It’s the business of engagement, of interpretation, of reaching people before they reach the product or service they love. Social media from an instrumental perspective has helped evolve a sub-class of new society based on their participation in online activities. It has changed the way we look around us.

Earlier it was considered a platform for socializing, a window that connects people, an auxiliary for leisure, a corner to share emotions and share ideas. Over a period of time it transformed into a major marketing pillar. From start-ups to local business and multinational corporations, all businesses recognized the need to expand their presence online using sites that connect and involve direct human participation.

Days of traditional marketing through newspapers, magazine advertisements, posters and television commercials seem to be fading. The size of human engagement online is greater than conventional marketing mediums.

Marketing, no matter conventional or technocratic, blows away barriers and distance between potential customers and the product. A real-time analogy tells us that online marketing through social media sites makes far-reaching interactions with millions of people at the same time easy.

Simple Facebook or LinkedIn user statistics are enough to support the view that, in comparison of conventional marketing, digital marketing through social media is powerful tool because it engages an unthinkably large number of people.

It all takes places beyond fun, games, status updates and tweets; an unimaginably vast playground filled with digitized thinking.

According to the Digital Marketing Ramblings‘ website release of statistics of the number of people using the most popular social media sites, Facebook is on the top slot with 1 billion users, followed by YouTube with 800 million users and 4 billion views per day, QQ with 700 million users, and the Micro-blogging platform Twitter has 500 million users.

Further, Sina Weibo has 400 million users and LinkedIn has 175 million users. According to Media bistro, in their social media marketing industry report, 83 percent of marketers believe that social media is important, and about 94 percent of marketers use social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter for business purposes.

A tally among the tools reveals that Facebook is in the top slot on the preference list of marketers, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn. This is testimonial information with an indication that social connectivity will be helpful for businesses based on customers’ presence.

However, some critics argue that as users gradually move to mobile phones from the computer, advertisements need to undergo technical renovation to keep the communication line alive, or else days are numbered for online marketers.

According to Mashable, Kleiner Perkins’ partner Mary Meeker illustrated the financial gap in her annual trend report that says mobile phones occupy 10 percent of people’s media consumption time and commands only 1 percent of advertising budgets.

It’s an indication that marketing will undergo change following consumer decisions; it means that as screen size expands or contracts (from personal computer to laptops, from tablets to mobile phones), advertisements will change to fit them.

But perhaps, no matter to what platform on-line marketing may divert, it is for sure days of digital marketing are greatly radiant.

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Two wars are being waged in Syria. There is the physical fighting going on between the rebels and government troops but there is also a media war going on in which the results of the physical battles are being hidden or changed to misrepresent facts. One young activist, Yahya Abdulrahman, a physics student at Aleppo University claimed, “The regime is fighting the people in two ways. One is with the army. The other is with the media. There are parts of the Free Syrian Army that are fighting the regime. But there are other parts fighting the regime’s hackers.””

Smart phones have been key in the Syrian uprising – just like in the Arab Spring revolutions – because, according to the Christian Science Monitor, it is a way for the people to undermine the state media (which is controlled by Assad) and get supporters within Syria and in the rest of the world. So far the Syrian government has banned access to YouTube and Facebook, but several of the youth have found ways around these government firewalls.

Having smart phones and access to computers and internet allow the rebels to communicate with friends and family as well as talk to soldiers who want to defect to the rebel army.

Many Syrian rebels have risked their lives while fighting the media war. According to the Guardian hundreds of video activists have joined the revolution through videography; most are male, young, and technologically capable individuals. Abdulrahman, one of these activists, admits that filming is just as dangerous as fighting with a gun: “If the army sees anyone with a camera they try and kill him first.”

However, the video aspect of the revolution is just as important as the actual physical fighting. Assad controls Syria’s television stations which claim that the Free Syrian Army (the rebels) is a group of “terrorists” and “al-Qaida” while also broadcasting pro-regime propaganda. Abu Mhio, a rebel media activist claims, “When we will be free, [Syrian TV] will be dead.”

If Assad controls all of the media in the country he can prevent the successes of the rebels from being reported which lowers their support and prevents more people from getting involved. In order to ensure that the world and the Syrian people actually know what is going on in Syria they must record it for themselves, even if it is emotionally tolling and life-threatening.

Abdulrahman was arrested once for video-recording a protest on his campus. After being beaten and made to sign a piece of paper claiming he was an informant, he was released and continued filming for the rebels. He has also filmed the dead in the streets to show the toll of the fighting. “I filmed one of the children killed last week. We hadn’t eaten all day because of Ramadan. But afterwards I couldn’t touch any food.”

In previous years rebels have not had such technological access to aid them in their cause. Hafez al-Assad, the current ruler’s father, ruled Syria from 1970 and was responsible for destroying the Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the city of Hama in 1982, killing at least 10,000 people. One rebel fighter explained to the Christian Science Monitor, “His father destroyed Hama in a few days, but there was no TV there and no internet to show the world. But today we have the internet, we photograph and film and have Al Jazeera, so people know. They can see what is happening.”

Few journalists have been allowed within Syria in the recent months of fighting, but those that have, have received threats. One Guardian journalist received a death threat via a tweet from a member of the regime stating, “I pray every night that you die.”

Those journalists that are allowed in the country are also not provided a lot of access. Another journalist, Alex Thomson, tweeted “Syrian government is losing the PR war” when they refused to let him interview or record the Syrian military.

Ultimately, winning the media war will be just as important as winning the physical war for both sides. The rebels have succeeded in many ways but they must take Aleppo in order to really start making changes. According to Burhan Ghalioun, a member of the Syrian National Council currently in Paris, if the rebels take Aleppo “there will be nothing more that will stand in the way of the Free Syrain Army. Hama, Homs, to the outskirts of Damascus have in large part been liberated.”

Image Courtesy of  Omar Chatriwala

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Hod Hasharon, Israel — Allot Communications, a leading provider of service optimization and revenue generation solutions for fixed and mobile data networks worldwide, have announced a new Allot Olympics Report tracking broadband traffic volumes and usage patterns during the 2012 Olympics in London.

Traffic statistics were collected from mobile and fixed networks around the globe, starting with the opening ceremony on Friday evening, July 27th, and continue throughout the games. Allot began monitoring global traffic weeks before the event to establish a usage baseline.

Results and analysis of broadband usage are posted in an Olympic Online Edition of Allot MobileTrends Report at http://www.allotmobiletrends.com. To mark the event, Allot released a special edition of protocol signatures with unique support for identifying traffic directly related to popular sources of online sports coverage such as ESPN, CNTV (China) and BBC Sports.

Key findings in the Online Report include:

• Instant Messaging increased 182% on average during the opening ceremony; WhatsApp was out front with a massive 430% increase
• Online video increased and peaked at 217% during the first official day of competition, with dedicated sites such as ESPN, BBC Sports and CNTV leading the pack
• Facebook traffic posted an 87% increase during the first two days of the games
• YouTube traffic hit 40% during the first official day of competition

This is the first time the Olympics are being streamed live over the Internet. As a result, people can watch and discuss the games anywhere, anytime via mobile access devices.

“Mobile access to the Internet has become part of the online lifestyle for billions of people, and they are taking full advantage of the online content available,” said Jonathon Gordon, Director of Marketing, Allot Communications. “Allot enables fixed and mobile broadband service providers to gain a competitive edge by monitoring and managing the real-time impact of the Olympic Games on their networks.”

Visit http://www.allotmobiletrends.com to view more statistics and sign up for updates sent directly via email

Image Courtesy of  RachelC

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New York, U.S.A. – Smart TV manufacturers are hoping that the popularity of apps with smartphone and tablet users makes its way to the living room. Manufacturers and retailers are selling more and more televisions preloaded with Internet-connected functionality, frequently referred to as Smart TVs. This provides an environment where consumers can use apps to do anything from surfing the Internet using a fully functional web browser, to streaming their favorite movies, TV shows and music right on their TV sets.

