Even hackers are able to come up with a business model for twitter. According to Kaspersky Lab, hackers are now selling stolen account information for users with a large following. These accounts are then used to send malicious code to attack more accounts, and in turn gain access to a larger amount of personal information. For more information on this go here.

Still looking for ways to recapture their 90's era popularity, American Online (AOL) has launched Owl. Owl is a site focused on user-generated content using AOL's content management system called "Seed."

The site will be a repository where freelance "experts" can provide knowledge, opinions, and images. Crowdsourcing the articles should allow AOL to increase the content on the site quickly and cheaply.

Contributors to the site will be paid 50% of the profits from advertising if the content is exclusive and 20% if not. Techcrunch did note that the site is more of a design concept and that most of the articles seemed to have been written by the staff.

Read the story here.

Due to Tiger Woods' recent personal choices and indefinite hiatus from the sport of golf, the PGA seems to be in a tough position. Being left without their superstar (to bring attention and money to the sport), how do they stay relevant? The writer of this article mentions that the sport of golf was around before Tiger and will still be here when he has left permanently therefore they can't bank on one athlete forever. The article goes into more depth about how they can use different social medias to keep the sport relevant and keep fans interested (post-Tiger).

Read more here.

WooRank is a simple yet fairly powerful website analysis tool. It features a streamlined interface with easy-to-understand analytics summaries for any web address given. Each web analysis is listed in sections ranging from general traffic to social media exposure. While recently released and currently in beta, WooRank promises to provide real-time reports on how Google indexes the searched site with SEO suggestions on improving your "WooRank" score. As stated before, WooRank is in beta so some features may be disabled or may not load properly, but the reports are worded for anyone to understand them easily.

Since marketers and advertisers are investing a lot of money in social media, they want to know and demonstrate their return on investment. To give them more information about their return on investment, Facebook is planning to put in a conversion tracking tool to its advertising products based on the demand of the market. With this tool marketers will be able to track clicks through conversion and will have an option to set up multiple tags for the tracking. This platform will help advertisers and marketers build out messages as the campaign expands.

To read more about the article click HERE

Several weeks ago, Google announced that it was the victim of several cyber attacks directed at obtaining information on Chinese rights activists. The company announced that it would no longer censor search results in China and the US State Department even brought in its own remarks on the issue.

Now Twitter's CEO is making his own statements on the issue. Evan Williams has now publicly stated his support for Google's stance on censorship. Twitter has also been partially censored by the Chinese government as well as several other countries. Although Twitter supports freedom of speech, Williams has stated that the company has nowhere near the clout the Google does, reducing the ability of the company to engage the Chinese government.

What Twitter is able to do to support freedom of speech is inherent in the way Twitter is structured, according to Williams. Its open accessibility by various programs and websites allow users to access the service in ways that the Chinese government may find difficult to locate and censor. This is a subtle admission that although the company is not attempting to find ways to circumvent the Chinese government, third-party developers definitely have the capability to do it themselves.

Read the story here.

Motorola announced that the device would be one of 20 smartphones the company will release this year. The phone will be sold directly to consumers, and will use the same strategy Google used for the Nexus One. They have yet to decide on the carrier.
Motorola has invested a considerable amount of resources behind their Android-based phone- Droid. However, they are willing to try Google’s direct-to-consumer approach.

To read more about the article click here

Social media marketing campaigns can be hugely successful. They allow a channel for direct contact with customers which provides for extensive feedback. Pepsi has taken advantage of this collaboration with consumers and have seen positive results.

Randall Rothenberg, head of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, recently discussed the implications of today's devices' access to the internet and how they are blocking advertisers' access to consumers. He borrows Josh Bernoff's term "splinternet" to describe the phenomenon: With the creation of devices like the iPad comes the "semi-privatization" of the internet, such as Amazon's Kindle and the major game consoles. Advertisers are having a much more difficult time reaching consumers when major streams of web-based information is being sucked down through private "tubes." The Kindle, for instance, has almost no access to the online world, apart from downloading Amazon's media. This connection is completely closed off to anyone outside the system.

It has become an issue in the recent past that Google is not censoring what is said about religions in the search engine. Religion has always been a highly debated topic among people and Google unintentionally added a little flame to the fire. When something is searched for on Google, past searches that people have done are displayed to help aid the searcher. However, for the phrase "Islam is" no previous results were being yielded, thus causing people to think that those results were being tampered with. SImilar kinds of situations occured when a derogitive photo of Michelle Obama ended up within the first page of results for a Google image search. Google constantly apologieses but maintains that they will not tamper with the alogorithm or the results it kicks back.

This means that all indexing is still done in a seemingly fair way which is good for everyone else out there. Yay!

More here.

In a very related note to what we discussed yesterday, here is an article that further illustrated the point about managing your online brand. Microsoft (excellent firm to work for if you get the chance) released an online data privacy study that details many things one of which includes managing your online identity. This is something that has always been common sense to me but what complicates this issue is the merging of personal and professional lives through social networks. This is a must read for everyone. Read more here and here

After last night's State of the Union Address, not only were critics busy giving reviews and critiques, but social media enthuseists were busy passing along what they had to say. Unfortunately for Christ Matthews, many were listening when he said “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.”

Such a comment naturally spread across twitter like wild fire resulting in a response from Chris Matthews referring to the incident only 90 minutes after it occurred. Despite this, today the Tweets continued and the video of him and the comment are around the internet.

For more information and to see the video click here.

Since we discussed social media in class today, I thought that it would be interesting to blog about it this week. All of us are aware of the fact the social media marketing is vital to any marketing campaign today. But do you know the statistics why it's so critical? Or more importantly, do your clients know why it is important? When you're trying to sell your client on a social media campaign, have them take a peek at this video, because it will change even the most reluctant mind to one of accepting social media.

