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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “HTC Thunderbolt Now Available from Verizon”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:07 AM // 0 comments

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “HTC Thunderbolt Now Available from Verizon”

HTC Thunderbolt Now Available from Verizon

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 02:37 AM PDT


The world’s first LTE phone, HTC Thunderbolt, is now available from Verizon for $249.99 with a two-year contract or $599.99 if you want the contract-free, unlocked version.

The device itself is a very capable Android 2.2-based phone, with a a single core 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU, 768 MB of RAM (for some reason, Verizon’s site currently lists only 68 MB of RAM, but we believe it’s a mistake), 8 GB of built-in memory and 32 GB of additional memory on a microSD card. The touchscreen is a full 4.3-incher with a 480×800 resolution, and the 8-megapixel camera with LED flash (there’s another 1.3-megapixel camera on the front side) will make sure you can take some pretty photos to show off on that big screen.

You will not be buying the Thunderbolt for its hardware capabilities alone, however: its killer feature is support for LTE, the widely adopted 4G-ready mobile network standard that enables very fast wireless data transfer. Theoretically, it enables peak download rates of 326.4 Mbit/s, but users probably won’t be experiencing those speeds just yet.

Verizon is a little shy on the details, merely saying the technology will enable you to “download movies in minutes, photos in seconds”. We can’t wait to see the data transfer speeds in real life usage.

[via Verizon]

More About: 4G, android, htc, htc thunderbolt, LTE, Mobile 2.0, smartphone, verizon

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College Students Aim to Build a Better Way to Manage Courses

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 09:10 PM PDT


The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Coursekit

Quick Pitch: Coursekit is a Facebook-like Learning Management System.

Genius Idea: If you’re a college student, it’s likely you know what Blackboard is. The learning management system owns a whopping 57% of the market, according to a 2010 survey of 523 senior campus IT officers at two- and four-year universities. According to the same survey, its closest competitor is an open source solution called Moodle, which owns 17%.

The problem with the system’s dominance, says CourseKit co-founder Joseph Cohen, is Blackboard — a public company with a $1.19 Billion market cap — also sells software for corporations, government organizations and the military. It’s counterintuitive, rarely used to its fullest potential, and not designed with students in mind.

“It’s not like [Blackboard] isn’t feature-filled,” Cohen says. “It’s that it is confusing.”

As a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania (his co-founder Dan Getlman is a junior), Cohen is perhaps more sensitive to the needs of professors and students than those who run other companies that provide similar systems. At the least, he has ample access to both groups and their input.

Coursekit’s student-built learning content system, from the student perspective, revolves around a dashboard that keeps track of assignment due dates, lectures and other important dates for all classes on one calendar. It also shows recent activity for all courses on a news feed and posts messages for all classes in one place.

Each class’s homepage is anchored by a wall on which students and teachers can post messages, files, photos, and outside links. Like Blackboard, Coursekit lets teachers post a calendar, syllabus, and resources under separate tabs. If the platform reminds you of a certain social network, it’s not an accident. “We’re unabashedly taking stuff from Facebook,” Cohen says.

This minor imitation contributes to Coursekit’s intuitiveness.

Cohen and Getlman launched the learning management system midway through their current semester at Penn, cooperating with Cohen’s typography professor to use her class as a single pilot course. But there are also about 25 students who are managing Coursekit sites for about 200 courses. They pay these students up to $200 per class (depending on how many of their classmates they get to sign up).

Coursekit plans to use a similar strategy for spreading to other schools — pulling course schedules into the platform from public catalogs and assigning “class captains” to start implementing the platform in a school’s classes before the team approaches its administration.

Even with this innovative approach, however, it’s hard to imagine that a team currently consisting of three people (who all have full course loads at a vigorous university to tend to) can stand up to the sales force of 335 people that Blackboard reported in its Q3 earnings report. And there’s also a fair amount of competition outside of that dominant, though clunky, player.

In addition to Moodle, open source Sakai and Desire2Learn have been continually increasing their market share over the past several years.

If nothing else, Coursekit’s social, simple product might help spruce up the learning management system space a bit.

“It’s a pretty boring area right now,” Cohen says. “We wanted to make it creative and fun.”

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: blackboard, Coursekit, education, learnign management systems

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Twitter History, If It Were Up To Ken Burns [NSFW VIDEO]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 08:33 PM PDT


NSFW Warning: Expletives in this video, including that word that begins with an “F”

Leave it to the clever dudes and lady-dudes at Funny or Die to reduce Twitter and its origins to superficial references of terrible movies. But their Ken-Burns-style Civil War sendup certainly caught our attention.

Our favorite part comes from one of the “experts,” Dr. T. Wheaton, Professor of Tweetology: “It’s next to impossible to paste together the early history of Twitter simply because there were not nearly enough tweets about it at the time.” So, there’s never been any other way to find any information? What did we ever do without Twitter?

Now, somebody just needs to tell these people at Funny or Die that it’s Twitter’s fifth anniversary, not its 150th.

Thanks for the tip, Brian!

More About: Civil War, comedy, Hilarity, ken burns, satire, twitter, video

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Scan a QR Code & Save Your Place on the Restaurant Wait List

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:48 PM PDT


The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: WalkIN

Quick Pitch: Take the wait list with you and get notifications when your table is ready.

Genius Idea: Scan QR codes to save your place on multiple wait lists.

Proving that nine guys can successfully launch a startup in 48 hours on a bus, WalkIN is walking away from SXSW Interactive a big winner. The now one-week-old startup, which lets users save their places on restaurant wait lists by scanning a QR code at the door, shared the top prize in the StartupBus grand finale and is on its way to becoming a legitimate company.

The WalkIN experience is straightforward. Consumers use an iPhone or Android app to scan a QR code to reserve their place on the wait list. Merchants manage the queue via an iOS or HTML5 app, adjust wait times and manually add new guests to the list.

The first version of WalkIN launched at SXSW is QR code-only, but the founders now realize they need to add an SMS option to the service to reach all consumers.

The StartupBus environment helped make WalkIN a winning idea, says co-founder Bhavin Shah. “It was magic that was occurring,” he says. Team members naturally gravitated towards each other and worked harmoniously, circumstances that helped the nine guys evolve their ideas rapidly, beating out their competitors across the six-bus fleet.

Those excited by WalkIN’s promise to keep their place in the line should temper their enthusiasm for a more few weeks. Being just days old, WalkIN ins’t accessible to consumers just yet, though Shah explains that this will soon change. The startup is already talking to a handful of restaurants in New York, San Francisco and Sydney who are interested in testing the service in the coming weeks.

WalkIN’s idea is not entirely new, and there’s a smattering of competition in the virtual line space. But, with other startups such as Textaurant securing funding and no clear standout that owns the local merchant side of the equation, there’s plenty of opportunity here.

The young startup has fielded investment offers of its own, but has turned them down. WalkIN is going through a transition phase, according to Shah. Its unusual origins mean that team members must individually determine whether they want to peruse this full-time or keep their day jobs, he says.

Still, the startup is ready to graduate from the hyper-accelerator format of the StartupBus to a real-world environment. The team’s first order of business is to add new features, get merchants signed on and improve the overall user experience of the apps.

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: bizspark, spark-of-genius, startup, walkin

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Social Media Champions League: Man United, Justin Bieber, Glee, MTV

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:06 PM PDT


If there were one giant global sports tournament, to be decided by how many fans a team has on Facebook, Manchester United (9.9 million fans) would lose a close, tense final match to FC Barcelona (10.3 million fans).

But what if you decided the winner on how many of those Facebook fans are active – that is, the ones liking posts and making comments? Then Man United’s 256,000 active fans would run away with the trophy. Barcelona wouldn’t even get a runners-up medal. Its 142,000 active fans are fewer than Real Madrid’s 155,000. (All numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.)

Such are the results of a fascinating new monthly ranking of Facebook fandom, cooked up by New York startup FanGager. In a bid to promote its CRM-style dashboard of social media engagement, the startup has started curating a list of the top 100 most active fan pages. “Brand managers are collecting fans,” says CEO Eran Gefen, who started the company in Tel Aviv two years ago, “but we think the conversation should move to engaged fans — just as on the web, counting hits and page views gave way to counting unique users.”