Streaming video apps are the most popular apps for both Smart TV owners and consumers who don’t yet have a Smart TV. Three of the top five “must have” apps are Netflix (Owners 47%/Non-owners 34%), YouTube (Owners 44%/Non-owners 31%) and Amazon Instant Video (Owners 34%/Non-owners 23%). Social media giant Facebook (Owners 35%/Non-owners 29%) and online radio leader Pandora (Owners 28%/Non-owners 18%) round out the top five.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,634 U.S. adults (ages 18 and over) surveyed online between May 7 and May 15, 2012 by Harris Interactive.

Younger adults (those 18-35) chose YouTube (Owners 57%) as their top “must have” app over the more traditional experience offered by Netflix (Owners 54%) and Amazon Instant Video (Owners 38%).

Almost three-quarters (73%) of non-Smart TV owners indicate that they are not that familiar (39%) or not at all familiar (33%) with Smart TV or Internet Connected TV, despite the fact that shipment data suggests that manufacturers are continuing to ship more and more Smart TVs.

This could be a major barrier to future purchase consideration, as only 7% of those who are not familiar with Smart TV are likely to purchase a Smart TV within the next 12 months. Conversely, non-Smart TV owners with a greater level of familiarity are four times (4x) more likely to purchase a Smart TV, with 29% suggesting that they are likely or very likely to purchase a Smart TV within the next 12 months.

So what?

“Younger adults desire a more social TV viewing experience,” says Manny Flores, Senior Vice President at Harris Interactive.  “With the proliferation of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, younger adults are not only more tech savvy, but are accustomed to being able to share their online experiences with their friends and family. So why not add TV viewing to the list of online experiences to share?”

“As the TV becomes a more overall entertainment device, it is only a matter of time before we see the mainstream use of additional content apps, such as Facebook, being used on the TV,” added Flores. “Yet, manufacturers and retailers evidently have to do a much better job of educating their consumers on what a Smart TV is and the benefits of a Smart TV experience. Increased familiarity appears to be the key to driving purchase consideration. Also, manufacturers need to hope that familiarity with smartphone and tablet apps translates into greater interest and adoption for apps that can be used on a bigger screen in the living room.”

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between May 7 to 16, 2012 among 2,634 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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It’s now six years since the Wii’s arrival in the US market, and Nintendo sees it’s time for change. But their competitors, Sony and Microsoft, already breached the HD field in these past few years and they are now looking into expanding further with their Next Gen systems. Will the Wii U stand the trials ahead, or will Nintendo fall into obscurity?

Before deciding the fate of Nintendo, it’s important to look at what information Nintendo released for their next big push in the home console. At E3 on Tuesday June 5th, Nintendo held their Press Conference, pushing the Wii U as well as some of their title games such as New Super Mario Bros U, Nintendo Land, and Pikmin 3 which will be released along with the system this winter. At the conference, Nintendo also released selected details regarding the Wii U ranging from what fans can expect and to details about the new controller.

One of the first announcements from Nintendo of America’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Reggie Fils-Aime, was the clarification that the Wii U will support two Wii U Game Pads along with four Wii-mote plus, nunchucks, and classic controllers. As for the Game Pad, features included are, a touch screen that can be used with either the player’s fingers or a stylus, four face buttons, dual analog sticks, motion gyroscope, rumble feature, headphone jack, camera, mic, speakers, volume control (used for both the Game Pad and T.V.), and a home button for menu navigation and for the social network.

Other features offered for the Game Pad are access to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Amazon Video. The device is also supposed to be able to function as a universal T.V. remote. The biggest feature that is offered for the Game Pad, is the option to play most of Wii U’s games directly on the Game Pad, which gives the option for gamers to play their Wii U games even if the television is occupied.

As for features on the Wii U, the underlying focus of the system is Social Interaction. Upon turning on the Wii U, gamers are dropped into the main hub of their Wii U Menu, which is currently known as Main Street. In the main menu, the gamer’s Miis are dropped in an open environment with Miis from other players all while roaming around in a social network Nintendo calls the Miiverse.

The Miiverse is the peak of Nintendo’s social interaction where gamers can communicate with each other by means of texting or pictochat. The Miiverse also gives gamers the ability to post status updates, high scores,  add game hints to help others through more challenging situations in a particular game (similar to that found in ATLUS’ Demon’s Souls), as well as the option to jump right into a game that has already started. The Miiverse is also announced to be available on the 3DS as well as other mobile devices at a later date.

But the biggest push Nintendo was offering with the Wii U was the Asymmetric gameplay. Since the Wii U gives gamers the option of using the Game Pad or the Wiimotes, this gives gamers the option to have up to five players on the same system (four on the Wiimotes and one on the Game Pad). This was not described much in detail, but continuously brought up, and it became clear by what Nintendo meant with Asymmetric gameplay. In some games, as players use the Wiimotes, the person playing with the Game Pad generally has a special role. In New Super Mario Bros. U, the player with the Game Pad has the option of placing blocks to assist other players or to create obstacles.

In Just Dance 4, the player that uses the Game Pad is known as the Puppet Master, in which during a song, the Game Pad user can pick and choose any dance move he desires to make the Wiimote players do, and even has the option to force the dancers to strike a pose and have them hold it until the Puppet Master decides to choose a different move. This Asymmetric gameplay leaves open new options to future games and can greatly increase the gameplay value of games to come.

With these new updates on the Wii U, the anticipation for its winter release is great, but it is a matter of how its sales do that will be the deciding factor if Nintendo can survive the home console market. The Wii U shows great promise and many gamers continue to anticipate other details that can be expected.

The article Wii U As We Know It: Details of the Wii U Post E3 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

As technology advances at such a rapid pace, government regulations of censorship of the internet are cracking down just as fast. In recent weeks, an anonymous group has begun attacking the Indian government in retaliation of the government blocking citizens from using certain websites.

The websites that have been banned to the public thus far include, “YouTube, Vimeo (a video sharing website), Pastebin (a web application that allows users to write a large amount of text for public viewing), Daily Motion (another video sharing website) and The Pirate Bay (a Swedish website that allows users to download music, movies, games, software, etc), all in an effort to fight online piracy,” says Reporter DJ Pangburn.

Internet censorship has become a global issue. Is it perhaps that governments in various countries don’t want their citizens to see certain things on websites? Pangburn uses examples of the growth of censorship by mentioning that, “of course, it isn’t right to steal and distribute content, but it’s also not right to resort to draconian, Orwellian measures that empower governments to control the Internet.

Indeed, this architecture of control could be used for any variety of measures to stop what the government doesn’t want Internet users to see. This Internet censorship effort is truly global, with various treaties, executive agreements and UN proposals such as one currently being pushed by Russia, Iran and China that would have the UN implement an Internet code of conduct and create a superstructure to manage it all.”

The group ‘Anonymous’ keeps their identity concealed by wearing decorated masks or cloth to cover everything but their eyes. The group is communicating with the Indian government and the rest of the world through a program on the internet they created called ‘Anonymous Operations.’

On their website, the group recently announced they “had taken down the Indian Supreme Court and All India Congressional websites, as well as the Department of Telecommunications with the hacking collective accusing the Indian government of censorship and corruption in the form of bribery,” says Pangburn.

A member of India’s Upper House, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, wrote a letter to India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, expressing his opposition over India’s recent attempt to control the Internet through a United Nations committee. He wrote that, “any attempt to expand government’s power over the Internet should be turned back,” according to his website, Death & Taxes.

‘Anonymous’ chose June 9 as the protest day for the censorship of the internet in India. Several protest sites have already been announced including Mumbai, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Indore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, Kozhikode, Nagpur and Pune, according to the Times of India.

‘Anonymous’ has made a statement in regard to what they are hoping for as a result of the protests, but wants it to be known that they have no plans of this becoming a violent retaliation against the government. In the groups press release they stated, “this is to be a 100% Non-Violent Civil rights protest,” and encouraging “any one who feels they need this movement needs to be in their city can start a FB page for the Occupy City movement and let us know about it.”

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New York, U.S.A - Thirty years after its eponymous debut album, ASIA ascended to the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart (where it remained No.1 for nine consecutive weeks), the legendary British classic rock band (with all original members Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer & John Wetton) returns with a brand new studio album, a 30th Anniversary edition of their debut album, 2 DVDs, and a world tour.