As everybody knows by now, January 27th was a very important day for Apple. They finally presented their latest product, Ipad. The presentation captured everyone´s attention however, the reactions were not as expected.

I can remember first hearing about Facebook a few years ago - that it was like MySpace, but more of a social networking site intended for young people. I know it started only allowing college students, and even when they opened it up to the general public, they intentionally held on to the image of hip and young, but now the Baby Boomers and Seniors are the largest growing segment of users by far, while the younger segments seem to be leveling out. The breakdown of the stats is in an article on Mashable here.

Boomers using social networking sites are up 15% from 2008 to 2009, and of those 73% are using Facebook. In contrast, increases in younger users has leveled off in the past year. I wonder if this will change the perception of Facebook and how they market themselves. I would imagine they don't want to sever from their roots completely, and they risk losing the "hipness" of their brand even as they broaden their community.

On the Campaign trail in 2008, then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama ,used Social Media (CNN) to spread his message of “Hope” and “Yes We Can”. During last nights State of the Union address, Tweets and Facebook posts took a very different tone and users expressed there immense frustration and concern regarding the state of the country. Once locking in an approval rating of about 76% percent which has now turned into a 49% approval rating(CNN), the American people are looking for the President to bring the country back on track. Regardless of political affiliation ,users comments on the SOTU reflected uncertainty on the current direction of the country and Obama's leadership. Issues such as high jobless rate, the economy, and health care reform were topics of great concern. A year into President Obama’s term in office, key supporters are anticipating that his message of “Hope” and “Yes We Can” can be rekindled for the remainder of his presidency through action on his part.

We've all read the articles about the list's worth of things that Google knows about you. There is cell phone by Google. There is a great chance that you have done searches using Google, paid for something using Google, and searched for directions using Google. Now Google has gone social as well. They are using Google Social Search to help you search for relevant content based your friends and family on other networks. It's simple. If you don't already have a Google account, you set one up. You plug in the information about where you can be found on other networking sites and WHOILA!! You now have access to all of the information they shared on other sites when you search for something on Google. No need to go to every site you belong to in search of information your friends and family have already shared. It is now readily available through Google.

It is convenient and almost as necessary as the iPad, but nobody knows where this will lead. All I can say is despite Google's seeming omnipresence, is that there is more to come from Google.Google also posted a video on YouTube explaining Google Social Search where they say, "This is just a first step in our ongoing effort to ensure that Google web search is always as social as the web itself". Read more here.

After Apple released it's announcement of the new Apple tablet, the iPad, a total of 177,000 tweets were made in only a half hour. The comments, however, demonstrated a very divided Twitter user-base on the new tablet. Approximately 48% of tweets were positive towards the iPad, while 52% were negative. The chart to the right outlines the most common reactions from Twitter.

Personally, I am very curious to see the iPad in action. It may not look that impressive as it resembles an enlarged iPhone, but it does look like a very innovative spin on laptop- tablets. I wouldn't be surprised if Google came out with a similar product in the near future.

Read more here

Coca-Cola has decided to release a sneak peak of their Super Bowl Ad on Facebook. All you have to do is become a fan of their page on Facebook and use the "live positively" application to send a free virtual Coke bottle to your friends on Facebook. For every person who does this Coca-cola will donate $1 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America up to $250,000. By sending this free gift you also get a 20 second sneak peak of their upcoming Super Bowl Ad. All and All this seems like a win win to me. Click here to read more.

Despite the rise and fall of many website users, Facebook looks like it will be in it for the long haul. Facebook has become an essential part of life for many people and has "technological lock-in," which is the idea that the more a society adopts a certain technology, the more unlikely users are to switch. According to comScore, in December Facebook recorded nearly 112 million unique visitors in the U.S., while MySpace had 57 million and Twitter 20 million. Andrew Lipsman, comScore director says, "The more people who come into the network, the more connected they become to each other and there actually becomes a greater cost to leaving the network." The difference between Facebook and MySpace, that sets Facebook apart is the fact that they have a greater worldwide domination and it focuses more on the social networking aspect.

The newest item on Apple's expanding list of i's in the iPad. Apple revealed it's new tablet-style computer today. The new tablet falls somewhere between a laptop and a smart phone, with what sounds like features resembling the Kindle. Steve Jobs demonstrated just how easy and convenient the new iPad is to use for audiences by flipping through photos and typing on the on-screen keyboard. No information regarding the a release date or pricing was given.

The idea behind an iPad might not be so bad. It would definitely be more convenient to transport than a laptop, and looks like fun to use. However, I believe I stand behind my fist reaction, which is to say "is this really necessary?" Cool, hip, unique - yes. But I already have a laptop that works just fine, and people seem to get by browsing the Internet from their phones. It seems that the iPad falls into this gap of not quite as functional as a laptop (once you expand outside of browsing the web) or a smart phone (since you can't make phone calls with the iPad, at least not to my current knowledge). So besides the tech-savy people with money to spare, who is Apple targeting with this new product?

To read the original source, click here.

And if that doesn't work, hackers try 123456.  A report was released January 21, 2010 with the most popular passwords.  The results are shocking.  People do not practice the right amount of security when it comes to password security. Here is the list below:

Amazon is opening up the Kindle to third-party applications but whether its worth developing applications for is questionable. Amazon has not released the exact amount of Kindle's that have been sold so developers do not know if Kindle applications would be a prosperous market. The Kindle has fallen behind because of its single purpose software and black and white images. Amazon needs to find a way to connect with with more people. Richard Schatzberge suggests a "living book" which takes a story and relates it directly to the reader in some way.

I would be more willing to invest in a kindle if it offered other simple applications. Like a place to write notes and a calendar to write down my schedule so it had more of a purpose to consistently be with me, the way a cellphone always is. I'm interest to see what developers choose to put on the Kindle and what exactly Amazon means by "active content" instead of apps.


