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May 11 2012
Viddy Highlights: 10 Top Clips From the Social Video App
The latest iPhone app to make headlines is Viddy, a social video editing and sharing app that has just surpassed 26 million users.
Described as the “Instagram of video,” we were curious to see what kinds of clips were being created on the Viddy platform. We got in touch with the team and asked them to curate a “highlights reel” to demonstrate the wide variety of great Viddys being produced.
“From performers, to pet lovers, creative artists, skateboarders, athletes, celebrities, parents — the app is a forum for 15-second Viddyographers to capture their moments for the world,” Brett O’Brien, CEO and co-founder of Viddy told Mashable.
“It’s amazing to see the community so excited about Viddy and sharing their content with the other users, friends, and family.”
SEE ALSO: An easy guide to get you started with ViddySo far, that community is limited to the iOS platform, but we have good news for users of other mobile OSes — other apps are “definitely” in the works, as O’Brien explains:
“We are Apple fanatics, and Apple had already built a distribution system and a set of tools that were standardized to help us get Viddy to market quickly. We spent our first year as a company focused on building a top product for iPhone users and growing our community. Now with over 26 million users and a top ranking in the Apple App Store, we will definitely look at moving onto other platforms.”
Whether you’re waiting for Viddy to hit your OS, already enjoying using it on your iPhone, or just curious to see what’s being produced on app rumored to be worth $200 million, take a look through Viddy’s varied highlights selection (complete with commentary from the team) below.
If you use Viddy, link us to some of your amazing creations in the comments below.
1. Criss-Cross Low Rider by @hectorosmand
“Who needs a third for jump rope when you have your car on hydraulics?”
2. Awesome Way to Do A Backflip by @teifiond
“Need a boost? This guy shows an unusual way to do a backflip.”
3. Kick it in the Hoop by @alex100green
“Proof that any baller needs some killer kicks.”
4. Milo & Whiskey by @Daudau
“Best friends, or enemies, come in all shapes and sizes.”
5. Fake Speed Trap by @makrambammar
“Caught riding dirty… or not.”
6. Dub Step by @joshrasco
“Dub step for days…”
7. Robotic Bottling at GE Healthcare by @generalelectric
“GE shows behind-the-scenes of packaging using robotics.”
8. Flip Over the Car by @kinghenry
“Blake Griffin watch out!”
9. How to Bake a Cake in 15 Seconds by @MassiveRoy
“Roll it, pat it, and bake it with a V.”
10. Clones Can Shuffle? by @DaMrC
“We think even LMFAO would want to rock with these guys.”
BONUS: How to Get Started With Viddy
If you’ve yet to use Viddy, check out our easy-to-follow guide to getting started below.
1. Viddy
Launched in April 2011, Viddy is available on iTunes for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. It's free to download. The app lets you capture, edit, filter and share 15-second video clips, or "viddys." One-click share your creations to popular social networking sites, and find fresh content to watch.
Click here to view this gallery.
More About: features, iphone apps, photography, Social Media, software, viddy, Video, video editing
May 10 2012
Paralyzed Football Player Signed to NFL Uses Social Media to Inspire
It’s an iconic sports image: Eric LeGrand, wheelchair-bound after being paralyzed from the neck down during a game a year prior, leading his Rutgers University teammates onto the field through a snowstorm as fans chant his jersey number.
LeGrand was paralyzed in October 2010 when he injured his spinal cord making a tackle during a kickoff return in October 2010. A year later, Sports Illustrated readers voted his symbolic return to the field as 2011′s moment of the year, landing LeGrand on the magazine’s cover.
Today, LeGrand has a new role as an advocate for spinal cord research and source of inspiration for fans around the world — and he says social media plays a key part in his mission.
“I’m posting things every single day,” LeGrand told Mashable in an interview. “I just want to motivate people not to take everything for granted and to be the best people they can be.”
LeGrand has nearly 60,000 followers on his Twitter account, which he set up several months after his injury. He frequently tweets updates on his progress, motivational quotes and photos. Last July, a photo he tweeted of himself standing upright with the help of a machine rallied support. His Facebook Timeline, which has about 47,000 followers, traces the narrative of his recovery as well as his life before the the injury. He also posts video messages using Tout.
Last week, LeGrand’s former coach at Rutgers — who now coaches the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers — signed him to a contract with the team. LeGrand’s exact role with Tampa Bay is still being determined and the contract does not guarantee any money, but the gesture gained widespread media attention. This photo LeGrand posted to his Facebook page with the caption “Newest member of the tampa bay buccaneers” on May 2 has received a whopping 26,000 Likes.
Fans regularly use Facebook and Twitter to thank LeGrand for his inspiration and marvel at his positive attitude. But LeGrand says the fame that’s resulted from his injury has simply given a larger platform to his natural disposition.
“I’m still the same person I always was, but now it’s kind of taken off and if I can inspire youth by just being the person I am and being happy, then that’s great,” he told Mashable. “Especially since last week with Tampa Bay, it’s blown up even more. Now I post something and get like a thousand Likes in the first hour — that means people are paying attention.”
Image courtesy Eric LeGrand.
More About: Facebook, Social Media, sports, Twitter
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Facebook Rolls Out File-Sharing for All Groups [EXCLUSIVE]
Could Facebook become the next Dropbox — or a haven for sharing files without regard to copyright?
The social network has revealed to Mashable that all Groups will now offer the ability to send files. This update rolls out to a small percentage of groups Thursday, and will become available to others during the following days. If you don’t have the feature already, Facebook wants you to know you’ll have it “soon.”
Facebook Groups for Schools, launched last month, incorporated the file-sharing feature — but you needed a .edu address to use it.
Users can upload most file types up to 25MB — the same file size limit as Gmail. The exceptions: music files (sorry, old-school Napster fans) and executable (.exe) files (sorry, hackers). But e-books, comics, music videos and other small movies are fair game.
To prevent the spread of malicious, inappropriate or copyrighted files, “users can report files the same way they can with other content across the site,” a Facebook spokesperson said. Whether a group that wants to share such things will willingly turn itself in remains to be seen.
More than 380 million people use Facebook Groups. Being able to share files was one of the most common requests from groups users, the spokesperson said.
This is how the new file sharing feature will look:
In October 2010, Facebook acquired simple file sharing service drop.io. Unlike Adobe Connect or Dropbox users, drop.io users did not have to register to use the site. They could simply upload a file, create a “drop” with links to files and share it with others.
Drop.io also had free conference call service — so perhaps Facebook can incorporate this technology into its file sharing feature in future.
Do you use Facebook Groups? What do you think about this latest feature? Sound off in the comments.
Christina Warren contributed to this report.
More About: Facebook, Social Media, social networking, trending
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GIF Tumblr Goes Viral Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Stance
As President Obama announced his support for gay marriage Wednesday afternoon, social media was on fire with posts about the decision. Most of the quickest reaction happened in places where one would expect an instant response: Twitter, and, to a lesser extent, Facebook.