Moving the conversation would be good for Justin Bieber, too. The Canadian pop star’s 20 million fans are outnumbered by Lady Gaga‘s 29 million — but Bieber’s number of engaged fans, 360,000, is the highest on Facebook. Lady Gaga’s 148,000 engaged fans can’t even top those of Kesha or the Black Eyed Peas.

Facebook game company Zynga has the second highest number of active fans, for its Texas Hold ‘Em poker game, while Facebook’s own fan page doesn’t even make the top 10. Glee is by far the most engaging TV show, apparently, followed by Jersey Shore and trailed way behind by How I Met Your Mother and House.

Given that Jersey Shore activity, the top-ranked corporate brand in the listing, MTV, may come as little surprise. The second highest corporate brand, Victoria’s Secret, also requires little explanation. The top packaged goods? Skittles, followed by Oreo cookies. Check out the top 20:

Man United can’t claim quite as many engaged fans as Bieber or Zynga, but it does walk away with the title for highest percentage of active fans in the top 100, at 2.6%. But Gefen says that figure pales into comparison with the U.S. Army, which has relatively few fans but a 10% activity level.

As for Mashable? We’re closing in on half a million Facebook fans — and a very respectable 4.5% activity level. Thanks, everyone.

More About: facebook, fans, social engagement

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Samsung’s Laptop Is Lighter, Thinner Than a MacBook Air [GALLERY]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 06:28 PM PDT


Before you rush out and buy that ultrathin MacBook Air, take a look at the Samsung Series 9 Notebook that will begin gracing store shelves starting Thursday.

You might remember this wispy little black number from CES 2011, where we briefly mentioned the Samsung Series 9 amid a flurry of product rollouts. Exciting? Yes, but talk is cheap, and now Samsung delivers this 13.3-inch laptop that’s lighter, thinner and packs a more up-to-date processor than a MacBook Air.

With all that miniaturization and speed, of course, there’s a price premium. The cheapest Samsung Series 9, packing an Intel 1.4GHz Core i5-2537M processor (vs. the MacBook Air’s 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo), 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD is going to set you back $1649, $50 more expensive than the highest-priced MacBook Air.

Well, this is a switch. Usually a comparable Mac is a lot more expensive than its Windows laptop counterparts. But look what happens when Samsung pays more attention to quality, and shoehorns faster components inside a swoopy, impossibly-thin enclosure. Things start getting pricey.

Samsung also announced today it would be shipping another member of the Series 9 line next month (April, 2011), an 11.1-inch ultrathin laptop running the Core i3-380UM processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB SSD. Samsung hasn’t announced pricing on that yet, but it will probably cost around $1,150, according to a price leak on Dynamism.

All these numbers are one thing, but what’s it like to hold it in your hands? According to Mashable’s Ben Parr, “I held it. It’s awesome.” Beyond its aesthetics, as a practical matter, Samsung said at CES 2011 that this laptop boots in 12 seconds.

Get a close-up look at this skinny lappie in the gallery, and then tell us in the comments: Is this worth more than a MacBook Air?


Samsung Series 9





Samsung Series 9 Top View





It's Thin





It's Small





Samsung Series 9




More About: laptops, macbook air, notebook, Samsung Series 9, ultrathin

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Start a New Career in Social Media or Technology

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 04:16 PM PDT


If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable‘s Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable‘s job boards are a place for socially savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space and beyond. Have a look at what's good and new on our job boards:

Mashable Job Postings

Regional Sales Director at Mashable in San Francisco, CA.

Regional Sales Director at Mashable in New York, NY.

VP Product at Mashable in New York, NY or San Francisco, CA.

Ruby on Rails Developer at Mashable in San Francisco, CA.

Mashable Job Board Listings

PR Senior Account Executive at Zeno Group in Santa Monica, CA.

Digital Communications VP/Director at Digitas Health in Wilmington, DE.

Movement Communications Manager at Wikimedia Foundation in San Francisco, CA.

Search Engine Marketing Coordinator at DentalPlans.com in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

PR – Account Executive at Edelman PR in San Mateo, CA.

Website & New Media Manager at Hartford Stage in Hartford, CT.

Product Director at an online education platform in New York, NY.

Social Media Sales Consultant at Meltwater Buzz in Boston, MA.

Search Strategist at PAVE Creative Group in Winston Salem, NC.

Interactive Producer/Designer at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA.

Social Media Manager at Infinity2 in Sydney, Australia.

Blogger, Technology & Lifestyle for Women at CBS Interactive in New York, NY.

Software Developer at a confidential company in Del Mar, CA.

Software Engineer at BuyWithMe in New York, NY.

Corporate Marketing Manager at Fluent Co in New York, NY.

User Relations Representative at Paperless Post in New York, NY.

Online Divisional Merchandise Manager at Sears in Hoffman Estates, IL.

Bilingual (Portuguese) Creative Designer at White Digital Media in Carlsbad, CA.

Bilingual (Spanish) creative Designer at White Digital Media in Carlsbad, CA.

Mobile Designer at Everyday Health in New York, NY.

Product Manager at Everyday Health in New York, NY.

Senior Product Manager, Mobile at Everyday Health in New York, NY.

Marketing Manager at Everyday Health in New York, NY.

Quality Assurance Engineer at Everyday Health in New York, NY.

Ruby Software Developer at Everyday Health, Inc in New York, NY.

Front End Developer at Everyday Health, Inc in New York, NY.

PR Assistant at Black Frame in New York, NY.

UI Designer at Usablenet in New York, NY.

Senior Account Executive at Horn Group in New York, NY.

Director, Mobile Innovation & Development at American Express in New York, NY.

Senior Agile Developer at McCann Erickson NY in New York, NY.

Junior Agile Developer at McCann Erickson NY in New York, NY.

Senior Front End Developer at McCann Erickson NY in New York, NY.

Social Media & Digital Content Consultant at FastrackMedia in Washington DC.

Customer Acquisition Manager at VELTI in San Francisco, CA.

Marketing Specialist at Private Surgical Group Practice in Union, NJ.

Social Media Senior Specialist at Sony Electronics in San Diego, CA.

eCommerce Manager at Magic Beans in Brookline, MA.

Senior Public Relations Specialist at Blue State Digital in New York, NY.

ColdFusion Application Developer at Fusionapps in Seacaucus, NJ.

Project Manager at Column Five Media, Inc. in Newport Beach, CA.

System Administrator at Studio One Networks in New York, NY.

Interactive Account Director at Digitas in Philadelphia, PA.

Internet Content Specialist at D&B Supply in Caldwell, ID.

Manager, Digital Marketing at UJA-Federation of New York in New York, NY.

Senior Account Planner at Ignited in El Segundo, CA.

Linux/Windows System Administrator at Tableau Software in Seattle, WA.

Social Media Director at BET Networks in New York, NY.

Interactive Senior Art Designer at Sisu, Inc. in Culver City, CA.

Creative Director at Match.com in Dallas, TX.

Project Coordinator at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Social Media Marketing Coordinator at Legacy in Washington, DC.

Director of Product Management at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Front End Developer at Bill Young Productions in Houston, TX.

Social Media Manager at BBC in New York, NY.

Publicity Manager at BBC Worldwide Americas in New York, NY.

Senior Perl Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Monitoring Tools Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Director, Community & Social Content at Lynda.com in Carpinteria, CA.

Senior Product Manager at Demand Media in Santa Monica, CA.

Product Manager, Digital Advertising at Demand Media in Santa Monica, CA.

Junior Web Developer at Flank Marketing in San Diego, CA.

Senior Web Developer at Flank Marketing in San Diego, CA.

Sales Manager for Online Sewing Community at BurdaStyle in New York, NY.

Lead Interactive Designer at Gin Lane Media in New York, NY.

Lead Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Senior System Administrator at Synacor in Atlanta, GA.

Senior Client Deployment Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Director, Social Media Strategy at Catalyst in New York, NY.

