Bloggers Blog: Blogging the Blogsphere

Study Finds 50% of Moms Have Friended Their Children on Facebook

Wed, 9 May 2012 18:00:00 EST

A new study by JustAsk! from Crowd Science reveals some findings about how mothers are using social media. The study found that half of moms are friends with their children on Facebook.

Sandra Marshall, VP of Research at Crowd Science, says, "It's no surprise in the age of social media, that 79% of moms share content like videos, photos and links with friends and family online, but the fact that they use digital channels to stay connected with their kids is very telling. Moms today are no different than in the past. They just want to stay connected with the people that matter to them most: their kids."

The study also found that 1 in 10 moms are early adopters and 17% maintain their own blog. Here is an infographic with some of Crowd Science's findings:

Image: Crowd Science

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Researchers Develop Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale

Mon, 7 May 2012 14:00:00 EST

University of Bergen Doctor of Psychology Cecilie Schou Andreassen (pictured on the right) heads a research project about Facebook addiction. She says Facebook addiction occurs more regularly in younger than older users. It also occurs more in people who anxious and socially insecure. Women are also more at risk for Facebook addiction.

Dr. Andreassen and her colleagues have developed The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. The scale is based on the following six criteria, which are scored on the following scale: (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, and (5) Very often:

You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.
You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.
You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

Andreassen's study shows that scoring "often" or "always" on at least four of the seven items may suggest that you are addicted to Facebook.

Photo: Ole Kristian Olsen/University of Bergen

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Automattic, Company Behind WordPress, Expects to Hit $45 Million in Revenues This Year

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:00:00 EST

AllThingsD reports that Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, expects to bring in $45 million in revenues for 2012. AllThingsD's source is Automattic CEO Toni Schneider and founder Matt Mullenweg.

The company makes money from its premium WordPress.com services, which you can see here. The company also offers super premium services, dubbed VIP, for bigger clients. Wordpress also now has an advertising revenue-sharing network, called WordAds, which is the result of a partnership with Federated Media.

The company has managed to keep its number of employees fairly small over the years, despite the growth. They have 106 employees according to AllThingD.

Image: Automattic

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Disney Channel to Launch Show Called Dog With a Blog

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:00:00 EST

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Disney Channel has picked up a show called Dog With a Blog. Stan the blogging dog is a 4-year-old mixed breed adopted by a family. The step-siblings in the family bond over the pet, which they find out can both talk and write - and blog! The series will premiere in Fall 2012.

Photo: Bruce Birmelin/Disney

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Pinterest Now Third Most Popular Social Network

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST

Socialtimes reports that Pinterest is now the third most popular social network in the U.S. This ranking is according to a new 2012 Digital Marketer report, which says "Pinterest is now the 3rd most popular social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter." This would put Pinterest ahead of Google+ and Myspace.

Pinterest lets users set up boards for different categories and then "pin" blog posts and articles to the boards using photographs. The rapidly growing social network is obviously very photo-centric and very visual. It works best for blogs and online magazines with lots of photographs. See our Shopping Blog Pinterest site and Watchers Watch Pinterest site for examples. They are more exciting than our Bloggers Blog Pinterest page, where less graphics are used.

Photo: Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Facebook Study Finds Facebook is a Habit-Forming Activity

Mon, 2 Apr 2012 15:04:00 EST

Leif Denti, doctoral student of psychology at the University of Gothenburg, has conducted Sweden's larget Facebook study ever. The researchers found Facebook is a habit-forming activity that can develop into an addiction. The study also found that women are more active than men on Facebook. Facebook is also used more by people with a low income and low education.

One quarter of people using Facebook use it to brag. One third of men use it to provoke others.

Here are some more highlights from the Facebook study:

The average user spends 75 minutes per day on Facebook
The average user logs on to Facebook 6.1 times per day
70% log in every time they start their computer or web reader
26% feel ill at ease if they do not get to log in regularly
Women spend on average 81 minutes per day on Facebook
Men spend on average 64 minutes per day on Facebook
Facebooking is primarily a habit among young users
Older Facebook users use Facebook to get to know more people
67% of young users use Facebook to kill time
38% share negative information in their status updates
Women write more about emotions and relationships
One third of the men try to provoke others on Facebook, which is twice the figure for women
More than 50% of the users broadcast information and knowledge via Facebook
Women who use Facebook more are also report feeling less happy and less content with their lives
One quarter of the respondents brag on Facebook

The study was based on data collected from more than 1000 Swedish 18-73 year olds from June to September 2011 via a web-based questionnaire.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Conan O'Brien Buys Mashable for 3,500 Smackeroos

Sun, 1 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST

Conan O'Brien says he has taken over the Mashable blog and ousted founder Pete Cashmore. The Mashable site is now powered by Conan O'Brien. Conan says he called and yelled at Cashmore and told him to "get out!." He also says he paid Cashmore "thirty-five hundred smackeroos" for the site. Take a look:

Image: Mashable

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Facebook Addresses Issue of Employers Requesting Facebook Logins

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:00:00 EST

Some nosy employers are apparently requiring the Facebook logins of employees and prosective employees. These incidents have given Facebook the opportunity to be on the right side of the privacy issue for once. Facebook addressed the situation in a blog post. Facebook says they don't think employers should do this because "it's not the right thing to do." Facebook also says this kind of snooping could open employers up to more liability.

The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords. If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends. We have worked really hard at Facebook to give you the tools to control who sees your information.

As a user, you shouldn't be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn't have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don't know and didn't intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job. That's why we've made it a violation of Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password.

We don't think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don't think it's the right thing to do. But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating. For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don't hire that person.

Gizmodo notes that Senator Richard Blumenthal is writing a bill to outlaw the practice of login requests from employers or prospective employers.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Beats Electronics to Acquire MOG

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:44:00 EST

AllThingsD reports that Beats Electronics, a manufacturer of headphones, is buying MOG. The deal has not closed yet. MOG's Chrome player screen is pictured above.

MOG initially launched as a music social network in 2006, but later developed into a music subscription service. It will be a big transition for Beats to go from hardware to digital music sales. CNET reports that Beats has big plans for Mog and will launch a web store that will sell both music and electronics.

Photo: MOG

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Rush Limbaugh Joins Twitter

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:44:00 EST

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been losing advertisers ever since he called Georgetown University student Sarah Fluke a "slut" on his radio program. Politico reports that Limbaugh has now turned to Twitter to mobilize an army.

Limbaugh said on his talk show, "Everybody has been asking me what they can do to help in all of this, and I've been saying, nah, just do what you've been doing just, if you listen, keep listening, that's fine, but ... there's an army out there that wants to be mobilized, and so, I figured, use Twitter for it. I'm just going to put some things on Twitter that you can help us circulate. It's that simple you just retweet them."

