Social Media

Yahoo Connects With Facebook To Gain Users

Yahoo, the second most popular search engine behind Google, is trying to gain some momentum.  Yahoo announced today that the company would be integrating  the popular social networking site, Facebook to the search engine. 

Yahoo has rolled out Facebook Connect on a number of its sites in hopes more Facebook users will use Yahoo to share items with the 350 million other users on the networking site.  Facebook is also likely to see an increase in users with the new integration.  Yahoo Mail, News, Sports, along with several other Yahoo sections, will connect with Facebook, allowing users to leave comment, share stories, and check out what their friends are posting from their news feed.  (more…)

Facebook Passes 350 Million Users, Big Changes Coming

Just the other week, we told that if Facebook were a nation, it’s population would be much larger than the United States.  While that remains true, Facebook’s population seems to be exploding.  Late last night, Facebook CEO & Founder Mark Zuckerberg had sent out an open letter to all of it’s users.  While we reported less than a month ago, that Facebook had 325 million users, Zuckerberg officially announced the site has more than 350 million users.  That is a tremendous increase just within the past month alone. 

Facebook has seen it’s number’s grow drastically this year, more than doubling in population.  Taking a look back, in August of 2008, the popular social networking site had just 100 million users.  It then took nearly 5 months for Facebook to gain 50 million users.  Since then, the site has grown on average 50 million users every 3-4 months.  This year alone, Facebook has gained 200 million users, and there are no signs of slowing down. (more…)

Social Media Turns #Red

December 1 marks World AIDS Day, a one-day campaign to bring awareness to the AIDS epidemic in Africa.  Known as (RED), Nike, along with Internet powerhouses Facebook, Twitter & Google are all trying to bring awareness to the campaign which was started by Bono & Bobby Shriver in 2006. 

Facebook has an entire (RED) fan page, which includes a video explaining more about the campaign.  One of the neatest features you can do through the site is make a contribution.  It’s not just a donation though, it’s an entire store full of items, ranging from Starbucks gift cards, t-shirts, and even a red Dell laptop.  100% of the proceeds go towards the campaign.  Just by shopping, you could help someone with HIV/AIDS in Africa. (more…)

A Social Media Guide To Black Friday

It’s hard to believe, but the 2009 holiday season is upon us.  For the past several weeks, we’ve told you about companies gearing up for the holiday season.  While the ‘official’ start to holiday shopping doesn’t begin until Friday, companies have been using the power of the Internet in order to attract customers. Black Friday 2009 will definitely be different from years past, as Twitter and Facebookhave become a regulare part of our everyday life. (more…)

Twitter Founder: Site Not for Sale

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone assured reporters Monday that, contrary to popular belief, the microblogging website is not up for sale, and there are no plans for a sale.  However, Stone said Twitter may eventually go public on the stock market for funding if necessary.

“We are definitely not interested in selling the company,” he said.  Later on he suggested that Twitter could eventually eye an initial public offering (IPO). “If an IPO’s the only thing, then sure. But if there is some other way, then that would be great too. Maybe some other new way will emerge.” (more…)

Record Exec Arrested after Failure to Tweet?

Over the weekend, James Roppo, vice president of Island Def Jam Records was arrested in Garden City, N.Y.  His crime: not tweeting.  Yes, as in not using the popular social networking site, Twitter. 

Roppo was in Garden City with Canadian teen pop sensation Justin Bieber, who was supposed to perform a free concert for the several thousand screaming teen-aged fans who had waited for him, lining up as early as 4 a.m., at the Roosevelt Field Mall.  Several hours before the 15-year-old’s concert, things got out of hand and five people were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries.  (more…)

‘What’s Happening’ With Twitter?

Twitter users around the world have a few questions to ask themselves.  “What’s happening?” In what might seem like a minor change to some, Twitter users are now implored to answer that question rather than “What are you doing?”

Twitter’s company blog had the following to say this morning: “Twitter was originally conceived as a mobile status update service—an easy way to keep in touch with people in your life by sending and receiving short, frequent answers to one question, ‘What are you doing?’ However, when we implemented the service, we chose to leave something out. To stay simple, Twitter did not require individuals to confirm relationships. Instead, we left things open. (more…)

YouTube to Support Automatic Closed Captioning

A few months ago, I opened a message from someone who watched a video of mine.  The message said:

“I am intrigued from reading what the people have commented on your videos. Not to mention your charismatic expression…

 
One teeny-weeny problem here: I am deaf and cannot understand what you have been saying on the videos. I wonder if it is possible to subtitle your videos. The subtitles also benefit the hearing people who are learning English as foreign language.

 
I know the technology to add the subtitles exists, but it is not always this easy sometimes.”

This really got me thinking.  I had never really thought about how the hearing impaired really can’t watch online videos and get the full effect, unless someone manually put captions on the video itself, or if the video featured signing.  It’s been something on my mind and something I personally have been trying to work on.  I want everyone to be able get the message — not just in my video, but in everyone else’s as well. (more…)

Facebook Ranked Third Most Popular Video Site

When you think of watching a video online, you most likely think of YouTube. And why wouldn’t you, considering the multitude of videos to be found on that site.

In fact, there are so many videos on YouTube, some say that  it would take over 600 years watch all the videos on the site today– and that’s without a bathroom break.  Hulu also might come to mind.  Launched in 2008, Hulu offers viewers over 10,000 hours of content from several American television networks, including NBC, ABC, and FOX along with several cable networks.

But what about Facebook?  Facebook for video!? According to some recent results from Nielsen, Facebook has rapidly climbed the charts by assuming the No. 3 spot for an online video website.  The popular social-networking site had streamed a total of 217.7 million views in the month of October.  That’s nearly double the total from September, when Facebook had just reached the top 10 mark with 110 million views.  (more…)

YouTube Introduces Tool for Citizen Journalists

YouTube has some great video.  You can find video from just about anywhere, from any event, with almost anyone.  And since anyone can shoot a video and post it, news organizations often showcase YouTube videos from events that they personally don’t have footage from.  Of course this played a crucial role earlier this year during the national election in Iran, when journalists were banned from reporting there.  Instead, the citizens of Iran took out their cameras and shot video and posted it to various sites all over the web.  

However, actually finding a specific video among millions of others can be a bit tricky sometimes.  A new tool designed by YouTube aims to change that. YouTube Direct will help connect websites connect with its users, most specifically news organizations with citizen journalists.    (more…)