As the story broke, one Twitter user commented that the platform was “basically created” for the story, as information and rumors about the announcement were spreading there throughout the day.
However, one almost-instant reaction that’s been gaining widespread popularity around the Internet came from a less expected platform: Tumblr.
The “When Obama Endorsed” Tumblr profile is the latest incarnation of a phenomenon that’s sweeping the platform: animated GIF images, modified and set to a caption to respond to the latest news or pop culture.
Caption: “all the states who’ve already legalized it were like:”
Caption: “… Joe, Hillary and Michelle were all ORANGE MOCHA FRAPUCCINOS???”
“When Obama Endorsed” is a politically-themed Tumblr making the rounds on the social web, following in the footsteps of “Texts From Hillary.” It’s remarkable for the speed at which it was created: It appeared within minutes of Obama’s Wednesday afternoon announcement (to be fair, rumors of an impending announcement were spreading throughout the day).
SEE ALSO: Obama Supports Gay Marriage, ABC Breaks News OnlineThese politically-themed Tumblr blogs are even having an impact in Washington, D.C. In a brilliant public relations coup, Hillary Clinton created her own “Text From Hillary,” and the Obama campaign got at least one contribution based on the “When Obama Endorsed” blog:
whenobamaendorsed: When I saw this, I went and made my first EVER contribution to a political campaign…. tmblr.co/ZLfYGxLCwAGx
— Jenn Stromberg (@fluteswedie) May 10, 2012
Could Tumblr reaction .gif blogs become a significant force in the 2012 race for the White House? Sound off in the comments below.
More About: 2012 presidential campaign, barack obama, Politics, Social Media, tumblr, US
How to Get Started With Viddy
Haven’t you heard? Photos are so 2011. Video is where it’s at. More specifically, take a look at Viddy, a social video editing and sharing app that has just surpassed 26 million users.
Much in the way people use social photography apps to beautify and share everyday moments, Viddy wants to do the same for videos. The app gives you 15 seconds to capture your footage, whereupon you may add filters and music to give the clip a cinematic feel. Then, access built-in social options to share your clips with friends.
If you haven’t yet signed up, don’t worry. Our easy guide shows you how to get started with Viddy, from setting up your account to finding people to follow to posting your first clip.
SEE ALSO: The Best Instagram Photos Ever Taken [PICS]Take a look through our simple walkthrough above and get shooting. Then, come back and link in the comments to any great Viddy clips you’ve created and would like to share with the Mashable readership!
1. Viddy
Launched in April 2011, Viddy is available on iTunes for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. It's free to download. The app lets you capture, edit, filter and share 15-second video clips, or "viddys." One-click share your creations to popular social networking sites, and find fresh content to watch.
Click here to view this gallery.
More About: features, How-To, iphone, iphone apps, iphotography, Mobile, photography, Social Media, Startups, viddy, Video
May 09 2012
Joe Jonas Named Pepsi Ambassador for ‘Pulse’ Dashboard, #LiveForNow Campaign
PepsiCo has tapped Joe Jonas as a brand ambassador for its new celebrity-infused “Live for Now” global ad campaign.
The Jonas Brother will lend his star power by participating in Pepsi Pulse, the campaign’s social media dashboard that curates trending pop culture news.
Jonas on Wednesday described his involvement and revealed his favorite apps, music services and other digital tidbits.
“It seemed like the perfect fit,” Jonas said during an interview with Mashable in his New York City hotel suite Wednesday. “I like to be spontaneous and want to encourage fans to live for now.
“Being creative is going to be fun.”
On Twitter, Jonas will tweet messages and photos to show how he’s “living in the now,” and spur on fans via #LiveForNow hashtag challenges to contribute content for the real-time Pulse platform.
Eventually, Jonas’s music chops will be put to use, but there are no details on that yet.
Hey guys! I’m living the moment surrounded by close friends. How do you seize urs? #LIVEFORNOW twitter.com/joejonas/statu…
— joe jonas (@joejonas) May 10, 2012
Loving all the tweets, pls check Pepsi Pulse to see if urs was retweeted!!! #LIVEFORNOW
— joe jonas (@joejonas) May 10, 2012
Jonas is the third high-profile musician to join Pepsi’s Live for Now initiatives. Hip-hop star Nicki Minaj helped launch the campaign May 7, appearing in a commercial that also used her song “Moment 4 Life.” A partnership with Katy Perry and her upcoming flick Part of Me 3D will include Live for Now branding and live events.
When prodded to name the gadgets, apps and music services he likes, Jonas was quick to tout his iPad and the Twitter app. But he also rattled off these favorites:
- Shazam: This app recognizes music, TV and advertisements in seconds. To Jonas, it’s “mind-blowing.”
- Fandango: Jonas enjoys being able to use a barcode as his movie ticket.
- Uber: “It’s pretty awesome,” he says, adding that it’s good for when traffic is high and the weather is bad.
- GrubHub This app makes it easy for Jonas to order food from a mobile device and then have it delivered.
- Spotify: Jonas likes listening to other people’s playlists on Spotify.
- Pandora: Jonas recently visited Pandora HQ and learned about the “DNA of music.”
- Fake text message app: Possibly Fake-A-Message or Fake Sms Celebrity, which lets Jonas send texts disguised as other celebrities.
Jonas also says ebooks are “cool.” He wants to read The Hunger Games next but may consume the trilogy in printed form instead.
Behind Jonas in his suite stood a printed poster of Pepsi Pulse. On the web, the platform (see below) presents the trending news items in a top 10 ranking based on real-time data from social media-optimization company SocialFlow.
Shiv Singh, global head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages, recently told Mashable the hub basically “is a cheat sheet for pop culture.” It’s purpose is to invite and inspire consumers to live in the moment by knowing what’s hot across the web so they can be the first among their friends to share the information on social networks.
Photo above courtesy of Don Bowers/Getty
More About: Entertainment, Facebook, Music, pandora, Pepsi, pop culture, Social Media, spotify, Twitter
Why ‘The Atlantic’ No Longer Cares About SEO
The number of online news consumers has grown consistently over the past half-decade, yet not every publication has gotten the same lift as The Atlantic, whose web audience has catapulted from approximately 500,000 to 13.4 million monthly visitors since taking down its paywall in early 2008.
As we’ve explored previously, there are many factors that have contributed to The Atlantic‘s online success: assigning a number of well-known columnists, like James Fallows and Andrew Sullivan (now of The Daily Beast), to begin writing original pieces for TheAtlantic.com; launching and staffing two new online news properties, TheAtlanticWire.com and TheAtlanticCities.com; and building up its digital ad offerings to support those hires.
Furthermore, The Atlantic is adapting its editorial strategy to the shifting landscape of online news consumption, namely, to capitalize on the growing importance of social networks, rather than search engines, as sources of traffic.