Rush Limbaugh's Twitter account is @limbaugh. So far, he has sent three tweets. He is not following anyone.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Report: CNN in Talks to Acquire Mashable

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:33:00 EST

Reuters reports that CNN is in talks to buy Mashable. Buying the blog would enable CNN to ramp up its technology and social media coverage. It would also give it millions of new visitors. CNN did not comment on the report. There are rumors the blog could be valued as $200 million.

The Daily Mail's CNN-Mashable story offers a more personal take on the acquisition rumors. They have photographs of Mashable founder Pete Cashmore (who uses his face as Mashable's avatar on Twitter instead of the Mashable logo) and call him the "Planet's sexiest geek." They also have photos of his girlfriend and the home he started the blog from.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Twitter Acquires Posterous

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:44:00 EST

Twitter has acquired the Posterous blogging service. Twitter says it is welcoming the Posterous team to Twitter in its blog post. The post is primarily about getting the engineers and developers from Posterous Space.

As for the Posterous blogging platform, Twitter says, "Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption. We'll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service."

Bloggers are speculating - see here and here that Posterous will eventually close. A FAQ on Posterous about the acquisition is inclining people to think this way. It repeatedly mentions that Posterous will give "ample notice" before there are any changes or disruptions to the service:

What happens to my Space? Will Posterous eventually shut down?

You can use your Space(s) exactly as you have in the past. We'll give you ample notice before any changes or disruptions to the service and we'll provide specific instructions for exporting your content to another service.

Can I still post to my Space?

Yes, you can continue to post via email the Web or our iPhone or Android apps. We'll give you ample notice before any changes or disruptions to the service.

***

What happens to my content if I don't do anything to my Posterous account?

We'll give you ample notice before any changes to the service and we'll share clear instructions about how to move your content to other services. In the meantime, your Spaces will remain up and running without disruption.

In short, Twitter has acquired Posterous and you'll get ample notice before Posterous closes.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Study Finds People Primarily Use Profile Photos on Facebook to Form Impressions of People

Thu, 8 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST

Researchers at Ohio State University have found that Facebook users typically rely on profile photographs to form an impression of people. Brandon Van Der Heide, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University, says, "Photos seem to be the primary way we make impressions of people on social networking sites."

The researchers say an exception is if your photograph portrays you in a negative light. If the photo of you is negative, then people will turn to the text in your profile to figure you out.

Van Der Heide says, "People will accept a positive photo of you as showing how you really are. But if the photo is odd or negative in any way, people want to find out more before forming an impression."

Here is the information about the studies, which involved college students viewing mock Facebook profiles, from the press release:

The researchers conducted two studies.

In one study, 195 college students viewed a mock Facebook profile of a person who was supposedly a fellow student. The profile included a photo and a written "about me" statement.

Participants were asked to rate how extraverted they thought the student in the profile was, on a scale of 1 (least extraverted) to 7 (most extraverted) based on the photo and text.

The participants viewed one of four profiles: in one, both the photo (a person shown socializing with friends) and the text ("I'm happiest hanging out with a big group of friends") suggested an extrovert.

A second profile had both a photo (a person alone on a park bench) and text ("I'm happiest curled up in my room with a good book") that suggested an introvert.

The other two profiles were mixed, with the photo suggesting an extravert and the text an introvert, and vice versa.

The question the researchers wanted to answer was which mattered more - the photo or the text - in deciding whether the person was an extrovert or an introvert.

Results showed the photo was generally most important, Van Der Heide said.

When the extraverted photo was shown, it barely mattered whether the text suggested the person was an introvert or extrovert - most participants rated the person as an extravert.

"It didn't matter what the profile text said - what mattered was the photograph," Van Der Heide said.

But if the photograph suggested an introvert, people really did pay attention to the text. If the text also suggested an introvert, participants rated the person as such. But if the text suggested the person was an extravert, participants rated them as slightly less introverted.

"They were still seen as introverted, because of their photo showing them alone on the park bench. But they got a little bump up in their extraversion rating because of their profile text suggesting they were extraverted."

Van Der Heidi says, "If the photograph fits that image, people have little reason to question his or her judgments about this person's characteristics. But if the photo shows something we didn't expect - someone who is more introverted, for example - viewers want to read the text and do a little more interpretation."

It sounds like if you want people to read your profile you should post a grumpy or confusing photograph of yourself. Then people will be forced to actually read your profile to determine what kind of person you are.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Study at CMU, MIT, Georgia Tech Suggests Nine Ways to Improve Tweets

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 21:00:00 EST

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a study and found that users say only a little over a third of the tweets they receive are worthwhile. They also found that users say one quarter of tweets are not worth reading at all. That figure actually seems low.

The researchers, lead by Paul Andre, a post-doctoral fellow in Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, created a website "Who Gives a Tweet?" where they let people anonymously rate tweets over a period of 19 days. 1,443 visitors rated 43,738 tweets from 21,014 Twitter accounts. Overall, the readers liked just 36 percent of the tweets and disliked 25 percent.

The researchers came up with the following nine lessons for improving tweet content:

Old news is no news: Twitter emphasizes real-time information, so information rapidly gets stale. Followers quickly get bored of even relatively fresh links seen multiple times.
Contribute to the story: To keep people interested, add an opinion, a pertinent fact or otherwise add to the conversation before hitting "send" on a link or a retweet.
Keep it short: Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters, but followers still appreciate conciseness. Using as few characters as possible also leaves room for longer, more satisfying comments on retweets.
Limit Twitter-specific syntax: Overuse of #hashtags, @mentions and abbreviations makes tweets hard to read. But some syntax is helpful; if posing a question, adding a hashtag helps everyone follow along.
Keep it to yourself: The cliched "sandwich" tweets about pedestrian, personal details were largely disliked. Reviewers reserved a special hatred for Foursquare location check-ins.
Provide context: Tweets that are too short leave readers unable to understand their meaning. Simply linking to a blog or photo, without giving readers a reason to click on it, was described as "lame."
Don't whine: Negative sentiments and complaints were disliked.
Be a tease: News or professional organizations that want readers to click on their links need to hook the reader, not give away all of the news in the tweet itself.
For public figures: People often follow you to read professional insights and can be put off by personal gossip or everyday details.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

DataSift to Offer Two Years of Tweets to Marketers

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST

A company named DataSift is offering marketers Twitter data going back two years through its Historics service. The service, authorized by Twitter, will reportedly cost a minimum of $1,000 a month. GigaOm says before DataSift Historics the farthest marketers could go back was thirty days through Gnip.

Here is a video about DataSift's service. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Pew Survey Finds Over 60% of Social Network Users Have Deleted a Friend

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:11:00 EST

A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project & American Life found that most people choose restricted privacy settings. Over half of social network users (52% to 60% depending on demographic) keep their settings on private, choosing to share information only with friends. The survey found that about 20% keep their settings public and the other 20% keep their profile information partially private.

