Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “5 Funny Social Media Web Comics [PICS]”

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• 5 Funny Social Media Web Comics [PICS]
• Cubicle Spy: At Work with David Berkowitz of 360i [PICS]
• 5 Small Biz Web Design Trends to Watch
• Mashable Readers Choose the Mouse Over the Touchscreen
• Twitter Preparing for Promoted Tweets in Third-Party Apps
• Facebook Cleans Up Birthday Wall Posting
• MTV Selects First-Ever Twitter Jockey
• Netflix Could Stream Big Feature Films From Epix
• Watch #SummerMash Interviews From New York City [LIVE]
• Gowalla Opens Up Checkin API
• HOW TO: Avoid a Social Media Disaster
• AT&T and Sony Ericsson Rolling Out New Android Smartphone
• Demystifying Google and Verizon’s Proposed Policy for the Open Internet
• This Guy REALLY Wants Jimmy Fallon to Follow Him on Twitter [VIDEO]
• Google Makes it Easier for Big Companies to Switch to Chrome
• Mashable Hosts #SummerMash in Washington, D.C. [PHOTOS]
• Monopoly Gets an Unofficial Social Media Edition
• Score a Random E-mail Penpal with This New Service
• How Freelancers Might Use Social Media in the Future
• Twitter, Foursquare and Qik Used in Geeky Marriage Proposal
• Real People Transcribe Your Biz Cards, Sync Them to Your Phone [APP]
• Still More Easter Eggs to Find in the Microsoft Scavenger Hunt [SPONSORED]
• 100+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Events
• Single Man Makes Informercial Hawking… Himself? [VIDEO]
• 5 Useful Tools to Track Twitter Unfollowers
• Can QR Codes Make Assembling Ikea Furniture Easier?
• BlackBerry Curve 3G to Ship This Month
• Morning Brief: Facebook UK Stats, Droid 2 Ad Appearance, Run Flash on iPhone 4
• Skype Files for IPO
• TBD.com Takes a Community-Driven Approach to Newsgathering

5 Funny Social Media Web Comics [PICS] Posted: 10 Aug 2010 03:58 AM PDT Satire comes in many forms, but one of our favorites here at Mashable is the cartoon. The world of social media is a ripe target for web comics, with some talented artists turning their sights on our new online lifestyles. Get ready to snicker, giggle, and yes, even snort your way through the gallery below. Let us know which comics cracked you up in the comments. 1. Status: THIS Andrew Jones is an Engauge engineer with a rather cool social side gig: Comics! Through Status: THIS, Jones takes a wry look at the state of the web. 2. Guhmshoo Andrew Fowler takes a critical look at the social media world, and then cranks out some very funny comics, especially when it comes to current affairs. 3. Geek & Poke Geek & Poke covers a wider geek spectrum than just social media, but the sheer number of Twitter and Facebook themed cartoons makes it more than deserving of a place on this list. Poking fun at our dependence on social media, Geek & Poke's creator Oliver Widder (an "IT guy" based in Germany) does a great job highlighting the real-world changes that social media has spurred. 4. Pink Sheep's Twitter Nonsense Pink Sheep's Twitterverse is populated with birds, cats and the occasional dog. The colorful cartoons offer a light-hearted, and sometimes slightly surreal, look at the microblogging service. 5. Noise to Signal Rob Cottingham's pencil is poised over Twitter, Facebook and other social networks as well as what he calls "online living." His comics are full of too-true moments where you'll recognize both yourself and your Internet pals. Rob also drew the main image above. BONUS: HubSpot Inbound marketing software company HubSpot uses cartoons to get the message across about its services. Head on over to the company's Flickr profile for a ton of funnies about marketing, social media and blogging. More Social Media Fun from Mashable: - 10 Best Viral Video Remixes on YouTube - The Rise of Comedy on Twitter - Top 10 Funny Dog Videos on YouTube - Tweet Humor: 10 Twitter Users That Crack Us Up - Top 10 Funny Videos on YouTube More About: cartoons, comics, facebook, Fun, funny, gallery, Geek & Poke, guhmshoo, hubspot, humor, Noise to Signal, satire, social media, social networking, status this, twitter, Twitter Nonsense, webcomics For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Cubicle Spy: At Work with David Berkowitz of 360i [PICS] Posted: 10 Aug 2010 02:02 AM PDT As part of the new “Cubicle Spy” series here at Mashable, we’re taking a look inside the neatest, quirkiest, and most gadget-laden offices of people who work with social media. For our maiden voyage, we scoped the office of David Berkowitz, the Senior Director of Emerging Media and Innovation at digital marketing agency 360i. Since Berkowitz develops social media and mobile programs, it’s his job to be up-to-snuff on the latest technology available. His office, of course, is a museum of gadgetry and insider promotional items, such as Twitter wine. Click through the gallery for a behind-the-scenes look. David Berkowitz of 360i Berkowitz holds up a self-published book of his tweets. Look for him on Twitter @dberkowitz, or on his blog MarketersStudio.com. Berkowitz's