Read full article here.

Facebook is expected to launch a new dashboard that would make it easier to navigate threw your games and may help to get others to join in the facebook gaming fun. The new dashboard has a few different features that are designed to help organize your social and gaming life on facebook. This seems like a good move for increasing application engagement but only time will tell if this will actually work. Any thoughts? For more information and a mock up of what this new dashboard may look like, click here.

The NBC Universal Digital Studio is teaming up with Hidden Valley Ranch to air an online series featuring actress Jennie Garth. In each "episode" of the online show "Garden Party" Garth is shown talking about a different vegetable each month. The show is being promoted through banner ads and mentions in food-related articles.

The show began on January 19th and creates one new episode for each month for the next six months. The studio's VP of digital content, Cameron Death, mentions how advantageous it is to use online episodes because most of the work can be done "in house". For more information click here.

Pope Benedict XVI has a message for priests of the Catholic Church: they must proclaim the gospel by not only having a website, but by blogging and utilizing new web communication tools. Oddly enough it seems like the Pope wants priests to go social. Keep in mind that the Vatican already has a you tube channel and several facebook and iPhone apps. Seems like everyone is catching on to using the Internet, so the difficult part now is trying to come up with strategies to make yourself unique. In other words what makes you special and different. This core competency needs to be expressed and made obvious in every effort irrespective of the media being used. An excerpt from the message

".............Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace........."

Read more from Mashable and the original news source 

Can you believe it has been 20 years since the first website was put up on the web?  This article takes a dab of what the Internet will be like in the upcoming years, or even right around the corner.  It takes information from what is already happening and guesses where the Internet could go.  It has some pretty neat ideas, here are just a few:
1) The web will be accessible anywhere, which is not exactly news, but it might eliminate the necessity for a computer.
2) Voice to text could quite possibility eliminate the need for a computer, but this will cause some concern for the 10% of the population that is deaf/hard of hearing, and their speech is not exactly crystal clear.
3) Websites that are designed to be touchstone interference like the iPhone.  Taking that farther, you probably will not even have to touch the screen--look at the Wall of Touch.
4) Social Media has increased 82% in the last year(cited from this article).  Interacting with friends will possibly be completely online.

These are probably valid assumptions, but I think that social media will definitely go farther than just making the interacting with friends solely on the Internet-- the future of the web will quite possibly be a complete immersion of an "avatar" type of deal (Meaning either the movie type of deal, without the blue skin and the avatar that people make for accounts).  Quite possibly everything that we do will be from the home computer/cellphone/device with access to the Internet, and we will all be in this "second life" conducting business, meeting friends, hanging out with friends, etc, all entirely on the Internet. What's your opinion?

Read the article here.

Can this actually be written? News based on Facebook and Twitter? The answer I would immediately jump to is no. However a group of French journalists have agreed to find out if this is can actually happen. This group of five is going to lock themselves in a farmhouse in France for five days only able to access Facebook and Twitter -- and nothing else. They will then write the news based on the tweets and Facebook updates and be unable to verify anything. It's up to them to assume what is true and false.

Ford Motor Company is successful in using social marketing to promote their Ford Fiesta. In what Ford is calling their Fiesta movement, they gave 100 consumers a car for six months and asked them to complete a different mission every month. Some of the tasks consisted of delivering Meals on Wheels, taking Harry and David treats to the National Gaurd, and other creative tasks. Ford seeked out young adults who had established themselves a fan community online and were always looking for new stories to tell online.

Ford used these consumers to enter into the social media market, and it worked well. As the writer of this article states, "The digital space is an economy after all. People are creating, exchanging and capturing value, as they would in any marketplace." The so called agents that Ford gave their vehicles to documented their stories on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. Ford reported, "Fiesta got 6.5 million YouTube views and 50,000 requests for information about the car—virtually none from people who already had a Ford in the garage. Ford sold 10,000 units in the first six days of sales. The results came at a relatively small cost. The Fiesta Movement is reputed to have cost a small fraction of the typical national TV campaign."

To read more click here http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jan2010/ca2010018_445530.htm

According to this Cnn article, this week over 100 different charities are battling for votes on Facebook to win $1 million dollars. This new outreach campaign started by JP Morgan Chase is giving donations amounting to a total of $5 million dollars to 100 different charities chosen by Facebook users. This new approach is very different from the old grant process that charities would have to go through to get financial contributions.Now Chase has decided to put the power in the hands of the American people's Facebook users.This new approach was started when Chase decided to take a database of 500,000 non for profit organizations and upload the information on to Facebook.Chase then allowed "crowdsourcing" to decide which charities were deserving of recognition and then in turn be entered into the Chase Community Giving Competition. Once an organization was entered into the Chase Community Giving Competition, a tournament like process started via Facebook, where users could decide who deserved a financial contribution from Chase.

To learn more log on to Facebook and support one of your favorite charities by becoming a fan of "Chase Community Giving".

Following an alleged report from Russia's Northern Fleet, the Venezuelan head state, Hugo Chavez, is holding the US responsible for the 7.0 magnitude Haitian earthquake. He claims the quake was caused by a U.S. weapon test of an experimental shockwave system that can also create "weather anomalies to cause floods, droughts and hurricanes."

The Venezuelan website also claimed the US was also to be held responsible for the Jan. 9 earthquake in California, and may have been involved with the 7.8-magnitude quake in China that killed nearly 90,000 people in 2008.

He goes on about how the weapon was being tested with the ultimate goal of destroying Iran’s current government.

To read more click here

NASA is trying to improve the environment inside the Space Station and they have chosen the Internet to help them. NASA believes that by giving the astronauts the chance to communicate directly with their families and friends will help them with the isolated environment they are living in.

