StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/28/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 28, 2008 at 4:32 PM
YouTube Reveals Video Analytics Tool for All Users
YouTube hopes to answer video publisher questions such as, "Who's watching this?" "Where do viewers come from?" and "How did they find my video?" with the release of YouTube Insight, a free reporting tool.
The Evolution of Social Networks
A nice overview of online social networking, past, present and future.
Let's Be Honest About Twitter
Is Twitter becoming more of a promotional tool than a networking tool?
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/21/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 21, 2008 at 10:38 AM
LinkedIn, Now For Companies
TechCrunch reports on the arrival of company profile pages at LinkedIn.
Ten essential tools you'll need to launch a blog
Nice list of the essentials for getting a blog up and running (but don't forget the content).
200,000 Networks on the Ning Platform!
Social network creation platform Ning reports some very healthy growth numbers.
Search Among Friends at FriendFeed
Posted by keirsun on March 18, 2008 at 3:11 PM
FriendFeed is making it even easier to keep track of what you're friends are doing online. The social network aggregator has added its very own search function.
FriendFeed members can search by friends, their individual items, or all of FriendFeed. Even non-members can use it to search the growing database of public content on FriendFeed.
In addition, the Advanced Search page makes it simple to search for shared items from a specific social site.
Not familiar with FriendFeed? In their own words:
FriendFeed enables you to keep up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing. It offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends.
Ease of use is one of FriendFeed's biggest selling points, which the company's four founders may have learned the importance of while working for a search engine company called Google. You may have heard of it.
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/17/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 17, 2008 at 4:52 PM
YouTube Videos in High Quality
The wait is finally over, as YouTube announces it will offer "Higher Quality" viewing for a growing percentage of videos, but still plans to keep its current, lower-quality resolution the default so YouTube videos always start quickly and play smoothly.
Video Coming To Flickr Soon. Really.
Recap of rumors that Yahoo is getting ready to allow video uploads to Flickr.
CBS to bloggers: Install our widgets, and we'll split the profits
CBS launches the CBS Local Ad Network, in an attempt to distribute more of the network's video content via network approved blogs.
YouTube - Leader of the Online Video Pack
Posted by keirsun on March 14, 2008 at 5:00 PM
According to data released today by comScore, YouTube ranked #1 among U.S. online video sites for the month of January. In fact, 1 out of every 3 videos watched in the U.S. were on YouTube.
The comScore data shows that 9.8 billion (yes, billion) videos were viewed online in the U.S. during January. That means that 3.25 billion videos were watched on YouTube in the first month of 2008.
Here's the top 3:
- Google Sites - 34.3% (More than 96% via YouTube)
- Fox Interactive Media - 6.0%
- Yahoo! Sites - 3.2%
As this data suggests, Google is in a prime position to benefit from online video advertising.
Read today's comScore press release for more information.
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/13/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 13, 2008 at 2:57 PM
Bebo on Board: AOL Pays Big for Site
BusinessWeek reports that AOL has purchased social networking site Bebo for $850 million.
TiVo Opens Channel to YouTube
TiVo strikes a deal with Google, which essentially creates a YouTube channel on TiVos (similar to Apple TV) - no word on whether Google will be able to run ads on the channel and the article speculates whether the deal will give YouTube incentive to improve its video quality.
Disney: $122.8 Million Reasons To Sell On iTunes
"Disney has sold 4 million movies and 40 to 50 million videos through iTunes since signing up in 2006" - as TechCrunch notes, what equates to a drop in the bucket for Disney also shows that people are more than willing to pay for movies versus illegally downloading them, which would be the alternative if Disney did not offer its movies via iTunes
eMarketer Predicts Podcasting Growth
Posted by keirsun on March 12, 2008 at 5:29 PM
A recent eMarketer report shows the popularity of podcasts is on the rise. In The Podcast Advertising report, eMarketer estimates "that there was a 285% increase in size of the US podcast audience in 2007, a growth to 18.5 million."
eMarketer predicts this growth trend to continue with the US podcast audience increasing to 65 million in 2012.
Of course the popularity of Apple's iPod/iPhone/iTunes has contributed to podcasting's growth. iTunes more or less set the bar for providing an easy-to-use interface for finding and subscribing to podcasts.
In addition, if the podcast-friendly functionality of the Apple TV catches on (via Apple's platform or a contender's), video podcasts will surely find new audiences who are ready to consume content from the comfort of their living room. Did I mention that the number of HD podcasts in iTunes is rising rapidly?
As eMarketer states, "advertisers are starting to take notice."