ASIA will release their new studio album “XXX” (pronounced Triple X) on Frontiers Records on July 3, 2012.  The new record, produced by Mike Paxman, is being hailed as ASIA’s best album since its classic early 80s releases, and features original artwork by Roger Dean.

The first single taken from the highly anticipated new album is entitled “Face on The Bridge”, released worldwide on May 14, 2012. The video clip can be seen on YouTube.

“We’re very pleased with, and confident about XXX,” says John Wetton. “It encapsulates, lyrically and instrumentally, the essence of ASIA today.  However, it is the very same four people that gave you the original, iconic album 30 years ago.  If you loved it then, you will love it now.”

“We wanted to recapture the energy of the first album,” adds ASIA’s guitarist, Steve Howe. “ASIA has always been about great songs, and fantastic musicianship. I’m sure fans of the first album, will fall in love with XXX.” In addition ASIA has also completed “Resonance”, a DVD concert film of the group’s 2010/2011 Omega World Tour, captured live in Switzerland which will be released later in the fall.

To celebrate their 30th Anniversary, ASIA will release a collector’s edition box set based on their legendary 1982 eponymous debut album, including 2 audio CDs (a re-mastered edition of the debut album, plus a CD of live rare tracks), an expansive historical booklet, a limited edition ASIA T-shirt, items from ASIA’s 1982 tour, plus a DVD of the new band documentary: ASIA - 30 Years On.  A newly commissioned painting by Roger Dean updates the symbolic dragon and pearl from 1982 to 2012.

2012 North American tour dates so far:

Oct 17 - Red Bank, NJ, Count Basie
Oct 18 - Boston, MA, Wilbur Theater
Oct 19 - Westbury, NY, Westbury Theater
Oct 20 - Philadelphia, PA, Keswick
Oct 21 - Wilmington, DE, Opera House
Oct 23 - Verona, NY, Turning Stone Casino
Oct 25 - Ridgefield, CT, Ridgefield Playhouse
Oct 26 - Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun
Oct 27 – NY, NY, Best Buy Theater
Oct 28 - York, PA, Strand Capital
Oct 30 - Annapolis, MD, Rams Head On Stage
Nov 01 - Royal Oak, MI, Royal Oak
Nov 02 - St. Charles, IL, Arcada Theatre
Nov 03 - Sloan, IA, Winnavegas Casino Showroom
Nov 08 - Santa Ynez, CA, Chumash Casino
Nov 09 - Agoura Hills, CA, Canyon Club
Nov 10 - Las Vegas, NV, Green Valley Casino
Nov 11 - San Juan Capistrano, CA, Coach House
Nov 13 - Scottsdale, AZ, Talking Stick Casino
Nov 16 - Dallas, TX, Granada Theater
Nov 17 - Austin, TX, One World Theatre (2 shows)
Nov 20 - Clearwater, FL , Capitol Theatre
Nov 21 - Orlando, FL, Fl Plaza Theatre
Nov 23 - Manistee, MI, Little River Casino Resort

Image Courtesy of   Original Asia

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This past Tuesday, British group Florence + the Machine took to the stage at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. Led by front-woman Florence Welch, the BRIT Award-winning and Grammy-nominated performed a selection of tracks during the 60 minute show, incorporating fan favourites from debut LP ‘Lungs’ as well as new music from 2011′s follow-up LP ‘Ceremonials’.

The concert was streamed live on YouTube in partnership with HP Live, attracting a worldwide audience on top of the thousands present in the Hall. Welch commenced with the band’s well-known cover of The Source and Candi Staton’s ‘You Got the Love’ and then moved into ‘Only If for a Night’, the first track from ‘Ceremonials’.

Despite Welch and her bandmates being known for soaring sounds and anthemic beats, every track was performed with a certain degree of restrained understatement, fitting for the venue and for the melancholic nature of the charity of which they were supporting. Welch, however, kept things light and was happy to engage with the audience.

It’s so amazing to be here tonight. Thank you so much … It’s just this space and the people and for this cause, it really means so much to me, so thank you. I’ve never been so nervous in my life! Even while I’m singing, it’s just looking up and seeing thing, and then it’s like, ‘Oh! I’ve got to remember the words and keep singing! Don’t get distracted by the beautiful arches!’.

As the show went on, Welch switched seamlessly between her back catalogue, from the ethereal ‘Between Two Lungs’ to piercingly vivid ‘Cosmic Love’. She joked repeatedly that she was ‘trying to practise being poised and … orchestral’, but from the audience’s perspective she was doing just fine.

With her tall, lean frame, and her simple, elegant dress, Welch fit right in with the classical aura, and might very well find herself fielding offers from the BBC Proms next year, considering how well she adapted to the evening’s proceedings while in the middle of an arena-filling world tour.

For her encore, Welch returned to the stage and belted out ‘Shake It Out’, the lead single from ‘Ceremonials’. This was an incredibly apt track on which to end to concert, as it speaks about new beginnings, letting go of the past, and looking to the future – a message suited well to the teenagers benefiting directly from the proceeds of this event. The organisation’s mission statement is:

We don’t believe that teenagers should have to stop being teenagers, just because they have cancer. So we fund and build specialist units for young people in NHS hospitals. Our units bring teenagers with cancer together with loads of new friends of their own age so they can support each other … Teenage Cancer Trust aims to ensure that every young person with cancer and their family receive the best possible care and professional support throughout their cancer journey.

For more information, visit their website. Meanwhile, ‘Florence + the Machine”s full concert can be viewed on HP Live’s YouTube channel.

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NewsGator on February 21, 2012 announced a new way for organizations to bring enterprise video delivered by Kontiki into Microsoft SharePoint, consolidating all of their enterprise content onto a single collaboration platform.

Kontiki’s Enterprise Video Platform (EVP) helps organizations deliver high-quality live video webcasting, video on-demand and community video portals over their existing networking infrastructure. Companies such as General Motors, Nestle, Wells Fargo, Ernst & Young, Starwood, Sephora and Equinix have used Kontiki’s solution to foster an engaging video culture.

Bringing Kontiki’s patented video delivery technology to Microsoft SharePoint establishes the collaboration platform as the single, central go-to resource for enterprise content. This new capability results directly from the deep integration of Kontiki’s EVP and the NewsGator Social Sites 2010 social computing suite, which delivers a wide range of social and mobile computing capabilities for Microsoft SharePoint.

The integration enhances productivity and business performance by significantly streamlining employee information access. Organizations no longer need to spend time and effort navigating to a separate environment to find, share and manage videos.

“Microsoft SharePoint offers opportunities for organizations to increase productivity, and those opportunities are magnified by Microsoft partners, such as NewsGator, that create solutions to further collaboration,” said Richard Riley, SharePoint product management director at Microsoft Corporation.

Socializing video
In addition to consolidating content on Microsoft SharePoint, the integration makes Kontiki-delivered video more social, enabling users, through Social Sites, to post, share, “like” and comment on Kontiki-delivered video in Social Sites activity streams, communities, video repositories and internal TV channels. The result is an enterprise-grade video experience that is secure, internal, and business-oriented, maintaining a video experience akin to the public YouTube.

“Many global organizations are demanding high-quality enterprise video for a growing number of use cases and need to include this important content within their SharePoint environments,” said Kevin Crayton, Kontiki’s Vice President of Products.

“NewsGator Social Sites is their fastest path to social video integration with SharePoint and lets companies leverage all the power, efficiency, security, manageability and analytics of our proven video platform. It’s a winning combination which our customers have been looking forward to with huge interest.”

“High-quality enterprise video that can be delivered to every employee across a global company is one of the most personal, engaging and effective ways for a workforce to communicate,” said NewsGator Brian Kellner, VP of Development and Product Management. “To obtain the most value, great content should be easily accessible and in the mainstream of the social business flow. That’s what we’re doing with this integration, and the business results will speak for themselves.”

Kontiki support is part of the Social Sites Video Stream module for Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

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There are millions of innocent Facebook users who have never been faced with fraudulent web content. Emsisoft advises users therefore against new Facebook scams as they arise such as the following. Whitney Houston’s death a few days ago came as quite a surprise. The famous singer was found dead in her bathtub in a hotel in Beverly Hills, prompting immense media coverage around the circumstances of her untimely death.