Digital Producer at Taylor in New York, NY.

Digital Media Manager at Advanced Media Productions in Natick, MA.

Mashable‘s Job Board has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out here.

Find a Web 2.0 Job with Mashable

Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($99 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang

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Microsoft: IE9 Downloaded 27 Times Per Second

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 03:11 PM PDT


Internet Explorer 9, which was released Monday, was downloaded 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours it was available, according to Microsoft. The beta version of this iteration of the browser was downloaded only 1 million times during the first day of its availability.

For the final version of IE 9, that’s almost 98,000 downloads per hour, or 27 downloads per second, however you want to look at it.

“We want to thank everyone around the world for downloading IE9 and the enthusiastic reception,” Ryan Gavin, Microsoft’s senior director of Internet Explorer, wrote on the IE blog.

Compared to other browsers though, IE 9′s numbers aren’t quite as impressive. In a few hours after becoming available, Firefox 3.5 saw more than 1 million downloads in 2009. And by the end of its first 24 hours the year before, Firefox 3.0 had been downloaded 8 million times.

The updated Internet Explorer includes HTML5, an improved UI and a built-in do-not-track function. It’s available for download at BeautyoftheWeb.com.

IE 9 will soon face more competition from Firefox, which is set to release the final version of Firefox 4 on March 22.

Image courtesy of www_ukberri_net via Flickr

More About: browser, Firefox, internet explorer, microsoft

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The 10 Most Buzzed About Brands at SXSW [STUDY]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 02:52 PM PDT


The Interactive portion of South by Southwest has officially drawn to a close, and with it, the opportunity for brands to make a splash with the tens of thousands of tech-obsessed attendees of the annual conference.

So which companies ended up getting the most buzz? Ad Age teamed up with social media analytics firm People Browsr to analyze the number of SXSW-associated brand mentions of specific companies across Facebook and Twitter.

The top 10 (in order), according to the study:

  • Mashable
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • FourSquare
  • Facebook
  • CNN
  • GroupMe
  • Tumblr
  • Microsoft
  • Instagram.

While we're of course delighted to be topping the list (with our two-day Mashable House, Facebook Live and Gowalla partnerships, and other social media initiatives likely driving the numbers), the results do provide insights into many of the companies and trends we were tracking at the conference.

The battle of location apps was once again in focus at SXSW, and by attracting 13% of the brand mentions (among the companies tracked), Foursquare appears to have once again been the big winner. The startup made a number of big announcements leading up to SXSWi, including a partnership with American Express that provided deals on the ground to attendees in Austin. CEO Dennis Crowley also joined our CEO Pete Cashmore on stage for one of the keynotes.

GroupMe and Instagram, two highly buzzed about startups going into the conference, managed to grab 3% and 2% of the mentions, respectively. That's more impressive when you consider it's more buzz than big sponsors with a big physical presence at the event (like Pepsi, Chevy and Microsoft) received.

GroupMe also scored the highest ranking among the top 10 for positive brand sentiment. CNN ranked second in this category while receiving 6% of mentions overall — both likely a result of its prominent CNN Grill, which provided live content (and free food) throughout the event.

We'd have loved if the study had gone deeper into some of the other startups we were watching going into the event. We're also curious as to the buzz Apple received after setting up its special venue for selling the iPad 2.

Which brands were you most excited about at SXSW? Which did you hear the most buzz about online? Let us know in the comments.

More About: groupme, instagram, mashable, sxsw

How Amazon Is Bringing Real Page Numbers to Kindle Books

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 02:43 PM PDT


Many rejoiced last month when Amazon announced that a Kindle update would add real page numbers to the device’s digital books. More than a month later, Amazon has revealed that “real” page numbers wasn’t a metaphor — the page numbers that now appear in many Kindle books are derived from the physical texts.

With physical books, figuring out where pages should start and end is easy: the stream of text is simply divided by how much of it can fit on a page. On a screen, however, users can modify how much text fits by zooming, switching to a different device, or switching reading mode. The only logical option was to hijack virtual page division points from existing print editions.

“Adding ‘real’ page numbers means we had to find a way to match specific text in a Kindle book to the corresponding text in a print book and identify the correct page number to display,” reads an article by Kindle editors that was posted Wednesday on Amazon’s blog.

In order to pull off its real pages, Kindle developed algorithms to match the text of print books to Kindle books. (As a top seller of print books, Amazon apparently already had a lot of data about them available.) It stores all of these page-matching files on the web. The team “even found a way to deliver page numbers to books that customers had already purchased.”

According to the blog post, page numbers are already available for the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle stores (the ones with print editions, anyhow) as well as tens of thousands of others. Page numbers are only displayed above the progress bar when users push the menu button.

More About: amazon, Kindle, page numbers

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Heyzap Launches Android App for Discovering & Checking In to Games

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 02:18 PM PDT


How do you typically find new games to play on your iPhone or Android device? Do you check the top-selling app lists for new games? Do you ask your friends what they’re playing? Or do you simply download the games your favorite blog is recommending this week?

Social and mobile gaming platform Heyzap thinks it has cracked the nut on the mobile game discovery problem. Wednesday it is launching its Android app, a social discovery tool that uses checkins to help friends figure out what games they’re playing.

The app, which has been in alpha testing for several weeks, essentially has three components: a news feed, a database of games and a section dedicated to tips about games. The news feed/friend stream is the most important component of the app. With it, users can see what games their friends are currently playing through checkins.

Checkins can be made through the app (you can even launch games through a checkin), but checkins are also possible through Heyzap’s software development kit, which allows any Android game to integrate checkins and broadcasts to Facebook and Twitter from their games. About 20 games have already integrated with Heyzap, including the popular Bubble Buster and X Construction.

Heyzap for Android also includes a tips tab that provides a feed of tips from your friends and the entire Heyzap network for the different games in its database. Others can then comment on these tips and start a more detailed discussion. The app delivers badges as rewards for activity on the app. There is also a games tab that lists the different games you, your friends and the entire Heyzap network have checked into.

Will people actually check in to their favorite games, though? Does the checkin phenomenon translate to Angry Birds? Apparently so: Since its alpha launch, Heyzap for Android has garnered more than 250,000 checkins on 3,000 different Android games. Those are impressive numbers for an alpha app.

Has Heyzap stumbled upon an ideal way to discover and discuss games? It’s something to consider, given the app’s current engagement numbers. Discovering new mobile games is a problem, as is finding the solutions to the most difficult game levels on your phones. We’re interested to see how this app fares and how it’ll approach the iOS ecosystem.

More About: android, check.in, gaming, Heyzap

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Facebook & Groupon Raise Stakes in Turf War

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 02:05 PM PDT


Facebook and Groupon ratcheted up a turf battle Wednesday as the former expanded Facebook Deals, the social network’s new location-based discounts program, and the latter prepared an ad blitz on Facebook.

Facebook today announced that users in five test markets — Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco and Austin, Texas — will be able to subscribe to Deals and share them with their friends. (See image below.) Previously, Deals has been available only via Facebook’s location-sharing service, Places, which displayed nearby offers from local merchants.

Nine vendors — Gilt City, Home Run, OpenTable, Pop Sugar City, Tippr, KGB Deals, Plum District, Reach Local and Zozi — are part of the program. A Facebook rep says that the offering will be expanded in coming weeks and months to include local businesses from those cities.

Facebook launched Deals in November 2010. Since then, millions of people have used the service, Emily White, director of local, told The Wall Street Journal in January.

Groupon Prepares Ad Blitz on Facebook

Meanwhile, Groupon announced Wednesday an exclusive agreement with AdParlor, which will manage the brand's ad spending on Facebook. The deal will let Groupon run ads on Facebook's right-hand column for a variety of campaigns, including "generic ads driving users to sign up for daily e-mails as well as deal-specific ads with a focus on driving sales," according to a statement from AdParlor.

The agreement will also let Groupon micro-target ads using artificial intelligence technology, according to AdParlor. Thanks to the arrangement, Groupon expects to "significantly increase" its spending on Facebook, said Zac Goldberg, vice president of online marketing at Groupon, in a statement.

