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iePlexus Social Media News Brief: March 5, 2010

From Twitter passing it’s 10 billionth tweets, to an amazing viral video, find out what happened this week in the world of social media.

Twitter passed it’s 10 billionth tweet Thursday night around 8pm eastern.  It’s a significant milestone for the social network which passed it’s first billion back in November 2008, and the 5 billionth mark just about four and a half months ago.  According to Mashable.com, the 10 billionth tweet was from an protected user, so we don’t know what the tweet actually said.  We asked you guys What do you like most about using Twitter?! Or what don’t you like? And here’s what some of you had to say.  Mary White-Levilain said on our Facebook page that Twitter provides great possibilities for connecting across networks. I’m still organizing lists, groups connections. Let’s get global! On Twitter @rawrboi21 said I like how information is spread so quickly, its like gossiping online. lol. @will8907 says Twitter has changed my life and how I’m interacting with the world. I think it helped me find my passion! #socialmedia @dude4you said Twitter has helped me learn how to navigate the internet from connecting me to various people, places, & link’s for free!!You can chime in with your thoughts and opinions by heading to our Facebook page or send us a message on Twitter. 

YouTube released it’s automatic closed captioning feature this week.  The feature detects your voice in the video and then automatically translates it to texts and creates closed caption for your video.  Unfortunately, the feature is still in beta mode and it looks like it will stay that way for awhile.  The detection is very weak and only correctly gets about 10% of your text correctly.  A website has been created to feature some of the most bizarre phrases the feature comes out with.  You can read those captions on YouTubeCaptionFail.com.

 The second annual Shorty Awards were held this week in New York City.  CNN’s Rick Sanchez hosted the ceremony which awarded Twitterers in 28 different categories to award those who share the diverse ways Twitter can be used to created the best rel time short form content.  William Shatner, & Suzi Orman were just a few of the celebrities who made a brief appearance at the ceremony via video.  Janis Krum was awarded the best photo on Twitter for his picture of the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson last year.  A list of all the winners can be found on our blog.

 A few weeks ago a number of celebrities came together to recreate the music video for We Are The World, but in this week’s viral video, 57 of YouTube singing stars came together to also remake the song and created this. Take a listen.