The text of this particular scam reads as such: “Whitney Houston’s autopsy reveals a shocking secret that explains her death” or “Whitney Houston’s shocking cause of death revealed” and “The dark secret that ruled Whitney Houston’s life and tragically led to her death.”

Everybody who clicks one of the links that pretend to take them to a well-known American news site will in fact be redirected several times and end up facing a survey page that they are asked to take. This is the first of two methods that the scammers use to transform generated traffic into a mode of profit as they get paid for the survey results.

And finally, the user will see the YouTube video itself, which is of course nothing special, but a normal TV report about the tragedy of Whitney Houston. The more views the better for the scammer who uploaded the video. Every hit raises its ranking, thus subsequently attracting more viewers. Well-placed Google AdSense ads turn this into profit.

Christian Mairoll, CEO at Emsisoft, says, “The YouTube video has already had more than 1,000,000 hits thanks to this Facebook scam. This shows how easy it is to get many people’s attention using a current event for criminal purposes on Facebook. We advise all users not to blindly click a link, but to critically rethink content on Facebook – and in particular, not to immediately share it.”

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/asterix611/

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Google has announced that it will be updating its privacy policy and terms of service across all of its products and services on March 1. The company will remove about 60 different privacy policies and will substitute it for a single policy which should be more simple to read and understand by users. With this, Google aims to create a simple, easy, and more user-friendly experience.

Google sent the following e-mail out to all users to explain the changes:

Dear Google User,

We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.

What will happen with the new privacy policy?

When Google announced the planned changes to its privacy settings, many users were confused as to how the new policy was going to affect their usage of Google tools and services.

The new privacy policy includes a number of changes, but here are the most important points:

• The re-vamped policy affects Google search, Gmail, Google Apps, and all other properties associated with Google. It replaces the more than 60 existing product-specific privacy documents in place as a result of Google’s development of new tools and platforms. Only the new policy will be in effect as of March 1.
• No distinctions will be made between your conduct on Youtube, Google+, Gmail, or other associated products as of March 1. This merits the idea of “one user.”
• With your Google account, you will get similar results across the services, based on accumulative data of your search patterns and favorite topics. Likewise, you will be presented with a similar advertisement on the different platforms, based on your presence across the services. For example, you search for recipes on Google’s search engine for half an hour. As a result, the next time you open your Youtube account, you receive recommendations for videos about cooking shows, celebrity chefs, and food. Also, your advertisement is pre-selected to offer you a choice of restaurants or cooking classes.
• Google will collect whatever information you make available through your account along with your navigation data, search history, and location. Unique applications are also recorded.
• Whether or not you are eager to make information on your whereabouts public, Google Maps and its camera system are making location tracking an easy solution. In accordance with the new privacy policy, all public information will be used by Google Maps.

To use Google services as of March 1, you must accept the new privacy policy. If you do not want to accept new privacy policy, the only thing you can do is close your account.

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Columbia Records has announced that it has signed the well-known indie band Walk Off The Earth, whose current YouTube video, a five-person, one guitar cover of “Somebody That I Used to Know,” has racked up 50 million views on YouTube in less than a month.

The powerful fan response to the video has turned the five-year-old Canadian group into a media phenomenon and propelled them onto American network television, where a posted video of their appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show received a half-million views in less than a week.

In fact, Walk Off The Earth’s version of “Somebody That I Used To Know” saw the highest Billboard debut since April 2011, blasting onto the charts at #14 with over 70,000 singles sold to date. The viral effect has been international as well – the song hit #1 on iTunes in Sweden and Germany as well as WOTE’s native Canada, where the track has achieved digital gold status.

The band has already gotten thumbs-up from an impressive roster of show business veterans, including actor Russell Crowe, Coldplay, Mumford and Sons, Wiz Khalifa (they covered his song “Roll Up”), Justin Timberlake, Ryan Seacrest and Adele. Their version of her hit “Someone Like You” has had 3 million YouTube views.

WOTE’s presence on Facebook has grown exponentially as well since the video was first posted on Jan. 5. They now have 300,000 people who “like” them – an 85 percent jump in just three weeks; in addition, their page on Wikipedia has been averaging 10,000 page views a day.

Goyte featuring Kimbra’s original video for “Somebody That I Used to Know” was an internet sensation on its own before Walk Off The Earth’s Gianni Luminati decided it was a perfect song for his band members, known for their creative remakes of current songs. (After seeing the Walk Off The Earth version, Goyte tweeted his approval, calling the new video “hilarious and brilliant.”) In the video, the five play the same guitar simultaneously as Ryan Marshall, Luminati and Sarah Blackwood trade off on vocals. The other band members are Joel Cassady on drums/percussion and Mike Taylor on keyboard.

But the Burlington, Ontario-based Walk Off The Earth, as their loyal fans will attest, is hardly an overnight sensation. Together since 2006, the five accomplished performers have remade dozens of songs and self-released 2 full-length albums of original material, including the first single, “These Times.”

Their ability to take a familiar song and give it an innovative twist has made their YouTube channel a hit, with 280,000 subscribers and 80 million combined views of their videos of both originals and covers. ”It’s been a crazy, dream-come-true moment for us,” said Luminati. “Our fans brought us to where we are now,” said Blackwood. “We will continue to play for them for a long time to come.”

It was Luminati – a musician since childhood who specializes in layering musical sounds and beat-boxing – who first envisioned the five group members playing the same guitar.

Once he heard the Goyte tune, “I knew right away it was the perfect song for the idea,” he recalls. “I started messing around with different parts seeing if it would work.” Once he realized it could be done, he asked his bandmates to learn their individual parts before attempting to make the video.

Once reunited, he admits they had trouble getting all the pieces to fit together: “It was pretty frustrating.” And once they turned on the camera it took 30 takes until they finally succeeded at around 4 a.m., when Luminati uploaded the video to their YouTube channel. (“All of our videos are one cut because I don’t know how to edit,” he admits).

“I went to bed at five or six in the morning, and by the time I woke up around 11 a.m. it was well on its way around the world,” he remembers. “We were already getting talked about on local radio stations.”

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/walkofftheearth

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Socialbakers, the world’s most cited source and fastest growing social media analytics company, on February 09, 2012 announced the launch of its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.

The company also announced its new U.S. leadership team based in San Francisco, which includes veteran technology executive Martin Huml as President and Chief Operating Officer, and Katrina Wong as Vice President of Marketing. Socialbakers’ global expansion follows rapid demand from many of America’s most recognized brands.

Socialbakers social analytics platform measures the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns across all major social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+.

With more than 750 customers and 275,000 registered marketing users, Socialbakers is the leading source for Facebook and social analytics throughout Europe. More than 60 U.S. brands are already using the technology, with an accelerated U.S. demand from brands, consumers and even politicians.

“Companies can no longer expect or assume that online users will engage with their Facebook or Twitter content. Our clients increase social media relevance and build their social community faster because we show what is working, what doesn’t work and how they compare against competitors. Companies can build tremendous communities by using our technology to understand which content is most and least engaging and viral,” said Jan Rezab, Socialbakers CEO.

Technology veteran and investor Martin Huml has joined as Socialbakers’ President and COO, and will lead U.S. operations from San Francisco. Huml, who has been serving as company Chairman, is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, and investor. Huml built and sold his first company in the mid nineties – an exclusive distributor for Apple Computer in Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia and several other former Eastern Blok countries.

He also worked for several years in private equity at Credit Suisse First Boston in London and New York. Most recently, he ran his own San Francisco-based investment consulting firm, Runway Capital. He has chaired and served on several boards, and has also served as interim CEO and COO for various technology firms.

“Socialbakers is an exciting company on the brink of becoming the global leader in this fast growing social analytics space,” said Huml.  “Jan is a brilliant entrepreneur, visionary, and business leader. The team is exceptional and Socialbakers is positioned as one of the top analytics companies in the world. The U.S. is home to many of the world’s most savvy companies, and it’s time we expanded in order to provide them a technology that will change the way they run their entire social marketing programs.”

Katrina Wong has been hired as vice president of marketing to lead the company’s global go-to-market strategy, with focus on the U.S., UK, France and Germany. Prior to Socialbakers, Wong led corporate marketing for subscription billing company, Zuora. Wong developed marketing strategies for SAP’s entry into the SaaS market, and worked at Salesforce.com deploying CRM solutions for global Fortune 500 companies.