Main Desk When you're the director of innovation at a marketing agency, the technology of work often combines with the technology of play. Of course, every idea "lab" also needs a pair of goggles and beakers. Livescribe Pulse Pen Berkowitz's uses his Livescribe Pulse smartpen to record his meeting notes and transfer them directly to his computer. On occasion, he'll also use it, "in the wild," to capture a funny subway conversation and post it to his blog. Emmy, the Wi-Fi Bunny The office's Nabaztag Wi-Fi robot bunny can be programmed to communicate with other gadgets in the 360i office. It also gets feeds from the Internet and reads them aloud, "sometimes in Japanese," Berkowitz says. The bunny is the mascot of the company's emerging media team, so they call her "Emmy." Back of Berkowitz's Office Berkowitz's New York office is filled with the personal gadgets he's collected over the years, as well as souvenirs from his favorite interactive marketing campaigns. "It's a lot of stuff that connects online and offline events," he says. Berkowitz in Virtual Reality When he feels like turning his iPhone into a completely immersive experience, Berkowitz hooks it up to a pair of Vusix video glasses. Here, he streams an episode of Seinfeld and says, "I can see it like I'm watching a 40-inch TV screen!" "Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?" Microsoft gave away this children's book at the Consumer Electronics Show a few years ago.Perhaps its finest quote is: "When mommy and daddy love each other very much, the daddy wants to give mommy a special gift...So he buys a 'stay-at-home' server." Twitter Wine Berkowitz keeps samples from Twitter's fledgling wine program. He was chilling the bottles of white in his fridge at home before he drank them, he said. The tiny bottles come from, obviously, tinybottles.com. The Tweeting Bar at 360i Two employees of 360i grab a quick drink at the office's tweeting bar. You can follow the bar at @tweetingbar. The Tweet Board Berkowitz stands at the tweeting bar while its main board ticks away in the background. More Business Resources From Mashable: - How Online Retailers Can Leverage Facebook's Open Graph - How Small Businesses Will Use Social Media In The Future - 11 Free Services for Scheduling Social Media Updates - 6 Online Tools for Expanding Your Video Strategy - 5 Tips for Managing Your Company's Brand on the Web Reviews: Twitter More About: behind the scenes, business, cubicle spy, david berkowitz, gadgets, MARKETING, small business, tech For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

5 Small Biz Web Design Trends to Watch Posted: 10 Aug 2010 12:02 AM PDT This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. The importance of having an attractive website that converts visitors into buyers and helps cleverly promote your small business is essential in these fiercely competitive times. Your website has to capture a visitor’s attention, entice him or her to stay and browse around, create an interest in your product or service, and result in sales. For small businesses with limited time and budgets, design is an essential factor in both attracting and converting potential customers. With this in mind, here are five current design trends that most small businesses can utilize to great effect. Let us know in the comments below about any additional design trends that you have spotted in the small business world. 1. Minimalism While this web design style has been popular for some time, it’s worth revisiting as no small business owner wants to turn visitors away with a cluttered, overbearing and hard to navigate website. Minimalist design effectively strips away the excess and helps the user concentrate squarely on the content. If a page has too many elements, the user will easily become confused about where to focus on, with many elements vying for attention. With page weight now affecting your Google search engine position, it’s the perfect time to reassess how streamlined your design is. There are several principles and steps you can follow to create a more minimalist design: Go through your site and prune any unnecessary widgets or elements which aren’t serving a real purpose. Make good use of whitespace, which is the space between different elements of a design. Used well, it will allow for easier scanning of your site and help frame the elements on each page. With fewer elements, choosing the right color palette or accent color is critical. As color has great significance and meaning, it’s best to test how certain colors interact with each other. Browse your site through the eyes of your visitors, evaluating if there is too much information, confusing or off-putting elements, or sufficient calls to action. Answering these types of questions truthfully will help you prioritize the essential elements. A minimalist design doesn’t have to be bland and boring; it can easily be modern, fresh, sophisticated, elegant or refined, based solely on the details within the design. 