Mashable: Latest 8 News Updates - including “Was Twitter’s Success Hard to Predict in 2006? Apparently, No [VIDEO]” |  |
- Was Twitter’s Success Hard to Predict in 2006? Apparently, No [VIDEO]
- Top 10 Funny Dog Videos on YouTube
- Browsing the iPad App Store [VIDEO]
- 5 Essential Apps for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page
- Who Will Buy the iPad? [STATS]
- See Yahoo’s Sketch-a-Search in Action [VIDEO]
- Why Chatroulette Is More Than Just Penises
- Violent Flash Mobs Becoming a Problem in Philly
- Turtles: So Hot Right Now [Randomly Viral]
| Was Twitter’s Success Hard to Predict in 2006? Apparently, No [VIDEO] Posted: 29 Mar 2010 01:56 AM PDT  
You can see the answers in the video below, and they’re quite amazing. Although previously unfamiliar with the service, the people in the video accurately describe nearly all the important aspects of Twitter – it’s web based (and therefore not spamming your phone), it’s a great way to scan your friends’ lifestream (i.e. what they’ve been up to all day), it’s a great way to share your location with everyone, it’s very much like a group SMS, and adding videos and pictures into the mix could improve the experience tremendously. These might seem obvious today, but back in 2006. smartphones weren’t very popular, and Twitter has started seriously integrating location-based features in the last year or so. So, there you have it: sometimes you just need to ask people what they want, and they’ll give you great answers on how to evolve your service. Twitter Feasibilty Study Excerpt 2006 from 747 Media on Vimeo. [Thanks, Andrew] Tags: social media, study, trending, twitter
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| Top 10 Funny Dog Videos on YouTube Posted: 28 Mar 2010 08:51 PM PDT 
Man’s best friend doubles as a clown on notable occasions, many of which this selection of YouTube favorites captures to great comedic effect. Keep reading for some hilarious doggie antics caught on camera, in which we’re fairly certain no canine was hurt in the making of — except for the pride of the pooch in vid number 10 — there’s no coming back from that in the dog self-respect stakes. 1. The ORIGINAL Stains from “It’s Me or the Dog”Just take a look at those unholy cupcake eyes as this poor pooch is forced to control his confectionery obsession. We feel ya buddy, we really do. 2. Smile DogConvinced your dog’s face can show emotional expressions? This super-sweet Japanese pooch certainly can, with the translation appearing to be that he gives his owner the loveliest canine smile, cutest ear wiggles and waggliest tail whenever he comes into view. A heart-melter if there ever was one. 3. Talking DogsForget expressions — these hounds can vocalize. Hit play and listen up for “hello”, “I want it”, “run around” and the big finale “I want my momma”. Someone get these dogs a show… 4. DOG vs. BALLOONS II, This Time It’s PersonalHow much fun can one dog have popping 100 balloons in 77 seconds? Seems like it’s some kind of personal mission for this little terrier to rid the world of the evil “spheres of doom.” Hit the arrow to see it play out — and we’ll warn you, it doesn’t end well for the balloons. 5. Sleepwalking DogPoor old Mr Sleepy Head sleepwalks right into the wall. This clip is only surpassed in funniness by Buzkit the Sleep Walking Man, but including that one would not make that much sense in a dog-themed round-up, now would it? 6. Weimaraner Sniffs Dog Farts and Makes a Funny FaceBrilliant. 7. Buddy’s Funny BarkingThere are funny noise clips aplenty on the ‘Tube for French bulldogs and pugs (and in fact any animal that’s been bred so it’s face is all mushy, sadly resulting in breathing and vocalizing “issues” for many) but this chirpy little fella’s odd bark has been enjoyed by nearly three quarters of million dog-fanciers around the globe. 8. Skateboarding DogThe YouTube sensation, since featured on an Apple iPhone ad, it’s as much fun to watch this skateboarding bulldog as he seems to have doing it. 9. Funny Dog – Prison BreakYour heart will be in your throat as you watch this plucky pup’s daring escape from his confines. As well as watch the main action, may we recommend you check out the other pups that appear to be silently willing him on while one even gives him a little wave goodbye at the end. He lives happily after, by the way. 10. Dalmation Riding a BikeWhy? seems the obvious question when first watching this popular Japanese snippet, but as the dog seems under no distress we soon stopped querying and just started enjoying. Look! It’s a dog! Riding a bike. When do the training wheels come off is what we want to know. Tags: dogs, funny, videos, viral videos, youtube
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| Browsing the iPad App Store [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Mar 2010 05:18 PM PDT 
In light of delayed shipping dates and and dwindling supplies, it’s likely that anticipation will only continue to mount as folks wait to get their hands on the fabled ‘Pad. We expect more leaks in the coming days. Yikes, this is just like when we used to peek at our Christmas presents in November — but with fewer socks. For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, OmniGraffle, Twitter, Twitterrific Tags: app store, apple, ipad, video
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| 5 Essential Apps for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page Posted: 28 Mar 2010 02:52 PM PDT 