Can Groupon blunt Facebook's inroads into its business with advertising? Either way, it seems like a win-win situation for Facebook. For Groupon, which has to contend with a slew of wannabe competitors, the picture is somewhat less rosy.

Image courtesy of Flickr, sdc2027

More About: facebook, groupon

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Dennis Crowley on the Future of Foursquare [VIDEO]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 01:36 PM PDT

Mashable CEO and founder Pete Cashmore interviewed Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley about the future of the company. Part of the vision Crowley outlined during the Q&A at South By Southwest Interactive included an announcement that the company is broadening its API and starting its Venue Project to “harmonize” place databases for other developers to use.

“We're really doubling down on our venue API,” said Crowley, “so that all the stuff that we’re creating for the product can be used by other people in the outside world.”

Crowley also emphasized the importance of using Foursquare to engage with the real world, pointing to the benefits of earning badges as a way to encourage people to go to the gym or visit a museum.

Watch the video for more.


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More About: dennis crowley, foursquare, location-based service, pete cashmore, sxswi

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Why Social Media Innovation Has Hit a Plateau [OPINION]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 01:09 PM PDT


This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Whenever you bring up the idea that the cycle of innovation must, at some point, come to an end, you inevitably evoke the memory of Charles Duell. For the uninitiated, Duell was the commissioner of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in 1899 supposedly said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

We can all have a good laugh at Duell's expense now (even though he may never have actually said that), but perhaps we shouldn't. After all, isn't Duell's sentiment generally true in a lot of cases? For instance, have cars really changed that much since the ’50s? Sure, they're more fuel efficient and they now have OnStar systems and USB ports, but they're still basically the same — four tires that you operate with a steering wheel. They still (mostly) run on gas. They've been perfected, but are they fundamentally different?

Or take toasters. Is the toaster you could buy in 1971 really all that different from today's? For all I know, toaster technology may have advanced dramatically since then, but as a consumer, there's really not much difference. It took a minute or so to make toast 40 years ago, and it still does today.

So why do we expect social media to be any different? Simple. It's because we have just come off a big spurt of growth and the natural inclination is to assume that's going to continue forever. That's just human nature. And that's why this year's South by Southwest conference is a bit of a comedown. Back in 2007, SXSW was the launching pad for Twitter. In 2009, it was Foursquare. This year? Nada.

But we're not just having an off year. We're at a new, more boring stage in the development cycle.

Such thinking runs counter to the ethos of social media, I realize, but consider that social media has really only been around in its current form since 2005 or so. The real innovation that spurred the social media movement is microblogging. Before Facebook added status updates, fewer people were blogging and responding to blogs. Every innovation since then has basically been a refinement, including:

  • Twitter: a network devoted exclusively to microblogging
  • Foursquare: mobile microblogging with information about your location
  • GetGlue: microblogging about TV programs
  • Instagram: visual microblogging

If the latter is the big innovation of SXSW this year, I can hypothosize that micro video blogging will rule in 2012, but this is more tweaking than anything brand new. (While 12seconds.tv ultimately failed in its micro video blogging endeavors, perhaps it was ahead of its time.)

Perhaps you object to this on the grounds that tech is somehow immune to the toaster innovation phenomenon. But what about personal computing? The industry took a quantum leap in 1984 when Apple introduced the Macintosh, but, seriously, how different is your Mac or PC today? Yes, the graphics are a lot better and it's a hell of a lot faster, but there hasn't been another innovation quite at the same scale as the graphical user interface. The iPhone was also a big jump for mobile in 2007, but all the smartphones since then have basically run with the idea of a touchscreen and mobile apps. The iPad? It's nothing new: Tablet PCs have been around for 20 years. Apple just basically introduced a larger version of the iPhone. The iPad is very well designed of course, but, in the end, the device's success is a feat of marketing.

So where does this leave us? Maybe with a more realistic sense of where social media is going. Yes, it's going to be even more prevalent in 10 years. Yes, there will no doubt be lots of cool new technologies that bring microblogging to new arenas, but you're not going to see another Twitter or Facebook. Maybe everything that could be invented hasn't, but, in social media, all the important things have.

Interested in more Social Media resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, susoy

More About: facebook, foursquare, innovation, microblogging, op-ed, Opinion, social media, tech, twitter

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Facebook “Likes” More Profitable Than Tweets [STUDY]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 12:37 PM PDT


If event registration site Eventbrite’s experience is any indication, social media marketers looking for monetary returns on their efforts might get more value from Facebook than Twitter.

The company announced Wednesday that an average tweet about an event drove 80 cents in ticket sales during the past six months, whereas an average Facebook Like drove $1.34.

The study, which used in-house social analytics tools to track ticket sales on the site, was a continuation of a similar analysis the company released in October after analyzing data from a 12-week period. That study also indicated Facebook drove more sales for Eventbrite than Twitter, although the difference between the two networks’ sales per post was greater at that point than throughout the entire six-month period (the “value” of tweets increased).

In addition to each individual Facebook Like driving more sales than an individual tweet, the study also revealed cumulative activity on Facebook was greater than activity on Twitter for Eventbrite. People shared Eventbrite events on Facebook almost four times as often as they did on Twitter. The company attributes this disparity to Facebook’s wider reach and greater emphasis on real-world ties.

It’s important to note that only a very small percentage of site visitors shared event pages on either network. Just 1% of people who landed on an event page shared it with their friends; 10% of people who had purchased a ticket did the same.

Obviously people are more likely to share events if they are attending. Their friends, according to Eventbrite’s data, are also more likely to buy tickets to an event shared on Facebook by a ticket holder than one shared by an uncommitted friend. But whether these trends, or any of Eventbrite’s findings, are relevant to other types of purchases is still a matter of speculation. But Eventbrite is betting they are.

“We carefully track sharing behavior in an effort to help event organizers tap into a new world of distribution for their event promotion,” wrote Tamara Mendelsohn, Eventbrite’s director of marketing and former senior analyst at Forrester Research, in a blog post about the study. “But the findings apply broadly to all e-commerce businesses, because the foundations of e-commerce are shifting as the social graph becomes a meaningful influence in driving transactions.”

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, imagedepotpro

More About: eventbrite, facebook, social media, trending, twitter

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Google Upgrades Digital Tool Set for Non-Profits

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 12:29 PM PDT

google image

Google has announced the expansion of its pioneering charity program, Google for Non-Profits. The site will offer a variety of Google products designed specifically for non-profits, all under one digital roof.

The site has actually been up for some time now, but Wednesday marks a relaunch of Google for Non-Profits with several key additions to the suite of tools that already include AdWords, special YouTube privileges and Apps. The new site will streamline the application process for non-profits by creating just one form to access Google’s suite of tools.

“What we saw happening was non-profits were ecstatic about these offerings but just because they were a Google Grant recipient didn’t mean they knew about all the other tools that were available,” said Kirsten Olsen Cahill, the project’s product marketing manager. “We streamlined the process and reduced the time they need to wait.”

google non-profit image

If a non-profit is approved (it must be a registered 501(c)(3) in the U.S.), it will gain access to Google’s suite of non-profit tools: up to $10,000 a month in advertising in Google AdWords, free or discounted Google Apps, premium features on YouTube and mapping technologies through Google Earth.

Google is also launching three new additions to its umbrella of non-profit products geared towards providing ongoing support and IT help. Google for Non-Profits will feature a slew of instructional videos, a Make A Change section, and a Google for Non-Profits Marketplace. The company realized it isn’t enough to just give away its tools for free; it needs to help non-profits learn and maximize their use, Cahill said.