“Sixteen months ago we received the same number of monthly referrals from search as social. Now 40% of traffic comes from social media,” Scott Havens, senior vice president of finance and digital operations at The Atlantic Media Company, said in a phone conversation ahead of his on-stage interview at our Mashable Connect conference in Orlando, Fla. last weekend. “Truly [our writers] are not really thinking about SEO anymore. Now it’s about how we can spin a story so that it goes viral.”
SEE ALSO: Inside The Atlantic: How One Magazine Got Profitable by Going ‘Digital First’Bob Cohn, who was recently promoted to editor of The Atlantic Digital, rejoices the change. “Before, it seemed Demand Media was going to own the Internet by assigning stories based on search returns. It was a cynical approach to journalism,” Cohn recalled. “We’re no longer writing to get the attention of Google algorithms. We’re writing to get you to share it, to digg it.”
Cohn says that writers author their own headlines, which are frequently rewritten by their channel editors and sometimes tweaked again by a homepage editor. Often, a headline that appears on Facebook or Twitter is different than the one that appears on the site.
I asked Cohn why he didn’t feed in a separate headline in the metadata. He said he and his team could, but it was no longer important enough to compensate for a boring headline, even in search results or on Google News.
And what kind of headlines do well? “A great headline is just a great headline,” says Cohn. “It has to be clear; it has to be intelligent. We’re not writing for machines. We’re writing for humans.”
Exhibitor Hall
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Mashable Connect Sponsors
Buddy Media is the social enterprise software of choice for eight of the world’s top ten global advertisers, empowering them to build and maintain relationships with their consumers in a connections-based world. The Buddy Media social marketing suite helps brands build powerful connections globally with its scalable, secure architecture and data-driven customer insights from initial point of contact through point of purchase. For more information, visit http://www.buddymedia.com.
AT&T is bringing it all together for our customers, from revolutionary smartphones to next-generation TV services and sophisticated solutions for multi-national businesses. For more than a century, we have consistently provided innovative, reliable, high-quality products and services and excellent customer care. For more, visit http://www.att.com.
Barnes & Noble College Marketing (BNCM) helps brands thrive on campus. It is a division of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. that operates more than 640 college bookstores across the country, serving more than 4.7 million students and faculty members. BNCM has the on-campus access and student understanding to deliver superior marketing programs for its brand partners. BNCM’s capabilities include: experiential and event marketing; product sampling, sweepstakes and promotions; digital marketing (social, email, web); on-campus advertising and postering; and programs targeting freshmen, graduates, alumni and athletic event fans. Visit www.bncollegemarketing.com.
Hiscox specializes in tailored insurance coverage for a range of professional services firms in industries like IT, marketing, consulting and more. Hiscox Insurance Company Inc. has been protecting clients for over 100 years and is rated ‘A’ (Excellent) for financial strength by A.M. Best.
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Definition 6 is a Unified Marketing Agency that creates brand experiences that unite brands and people in motion. Through imagination, innovation and insight, we execute ideas that deliver continued value across all brand interactions. For more information, please visit http://www.definition6.com.
The Adobe Digital Marketing Suite is an integrated set of applications which allow businesses to gather customer insight and optimize advertising, conversion and retention efforts as well as the creation and distribution of content. For example, using the Suite, marketers can identify the most effective marketing strategies and ad placements as well as create relevant, personalized and consistent customer experiences across digital marketing channels, such as onsite, display, e-mail, social, video and mobile. The Suite enables marketers to automatically adjust to customer interactions and better maximize marketing ROI, which leads to a positive impact the bottom line.
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More About: mashable connect, Media, SEO, Social Media, the atlantic
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The Best and Worst Times to Share on Facebook, Twitter
Want your link to get the most traction on Twitter? Post it on a Monday between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET.
Link shortening and tracking service bit.ly has released new data on the best and worst times to share links on popular social networks, from Facebook and Twitter to blogging site Tumblr.
The company revealed that posting links to Twitter between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET (or 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. PT) will give you the highest click rank, especially on days earlier in the week. Meanwhile, sending a tweet with a link after 8:00 p.m. should be avoided — as should posting links after 3:00 p.m. on Fridays.
The half-life of a link posted to Twitter is about 2.8 hours, according to bit.ly.
However, Facebook’s optimal posting times are slightly different than Twitter. Links sent between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. get the most traction, with Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. being the best time to post on Facebook all week.
Links posted after 8:00 p.m. and before 8:00 a.m. on Facebook also don’t get the most clicks. Similar to Twitter, bit.ly recommends not posting the links you want to go viral during the weekend.
“While traffic starts to increase around 9:00 a.m., one would be wise to wait to post until 11am,” bit.ly said in a blog post on its site. “Traffic from Facebook fades after 4:00 p.m.”
Meanwhile, Tumblr has a much different usage pattern than Facebook and Twitter. It’s suggested to wait until at least 4:00 p.m. ET. to post important content, and posts that go up after 7:00 p.m. get the most clicks during a 24-hour period.
It’s also suggested that Friday evenings are a key time to post on Tumblr — a time bit.ly recommends avoiding on Facebook and Twitter.
Bit.ly traffic from Tumblr peaks between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, with similar traffic on Sunday, according to the study.
“It’s easy to see that just like your neighborhood restaurants, each social network has its own culture and behavior patterns,” bit.ly noted in the blog post. “By understanding the simple characteristics of each social network, you can publish your content at exactly the right time for it to reach the maximum number of people.”
Do you notice a difference in engagement when posting at different times? Let us know in the comments what works best for you.
More About: bit.ly, Facebook, Social Media, trending, tumblr, Twitter
May 07 2012
Google+ Releasing ‘Hangouts on Air’ Feature to All Users
Google+ on Monday announced it would gradually roll out its “Hangouts on Air” feature to the masses over the coming weeks. The feature lets you broadcast live sessions for anyone to watch — just like Barack Obama did in January.
Hangouts on Air can be posted on your Google+ stream, YouTube channel or website by checking “Enable Hangouts on Air.” It also allows you to monitor the number of views, record the live session and share it.
The feature previously was available only to a small group of broadcasters starting in 2011. Google touts the creative Hangouts those people have produced such as live concerts from a living room, classes anyone can attend, town halls with politicians and roundtables about any topic, among other sessions.
“So if you have something to say — as an aspiring artist, a global celebrity, or a concerned citizen — you can now go live in front of a global audience,” Google engineering director Chee Chew wrote in a blog post.
SEE ALSO: Google+ Hangouts Get Furry: Now You Can Chat With Cat and Dog Masks [VIDEO]To learn more about Hangouts on Air, watch the videos above and below.
More About: Google, google plus hangouts, Live Stream, Social Media, trending, video chat
Klout CEO Hints at Redesign, Local Feature, Brand Page Update
Klout has had a busy few weeks, unleashing an iPhone app, brand pages and a new API. But more changes are on deck.
Klout CEO Joe Fernandez hinted at those developments on stage and backstage at Mashable Connect in Orlando.
The San Francisco-based startup will announce this month four more partners for its version of brand pages — Brand Squads. The feature launched in April with Red Bull.