The survey also found that 63% of adults have a social networking profile. These users have been increasingly pruning their friends lists and making stronger moves towards privacy. 63% say they have deleted someone from their friends list - a jump from 56% in 2009. Women are more likely to purge a "friend" than men. 67% of women who maintain a profile say they have deleted people from their network, compared with 58% of men.

37% say they have removed their names from photographs that were tagged to identify them. 44% admit to purging comments made by others on their profile. You can find the complete Pew report here.

Here is a chart showing the percentage of users selecting private settings.

Image: Pew Research Center

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Too Much Twitter Unhealthy Warns Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:33:00 EST

The Guardian reports that Twitter co-founder and creative director Biz Stone has warned too much Twitter can be bad for your health. He thinks it is unhealthy for people to stare at their Twitter feed for hours on end. Stone made the comments to the the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal on Wednesday.

Stone said at the conference, "I like the kind of engagement where you go to the website and you leave because you've found what you are looking for or you found something very interesting and you learned something. I think that's a much healthier engagement. Obviously, we want you to come frequently."

There have been reports linking too much sitting to an increased risk of an early death, so Stone may be on to something. You could walk around looking at your Twitter feed, but that also poses a risk of injury or even death if you fall into a hole or accidentally walk into the street and get hit by a bus.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Oprah Winfrey Forced to Delete Promotional Nielsen Tweet

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST

Oprah tweeted a self-promotional tweet on Sunday that got her into trouble with the Nielsen ratings people. Oprah tweeted, "Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Neilsen box."

There is nothing wrong with Oprah asking her 9 million+ followers to tune in, but she might want to mention a specific show of interest instead of the blunt "tune to OWN." It was adding the Nielsen bit to her tweet that caused a big problem. She was forced to remove the tweet. Oprah told the New York Times, "I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologize for the reference."

The incident is not over for Oprah. It will generate a future asterisk. The New York Times says Nielsen is going to place an asterisk to OWN's Nielsen ratings because of the tweet.

Oprah Winfrey can be found on Twitter, @Oprah.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Facebook Includes Users Who Don't Visit Facebook in Active Users Figure

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST

Facebook claims an enormous amount of monthly active users (845 million peeps) and daily active users (483 million peeps). DealBook reports that these numbers include people who do not visit facebook.com.

DealBook found a definition buried on page 44 of Facebook's prospectus that says Facebook includes users who "share content or activity with his or her Facebook friends or connections via a third-party Web site that is integrated with Facebook" as active users. For example, if someone is on a blog and they like a blog post then Facebook considers them an active user. A comment left on a website through your Facebook login also counts you as an active Facebook user. These people are actively using Facebook, but they are not visiting facebook.com.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Study Finds Inc. 500 Companies Are Blogging Less

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST

The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has reported the results of its 2011 study on the blogging habits of the 2011 Inc. 500 companies. The study found that blogging by the Inc. 500 declined for the first time in 2011. 50% off the Inc. 500 maintained blogs in 2010. This dropped to 37% in 2011.

The Center for Marketing Research says blogging is being substituted for other tools, such as Facebook and Twitter. They say there has been an has been an increase in the use of Facebook and Twitter continuing a long trend.

The definition of blogging comes into play here. One could argue that posting updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter are both forms of blogging. Twitter has been described as microblogging. So, traditional blogging may be declining, but the overall use of social media is still increasing.

(via ReadWriteWeb)

Image: Center for Marketing Research

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Twitter to Censor Tweets on Country by Country Basis

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:40:00 EST

Twitter caved in to censorship last week when it announced it will censor tweets on a country by country basis. Tweets blocked by the government in one country will still show up in another country.

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries' limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country - while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

Twitter shows here what a censored tweet or username will look like. You will see a grayed-out tweet or username that says "Tweet withheld" or "@Username withhheld."

Countries do have different rules for free speech, but surely Twitter could have resisted caving in to the censorship demands of every single country. On a positive note, Twitter does say it will share the tweet and username removal requests it receives from governments. Take a look:

Image: Twitter

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Report: Facebook Close to Filing IPO Papers, Valuation Could Reach $100 Billion

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:40:00 EST

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook may file papers for an IPO as early as Wednesday of next week. The WSJ says the IPO could raise $10 billion for Facebook and give the company a massive $75 to $100 billion valuation. The New York Post says the NYSE and Nasdaq are battling for Facebook's listing.

Facebook does have impressive revenues. They reportedly made $3.8 billion in 2011. However, the costs to make that $3.8 billion is unknown. The company has over 3,000 employees according to its factsheet.

Facebook says it has about 800 million active users. Strong growth continues for the company, but it may start getting close to its maximum number of active users as it approaches the 1 billion user mark, especially with the relatively recent entrance of Google+. There are only so many people on Earth (about 7 billion) and only a certain percentage of them are going to use Facebook. Facebook should be able to make a lot of revenues with a massive user base of 1 billion people, but probably not enough to deserve a valuation of $100 billion.

Image: Facebook

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Highlight Social Network Locates People in the Real World

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:13:00 EST

Highlight is an iPhone app that aims to help you locate people in the real world. You can only find other people that have Highlight installed. The app alerts you when Highlight users are nearby and tells you who they are.

If someone standing near you also has Highlight, their profile will show up on your phone. You can see their name, photos of them, mutual friends, and anything else they have chosen to share. When you meet someone, Highlight helps you see what you have in common with them. And when you forget their name at a party a week later, Highlight helps you remember it.

As you go about your day, Highlight runs quietly in the background, surfacing information about the people around you. If your friends are nearby, it will notify you. If someone interesting crosses your path, it will tell you more about them.

Technologizer reports that Highlight can identify people within a block and half of your phone. If you don't want random strangers to be able to identify you, then you should probably avoid apps like Highlight. You can choose to be visible only to friends or friends of friends. You can also pause the app and Highlight peeps won't be able to locate you.

Photo: Image: Highlight

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Blogosphere Highlights for January 22, 2012

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:44:00 EST

Hugh MacLeod at Gaping Void was ready for the most recent "Blogging is Dead" meme and he will be ready again the next time the blogosphere dies.

Former TechCrunch reporter Sarah Lacy recently launched a blog covering tech startups. The blog is called PandoDaily. She has $2.5 million in funding.

Get ready to continue to fight again and again and ignore David Pogue's incredibly incorrect and lame SOPA/PIPA article that tells you to put your pitchforks down. Clay Shirky explains why this is wrong here. Consider taking Pogue off your reading list. There is no place in a free world for bills like SOPA/PIPA that seek to control information and/or support of them. There is no doubt that lobbyists for MPAA/RIAA and other organizations will continue to push bills like SOPA/PIPA through members of Congress they have purchased.

Justin Timberlake helped MySpace launch MySpace TV at CES.