The instructional videos and tools will be created by a team of Google’s in-house non-profit experts. The Make A Change section will focus on non-profits that have successfully used Google products to help their cause and campaign. The marketplace is the most ambitious of the new tools — it connects non-profits with professional service providers who have agreed to offer their services for free or at discounted rates. These firms have been certified from existing Google marketplaces like AdWords Authorized Resellers, Analytics Certified Partners, Google Apps Marketplace and the Google Earth Outreach Developer Marketplace.

google tools image

“We really see our product as a way to help non-profits scale their impact,” Cahill said. “We’re providing the tool kit for non-profits to go out and reach more donors, improve their operations, and raise awareness.” Part of that goal is allowing enlisted non-profits to venture outside of the Google bubble. Google for Non-Profits is not meant as a comprehensive, exclusive platform but as a way of reaching the end goal: More positive change in the world. As such, non-profits can freely mix the Google tool set with sites and tools outside of the Google family.

There are already success stories like Direct Relief International, which raised more than $1 million using Google AdWords, and the Natural Resource Defense Council, which earned 100,000 views from one video on its YouTube channel with no paid advertising. While Google for Non-Profits is only available in the U.S., Cahill hopes to expand the platform internationally in the coming months.

“The average team size for a non-profit is eight people, you’re going to need tools that flexible and easy to use,” Cahill said. “If you’re a non-profit, you’re going to want to spend your time working on your cause and your mission, not worrying about how to keep your email up.”

What do you make of Google for Non-Profits? Is this an important step from a digital giant? Should major corporations get involved with supporting non-profits locally and globally? Let us know in the comments below.

More About: charity, Google, google for non-profits, non-profit, social good, social media

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The History of Computer Viruses [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 11:33 AM PDT


Computer viruses have been around for a long, long time — pretty much as long as personal computing and mainstream software development — and they’ve been making international news since the Internet graduated from a researcher’s toy to a tool for consumers.

If you’ve ever wondered what the first viruses were like and just how bad or dangerous they were, this infographic should be an interesting read for you. And the Space Invaders graphics will be easy on your nerdy eyes, too.

While the first virus in this brief history coincided with the birth of the 3.5-inch floppy disk, a lot of the malware we see these days relies on social media or mobile apps for transmission, adequate proof (as if any was needed) that with any innovation comes an opportunity for exploitation.

The twist these days is that more viruses are specifically targeted to steal personal data and make money for their creators, which was not necessarily a goal for many of the virus-writing hackers of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In fact, according to this data, the first money-making computer virus didn’t hit PCs until 2003.

Take a look at this chart, then go update your virus software and change your passwords. And as always, let us know what you think in the comments.

This infographic comes to us from information security firm F-Secure.

Click image to view the full-size version.

More About: infographic, security, virus

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YouTube To Invest up to $875,000 in Rising Stars

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 11:26 AM PDT


YouTube is launching another campaign to cultivate more original, quality content on its servers, promising to invest $35,000 in up to 25 of its partners.

The new initiative, YouTube NextUp, is not focused on discovering new talent, but more on “accelerating the growth of the next big YouTube stars.” Existing YouTube partners (those with less than 300,000 subscribers) are asked to apply with a video, up to three minutes long, demonstrating their talents and discussing the projects they’d want to pursue on YouTube if selected.

The partners selected for the program will be given a four-day spot at YouTube’s Creator Camp, where they will be mentored in production, videography and other disciplines in an effort to hone their crafts. YouTube has also promised to promote their projects and channel once completed. Still, the biggest draw to the NextUp program has to be the allure of $35,000 in funding to fuel acting, directing, producing or musical ambitions.

Once applications are submitted, YouTube’s users will get a say in who will get the company’s money. From March 29 to April 8, YouTube users will have the chance to vote at YouTube.com/creators for their favorite stars. From there, a panel of judges will choose the finalists and announce them on April 20.

More About: youtube, YouTube NextUp, YouTube Partner

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Japan’s Prime Minister Launches English-Language Twitter Account for Quake Updates

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT


The Japanese Prime Minister’s Office started an English-language Twitter account Wednesday, providing updates on the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake situation.

The account, @JPN_PMO, will tweet translations from the Japanese disaster information account @Kantei_Saigai, which the Prime Minister’s Office created March 13, the day of the quake.

In its first four hours, the account gained more than 7,000 followers. Although the translation is faulty at times, the tweets provide information about evacuations, press conferences and the country’s overall welfare during this time of crisis.

Here’s the first tweet:

Since the 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan Saturday, social media has played a vital role in reconnecting victims with loved ones and providing real-time information about the crisis.

Will you follow @JPN_PMO? What other tools have you been using to track the situation in Japan?

More About: disaster, government, japan, japan earthquake, Japan Tsunami, trending

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How Social Media Will Push Earth Hour Beyond the Blackout

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 10:24 AM PDT

earth hour image

For one hour on March 26, millions of people will turn off their lights and sit in relative darkness. It may seem like a random way to support environmentally sustainable action, but Earth Hour — a global initiative in partnership with the World Wildlife Fun (WWF) — is hoping that one hour of darkness will lead to a whole year of change.

Begun in Australia in 2007, Earth Hour has grown exponentially. Last year, more than 125 countries participated in the self-imposed blackout. Even major landmarks such as Rome’s Colosseum, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Toronto’s CN Tower and Egypt’s Pyramids went dark to support the cause.

This year, Earth Hour will take place from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., local time, March 26. The various time zones will create a wave effect as countries show their support hour by hour.

Despite the international acceptance and support, Earth Hour has been plagued by accusations of poor effectiveness. Sure, it’s great for people to spend an hour thinking about the planet, but what happens at 9:31 when all the lights go back on? What kind of change can a one-off event really have?

Earth Hour, on its skeleton crew, has been trying to answer that question for five years. Now, they think they might have the answer in a new platform designed for and powered by its millions of supporters.

Beyond the Hour

“Beyond the Hour” is a platform that allows anybody to post and pledge his or her environmental actions and then share those promises and stories through social networks. With global scale in mind, the platform will be translated into 11 different languages.

Users can mouse over the dynamic images to preview randomly selected actions or search by a variety of terms, including location. If users see an action that speaks to them, they can join in by clicking “do this” to mirror the pledge.

An app version of the platform has already landed in the iTunes store for iPhone, with an Android version on the way. Both offer all the same functionality of the web app.

Earth Hour also created embeddable widgets to allow bloggers to share “Beyond the Hour” from their own sites. All of these projects feed back into the platform.

An Environmental Resolution for the Planet

Earth Hour co-founder and executive director Andy Ridley always considered the hour to be a valentine to the planet, or even a New Year’s Eve-type event. He hopes Beyond the Hour will act like a web portal for millions of New Year’s resolutions aimed at environmental living. “The plan was always to go beyond the hour,” Ridley said. “If you can prove that hundreds of millions of people care, what do you do next? There’s only a few of us [on staff], so we had to make it open source and hand it over to the people out there. The next bit is asking: ‘What does everyone want to do?’ ”

Just like a normal New Year’s resolution, that idea obviously has its pitfalls. Are you really going to go to the gym more this year? Are you really going to switch our your incandescent lights this year? However, while it’s easy to point theoretical fingers, Beyond the Hour has already racked up some extraordinary promises.

The government of Nepal has committed to put a complete stop to tree-felling in the Churiya Range, a vital ecological and sociological forest area. Mengniu Dairy, a Chinese dairy company, is doubling the number of milk cartons it recycles and increasing its use of FSC-certified packaging. Clover Moore, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, has committed to another six separated bike lanes (“cycleways”), installing LED lights in parks and streets and endorsing a tri-generation plant to provide low carbon energy. Credit Suisse AG is sponsoring an Earth Hour in Singapore and also promising to send staff to a Brazilian forest reserve to support field research.

It’s possible to get involved even if you’re not a major government or company. Chloe Nicol, a 7-year-old girl from Australia, is guiding her school to increase recycling and reduce energy waste. Ridley pledged to only drink local beer to help cut down on the cost, waste and emissions of shipping and transportation. It may be small, but those little promises can add up.

So What’s the Big Deal?

Earth Hour’s mission is not revolutionary in and of itself. Many other organizations and non-profits have tried to use the Internet for green causes. What stands out is how the project has evolved to embrace social media not just as a talking point but also as a way to extend its impact. “The big inspiration [for the campaign] was the frustration that we were not reaching out to millions of people,” Ridley said. “We were only talking to people that already sort of agreed with what we were saying.” The first year, millions of Australians joined Earth Hour but the idea didn’t quite have global appeal.

