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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “LG Thrive: Meet AT&T’s First Prepaid Smartphone”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:24 AM // 0 comments

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “LG Thrive: Meet AT&T’s First Prepaid Smartphone”

LG Thrive: Meet AT&T’s First Prepaid Smartphone

Posted: 13 Apr 2011 12:38 AM PDT


AT&T and LG have launched LG Thrive, the first Android smartphone to be available as part of AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid plan.

LG Thrive is a 3.2-inch device with a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and 160 MB of memory expandable via SD memory cards up to 32GB. The device will be powered by Android 2.2, and while it cannot compete with the top Android phones such as the Motorola Atrix or Samsung Galaxy S, it is the most powerful device on the GoPhone plan.

Customers who choose the Smartphone $0.10/min Plan or Smartphone $2/day Unlimited Talk and Text Plan Data will be able to choose between the following data plan options: $5 for 10MB, $15 for 10MB as well as $25 for 500MB.

The device will retail for $179.99 and is expected to hit the market April 17. On that same date, AT&T also plans to launch LG Phoenix, which is the same device as the Thrive but with a dark blue case, a price tag of $49.99 and two-year service agreement requirement.

More About: android, att, LG, LG Phoenix, LG Thrive, Mobile 2.0, smartphone

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VHX Wants To Change How You Watch Web Video

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 10:20 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: VHX

Quick Pitch: VHX.tv helps discover, share and watch video from around the web in one spot.

Genius Idea: Creating a hands-free viewing experience that automatically plays one video after the next.

VHX co-founders Jamie Wilkinson and Casey Pugh are no strangers to web video. Wilkinson, also the co-founder of Know Your Meme, was the primary developer for online video aggregator Magma. Pugh spent time as a developer at Vimeo. And together they and a team created a crowdsourced movie, Star Wars Uncut, that won an Emmy for outstanding achievement in interactive media last year.

In November, the co-founders decided to combine what they had learned by working in web video to design their ideal web watching product. The result, which launched in private beta yesterday, is something like a combination of Twitter, Instapaper, and Last.fm for video.

Like Instapaper, the VHX.tv site offers a bookmarklet that easily collects content from around the web in one queue for later viewing. This is how video from different platforms — YouTube and Vimeo for now, but more to come — gets dumped into VHX.tv.

Originally Wilkinson and Pugh started on a product that focused on this concept.

“About a week in, I realized that my queue was a very lonely place and I wanted to look at Casey’s view,” Wilkinson says.

Hence, the team created the Twitter aspect of VHX.tv. Like the microblog, users can follow other users on VHX.tv in order to see the videos they add to the system (when you log in the first time, you automatically follow a default staff account). Like Twitter, users can add notes to the video that they collect, and their contributions to followers’ dashboard feeds are marked with their avatars.

There’s also a history tab that allows users to keep track of what they’ve watched on VHX.tv. Installing a Firefox add-on extends this history to video watched all over the web, much like Last.fm does for music.

You would think that putting all of these functions in one place would create a cluttered interface, but the app is actually pretty slick. All of the feeds — history, dashboard and queue — are contained in a single left pane. The video takes up most of the screen, and the app looks more like a television screen than a video website. That’s what its creators were going for.

“The really special part of TV that we've all neglected on the web is that when one thing is over, another thing just starts playing,” Wilkinson says.

VHX.tv, like television, is a hands-free way to watch video. The site starts playing video from whatever channel (friend recommendation, history or queue) you select right when you hit the site and continues to play video after video without interruption. No need to search for the next video or click to play it.

The startup is working on packaging a similar experience into an iPhone, iPad, and Boxee app before it works on a business model.

While it might be difficult to squeeze another major player between YouTube and Vimeo in the space for video uploading platforms, there’s a need to filter the massive amount of content from these sites into one digestible channel that has yet to be dominated. We think VHX has a fair shot.

Check out the demo video below, starting Wilkinson’s wife Irene and their daughter (in the backpack), and let us know if you agree.

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.a business model –

More About: VHX, Vimeo, web video, youtube

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Apple Unveils Final Cut Pro X

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 09:08 PM PDT


Apple has unveiled Final Cut Pro X, the newest version of its popular video-editing software.

Final Cut Pro X is a rebuild of the 12-year-old software, according to Apple‘s Peter Steinauer and Randy Ubillos. It’s the first 64-bit version for the software, capable of utilizing all eight cores and more than 4 GB of RAM of the Mac for professional video editing. Apple revealed the new version of Final Cut Pro at an event at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas.

Final Cut Pro X comes with a slew of new features, including advanced people and shot detection, automatic audio cleanup and “range-based keywording,” which gives video editors the ability to apply keywords to specific portions of a video. The new Final Cut Pro also sports a feature that prevents audio and video tracks from being pushed out of sync by accident. Photography Bay also reports that Final Cut Pro X will come with feature that automatically matches color between two clips.

Final Cut Pro X will be available for download via the Mac App Store in June for $299, far less than the Final Cut Studio’s $999 price tag.

Image courtesy of Photography Bay

More About: apple, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, NAB

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Apple’s Plan for a World Without Wires

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:33 PM PDT


Apple is reportedly working on a way to sync iPods with iTunes wirelessly. It’s just another step in Apple’s steady march toward making wires and cords a thing of the past.

Steve Jobs is apparently pushing hard to make the next generation iPods capable of this type of wireless sync, according to Cult of Mac‘s sources. iPods with wireless sync would make the USB cable obsolete. Instead of importing music, movies and apps through Apple’s iconic 30-pin connector, it would automatically sync whenever a user was connected to his or her Wi-Fi network.

There are more than a few problems standing in Apple’s way, though. Big questions still loom about the reliability and signal strength of wireless syncing, and apparently it can be a drain on battery life. To address those issues, the world’s most valuable tech company has been allegedly testing iPods with carbon fiber cases, rather than the aluminum used in most of the company’s iPods.

Adding fuel to the fire, Apple has also recently hired Kevin Kenney, a senior composites engineer with expertise in carbon fiber. Apparently he has worked with Apple in the past and has even been named in some of Apple’s patents.

One caveat to the carbon fiber rumors, though: the stuff is conductive and presents its own set of problems to transmitting wireless signals. Of course, nobody really knows what type of designs Apple may or may not be testing with the next-generation iPod, because nobody knows what Apple has up its sleeve.

AirPlay and the War Against Wires

It’s no secret that Apple wants to decrease its reliance on wires, especially as it tries to shape a post-PC world. You can bet Steve Jobs doesn’t like that the iPhone and iPad still have to plug into a Mac or PC to function.

To create its world without wires, Apple has been working hard on improving the performance of AirPlay, a feature that lets users stream their music to different stereo systems. The AirPort Express and the new Apple TV both serve as hubs for streaming iTunes to multiple stereos. Apple’s “Remote” app turns the iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control for music streaming.

AirPlay is impressive technology, especially if someone takes the time to really set it up properly. I have a group of friends that have wired their four-story home so that they can control any stereo in the house with their iPhones. It’s simply the future.

While we question some of aspects of Cult of Mac‘s report (carbon fiber is a lot more expensive than aluminum), we definitely believe Apple is working on a wireless sync solution for iTunes and iOS. Wi-Fi Sync could even make its debut in June, when Apple is set to reveal the future of iOS and Mac OS at WWDC.

In any case, we think Wi-Fi Sync is a feature that will come sooner rather than later. And it won’t be the end; Apple will keep on finding ways to make its devices more mobile and less reliant on wires or cords. It’s also important to note that some of its competitors (Microsoft and HP’s webOS in particular) have developed some innovative forms of wireless sync already.

A World Without Wires

Our society is slowly disconnecting from the countless wires that have tied us down for years. The increasing popularity of laptops and the rise of smartphones have made mobile computing easy and efficient. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have made it possible for us to surf the web and answer our phones from almost anywhere. We can even charge our devices via wireless.

We’re still a long ways off from a world without wires, though. At the end of the day, we still have to plug our laptops and tablets into the wall. We still need cords to power our microwaves and our TVs. We have cords for our USB devices, our headphones and even our Wi-Fi routers. Wires run through our homes and under our streets to power our way of life.

Our society is addicted to wires, and it’s a problem that Apple, Microsoft and others clearly want to solve. It starts with AirPlay and wireless syncing, but until someone can solve the power problem, our reliance on cords plugged into electrical outlets will continue.

New technology is on its way, though. Inductive charging (the technology that makes products like the Powermat possible) is slowly making its way into more homes, and there have been recent advances in resonant inductive coupling, a technology that utilizes oscillating magnetic fields to transfer electricity without a cord.

Don’t be surprised if your future Macbook Air doesn’t come with a power cord. It’s going to happen.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alengo

More About: apple, iOS, ipad, iphone, ipod, wi-fi

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Scientists Develop Brain-Computer Interface for Cell Phones

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:21 PM PDT


Some of the most cutting-edge interfaces – technologies that even go beyond gestural interfaces like Microsoft’s Kinect – might be much closer to implementation than you think.