Social network consolidation: Tagged bought Hi5.

BuzzFeed raised $15.5 million in funding. Congrats, BuzzFeed.

Finally, here is a video of Microsoft's Tweet Choir from the 2012 CES. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

The White House Joins Google+

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST

The White House is now on Google's relatively new social network, Google+. The White House's Google+ page, available here, includes news, photographs and videos. It is similar to what you will find on The White House Facebook page. The White House is also on Twitter and MySpace.

The White House says, "On this page you'll find news from the White House blog, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and opportunities to engage with Obama administration officials and policy experts on topics ranging from the economy to technology. We hope you'll join the conversation on the issues that matter the most to you right here on Google+."

The White House Google+ page can be found here. The page also says that comments posted on the page may be "subject to the Presidential Records Act and may be archived."

Bloggers Blog also recently joined Google+. Our page is located here.

(via Kori Schulman/whitehouse.gov)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Wordpress, Boing Boing, Reddit, Wikipedia Among Sites Going Dark to Protest SOPA and PIPA

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST

Wordpress.org is one of several sites going dark to oppose the awful Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills. The bills give new powers to major entertainment and media companies to take down websites they think are violating copyright. These powers could very easily be abused and used to censor vast portions of the Internet. Keeping information freely available on the Internet is extremely important to our society. Anyone backing this bill needs to be voted out of office.

Wordpress shared this video to explain why the bills are bad news:

Craigslist, Boing Boing, Reddit, Wikipedia and I Can Has Cheezburger are some of the other sites going dark to oppose the bill. A long list of other sites blacking out in protest can be found at sopastrike.com. Google also blacked out its logo.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Bloggers Blog is Now on Google+

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST

Bloggers Blog now has a Google+ page. Google+ is a relatively new social network from Google. Google recently started incorporating results from Google+ into a new personalized search feature called "Search Plus Your World." Search Engine Land has a good article about the new personalized search feature here.

You follow Bloggers Blog on Google+ by clicking on the Google+ button below and adding us to one of your circles.

You can also find Bloggers Blog on Facebook and Twitter.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Reddit Plans Black Out on Jan 18 to Protest PIPA/SOPA Legislation

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:15:00 EST

Reddit has announced it will black out its regular content on January 18th from 8am to 8pm to protest the PIPA/SOPA legislation. Reddit has created a little Braveheart inspired figure to lead the charge.

There is widespread concern - including from Internet inventors, founders and engineers (see here) - that bills like SOPA could be used as a means of Internet censorship.

Reddit says it will display a simple message about how PIPA/SOPA legislation is wrong for the Internet.

Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos of reddit, we will be displaying a simple message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like reddit, link to resources to learn more, and suggest ways to take action. We will showcase the live video stream of the House hearing where Internet entrepreneurs and technical experts (including reddit co-founder Alexis "kn0thing" Ohanian) will be testifying. We will also spotlight community initiatives like meetups to visit Congressional offices, campaigns to contact companies supporting PIPA/SOPA, and other tactics.

Reddit says there is new hope the legislation can be defeated. The delay of the bill last month is certainly helping knowledge of the bill's dangers spread online. Reddit says, "There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there's a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation."

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Tim Tebow and Bronco's Overtime Win Sets Tweets Per Second Sports Record

Mon, 9 Jan 2012 21:33:00 EST

Tim Tebow and the Bronco's overtime playoff win helped set a new sports Tweet per second record. The Bronco's overrated quarterback Tim Tebow completed an 80-yard pass on the first play of overtime to win the game. The play generated 9420 tweets per second - the second highest number in Twitter history according to a tweet by Twitter.

Here are the top eleven TPS events:

25,088 TPS: Castle in the Sky anime movie airs in Japan (12-9-11)
9,420 TPS: Tim Tebow overtime touchdown pass in playoff game (1-8-12)
8,868 TPS: Beyonce/MTV VMAs (8-28-11)
7.671 TPS: Troy Davis executed (9-20-11-)
7,196 TPS: Japan Beats US in Women's World Cup (7-17-11)
7,166 TPS: Brazil eliminated from Copa America (7-17-11)
7,064 TPS: Steve Jobs resigns (8-25-11)
6,939 TPS: New Year's Eve 2011 (12-31-10)
6,436 TPS: BET Awards Viewer's Choice Award Mixup (6-27-11)
6,303 TPS: Barcelona defeated Manchester (5-28-11)
6,049 TPS: Steve Jobs death (10-5-11)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Reddit Served 2 Billion Pageviews in December 2011

Sat, 7 Jan 2012 18:15:00 EST

Reddit really cranked in December, 2011. The link-sharing social media site announced it served 2.07 billion pageviews last month. It also had nearly 35 million unique visitors.

Reddit's traffic has doubled in less than a year. Reddit says it plans to improve infrastructure in 2012 and help make it easier for users to discover new subreddits.

There are redditors who feel reddit is getting too big, and even if we don't always reach the same conclusions, we see the same trends and patterns you do. We have some improvements coming that will help redditors discover new subreddits, help new users better understand the way reddit works, and provide better tools to support the moderators of both big and small subreddits. We're also going to keep improving the infrastructure so that the site will be faster and more stable even as growth continues.

Mashable says Reddit may have benefited from a decline in traffic at Digg.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

PostSecret Shuts Down iPhone App

Mon, 2 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST

PostSecret was one of the early successful blogs. It dominated the Bloggies in 2006. The blog also found success through books and exhibits. The blog remains popular today and continues to post postcards submitted by users. However, the blog has had to shut down its iPhone app because of abusive posts by a small number of obnoxious users.

PostSecret's Frank Warren writes that the number of abusive and profane posts overwhelmed the volunteer moderators.

99% of the secrets created were in the spirit of PostSecret. Unfortunately, the scale of secrets was so large that even 1% of bad content was overwhelming for our dedicated team of volunteer moderators who worked 24 hours a day 7 days a week removing content that was not just pornographic but also gruesome and at times threatening.

Bad content caused users to complain to me, Apple and the FBI. I was contacted by law enforcement about bad content on the App. Threats were made against users, moderators and my family. (Two specific threats were made that I am unable to talk about). As much as we tried, we were unable to maintain a bully-free environment. Weeks ago I had to remove the App from my daughter's phone.

(via CNET)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Facebook, Blogger and Twitter Top Social Media Sites in 2011

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST

Facebook, Blogger and Twitter were the top social network and blogging sites in 2011 according to a new Nielsen report. The data runs from January through October, 2011. Facebook had by far the largest average number of unique visitors per month. Blogger continues to have huge monthly visits. Google+ will no doubt have a much higher rank in 2012.

Image: Nielsen

(via Technolog)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Say Media Acquires ReadWriteWeb

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST

SAY Media has acquired ReadWriteWeb, which is one of the leading technology blogs. SAY said in a press release that ReadWriteWeb's founder and editor Richard MacManus will continue to lead the blog at SAY, where it will anchor SAY's technology hub.