The team used social media to spread awareness but also to listen to the global conversation. Ridley explained that Morocco joined Earth Hour in 2010 thanks in large part to seven students. “They contacted us through Facebook and said, ‘We want to do this for the whole city.’ We basically sent a letter to their mayor and that’s a story that’s sort of been replicated across the world,” Ridley said.

Despite having an extraordinarily low budget (Ridley said a lot of the work is done by friends as favors), online tools have been a way to grow the campaign without blowing the bank. Ridley hopes the new Beyond the Hour platform will help make the goal a reality by empowering the Earth Hour community. “The holy grail for us is to start getting lots of content but [also] to start getting into the situation where the kid in Beijing can connect with the kid in Rio, using Rosetta Stone, to share what they’re doing in their home or on the street. You can scale that to cities and countries.”

The whole point is not to create a social media “event” or blackout stunt but rather to use the rally point as a launch pad for environmental conversation driven by social networks and tools like Beyond the Hour. It’s possible for social media to inspire change, whether you’re the government of Nepal or just looking to drink local beer.

Now it’s your turn: What do you make of crowdsourcing social good and do you think it’s possible for the community to organize itself? Sound off in the comments below.

Interested in more Social Good resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

More About: beyond the hour, crowdsourced, earth hour, earth hour 2011, environment, social good, social media

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U.S. Military Blocks 13 Popular Websites on Its Network in Japan

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 10:15 AM PDT


To free up bandwidth that could be better used on Japan’s recovery efforts, the U.S. military network has blocked access to a number of popular websites, including ESPN, Amazon and YouTube.

With phone lines down, the Internet has served as an essential means of communication in Japan, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the country last week.

The block is “to make sure bandwidth was available in Japan for military operations,” a military spokesperson said. The Department of Defense’s system-wide prohibition, which went into effect Monday, isn’t related to the content of those sites; it’s been put in place because of the amount of bandwidth they require.

“We are doing this to facilitate the recovery efforts under way in Japan,” the spokesperson said. “We are trying to make sure we are giving them as many avenues and as much support as we can.”

Other blocked sites include Google Video, eBay, Doubleclick, Eyewonder, Pandora, StreamTheWorld, MTV, iFilm, MySpace and Metacafe. The military says that the block is temporary, but more sites may be added or removed from the list as needed.

For more of our coverage on the role of technology and social media in Japan, click here.

[via CNN]

Image courtesy of Flickr, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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HOW TO: Design Your Own iPad, Kindle or Nook Cover

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 10:12 AM PDT


Gadget accessories manufacturer M-Edge unveiled a new web app Wednesday that enables users to custom design their own iPad, Kindle (2 and 3) and Nook cases.

Interested parties can access the app at app.medgestore.com/customize to design their own case, or browse a small library of existing designs. (I’m particularly in love with this Alice case for the iPad.)

The app allows users to upload their own high-resolution photographs or artwork to have printed on a 100% cotton canvas case. Users also have access to a library of patterns and fonts for further customization, and can choose between chestnut and black leather spines. All cases come with light brown, “microsuede” interiors.

Kindle and Nook jackets are priced at $40 each; iPad jackets, which are said to fit both first- and second-generation devices, can be custom designed for $50. Customers can expect to receive their cases in two to three weeks.

I’ve purchased M-Edge cases for my Kindle 2 in the past, and have been pleased with the quality. The team at M-Edge was kind enough to let me try the tool ahead of release, and I’m expecting to receive my custom iPad case in the next two weeks, at which time I will produce a more thorough, hands-on review.

More About: accessories, cases, covers, ipad, Kindle, myedge, nook

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Wi-Fi-Only Motorola Xoom To Hit Stores March 27

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 09:58 AM PDT


Motorola has officially announced that the Wi-Fi only version of its Xoom tablet will be hitting U.S. retailers on March 27 for a suggested price of $599.99.

Motorola released the 3G version of the first Honeycomb-based Android tablet in February. The $799 contract-free price left many potential users walking away with sticker shock.

Apple announced the iPad 2 just a week later and the new device boasted a faster processor (dual cores), and a lighter and thinner body, all for the same price.

Early reports indicate that Xoom 3G sales are underwhelming. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Even without the iPad 2, the Xoom launched at a price point that put it out of reach for many consumers. Additionally, the fact that one of the primary differentiating features of the Xoom — support for Adobe Flash 10.2 — wasn’t available at launch, makes the whole product seem rushed to market.

In contrast, the Wi-Fi only model will be available for $599 for a 32 GB unit — the same price as an equivalent iPad 2. Furthermore, a beta version of Flash Player 10.2 is rumored to be available later this week. With any luck, a beta or release candidate could even ship (or at least be available in the Android Market) with the Wi-Fi variant of the device.

Even at the new price point and with Flash support, my gut tells me that the iPad 2 will continue to be the tablet that most users gravitate toward. Why? Software. Honeycomb shows tremendous potential, but developers are just now starting to release Honeycomb-optimized versions of their apps. In contrast, the iPad has had a year to build a 65,000+ library of iPad-optimized apps.

It is, however, possible that iPad 2 mania could work in Xoom Wi-Fi’s favor. Because demand for the iPad 2 continues to be so strong, Apple is having a hard time keeping units in stock. The international launch of the iPad 2 is planned for March 25 — two days before Xoom Wi-Fi hits Amazon.com, Best Buy, Costco RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Staples and Walmart stores. Customers looking for an iPad 2 at Walmart or Best Buy might be persuaded to get the Xoom (provided it is in stock) for the same price.

What do you think of the Xoom Wi-Fi pricing? Does this make this Honeycomb tablet more appealing or are you going to wait for an iPad 2 or other next-generation tablet (TouchPad, PlayBook, insert-announced-Honeycomb-tablet-here) instead? Let us know.

More About: android, honeycomb, iPad 2, Motorola, tablets, xoom

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Lessons Learned From The Old Spice Campaign & Its Imitators

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 09:21 AM PDT


The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb's free whitepaper, "The Bloody Truth about Social Media.”

Charles Caleb Colton once said, “Imitation is the sincerest (form) of flattery.” Obviously, Mr. Colton was not talking about the success of the Old Spice campaign (seeing as how he lived during the 1700s), but we’re sure he would have reiterated that sentiment were he to see how many spinoffs the aforementioned marketing miracle has inspired.

The campaign launched just over a year ago — centered around the theme "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” — and captured the imagination of the public. Case in point: The original ad has garnered more than 30 million views to date on YouTube.

In July, the whole deal kicked it up a notch higher with the Old Spice “Responses” campaign, an online blitz during which a team of techies, marketers and writers pumped out more than 180 personalized videos featuring “The Old Spice Guy,” Isaiah Mustafa, responding to questions posed by fans, bloggers and celebs alike.

“We were working with creative on a way to use Isaiah, who was very popular in the social media realm,” says Eric Kallman, a copywriter at Wieden + Kennedy, the agency behind the campaign. “Iain Tait [global interactive executive creative director at Wieden + Kennedy] noticed how many comments he got on the videos,” Kallman says, referring to YouTube. From there, the idea to respond to those comments was born.

And that idea, incidentally, was extremely successful. "It was being able to interact with this guy,” says Craig Allen, the campaign’s art director. “You can play with him like you can a toy."

According to Visible Measures, "Old Spice Responses" is one of the fastest-growing online video campaigns of all time. The company compares the endeavor to some of the most popular viral videos to date below, and how they've grown over the course of 24 hours (to be fair, "Old Spice Responses" had a time limit attached, so there was more urgency to participate with this particular string of videos than there was to get in on, say, the Susan Boyle craze). Check out the graph below for the details.

“This campaign revamped the awareness of Old Spice,” says Kallman. “People called Isaiah ‘The Old Spice Guy.’ It got people saying the name of the brand." It also, apparently, impelled people to start pouring money into the brand. In July, Brandweek reported substantial growth in sales of Old Spice Body Wash around the time of the “Responses” campaign.