In fact, a group of researchers in San Diego have developed a system that allows users to dial a phone number on a cell phone using only their thoughts. The method is surprisingly accurate and would be a huge advantage for disabled people or anyone who needs a more hands-free experience or who regularly performs tasks that require a high degree of mental focus.

The technology, which was developed by University of California, San Diego neuroscience researcher Tzyy-Ping Jung and colleagues, tracks electrical activity in the brain using a headband of electrodes and a Bluetooth device. Users of the system were shown digits from zero to nine flashing at slightly different speeds on a computer screen; the frequency of each digit was detected by the electrodes, allowing the Bluetooth device to "know" which numbers to dial.

In various trials, subjects with varying degrees of training showed between 70% and 85% accuracy when attempting to dial a ten-digit phone number.

Computer-brain interfaces have been around for a while; this is the first instance we’ve seen of a brain interface being applied to a mobile phone. Being able to make brain interfaces smaller, faster and cheaper might go a long way toward these novel technologies becoming more practical for everyday use for a mass audience.

Still, brain interfaces have a long way to go. In the comments, let us know what you think of Jung’s work; can you imagine a use case or two for widespread use of a brain-cell phone interface?

More About: brain interface, interface, Mobile 2.0, UI

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6 Ways To Visualize Your Taxes

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 05:28 PM PDT


If ignorance is bliss, then look away. Crafty data wizards have sculpted publicly accessible federal budget data into interactive visualizations, giving you — the tax payer — visual representations of your annual contributions.

In late February, Google, in partnership with non-profit art and technology center Eyebeam, started the Data Viz Challenge — a call to information architects, designers and developers to tap the WhatWePayFor.com API and create visualizations for how tax payers’ contributions are spent.

After receiving more than 40 submissions, Google has whittled down the competition to six finalists. A committee will select a single winner who will be awarded a $5,000 cash prize.

Each of the finalists, whose work can be seen below, has created a project that shows tax payers how their federal tax dollars are allocated in various machinations. The visualizations, which hinge around salaries, filing status and other data points, are quite illuminating — or horrifying, depending on how you feel about Uncle Sam’s take of your wages.

Take a look at the finalists, interact with the visualizations, rate your favorites and look for Google and Eyebeam to announce the winner on everyone’s favorite day: Tax Day, April 18.


Budget Climb




Budget Climb gives users an interactive data environment for 26 years of federal spending.

Developed by NYU students Zach Schwartz, Fred Truman and Frankie Cheung, Budget Climb displays budget data as a cityscape that the user can physically explore using Kinect.


What Do You Work For?




In this visualization, creator Jeffrey Baumes answers the question, "Where would your money go if you paid your federal taxes with your entire income starting January first?"

Here's a hint: If you file as a single worker and claim $50,000 in annual income, in the 13 working days from January 20 to February 7, your entire income would go toward Social Security. That's $2,507.52, or 5% of your annual salary.


Visualize Your Taxes




Mark Won, Salil Jain and Carl Ng have created a visualization that pits your tax spending priorities against budget realities.

You tell the app how you'd like your tax dollars to be spent by ranking priorities, and Visualize Your Taxes will show you if your preferences align with how the government spends your contributions and how this has changed over time.


Where Did My Tax Dollars Go




Where did my tax dollars go? It's a fair question that this web app seeks to answer with interactive charts.

Enter your income and filing status, and the app returns federal, social security and medicare tax contributions for 2009. A pie chart then visualizes how your money was spent, and you can click on each piece for a full departmental breakdown on where your dollars went.


Every Day Is Tax Day




With a name that gives us the warm-and-fuzzies (not really), Every Day is Tax Day, from creator Fred Chasen, reminds us that we are working for the government every day.

Chasen's visualization shows you how your time is spent by government department.

An individual making $50,000 in 2010, for example, is working four minutes each workday for the Department of Agriculture. How noble of us all.


Taxmapper




Hermann Zschiegner and John Halloran have created TaxMapper, an interactive slideshow for visualizing -- by budget category -- government tax dollar spending over the years.

More About: eyebeam, Google, tax data, taxes

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Microsoft Unveils First Internet Explorer 10 Preview

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 04:03 PM PDT


Microsoft has released the first platform preview for Internet Explorer 10, less than a month after the launch its much-hyped Internet Explorer 9 browser.

The technology giant unveiled IE10 earlier today at its Mix11 developer conference in Las Vegas. The preview, which is now available for download, isn’t a reinvention of the browser (Microsoft’s goal with IE9), but rather a continuation of the work it did in hardware acceleration, HTML5 and CSS3.

“IE10 builds on full hardware acceleration and continues our focus on site-ready Web-standards,” IE corporate vice president Dean Hachamovitch said in an announcement. “This combination enables developers to deliver the best performance for their customers on Windows while using the same, Web-standard markup across browsers.”

Hachamovitch said that Microsoft is only three weeks into IE10′s development, but it’s already comfortable showing off what it has built so far. On stage at the Mix11 conference, he demonstrated some of its capabilities against Google’s Chrome browser and revealed that IE10 will include additional support for CSS3, including Gradients and the Flexible Box layout. Additional IE10 previews will be rolling out every eight to twelve weeks.

Microsoft released IE9 on March 14 after 40 million downloads during its beta. IE9 has been well received; at its peak, IE9 was downloaded 27 times per second. Still, Microsoft knew that it couldn’t rest on its laurels. Mozilla’s Firefox 4 browser was downloaded 5,000 times per minute during its first day of availability, and Google Chrome is already at version 11.

Image courtesy of www_ukberri_net via Flickr

More About: Firefox, Firefox 4, Google, google chrome, IE10, IE9, internet explorer, Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 9, microsoft, mozilla, trending

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How Britney Spears Used a Groupon-Style Game to Get to the Top

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 03:24 PM PDT


Britney Spears's album, Femme Fatale, landed at number one on the Billboard charts last week, but the singer didn't get there all by herself.

The buildup for the album had a pretty serious social media component that may be used as a blueprint for future album releases. Spears’s label, Jive Records worked with Crowd Factory's Social Offer technology to spread the word as much as possible via social media and reward influencers.

Here's how it worked: Visitors to Britney.com saw an offer to pre-order the album and share the offer with their friends. If fans got 10 or more of their friends to visit Britney.com, they got a 20% off promo code for the entire Britney catalog. (This differs from the Groupon model — in which a certain amount of people are required to take part and, if they do, everyone gets the discount.)

As a result of the offer, 30% of traffic to Britney.com came through Crowd Factory. Each sharer got six or more friends, on average, to visit the site.

Sanjay Dholakia, CEO of Crowd Factory, says the promotion worked because it joined two principles: deals and gaming. “We combined the two things,” he says. “It’s sort of a game.” Dholakia says it makes more sense to reward superfans in this case than to offer a deal for everyone a la Groupon. “This makes it more personal and more effective,” he says.

The group-buying deal wasn't the only social media innovation related to the album. Prior to the release, Britney's team released several teaser videos on YouTube — at 10 seconds or fewer — that got a total of more than 10 million views. As part of her social media makeover, Spears — who lags behind pop stars like Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne in Facebook fans — also recently launched a Tumblr site.

More About: britney spears, groupon, MARKETING, social offer, youtube

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How Paywalls Are Changing News Organizations’ Social Media Strategies

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 03:01 PM PDT


The recent launch of The New York Times paywall has prompted debates about the viability and fairness of paying for news online. Are publications unrealistic about subscription prices? Should the community rally to support journalism? Is it worth paying for?

But the biggest question that lingers in an everyday web reader’s mind is much simpler: “Will clicking on this link bring me to a story?”

Accessing news articles from social media, blogs and other sites has become increasingly common, making an unexpected paywall an unpleasant reader experience. Maintaining the happiness of subscribers and non-subscribers alike has fallen on the shoulders of community managers at these paywalled sites.

“Social media editors may suddenly find they can’t share their paper’s best content via Twitter without reader backlash,” says Chris Snider, a multimedia journalism instructor at Drake University. “So they will have to act more like marketers than journalists, and sell people on why they should pay for that content.”

The social media efforts of these sites differ greatly depending on what access is permitted by the paywall. Here’s a look at digital subscription models of three different publications, and how each affects its community building strategy.

The Dallas Morning News

Dallas’ major newspaper has only seen the beginnings of its paywall’s effect on social media strategy, as the site began charging for digital access a month ago. The model allows non-subscribers to see early breaking news and blog posts, while more evergreen features and investigative pieces must be paid for.

Travis Hudson, a Dallas Morning News web editor, manages the site’s Twitter account and Facebook fan page, where he shares both free and premium content. Like any good social media strategist, transparency is key for Hudson. He designates whether a link is behind the paywall when posting it on Facebook or Twitter.

“When a premium story slips by on a social network without the premium labeling, we hear about it quickly from people irate about clicking a link and being unable to read beyond 50 words,” Hudson says.

The site’s community growth is no longer seeing the moderate upward trend it had before the premium content initiative, he adds. @dallas_news now ranks ninth in follower count of U.S. newspapers on Twitter, according to The Wrap. The site’s Facebook fan page is ranked 57th among U.S. newspapers in terms of Likes, says Snider, who tracks the Facebook growth of newspapers.