MacManus, said in a statement, "With SAY's technology and services we'll be able to scale ReadWriteWeb in ways previously unavailable to us. We'll now be able to expand our editorial scope into relevant areas of interest and redesign the site to create a more premium experience for both our readers and advertisers."

TechCrunch says ReadWriteWeb was sold for around $5 million.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Ashton Kutcher Turns Over Management of His Twitter Feed to Third Party

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:11:00 EST

Ashton Kutcher has decided to let Katalyst Media manage his Twitter feed following a backlash that resulted from his unresearched tweet in support of scandalized Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

A collection of over 8 million followers is not to be taken for granted. I feel responsible to deliver informed opinions and not spread gossip or rumors through my twitter feed. While I feel that running this feed myself gives me a closer relationship to my friends and fans I've come to realize that it has grown into more than a fun tool to communicate with people. While I will continue to express myself through @Aplusk, I'm going to turn the management of the feed over to my team at Katalyst as a secondary editorial measure, to ensure the quality of its content. My sincere apologies to anyone who I offended. It was a mistake that will not happen again.

It has been about two and a half years since Aston Kutcher beat CNN to become the first Twitter account to a million users. Kutcher has sinced dropped to the tenth most followed according to Twitter Counter's chart. He will probably soon be passed by Selena Gomez and Oprah. He has fallen a ways since holding the number one spot, but he has managed to rank very high on Twitter and amass over eight million followers. Kutcher's fans are asking him to stay real on Twitter, but if he does decide to outsource his tweets he won't be the only celebrity doing so.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Google Adds Google+ Pages

Tue, 8 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST

Google has launched pages for its Google+ social network. Search Engine Land describes the new feature here.

You can already make pages using the Create a Page tool. We added a page here. It is very easy to add pages. The pages will have to be updated manually. So far there is no way to pull it tweets or a feed, which would be a nice feature for Google to add.

Robert Scoble has made some good points here about the lack of features on Google+ Pages. However, it is early and Google probably has plans to add many of the features Scoble mentions, such as letting more than one person post to an account. In the meantime, if you operate multiple accounts, you should be careful which account you are posting to.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Louis C.K. Hates Social Media and Twitter

Sat, 5 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Louis C.K. explained to Conan why he hates Twitter. Louis C.K. is on Twitter, @louisck, but he hates it. He is refusing to following anyone, which makes some people really angry. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Walmart Ironically Uses Twitter to Announce Its Black Friday Deals Will be on Facebook

Tue, 1 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST

Walmart has turned to Twitter to announce that it will first share its Black Friday deals on Facebook this year. It is a big deal for Facebook that Walmart will use its Facebook page to announce it deals. This will likely send lots of traffic to Facebook.

A lot of companies like announcing stuff on Facebook. Walmart could have easily just announced the deals on its own website and sent lots of traffic to its own website, but Facebook is very hot right now and has become a platform for announcements.

You can keep up with Black Friday news on Twitter by following @blackfriday.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Video: First Lady Michelle Obama Sends First Tweet

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST

First Lady Michelle Obama recently sent her very first tweet. Michelle Obama used her first official tweet to call on Americans to support our nation's military families. As part of their Joining Forces initiative, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden teamed up with Major League Baseball at a game dedicated to veterans and military families. The tweet was sent from the @JoiningForces Twitter account. The video shows Michelle Obama using a laptop to deliver the tweet. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

SNL Skit Gets Revenge on Annoying Comment Trolls

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST

Comment trolls are everywhere on the Internet, particularly on YouTube videos. SNL parodied these common web trolls with a show called, The Comments Section. The show interviews the people behind these stupid and annoying comments. The Comments Section also lets some of the people ridiculed by the trolls get revenge. Actress Melissa McCarthy plays one of the trolls. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

StumbleUpon Reaches 20 Million Stumblers Milestone

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST

StumbleUpon has announced that is has reached the 20 million member milestone. They site can drive a lot of traffic with that many members. StumbleUpon says, "it's very exciting for us to reach such a milestone, all from the simple idea of 'click a button, find cool stuff.'"

StumbleUpon also shared an interesting infographic that shows its path to 20 million stumblers. StumbleUpon has doubled its user pase from 10 million to 20 million in the past year. You can see a larger version of the graphic here.

Photo: StumbleUpon

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Blogger Buys Newspaper

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST

A political blog, named Laws-n-Sausages, has acquired an Albany newspaper. 10 WALB reports that the company behind the blog, Knighton Media, Inc., is acquiring The Albany Journal. Blogger Tom Knighton, is the ceo of Knighton Media.

Tom Knighton says being a journalist is always something he has wanted to do. He also told 10 News that the Albany Journal is not dying and it is doing very well. Knighton did not disclose how much he paid for The Albany Journal.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Companies Can Now Post Status Updates on LinkedIn

Sat, 8 Oct 2011 15:44:00 EST

Mashable reports that companies can now post status updates on company pages on LinkedIn. This will make LinkedIn company pages a little more like Facebook brand pages. All the social networks seem to be on a path that makes them more and more alike than different. Here is a video about how it works. You can also find a FAQ about LinkedIn company pages here. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Beyonce's Baby News Generated More Tweets Per Second Than Steve Jobs' Death

Fri, 7 Oct 2011 14:44:00 EST

The death of Steve Jobs ignited a massive spike in tweets on Twitter. There were 6,049 Tweets per Second (TPS) at its peak.

However, there were several events that generated more tweets per second. Four events rank ahead of Steve Jobs' death in TPS. Beyonce's baby announcement after her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards still tops them all by a wide margin. Here is a list of the top five TPS events:

8,868 TPS: Beyonce/MTV VMAs (8-28-11)
7,196 TPS: Japan Beats US in Women's World Cup (7-17-11)
7,166 TPS: Brazil eliminated from Copa America (7-17-11)
6,939 TPS: New Year's Eve 2011 (12-31-10)
6,049 TPS: Steve Jobs death (10-5-11)

The reason Steve Jobs' death generated less tweets per second than Beyonce is because Beyonce's news came during a live broadcast (the MTV VMAs) being watched by millions. The news about Steve Jobs certainly spread very quickly on Twitter and around the Internet, but not nearly as many people found out about instantaneously.

(via Search Engine Land)

Photo: Apple, Inc.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Sean Parker Joins Twitter

Mon, 3 Oct 2011 13:17:00 EST

TechCrunch reports that Sean Parker, known for his Napster, Facebook and Spotify ventures, has joined Twitter. His account is @sparker. His first tweet says, "Sorry Zuck, I had to do it eventually. (Actually @scooterbraun made me do it.)."