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/11/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 11, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Auto Dealers Moving Fast Toward Online Video, Web 2.0 Marketing
"More than half the auto dealers who responded to a survey by The Kelsey Group said they plan to include online video clips on their company Web sites during the next 12 months." - The survey also discovers that auto dealers are rapidly adopting next generation promotion strategies such as pushing their video to social sharing sites such as YouTube.
Toyota Bets $4M YouTube Sells Corollas
Toyota reportedly shells out close to $4 million to have its new Corolla advertising campaign featured prominently on YouTube. However, the article points out that the ad delivery for the campaign is mostly static banner ads or video ads on the YouTube home page - not very cutting edge and underutilizing of YouTube model.
Google to media companies: We're your friend
Google attempts to curb the ongoing fear that it plans to become a media publishing company by announcing (again) that it wants to work with media companies to transition their business to the web - the article also discusses Google's recent 7th place finish in total number of display ad impressions, a market that the search engine has been hoping to become a leader in.
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/10/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 10, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Avoid these Facebook faux pas
Lots of good information for companies looking to establish a presence in the popular social network, Facebook.
To quote the author, "It is essential that brands attempting to foray into the social networking space understand that the key demographic is fickle, there is no guarantee of success, and best practices are at times nebulous and highly dependent on the individual brand and project goals."
Facebook app lets users send movie clips
Paramount Pictures attempts to avoid one of the Facebook faux pas mentioned above, by creating an application that lets Facebook users send movie clips to other Facebookers. Useful? Not really. But it could be fun.
Watch Out FriendFeed: Socialthing! Is Even Easier to Use
According to TechCrunch, a TechStars startup called Socialthing!, "makes it even easier to get an overview of what your friends are doing on the web."
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/5/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 05, 2008 at 9:12 AM
Wordpress To Get Social Networking Features
WordPress founder announces that he has hired the developer behind BuddyPress, a social network platform for WordPress - According to the article, "A year from now, you should have the option to have your site not just be a blog or a podcast, but an extensible social network, based on open standards."
Beyond the logo: avatars and favicons in social media
Nice write-up explaining avatars and favicons and how to implement. Summary: "Favicons and avatars are to the web what logos are to the offline world."
Steven Spielberg's Ghost Town
TechCrunch details rumors of Spielberg's plan to launch a paranormal social network with a focus "on users who've had or who are interested in sharing paranormal and extraterrestrial experiences."
Follow the Bouncing Smiley Face... to Corporate Transparency?
Posted by keirsun on March 04, 2008 at 2:56 PM
One of yesterday's StraightUpSocial News Links points to an excellent New York Times article entitled, "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog".
The article details some of the posts on Wal-Mart's new corporate blog: Check Out. Now I will be the first to say that I'm not a Wal-Mart fan, but I have to give the big box retailer credit for putting the keys to the blog-mobile in the hands of Wal-Mart product buyers.
And these buyers have been busy writing authentic blog posts that include their honest opinions of the products they are responsible for putting in the hands of Wal-Mart consumers. Even when their opinions include negative feedback on well-known products.
The New York Times article cites one Wal-Mart blogger expressing disappointment in Microsoft's Vista operating system, a complaint which has seemingly echoed in the halls of Redmond since Vista's release. Another blogger referenced in the article refers to one of the recent Star Wars movies as a "debacle." Both the movie and Vista-bundled computers are available for purchase in a Wal-Mart near you.
Is Wal-Mart unexpectedly pushing forward with the next wave of consumer empowerment? "Sure, Ebert gave the movie a thumbs up, but Stan at Wal-Mart says the DVD will probably be in the bargain bin by the end of next week!"
Pointing to a recent post about Wal-Mart's decision to choose BluRay over HD DVD, the NYT article infers that Wal-Mart's bloggers may become a strong source for information on company decisions that have a significant impact on consumer goods markets.
It was a blogger on the Check Out, after all, who first disclosed last month that Wal-Mart would stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format, rather than the rival HD DVD system. The decision was considered the death knell for HD DVD.
Check Out's blog topic categories include:
- Gadgets
- Gaming
- Lawn & Garden
- Movies
- (and last but not least) Sustainability
So go ahead and have a little fun window shopping on Check Out. As the blog's headline states "...the Lanes are Always Open."
Image: whitneynmatt
StraightUpSocial News Links for 3/3/2008
Posted by keirsun on March 03, 2008 at 8:47 AM
Big Win For LinkedIn As They Hook Up With France's Apec
LinkedIn makes the French Connection via Apec, France's second most popular online job listing service.
Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog
A lesson in real, unfiltered corporate blogging comes from an unlikely source: Wal-Mart employees posting to a company-created blog.
Enterprise Community Provider Mzinga Swallows Propsero
Enterprise-only social network provider Mzinga has acquired Propsero, an enterprise social network builder that focuses on the consumer side of networking.
