Today, AOL announced that they're deploying Socialthing for Websites across the company's network of 75+ MediaGlow web properties. The service transforms static sites into social web destinations by allowing visitors to share their experiences across other social properties like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and more. It also allows for real-time interactions while on the site, thanks to AIM and ICQ integration.
If your taste in online video-watching goes beyond the viral videos of mass appeal that include things like this drugged-up kid, Where the hell is Matt?, or even the latest internet phenomenon Susan Boyle, then you're going to love the new site called Nizmlab. While its name may be a bit funny, its content is pure sophistication. Instead of just counting down the most popular videos across video-sharing sites on the net, Nizmlab is run by editors who pick the most interesting and unique creations to showcase on the site.
There are dozens of tech conferences to attend in any given year. So why in the world would you choose BIGOmaha, an obscure little show in Nebraska?
Next weekend marks the offbeat "tech et al." conference's first year, and it already stands in stark contrast to more established shows in the same sphere. Co-organizer Jeff Slobotski says that while the events are not solely about tech, they are definitely about passion and innovation. "We're not trying to be another South by Southwest or Web 2.0," he said. "Our goal is to have a tight-knit, solid event and to build a vibrant community."
Users are bombarded with new sites and apps that spring up every five seconds. It's becoming increasingly difficult to know what's the next big thing and what's just more noise and clutter.
Enter new media marketing for new media products! A rash of online promo videos for social products show how Internet and mobile entrepreneurs have taken lessons from traditional broadcast advertising as much as they have from YouTube.
Tomorrow, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) will introduce the ICE (Information and Communications Enhancement) Act, which would make information security a federal priority and establish a Chief Information Security Officer to report directly to the president.
Currently, national information security responsibilities are divided between the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Agency. The new National Office for Cyberspace would involve cooperation between all these agencies as well as from the private sector. Potential costs of the new office and related initiatives are as yet unknown.
Facebook made a big move today to open up user activity streams to outside applications and websites. We argued that the site remains fundamentally closed because outside developers can't access the full stream of all users' activity and information due to limiting privacy controls and friend connections. A very interesting debate broke out in the comments on our post and it makes us wonder about the following question. Do people really want Facebook to open up or do they prefer it to remain by default private?
There are good arguments in favor of both keeping Facebook info private by default and opening it up by default. Which would you prefer?
Lexcycle, the company behind Stanza, a popular eBook reader for the iPhone, just announced that it has been acquired by Amazon. Amazon, of course, also just released Kindle for iPhone, which is now one of the most popular mobile eBook readers. According to Lexcycle, the company does not plan to make any changes to the Stanza app or user experience because of this acquisition, and Lexcycle will continue its relationships with its content partners. Neither Stanza nor Amazon disclosed the price of the acquisition.
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From May 19th to 20th, mediabistro will hold its Web 3.0 Conference in New York City at the New Yorker Hotel. The conference focuses on the semantic web, mashups, text and data analytics, and how they add real-world value to end users and businesses.
What are people saying on Facebook about the swine flu? Facebook knows, but they won't tell you. The company made a major move today to open up some of the data on the site in some interesting ways - but the conversation on Facebook remains fundamentally closed due to extensive privacy limitations and the company's disinterest in overcoming those limitations in an appropriate way.
Ask Twitter what people are saying on that site about the swine flu and you can get the full story to parse until you're blue in the face. The new Facebook openness is like interoperability between different telephone handset manufacturers but conversation remains closed between individuals. Conversation on Facebook is no more easy to analyze today than it was yesterday; that's the real opportunity here, not just the ability to send and receive Facebook messages through different applications.
According to Editor & Publisher, daily circulation for the 395 newspapers that reported data to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) this month fell 7% in the last six months to about 34 million. Sunday circulation, which is traditionally a lot higher than daily circulation, also fell 5.3% to about 42 million. Of the top 25 newspapers, only the Wall Street Journal, which still hides most of its online content behind a paywall, saw a small increase in its numbers (0.6%), while almost half of the top 25 papers saw double-digit declines, with the Atlanta Journal Constitution losing almost 20% of its daily circulation.