The tweet makes it sounds like Facebook ceo Mark Zuckerberg didn't want Parker joining Twitter. There has been a lot of activity from Sean Parker lately. Parker is also planning the launch of a blog. Parker likely wanted to establish the Twitter account so he can mention his blog posts.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Sean Parker Plans to Launch Blog

Sat, 1 Oct 2011 21:13:00 EST

Gawker reports that Sean Parker is planning on launching a blog. Sean Parker, 32, is known for his Napster, Facebook and Spotify ventures.

Sean Parker will not be the only one writing for the Sean Parker blog. He told Gawker that his blog will be "more of a monthly essay thing with daily commentary and a couple very smart young writers who will be doing follow-up on the long form pieces that I write."

Parker also told Gawker that he suspects his blog will be "less useless and definitely less mean spirited and obnoxious" than Gawker.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Will.I.Am's Google Plus Profile Gets Google Homepage Feature

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:22:00 EST

Celebrities garnering the most followers is a trend that occurs on most social networks. The social networks like to help that trend along because they know if they can get celebrities using their service then they can get people to join the service so they can follow the celebs.

The Next Web reports that Google's homepage linked to Will.i.am's Google+ profile earlier today. The link was part of promotion for Google+ Hangouts. The link said, "Hang out with the Black Eyed Peas on Google+ right before they go on stage." Will.i.am no doubt got a boost in Google+ followers from being on Google.com.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Facebook's New Features Will Cause Oversharing, Cluttered News Feeds

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:00:00 EST

Facebook has unleashed a slew of unwelcomed new features. Facebook users were already angry by the addition of top stories to news feeds before Facebook piled on even more aggravating changes.

These new features include a new timeline profile, which features a large photograph on the top, and some apps that lead users to overshare. The Read, Watch and Listen features turned out to be apps, not buttons as had been expected.

There are major privacy issues with the new features. There is also the problem of Facebook user's news feeds being filled with useless information. When people Like content they find online they are choosing to have this information shared with their friends, but when they use one of the apps that shares everything they do, then user's news feeds are going to become less interesting and less useful. Facebook is going to get very cluttered.

Here is NMA TV's animated take on the backlash to Facebook's new features. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Facebook Adds Top Stories to News Feeds, Angers Users

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:22:00 EST

Facebook has added top stories to its News Feed. The top stories are stories that have been published since your last Facebook visit that Facebook thinks you will find interesting. This is how Facebook determines what a top story is:

We determine whether something is a top story based on lots of factors, including your relationship to the person who posted the story, how many comments and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc. For example, a friend's status update that might not normally be a top story may become a top story after many other friends comment on it.

Facebook seems to have really angered some members based on the comments on its blog post about the new feature.

Facebook has a FAQ on the news feed changes here.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

YouTube Adds Video Editor

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EST

YouTube added a new video editor last week. The editor includes features like trim (which lets you shorten a video) and stabilize (which reduces camera shake). Other features let you adjust the color and brightness. There are also some effects you can add to the video, such as cartoon or black and white.

You can read more about the editing features here on Google's support site.

Google warns in its FAQ that it only lets you edit and save videos that have 1,000 views or less. Once a video passes 1,000 views you only have to the option to use "Save as," which creates a new video.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Twitter to Launch Twitter Analytics

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:00:00 EST

TechCrunch reports that Twitter is going to provide analytics data for publishers. Twitter is letting a few publishers test the analytics. Eventually the data will be free for all publishers, which is great news. Twitter's BackType acquisition earlier this year helped lead to the creation of the analytics tool.

The Twitter analytics tool will include the following information:

Tweets sent from your Tweet button on your site
Total number of tweets and clicks over a time period
Number of clicks from individual tweets
Top links by day, week and month
Other platforms, such as Google Analytics, will be able to incorporate Twitter data through an API

A date for the feature to arrive on Twitter for all publishers was not given. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Posterous Renames Itself Posterous Spaces, Expands Features

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EST

Forbes reports that Posterous has changed its name to Posterous Spaces and has added features that enable users to privately share photographs and videos with family members and friends. People can create public or private groups (called Spaces) to share posts, photos, audio, documents and videos. Posterous users can also follow other people's Spaces.

In the video about its new product, Posterous takes aim at Facebook, saying "what gets shared on Facebook usually ends up getting shared with everyone on Facebook." Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Blogger Service Launches iPhone/iPad App

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:40:00 EST

Blogger has launched an iPhone app. The app lets you post a new blog entry or save a blog entry you are working on as a draft on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Today we're excited to announce the new Blogger app for iOS. With the Blogger app, you can write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. You can also open a blog post you've been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you're on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you'll always have access to the latest version.

The free app can be downloaded from iTunes here. Blogger launched an Android app earlier this year. The Android app can be found here in the Android Market.

Image: Google Inc.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

NBC News Twitter Hacked, False Terrorism Reports Posted

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:25:00 EST

The NBC News Twitter account, @NBCNews, was hacked yesterday and a series of shocking false tweets about terrorist attacks were shared. MSNBC reports that NBC issued the following statement.

The NBC News twitter account was hacked late this afternoon and as a result, false reports of a plane attack on ground zero were sent to @NBCNews followers. We are working with Twitter to correct the situation and sincerely apologize for the scare that could have been caused by such a reckless and irresponsible act.

A group called The Script Kiddies claimed responsibility. It was a very irresponsible prank. MSNBC says NBC has contacted the New York police and the FBI about the hack.

The Washington Post has some images of the fake tweets here. The good news from the incident is that many in the Twitter community realized the tweets were fake and started spreading the word.

Here is Brian Williams' reporting on the Twitter hack. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

The Huffington Yaolhoost? AOL and Yahoo Discussing Merger Deal

Fri, 9 Sep 2011 15:21:00 EST

Bloomberg is reporting that AOL and Yahoo are in talks for a possible merger following Yahoo's firing for its CEO Carol Bartz. This is not the first time there have been AOL-Yahoo rumors.

The combination makes sense in some ways because both companies are heavily invested in content. AOL has a large investment in blogs, with the Huffington Post, TechCrunch and the Weblogs, Inc. network. Yahoo also owns Associated Content and also has blogs and other media assets. Both companies also have tech components. AOL has its mail and AIM services, while Yahoo is known for its search engine.

CNBC has put the merger in doubt with a tweet that says, "Source Close To Yahoo Says No Interest In A Deal With AOL @Yahoo @AOL."

It is still fun to speculate as to what the combined name would be for the new company. Gizmodo throws out a few possibilities - such as Aolhoo or Yaolhoo. How about the Huffington Yaolhoost?