Fernandez also says users should anticipate a redesigned website this year, possibly rolling out this summer.
Klout’s February acquisition of BlockBoard, an app that gives people a way to communicate with neighbors, will eventually spawn a new local feature on Klout. Fernandez was sparse on details but says ideas are still in “white board” phase.
“We’re going to be an incredible tool to help people; right now we’re just a benchmark,” Fernandez said in an onstage interview with Mashable‘s Lance Ulanoff.
Fernandez, aware of some of the negative feedback people dish about Klout, asserts that the good and bad buzz is a “huge victory.”
“There’s no way to get around the fact that we put a number next to your face and it’s tied to your ego,” he says. “I think the controversy and conversation around what we’re doing is ultimately good. The world is changing and we’re doing something completely new.”
The still-in-beta Klout measures influence on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Foursquare to assign Klout users scores from 0 to 100, but it’s algorithm is hush-hush so people don’t game the system.
Prodded by Ulanoff to disclose more details about the algorithm, Fernandez discussed Klout’s evolution of tracking influence, saying calculations began on an Excel spreadsheet before becoming too “dynamic” for that as more social networks were integrated onto Klout.
“We generally look at Twitter, Facebook and Google+,” he says. But “there’s definitely a weighting system.”
He also reminded the audience that the algorithm measures each user’s top social network first — primarily Twitter or Facebook — and the others are additive, meaning adding more networks would never lower a person’s Klout score.
“I don’t think we’ve really built the real Klout product yet — what you see now on Klout is just a thin layer of what the data is,” Fernandez says. “It’s something we’re excited to move beyond.”
BONUS: What Else Does Klout Have in Store for 2012?
Looking ahead, Klout is still building scoring models for seven more services (YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress.com, Last.fm and Flickr) that have already been integrated onto Klout users’ dashboards. Klout also plans to add Quora, Yelp, Posterous, Livefyre, Disqus, bit.ly and BranchOut.
SEE ALSO: The Remarkable Story of How Klout Got Started [VIDEO]Klout likely will continue improving its Topics feature (see screenshots below) and Klout Perks platform. The Topics feature, which rolled out in September and lets you gain insights on top influencers and +K recipients for specific content areas, got a visual update in December with a “sashes” and an “Add a Topic” button.
Another feature on the horizon is an “oAuth2-based authentication system” that will soon let users give +Ks to people from outside of Klout.com. For example, a person might give someone else a +K while browsing Tumblr.
Clickable Topics on Your Dashboard
On your Klout dashboard, you can click on a topic to open its Topic Page.
In December 2011, Klout rolled out sashes and an "Add a Topic" button. A blue sash goes to users with the most +Ks for any topic, while a gold sash is given to influencers based on Klout's algorithm. People who fall into both categories receive a blue-and-gold sash.
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Buddy Media is the social enterprise software of choice for eight of the world’s top ten global advertisers, empowering them to build and maintain relationships with their consumers in a connections-based world. The Buddy Media social marketing suite helps brands build powerful connections globally with its scalable, secure architecture and data-driven customer insights from initial point of contact through point of purchase. For more information, visit http://www.buddymedia.com.
AT&T is bringing it all together for our customers, from revolutionary smartphones to next-generation TV services and sophisticated solutions for multi-national businesses. For more than a century, we have consistently provided innovative, reliable, high-quality products and services and excellent customer care. For more, visit http://www.att.com.
Barnes & Noble College Marketing (BNCM) helps brands thrive on campus. It is a division of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. that operates more than 640 college bookstores across the country, serving more than 4.7 million students and faculty members. BNCM has the on-campus access and student understanding to deliver superior marketing programs for its brand partners. BNCM’s capabilities include: experiential and event marketing; product sampling, sweepstakes and promotions; digital marketing (social, email, web); on-campus advertising and postering; and programs targeting freshmen, graduates, alumni and athletic event fans. Visit www.bncollegemarketing.com.
Hiscox specializes in tailored insurance coverage for a range of professional services firms in industries like IT, marketing, consulting and more. Hiscox Insurance Company Inc. has been protecting clients for over 100 years and is rated ‘A’ (Excellent) for financial strength by A.M. Best.
We offer professional liability insurance, general liability insurance and other policies direct, either online or over the phone, with customized coverage starting from just $22.50/month.
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Webtrends powers digital marketing success. Webtrends is at the forefront of real-time digital marketing relevance and customer experience management through unified customer intelligence. Our industry-leading analytics across mobile, social and web enables marketers to optimize campaigns, maximize customer lifetime value and deliver highly relevant digital brand experiences in real-time.
Webtrends dramatically improve digital marketing results for more than 3,500 global brands including, in EMEA and internationally, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, HSBC, ASOS, Orange, T-Mobile, Microsoft, BMW, Toyota, Play.com, AllSaints, The Telegraph, and many more.
Definition 6 is a Unified Marketing Agency that creates brand experiences that unite brands and people in motion. Through imagination, innovation and insight, we execute ideas that deliver continued value across all brand interactions. For more information, please visit http://www.definition6.com.
The Adobe Digital Marketing Suite is an integrated set of applications which allow businesses to gather customer insight and optimize advertising, conversion and retention efforts as well as the creation and distribution of content. For example, using the Suite, marketers can identify the most effective marketing strategies and ad placements as well as create relevant, personalized and consistent customer experiences across digital marketing channels, such as onsite, display, e-mail, social, video and mobile. The Suite enables marketers to automatically adjust to customer interactions and better maximize marketing ROI, which leads to a positive impact the bottom line.
http://www.adobe.com/solutions/digital-marketing.html
The leading resource for human resource and business leaders to explore and discuss the latest workforce and workplace trends including social innovation—providing the in-depth research and insights needed to adapt and take advantage of what’s next.
More About: klout, mashable connect, online reputation, Social Media, web design
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May 06 2012
FBI Wants Wiretap-Ready Social Networks Soon [VIDEO]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to make Facebook and other social networks easier to use for spying on suspected criminals — and it wants access ASAP.
High-ranking FBI officials and other government representatives have been meeting with Internet industry leaders to ask them not to oppose a proposed law that would give federal agencies backdoor access to social networking sites, CNET reports. The FBI’s argument? As communication has shifted more and more online, previous laws allowing wiretaps on phone lines are becoming less and less useful.
FBI lawyers have reportedly drafted a proposal that if passed into law would require social networking sites to rework their code for easier surveillance. It would also apply to instant messaging, VoIP and email providers that exceed a certain number of users.
The proposal would update the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994. That legislation originally applied to telecommunications providers, requiring them to provide back-end loopholes enabling easier access for law enforcement to spy on suspected criminals. In 2004, CALEA was expanded to include broadband networks as well.
Expanding CALEA again to apply to services such as Gmail, Skype and Facebook would help the FBI address a worry that senior bureau officials dubbed as far back as 2008 as “Going Dark.” The name encapsulates a theory that as communication technologies continue to advance FBI surveillance capability will struggle to keep pace.