2. Unique Photography Two men shaking hands, a group of people in suits sharing a joke, the call center girl: these are all tired, clichéd images that litter thousands of business websites. These types of images fail to convey either information on the company or a sense of the site’s character, and are essentially meaningless. Using custom photography or artwork whenever possible is recommended, though for small business owners, both time and budget are limited and stock photos are a relatively cheap and accessible resource. So when choosing stock imagery, it’s best to keep in mind these four tips: Research your competitors and industry and take note of the images used. You can then find a unique way to represent your product or service. Avoid being too literal in your choice of imagery as abstract compositions often give a more dramatic and memorable effect. Don’t always opt for the cheaper low-res image, as pixelated imagery devalues your overall design and looks unprofessional. Veer away from the bland and predictable and let the images ‘break out of the box’. Imaginative imagery will reinforce your brand message and add greater character to your website. So, when you must use stock imagery, do so with great care and take the time to find the right piece that will convey the true personality of your service or product. 3. Bold Typography Web design at its core is about communication, and typography is a vital component of that. Great web typography helps bring order to information and creates a coherent, visually satisfying experience that engages the reader without their knowing. A recent trend is the use of big, bold typography which helps to create contrast between other text while grabbing a user’s attention. Oversized text can help create hierarchy and ensure users understand your message loud and clear. In order to utilize typography to create a bold statement, keep in mind the following tips: Determine the single most important message you want to emphasize, as too many messages can lead to choice paralysis. Understand the qualities of the message you are trying to convey, and then look for typefaces that embody those qualities. Choose a typeface that will match the character of your work. For instance, if your company embodies the feel of an Old Style font, you should consider Bembo, Garamond and Sabon. It will also greatly depend on what you want to convey with the type, because legibility is as important as the character of the type. Give the typography the prominent position it deserves by surrounding it with a generous amount of whitespace. This will add emphasis and create even more focus on the typography. Test out some of the various font replacement options such as Typekit or Typotheque. These allow you to license fonts to embed within your site, and help you to experiment with beautiful typography. Typography is an art and the decisions you make are subjective; however, carefully selecting a typeface can make a huge difference to the quality of your design. 4. Clear Calls to Action As a small business owner you want your visitors to complete a certain task when they land on your page. It could be to download, sign up or checkout, but these calls to action are one of the most important (and overlooked) elements in a small business website. You want to grab your visitor’s attention and move him or her to take action. Crafting a clear, concise call to action is essential. Here are four tips to keep in mind when designing a call-to-action button or advertisement: Language: Keep the wording short and snappy (always start with a verb), but also explain the value behind the action the user is taking. In some instances it also helps to create a sense of urgency using words such as ‘now’, ‘hurry’ and ‘offer ends,’ with ‘free’ being the number one incentive. Positioning: Ideally, calls to action should be above the fold, and be placed on every page of the site in a consistent position. For instance, Squarespace (shown above), not only has a large call-to-action button at the top of the page, but also has a slightly smaller button in the footer of every page. Color: The color should make the call stand out from the rest of the design. Brighter, more contrasting colors usually work best for smaller buttons. For larger buttons, you may want to choose a less prominent color (but one that still stands out from your background), so as to balance out its size. Size: The call-to-action button should be the largest button on any given page. You want it to be large enough to stand out without overwhelming the rest of the design . It’s vital you test different combinations of call-to-action buttons and see how each affects your conversion rates (see A/B Testing below). It’s also best to make sure they fit within your overall design. 