Still, Hudson says the change hasn’t been as severe as he was expecting. “It’s a struggle when I’m unable to utilize some of our best content to build and drive traffic to the masses,” he says. “But I think it can be compensated by the variety of content available for free, like our visuals, blogs, breaking news coverage and more.”

The Economist

Unlike The New York Times and Dallas Morning News, international affairs magazine The Economist made changes to its paywall that increased the range of articles non-paying visitors may view. Previous pay barriers prevented visitors from accessing articles either from the latest edition, or from editions that were more than a few months old. Now readers can see a fixed number of articles across the site each week before having to subscribe. The paywall only applies to articles printed in the weekly magazine, while web-only content — such as blogs, multimedia and interactive features — remains free.

The change has been a positive one for many visitors, says Mark Johnson, The Economist‘s community editor. The community has grown on the site itself through comments and reader-focused features, such as polls, debates and live discussions. Social media helps the site reach subscribers, regular readers and new readers by the means most convenient to them, while providing an opportunity to spark discussions around The Economist‘s coverage areas.

“Readers who are empowered to participate are likely to spend more time with the site, return more often and become more active advocates of our work,” Johnson says.

With the metered model, Johnson and other web producers can share any articles on social networks without experiencing the backlash of readers’ inability to access the site. Perhaps more importantly, they’re able to bring in more traffic.

“Referrals to the site from social networks, and the pageviews generated by such referrals, have grown almost every month since our social strategy began,” Johnson says. “Nor is this growth slowing. If anything, it’s speeding up.”

Honolulu Civil Beat

Online-only local news site the Honolulu Civil Beat is coming up on the one-year anniversary of its launch. Though content is and always has been free through email, the site initially gave only partial access to visitors who came through social networks. Beginning January 2011, however, all visitors can read all articles until they visit regularly enough to be asked to become a member.

“We figured, if they’re reading us that much they would be happy to become a member, and we'd be happy to have them,” says Dan Zelikman, the Civil Beat‘s marketing and community host.

There is no specific threshold number. Rather, the site runs a custom program that asks a reader to subscribe based on how often and how much he or she reads. “Basically, if you read a couple of times a week, it will take a while before we ask you to register,” Zelikman says.

Reading access aside, the Civil Beat‘s subscription model fosters community by only allowing members to comment on articles. In addition, subscribers experience the site without advertising, a perk that’s particularly popular with the community. “They feel that we are here to serve them 100% — and they also like the banner-free site experience.”

Zelikman uses Twitter and Facebook to engage readers by accepting reader content submissions, livestreaming events and facilitating discussion.

“Social media gives us instant feedback on what resonates with our readers,” Zelikman says. “We are very happy with the warm welcome we received in our community. Since launch, new readers keep coming to the site.”

Conclusion

With community stewardship as a central tenet of journalism, any news site that has a paywall — or is considering one — should keep the social reading experience at the forefront of its strategy. The frustration of clicking a link that leads to inaccessible content will turn readers away, often leaving them with harsh feelings toward the site. Gradually assimilating readers to a site’s breadth of content will foster loyalty, and, in turn, build a stronger community.

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

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, narvikk

More About: dallas morning news, digital publishing, honolulu civil beat, journalism, media, new york times, News, newspaper, paywall, social media, The Economist

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DonorsChoose.org Wants You To Hack for a Cause

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 02:33 PM PDT

colbert image

Got hacking skills? DonorsChoose.org wants you to put them to good use by tackling a trove of its newly released data. It’s all part of a high-profile campaign, “Hacking Education,” designed to get coders to improve education in America.

Entrants in seven categories will be judged by luminaries such as Teach for America’s Wendy Kopp, former NYC schools chancellor Joel Klein and Huffington Post editor Arianna Huffington. Winners will receive a variety of prizes including gadgets, gift cards and tickets to O’Reilly conferences. The grand prize will be handed out by Stephen Colbert, a long-time supporter of DonorsChoose.

DonorsChoose is an online education charity that allows teachers to post funding requests for classroom projects. The requests range from grants for new pencils to new computers. The recipients are required to write a cost report showing how each dollar was spent. Most send photos and hand-written letters from the students.

For this contest, the site is sharing more than 10 years of data, along with an API. Contestants will use these to develop apps or conduct analyses. The central question for the judges: Which entry has the greatest potential to engage the public and affect education?

The database contains more than 300,000 classroom projects and more than 1 million contributions. You can see search queries performed by donors, the subject area and resource type of each project, teacher affiliation, and poverty rate of each school. DonorsChoose has inspired $80 million in giving since its inception in 2000.

donorschoose image

Essentially, the Hacking Education competition is crowdsourcing an analytics team for the non-profit. Each submission will help contextualize different facets of DonorsChoose’s massive data set. The site has posted some prompts for the competition that get at this kind of analysis. For example: “Invent a way for people to engage with classroom project requests before they’re ready to open their wallets. About 2% of visitors to DonorsChoose.org make a donation. What can the other 98% of visitors do for fun?”

Ultimately, it’s a win-win. The non-profit gets better at donating to good causes, and users are rewarded for their smart ideas. Even if you don’t know how to code or create an app, you can head over to the data center and download everything you ever wanted to know about DonorsChoose.

What do you think of non-profits making their internal data public? Is it a good practice even if there isn’t a competition on the line? Sound off in the comments.

More About: charity, competition, donorschoose, donorschoose.org, education, hack, hacking, non-profit, social good, stephen colbert

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Why Social Media Reinvigorates the Market for Quality Journalism

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 01:51 PM PDT


Social media has created a human filter for quality content. The social web, like the old water cooler, favors conversations around news and even in-depth journalism that may not otherwise receive the exposure it deserves. Recent analysis of the most-tweeted stories from The Daily iPad app revealed that users shared more hard news stories over gossip and opinion pieces.

This doesn’t necessarily mean these are the stories most people are reading. The gossip articles (or "fluff" pieces) often out-perform news items in pageviews, often because that is what people are searching for. But the tide may be changing.

The incentive to share quality content is simple: A person may be more likely to read gossip, but they may share a news piece to shape their followers’ perception of them. They may even view it as a public service. I tend to believe it’s usually the former rather than the more altruistic latter. As a result, news organizations producing quality journalism are being rewarded with accelerated growth in social referral traffic — in some cases, growing at a much faster pace than search referrals. More notably, social media is enabling the citizenry to be active participants in producing journalism by giving them platforms to publish to the social audience. This has made journalism more efficient and, in many ways, enhanced the quality of storytelling.

Searching for Quality

The social filter for content has been around for a long time on the web, but prior to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, it was conducted more privately via email messages or impersonal recommendations from a search algorithm.

The public perception was a non-factor, and users were more likely to share softer stories or those based on utility. There was a trust factor between the sharer and the recipient. Before, you were just sharing that funny cat video with your trusted circle. With social media, that circle has now become more of an open field.

So what about search? Search engines like Google fueled an explosion of "so-so" content, but it has also fueled an explosion of quality content, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land. The idea was that quality content would get linked to most. But when media organizations and writers began to better understand how the search algorithms ranked content, they started to create content "optimized" for search results by inter-linking content on their sites or monitoring search trends and filling the coverage with sub-par content to capitalize on search traffic, Sullivan said. And so we saw the explosion of content farms and a race for unique visitors to appease the advertising gods.

The Human Quality Vote

Social Media NewsFor true quality, sometimes it takes a human touch. Social media acts as a human filter and signal for the best content across the web. A "Like," a tweet or a LinkedIn share often serves as a human vote of approval. "We have depended far too long on looking at links as an idea of what people are voting on," Sullivan said.

But links have been devalued over time because they have been sold, he added. For search algorithms, a link is a key component of where the piece of content ranks in search results. But because people began to sell links, they became less valuable over time, Sullivan said.

He said social links and shares are more trusted because the structure of social networks provides an easy way to recommend content to a network. That network consists of people you trust and are more likely to click on a link shared by a friend than a stranger. However, because these recommendations are more public than before, there’s an incentive to recommend quality content.

A More Valuable Reader?

It’s not easy to compare social to search because the behaviors and demands from a user are completely different. A user goes to search with an immediate need to find a specific piece of information and discovery is secondary. With social sites, users are consuming content in a leisurely and social state. Discovery takes the front seat.

This may explain the difference between referral traffic from search vs. social. In a recent analysis of Mashable‘s social and traffic data, I found that Facebook and Twitter visitors spent 29% more time on Mashable.com and viewed 20% more pages than visitors arriving via search engines. This may suggest a more engaged or exploratory reader, at least in terms of how much time they spend reading the content.

At The Washington Post and other media organizations (including Mashable), referral traffic from social sites — particularly Facebook and Twitter — are outpacing the growth of referrals from search, said Raju Narisetti, managing editor at the Post. Though Narisetti wouldn’t quantify the growth, he noted that on a given day, 5% to 8% of referral traffic to the Post comes from social media.