And if increased sales and positive buzz weren’t enough, the original ad took home a Creative Emmy Award for Best Commercial of the Year. Not bad for a spot hawking body wash.

This success also earned Old Spice a legion of students, as it were — folks who cribbed ideas from the ads and applied them to their own marketing efforts. Mashable chatted with a few of these businesses — who have all enjoyed success from following the Old Spice model — about what aspects of the campaign worked for them.

Interacting With Consumers

Regardless of your political affiliation, you’ve probably noticed that the White House et. al. have been ramping up their social media efforts of late, with the likes of U.S. President Barack Obama and former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answering questions on YouTube.

Well, the House Republicans followed this trend — working in their own Old Spice twist — following this year’s State of the Union Address, recording videos after the speech that responded directly to Twitter questions and commentary via Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s YouTube channel.

“The key [to the State of the Union] is the response afterward,” says Matt Lira, director of new media for Cantor. “Lots of reporters swarm to ask questions. So when we saw the Old Spice campaign, we thought it would work for us. The Old Spice campaign validates the community. Users liked getting responses.”

Lira says the campaign was extremely useful for the House Republicans, and they would most certainly use it again.

This is customer service at its most immediate and entertaining, and although the GOP wasn’t sporting a towel whilst delivering comments, we can see this model being very attractive to political parties and businesses alike in the future.

Leveraging Influencers

One of the reasons why the Old Spice campaign went so viral was that it targeted folks who were influential in the online sphere: people who would blog about it and share the videos on their own channels and sites (see: Perez Hilton, Alyssa Milano, etc). Those people then acted as brand advocates (whether intentionally or not), spreading the gospel of Old Spice to their followers.

Hot on the heels of the Old Spice endeavor in July, Cisco decided to try out the “Responses” format in an effort to connect with its key clients and influencers via parody. (Sadly, the web at large — including Mashable — misread the parody as a blatant copycat attempt, and reacted scornfully. But we digress.)

“We didn't necessarily do a campaign, it was much more of a parody on it,” says Doug Webster, senior director of service provider marketing at Cisco. “We market very large, powerful routers and switches. Most of the issues that we deal with on our blog are very technical and very detailed. But we do try to mix things up a little bit, so we thought that it would be unique to send shoutouts to key influencers who read our blog regularly. It was meant to be a parody targeted toward those key influencers.”

Cisco's mascot was not a hot man in a towel, but the rather dour-looking "Ted from Accounting." Cisco fans were encouraged to visit the Cisco Twitter accounts — @CiscoSPMobility, @CiscoSPVideo and @CiscoSP360 — and tweet at Ted with the hashtag #CiscoSPice. They could also comment on the blog in order to get a personalized video. In total, Ted made 19 videos.

“We got great feedback,” Webster says. “One of the [respondents] said he almost wet his pants. The campaign was full of inside jokes with them. It was a much more targeted area. I wouldn't necessary look at this as something that was intended to drive sales, because unlike body wash, we sell things that are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, it is important for us to have ongoing engagement with these key influencers.”

Revitalizing Brand Image

I think we can all agree that prior to “The Old Spice Guy,” the brand mostly evoked thoughts of dad, grandpas and other less-than-sexy relations. By changing the face of Old Spice to a dude in a towel (and therefore appealing to women as well as men), the brand was revitalized.

Andia Winslow, founder of ADUB365 FIT, decided to adopt the character of “The Old Spice Guy” for her own purposes: Creating a brand image for her fitness business that was sexy and aspirational.

“‘The Old Spice Guy’ is not only highly popular, but he is possibly one of the most recognized advertising characters in recent memory,” she says. “He is fine, he is fun, he is fit! I hired an actor to appear in my fitness video series to portray ‘The Old Spice Guy,’ and he too is all of the above! I wanted to portray both the fun and sexy side of fitness.”

“My business is very new and my major goals for 2011 are to build brand awareness and industry credibility and to attract major sponsors and partners,” she says. “My goal, simply put, is to grow and engage my audience in unique ways. The OSG video — once posted — yielded more immediate response than any other in my series. Not only did it achieve more unique views in a faster period of time than any other, but viewers related to me that they ‘watched the whole way through.’”

Now while we commend Winslow’s ability to tap into current trends to leverage her brand, we wouldn’t recommend making her “Old Spice Guy” a permanent fixture (seeing as how he is, in fact, “The Old Spice Guy”). However, the notion of connecting a fitting face to your business is one that the original campaign has proven to be successful.

Making Your Brand Shareable

The Old Spice ads are infinitely shareable — especially those featuring popular viral themes such as online marriage proposals — a concept that Brittney Maxfield, corporate communications manager at VitalSmarts, adopted when creating an Old Spice-themed campaign for the book Crucial Conversations.

“We wanted to ‘ride the wave’ of the Old Spice popularity,” says Maxfield. “We knew people would search YouTube for Old Spice content and wanted to take advantage of the key words and natural interest of potentially new prospects.”

“Our audience loved our Old Spice parody geared to the holiday season,” she adds. “We had nearly 30,000 of our fans watch our video and we also invited them to share via their own social media channels.”

Since the video had to do with talking to your relatives during the holidays, Maxfield pitched Fox & Friends a story dealing with that subject, and she offered them the parody. The TV show aired the video (sans charge of course), a spot that would usually be quite costly.

In this case, Maxfield created something that was marketable beyond the product she was selling, which makes the concept of advertising much more attractive to consumers — a concept that the original Old Spice campaign also embraced. In this way, her product message went much farther than traditional venues, reaching a much wider potential customer base.

Series Supported by Oneupweb

The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb's free whitepaper, "The Bloody Truth about Social Media" to learn how to cut through the clutter and be sure to catch up with them on Facebook and Twitter.

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- How Social Media Helped Toy Story 3 Win at the Box Office
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More About: Behind the Social Media Campaign Series, branding, cisco, features, MARKETING, old spice, video, viral video

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Top 5 Rebecca Black “Friday” Covers

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 08:33 AM PDT

A YouTube sensation – and we’re sure Rebecca Black will be as big as they come – invariably produces an enormous amount of covers, and it’s already happening for the 13-year-old singer and her song “Friday.”

What’s surprising, however, is the quality of the covers, some of which are absolutely amazing. Even if you hate the original, you should give some of these a chance. “Friday” has already been immortalized by the voice of Bob Dylan, embedded into the legendary movie Groundhog Day and turned into a banjo tune. Check out our selection of top picks below.


"Friday," as Performed by Bob Dylan



"Friday" – Banjo Cover



"Friday" - Acoustic Cover


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"Friday" in Groundhog Day



"Friday" Cover by Alex Carpenter


Have you seen any great “Friday” covers? Please, share them in the comments.

More About: cover, Friday, music, Rebecca Black, videos, youtube

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LivingSocial Close To Raising $400M-$500M [REPORT]

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 08:26 AM PDT


Daily deals platform LivingSocial, which landed a $175 million investment from Amazon in December, is close to completing another round of funding in the $400 million to $500 million range, according to multiple reports.

Citing two sources “with knowledge of the talks,” Bloomberg said that the sum is approaching $400 million, which would situate the company’s value north of $2 billion. The Wall Street Journal‘s sources say the figure is closer to $500 million.

LivingSocial disclosed that, as of December, its deals were bringing in more than $1 million per day in gross sales and that it expects to generate $500 million in revenue in 2010. The company has raised $232 million to date.

Chief rival Groupon raised $950 million in a Series D round of funding in January, a little more than a month after it rejected a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google. The three-year-old company has raised $1.1 billion thus far.

Both companies offer daily discounts on local businesses, such as salons and restaurants (and, increasingly, national and international businesses), via the web, e-mail and a suite of mobile applications. Lately, companies as diverse as Zagat and The New York Times have launched their own one-offs of the daily discounts model.

A LivingSocial spokesperson declined to comment on the rumors.

More About: groupon, LivingSocial

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How Brands Are Using Mobile Photo Sharing

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:55 AM PDT


This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

The instant popularity of Instagram’s iPhone app — now with more than two million users — and the cross-platform appeal of Picplz have inspired early adopter brands and small companies to explore the business potential of this emerging trend.