5. A/B Testing With competition growing fiercer online, it’s important for small businesses to have a website that converts visitors to buyers and creates a competitive edge. That’s why it is important to continually measure and improve site performance, usability and conversions. One of the foremost ways of optimizing your web design is via A/B testing (sometimes referred to as split testing). An A/B test examines the effectiveness of one landing page over another. The two versions are randomly shown to site visitors to see which generates the best results. You then evaluate the performance of each and use the best version. Various elements can be tested, including, layouts, copy, graphics, fonts, headlines, offers, icons, colors and more. Here are a few tips for A/B testing: Clearly define your goal before beginning any test. For example, if you wanted to increase sign-ups, you might want to test the following: type of fields in the form, length of the form, and display of privacy policy. Start with elements that will have the biggest impact for minimum effort. For instance, you could tweak the copy on your checkout button to see if conversions can be improved. Don’t use A/B testing in isolation as this alone won’t give you a well-rounded picture of your users. Instead, use other feedback tools, such as Feedback Army or User Testing, in conjunction with A/B testing to get in-depth analysis of user behavior. A/B testing won’t make a bad design great, but it will prove an effective aid in optimizing your current design’s usability and conversions until you decide to overhaul your website design completely. These are just five web design trends that small businesses can take part in to enhance their websites. Which web design changes would make the most sense for your small business? More Web Design Resources on Mashable - 10 Free Web UI Kits and Resources for Designers - 10 Free and Fun Twitter Bird Icons for your Website - HOW TO: Implement Google Font API on Your Website - Top 10 Accessories for Typography Nuts [PICS] - 10 Beautiful and Free WordPress 3.0-Ready Themes Reviews: Google, SquareSpace, test More About: business, design, graphic design, small business, trends, web design For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Mashable Readers Choose the Mouse Over the Touchscreen Posted: 09 Aug 2010 10:41 PM PDT When you’re reading your email, surfing the web or updating your Facebook account, do you prefer the familiarity and accuracy of the mouse or the novelty and possibilities of a touchscreen? That was the subject of our most recent Web Faceoff, our weekly series where we pit two competing apps or technologies against each other for your vote. In this edition, we asked you to choose between the touchscreen and the mouse. And the winner… …is the mouse! With 54.6% of the vote (830 votes), the mouse was able to squeak by the touchscreen’s 45.4% (689 votes). While the cursor and keyboard interface won the day, the competitive finish by the touchscreen makes us think more people are embracing the touchscreen. Could we be witnessing a revolution in computer interface technology? Are we going to be using more touchscreens five years from now, or will we still rely on our mice to navigate our computers? Post your predictions in the comments. More About: interface, ipad, mouse, touchscreen, web faceoff For more Battles coverage: Follow Mashable Battles on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Battles channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Twitter Preparing for Promoted Tweets in Third-Party Apps Posted: 09 Aug 2010 08:20 PM PDT Twitter is preparing itself and its developers for the rollout of its ad platforms, Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends, within third-party applications, starting with desktop apps. The company has made an update to its application programming interface (API) that gives developers access to two new fields related to Promoted Tweets and Trends. These data points aren’t ready for primetime though; it will be some time until you actually see Promoted Tweets in TweetDeck, Seesmic or other third-party apps. “Over the next few months, we will begin beta testing with a handful of desktop applications,” said Twitter Developer Advocate Matt Harris in a post on the Twitter Development Talk Google Group. “During this period, we aim to learn a lot, and we will apply those lessons when we expand distribution of Twitter Promoted Products to the broader ecosystem.” Harris also confirmed something we have known for a while: that developers will get a cut of the revenue it generates through Promoted Content in third-party apps. The company is “still working out the exact value” of the revenue split. Twitter first rolled out its ad platform in April with Virgin America, Bravo and Starbucks as its initial customers. In June, the company launched Promoted Trends. Coca-Cola, one of the early customers of the product, reported that Promoted Trends netted it 86 million impressions. [via ReadWriteWeb] Reviews: Seesmic, TweetDeck, Twitter More About: api, promoted trends, Promoted Tweets, trend, twitter For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Facebook