Do you think social networks and other digital communication services should be required to code with FBI surveillance concerns in mind? Let us know in the comments.
Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, jaxxon
More About: Facebook, FBI, privacy, security, Social Media, Twitter
Twitter Post by Sex Offender Scares Away Star Football Prospect
Players tweeting irresponsibly. Embarrassing photos. Unwanted news leaks. Now you can add a new item to the list of ways social media can be a headache for sports teams — unsavory characters scaring away potential stars.
That’s what happened at Ohio State University, where a lauded high school football recruit de-committed from the school after a convicted sex offender posted photos he took with him on Twitter.
Alex Anzalone of Wyomissing, Pa., is one of the mostly highly rated high school linebackers in the country and had pledged to play in college at Ohio State. During a campus visit last month, according to the Associated Press, Anzalone posed for a photograph with an apparent fan named Charles Eric Waugh. Waugh later posted the photo to Twitter and used the network to contact other Ohio State players, recruits and coaches.
Hardcore college sports fans frequently use Twitter and Facebook to tell hotshot recruits how great they’d look in their school’s colors. The problem here? Waugh, who is 31 years old and reportedly lives in Ashland, Kentucky, pleaded guilty in 2008 to five counts of possession of underage sexual content.
“You don’t want your son to go to a place where there’s a potential issue,” Anzalone’s father told the Reading Eagle on Saturday. “You expect the staff to have some sort of control on how things are handled with recruits when they visit. This is ridiculous.”
Ohio State released a statement in which it said the episode was symptomatic of social media’s power to enable wide-ranging and unexpected connections, and sent a cautionary email message out to more than 1,000 student athletes.
“The email message also reminded them of the negative implications that can be realized through simple associations on social networking sites,” the school’s statement read. “This individual is not associated with Ohio State. He is not a booster. He has not engaged in any activities on behalf of the University. The Department of Athletics will continue to monitor this issue and it will remain proactive in its efforts with regard to precautions for its student-athletes.”
Is it fair to blame a school if creepy fans contact athletes via social media? Let us know in the comments.
Image courtesy Scallop Holden, Flickr.
More About: Social Media, sports, Twitter
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How Tech Is Changing College Life [INFOGRAPHIC]
College students today are more tech savvy than ever before. Just how important is technology to their academic lives?
More than 90% use email to communicate with professors and 73% say they cannot study without technology. Seven in 10 take notes on keyboards instead of paper, virtually all students who own an ereader and most use digital tools when preparing a presentation.
All that tech has caused something of a dependency too — 38% of students can’t go more than 10 minutes without checking their smartphone or other device. All told, students spent $13 billion on electronics in 2009.
Community college students are less digitally connected than students at four-year schools, but more and more people are making the Internet their education gateway. Twelve million students take at least one class online today — in five years, that number is projected to exceed 22 million. By 2014, analysts say, more than 3.5 million students will take all of their classes online.
This is all according to research compiled by Presta Electronics. Presta used material from the Pew Research Center, Chronicle of Higher Education, Mashable and other sources to put together the infographic below. Check it out for the full picture of how technology is changing college students’ lives.
Do you think technology is changing college for the better — or are there downsides?
More About: education, infographics, Social Media, Tech
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What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised
Try to guess America’s most engaging social network. Facebook? Wrong. Twitter? Wrong. Pinterest? Wrong again. According to comScore‘s most recent social networking data, from the month of March, the San Francisco based site Tagged engages users like no other service. It was the only site to finish in the top two in both of comScore’s engagement metrics.
Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor. And each time a Tagged user visited the site, he or she stuck around for 12.1 minutes — which trailed only Tumblr (14.7 minutes) and beat out Facebook (10.9 minutes).
Tagged co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng says he’s happy about ComScore’s March data, but that his company has been among America’s most engaging social networks for about a year now. The secret to Tagged’s success? A pivot Tseng and co-founder Johann Schleier-Smith made around the beginning of 2008.
The longtime friends started Tagged in 2004, at the time angling it to be a Facebook-like social network for high schoolers. Eventually, however, Facebook expanded beyond a closed college network and allowed anyone over the age of 12 to join.
“We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” Tseng says. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.”
As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site’s algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies.
Tseng says Tagged’s 10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month. The site has been profitable since 2008, and over the past year tripled its staff to a current count of more than 170.
With social discovery as a whole seen by many to be a rising tide, Tseng believes Tagged’s success will continue to grow.
“If I look out at the next five or 10 years, I really see social discovery as big as social networking — in some sense I think you can think of social discovery as the engine for social networking,” he says, referencing Dunbar’s number, which theorizes that humans can maintain an average of 150 connections at a time.
“Facebook is the place where you maintain your current 150,” he says. “And Tagged will be the place where you refresh that 150.”
Do you think social discovery is the next big thing? Let us know in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci
More About: social discovery, Social Media, social networking, tagged, trending
May 05 2012
47 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
Mashable won a Webby Award for our business coverage, so how on earth could you let yourself miss our latest digital media resources? Just kidding — for whatever reason you couldn’t keep up this week, check out our features roundup for the best social media, business and tech resources.
This week, we’ve covered mobile trends that your company needs to watch out for, rules for responding to customers online and specs on the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 that are pretty cool. We also have a ton of content from Star Wars Day, a list of quirky and downright strange YouTube channels and infographics on Apple‘s worth, the presidential campaign, mobile commerce and other hot topics. We also announced the date of Mashable‘s Social Media Day 2012 (June 30) and listed ways you can participate!
Enjoy this week’s resources.
Editor’s Picks
- How to Explain Facebook (and Its IPO) in 150 Seconds [VIDEO]
Want a Facebook refresher? Need to how why its may be worth its $100 billion valuation? Simply screen this short video. - Growing Up Google: How Cloud Computing Is Changing a Generation
Google’s free Apps for Education program is turning kids into loyal, long-term users and changing the way institutions think about technology. - Beyond Craigslist: 10 Sites for Apartment Hunters
Here are 10 sites to help you find the perfect apartment in the neighborhood of your choice — and within your price range. - Obama vs. Romney: The Social Showdown
How do Obama and Romney compare on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest? - How 7 Top Brands Are Using Facebook’s New Ad Tools
The social platform has switched up its ad rules. See how these brands are shining on Facebook.