If you’ve already searched for some Fan Page inspiration and undertaken the task of building a custom landing page for your business’s Facebook presence, you may now be in the market for some features that will further engage your fans. A nice feature of the modern social web is that it’s modular. You can plug in and customize pre-made pieces of software (often created by other users or companies), and mix and match what works best for you without a lot of technical know-how. Facebook works the same way with apps. Many Facebook apps are built for casual use, like the social games and quizzes you may see your friends using in their personal feeds. But there are quite a few apps that are ideal for a business Fan Page. These are useful for customizing your page with greater detail, showcasing your content from other social sites and getting more information from your customers. Here are five essential Facebook apps that your business may want to take for a spin. 1. Static FBML for Your Page SidebarWe’ve already discussed how the Static FBML app can be used to make your Fan Page a unique destination. But this versatile plugin can also bring some interactivity to the column that appears on the left-hand side of your page. Vertical, left-hand navigation is something users expect to find on most websites. They will be comfortable looking there for additional links, promotions and contact details. Moving a Static FBML box over to the left-hand column is a great way to exploit this valuable real estate. Here’s how to do it. If you haven’t already done so, add the app to your Fan Page and make sure it’s functioning as a “Box” rather than a “Tab.” Add content to your box using standard HTML. Graphics cannot be uploaded to Facebook here, so you must reference them from a URL — likely one on your own hosted website or blog. For a sidebar, think about adding some clean graphic buttons or icons that link out to other destinations your fans would be interested in, such as your company website, blog or Twitter account. This sidebar will be visible no matter what Fan Page tab your visitors are on, so consider using graphic elements that coincide with your existing logo and color scheme.  Once your content is added and saved, it will appear as a box on the “Boxes” tab. Head over there to ensure that your HTML has rendered properly. If so, click the “Pencil” in the top-right corner of the box and select “Move To Wall Tab.” This will display your content in the left-hand navigation of your page.  2. Promotions Contests and giveaways are a great way to engage people with your brand, especially on the social web. A chance at some free stuff is one of the top reasons people follow and friend brands in the first place. The Promotions app makes it easy to build and publish a contest on Facebook in a way that is inherently social and shareable. Promotions is different from many Facebook apps in that the content you create for it lives on the developer’s website. This makes it a versatile tool, but you’ll have to sign up for a free account at wildfireapp.com. Once you create an account and connect the registered app to Facebook, the promotions you generate on WildFire will populate the tab on your Fan Page. Promotions are easily built through a step-by-step process. Provide the dates of the contest, the types of prizes, the fields for the entry form, specific parameters about contest entry and rules, and upload any additional artwork you want to include.  A nice advantage of having contest data centralized on WildFire is that it can be sourced out to other social networks, and even to your own company website. Any changes or additions you make to your promotions will dynamically update on all of the locations where your customers and fans find you on the web. Note, the cost to publish a basic promotional campaign through Wildfire is $5, plus $.99 for each day the campaign is active. Additional packages with more customization and publishing options are available. 3. Social RSS If you already have great content from your company’s blog or another social network that you’d like to bring to the fore of your Facebook presence, Social RSS is a smart tool. You can configure this app to automatically pull in updates from any RSS or ATOM feed and display them as posts on your Fan Page, either on a dedicated tab, a wall tab (on the left side) or as part of your core news feed. It’s a useful way to automate your content and eliminate the need to republish things manually to your Facebook Page. Take note, however, that fans on social networks are much more responsive to curated content. Especially on Facebook, where people connect to a smaller community of personal friends and family, an unfiltered pipeline of RSS content may not be welcome in all news feeds. If your core customers are already subscribed to your blog and other social accounts, a double-dose of the same exact content may trigger some to hide your updates or “un-fan” you. Consider relegating your Social RSS feed to a tab if this is the case. Test where and how an app like Social RSS is best implemented on Facebook, and adjust as needed depending on the size and response of your audience. 