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uSocial Lets You Buy Twitter-Followers

Authored by Jay Baage on July 2, 2009 - 7:57am.

Australia - How is this for an innovative social media marketing idea? An Australian marketing company called  uSocial is offering a paid service that finds followers for users of the micro-blogging service Twitter. Is it cheating? You decide.

Guest Column: Why Facebook Will Fail

Authored by dmw on June 17, 2009 - 10:44am.

Last reports I saw had Facebook at over 200 million active worldwide unique users (and growing) and an estimated $200m-plus in annual revenue in 2008. Pretty kooky to claim it'll be a failure, eh? Let me start by saying that social networking itself is a utility that is not routinely differentiated by any particular protectable intellectual property. It's a utility that demonstrates a better way for the online and mobile web audience at-large to connect with each other. But it's also a utility that ultimately threatens to be its own worst enemy.

Do You Prefer Facebook or MySpace?

Authored by dmw on June 15, 2009 - 10:50am.

Buzz Watch: Southwest Airlines’ Rapping Flight Attendant

Authored by Jay Baage on May 20, 2009 - 10:27am.

I like Southwest Airlines. The video embedded above reinforces that feeling. In it, Southwest Airlines’ Rapping Flight Attendant, David Holmes, explains Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in a “GAAP Rap” at the 2009 Shareholder’s Meeting held at the Company’s Dallas headquarters today. While the audience might not get it, I bet YouTubers will. Southwest is a good example of a company that understands how to use social media. BTW I found out about this video through their Twitter feed. Follow SouthwestAir.

Mark Cuban: How Twitter and Facebook Now Compete with Google

Authored by Mark Cuban on May 18, 2009 - 4:32am.

Last year I wrote a blog post entitled “If the news is important it will find me”. The point was that we all live in so many social networks, that someone will send us an update if something in the world happens that we would be interested in.  Back then I was guessing.  A year later I have data. For the 1st time ever, more people are finding my blog from Twitter and Facebook referrals than via Google.  The total number of people coming to my blog is increasing. The percentage of people who find it via Google is declining. Significantly.

Ashton Kutcher Becomes the First to Reach 1 Million Followers on Twitter

Authored by Jay Baage on April 17, 2009 - 11:49am.

Los Angeles - Hollywood Actor and Producer Ashton Kutcher became the first person to reach one million followers on the mobile microblogging service Twitter. In doing so, Kutcher won a much-publicized duel with CNN to get to 1 million followers first. The hype around the service also reached new levels as TV-host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey sent out her first tweet on Friday.

imeem's Dalton Caldwell on Monetizing Social Networks

Authored by Jay Baage on March 11, 2009 - 7:29am.

New York - Music-focused online social network imeem has raised over $50 million in funding from investors including Sequoia Capital and Warner Music Group, according to reports. In this exclusive interview from DMW's recent Digital Music Forum East, imeem's 28-year-old founder Dalton Caldwell, recently featured in BusinessWeek.com's up-and-comers under 30 section, talks about new ad formats the company is about to launch, how they are working on developing and monetizing a broader mobile offering, as well as what kind of music he personally listens to.

Buzz Watch: Twitter feed from Digital Music Forum East

Authored by Jay Baage on February 25, 2009 - 8:14am.
New York - You can follow the discussion at Digital Music Forum East 2009 live on Twitter and we encourage you to join in and post your comments and questions there as well. Tag and search for messages with the hash code #dmfe. Both Ned and I will also be live blogging from the event on Twitter. If you want to follow us, our Twitter user names are nedsherman and joakimbaage. There is also an event page on Facebook where you can see who is attending, network and interact with leaders in the digital music industry.

Do You Believe The Scientist Saying That Facebook and Bebo Risk 'Infantilizing' the Human Mind?

Authored by Jay Baage on February 24, 2009 - 7:48am.

Analysis: 7 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Twitter's Success

Authored by Rohit Bhargava on February 19, 2009 - 9:23am.
By any measure, the growth and popularity of Twitter has been phenomenal. To say that Twitter has hit mainstream isn't really the right metric to use. It's more powerful to note that for a large group of Twitter enthusiasts, to spend even a day without using it would be as bad (or perhaps even worse) than not having email. It has become just that necessary. How did the site get to this point? And what are the lessons that any entrepreneur might be able to learn from how it got there? Here are a few thoughts on the real secrets behind Twitter's success:

Buzz Watch: Facebook Turns Five and the Audience Is Growing Older

Authored by Heather Dougherty on February 4, 2009 - 8:25am.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the launch of Facebook, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to look at the website’s impact upon the social networking category. Overall, Facebook was the #5 ranked website by total market share of visits in January 2009. One year ago, visits to Facebook represented 15% of the total social networking category while MySpace captured 73%. In January 2009, Facebook’s share doubled to reach 31%, while MySpace’s total share of the category eroded to 57%.