Social Media
- 10 Heart-Warming Animal Friendships Captured on YouTube
There’s something special about interspecies friendships. We’ve gathered some of the most remarkable footage of animal buddies on YouTube. - Freedom Tower: 11 Beautiful Instagrams of NYC’s Tallest Building
A steel beam was secured to One World Trade Center, making it officially the tallest building in New York City. Instagram users captured the moment. - 20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART]
Which TV shows have generated the most buzz on social networks? Find out each week from our social TV chart. - 21 Ridiculously Cute Dog and Cat Instagram Pics
We scoured Instagram for the most stylish and adorable canines and felines. - Celebrate Mashable’s Social Media Day 2012
On Saturday, June 30, 2012, Mashable‘s worldwide community will celebrate a common interest in and passion for social media and innovation. - 4 Ways to Drive Engagement With Facebook Ads
Here are four ways to drive more engagement with the new Facebook ad units, along with tips for how to enhance performance. - 15 LOL-Worthy Instagram Pics
There are plenty of laughs lurking on Instagram. Here’s a roundup of some of the best comedy gems out there. - 20 Lunchtime Photos From the Mashable Community
For last week’s Mashable Photo Challenge, we asked you to send us a photo during your lunch break. Take a look at these 20 spectacular shots. - 7 Quirky, Comical and Downright Weird YouTube Channels
These seven YouTube channels will have you laughing more with each click. - Scumbag Steve: How the Internet Meme Became a Rapper
Internet meme “Scumbag Steve” — AKA Blake Boston — has turned his unintentional web fame into a burgeoning rap music career. - 16 Instagram Pics Moving at the Speed of Life
Mashable scoured Instagram for pics that convey high speeds — because the faster we do things, the more we can do. - 25 Stunning Cityscapes on Instagram
Feast your eyes on some of the best and most beautiful cities in the world with this curation of Instagram pics. - 10 Most-Shared Star Wars-Themed Ads on YouTube
Check out the 10 most-shared YouTube ads inspired by Star Wars.
For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable‘s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Business & Marketing
- 5 Mobile Trends Brands Need to Watch
The post-mobile future is upon us. Here’s how brands can prepare for a period that’s evolving before their eyes. - 6 Tips for Organizing Your Small Business Finances
Here are six ways you can take control of your finances and move your small business forward. - YouTube’s 20 Most-Shared Ads in April [VIDEOS]
Check out the 20 most-shared YouTube ads for the month of April, featuring Google, Nike, Tipp-Ex and more. - 7 Rules for Responding to Customers Online
Here are seven social media management rules to help your employees boost customer loyalty and revenue. - Hungry? Appetude Finds Delish Dishes Near You
“‘What is good to eat near me?’” That’s the question Appetude wants to answer by creating a social platform revolving around dishes, restaurants and friends. - How One Startup Is Reinventing the Mail
Paperless Post took the idea of stealth mode to new levels; its founders didn’t even tell friends what they were making early on. But all that secrecy seems to have paid off. - How Much Is Apple Worth? [INFOGRAPHIC]
This infographic compares Apple’s massive reach to things around the world. - Shazam: The Secret to Better TV Engagement?
Shazam has come a long way from its sound-recognition roots. Check out innovative ways the platform is pioneering the second screen. - 65+ Hot Events in Business and Social Media
The Events Board allows event organizers and the Mashable community to organize events in social media, tech, marketing and other fields. - Want to Book Restaurants You Find on Foursquare? This Startup Helps
Reserve My City makes it easy to book restaurant reservations on your Foursquare to-do list. - Fashion Designer Launches Platform for Crowdsourced Design
Cut On Your Bias lets you vote on a range of design goods mockups, and purchase the ones voted most popular by the community. - Want to Turn Your Brand’s Fans Into Expert Advisors? Try This Startup
Needle offers expert live chat service to online retailers to help customers find the best products and increase sales.
For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable‘s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Tech & Mobile
- What If LinkedIn Was Invented in the ’80s? [VIDEO]
Imagine what job hunting would be like today if we relied on software programming from the ’80s. - Celebrate ‘Mean Girls’ Day With 34 Fetch Memes
Mean Girls was released 8 years ago and went on to become a pop cultural smash. Enjoy the best memes inspired by the film from across the internet. - 8 Hilarious ‘Avengers’ Parodies [VIDEOS]
In anticipation of the release of The Avengers, we’ve gathered eight hilarious parodies to keep you entertained while you wait. - 7 Fantastic Celebrity Portraits on ‘Draw Something’
Along with our partners at CNN iReport, we asked you to send us your best celebrity portraits on Draw Something. Take a look! - 6 Serious Movie Scenes Recut With Corny Laugh Tracks
We found six fascinating examples of serious movie scenes re-edited with laugh tracks. Talk about counterintuitive! - 5 Things That Are Actually Pretty Cool About BlackBerry 10
RIM showed off some novel features about its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphone platform. - 2012: Year of the Online Political Ad [INFOGRAPHIC]
Politicians are spending more on digital ads this year than they’ve ever spent before. - Why Creating a Successful App Is Harder Than You Think [INFOGRAPHIC]
According to one survey, nearly 60% of app entrepreneurs don’t even break even on the cost of developing their project. - 10 Tech Innovations That Streamline Air Travel
Stuck with the bureaucracy found at your local airport? Check out these innovations bound to make your trip a lot faster. - The Future of Money and Mobile Commerce [INFOGRAPHIC]
Mobile payments represent the new frontier in ecommerce technology. Find out how people and businesses are preparing for a new form of money. - Films as Startups: How Indie Producers Build Buzz
The days of shopping scripts around Hollywood are over. If you can prove there’s online interest in your film, you’ve got a better shot at attracting studio backing. - Is Too Much Tech Bad for the Modern Teenager? [INFOGRAPHIC]
This infographic provides some perspective on just how immersed the modern teenager is in technology. - 10 Best Android Puzzle Games
Mobile puzzle games are so addictive that players have been known to lose a few hours on them. Here are ten for Android that you’ll love. - Half of Consumers Use Smartphones While Working Out [INFOGRAPHIC]
A new infographic from Lab42 found that 51% of consumers are using smartphones during their workouts. - From Skateboarding to Door-Kicking: 12 Hilarious Obama GIFs
A look at some of the most hilarious GIFs made of President Barack Obama. - 9 Star Wars Tech Accessories From a Galaxy Far, Far Away
“May the fourth be with you” on Star Wars Day! Here are our favorite tech toys from around the web. - Look at These 35 Star Wars Memes, You Will
These are the memes you’re looking for. Check out these 35 galactic Star Wars memes we’ve gathered from across the Internet.
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable‘s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, courtneyk.
More About: Business, COMMUNICATIONS, Features Week In Review, Social Media, Tech
For Lower-Profile Olympians, Social Media a Key to Branding Success
Ricky Berens is a world-class athlete, but he’s no Michael Phelps. The two teamed up to help the United States win a relay swimming gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and will probably both participate in the 2012 Games. But outside the pool their lives couldn’t be more different.
Berens can still walk down the street without being mobbed by autograph seekers, while Phelps is an internationally-known celebrity who has appeared in advertisements for some of the world’s biggest brands. Phelps’s fame and instant recognizability have helped him land sponsorships and marketing deals, likely without lifting a finger.
But Berens says athletes such as himself — who excel at lower profile sports yet aren’t global icons like Phelps or track star Usain Bolt — need something to help level the personal branding playing field and increase their visibility and business potential.
Enter social media.