So what kind of content is bringing them to the Post? Breaking news, quality analysis, offbeat features and quality photo galleries and videos. Similar to search, social presents challenges in attracting an audience. Factors such as the time of day and frequency of distribution on a social channel can affect how successful the Post is in engaging readers, Narisetti said. But the Post hasn’t had to change its content strategy to attract more social referrals.

“While we have aggressive goals for our social team, the goals are based off [the] Post‘s unique content rather than trying to rethink our content to get more social referrals,” Narisetti said. Instead, the Post is focusing on making it easy for social media users to interact with content via Network News and other integrations.

Social Media Optimization

From linking standards to meta tags, news organizations have been working for years to improve their content’s search engine optimization (SEO). Now we’re seeing the rise of social media optimization. Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, said news organizations will need to get into the “SMO game.” But that doesn’t mean gaming the system. “They should look for ways to make their content more social to take advantage of the new ways in which readers, viewers, [and] consumers think,” Sreenivasan said.

This means, among other things, providing easy ways to engage content using social media and having reporters take part in conversations on the social web. It means having the entire organization think in “social terms” — not just broadcasting materials out, but participating in the social ecosystem.

In many ways, social media makes it harder to “game” for the purpose of simply driving lots of traffic to a story that may not be of high quality. Social media’s effect on quality isn’t quite as systematic as search has been. Mathilde Piard, social media manager at Cox Media digital, said social media is having a positive effect on content.

“I’d rather editorial decisions be driven by what editors and reporters think people will read and be moved to share, rather than by keywords,” Piard said. With the latter, she said, you end up with content such as, “What Time Does the Superbowl Start At?”

Social Search

The tide may turn with developments like Google’s recent updates to its algorithm, which favors original reporting, and its recent launch of +1. The +1 product adds a social recommendation layer across Google Search results.

When you’re searching for a specific piece of content, you can see the results that your friends have recommended. The integration brings the social filter into search, while staying true to Google’s core product: search. It also creates a social identity for users. After all, what you recommend using +1 can be seen on your Google Profile.

Though +1 isn’t a social network, it is certainly a big step toward building one. But perhaps most important is its implications for quality. The number of +1s on a story link affects its placement in search results.

This essentially applies the social incentive to share or recommend quality content to search results and gives Google a good potential footing in remaining the dominant referrer to content sites.

Social Content

Content creation is one of the missing links and perhaps the cosmic difference between search and social. Search points to content that has been made, while social enables users to create content on the platform itself. How the two affect the quality of journalism are fundamentally different. Sure, social does a big amount of pointing itself, which enables news sites to grab referred traffic. But the people formerly known as the audience are also creating videos, status updates, tweets, photos and more.

"Curation helps cut through that noise to find the most relevant voice, amplifying the media that helps inform and enlighten.”
- Burt Herman, Storify

Burt Herman knows this all too well. It’s the reason why he launched Storify, a site that enables you to easily curate social content into one contextualized story. Herman said that social media improves the quality of content because it is content.

Social media has revolutionized content creation, which is now a collaborative process with readers who contribute and verify it. Though social media makes content publishing easy for everyone, it can also be overwhelming, Herman said.

“Curation helps cut through that noise to find the most relevant voice, amplifying the media that helps inform and enlighten,” he said.

Journalists have always “curated” content by grabbing pieces of information and contextualizing it into a story. The difference is that social media now provides efficiency in getting that information, often through first-hand sources who are micropublishing to their social profiles. This social journalism has spawned other content curation companies like Storyful, Curated.by and ScribbleLive.

“We now have many more voices who can be included in stories,” Herman said. “This means that what we read is richer and gives more information to the reader.”

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

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Goldmund

More About: facebook, Google, journalism, News, Search, social media, social search, twitter

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Twitter BlackBerry App Adds Geotags & Push Notifications

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 01:23 PM PDT


After six weeks of beta testing, Twitter’s new app for BlackBerry launches Tuesday. The new update does a decent job of catching BlackBerry users up with the rest of the mobile Twitterverse, by adding options like push notifications and geotagged tweets.

Twitter v1.1 will be available in the BlackBerry App Store sometime within the next 24 hours. Here’s what you can expect, according to BlackBerry:

  • Geotagged Tweets: Twitter started giving users the option to add their locations to tweets in March. Now they can also do so from their BlackBerrys. After a user enables the setting, it’s easy to switch location sharing on and off, with an icon in the top menu bar. Followers viewing geotagged tweets on BlackBerry can see a tweet’s location on a map by clicking an icon that appears in the bottom right corner.
  • Push Notifications: Twitter for iPhone got push notifications for @mentions in November. Now BlackBerry users can have them, too. Users can choose to receive notifications when they’re mentioned or only when their followers mention them.
  • #Topic Autocomplete: When users start to type a hashtag term, BlackBerry for Twitter will now help finish it previously used hashtags.
  • Chat-Style Messages: Direct Messages have been renamed “Messages” to match Twitter’s new desktop app. They’re displayed in a chat-style format, which means users will be able to see an entire conversation under the message tab. The previous version only showed messages received.
  • New Language Support: Users who tweet in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Polish, Czech, or Thai, can now do so on their BlackBerry.

What do you think of the updates? Is there anything else you wish would have been included?

More About: blackberry, Mobile 2.0, twitter

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Make Surrealist, Twitter-Fueled Comedy With This Web App

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 01:12 PM PDT


The Mashable staff has been a bit distracted today by a shiny little Internet bauble we stumbled upon, and it’s too good not to share.

That Can Be My Next Tweet is a microapp that parses a Twitter stream of your choosing and autogenerates an often incoherent, random string of phrases. Once the string is generated, you can choose to ponder its deeper meaning in solitude or share it with the world via your Twitter account.

The premise is that any given user’s tweets tend to follow the same themes, mention the same topics and places, and include the same exclamations, filler words and abbreviations. And while some of the autogenerated tweets seem plausible enough, especially for news- or headline-oriented feeds like @Mashable, other autogenerated strings are nothing short of hilarious.

Or, as one Twitter friend noted, the app “sort of makes me sound like the villain from Robin Hood, Men in Tights.”

And not so strangely enough, we could barely tell the difference between @CharlieSheen‘s real tweets and the ones generated by the app.

We apologize in advance for slaying your Tuesday afternoon productivity. Here’s a tour of auto-tweets the app generated for a few streams we follow:


S#!% My Dad Says





Bill Cosby





Pete Cashmore





Charlie Sheen





Marshall Kirkpatrick





AP Stylebook





Baratunde Thurston





50 Cent





Huffington Post





Kanye West





God Damn Batman




More About: App, funny, humor, twitter

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Have a Creative Workspace Arrangement? Send Your Photos & Videos to Mashable & CNN iReport

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 12:40 PM PDT


Let's face it – we spend a lot of time in our workspaces. Whether you work at an office, from home or in a public space, it’s all too easy to end up hypnotized by your computer screen after sitting in the same chair for hours on end.

So, Mashable and CNN want to know: How have you customized your work environment to make it more livable? Maybe you’ve found an alternative to that desk chair, like an exercise ball or a desk at which you can stand instead of sit. Or perhaps you've spiced up your cubicle with some colorful art or a beta fish?

We want to see photos of your creative workspace arrangement. Take us on a video tour of your customized work area. Let us know why you've altered your office and what the benefits are.

Upload your photos and videos by using the assignment page, or email it to iReport. Instagram and Picplz users, we encourage you to post your images there, too, and tag them with #workspace. Please submit your photos and videos by Friday, April 15. The best submissions could be featured on CNN and Mashable.

Are your creative wheels already turning? We encourage you to brainstorm your submission ideas in the comments below.

Submit photos and videos of your workspace to CNN iReport and Mashable!


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More About: cnn, ergonomics, instagram, ireport, office space, picplz, Workspace

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Flock Shutters Social Web Browser

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 12:23 PM PDT


Flock, the 5-year-old social web browser, is going out of commission. Support for the browser will be discontinued on April 26, according to an announcement released on the company’s website.

The shutdown comes just months after Flock was acquired by social gaming startup Zynga.

“The Flock team joined Zynga in January, 2011 and is now working to assist Zynga in achieving their goal of building the most fun, social games available to anyone, anytime — on any platform,” the company writes of the shutdown.

Users can continue to use unsupported versions the browser, but the Flock team strongly suggests that its users migrate to Chrome or Firefox. “Flock will no longer be actively maintained … key features will stop working after 4/26/11 and over time the browser will no longer be secure as software updates and upgrades will no longer be provided,” reads a FAQ entry on the site.

Flock is a casualty of the social nature of the web and Facebook's Open Graph initiative. Web denizens now carry their social graph with them via Facebook and not through the browser. Its shutdown also calls to mind the rise and fall of the once great Flip video camera, which is also being discontinued.

In the wake of Flock’s demise, keep an eye on RockMelt, a competing social web browser released late last year.

More About: browser, flock, social browser, social media

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Rent & Watch Movies in Your Web Browser With Walmart’s Vudu

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 11:52 AM PDT


Walmart-owned movie streaming service Vudu is now accessible from the web browser.