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

NMA TV Animates Battle Between Michael Arrington and AOL

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 23:00:00 EST

The animators at NMA TV have animated the ongoing battle between TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and AOL. They even animated a fight between Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington and Michael Arrington (which Arianna wins). Arrington has been fired, but AOL could change its mind as the Atlantic Wire notes. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Twitter Says it Has 100 Million Active Users

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 16:11:00 EST

Twitter announced in a blog post today that it has 100 million active users. Twitter says 40% of its active users don't tweet - they just sign in to read tweets and get the latest news and information. Here are some other tidbits from Twitter's post:

35 global heads of state use Twitter as a primary way to communicate with their constituencies.
Two-thirds of the NBA use Twitter.
Over 99 percent of America's top 200 non-profits are on Twitter
Most newsrooms actively use Twitter.
87% of Billboard's Top 100 musicians of 2010 are active on Twitter

By comparison, Facebook claims 750 million users.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Nichenet Launches Medacity, a New Media News Site

Tue, 6 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EST

Nichenet has launched Medacity, a new media news site. The site will headed by Nichenet CEO and Founder Duncan Riley. Riley sold his entertainment site, Inquisitr, earlier this year for $330,000.

Blogging and new media is a subject Riley is very experience with. Duncan Riley first covered blogging and new media early on in 2003 when he started The Blog Herald. Two Inquisitr veterans, James Johnson and Kim LaCapria, joined Medacity at its launch.

Riley said in a statement, "The idea of Medacity came about after I realized that no one in the market was exclusively covering the new media sector as a whole. Medacity seeks to fill a gap in the market by providing comprehensive coverage of the latest news and views from across the new media sector. I started my online publishing career by establishing the very first site to cover the then new industry of blogging back in 2003 with The Blog Herald. In Medacity I have gone back to my roots with a site that seeks to chronicle the rise of the new media industry and age."

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Google+ May Create a Suggested User List

Fri, 2 Sep 2011 14:10:00 EST

TechCrunch is reporting that Google may add a Suggest User List, like the one Twitter used to have. Google's Bradley Horowitz tweeted, "We're about to pilot a 'suggested user'-like mechanism on Google+. If you've got more than 100k followers on Twitter, DM me - lets talk!"

Twitter initially created a Suggested Users List (SUL) to make it easy for Twitter noobs to find people to follow. However, the list existed unchanged for far too long, which enabled those on the list to unfairly gain hundreds of thousands of followers. Twitter still has lists today but they are organized in categories and are less controversial than the SUL.

Google+ probably also wants to point new users toward interesting Google+ users to follow. They will have to be careful not to ignite the same controversy Twitter created with its SUL.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Beyonce's Pregnancy Reveal Sets Tweets Per Second Record

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:00:00 EST

Beyonce revealed that she was pregnant by rubbing her baby bump at the end of her "Love on Top" performance at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

Twitter reports that Beyonce's pregnancy reveal gave Twitter a record bump of 8,868 tweets per second.

Here is a list of some top tweet per second peak events.

Beyonce's Pregnancy Reveal: 8,868 tweets per second
U.S. Women's Soccer Game vs Japan: 7,196 tps
New Years Eve 2010 in Japan: 6,939 tps
Japan tsunami: 5,530 tps
Bin Ladne's Death: 5,106 tps
Super Bowl 2011: 4,064 tps
2011 Royal Wedding: 3,966 tps

(via TechCrunch)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

British Government Won't Seek Additional Powers to Shut Down Social Media

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:00:00 EST

During the recent riots in London there was talk of the British government attempting to shut down social media. The British government reportedly held talks with executives from Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry. Sky News says the government will not be seeking any additional powers to shut down social media. There was a great deal of criticism at the idea of restrictions. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

YouTube Alters YouTube Music Page

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EST

YouTube is altering its music page again. The new music page features the YouTube Top 100. It also recommends music videos and artists and lists upcoming concerts in a feature powered by songkick. Take a look:

YouTube has been making it increasingly difficult to find the most viewed music videos of all time and it now looks to be impossible. You can view the most viewed music videos by week, but not all time. You can view the most viewed videos of all time here. Many of them are music videos.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Phising Scam Says Twitter to Charge in October

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:11:00 EST

Sophos is reporting a phising scam is trying to lure Twitter users into clicking on a bad link. The scam warns that Twitter might start charging in October and urges them to sign a petition to keep Twitter free. This is a scam. Twitter has no plans to start charging.

Twitter did tweet about the scam from its @safety account. Twitter said, "Seeing Tweets that you need to sign a petition to keep Twitter free? Don't click. It's fake and will steal your password."

Sophos says people that have been hit by the scam should change their Twitter password and revoke all application API access.

Sophos also suggests examining short URLs on longurl.org to find out where links really take you when you click on them.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Foursquare Partners With ESPN, MovieTickets.com and Songkick for Events

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:55:00 EST

Foursquare announced it has added events to its social check-in service. They have partnered with ESPN for sports events, MovieTickets.com for movies and Songkick for concerts. Foursquare says this means there will hundreds of thousands of events are over 50,000 venues created over the next few months.

All told, that means hundreds of thousands of events at more than 50,000 venues in the next few months (each event appears in the app a couple hours before it starts). Now, when you check in to a place with one of those things happening, you'll be able to check in to the event, too. It's a great way to include big events and save the shout-typing time, without creating too much clutter in our UI. And we're looking at ways to expand that further.

It is an interesting move for Foursquare as it pushes them down the path of "what are you doing?" as opposed to just "where are you?" As Foursquare heads down this path they start encroaching on more Facebook and Twitter territory.

So far, Foursquare is not letting users and venues create their own events, but they say they are thinking about it.

Photo: Image: Foursquare

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Bitly Acquires Twitterfeed

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EST

Bitly, a popular URL shortener and more, announced it has acquired Twitterfeed. Twitterfeed is a useful service that can automatically feed your blog to Twitter, Facebook and other services. It has about two million users and sends updates from nearly 4 million feeds to Twitter and Facebook.

AllThingsD says Twitterfeed was operated by one person, Mario Menti, who is now working with Bitly.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Twitter Completes Rollout to New Twitter. Old Twitter No Longer Available

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 16:00:00 EST

Twitter has tweeted that the new Twitter is officially the only Twitter. Twitter left the Old Twitter available to users when New Twitter arrived last September. It remained available until today. Now there is only one version of Twitter.

There were initial complaints, but most people eventually grew fond of the New Twitter. Twitter wrote in its tweet, "New Twitter rollout: complete! All users now have the same Twitter.com experience & can access our latest features."

(via TechCrunch)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Meltwater Group Buys IceRocket Social Search Engine

Fri, 5 Aug 2011 08:14:00 EST

Meltwater Group has purchased the IceRocket search engine. IceRocket is a social search engine with special tabs for searching blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Meltwater says IceRocket will continue operate as a standalone search engine.

Blake Rhodes, IceRocket founder, says, "Since its launch in 2004, IceRocket has been at the forefront of social search - starting with blog searches and later expanding to social networking and microblogs. That's why we're thrilled about this acquisition and the potential to take social search to the next level. IceRocket's integration with Meltwater Buzz will provide access to more sophisticated capabilities, such as measuring and analyzing social engagement and influence."