“You’re not getting all the TV time, so you have create your own story,” Berens told Mashable in an interview. “Social media gives me a chance to do that.”
Berens began boosting his social presence, primarily on Twitter and Facebook, about a year ago with consulting help from the new media marketing company Spiracle Media. Since then, he’s says he’s secured sponsorship deals with BMW, Got Chocolate Milk and TYR. Those deals were made possible by a number of factors, but Berens says he’s sure his social media efforts played a crucial role.
SEE ALSO: How Social Media Will Change the Olympics [INFOGRAPHIC]On Twitter, he chats with fans frequently, motivates young swimmers and gives followers windows into his day-to-day life. When someone asked last fall if he could defeat his girlfriend, fellow U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni, in a breaststroke race (her specialty) he posted this video to Facebook. He even recently built his own re-vamped website, tinkering for a few months in WordPress and only calling in outside help a couple of times.
“I think businesses are starting to realize the potential of having social media as one of their main channel,” Berens says. “So when they look to sponsor athletes, they want to see how big of a following they have on Twitter and Facebook and how involved they are.”
That especially applies to athletes like him. Outside swimming, Berens points to decathlete Bryan Clay and sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross as other under-the-radar Olympians who do stellar jobs leveraging social platforms.
“We only come up once every four years, so the hardest part of our job is to keep people remembering us,” Berens says. “Social media has really helped and changed how we can keep the spotlight in the years we aren’t in the Olympics.”
Image courtesy RickyBerens.com
More About: olympics, Social Media, sports
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Why Sound Could Win in the Battle Against Video on the Web
Just like you learned to crawl before you walked, you learned to listen to your mother’s heartbeat from within her womb before you saw anything outside of it.
On stage at Mashable Connect in Orlando, Soundcloud CEO Alexander Ljung described the early developments of our senses, saying we’re born with imperfect eyesight but enter the world with perfect hearing.
He used the infant example to illustrate how our lives began audibly and then transitioned into a visual ecosystem, particularly now that the Internet hosts countless videos screaming for attention.
Ljung, however, envisions us shifting back to those early experiences — “back to the heartbeat” — when sound first reigned supreme among our senses.
“We’re getting closer to the point where technology will help us not be deaf online — where we can unmute the web,” he said during his presentation, “Sound Will Be Bigger Than Video,” which included background music.
But exactly why and how will sound be bigger than video? Ljung cites several reasons.
- Videos demand full attention but … : “Sound is the only thing out there that you can consume in parallel while doing multiple things,” Ljung asserts. He also says there eventually will be more minutes spent listening to sound than minutes spent watching videos.
- Sound incites emotions: “The fastest way to make you feel is through these,” Ljung says, pointing to his ears. “More sound on the web means people will feel me.”
- Advancements in technology make it easier to create sound: Content creators and everyday people love simplicity. Ljung, for example, pit a record button versus the QWERTY keyboard layout. “Even with sound you don’t need 140 buttons; you just need a single button,” he says. “We like to think SoundCloud is 140 times simpler than Twitter.”
Although videos appear to dominate the web right now, with 60 hours of video uploaded every minute to YouTube, sound creation also is seeing growth. SoundCloud, for one, averages 1 million new users per month, with 10 million registered users in total.
At one point during Ljung’s presentation, he halted the music and stopped talking for several awkward seconds.
“Without any sound, this presentation would be kind of bleak,” he says, adding that sound is key to our lives. “As humans we’re spending more and more of our time online.
“The web is unmuting really fast.”
Do you agree with Ljung’s prediction that video will take a backseat to sound in the battle for web users’ attention? Sound off in the comments, or just take a look at Ljung’s amazing shoes he wore on stage. Now those are loud.
Swag Bag
The contents of each bag given to Mashable Connect attendees.
Click here to view this gallery.
Mashable Connect Sponsors
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Definition 6 is a Unified Marketing Agency that creates brand experiences that unite brands and people in motion. Through imagination, innovation and insight, we execute ideas that deliver continued value across all brand interactions. For more information, please visit http://www.definition6.com.
The Adobe Digital Marketing Suite is an integrated set of applications which allow businesses to gather customer insight and optimize advertising, conversion and retention efforts as well as the creation and distribution of content. For example, using the Suite, marketers can identify the most effective marketing strategies and ad placements as well as create relevant, personalized and consistent customer experiences across digital marketing channels, such as onsite, display, e-mail, social, video and mobile. The Suite enables marketers to automatically adjust to customer interactions and better maximize marketing ROI, which leads to a positive impact the bottom line.
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The leading resource for human resource and business leaders to explore and discuss the latest workforce and workplace trends including social innovation—providing the in-depth research and insights needed to adapt and take advantage of what’s next.
Instagram photo courtesy of Lance Ulanoff.
More About: Entertainment, mashable connect, Music, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube
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May 04 2012
25 Stunning Cityscapes on Instagram
The Best of Instagram Series is presented by T-Mobile. Its 4G Tweet Race, a week-long campaign launching May 3, pits Twitter users against one another in a daily, frantic race for retweets. There are 7 races, and the winners of each heat win a new HTC One™ S phone with a year of T-Mobile’s Unlimited Value service, and the final winner takes home $4,000.
Do you ever dream of seeing the world but can’t find the time or money to do so? Well, quite a few Instagram users can bring the world to you with their filtered photos of gorgeous cityscapes.
Whether it’s Paris, London, Buenos Aires or New York City with X-pro II, Toaster, Inkwell or Hefe, there’s plenty to see on the 50-million strong photo-sharing platform. Owners of iPhones and Androids capture skylines, facades and brief moments of city life.
Check out the gallery below for an Instagram guided tour through some of the best and most beautiful cities around the globe. Which photos do you find the most striking? Sound off in the comments.
1. Circle, Indonesia
Courtesy of @bogieeryawan
Click here to view this gallery.
Series presented by T-Mobile
The Best of Instagram Series is presented by T-Mobile. The 4G Tweet Race is a week-long campaign starting May 3 that pits Twitter users against one another in a daily, frantic race for retweets. Players register on the official Tweet Race page on T-Mobile’s Test Drive, and each racer’s tweets must contain three elements: #4GTweets, http://t-mo.co/4GTweets and @TMobile, and must be submitted during the race to be eligible. There are 7 races over the course of the week, and the winners of all 7 heats will face off in a final race on May 15th to see whose social graph is quickest. The winner of each heat will win a new HTC One™ S phone with a year of T-Mobile’s Unlimited Value service, and the final winner will take home a cool $4,000.
Image courtesy of @natenurse.
More About: Best of Instagram Series, features, instagram, mashable, Photos, Social Media, trending
Study Says Facebook Privacy Concerns Are on the Rise – Is It Accurate?
Consumer Report’s annual State of the Net study found that people are increasingly concerned with their privacy on Facebook. The report breaks down social privacy into a handful of categories: over-sharing by users, underuse of privacy controls, over-collection of data, over-sharing of data by apps and cyberbullying or harassment.