Apple is reportedly en route to team up with Microsoft in using their search engine, Bing, as the primary search engine for iPhones. Although this sounds contradictory to most of the ads we're used to seeing with Macs vs. PC computers, it's ultimately Google that Apple sees as their main competitor for the future.
Since the introduction of the Android, and Google's support of this smartphone, Apple has began viewing Google as the top competitor with their new technologies. The main reason for Apple's strong dislike for Google stems from the controversial Eric Shmidt who is Google's current CEO and an ex-board of director for Apple.
Smartphones seem to be stirring up a lot of attention and changing the dynamics of competition dramatically. I'm very curious to see what new commercials may come about from Apple to help promote Bing as a search engine over Google.
For more info, visit mashable.com

YouTube has recently launched a music video search tool similar to that of Pandora, called Disco. Disco allows you to search for an specific artist and suggests similar artists and music to what you typed in. The only "glich" so far is that it suggests mostly music from the artist that you type in not so much just similar music from different artists.

More info can be found here

Apparently grown-ups aren't the only fans of the MTV Reality Jersey Shore. Babelgum and Landline TV bring you viral videos of children who star in Little Jersey Shore. The videos are parodies of incidents that have happened throughout the show representing all of the actual characters. While there are mixed feelings about the actual show on MTV, these children had a whopping million plus views in just 5 days!

More info can be found here and also a video clip.

ow do you feel about a Sony Playstation 3 for 156 dollars when it should cost over 300? If it sounds like a scam, you'd be wrong. Welcome to Swoopo, an auction site similar to eBay but with an entirely different business model. Prices for high end products (provided by Swoopo) start very, very low and users bid on each item like a normal auction. However, each bid costs the individual a certain amount and everytime they bid, the time clock gains 10 seconds. Bids for items increase by 12 cents but packages of bids must be purchased. Items can go for really cheap if you have the time and patience to watch the clock make it to 1 second before placing your bid for two or so hours. Swoopo makes money on all of the bids that people forget costs them to place. For every bid placed, swoopo gains at least 60 cents (and there are tons of bids every hour).
Swoopo also features a built in discount if you lose the bid but still would like to buy the product. For every bid you placed on the item, Swoopo will hook youup with that much in discount from the retailer you receive the product from, hence it makes sense to only bid on things you really want. For example, if you spent $2 in bids on an item, you'll get the 2$ discount when you buy the item.

It's a complicated process, but if you can master the tricks, you'll get some good picks.

Germany has issued a warning to everyone using Internet Explorer to stop and that it is a dangerous web browser. What I can't believe is that an issue hasn't been raised about this in the United States. I don't know about you but I don't enjoy getting my compute hacked into. To read the complete story click here

Privacy activists will soon be rallying against this but Facebook has decided that it is 'logical' for developers to have access to your email addresses. Developers of apps such as LivingSocial have been asking for this functionality for a while given that CTRs for emails have gone as high as 12 %. How will it work? Well, developers can now ask you to share your email address and under the CAN-SPAM regulations they will get to store your email address indefinitely. Facebook recommends that app developers send their customer relevant information such as "receipts for purchases they make, messages to help reactivate them if they haven't visited your application or integration in a while, or newsletters promoting new features or contests." Ladies and Gentlemen prepare for a new wave of spam.


Read the story here and Facebook's actual blog post here

A lot of companies make you buy their product to get points towards a free giveaway. Tasti D-Lite, a popular frozen dessert store, however is using their loyalty cards a different way. In order to get points towards a free ice cream all you have to do is Tweet about Tasti D-Lite.

Tasti D-Lite ties their loayalty card to their customer's Twitter and four-square accounts and everytime they update their status about the Tasti D-Lite brand the customer receives 1 point towards their free ice cream. After 50 points they get a free cone or cup.

This is a good way for the companies to get their name out there using social networks. Instead of just having the same customers come into the store over and over again to fill in their loyalty card you are having people get your name out there by Tweeting about you.

Read more here

With more and more competition brewing between Google and Apple, it seems ironic yet sensible that the iPhone creator may jump ship and place Microsoft's Bing search engine as the mobile device's default search engine. According to BusinessWeek, talks between the two computer companies have been progressing for a few weeks now. With the spread of Google's Android operating system and its new direct-sale Nexus One device, Google and Apple have gone from strong partners to glaring competitors in the mobile device industry. A switch to Bing would prove to be a big cut from Google's search activity, due to the ubiquity of the iPhone. Of course Apple and Microsoft are also mobile competitors too, with Windows Mobile seeing upgrades to UI and usability in recent months. It seems Apple may be choosing the lesser of two evils.

Its pretty ironic that this article just came out because we have been talking about it in class. This article is focusing on new ways for marketers to get more people to particular websites. One complaint was that the information wasnt easy enough to share with just the traditional 'forward' button. People wanted to share information in emails through facebook, linked in, and twitter.
A small portion of the article stated:

Just like a piece of Web content can “go viral” as people share it across social networks, your e-mail promotions can get a big boost by making it easy to share them.

A recent study by Marketing Sherpa concluded that simply including sharing buttons to an e-mail marketing campaign led to a “25% boost in reader interaction, and a surge in inbound traffic from social networking sites.” Moreover, huge gains were reported in traffic via social sites: 2,070% from LinkedIn, 1,680% from Twitter, and 1,351% from Facebook.

This, again, reinforces the importance of social media in our society. Suggestions for increasing email marketing include putting a share button to these sites or including a URL that will directly link to the sites. This helps your audience both build and grow, which is the ultimate goal of marketing.

Up until now, Farmville has just been a nuisance for anyone on Facebook who hasn't yet joined in on the fun. But there is a new reason to join: Helping Haiti. Games like Farmville, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker, all owned by social gaming company Zynga allow players to make in-game donations to the Haiti relief cause by purchasing white corn, a haitian drum or special poker chips.