Users can rent or buy movies and TV shows from Vudu.com, even if they don’t own a Vudu-compatible TV or Blu-ray player. Vudu has more than 17,000 titles in its library with a big focus on new releases and major studio films. Users can rent titles for 24 hours for $3.99, $4.99 or $5.99, depending on quality level.

Vudu started life as a set-top box aimed at movie lovers. Since launching, the service has shifted away from its own box, instead opting to license the service to consumer electronics makers. These include devices from Sony, LG, Samsung and Panasonic. The new Boxee Box supports Vudu, and users who run Boxee on their Mac, Windows or Linux PC can also install the app.

In February, I tested and rated some of the most popular streaming media services and noted that “from a quality standpoint, Vudu is unmatched. HDX rentals really blow the boundaries of what one expects from a streaming service.”

Unfortunately, users that access the service strictly from the web browser won’t be able to take advantage of that fantastic picture quality. Vudu says that “due to restrictions by content providers, playback is limited to SD quality when viewed in a web browser.”

Fortunately, Vudu is designed to work in such a way that a user can start a movie or TV show on one device and resume playback on another. That means that films that play back in SD in the browser will still be accessible in HD or HDX via a Blu-ray Player, PS3, Boxee Box or HDTV. It also means that purchases or rentals made from those devices will be accessible in SD in the web browser.

It’s a shame that content restrictions prohibit Vudu’s HD streaming. Still, allowing users to have access to additional a la carte content is a win for consumers. If you’re in the U.S. and you are looking for an alternative to iTunes, Vudu just might fit the bill.

What is your favorite online rental service? Let us know.

More About: Film, Media Streaming, Movies, rentals, vudu

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5 Ways Tech Startup Financing Is Changing

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 10:56 AM PDT


Jed Simon is the founder & CEO of FastPay, a tech-driven finance company based in Los Angeles that provides custom funding solutions for digital media clients.

As the online sectors continues to mature, there are more ways to finance your business and increase your growth without sacrificing a large amount of equity. By financing several fast-growing websites, my company has gained a perspective on how the landscape is changing. Here are a few lessons we've learned along the way.

1. Most Capital Raises Have Gotten Smaller

We've all been reading about the series of huge raises that Groupon, Zynga, Facebook and Twitter have completed recently. However, on the other end of the spectrum, startup capital isn't as big budget as it was in the ’90s. The technology to manage and monetize websites has gotten a lot cheaper and easier to deploy. While this means that there are fewer barriers to entry nowadays, the downside is that investors simply don't want to invest as much, even in very strong ideas.

A web entrepreneur today is expected to make every dollar count. By leveraging mature open source frameworks and working with cutting edge programming languages and techniques, you should be able to keep your costs under control. As hardware gets cheaper, using languages such as Python and Ruby almost act as virtual leverage, enabling you to afford to create far more for far less. Dynamic language frameworks and barebones budgets are the secret driving force behind the design and ultimate success of Twitter. Doing more with less is always a winning strategy.

2. Angels Have Gotten Organized

Angel investors aren't the exception — they've become the rule. With the multitude of tech billionaires active in Silicon Valley today, angels are beginning to form organizations that rival venture capital funds in terms of talent and ruthlessness. From Y Combinator to Tech Coast Angels, angel investors are more organized than ever before, which makes them easier to find and easier to approach, especially as compared to traditional venture capital. The organization of angel capital has started to threaten the established structure of venture capital, with rather strong antagonisms on both sides. For the entrepreneur, that makes choosing an equity investor a political choice, too. Choose the wrong angel and you might be implicitly locked out of certain venture funds in the process. Yet another good reason to forgo equity financing until you're absolutely ready.

3. Venture Capital Has Gotten More Expensive Compared to the Risk Exposure

Even though the raises have gotten smaller, venture capitalist demands have only gotten larger. Raising venture capital means forfeiting up to 50% of your company, and comes with a huge host of incidental costs, from increased legal fees to onerous partner reporting and venture capitalist meddling. If you can, try to find a lower commitment financing option that provides just enough working capital to start to scale. Then, once you have proven your business, you'll be able to negotiate far better terms with the venture capitalist.

Control is really worth a lot. The best part of Mark Zuckerberg's initial Facebook raise was not the valuation but rather the ultimate control his investors let him keep because he'd taken the time to prove his concept. This gave him the room to execute his vision successfully. While you can always return to venture capitalists in the future — often with more leverage to get the better deal — you can never undo the mistake of taking too much venture money too soon at too high a cost.

4. There Are Far More Financing Alternatives Than Existed Even Five Years Ago

Five years ago, the only real options were venture capital and angel investing. Today, the Internet as a medium can finally be considered a mature platform that consistently bests its traditional media rivals in terms of growth and profitability. While venture capital has only become more expensive, debt options are now more widespread.

Debt (e.g. bank loans) has a great scaling factor for Web 2.0 companies. Startups can take their existing equity and leverage it to create a larger company far more quickly. Companies across the web are springing up that can lend against network advertising revenues, insertion orders, purchase orders and direct advertising to get you the capital you need to execute your ultimate business strategy.

5. Use All Your Cash to Your Advantage

Differentiating a brand and building an online audience can be really difficult today. Content publishers in particular have learned that buying traffic and investing in marketing, especially early on, can help accelerate your audience growth and solidify your market position. You can overinvest in tech, and a lot of young companies in new media often neglect their marketing budgets. Growing your site and increasing your audience only puts you in a better position for even more lucrative advertising and venture investment down the road. Based on research data from my company’s clients, many large online media outlets spend more than half their budgets on advertising and targeted links with massive effectiveness, and most of their video content will only go viral on the backs of purchased links. You should be doing the same.

Online finance has not escaped the economic downturn unscathed, but it has rebounded faster and more dynamically than most other sectors of the economy. Now more than ever, entrepreneurs who move quickly and creatively to raise capital and grow their businesses while retaining equity and control will emerge as the biggest winners.

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


Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kizilkayaphotos

More About: business, Capital, financing, List, Lists, money, small business, startups, tech

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Toyota Parks Prius on EA’s Facebook Monopoly Game

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 10:05 AM PDT


Toyota's Prius has landed on the iconic Monopoly board — at least the Facebook version of it — thanks to a deal between Toyota and Electronic Arts.

EA and Toyota inked a 12-month agreement to feature the Prius in Monopoly Millionaires, a free-to-play social version of the Hasbro board game. The Prius is a mover in the game, but players can also buy an Eco-Greenhouse (replete with windmills and a Prius in the driveway.) Players can also gift the Eco-Greenhouse to others in the game.

EA released Monopoly Millionaires in February. In the past month, the game has more than doubled its user base to 6.2 million.

For Toyota, the effort is the latest in a series of social media campaigns this year, starting with the "Plural of Prius" effort in early January and another real-time world records-setting event at the end of last month.

For such advertisers trying to cultivate a social media following, inclusion in a game is a popular option. According to developer Appssavvy, it's also an effective one. An analysis by that company — admittedly not a disinterested observer on the subject — recently found that such in-app ads are 11.4 times more effective than a standard banner ad.

That said, Anindya Datta, founder of Mobilewalla, says not every brand could integrate itself into a game the way Toyota is doing with Monopoly Millionaires. "Most products wouldn't fit," he says. "Most need more traditional placements like a banner or a text box."

More About: EA, facebook, gaming, MARKETING, prius, Toyota

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HOW TO: Spread Your Business Footprint Around the Web

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 09:35 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 web, as we know, is a great place to market your business — but only if people can find you. Success in online marketing is contingent upon people being able to locate your web presence. One of the best ways to connect with current and potential customers via the web is to leave your footprint around the Internet and create a trail that leads back to your business.

Leaving your business footprint across the web has a number of benefits, including driving traffic back to your site, building brand awareness, establishing trust and boosting your search engine rankings. There are an almost infinite number of places around the web where you can leave your footprint, but here are four rules for getting the most out of your efforts and attracting notice.

1. Be Everywhere

Social media is a big place. That can be both a boon and a burden for small businesses. On the one hand, it means there is a virtually unlimited number of ways to leave your business footprint around the Internet, but on the other hand, it also can make doing so a very time consuming and overwhelming process. Still, it’s a good idea to be everywhere on the web that your customers are. Your customers will be having a conversation online — even about your business — whether or not you participate. If you’re concerned with creating a healthy, positive brand image, it’s better to participate in those conversations than to stay on the sidelines.

At the very least, it is important for almost every business trying to build their brand online to have a presence on the major social networks. Crissy Gershey, director of sales and marketing for Parties That Cook, maintains active accounts for the business on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Delicious, Foursquare and LinkedIn. Because Gershey’s budget is limited, it makes sense to focus on the social media sites where her clients are.

Further, stagnation is a bad thing. If you can’t actively maintain your presence, it might not be a good idea to register an account at all. Social media profiles tend to rank highly in search, so you want to make sure yours is active and properly filled out.