Will Christian Bale's Viral Tirade On The Set Of T4 Hurt The Movie Or His Career?

Authored by Jay Baage on February 3, 2009 - 12:07pm.

Buzz Watch: Social Networks Overtake Adult Websites in the UK

Authored by Robin Goad on January 27, 2009 - 7:55am.

Last week we provided the BBC with some interesting data illustrating how UK Internet visits to Social Networks and Forums have overtaken Adult websites. As the chart below illustrates, social networks overtook last October and have remained ahead since.

Analysis: Inauguration Day Stats

Authored by Heather Dougherty on January 23, 2009 - 10:18am.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States was a major event for US Internet users on Tuesday since many needed to rely upon online streaming on news websites to view the event from work. As one might expect, the Broadcast Media and Politics categories were the main beneficiaries from the Inauguration activities, increasing 33% and 53%, respectively, as compared to the market share of visits on the previous Tuesday.

Analysis: Twitter Catches Up To Digg

Authored by Heather Dougherty on January 20, 2009 - 10:33am.

Twitter has become a popular pastime for many who like to update their daily thoughts and activates, as well as for the voyeurs who just enjoy reading the tweets. Last week, the market share of visits to Twitter surpassed Digg for the first time since launch and was ranked #84 (one above Digg at #85) in the Computers and Internet category. A big driver of traffic to Twitter last week was around the US Airways plane crash in to the Hudson River last Thursday, driving many posts and updates about the situation.

imeem Founder and CEO Dalton Caldwell to Keynote at Digital Music Forum East

Authored by Jay Baage on January 8, 2009 - 8:52am.

We are very happy to announce that music-focused social network imeem's 28-year-old founder and CEO Dalton Caldwell will keynote at our upcoming Digital Music Forum East on February 25-26, 2009. He will give attendees a rare look into the current inner workings of the digital music industry and what role he would like imeem and other social networks and streaming services to play in the music eco-system of the future. A recent TV interview with Caldwell embedded above.

Social Xmas: Facebook’s Busiest UK Day So Far, YouTube Overtakes Hotmail

Authored by Robin Goad on December 30, 2008 - 2:56am.

With all of the focus on the economic downturn and the troubles in the retail sector, it’s easy to forget the continued growth of social networking in the UK. Christmas is traditionally the busiest time of year for social networks, and this festive season the sector achieved three significant new milestones.

Analysis: A Compilation of 2009 Social Media Predictions Worth Reading

Authored by Rohit Bhargava on December 15, 2008 - 11:49am.
It started with a simple email from Peter. An invitation to contribute some thoughts to a collaborative blog post talking about the future. It's a good topic on this 15th day of the last month of the year, a mere two weeks until we welcome 2009. Which may explain why when Peter Kim from Forrester Research sent his email, 13 other highly popular bloggers and (dare I say) social media "personalities" took him up on his offer and each contributed a some thoughts to a single collaborative post.

Will Sony PlayStation Home Be A Success?

Authored by Jay Baage on December 10, 2008 - 12:04pm.

Buzz Watch: Katy Perry's ”I Kissed A Girl” My Pick For Viral Music Phenomenon of 2008

Authored by Jay Baage on December 7, 2008 - 9:05pm.

Ever since the November 2007 digital release of her single “Ur So Gay,” Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Katy Perry has exploded into a pop-culture phenomenon, much thanks to the Internet. 23 years young, Perry recently hosted YouTube’s first online gala ”YouTube Live” - her song ”I kissed a girl” has inspired 1000’s of covers on the popular video-sharing site (as you can see in the clip embedded above): Everything from this weird German mash-up of Scarface to this version of the song from a gay man’s perspective by British indierockers Travis. Funny thing, when I searched YouTube for the official music video of the song on YouTube, it seems her record label Capitol Music Group had disabled the embed-option. I wonder who was behind that decision? In any case, it doesn’t prevent the song from being my pick for viral music phenomenon of 2008. BTW, did you know that Katy is the child of two pastors?