Who knew wasting time could really change the world?

Full article here.

YouTube announced today that it will begin offering movie rentals on its site. Starting small, users will be able to rent one of five films from the Sundance Film Festival by using their GoogleCheckout accounts. However, YouTube is already in the works to expand this collection to include movies from the education and health industries.

While this may not be much right now, it is easy to see where this step could lead. Youtube could easily become the next Netflix if it begins to offer access to popular full length films from its site. It is already taking steps toward making its site more HD compatable, allowing for better quality on a big screen format. This could become a very profitable business model for YouTube if they continue to keep making these steps toward improving their site.

To read the original article, click here.

It seems Linked In is bothered by the way people use their site. Facebook is leading the way when it comes to social networking sites. They have more active users, more activity, more applications and more growth than any other networking site. The popularity of Facebook increases the probability that business networking may also occur on their site much to the demise of Linked In. Linked In wants to change its strategy so that it may compete with Facebook which already has a huge headstart.

I don't think Linked In will be able to compete head to head with Facebook. Facebook can serves the same functions as Linked In, among others. They also add the convenience of potential connections already being on Facebook. I also think that by focusing on Facebook, Linked In is also missing Twitter which has risen quickly and serves as a great board for business connections to occur. It is more likely that a person will use Twitter to make professional connections than Linked In. because of the greater potential on Twitter.

Read more here

ICQ used to be one of the most popular instant messaging networks, now hardly anyone uses it. ICQ just released a new version ICQ 7, which integrates updates from Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Flickr and Youtube. However, ICQ does not do a great job at integrating any of the social networking sites. For example, on Facebook you can like your own updates, but not your friends. ICQ is promoting that they offer a service that allows for a person to not have to open several browsers at once. Yet, they do not offer all of the amenities that the other social networks do, so the person would still need to login into their other account. Also, ICQ 7's installation procedure wants to change your default search engine to ICQ Search and install the ICQ toolbar. One positive aspect of ICQ is that it allows for someone to post an update to all of these networks simultaneously. Basically, the negatives definitely outweigh the positives and there should be no reason to install ICQ 7.

Jeff Bezos would like all authors to use the Kindle platform. While we have not discussed the internet as a distribution medium, it should be noted that distibution is one area where the Internet has really been transformative. This move by Amazon should decrease the cost of the books, save some trees and put more money back in the hands of the authors. It almost seems like the only thing missing is world peace.

Personally, I cannot wait till we are done with carrying around boxes of paper and paying insane amounts of money for textbooks. Will the college students agree to this model if textbooks are made available via the Kindle? Time will tell.

Three people were rescued from the debris caused by the Earthquake in Haiti because of a cell phone text message. The victims were trapped in a supermarket that collapsed. One of them sent a text message to the ONU using her cell phone. According to Joseph Fernandez, a rescue member of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue, the text message said that she was inside the Caribbean Market, near from the fruits, meats and frozen products. The rescue team went to the place and chased the sounds that three people inside were making until they found them. The three people were Ariel, 7 years, Lamy 34 years and Maria, 50 years. Since the three of them were surrounded by food they could eat and survive.

To read more, click HERE. To translate Copy and paste HERE.

South Korea recently announced that virtual currency would be treated just like real currency. Note that China has already decided to tax virtual goods using a voluntary reporting system. You may already be aware of several stories of people with reasonable monetary success in the virtual worlds buying and selling virtual goods and using other channels such as ebay to convert virtual currency and goods into cash.  

The ramifications of this move are unprecedented. Farmville and Mafia Wars fans take note.


Read more here

Many of you may remember receiving little candied hearts for Valentine's Day. Now, the treats d'amour are gaining social media relevancy.

After many suggestions from consumers, the voting revealed "Tweet Me" as the next phrase that will appear on the hearts. The message complements Twitter perfectly as both communication mediums use short phrases--obviously Sweetheart candies are far more space limited than Twitter is.

This itself is a veritable coup for Twitter who is paying nothing for the free advertising. They have thoughtfully agreed to allow Necco to use the phrase. The two companies are cooperating on the candy.

Hopefully, this works better than the "Bite Me" tie-in with Twilight from last year.

Read the story here at USA Today.

This week, Google revealed that there have been complaints from news outlets in Germany saying that Google should be paying news sources for the clips of articles found in search results in Google News. Google said that it should be allowable since they help the publishers make money by directing searchers to their websites. A member of the German Newspaper Publishers Association says that this is largely outweighed by the amount of money that Google makes from advertising.

For further information click here.

This article talks about the ten steps that most companies take when they include social media into their business plans. The plans are pretty detailed and explains a lot of ways you can use a site to serve your company best. Despite that, it doesn't seem to boast overnight results which is what a lot of companies want from the internet. Read the article here.

This article explains an unexpected occurrence with a Georgia mother and two daughters signing into their Facebook accounts through their mobile phones.  They signed in with their normal password and email, only to view the information of a complete stranger.  They had access to their privacy settings, password, email, you name it. 

It is possible that this mistake happened due to a "carrier routing problem," but this truly is another way that the Internet can lead us (and our information) astray.  Is this enough of a warning to scare people away from putting information on the Internet? Probably not.  You decide, after reading the article, here.

In an article the was published by BusinessWeek, the author discusses how the popular online shoe retailer is selling their business model to other business. Their model is based upon the idea that "business should be fun," and this is shown when you get a tour of the headquarters and you have staffers ringing cowbell and blowing horns as you walk through the offices. Zappos says that they have mastered the art of selling shoes, so now it is time to make money off of people and their fixation upon the business model of the shoe retailer.

We all knew that this day was coming, NY Times will soon start charging for access to its website. No more free news, at least not from NY Times anyway. I see this as a last ditch effort for the print media which should have gone away a long time ago. Here is my prediction, the number of people who use NY Times will slowly start to disappear and get their news from elsewhere where it is still free. Print media is struggling and what they really need to be doing is trying to change instead of burying their heads in the sands and hope that the Internet just goes away.

