the action that they said “visualizes New Year's Eve Tweet data across the world.”

"The circles get bigger as more Tweets are being sent at that moment, which means it's probably midnight in that time zone,” Twitter said about the video. “Notice that the circle over Tokyo gets so big it nearly swallows Japan."

The company seems to very positive about their growth over 2010 and says that they are “looking forward to seeing what the Year of the Rabbit has in store.”

New Social Media Marketing Agency for GM is Staffing Up

2010-12-29T10:17:00.007-05:00

One of the biggest growing careers in today's job market is getting in with the social media marketing departments of large companies and corporations. Knowing about how to get company information out to the growing public via the internet, tv, ads and the like is something that many companies are looking for these days. If you can make a company more popular, then you may become more popular at the company and even work your way up the corporate ladder.

General Motors has had their problems in the past, but it appears that they are trying to revitalize their public image. Big Fuel, who handles all of the social media marketing for GM, has just announced that they will be opening a new office in Detroit to service GM's account, and they just so happen to be on a hiring binge.

CEO and founder of Big Fuel Avi Savar has noted that he has somewhere around 15 people currently in Detroit but is looking to up that number to about 30 by March. Big Fuel currently employs about 80 other people in an office in New York who handle the social media marketing for such corporations as McDonald's, Neutrogena and Colgate-Palmolive's Wisp toothbrush. By the end of 2011 Savar hopes to have more than 200 people on his staff.

GM brought Big Fuel on to handle their social media marketing about three months ago when the company was getting ready to work with Hyundai. However, this deal fell through after Joel Ewanick, lead marketer of Hyundai, moved to GM and persuaded Big Fuel to follow. Big Fuel has yet to do any campaigns with GM but a few are primed to release in January, according to Savar, including an ad for the Chevrolet Cruz known as the "Cruze-arati" which gives free cars to people who have large followings on social media outlets.

The previous social media marketing firm for GM was run in-house by Mary Henige and Chris Barger. These two were in charge of a program back in March that took eight teams of bloggers and drivers to attend South by Southwest on behalf of GM. According to Hanige, "They've been retained by marketing so you'll see more brand focused social marketing campaigns, which is good. We'll work with them, continue to lead GM's brand efforts and maintain and increase the relationships we've built."

Ford, one of GM's biggest rivals, has often dwarfed GM's social media marketing, maybe because Scott Monty, the social media marketing guy for Ford, has over 48,000 followers on Twitter alone. It also didn't help GM when Ford launched the Ford Explorer on Facebook and began circulating videos with celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Bret Michaels answering consumer questions about the model back in November.

Avi Savar and Big Fuel have their work cut out for them. With stiff competition from Ford and other companies, Big Fuel is going to need to do something tremendous in order to bring back attention to the dying General Motors before Obama has to bail them out again.

Source: Mashable

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