“We have the most aggressive go-to-market strategy in the industry, and have big plans for 2012 – while the U.S. has a fragmented analytics market, Socialbakers is positioned to become the standard for social media intelligence,” said Wong.

Socialbakers, a European technology company, launched in 2008 and is now the social analytics provider of choice for customers in more than 75 countries.

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Audi’s :60 TV spot set to air in the first break after kick-off of Super Bowl XLVI is now live on the brand’s YouTube channel. The cinematic spot – which features a vampire theme and the new 2013 Audi S7 with the brand’s signature LED headlight technology – has been pieced together by Facebook users who cracked the commercial with Audi’s social media contest called ‘Race the Light.’

Through ‘Race the Light,” Audi released its upcoming ad as a 60-piece puzzle for fans to solve and share. Audi’s signature LED headlights take center stage in the spot.  The all new 2013 Audi S7 arrives at a vampire party in the woods and brings with it an unexpected surprise.

“In the spot, Audi LEDs – which at 5,500 Kelvin produce the closest recreation of daylight available – put an end to the vampire party, and perhaps, to the greater vampire trend in pop culture,” said Scott Keogh, Chief Marketing Officer, Audi of America.

The vampire trend exploded onto the pop culture scene over a decade ago, with over a dozen television shows and over 24 movies launched in recent years, as well as countless books, video games and even vampire-themed cruises.

“Given the power of the Super Bowl platform, we wanted to create an entertaining spot that clearly focused on our LED headlights — one of our key product attributes – while also sparking conversation about whether or not it’s time for us to move on from the omnipresent vampire trend into something new and even more exciting,” Keogh added.

The advertisement features the song “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen and was created bySan Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners. Audi also released a cinematic trailer on YouTube that looks back at Audi’s Super Bowl spots from the past four years and features footage from this year’s commercial.

Last year, Audi’s adventurous “Release the Hounds” spot featured the new Audi A8 flagship sedan, a cameo by legendary musician Kenny G, and was a parody of individuals attempting to escape from the confines of old luxury as portrayed in a luxury prison. In 2010, Audi’s Super Bowl ad showcased a soundtrack created by rock legends Cheap Trick and featured the A3 TDI “Green Car of the Year” clean diesel vehicle, showing how easy being green can be.

The brand’s 2009 spot featured actor Jason Statham in a series of high-speed chase scenes involving luxury competitors, sending the message that luxury is evolving. In 2008, the brand’s first Super Bowl spot delivered a parody of the movie “The Godfather,” signaling that Audi was ready to take on the perceived luxury leaders.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/newenglandpatriots

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FiOS TV subscribers in the Northeast woke up Tuesday morning (Jan. 10) to a new way of interacting and enjoying their TV experience. The new benefits are the result of Verizon’s continued transformation of FiOS TV viewing by bringing the next generation of its FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide to subscribers in the company’s New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island service areas.

More than 4.2 million households in these states can now take advantage of award-winning FiOS TV and the advanced IMG. Introduced in 2007, the FiOS TV IMG was the first broadband platform to pull together content from broadcast TV, the Internet and users’ own personal media into one media-management system.

It has since evolved into an in-depth, interactive TV experience, with applications for advanced/intuitive search, social networking, Internet video, personal media streaming, high-definition music, remote DVR controls, account management and billing functions, multi-screen/mobile viewing and much more.

The company used customer feedback taken in through its product development labs, field trials and online consumer forums to create many of the more than 25 new upgrades to FiOS TV’s advanced IMG that are now available to subscribers in the tri-state area. The enhancements include greater personalization and customization, easier navigation, deeper search, bigger storage options and optimization for new 3D technology.

“Customers are at the center of everything we do, and that includes how we develop our products and services,” said Susan Retta, vice president of marketing for Verizon’s Northeast area.

“FiOS TV isn’t about passive video watching – it has evolved into an entertainment and information destination. Our new generation of FiOS TV is all about simplicity of design, increased user interactivity and ease of use. It’s yet another way we want our customers to get the most out of their FiOS services.”

Highlights include:

• Improved search capabilities, which provide a smarter search function that predicts what the customer is looking for and automatically provides potential matches. FiOS TV customers also can filter and sort by channel, and more easily locate favorite programs.
• DVR enhancements, which give FiOS TV customers more control with the following:
• DVR chaptering, giving viewers DVD-like capabilities to jump ahead or resume viewing at a particular moment of recorded programming by using on-screen thumbnails in 10-minute increments, providing more visual navigation.
• Multi-hub DVR, which turns any DVR or HD set-top box in the home into a “hub,” allowing customers to record and manage DVR settings from any room in the home, provided one of the DVRs is a multi-room DVR.
• eSATA external storage device compatibility, available with most FiOS TV DVRs, allowing for increased overall storage capacity. The eSATA hard drives can be purchased at most consumer electronics stores and will automatically record customer selections once plugged into the DVR.
• New ”play all” and “delete all” options, allowing customers to play episodes back-to-back and automatically delete all episodes of a show with the push of a button.

• Personalization features, which let FiOS TV customers enjoy entertainment on their own terms, including:
• New parental control options that make monitoring children’s viewing even easier, with the ability to block out portions of programming by rating during key hours of the day, like homework time, and schedule certain times for Parental Controls to be automatically turned on and off for greater flexibility.
• Guide customization, enabling a variety of settings, with a mini guide on the bottom of the screen, a half guide on the right side of the screen, and a full guide with a look at more hours of scheduled programming.

• 3D content software, which automatically detects when a customer tunes to a 3D program or channel and instantly changes the necessary settings for watching those programs on a 3D television set.

Verizon’s FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide can be accessed with the FiOS TV remote control or by using Verizon’s FiOS Mobile application, which turns an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android device into a remote control for a FiOS HD set-top box, making parental controls, customized interactive applications and program recording options easy to access.

The next-generation FiOS TV is built upon a long series of innovations, including Flex View and FiOS TV Online, which extend FiOS TV beyond the home to the Internet and a range of mobile devices; free interactive applications including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, HSN Shop By Remote, TMZ and others;

Media Manager, which allows customers to access on their TVs personal photos, music and videos from their computers; and In-Home Agent, which frees customers to use simple online tools to diagnose and resolve a range of service issues.

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Though still not even in official release, the writer and director of “The Last War Crime” says that YouTube is already trying to suppress the movie, which is a new full-length feature film about indicting Dick Cheney for torture. The movie’s writer and director, who goes by the name of The Pen, asks, “And isn’t that something billions of people want to see?”

But, says The Pen, YouTube does not want their visitors to see the preview clip of the waterboarding scene from the movie, for the purported reason that it contains nudity or is otherwise sexually provocative. A protest is mobilizing against this accusation.

“That’s ridiculous,” exclaims Pen. “There is no actual nudity in it … none. The actor playing the detainee wore a swimmer’s style bathing suit the entire time, and we positioned the female interrogator character so view of his midriff was blocked entirely in any case. And if they’re complaining this scene is sexually suggestive, they need to ban half the rest of the movies on their site.”

The purpose of the scene in the movie is to condemn waterboarding, long recognized to be a form of torture unequivocally. According to The Pen, the scene also serves to remind everyone that the sexual taunting of helpless and mostly innocent captives, in places like Abu Ghraib, was a deliberate part of a de facto program to degrade people in violation of the Geneva Conventions. However, YouTube makes no provision on their site to challenge their own unilateral dictates.

Pen states, “Shame on YouTube for censoring this clip, which we believe, and we think you will agree, is part of an important cultural and artistic statement of social commentary.

We have already submitted the movie to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Cinequest Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, SXSW, the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the San Francisco International Film Festival, seven of the top breakout venues for serious works of new film art.”

Pen continues, “And shame on YouTube further for deleting our waterboarding scene in such a summary and authoritarian manner. We had to build our own video server to do it, but people can now again see the clip for themselves on our new website.”