Read more about this here

Who is the best tweeter? Twitter has developed a way of ranking Twitter members and has categorized the areas into over twenty topics. These awards are called the "Shorty Awards" and recognize those members who not only tweet the most, but also tweet the best. This requires members to be updating frequently and including information that keeps readers interested.

Members can nominate other members by leaving messages in certain formats. The initial rounds ended on December 31st, 2009. However, the top five Tweeters of each topic just recently completed the final round which ran from January 5th through the 14th. Winners are awarded a trip to New York City in late January where they can deliver acceptance speeches in 140 characters or less.

Click here to read about the Shorty Awards.

Click here to see the top 5 winners of each category.

Over the past week, there have been many articles written about the different ways in which social media has affected the way communication has worked through this crisis. Real time communication on facebook and twitter were some of the only ways that hations could communicate with people outside that country. People in New York were finding out the status of their families by twitter posts. Pictures were also posted and shared on Twitter. These tools have created a level of awareness that we have never seen before. Social media's texting campaign has so far raised $10 million dollars for relief efforts, and technology made it possible.

To read more on social medias political impact click here.

Until this week, I did not realize that the Chinese government limits the access it's citizens have on the internet. In particular, they have been trying to "cleanse" it for the citizens by blocking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, porn, blogs and others. Despite this effort to restrict, many citizens have recently been finding ways around the governments blocks.

According to a article on Yahoo! News, there are cases winding their way through courts that deal with fan-created online videos that contain music in them. Large music labels such as Caroline, EMI, and Virgin are bringing law suits to the courts against online video sharing sites like Vimeo.com. They are stating that sites like Vimeo.com are performing copyright infringement by encouraging users to upload videos that contain professionally produced music. So if a user uploads a video they created, but uses a song from Lil' Wayne as their background music, the video sharing site is committing copyright infringement by allowing this.

YouTube, the online video sharing giant, has already struck deals with major music labels to split the revenue with them after users upload their videos. The thought here is that uploading such videos on YouTube will promote music label's artist and generate revenue for them and YouTube. According to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), YouTube has kept itself safe by following provisions in the DMCA that if a site promptly removes videos upon receipt of takedown notices from content owners they are ok.

To read more follow the link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100116/en_nm/us_copyright

According to this article, the Warner Music Group was planning on making the music from artists on their label available online to US subscribers through. The deal would not include latests hits or songs. The idea is to expand its 400,000 subscriber base.

The CEO said they were in talks with label partners for new licensing deals to allow the website to steam songs. There are companies that already allow this such as Last.hm and LaLa. EMembers have to pay a monthly fee for the services.

Read more http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/emusic-inks-warner-deal-plans-for-streaming

According to this article Mcafee (anti virus firm) has informed the pubic that hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe, and dozens of other companies used unique and highly complicated methods, along with the use of an unknown hole in Internet Explorer to attack online. McAfee has never seen anything like this type of hacking outside of the defense industry. This attack has companies online on high alert. Google reported on Tuesday that hackers stole intellectual property and accessed human rights activist’s e-mails. McAfee also added that this highly sophisticated and well-organized attack has changed "the threat model" and the company is coming together to prevent this from happening in the future. The attack is said to have originated in China.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/operation-aurora

The company mGive started a campaign to raise money for the earthquake in Haiti. This campaign was instantly successful because of its wireless capabilities. Donations were made through text messages. The campaign was mentioned in blogs, facebook, and twitter which also helped increase its success. Although this donation may seem instant, it still takes up to three months before real money is received. To read the full article, visit this site.

The New York Times has recently introduced a new e-commerce platform for real estate agents. Called Real Estate Agent Solutions, the program gives agents the ability to post and alter online ads easily and save money in the process.

The Red Cross had set up a number to text from your phone to send $10 dollars to those in Haiti who needed it. From this alone, they have raised $5 Million. Celebrities have tweeted about this and it showed up in my feed by at least 3 other people. T-Mobile also promised to drop all of the costs associated with calling to and from Haiti until the end of the month and has also agreed to drop charges for the text message donation to Red Cross. Google flat out contributed $1 Million of their own money to the cause as well.

There are other online sites that are helping out too, such as Skype who has sent $2 vouchers to its customers in the area, allowing them to communicate for up to an hour and GoDaddy who has donated $500,000 to the cause as well. Facebook has a page where you can learn about the disaster and MyYearbook has raised $3.5 billion in "lunch Money" which isn't actual money, but it is yet to be determined how it translates into helping the cause.

Read More

Companies are taking TV advertisement to a new level with interactive TV commercials. These interactive commercials have been under years of testing and haven't been viewed by a large range of people until this fall when Cablevision offered it to all it's customers in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area. How it works is customers click with their remote when the commercial comes on and from there they can get more information on the product, special gifts or product certificates from the store. It became so popular that some of the companies had to put their commercial on hold because they ran out of promotions to give away. These new commercials are giving customers their usual TV commercials with the added interaction capabilities like the web.

However are the same results going to occur after the initial thrill of the new technology wears off? With TiVo most people already skip through the commercials while they are watching their shows or they take that time to go get a snack. So before a lot more companies start investing in these interactive commonsensical these commercials need to spend more time on the air.

Read more here.

Twitter has shown that it is a great tool for spreading messages quickly and effectively. But it can also spread rumors faster than marketers can stop them.

As companies lined up to offer their support to Haitian relief, Twitter was inundated with tweets from organizations, each offering different donation promises or ways for consumers to get involved. However, the messages that originated from companies were not always the ones that was communicated.