4. Poll Sometimes you just need a little feedback. That’s what social engagement is all about, right? On Facebook, it doesn’t get any simpler than the Poll app. There’s no account to sign up for. Once you connect it to your Page, all the setup and data lives right in your settings panel. A poll can be a casual way to get a read from your fans about a new product, a new page design, or your business in general. In the poll settings, simply name your burning question (What do you think of our new spicy burritos?), list your choices (Delicious, Pretty Tasty, Needs Work, Offensive) and select your publishing options. Polls can be published to your Page wall/feed, live on a custom tab or be popped into your left-hand navigation where visitors can click anytime they come to your Page. You can invite your friends to take a poll, and they can easily share it out as they would any other post or app. Both you and your visitors can see the poll results without leaving Facebook. Publishing a weekly poll about new products or changes in your industry is a great way to keep fans coming back to your Page and talking about your brand. 5. YouTube for Pages If creating video content is part of your business’s social media strategy (and we recommend it should be) you can squeeze more views out of your productions by dedicating a Fan Page tab to your YouTube channel. That’s exactly what the YouTube for Pages app does. To activate the app, you’ll have to set up a free account at the developer website involver. Once it’s connected to your Fan Page, simply input the YouTube channel you’d like to pull videos from (it could be your own or anyone else’s), pick a few more settings, and you’re all set. The app “features” your most recent upload or favorite, and displays thumbnails for previous videos on a simple, clean interface. The videos play directly on Facebook of course, so fans can watch without ever leaving your Fan Page. Just be sure to add the tab in the app’s “Application Settings.” For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore business resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Delicious, Facebook, Pencil, Twitter, YouTube, poll, test Tags: apps, business, Business Lists, facebook, facebook apps, facebook fan page, facebook fan pages, Facebook Lists, List, Lists, small business, trending
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| Who Will Buy the iPad? [STATS] Posted: 28 Mar 2010 01:52 PM PDT 
Unsurprisingly, current Apple owners are most excited about the product — 24% of Apple owners said they were very interested or extremely interested in buying an iPad, compared to 18% of all consumers. Those who show the most interest in buying the iPad, per the report, look a little something like this:
Of course, there are those who are not as keen on buying an iPad; among tech-savvy 18-34 year olds, 57% cite price as the only reason they aren’t ready to buy, which is interestingly 25% higher than the overall percentage of non-interested buyers. Owning or wanting to buy a netbook was also a popular reason not to buy an iPad for both Apple and non-Apple owners. With more than 130,000 iPad units thought to be pre-ordered in just the first day of availability, it will be interesting to see how this study aligns with sales figures. Does owning (or not owning) other Apple products affect your iPad plans? Let us know!
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| See Yahoo’s Sketch-a-Search in Action [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Mar 2010 12:03 PM PDT 
We had a chance to sit down with Director of Product Management Ariel Seidman for a demo of Sketch-a-Search, and got a window into future expansion of the app. While limited to restaurant and cafe results right now — putting it in competition with apps like Yelp and Urbanspoon — expect more types of data to become available on Sketch-a-Search soon. More regions in the U.S. will also be supported beyond the 32 major metro areas served currently, as well as international markets like the UK, Canada, France and beyond. Expect other platform support to come soon as well, with Android being top of that list to see a Sketch-a-Search app. What apps do you use to get local information at your fingertips? Yahoo Sketch-a-Search for iPhone DemoFor more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Android, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp Tags: android, CTIA, CTIA 2010, iphone, local search, Mobile 2.0, Search, Sketch-a-Search, Yahoo, Yahoo Search
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| Why Chatroulette Is More Than Just Penises Posted: 28 Mar 2010 11:06 AM PDT 
But after three days of coding, Ternovskiy introduced his pet project for random video chat to friends, then users of Web forums, and from there things just spiraled. When the New York Times talked to the 17 year-old Ternovskiy earlier in the month, he confessed that, “Last month I saw 30 million unique visitors come to the Web site and one million new people visit each day. It continues to multiply and I just couldn't stop it from growing.” Chatroulette’s astronomical growth, while impressive, tends to be tainted by the prevalence of penises, and other naughty bits, that seem to go unchecked (there is a “Report” button) due to anonymity. But, as is the case when something hits a nerve with the population, Chatroulette has spawned a slew of copycats and one-off apps. Clearly there’s more to this cultural phenomenon than what initially accosts the eye. All That Glitters Is Gold