2,002 online households were surveyed, including 1,340 Facebook users. Based on those numbers, Consumer Reports extrapolated its results upon the rest of Facebook’s 188 million North American users.
The study raises alarms about Facebook’s privacy practices — but does the author do enough to back up his or her claims?
Over-Sharing
4.8 million Facebook users have posted their plans for the day on the site, according to the report’s extrapolation. Consumer Reports suggests that’s a potential tip-off for thieves who can use that information to plan a robbery.
The report was unclear about how many of those 4.8 million users set their location sharing to “friends only,” which would drastically reduce the threat of theft. Jeff Fox, technology editor at Consumer Reports, told Mashable that 10-15% of Facebook users set their sharing to “public,” rather than friends-only. That’s about 500,000 of those 4.8 million location-sharers.
Fox also pointed to a recent story of thieves who robbed a house using information shared on Facebook, but he couldn’t provide statistics indicating whether that’s a common occurrence or an isolated event.
Consumer Reports also said that Facebook users who publicly “like” a page about a disease, such as diabetes, may tip-off insurers who can then deny those users coverage. Fox was unable to cite statistics showing whether that actually happens, however.
Underuse of Privacy Controls
13 million users, says Consumer Reports, either haven’t set or don’t know about Facebook’s privacy tools. However, with 188 million users in the U.S. and Canada, that means more than 90% of users do change their privacy settings from the default.
Facebook has been responding to privacy concerns, albiet not to everyone’s satisfaction. It rolled out broad new privacy changes over the summer of last year.
Information about privacy settings is available on Facebook’s site. Users are expected to set their privacy protection to levels with which they feel comfortable and protected, but some privacy groups call for Facebook to deliver this information more directly and to make the default settings more secure.
Over-Collection of Data
Facebook “collects more data than you may imagine,” warns Consumer Reports, and that’s certainly true. The website keeps tabs on users’ activity both on and off the site, sometimes even if they’re not logged in. Facebook manages this via cookies that follow Internet users who visit sites that embed the ubiquitous “like” button on their pages — an ever-increasing number of websites.
Facebook has said that it uses this information to improve security, but privacy advocates warn that such information could potentially be sold to advertisers — which Facebook denies doing.
However, as Consumer Reports points out, Facebook is planning to release more of the data it stores about users, such as IP addresses and facial recognition patterns.
Over-Collection of Data
Consumer Reports‘ study argues that Facebook users often pay little attention to the permissions they give to third-party apps. All third-party apps on Facebook require users to “opt-in” by granting permission for an app to look at your news feed, update your status, and so on. It’s up to each individual user to pay attention to these permissions and decide if they should continue installing an app.
Some apps, warns the report, can look at users’ information even if they haven’t installed the app themselves. They do this, says Consumer Reports, by accessing information about users from their friends that have the app installed. Such a grab can be prevented through careful modification of privacy settings.
“Even if you have restricted your information to be seen by friends only, a friend who is using a Facebook app could allow your data to be transferred to a third party without your knowledge,” says the report.
Fox was unable to cite any examples of an app which performs this roundabout information grab.
Cyberbullying and Harassment
Consumer Reports says that “problems are on the rise” — 11% of households using Facebook had “trouble” last year, which ranges from a stranger using their login information to online harassment. The report highlights cyberbullying against children, claiming that 800,000 children under 13 had been “harassed or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on Facebook.”
The report didn’t give exact definitions of “trouble,” “harassment” or “cyberbullying.” Such cases could range from commonplace teasing to more extreme and dangerous forms of social rejection, and it’s impossible to know these details from this study. Fox wasn’t able to clarify the definitions used in Consumer Reports’ survey.
Facebook and Privacy
Consumer Reports’ study shows that privacy is an ever-increasing concern as Facebook and other social media become a more central part of everyday life. However, careful observation of the report raises more questions than it answers. Some observers, including journalist and Internet commentator Jeff Jarvis, label the report as “fear-mongering” that’s harmful to the public’s understanding of social networks.
“My fear is that such fear-mongering will lead to more regulation and a less open and free net,” wrote Jarvis on his blog. “Consumer Reports is not fulfilling its mission to protect us with this campaign. It will hurt us.”
More About: Facebook, privacy, Social Media
May 03 2012
Klout Unveils New API, Growth Statistics
Fresh off debuting a mobile app, Klout has just released a new version of its application programming interface (API) in response to demand from developers.
More than 6,000 third-party developers — up from 2,000 last year — have used the original API to infuse Klout features into their apps or platforms. Klout now serves 1 billion API calls every day, which is 80 times more data served a year ago.
Klout says its iPhone app, which arrived in late April, was built on the updated API.
“Partners have pulled data from our API since 2008 to offer a wide range of services to influencers, be it room upgrades at the Palms Hotel, targeted match-making through Tawkify or cash back rewards from Capital One based on people’s Klout scores,” Klout developer evangelist Tyler Singletary wrote in an announcement Thursday.
Developers can register for version 2 of the API here. Klout stopped accepting registrations for version 1 on April 16. The old API will be shut off Dec. 31.
Klout touts these features of Version 2:
- “Instead of being Twitter-focused, it’s now ‘Klout-focused;’ we offer a service that translates identifiers from Twitter to Klout IDs to facilitate speed and to incorporate influence from other networks in the future.”
- “The new API is faster, asynchronous and has a new caching system.
- “Because it’s based on our internal architecture, we’ll soon release new features to the API.”
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One new feature is an “oAuth2-based authentication system” that will soon let users give +Ks to people from outside of Klout.com. For example, a person might give someone else a +K while browsing Tumblr. Users distribute +Ks to vouch for people’s expertise or knowledge on a certain topic (see gallery below).
Thursday’s API announcement revealed API calls have increased almost by 20 billion per month since February, hitting 30 billion per month.
BONUS: What Else Does Klout Have in Store for 2012?
Looking ahead, Klout is still building scoring models for seven more services (YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress.com, Last.fm and Flickr) that have already been integrated onto Klout users’ dashboards. Klout also plans to add Quora, Yelp, Posterous, Livefyre, Disqus, bit.ly and BranchOut.
SEE ALSO: Klout Unveils Brand Pages With Red Bull as Its Sole Launch PartnerKlout likely will continue improving its Topics feature (see screenshots below) and Klout Perks platform. The Topics feature, which rolled out in September and lets you gain insights on top influencers and +K recipients for specific content areas, got a visual update in December with a “sashes” and an “Add a Topic” button.
Clickable Topics on Your Dashboard
On your Klout dashboard, you can click on a topic to open its Topic Page.
In December 2011, Klout rolled out sashes and an "Add a Topic" button. A blue sash goes to users with the most +Ks for any topic, while a gold sash is given to influencers based on Klout's algorithm. People who fall into both categories receive a blue-and-gold sash.
Click here to view this gallery.
More About: api, apps, developers, klout, mobile apps, online influence, Social Media
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