American airlines announced that it would award frequent-flier miles to customers who donated $50 or more to the Red Cross. However, it soon found out from consumers that apparently it was offering free flights for nurses and doctors who wanted to travel to Haiti to help with relief efforts. UPS encountered similar confusion when consumers spread that it was going to be offering free shipping for packages going toward relief effort. Both companies had to make statements clarifying their contribution promises.

What happened to American Airlines and UPS was a world wide, lightening fast game of telephone. So while social media can be a great tool for companies, it has to be used with caution. The rate with which information spreads, true or false, good or bad, means that marketers need to be actively listening to these conversations so that they can quickly set the record straight in such situations.

To read the full article, click here.

Not surprisingly, this article on Business Week indicates the trade group organization CTIA-The Wireless Association has stated that any regulation passed that attempts to deal with the issue of net neutrality should not be applied to wireless service providers. The organization represents AT&T, Verizon, and other wireless companies.

Other groups supported by Google and Microsoft are on the side of FCC regulations that level the playing field for how internet content is served. Today (January 14th) was the deadline the FCC set for comments on the issue to be submitted.

It should be interested to see how this goes. It seems to me that if regulations insuring neutrality are necessary, they should apply to wireless the same as they would any other infrastructure medium for delivering content. Should companies with the means be allowed to pay for priority when it comes to content delivery?

With Facebook continually growing and just recently reaching 350 million users worldwide, the most growth still has been in the United States amongst the younger generations. Due to the large base the US already has, the gain of users in December 2009 was 5%, and the countries with the most growth of 10% was in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. However, the largest gain came from males ages 18 to 25, and next women 26 to 34. Therefore, the highest rates of growth are continuing in the younger age groups and increase in usage with older users has slowed down. Despite the fact that older users are becoming a part of Facebook, the younger users are continuing to join. There were some concerns that younger users would not want to be a part of a social site that their parents were members of as well.

Click here to read more.

Searching for a full-time job in packaging, I've been browsing through several consumer products websites in which I stumbled onto The Sun Products Corporation. They are the producers of WISK laundry detergent that have been around since 1956. Not only was their website intriguing with a scrolling panel of company updates, one of the more recent updates suggested that they had linked up with Facebook to create an application. After reading the article, I thought I'd share it with the class to see what other people thought.

As an apparent attempt to reinvent their brand, WISK has created a Facebook application to most likely increase their consumer base. The application's purpose is for Facebook users to gain more control of their personal privacy by having the ability to edit what pictures are posted. Currently, users only have the control to de-tag or untag pictures that friends have posted. With this application, users can search for all tagged, de-tagged, and untagged pictures of themselves and request that their presence be excluded from a given photo album posted by their friends.

How is this relevant to laundry detergent, much less the Sun Products Corporation? They're using play on words to describe this application as a way in which you, as a Facebook user, can "stop your friends from airing your 'dirty laundry' online by helping you request they wash away certain photos" (WISK app). Seems like a bit of a stretch in marketing techniques to me, but at the same time it's a clever way to increase the company's brand awareness.

The White House is meeting with more than 50 of the country's top CEO's today, including CEO's from Facebook, Yelp, and Microsoft.  For what reason? To revolutionize the government on the Internet.  It is obviously clear the popularity of the social media sites, and there is no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.  It appears that they want to meet to determine a way to give citizens a chance to voice their opinions.  The article does not hint at any possibilities of what this meeting could accomplish, but I have a feeling it might include government pages in the the FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog-mosphere arena. 

What do you think they will do? What do you want them to do? Will this lead to too much government interference, or will it provide more government support, accessibility, and a feeling of connection with the leaders who run this marvelous country?

Read the article and list of CEO expected to attend here

A man was murdered and police want to subpoena the Tweets between the alleged murderer and the victim. It's happened on other social networking sites before. Some people think the companies have some responsibility in helping prevent these situations while others think the companies have no responsibility in it at all. Read more. . .

I think it would have to be closer to the latter. The sites are simply platforms. Nobody accuses Verizon, Motorola, Apple or Sprint for crimes that were planned using their products or services. In companies that stand in brick and mortar, there are questions that may be posed to the owners as would be to anyone else who may be able to shed some insight into what happened, but they shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of others.

The sites should be expected to release the information that the police are looking for but nothing more.

My neighbors, the Haitians, were victims of the 7.0 earthquake that occurred on January 12th. The country is devastated. People that have seen the tragedy in television and online and are willing to help. The American Red Cross has turned to social media, such as Twitter and Facebook , in order to make appeals for money disaster.

David Meltzer, from the American Red Cross, says that social media wasn’t nearly as important as a year and a half ago when a massive earthquake struck China. Hundreds of thousand of dollars have been mobilized and collected in only 18 hours, from social media alone.

GlobalGiving tweeted 12 thousand followers as soon as the earthquake happened. As soon as they started tweeting about it in just 1 day several hundred people had re-tweeted them.

(PLEASE IF YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE AND DONATE WHATEVER YOU CAN, CLICK HERE)

To see more details about this article, click here

The economy may be dwindling but social media use is booming. Job seekers have discovered that using both professional and social media sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn may prove to be their savior. With job openings so rare and the amount of qualified college graduates being pumped out of the system every year, job hunters have to switch their traditional hunting approaches for more modern ones.

According to Investors Business Daily, "Forrester Research estimates that 51% of U.S. online adults use social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, up from 25% in 2007." The old idea used to revolve around who you knew that could get your foot in the door. Now it is not only who you know, but who your friends and family know as well. Connections are being made online between complete strangers who only have one shared Internet friend.

Job seekers who choose to use this path must be careful. Presenting yourself online in a professional manner is important and making connections should always be done appropriately and professionally. When used correctly it can just land you a job. Link to article below:

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515914&Ntt=LinkedIn

In the past, Google has received criticism for its willingness to censor search results in China in order to appease the Chinese government. It claimed that its participation, although censored, would provide benefits to the Chinese people through the use of its search services.