“Be sure to complete profiles on sites most relevant to your business. In my experience on many sites, including OpenForum.com, people do not complete their profiles. Simply completing your profile makes you stand out above the majority or listings,” advises Jeff Huckaby, the CEO of rackAID.

Jim Olenbush, a broker at Cantera Real Estate in Austin, Texas, agrees. “These pages and accounts will also rank highly for your company name, so make sure they present well,” he says. Olenbush also advises maintaining an active presence on local and business review and support sites like Yelp, Merchant Circle and GetSatisfaction. “Research your competitors by searching for their company names. The websites that have references to them or pages about them might also be good places to list your business. This includes review sites, business profile pages, and mentions of companies on industry blogs.”

2. Participate in the Conversation

It’s often said that social media is a conversation. It’s a cliche, but a truism, and getting involved in that conversation presents amazing opportunities for businesses to spread their footprint. From commenting on industry blogs to posting on discussion forums to conversing with your fans on your own social media profiles or your blog, there are plenty of ways to join the conversation and leave a trail back to your site. But there is one golden rule that all businesses should follow: always add something of value.

“It is important for businesses to provide quality input and selfless content,” says Season Lopiccolo, a partner at Noble Studios. “Nobody likes spam. Web users are likely to repel when they are feeling oversold or the content has no value to them. So always make sure your content is clear, concise and to-the-point.”

Mike Schwarz, founder of RibbedTee, learned that lesson the hard way. “When I first started contributing to forum threads, I was more focused on pitching our brand, and less on addressing the topic of discussion,” he recalls. “A few times, I got schooled pretty bad and came to the realization there was a better way to participate. In many cases, I would visit a forum and refer other competitor’s products if it was a solution to the person’s inquiry.”

His lesson? “Help others thoughtfully, and they will in turn consider your products at some time in the future.”

Of course, quality doesn’t mean you can’t be opinionated. Says Lopiccolo, “Allow people to be a little confrontational, even if it means they don’t agree with you. As long as you show that you are listening, clear in your messaging and open for change, the people on the other end reading will continue to stay interested.”

3. Share Your Expertise

“Whatever size business you own, you have the ability to influence countless followers by simply sharing your expertise with others. Everyone has expertise, if you simply decide to share it. And you’ll find that the more you share, the more you learn. Don’t try to hide your ideas, concepts, or creativity — talk it up,” advises Alan Guinn, managing director at The Guinn Consulting Group.

You’re probably an expert in something — after all, you won’t be very successful in your business if you aren’t an expert in it — and sharing that knowledge can establish yourself as a leader in your industry and help to build positive associations with your brand. There are many ways to share your expertise online, including blogging, posting on social media sites and traditional media outreach, but one of the best methods is guest posting on already established blogs.

“Great content is king and everyone wants it,” says Jennifer Nichols, CEO and co-founder of FlackList. “Reach out to blogs with advice editorials to see if they’d be interested in sharing with them their readers in exchange for pushing out the link to your email list or posting on your own company blog.”

“If you have a new idea, or a new way of doing things, write it up and put it online. If you have a new technique for approaching business, don’t be afraid to write it up and post it,” says Guinn.

4. Partner Up

Small businesses generally don’t have the same resources as their well capitalized, enterprise-level competitors, and that can sometimes put them at a competitive disadvantage. One way to mitigate that competitive imbalance is to join forces with other small businesses and create a coalition that has more influence en masse. This strategy can also work when spreading your business footprint around the web.

“One of our key initiatives [for] driving traffic is strategically partnering with other service companies that complement our painting business,” says Ricky Chu, the co-founder of Rayco. Chu has formed partnerships with other local home improvement businesses that target the same clientele. “Since we have implemented cross-promoting our services on our print and web collateral we have increased traffic more than 50%. This is very important because this 50% is coming from targeted customers who are getting work done on their homes.”

According to Matt Griffin, president and CEO of Baker’s Edge, the companies you partner with needn’t always be in your industry. “We like to team up with non-market related companies on projects. Being involved with new faces guarantees new exposure,” he says. “For instance, we have an office Trail Running Team. We like to sponsor local races and participate. It shows us [to be] a more dynamic company, and gets our image out there to places that other kitchenware companies have never thought to tread — have you ever seen a bakeware company sponsor anything aside from a bake off?”

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

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, abu

More About: branding, business, how to, small business, social media, tips

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Evernote Optimizes Windows App for Note Sharing

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 09:00 AM PDT


Evernote, the cross-platform note-taking service, is in the midst of a social transformation. The startup just upgraded its web application to include Facebook sharing, and it’s releasing Tuesday a sharing-optimized version of Evernote for Windows.

Evernote for Windows users can upgrade to start sharing their notes on Facebook and Twitter. Users can also better manage and share notebooks, as well as view notebooks shared with them from inside the application.

Users will find a share button inside each note with four options: send by email, post to Facebook, post to Twitter and copy note URL to clipboard. The Windows app user can then select an option to share the individual note, making its contents public to outside viewers. The process is similar to that already introduced in Evernote for Web.

In addition, notebook sharing via Evernote, a once complex process, is now simpler in the Windows version. A “shared” tab has been added above the notebook list and gives the user a place to go to not only share notebooks and manage settings, but to also view the notebooks other Evernote users have shared with him or her.

Frequent Evernote users will understand immediately the significant implications of these layers of sharing. Evernote, once merely a repository of personal memories, can become a vehicle to create shared memories. Somewhat problematic, however, is that each version of Evernote — spanning web, mobile and desktop — now has a slightly different sharing experience.

Evernote for Windows also includes a few minor enhancements. On activation, the Status Bar will show word and character counts for notes. Find and replace, a typical feature of word processing applications, has been introduced as well.

More About: evernote, evernote for windows, facebook, note taking, sharing, social media, twitter, Windows

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TV on the Radio Premieres Album-Length Film on YouTube

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:54 AM PDT


Did Kanye West’s 35-minute hip hop film Runaway leave you wanting more music-infused, web-based cinematic storytelling? Well, luckily, TV on the Radio is premiering an album-length film on YouTube today featuring every track on Nine Types of Light, which also drops today.

“Nine Types of Light is as much an album as it is a movie by TV on the Radio, the band said in a statement to Mashable. “The movie is meant to be a visual re-imagining of the record, and includes a music video for every song on the album. The band personally asked their friends and the filmmakers they admired to help direct the music videos. Tunde Adebimpe [lead singer of the band], the director for the full Nine Types of Light movie, storybooked the music videos together with interviews from local New Yorkers on various topics, including dreams, love, fame and the future. Tunde also directed the [yet-to-be-released] music video for ‘Forgotten.’”

Fans of Brooklyn's TV on the Radio have been waiting for the band's next disc since 2008, when its last album, Dear Science, dropped. Last week, Rhapsody offered subscribers an early look at Nine Types of Light via a full stream.

More and more, musicians are taking advantage of the web in order to truly push the boundaries of the traditional music video — from crowdsourcing, to interactivity, to epic films like the one below.

Image courtesy of Flickr, angela n.

More About: music, music videos, tv-on-the-radio

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HTC Sensation 4G: T-Mobile’s “Multimedia Superphone” [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:26 AM PDT


HTC announced Tuesday its latest Android smartphone, the HTC Sensation 4G. The phone will be exclusively available at T-Mobile USA this summer.

Sensation, long-rumored as the HTC Pyramid, has a 4.3-inch LCD touch screen, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video, and a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor. A new tool allows users to clip videos down to size in order to maximize its 1 GB of internal phone storage.

The smartphone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI, which now includes a customizable lockscreen that will display social updates, photos, weather or stock news. A clever feature lets users jump right to making a phone call, sending an email or taking a photo using the same gesture usually used to unlock a smartphone.

Sensation is also the first smartphone to feature HTC Watch, a store for video content. Users will be able to purchase or rent DVD-quality content on up to five HTC devices. Progressive downloads ensure they won’t need to wait for the entire file to download before watching a movie or TV show.

HTC promises “sharper graphics, vibrant animations and new widgets” from its “multimedia superphone.” From what we can see in this dramatic promo video below, it does look slick. Let us know what you think in the comments.

More About: htc, HTC Sensation, smartphones

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Unpaid Bloggers File Suit Against AOL, Huffington Post

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:14 AM PDT


A group of volunteer bloggers has filed a class-action suit against The Huffington Post, its founder, Arianna Huffington, and AOL, which acquired the digital media company for $315 million in February.

The bloggers, led by Jonathan Tasini, a union organizer who has been writing for The Huffington Post since December 2005, want to be compensated for the content they’ve contributed freely to the site — content, they feel, helped The Huffington Post achieve its $315 million sale price.

This is not the first time Tasini has gone to battle for freelancers’ rights. He was also the lead plaintiff in a successful Supreme Court case versus The New York Times, which ruled in 2005 that publications could not license back issues in electronic databases such as LexisNexis without the authorization of freelancers.

Interestingly enough, parent company AOL has been sued before for using the content of unpaid contributors.