“All that glitters is not gold … “ Although there’s truth to this Shakespearean phrase, the reality is that when it comes to the Web, the company with its name in lights is the company that most often will prevail. Look no further than modern day fairy tale of Twitter as proof. The service was challenged by arguably better competitors in the beginning but it won the battle of attention and it now stands alone. Chatroulette — the glittering Web property du jour — shines bright amidst a flurry of coverage from print, Web, and broadcast media outlets. We may think of Jon Stewart’s satirical review of the service as jumping the shark, or the beginning of the end, but it’s really just a sign that Chatroulette has permeated into pop culture. With upwards of 1.5 million visitors a day, that notion is fast becoming inescapable. In fact, the 17 year-old youngster from Russia is currently touring the U.S., entertaining offers from venture capitalists and investment firms. Ternovskiy’s gone on record to say that investors and buyers are more interested in him then he is in them. Apparently he could sell for $1 million today if he wanted to. As Ternovskiy contemplates how best to move forward, one thing is becoming increasingly obvious: The time is ripe for inside and outside bets on Chatroulette’s wheel of opportunity. This glitter will become gold. A Hit at Parties Is Still a Hit
Often described as a distraction for college kids, Chatroulette has found an audience because it’s fun — especially at parties. Much like Rock Band or other group entertainment activities, there’s power in the collective experience. The guaranteed randomness of Chatroulette, even with the occasional appearance of a penis, is sure to entertain. Chatroulette doesn’t need to be serious to succeed. Just as there’s a monetizable niche for funny cat pictures, so too is there room for a random video chat site. Lest we forget, those Lolcats generate 8.5 million page views a day, with the Cheezburger Network bringing in “more than seven figures from advertising, licensing feeds, and merchandise sales,” per a Fast Company report last year. Even if Chatroulette is relegated to the entertainment-only realm of the Web, that could very well be all it needs to continue to thrive. Promise in PossibilityOkay there are penises. And plenty of them. But there’s also Merton using Chatroulette for piano improv, and Ben Fold’s playing live in concert. It’s the colorful nature of the service’s users and the lure of the unexpected that have helped Chatroulette flourish. Sure anonymity takes the form of frightening figures from time to time, but there’s promise in the possibility of what the site could become. Already, Chatroulette is testing custom roulettes which could offer a more structured experience for those with particular interests. The custom roulettes are auto-generated via subdomains. If one doesn’t exist, type it and it will come into being. So sandiego.chatroulette, sports.chatroulette or ucla.chatroulette could become like Chatroulette rooms offering a little less randomness and experiences more suitable for the squeamish. Right now you’ll be lucky to find anyone using these custom roulettes, but as site frequenters happen upon the new feature, we’re bound to see this change and become a better way for users to maintain their freedom of expression while having more focused conversations with strangers or neighbors. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookImage via Yevgeny Kondakov/Spiegel, Buzzfeed and courtesy of iStockphoto, Irochka_T. Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: chatroulette, social media, video, video chat
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| Violent Flash Mobs Becoming a Problem in Philly Posted: 28 Mar 2010 10:49 AM PDT 
Unlike other flash mobs, where participants break out in song or pillow fights (as pictured above), these teens merely show up, block traffic, harass bystanders and wreck public property. Last week, 2,000 teenagers turned out for such a flash mob, resulting in three arrests and multiple assaults. No one is really sure why kids are getting violent via flash mob, but Frank Farley, a psychologist and professor at Temple University, told the AP, “It’s easy to do; it’s thrilling, it’s fun, and they can turn on the TV the next day and say, ‘I was there.’” Regardless of reason, incidents like this are becoming a serious problem in Philly — 28 teens have been found guilty of felony so far. Why do you think flash mobs have come to equate the old ultra violence in the City of Brotherly Love? For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter Tags: flash mob, legal, myspace, social media, twitter
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| Turtles: So Hot Right Now [Randomly Viral] Posted: 28 Mar 2010 09:47 AM PDT 
While you mull over the whys and the wherefores, why not take a look at some of the popular turtle fare that has been burning up the ‘net as of late. This is just a beautiful video. Seriously. Savage Garden has a deep-seated place in my middle school-aged heart. This is pretty inspirational. Never give up, guys. Never give up. Auto-Tune the News + Turtles = Sheer viral bliss Dude, they’re even on Chatroulette.  They’ve even become the subject of art. Art, you guys. Or this webcomic, at the very least. For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, news Tags: chatroulette, humor, pop culture, turtles, viral video
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In September 2006, when Twitter was still in its infancy (and MySpace reigned the social networking space), 
There are plenty of funny videos on YouTube but the ones that get us spitting our tea all over our monitors and give us the best giggles are animal-themed affairs.
Wondering just who put in a pre-order for the coveted iPad? The NPD Group just 
Earlier this week, 
Five months ago, right around the time that Andrey Ternovskiy was building 
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