On January 12, 2010, Google has announced that it will no longer censor its searches in China. Google cites a series of cyber attacks that attempted to gather information on Chinese human rights activists. These attacks targeted at least 20 different companies.

In Google's blog, they stated that they were concerned with the implications of human rights and freedom of speech in China. A remarkably bold move, and one that the Chinese government most likely will not like.

The die has been cast. Google is no longer willing to censor their results in China and they have stated that they will exit the country if China will not allow them to operate as such. The company realizes that this may be the end of their operations in China. The impact of an exit would be significant as Google holds a 30% market share in China--Baidu holds 62%.

Let it be noted that Google is willing to take a hit in their business operations in order to follow what they believe is ethical.

Main story here at the Guardian.uk

Volkswagen has cleverly entered the Viral Video universe with a unique twist on being environmentally friendly- by making it fun (like their cars, right?). As a matter of fact, I first saw this video because a friend sent it to me and I, in turn, sent it to about 30 other people.

The musical stairs caught my attention and held it for the 1 minute and 48 seconds with out blinking. And then as it closed, I saw the logo. I never would have guessed a video this creative and organic was from a car company.

Full Article Here

2010 stands to be the most innovative year yet at the Consumer Electronics Trade show. Everything from 3D television to internet enabled cars are set to be introduced. These products will bring about a new level of online connection on the go. Another product of note is the next generation of smart TVs that may bring an end to cable.

Facebook could perhaps take credit for connecting people across the continents and revolutionizing how we interact with others, whether it is between long lost friends, or business contacts. But it is not often that we actually get to hear what Facebook has to say about their vision for their site. In this article that appeared on Forbes.com, Facebook's senior platform manager discusses what the company's plan is for the future. Dave Morin sat down and talked about how the company has tried to make connecting with others as easy as possible-whether it is on your mobile phone, x-box or the computer.

Google energy? Last month, Google applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to become a power marketer. Mainly, Google claims that it has done so to make it easier to access renewable energy sources for its data centers. This is a result of Google's goal to become "carbon neutral."

For more information, click here.

If you were confounded by single word status updates on Facebook much like I was, this post should clarify that for you. I thought long and hard before posting this but I decided to anyway because it is an interesting change in consumer behavior. Online environments give us a misconceived notion of anonymity but still this seems like it is taking it a little further.

Those single word updates like black, pink, red etc reflect the bra color of your female friends on Facebook (to be on the safe side, I will say mostly female). Is this more than a privacy issue or is it just a change in culture where we just let our lives be more public than ever before.

Read more here.

Celebrities would be nothing without fans. Celebrities also fall under what we label as opinion leaders in the field of marketing.Most of us are probably aware that celebrities are paid for product placements, for endorsements and the like even as part of their regular lives. This article explains the impact of the person's tweet or facebook status in terms of how much it is worth to the companies and to the celebrity. Read on to find how much Nicole Ritchie, Audrina Partridge and others make by tweeting about brands and services.




Read more right here

This blog isn't connected to any sort of news story, but more to a something that happened to me today and demonstrates the impact of social media.

In a time when internet use has become increasing popular, it's effects on our lives is questionable. Some think it has made changes for the better, other thinks it has the opposite effect. This article discusses different areas of our lives such as politics, news, intimacy, child literacy among others.

Arguments can be made on both sides of the debate. This article does not discuss any negative effects just the changes. Read more here.

I think there should be a balance. My daughter has been sick the last few days. Yesterday I couldn't get her to hospital before it closed so the nurse offered us the option of "Tele Health" at a nearby clinic. It was closer than the hospital and open until 7:30. They used some medical equipment, a laptop, cell phone, camera and webcam to contact the doctor on call to diagnose my daughter with Strep. It works well if all systems work properly. The video conference with the doctor did not work last night so I had to use a cell phone to speak with her. The doctor even called in the prescription to our pharmacy so it was ready when we got there and the assistants had the letter we will need to give to her school prepared.

This all pulled together creating convenience for my family. I did not have to wait another day or extra hour in a waiting room room full of sick children to see a doctor. This program is in its infancy, it will be interesting to see how far this combination of medicine and technology will go.

I don't think we should get too wrapped up in all of the "good" things that may come from social media. Last night our biggest setback was the laptop moving too slow and the video conference could not be set up. We settled that with a cell phone. This was simple but there's no telling what bigger issues could show up had this process been more involved.

Last month, MSNBC signed up for a Twitter account and has acquired over 1.4 million followers since. Due to the success of this, the network has purchased the domain name BreakingNews.com as a compliment to the Twitter feed. The reason for this purchase? Apparently breaking news is an underserved market, and this new website can remedy that. The goal being to, of course, be the source that breaks news first.

I recently came across a social media game called "Foursquare" that seems to be growing in popularity. The game centers around you 'checking-in' when you are out at places such as cafes, restaurants, interesting places in your city to let your friends know where you are as well as make recommendations as to not-to-miss items on a menu, ect. With every check-in, you earn points and with every friend you get to join, you earn more points. And as your points add up you earn badges. I am still a little hazy on how it all works so if you would like to learn more, click here.

What is interesting about Foursquare is that it used to be restricted to your local area; you signed up to play in your city, and if you switched to a new location you had to start over. Recently, however Foursquare has changed its game to allow user to play anywhere in the world. This opens up opportunities to discover hot local hangouts and meet interesting people from all over. They are also updating there iPhone app to incorporate the new changes. Read more about this here.

I think this game sounds very interesting and like it could be another opportunity for companies to learn more about their consumers. Being able to track what hang outs a user frequents and some of their special interests could offer a great deal of insight into consumer behavior. I am very interested to see if this site keeps growing and becomes the "Twitter" of 2010.