On the same web page is an action form configured to automatically send protests to YouTube. Pen is asking everyone to submit this form to send their own personal messages of complaint and is demanding that YouTube immediately restore the wrongfully deleted waterboarding scene from “The Last War Crime” movie, and put in place an accessible review process so nothing like this can ever happen again. Hoping thousands of people will join with him, Pen suggests, “Maybe that will start to get YouTube’s attention.”

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ComScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today, released inaugural data on worldwide online-video viewing from the comScore Video Metrix service. The report found that nearly 1.2 billion people aged 15 and older watched 201.4 billion videos online globally during October 2011.

Google Sites, driven by YouTube.com, ranked as the top video destination with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property worldwide during the month.

“As global broadband connectivity continues to rise, online-video viewing has taken off in a big way and has become a fully integrated component of the digital content experience,” said Dan Piech, comScore product manager for video. “With the introduction of comScore’s global measurement of online-video viewing, multinational media brands and advertisers can now gain a more comprehensive understanding of how online video reaches audiences around the world.”

Google Sites, Youku and VEVO Lead Global Online-Video Rankings 

In October 2011, 201.4 billion videos were viewed online from a home or work location, with the global viewing audience reaching 1.2 billion viewers aged 15 and older. Google Sites led as the top global video-property with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property during the month, accounting for 43.8 percent of all videos viewed globally.

YouTube.com was the key driver of video viewing on Google Sites, accounting for more than 99 percent of videos viewed on the property. China-based Youku, Inc. was the second largest video property globally with 4.6 billion videos viewed in October (2.3 percent global share), followed by VEVO which accounted for nearly 3.7 billion videos (1.8 percent share). Nearly 2.6 billion videos were watched on Facebook.com during the month (1.3 percent share), followed by Japan-based Dwango Co. with 2.5 billion videos viewed (1.2 percent share).

Canadians Watch Most Videos, While Turkey has Highest Video Penetration 

An analysis of selected online video markets by engagement revealed that viewers in Canada and the U.S. averaged the highest number of videos per viewer in October, at 303 videos and 286 videos, respectively. Viewers in the UK averaged 268 videos per viewer during the month, while viewers in Turkey and Germany both watched an average of 250 videos.

Analysis of selected markets with the highest penetration of online-video viewing revealed that 93.6 percent of Internet users in Turkey watched videos during the month, followed by Canada with 90.9 percent of web users consuming video.

Although markets in Latin America showed lower overall engagement with online video compared to their counterparts in other regions, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico ranked among the markets with the highest penetration, highlighting a significant opportunity for marketers and advertisers as these online-video markets continue to develop.

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A new bill set to pass through the United States Senate has many internet users worried about the future of online censorship. SOPA, an acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act, was proposed as one the latest attempts to protect copyright and control online media pirates.

However, the bill’s vague parameters are already raising concerns and objections that the loose wording may be ripe for corporate manipulation. The aim of the legislation is to crack down on pirating by targeting rogue sites outside of U.S. borders. SOPA would allow the government to disband any website that hosts copyrighted material, and an individual who streams such material could also be tried for committing a federal offense.

Search engines, blogs, and directories with links to infringing content would be required to remove the offensive link under threat of lawsuit. It would force host websites to take responsibility for all of the material uploaded rather than merely serving as an impartial medium, hence the fear that major video sharing websites like Youtube could become targets.

Web giant Google went so far as to call the bill ‘draconian’, and Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, Facebook, and Redditt, among others, are taking a similar stance. Vice-President Biden also has announced his anti-SOPA position, claiming that the bill would create a fragmented and divided internet.

Others point to the fact that no new statues are actually being introduced by the bill, and that the government already has the means to combat internet theft through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Although SOPA has garnered a lot of support from the entertainment industry, many technology experts fear that it would irrevocably change the internet for the worse, stifling innovation and many promising young online businesses.

Art Bordsky, a Washington-based public policy expert, recently explained some of the potential implications of the bill to The Guardian:

“The international aspects alone are very worrying,” he said. “It appears that the US is taking control of the entire world. The definitions written in the bill are so broad that any US consumer who uses a website overseas immediately gives the US jurisdiction the power to potentially take action against it.”

Despite rising opposition, SOPA’s supporters are insistent that the legislation is in fact needed to combat the issue of piracy, and that complaints of government censorship are overblown. Careful analysis of the bill reveals that sites host infringing information must demonstrate “willful intent” to be prosecuted, which would offer protection to sites like Youtube.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the issue on November 16th, and SOPA is expected to go to markup sometime around December 15th.

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Fox News and Google teamed up to add an interesting twist in the GOP debate that took place in Orlando, Florida. The debate included some interactive aspects which made it nothing like any previous debate. Google allowed the opportunity for citizens throughout the country to participate in the debate first-handedly and ask questions to the nine GOP presidential candidates via YouTube videos.

A total of 18,000 questions were sent in as text messages as well, according to the Official Google Blog. Some questions that many wanted answers to but which were excluded from previous debates were topics such as the education system, Palestine and Israel, and the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. These questions were aimed at challenging the candidates and getting them out of their comfort zone.

A former teacher from Georgia sent in a video that addressed the problem with the education system and all the candidates had the opportunity to expand on their views on this issue. Another question came from a gay soldier serving in Iraq who asked Rick Santorum if he would reinstate the ban on openly gay service members during his presidency.

A different video asked, “If you were forced to eliminate one department from the federal government which one would you eliminate and why?” Other questions were simply added in hopes to spice up the competition and add humor to the debate.

Maybe one of the most surprising questions of the night came from a citizen in a YouTube video who asked each candidate whom they would pick as their vice president if they were elected in 2012 for president.

Other features introduced by Google were elements such as showing the most searched trends, which were the platform for discussion within the debate. The most researched words were then presented in a “word cloud” that included words such as illegal, Israel, and economy.

During breaks between the debates, Google also had a feature that illustrated what people were searching for most while using the Internet. It demonstrated that coupons were being heavily searched for, most likely because many people are trying to save money wherever they can. Foreclosures were another highly searched topic and was searched much more than home loans.

This new interactive feature introduced in the Orlando debate allowed for people across the nation to present personal questions and also challenged the candidates to think on the spot. Overall, Google allowed for an out-of-the-ordinary debate, one of my personal favorites thus far.
Cheryl Casey / Shutterstock.com

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Social media websites in United States are almost half a decade old now and the statistics that broke news lately proves that social media websites have beaten porn in terms of traffic. The distance between the porn sites and social networks has remained steady over this time, despite a number of innovations by the former which are intended to attract visitors.

Similar results were presented by Hitwise, a UK-based web analysis platform which spotted that the average British web surfer spend more time on social media websites than on porn sites. According to the netcraft.com 2011 report of “Most visited websites” or the report of toptenreview.com, all social media websites are in the top 10, leaving porn behind in the competition.

The popularity of adult films cannot be denied as a form of entertainment. According to cnbc.com the porn business is so big that every second: $3,075 is spent on it, more than 28,000 internet users are viewing it and 372 internet users are using search engines to find it. Online, porn sites make up about 12% of all sites, taking in approximately $2.4 billion a year.

Developments in porn distribution includes credit card sales, web video and driving up the development of such technologies as 3D TV. According to David Amerland, a British NUJ journalist, editor and author of the best-selling “SEO Help: 20 steps to get your website to Google’s #1 page”, the main drive behind the consumption of porn online has to do with deep-rooted feelings of isolation and loneliness.

There is an explanation on the Toptenreview.com 2011 report of ‘Most Popular Websites’ why social networks are so popular:

Through social networking, people can use networks of online friends and group memberships to keep in touch with current friends, reconnect with old friends or create real–life friendships through similar interests or groups.

Besides establishing important social relationships, social networking members can share their interests with other like–minded members by joining groups and forums. Some networking can also help members find a job or establish business contacts. Most social networking websites also offer additional features.

In addition to blogs and forums, members can express themselves by designing their profile page to reflect their personality. The most popular extra features include music and video sections. Members can read bios of their favorite music artists from the artist’s profile page as well as listen to their favorite songs and watch music videos. The video section can include everything from member–generated videos from hundreds of subjects to TV clips and movie trailers.

Amerland expresses a similar opinion on socialmediatoday.com. He noticed that social media networks like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are personally invested and built online interaction. They are there to fulfill a human need to connect with new people, retaining friendshops, finding partners and lead a digital lifestyle.