In the 1990s, AOL established a Community Leader Program that rewarded users with discounts on their monthly AOL connection fees in exchange for moderating chartrooms, answering questions from fellow subscribers and participating in other activities. In 1999, some 2,000 leaders filed a class-action lawsuit, Hallissey et al v. American Online, Inc., arguing that they were more like employees than volunteers, and thus deserved minimum wage pay and benefits under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The case was resolved when both parties agreed on a $15 million settlement.

We have reached out to Tasini for further information and will update this post accordingly.

Update (3:25 p.m. ET): A spokesperson for the Huffington Post Media Group has released the following statement:

“The lawsuit is without merit. As we've said before, our bloggers use our platform – as well as other unpaid group blogs across the web — to connect and help their work be seen by as many people as possible. It's the same reason hundreds of people go on TV shows to promote their views and ideas. HuffPost bloggers can cross-post their work on other sites, including their own. Aside from our group blog, to which thousands of people from around the world contribute, we operate a journalistic enterprise with hundreds of staff editors, writers, and reporters, all of whom have commensurate responsibilities — and all of whom are paid.”

Image courtesy of Flickr, World Economic Forum

[via Forbes]

More About: aol, Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post

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9 Digital Marketing Lessons From Top Social Brands

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:51 AM PDT


The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, which offers inbound marketing software that helps small and medium sized businesses get found on the Internet by the right prospects and converts more of them into leads and customers. Learn more.

While there are hundreds of ways to calculate the ROI of social media, the general consensus is that Twitter and Facebook are worthwhile tools that can add a lot of value to your marketing campaign. Of course, the value of social media depends on how well you execute it.

Fortunately, a few big brands have already blazed trails in the digital marketing world. We spoke to social media and marketing experts at MTV, American Express, Xbox, NBA and AT&T to get the scoop on how they learned to hit the mark.

Have some other lessons that helped you achieve digital marketing success? Let us know in the comments.

1. Be Human

"Nailing a tone that resonates with your audience is of paramount importance," says Tom Fishman, manager of social media and community at MTV. The goal at MTV, he says, is "to sound human and conversational and not be the voice of some corporate overlord." To that end, tweets are often written in the first person ("we" and "I") to convey that there are “hearts and faces” behind the screen. Resonating with a particular audience is especially important because MTV has 70 Facebook Pages, covering everything from Daria to Jersey Shore — MTV’s social media crew has to speak in a way that feels comfortable with each audience.

At Xbox, there are 15 people on the Xbox Tweet Fleet, all of whom tweet with their own personalities and "create a collective voice" by being passionate. Each tweeter signs off with his initials so the consumer knows who tweeted at them (American Express also does this). Adds Jerry Kansky, manager of the Tweet Fleet, "We are the consumers, and we know how we'd like to be talked to, so we're just being ourselves."

Chris Baccus, executive director of digital and social media for AT&T, notes that it's important to "be a part of the conversation and not try to own or control the conversation." While brands can — and should –- use social media to promote their messages, it's important to be real and not sound like a press release. After all, people are opting to follow you — don't give them a reason to unfollow!

Something else that's human? Making mistakes. If there's a spelling error in a celebrity’s name or the wrong time is tweeted for a Real World episode, "the move is not to delete the tweet and let it go away," Fishman says. It's an opportunity to show what kind of company you are, and that human touch (a follow-up tweet with a "sorry" or "oops") is something the fans appreciate more than sweeping mistakes under the rug.

2. Know What You Want

Every brand has its own reasons for jumping onboard with social media, and it's important you know your reason and your goals before you start. "It's not a toe-in-the-water-thing," says McKenzie Eakin, whose @XboxSupport handle specifically offers technical customer support.

For AmEx, reach and engagement are essential — as a result, assessment is qualitatively focused — it comes down to sentiment and what people are saying more than the raw volume of tweets and Facebook posts. However, Shari Forman, director of online communications and social media at AmEx, does track links and remains cognizant of the numbers to see what kind of content is most engaging.

MTV’s goal is to crystallize communities around shows and bands. While promoting the new show Skins, Fishman says MTV was able to build a hyper-passionate community before the show even premiered. He says it was an eye-opening experience when it comes to “thinking about how to approach special campaigns in a pre-promotional phase.” MTV Vice President of Digital Media Colin Helms told Mashable in January that, "We usually build a community after the show has launched. We did the opposite with Skins."

3. Listen and Respond

No one likes asking a question and not having it answered. The @XboxSupport stream sends 5,000 tweets per week, and it is the Guinness World Record holder for most responsive brand on Twitter. The average response time? “Three to five minutes, if not faster," Eakin says. And Baccus says AT&T usually responds within 15 minutes — impressive, huh?

While public messaging is obviously the purpose of Twitter, it's also a good idea to engage in behind-the-scenes communication with fans. The MTV team responds to every single direct message that comes its way on Twitter. "It's another touchpoint for the brand," Fishman says.

Baccus says "social listening" is a big part of AT&T's initiative. The social team takes note of trends and engages in casual "cocktail conversation" to glean information from customers. The team then uses that information to advocate for its customers within the company. For example, if a number of people in one town are lamenting poor reception, AT&T will alert the local AT&T market managers and network team to investigate the issue. This kind of active response and proactive troubleshooting is highly valued by customers and easily executed via social media.

4. Diversify and Pace Your Content

Fishman says the purpose of @MTV is to advance the brand’s message, but it's also important to be "a good source of content for people." Since MTV is a cultural tastemaker, that content ranges from music and fashion to social issues and politics — the feed provides a lot of relevant information for myriad demographic groups.

At AmEx, Forman focuses on hitting a balance of proactive and reactive tweets. Proactive tweets result from events that are planned on an editorial calendar — promoting Small Business Saturday, for example. Then there are reactive tweets that respond to inquiries from followers and cardmembers. "We're cognizant of what we're pushing out, and we know that people are following us for different reasons," she says.

To figure out what content you should be sharing, pay attention to your followers. NBA fans are passionate about their favorite teams and players, and they want to chat about what happens on the court in real time — the NBA feeds let the conversation flourish. “Our league, team and player Twitter feeds give us a unique opportunity to connect directly with nearly 35 million followers and to help them share in the excitement of our game — the amazing plays, buzzer-beaters and great moments,” says Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, vice president of marketing for the NBA. The NBA feeds often republish “compelling tweets from fans” to share the enthusiasm and show appreciation for their fanatics.

Brands have to be careful not to push too much content — no one wants to hear from a brand more than they hear from their friends and family. The NBA frequently polls its fans to find out just how much content they want. With those responses in hand, “We try to guide ourselves accordingly” and not let too much “uncurated information” clog the feed, Brenner says.

5. Inject Yourself Into the Conversation

We know that responsiveness is important, but there's another related trait that's crucial, too — preemptive tweeting. When someone tweets about a problem with his Xbox — even if he’s not tweeting at Xbox — the Tweet Fleet team responds. In fact, someone on shift is responsible for "engagement finds" — tweeting at users who mention Xbox to let them know the Tweet Fleet is there to offer support for technical issues.

And when something big happens in your industry or your brand has exciting news, get out there and share it. Brenner says game highlights and player milestones are heavily shared because social media has become what NBA Commissioner David Stern has called, "the digital water cooler" — a single place where passionate fans can gather and talk about the game in real time. In February, when Celtics guard Ray Allen broke the all-time 3-point record, @NBA tweeted:

It was retweeted almost 2,000 times, driving “Ray Allen” to the #3 worldwide top trending topic on Twitter.

6. Get Feedback in Real Time

Because the Tweet Fleet fields kudos, comments and complaints about Xbox, it is able to relay important information from the consumers to its tech and development teams, which can be incredibly useful for troubleshooting.

At AmEx, Forman says she and Hamouly closely monitor response to tweets and Facebook posts — are we getting new followers? Are people responding? Are they engaged? -– to make their social marketing efforts more effective. It's test and learn — if something falls flat, they fix it.

A perfect example of this flexibility is AT&T’s "Plead Your Case" Facebook app campaign. AT&T discovered a high dropout rate — people weren’t clicking through to the end. Instead of letting the campaign fail, the AT&T team made some quick tweaks based on the real-time data it was collecting from the app. The result? More than 90% of people went through the entire process once the fixes were implemented.

Another AT&T lesson involved an email blast sent from the VP of general marketing. It was a broad and generic email that outlined how much money AT&T was spending on infrastructure. The email outraged customers, and the team manned the Facebook Page for 48 hours, compassionately responding to every single post within ten minutes. "It really changed the tone of the page and within 24 hours, the sentiment totally changed because we were engaging and responding." Lesson learned: AT&T now personalizes email messages and geotargets its email blasts.

7. Know Your Audience

Eakin says that the Xbox audience is so diverse — moms, dads and kids — that the same tone doesn’t fly for all tweets. She says her tweeters take the extra few seconds to click on a user’s Twitter handle to find out who they're talking to, because a working mother should be spoken to differently than a 14-year-old gamer. That personalization is simple to implement, and it goes a long way.

In addition to knowing who your audience is, you should know where it is. AmEx has an international following, so Forman geotargets posts on Facebook for promotions and contests. "Recognize that you're casting a wide net and be specific about who can benefit" from what you're offering, Forman says — or else you could get some angry messages.