On the Instagram side, you have big names like Starbucks, NPR and Brisk Iced Tea, as well as smaller players like Hatchcraft, Photojojo and Charity: Water. In Picplz’s corner are the San Diego Chargers, Madison Square Garden, artist Trey Songz, DJ Neil Armstrong and the L.A. Lakers.

Here’s a look at how brands are using mobile photo sharing services, like Instagram and Picplz.

Photo Ready

Mobile photo sharing has exploded as savvy application developers exploit the continually improving camera quality of newer handset hardware and tailor experiences that promote instantaneous sharing of stunning photographs.

Instagram and Picplz have done a stellar job at adding to the intrinsic emotional quality of photographs with filters that allow the everyman smartphone owner to point-and-shoot-and-share and feel like a professional photographer.

What, then, is the appeal for businesses? Those who are trying mobile photo sharing services are still figuring that piece out, but several are showing a willingness to test the receptiveness of their fans and the users of each service.

Both Picplz and Instagram have responded to organic in-bound brand interest with business-friendly updates. Picplz now has an analytics dashboard that helps business users chart views, likes and comments for each photo. Instagram, on the other hand, has introduced hashtags, a community tagging feature that opens the service up to brand campaigns.

Pretty in Picplz

Under the leadership of Manager of Internet Services Joel Price, the San Diego Chargers have taken to Picplz. The team account includes a collection of photos, taken by Price, of team members, stadiums, staff members, travel highlights and behind-the-scenes shots of the team’s offices.

“We get a lot of views, and the analytics are great,” says Price, “but we don’t get a ton of comments yet.”

Recently, Price used Picplz to give fans a photo tour inside Charger Park, the team’s home office. The effort received an enormous amount of positive feedback, he says, with several commenters pointing out how nice it is to feel connected to the team during the off season.

The Chargers have two primary objectives for Picplz: To better engage fans and to monetize photos through sponsorships. The former, says Price, is about bringing fans closer to the team, and in turn encouraging them to spend more on merchandise and tickets. The latter is a bit less tangible, though Price hopes the team can creatively engage with sponsors and potentially recruit players to post sponsored shots on Picplz.

Price consciously chose Picplz over higher profile competitor Instagram to connect with Chargers fans on Android, iPhone and the web, among other things. “Instagram feels like an advertisement for Instagram,” he adds, pointing out that Instagram photos shared to the web are cloaked in Instagram branding.

Insta-Appeal

Starbucks, one of the first brands to set up an account on Instagram, is pleased with early results.

“We’ve been using Instagram for a couple of months and think it’s a fun, different way to share photos of what’s going on behind the scenes,” says Product Manager Brad Nelson. “We’ve also found a lot of people already sharing Starbucks photos, so it’s been a joy to look through those.”

Indeed. Look up the #starbucks hashtag and you’ll find more than 1,000 photos that users have tagged, all of their own accord, with the Starbucks label.

“While we are still exploring initial opportunities, we already have almost 5,000 engaged followers,” says Nelson.

Instagram may be limited to iPhone users, but the two million member strong community appears especially responsive to calls to action. Take, for instance, a hashtag campaign from Instagram user @JoshJohnson and startup Hatchcraft. The two partnered and challenged Instagram users to tag their best Lomo-filtered photos with #jjchallenge for a chance to win a bamboo shadow box from Hatchcraft. More than 2,000 photos then poured in with the #jjchallenge hashtag.

“We had been doing these weekly challenges for about a month previous to the introduction of hashtags,” says Hatchcraft founder Shane Rich. “The response was tremendous, as it made it easier to enter the challenge.”

Future Potential

As these services mature, so too will the brands who use them.

Price would love to see Picplz introduce branding options at some point. For now, though, he’s looking forward to the Chargers next season and plans to post more travel photos, share away game stadium walkthroughs and find ways to incorporate and reward fan photo submissions.

And Rich sees a future ripe for business potential on Instagram. “If any business is willing to get a little creative, put some time into connecting with the community, and have some fun with it, then they will be received well and their product or service will naturally begin to be seen in the same light.”

Interested in more Business resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

More About: brands, instagram, MARKETING, mobile photo sharing, picplz, small business, trending

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How Rebecca Black Became a YouTube Sensation

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:27 AM PDT

Meet the new Justin Bieber. OK, maybe not. But a previously unknown singer named Rebecca Black has recently experienced Bieber-esque fame on YouTube for her song "Friday," although it may be a case where the adoration is ironic.

Black's single went up on YouTube February 10, but didn't get much attention until last Friday, when views suddenly spiked, according to YouTube Trends (see the chart below).

Part of the rise may be attributable to comedian Michael J. Nelson, who gave the video the following backhanded compliment (and a link) that day:


Nelson has a little more than 19,000 followers on Twitter.

That day, the Comedy Central series Tosh.0 also posted a link to the video under the heading, "Songwriting Isn't for Everyone."

Whatever the impetus, Black's video now is coming up on 9 million views on YouTube, making her a legitimate star. Black has also been a trending topic on Twitter in recent days. If the young singer/songwriter’s success comes despite her song's quality (which, truth be told, is pretty awful, though strangely catchy), then she'll join a pantheon of ironic music stars, dating back to The Shaggs, whose atonal music inspired Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain, among others.

But Black might also join some so-bad-it’s-good Internet memes, like 7-year-old rapper Matty B or American Idol‘s Sanjaya.

What do you think? Is this a cruel trick to play on a teen wannabe singer or should Black embrace her sudden fame?

More About: Rebecca Black, tosh.0, youtube

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Firefox 4, Google Docs & Netflix: This Morning’s Top Stories

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:13 AM PDT

Social Media News

Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. We're keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today.

Final Version of Firefox 4 Coming March 22

If everything goes according to plan, the final version of Firefox 4 should be released March 22, according to a message posted on Firefox's official forum.

‪Google Docs Improves Commenting & Adds E-mail Notifications‬

Google is releasing Wednesday an update to Google Docs that upgrades comments and adds simple e-mail notifications by mentioning e-mail addresses in comments.

Netflix in Talks To Distribute Original Series

Netflix is in talks to exclusively distribute an original TV series by David Fincher and Kevin Spacey, taking it into uncharted territory that would put it in direct competition with HBO and other premium cable channels.

Google Acquires Video Processing Startup

Google has acquired digital video technology company Green Parrot Pictures to improve the quality of videos uploaded to its YouTube service.

Further News

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

More About: Firefox 4, first to know series, google docs, netflix, Visa

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Google Docs Improves Commenting, Adds E-mail Notifications

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:00 AM PDT


Google is releasing an update to Google Docs on Wednesday that upgrades comments and adds simple e-mail notifications by mentioning e-mail addresses in comments.

Google Docs already had basic commenting functions, but the new features make the collaboration experience more robust. Google last year added advanced collaboration tools to Docs, with a sidebar for discussing work on individual documents.

Comments now include timestamps and profile pictures. Google also added new editing features for individual comments, especially the ability to resolve comments. Rather than delete comments in an existing doc, users can remove them from visibility by resolving them. These comments are still accessible via the “discussions” button at the top of the document page.

The other interesting addition to comments is the implementation of e-mail notifications via @mentions. Just like the Twitter or Facebook @mention, users can now add others to a discussion just by @mentioning their e-mail address.

Say a person wants to bring a client into a document discussion. All he or she has to do is type something like “@ben@mashable.com Can you check this out and make sure you’re OK with the changes?” That person will receive an e-mail notification with the comment of the text. The recipient then can then add his or her own comments, either by commenting from the document or simply replying to the e-mail notification.

The addition of e-mail notifications via @mentions is a clever tactic by Google to bring more people into the Docs ecosystem. People who wouldn’t normally use Google Docs will be exposed to Google’s alternative to Microsoft Office. It also makes Google Docs an even better collaboration tool when a team needs to hammer out an important proposal from halfway across the world.

More About: Google, Google Comments, google docs

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