He also noted that ECG studies of subjects carried out while accessing porn and social networks has shown that many of the same areas of the brain light up while visiting these websites. It suggests that the same form of addictive and compulsive behavior arises whether it be from adult films or social media platforms.

On August 15, 2011 the American Society of Addiction Medicine issued a public statement defining all addiction in terms of brain changes. “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.” Porn addiction is included on the list. Should we ask the question, when will social media addiction appear in this ranking?

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The importance of social media in Turkey has increased considerably in recent years, which in turn has led to a mounting interest in the phenomenon and its overall impact on the Turkish society. Sharing her opinions on the matter, Gulay Ozkan, a Turkish internet and mobile entrepreneur, suggests that the increasing popularity of social media is mainly to do with the large percentage of young people in the country’s current population.

Different types of social media, such as Facebook or Youtube, can indeed be very appealing to young people all over the world. Turkey is a country where 70 percent of the population is actually under 35 years of age, a fact that makes her explanation both valid and rational. “Social Media is a very hot topic at the moment as it brings freedom to a culture that traditionally is shy”, Gulay says.

She lays emphasis on the idea that social media offers free and open communication, which is perhaps the aspect that appeals the most to young Turkish users. Currently, the most popular social network in Turkey is Facebook. The popularity of the well-known networking website rose to such an extent that Turkey has now become the fourth largest nationality on Facebook in the world.

However, Twitter and personal blogs have also gained popularity recently. Turkey’s mobile penetration is larger than internet penetration, which is an immediate consequence of people’s using mobile phones to access their favorite social networks. Gulay also predicts that this trend will grow even more in the future.

Increasing internet censorship is still a problem in Turkey, a situation that has led to numerous protests organized by youth groups. Although some networks such as Youtube may still be banned there, the restriction does not seem to prevent young Turkish people from freely accessing it by using DNS switching and other proxy settings.

This can be interpreted as a sign that the population is ready and wishes to open up to the new form of communication. In fact, it has been this extensive use of social media which have allow Turkey to join the global community. Information spreads far easier and faster via different kinds of social media outlets than via traditional media or educational platforms.

The importance of social media also extends to Turkey’s public relations campaign. There are many instances when international public opinion on Turkey have been shaped and influenced through the use of social media, which should propel the country to engage more in the use of social media as a means of promoting its own image.

One such example is the case of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan abruptly leaving a panel discussion on Gaza with Israeli president Shimon Peres in 2009. His gesture received a lot of media attention. At the time, hundreds of thousands visited Youtube to watch the video of the Prime Minister. Links of the video began to be circulated via Facebook, fan groups and other web applications were launched, all of them carrying the name of Erdogan.

The politicization of social media in Turkey is becoming more and more obvious. Many analysts recognize the role social media is starting to play in politics. “For the past two years, as the political environment has become more severe, the political weight of social media has increased,” Ozgur Uckan, a professor at Bilgi University, said in an interview discussing the relation between social media and politics in contemporary Turkey.

“Blogs on the one hand and social media on the other have begun transforming into a political agora, a forum space,” he added. However, the politicization of social media is seriously threatened by internet censorship. Besides Youtube, many other websites, such as Blogger, have also been banned in Turkey. This phenomenon has led to the foundation of groups such as “Don’t Touch My Blog”

Moreover, national protests have been organized in reaction to the government’s attempts to impose internet censorship. Such is the case of the national, multi-locational protests that took place on May 15 in response to legislation planned to impose filters on internet access.

“I think we will see more of these sorts of interactions in the future,” says Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor at Bilgi University, who also added that political parties themselves have begun using social media in their campaigns.
Faraways / Shutterstock.com

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Anonymous has been very active, posting videos via Youtube in order to attain a more just and positive world. All viral campaigns are aimed to encourage people to step up and make a difference in today’s unequal society.

On July 16, Internet hacking group Anonymous released a two-minute long video, plotting against Facebook. Their bone to pick with Facebook is its deception of users, regarding privacy on Facebook.

Facebook has legally maneuvered its terms and conditions so that it allows them to sell users’ private information with consent. Facebook has records of users’ logs and has access to said information, which is a breach of privacy. They know more about users than the people we come into contact with every day.

In order to send a message to Facebook and its users, as a result of its misappropriation of rights, Anonymous announced that on November 5 Facebook will illegally be shut down. The name Guy Fawkes was a trending topic on Twitter on August 10.

This date was not chosen at random; it is connected with their identity and is the idea behind the mask. The idea was inspired by Guy Fawkes, a man who is known for taking part in a failed plot to bring down King James in 1605.

Recent updates show that members of Anonymous are in a sort of civil war; the entire group is not in agreement with the idea of bringing Facebook down. In a Twitter post they say “#OpFacebook is being organized by some Anons.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that all of #anonymous agrees with it.” The message of the campaign is to bring awareness to the lack of privacy Facebook grants users when they agree to its terms and conditions upon joining.

Anonymous is not enthused about the gross violation of privacy put upon people, in order to provide advertisers with personal information, which makes the spamming of pages possible.

The message spread so quick that it inspired them to release a new video pertaining to the London riots that took place earlier this month. The operation is known as Operation Britain. The message was to motivate protestors to speak up for their rights on October 15 and to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner.

They do not condone “thuggery” but support the reasoning for the actions that took place in London. In their message they say “The riots that we have witnessed over the last week, whilst violent and misguided are a product of decades of neglect inflicted on your country by various governments.

We do not condone mindless thuggery, but that does not stop us from seeing the reality behind it,”

Later in the video, Anonymous said, “Saturday October 15, 2011 will be your opportunity for rebellion. We call on Britain to unite and organise peacefully. Unions, anti-cuts groups, community organisations, students, activists, citizens: you know your political system is not fit for purpose,”

There is no definitive answer as to whether what Anonymous is doing is right

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A huge victory for Facebook after Sanford Wallace, 43, surrendered himself to the FBI after facing lawsuits with Facebook announced Attorney Melina Huaag  on August 4.

Wallace will be looking at 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines if found guilty, on six accounts of electronic mail fraud, three counts of intentional damage to a protected computer and two counts of criminal contempt on the indictment handed down on July 6.

Prosecutors said that the indictment was followed by a two year investigation on the Wallace, also known as “The Spam King”. According to the indictment, Wallace would send phishing messages, which are messages used to deceive people into revealing private information, to trick users into disclosing their password information from their Facebook account.

He would retrieve the information, then log onto their accounts and post spam messages on friends’ walls. After the spam was posted on their respective walls, they would then click on the link and be directed to the websites that paid Wallace for internet trafficking.

This took place between November 2008 and March 2009. The attack compromised 500,000 Facebook accounts and sent 27 million spam messages.

This was not Sanford’s first appearance in the Spamming business; back in 1990 Sanford became Spam’s biggest vocal defender. Cyber Promotions was a company led by Sanford, which sent out about 30 million junk emails a day in the 90’s.

The Federal Trade Commission accused Wallace and his spybot.net company of running an operation that administered spyware and was ordered by the New Hampshire Court Judgment to pay $4 million in fines in 2006 In addition to that court case, Myspace won $230 million in 2008, over junk messages sent to their members, applying the same tactic he utilized on Facebook members.

In 2009, Wallace was restricted from accessing any social networking site, after being sued by Facebook for crimes under the CAN-SPAM Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the California Anti-Phishing Act and was facing a hefty fine of $711 million along with an agreement forbidding him from the Spam business.

He violated that restriction and disappeared after his trial to flee from the punishment appointed to him. The charges brought before him today originated from this case two years ago.

Chris Sonderby, a lawyer for Facebook said “We will continue to seek and support the civil and criminal consequences for those who generate spam and others who try to harm Facebook or people who use our service.”

This has generated good feedback from Facebook users, knowing that their accounts will be safe from spammers and that Facebook is doing everything they can for justice.