8. Know the Platforms

Twitter and Facebook are not interchangeable, and you should have a different approach for each. In general, Twitter is more of a two-way conversation — a brand's Twitter feed is a timeline of responses to customer inquiries, “thank yous” for nice tweets, brand updates and conversational dialogue. Facebook, however, is more of a community -– the wall can be treated as a sort of bulletin board for announcements. Having Facebook posts push to Twitter and vice versa isn’t the best idea — the platforms serve different purposes.

AmEx's Small Business Saturday campaign lives on Facebook, where it has more than one million fans and was one of the fastest-growing Facebook Pages during the early days of its creation. Though the campaign also had a Twitter handle (@SBSat), the Facebook Page had the unique opportunity to build a community –- and target more people, thanks to Facebook’s immense user base.

The NBA embraces both platforms pretty equally. “We want to be where our fans are — and we have worked hard to engage our fans and develop a strong presence on each platform,” Brenner says. The NBA has more than 200 players on Twitter and more than 50 players on Facebook. The NBA, player and team pages boast nearly 100 million fans on Twitter and Facebook combined.

In terms of post volume, brands typically can communicate more on Twitter than Facebook before annoying their followers, thanks to Twitter's @replies, which are hidden from users’ feeds if they are not following those mentioned in the tweets. Forman and her AmEx partner are active Facebook users, and they use their personal experience to guide and inspire their posting schedule on Facebook and Twitter so as not to overwhelm their followers.

9. Create a User-Centric Experience

Social media has changed the way we market — billboards, print ads and commercials were always one-way. Now, brands engage in dialogue with the consumer, and communication has become a two-way street. Fishman says that, for this reason, you must make sure that the most important thing is to be "100% user-centric." He adds that everything the MTV social team does is first assessed through the lens of, "How are we adding value for our users?" MTV's TJ campaign also drove home the commitment to the users –- TJ Gabi fully dedicates her day to blogging, tweeting and interacting with the users and "isn't beholden to some of the priorities that we are at the corporate level,” Fishman says.

Part of this user-centric experience can be thanking and rewarding the users. When someone "likes" your brand or follows it on Twitter, he's publicly endorsing your company and becoming a brand ambassador. And so, he should be acknowledged. Forman says a huge part of AmEx’s social media campaign is making its cardmembers feel special -– they have exclusive access to concert tickets, travel giveaways and special discounts.

More Marketing Resources from Mashable:

- The Pros and Cons Of Tumblr For Small Business
- 4 Innovative Ways to Use Web Video for Small Business
- Top 5 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Make
- What to Look For When Hiring a Community Manager
- 3 Ways Companies Can Reach Generation Z

Series Supported by HubSpot

The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, which offers inbound marketing software that helps small and medium sized businesses get found on the Internet by the right prospects and converts more of them into leads and customers. HubSpot’s software platform includes tools that allow professional marketers and small business owners to manage SEO, blogging, social media, landing pages, e-mail, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Learn more.

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, melhi Moodboard_Images

More About: american express, att, facebook, mtv, NBA, social media, social media marketing, twitter, Xbox 360

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RIP Flip Video Camera

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:39 AM PDT


The popular Flip video camera is no more, with Cisco announcing Tuesday it "will exit aspects of its consumer businesses," which includes shutting down the Flip.

In a statement, Cisco says that it is realigning its consumer businesses to “support four of its five key company priorities.” On the subject of the Flip, Cisco says it will “close down the Flip business and support current FlipShare customers and partners with a transition plan.”

Cisco purchased Flip maker Pure Digital for $590 million in 2009. At the time, the move struck some as odd, but the potential of a Wi-Fi enabled Flip made some sense. Sort of.

Such a product has never materialized (even if FCC reports do indicate such a device exists). Meanwhile, the allure of the Flip — low cost video that can easily be uploaded to websites like Facebook or YouTube — was superseded by video cameras built into smartphones. In addition to the video being as good (if not better) on modern smartphones, phones have a built-in data connection and can upload video directly to the web — no computer required.

It looks like the Flip was simply an intermediary product. Much like the netbook, which has been largely usurped by lower-cost full laptops and tablets like the iPad, the Flip was simply a product that disrupted markets before moving aside for a true successor.

[via Business Insider]

More About: cisco, Flip, flip camera, trending, video cameras

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Twitter Brings Local Trends to 70 More Locations

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:24 AM PDT


Twitter has extended its Local Trends feature to 70 more cities and countries, including Japan, South Africa, Santiago, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

Now, users in more than 100 international locations can discover what topics are trending in their region. To see what’s being discussed in a given area, click the “change” link underneath the “Trends” subheader and select a location.

[via Mediabistro]

More About: local trends, twitter

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NASA & Google Celebrate Milestones in Space Travel [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:14 AM PDT


NASA is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch, which happened on April 12, 1981 – the same date on which Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, 20 years earlier.

To honor the occasion, NASA’s website has a special landing page, together with a detailed retrospective of the event, including facts about the shuttle system, an animated feature detailing the shuttle roll-out process, a short animation explaining the shuttle lift-off process and an infographic with facts about the Space Shuttle Orbiter.

YouTube also has a Space-related logo today, while Google celebrates Yuri Gagarin’s venture into space with a special animated Doodle.

The space shuttle program will also be retired this year.

Check out NASA’s infographic below, and make sure to visit its detailed mini-site devoted to the space shuttle.

More About: anniversary, launch, NASA, space, space shuttle

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The 5 Biggest Stories in Tech, Gadgets & Media This Morning

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:47 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 five particular stories of interest today.

Cisco Kills the Flip Cam

Cisco plans to cease production of its Flip line of digital video cameras, CEO John Chambers announced.

Mitt Romney Announces Presidential Bid via YouTube

Mitt Romney announced his bid for the 2012 presidency via a YouTube video posted Monday.

Microsoft Takes Control of 30% of Search Market

Microsoft has secured 30% of the search market, largely at Google's expense, according to figures from Experian Hitwise.

AOL Shuts Down Download Squad

In a somewhat surprising move, AOL/Huffington Post has shut down popular software blog Download Squad, according to its editor.

Amazon Announces Cheaper $114 Kindle With Ads

Amazon has announced a cheaper, ad-supported version of its Wi-Fi-only Kindle 3 device called “Kindle With Special Offers.”

Further News

Man Makes Music Out of an Old Game Boy [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:46 AM PDT

Here's a use for your old Game Boy that might not have occurred to you.

A German Game Boy fan named Sebastian Bender has released a music video on YouTube that is made up of clicks, spring-twiddling and button-pressing on the device. With 200,000 views since April 6, it's catching on.

It's a unique use for the game player, for sure, but maybe not as unique as you think. Last year, another fan netted more than 1 million views for an all-Game Boy rendition of Michael Jackson's “Beat It.”

The latest generation of Nintendo handheld devices, the 3DS, was released March 27.

More About: Game Boy, Nintendo, viral videos

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15th Annual Webby Awards Announce Nominees

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:00 AM PDT

The nominees for the 15th Annual Webby Awards were announced Tuesday morning, with Justin Bieber, the Old Spice Guy and Angry Birds among the list of nominees.

The Webby Awards are dedicated to “recognizing achievement in websites, online film and video, mobile web and interactive advertising.” Last year, Mashable was honored with three Webby Awards, including Best Business Blog and Best Cultural Blog. This year, Mashable is nominated for Best Business Blog alongside The New York Times‘s DealBook, Huffington Post, TechCrunch and The Consumerist.

The Webby Awards are chosen both by members of the Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and by the public. Internet users can vote on their choices for the Webby’s People’s Voice Awards through April 28 at http://webby.aol.com.

Winners will be announced May 3 and honored in New York City on June 13.

Some of the major category nominees include (to watch videos or listen to music from the nominees, click on the category names):

Best Viral Video

  • “The Twitter Movie Trailer – Rated Awesome”
  • “Bed Intruder Song” (Autotune the News Remix)
  • “The Sandpit”
  • “The Digital Story of Nativity”
  • “Aides Graffiti”

Best Music

  • Arcade Fire — “The Wilderness Downtown”
  • The Johnny Cash Project
  • Thomas Dolby — ‘The Toadlickers’
  • SOUR — “Mirror”
  • “The Sandpit”

Best Viral Marketing

  • OK Go — “This Too Shall Pass”
  • Old Spice Response Campaign
  • Mad Men Yourself
  • True Blood Live Feed
  • Google Translate for Animals

Best Community

  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • COLOURlovers
  • Cuteness.com Pet Community
  • OpenIDEO

Best Mobile Games

  • Angry Birds
  • Farmville for iPhone
  • Fruit Ninja
  • Grover’s Special Number
  • AMCtv.com Mad Men Cocktail Culture app

Best Social Media

  • Behance Network
  • HootSuite Social Media Dashboard
  • Vimeo
  • 1000 Memories
  • The Influence Project

You can see the full list of nominees at WebbyAwards.com.

More About: angry birds, bed intruder, old spice guy, viral video, webby awards, webbys

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