The Twitter results from IceRocket are useful. It provides the latest results from Twitter on your search with the tweet and a link to the Twitter account of the user who tweeted it. You can also search for just links and hashtags.

(via TechCrunch)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Foxconn to Replace Workers With 1 Million Robots

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST

Foxconn is a company best known for manufacturing part for Apple gadgets, including the iPad and iPhone. It is a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd., a Taiwanese company.

Xinhuanet, a Chinese news agency, is reporting that Foxconn, which employs about 1 million workers in China, is planning to replace many workers with 1 million robots. Foxconn uses 10,000 robots today and plans to use 1 million robots by the end of 2014. That's a lot of robots!

Xinhaunet says the the news about the robots was given to workers at a "workers' dance party." News that they would be replaced by robots must have brought the music and dancing to a stop.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Barack Obama Loses 34,000 Twitter Followers After Debt Crisis Tweets

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:00:00 EST

The New York Daily News reports that President Obama lost around 40,000 followers when he turned to Twitter to discuss the debt crisis. Twitter Counter's stats page shows President Obama lost about 34,000 followers, but started gaining followers again today.

President Obama used his popular Twitter account to encourage users to sent Tweets to Texas Republican reps. He sent out lots and lots of tweets with the Twitter addresses of Republican lawmakers.

Pointing out the lost followers makes for an easy, fun attack for Republicans. Lost followers are to be expected when a Twitter account that doesn't tweet very frequently suddenly starts delivering lots of tweets. People don't like their Twitter streams cluttered and they may be starting to realize President Obama is going to tweet at them more frequently with the 2012 campaign nearing full throttle.

Mediaite calls the lost followers a "tempest in a twitter teapot." It is true that the Twitter followers President Obama lost were a fraction of his 9.4 million followers. It is also true that his Klout score increase. However, it would be wrong to say there was no cost at all in these lost followers. They were clearly regular Twitter users, which makes them more valuable than people who have not logged into Twitter in months or years. So the mass tweeting did come with a cost. Whether or not it was worth the cost or not is up to the political pundits.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Mashable's Google+ Profile Morphs Into Pete Cashmore

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST

Google+ Product Manager Christian Oestlien asked businesses to refrain from creating Google+ profiles earlier this month. At the time several brands, including Mashable and Ford, already had set-up Google+ profiles for their brands.

Google removed Mashable, Ford, Sesame Street and other brands from Google+ earlier this week. This is what Google had said it was going to do to the brands on Google+.

Despite being removed, Mashable has not completely left Google+. The Google+ profile was converted into Pete Cashmore, the founder of Mashable. Cashmore was able to retain the Mashable profile's 100,000 followers during the name change.

The ability to keep his followers gives Cashmore and the Mashable team a bit of an advantage over companies that are unable to create business profiles until Google lets them. Pete Cashmore does say Mashable will launch a business profile from scratch once business accounts are available, but in the meantime he already has a popular profile to promote Mashable from.

GigaOm explains why Google+ brand pages are such a big deal (before they even exist) here

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Google Buys G.Co Domain

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

TechCrunch reports that Google has purchased the g.co domain. Google will used it as a shortcut for Google products and services. The g.co site says:

You've arrived at this page because you typed or linked to "g.co", Google's official URL shortcut just for Google websites.

Whenever you see a short "g.co" link, you can trust that it will always take you to a Google product or service.

We also have a public URL shortener at goo.gl. You can use this to shorten up URLs across the web.

G.co is not currently available for the public to make shortcuts with. Google also offers the goo.gl/ url shorterner, which is free to use.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

CNET Explains How To Delete Your Google+ Account

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST

At a time when most people are trying to get a Google+ account, CNET TV published this video about how to delete your Google+ account. Youtube commenters are suggesting the video was "sponsored by Facebook."

Leaving services on the Internet is not always easy and sometimes your content remains on the site even if you account is removed. Deleting your Google+ profile looks fairly straightforward. You just have to go slowly so you don't wipe out your other Google services in the process. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Follow Bloggers Blog on Social Media

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

You can get the latest blogging news from Bloggers Blog by following us on Facebook and Twitter. Our Facebook page is located here and our Twitter page is @bloggersblog. We are also here on Plurk.

Writers Write, Inc., the publisher of bloggersblog.com, also publishes blogs covering books, cars, fantasy/sf, games, movies, science and writing. You can find our Facebook and Twitter accounts at wwfeeds.com.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

WordPress Reaches 50 Million Site Milestone

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

WordPress now powers over 50 million sites according to its stats. WordPress says it hosts about half of these sites. WordPress says 2.5 billion pages are read a month by web surfers and 500,000 new posts are published daily by bloggers using WordPress.

(via Mashable)

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Will Google Delete Ford and Mashable's Google+ Profiles?

Fri, 8 Jul 2011 09:15:00 EST

Google+ Product Manager Christian Oestlien says Google+ is currently being optimized for consumers. They are working on Google+ profiles for businesses. They are asking businesses to hold off on creating Google+ profiles until the business profiles are ready.

Mashable notes that it and other brands, Ford and MSNBC's Breaking News, already have these disallowed Google+ profiles.

Oestlien says in his post, "Our policy team will actively work with profile owners to shut down non-user profiles."

Google+ business profiles will be a big deal. Facebook and Twitter have already proven that people like to follow brands, particularly media brands so they can keep up with the news. Oestlien says business profiles will launch later this year. They are also looking for test profiles. The link to apply can be found in his post. Take a look:

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Private Equity Firms Team Up to Buy GoDaddy for $2.25 Billion

Wed, 6 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that three private-equity firms - KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures - joined forces to acquire the GoDaddy Group, Inc. The company is best known for its GoDaddy.com domain registrar, which has been offering low-priced domains for the past several years.

The International Business Times says an official from Silver Lake says the GoDaddy's competitive pricing will continue. GoDaddy's elephant shooting owner Bob Parsons - dubbed as wacky by the WSJ's Deal Journal - will remain chief executive, but may transition to executive chairman in time.

ESPN is covering the Danica Patrick angle. They say Danica's deal with GoDaddy will continue. Fox Sports on the other hand says the sale could affect Danica.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Twitter Acquires Backtype

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 21:00:00 EST

Twitter has acquired BackType. The company runs Backtweets, a website that offers Twitter analytics. Backtweets also provide a search tool that shares information about tweets to a given domain. BackType says Backtweets will now be offered for free, but it will no longer accept new signups. The API is being discontinued.

BackType announced the acquisition on its blog. The company says it is bringing its technology to Twitter. Backtype believes its realtime processing technology called Storm will have a big impact at Twitter.

Permalink | Recent Headlines | Facebook | Twitter | WWFeeds.com