After posting a $100,000 unsecured bond, Sanford was released. His next appearance in court is scheduled for August 22 at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose. Wallace was banned from usage of any social networking sites yet again.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanthatcher/

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With Jaws came blockbusters. In 1975, Steven Spielberg had become the forefather of the big summer films, but with the release of Life in a Day, arises the genre of cinematic experiment. Life in a Day is a collaboration between Scott Free, Ridley Scott’s production company, and Youtube. On July 24, 2010, people filmed a portion of their lives on camera and then uploaded it via Youtube to Scott Free Productions. About 80,000 people submitted their pieces, amounting to 4,500 hours of video. These submissions were done all around the globe from 192 different nations.

The film was announced just weeks before the mass filming on July 24. In order to achieve many different perspectives in the movie, Against All Odds Productions distributed over 500 digital cameras around the world. After filming finished, every user uploaded his or her footage onto Youtube where it was then reviewed and edited. The editing was done by director Kevin MacDonald, Joe Walker and 25 helpers, and primarily used a trial and error process of eliminating and finding the footage MacDonald felt would make it in the film. Rummaging through the videos took about 6 months. It was then given to Sundance for its world premiere on January 27, while Youtube streamed it over its website in order for the world to see what it made.

After the premiere at Sundance, there was a Q&A session with MacDonald, Walker, Liza Marshall (co-producer), Tim Partridge (co-producer) and 26 of the filmmakers that shot some of the footage. At the Q&A session everyone talked about his or her experiences on the project. One of the questions toward MacDonald was what the intended message was in the film. He responded, “I suppose it sounds like a cliché…[but] the message is about connection, and that we are all connected.” The main obstacle the creators had was the editing. Liza Marshall had said, “…the original cut we saw was 3 hours, and we wanted to keep everything in the 3 hour cut, so we had a really difficult decision process to basically to half of the movie.” Because there was so much footage, another obstacle MacDonald found hard was making these bits and pieces of film into a logical narrative.

This movie hits home with just about everyone.  It makes you feel small. It makes you tear with joy, then shutter with a sea of overwhelming.  It shows the audience that there are other people in the world that are just like them. When watching the movie, you realize that no matter how disagreeable the day is getting, no matter how rainy the sky looks, there is always someone parachuting out of a plane, or eating a juicy watermelon. MacDonald was right, and not in a clichéd way, because what he said is, in fact, true. It connects us by making us realize that people we have never met before do the same things that we do. It does not point out to one person as an individual. It points out everyone as a collective. It is releasing on July 27, 2011. A whole year will have passed since all the events were caught on film. Even if you do not like documentaries, even if you do not like MacDonald or Ridley Scott, see this movie. It opens your eyes to what life is– beautiful. And the best part is that it is not in 3-D.

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College students’ fantasies of becoming “famous” are quickly becoming a reality. With the rise of social media in our everyday lives, college students are taking advantage of social networking to get their talent recognized. These days, you no longer need a producer or an agent when you have a business, music, graphic design or  journalism major in your dormitory hallway.

Our society is accustomed to our celebrities having “connections,” knowing someone notable to help them make it big in the industry. However, what defines “connections” nowadays? It used to be knowing someone that could help you on the road to becoming famous, but now with the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc … “having connections” is not as exclusive. Now connections to any music sensation or artist are merely a click away on the World Wide Web.

College students and artists with a passion for their talents are benefiting from this. Aspiring artists are realizing that the power of a college network and friends can create opportunities to make a  name for themselves.  Only the rich becoming famous is a slowly dwindling stereotype due to the possibilities of social media. The ability to download movies, pictures and music for free on the internet is causing controversy with established artists all around, yet everyday musicians, especially college students, are not complaining.

From the dorm room to the studio is an increasingly common story that we hear coming from upcoming artists. These include Asher Roth and Sam Adams, two successful rappers who started from their college dorm room. In 2009, “I love college” was released by Asher Roth; a song about college parties he went to while attending West Chester University in Pennsylvania. After posting his verses and sending a friend request to a producer on Myspace, he quickly became a college sensation. The music video was shot at a fraternity house, put on Youtube and quickly climbed its way to the top of the charts. All Roth needed was his talent and social media to get his voice heard.

Who needs a professional studio, when you have your own microphone and video camera on your laptop for free? Just from one Youtube video, your music can spread like wildfire. MTV studios is noticing this and helping college students take their talent to the next level.  Launched in 2007, MTV studios run a college network called MTVU.  It is now the largest college network site and channel; broadcasting to over 750 campuses in the United states. With over nine million users MTVU has dedicated their site to college music, videos, contests, shows, and news.

Websites such as FratMusic.com and Collegeplaylists.com are websites for students made by college students themselves. College students are increasingly more interested in partying to music from their own peers, since they are one of the largest demographics in the music industry. Who knows better what they want to listen to than themselves? According to Billboard.com, in everything from country to rap, 2011s hottest artists are all under the age of 21, and what is the most appealing about them? They’re just getting started. College artists create a fan base that not only grows but lasts.

The power of a college network and social media gives college students the tools to make it big on their own. Most college artists are already well known on the web or at parties before they even get to perform live, which is slowly becoming a reality for some artists instead of a fantasy. Younger generations are slowly taking over the music industry, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon with each new artist getting younger and younger.  The rise of social media and the effect it has on the music industry makes it easier for artists to be recognized for their talent instead of who they know. Why go hire a manager and producer when all you have to do to start your career is to create a Facebook account?

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This past Sunday, 15th of May, a huge demonstration against liberty of expression was performed by hundred of thousand Turkish citizens. They all represented a mash up of Internet users, and gathered together in Taksim Square, located in  the center of Istanbul. They protested against the “draft bill that was appealed by Bianet in an application filed to the Council of State in April” (Bianet).

The demonstration was organized through Facebook and Twitter. The citizens walked through Istiklal Avenue. The main message they want to send out was  that the freedom of expression and right to access information of Internet should not be obstructed. Many organizations such as the Linux Users Association, the LGBTT initiative LambdaIstanbul, the Hands off the Internet Initiative, also many different groups took part in the manifestation.

The walk lasted around three hours, with the support of 31 Turkish provinces. The citizens protested against the filtering system, which will come into effect on August 22nd of the present year. Which will ban sites such as Youtube, Blogspot, WordPress and many other thousands of websites in Turkey.

The people express themselves by shouting and showing slogans that contains phrases as: “Internet without TiB”, “The strings of the BTK are attached to Fetullah’s hand” and “ Hands off our freedom, opinions, books and Internet”.

In a press released exposed and emitted by the Sourtimes, the declaration of May 15^Th, 2011 regarding some great points about why fundamental rights and Freedoms Cannot Be Obstructed are exposed:

• The BTK (IT and Communications Institute) decision dated 02/22/2011 with number 2011/DK-10/91 lacks legal basis. The unjust decision gives BTK a right, which is not prescribed by law. The legal decision also limits basic rights and freedoms protected by the Constitution and international treaties directly. While open and unfiltered Internet access is being regarded as a basic human right by international institutions, in Turkey filtered Internet is about to become “the standard”

• The comments made by the BTK president claiming the “standard profile” is the current standard and anybody who opts-out will be left out of the filtering system are not correct. Neither there is a notion called neither “the standard profile” nor an established filter mechanism currently. With the forthcoming mechanism it will not be possible to stay out of the filtering system. If the government officials are really sincere they have to provide an “unfiltered” alternative to Internet users in Turkey.

• Internet is about to become “the standard”. “The BTK filtering system which will take effect on August 22nd, 2011 is unpredictable by the users, arbitrary, and essentially a control and censorship mechanism structurally. The criteria for filtering websites through the different profiles under the BTK system are not disclosed to Internet users. The full authority to build and maintain the filtering lists is handed to BTK by BTK itself. Now BTK will render hundreds of thousands of websites unreachable arbitrarily which is far beyond the current disproportional blocking caused by Law No. 5651. Illegitimate, disproportional and arbitrary administrative operations are unacceptable in a democratic country.

• Similar to previous blocking decisions, state officials are trying to use irrelevant countries as examples to legitimize their unjustified decisions. They are intentionally perverting the description of various state policies in their justifications. It is impossible to accept the state officials’ appeal to negative examples from across the globe to interfere with everybody’s lives in Turkey.

• Member states must encourage the use of filtering software in houses, school computers and Internet cafes but must avoid employing mandatory nationwide filtering policies.If filter use is found appropriate by families, that should be use on their own personal computers.

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