Cleans Up Birthday Wall Posting Posted: 09 Aug 2010 06:57 PM PDT You’ve got a few reasons to dread and/or loathe birthdays. But at least now you can cross that hot mess of a Facebook news feed off your list of things to worry about on your or your friends’ birthdays. Facebook is now testing a new design that organizes birthday-related messages in a much cleaner, simpler way that’s consistent with other recent UI changes. If this change is rolled out to all users, your newsfeed will no longer be hijacked by an endless string of largely homogeneous “Happy birthday!” notes every time someone celebrates another year above ground. Instead, all the related messages will collapse under a single common link, similar to the interface you might see if several of your friends comment on an update or photo or RSVP to an event. While we’ve only seen screenshots for birthday-related posts in newsfeeds, we also hope this collapsible feature will appear on users’ profiles; a glut of birthday messages can quickly drown out any other, perhaps more important notes on your own Wall. Here’s what the test feature looks like right now: What do you think so far: Is this something you’d prefer over a slew of related but unorganized birthday messages in your newsfeed? How about on your own profile Wall? Let us know your opinions in the comments. [hat tip and img credit: Inside Facebook] [img credit: robbrooks] Reviews: Facebook More About: birthday, facebook, UI For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

MTV Selects First-Ever Twitter Jockey Posted: 09 Aug 2010 05:48 PM PDT In a live show entitled Follow Me: The search for the First MTV TJ, MTV crowned its first-ever Twitter Jockey (TJ). Last night’s finale was the culmination of the cable network’s several month long quest to find the social media voice and face of the company. The title of TJ now belongs to Gabi Gregg, a 23 year-old plus-size fashion blogger from Detroit. Gregg, who tweets as @gabifresh and now as @mtvtj, bested her four competitors by winning the popular vote from viewers and fans in last night’s final elimination round. Gregg has spent her first unofficial day on the job tweeting up a storm and talking to the media about her new position. She also posted several photos to TwitPic throughout the day, inviting followers to see and experience her new life via social media. MTV’s vivacious new Twitter Jockey will be moving to New York and officially starting her new $100,000 position next week. Until then, you can watch Gregg’s winning moment in the MTV clip embedded below. Reviews: Twitpic More About: mtv, mtv tj, trending, tv, twitter For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Netflix Could Stream Big Feature Films From Epix Posted: 09 Aug 2010 05:00 PM PDT Netflix could pay up to one billion dollars for the rights to stream recently-released feature films from Lionsgate, MGM and Paramount in a deal with cable movie channel upstart Epix. The Los Angeles Times says the deal has been discussed for months but it’s still facing a few hurdles. Not the least of these is the fact that cable providers (which Epix is fighting an uphill battle to woo) would be less inclined to carry Epix if it also offers its content online outside of its own private portal. However, Epix might do well to place its bets on online media instead of traditional cable in general if it’s in this for the long haul. If the deal goes through, the LA Times claims it will last five years, help Epix meet its goal of breaking even in 2011 and retain movie studios’ option to also sell and rent their films on iTunes even as they’re showing on Epix. Competing movie channel HBO doesn’t give its partners the same options. Films currently on Epix include Iron Man, Star Trek, Saw VI, The Cove, and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Epix has also tried making original material, including a Steve Jobs parody created by a Seinfeld writer. The LA Times report doesn’t clarify whether or not all titles available on Epix will also be available on Netflix. Netflix could definitely use the influx of current, mainstream movies; many of the Hollywood blockbusters it streams today are provided by a similar deal with the cable movie channel Starz. Reviews: iTunes More About: cable, deal, Epix, Film, films, hbo, itunes, Lionsgate, MGM, Movies, netflix, Paramount, starz, streaming video, television, tv, video, watch instantly For more Web Video coverage: Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Web Video channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Watch #SummerMash Interviews From New York City [LIVE] Posted: 09 Aug 2010 04:32 PM PDT The Mashable team is hosting its sold out U.S. Summer Tour event in New York City tonight. In case you can’t make it, you can still participate in the event via our live video and chat stream. We’ll be joined by Rachel Sklar, who will be interviewing attendees on our Watchitoo live stream. We encourage you to participate by suggesting questions for Sklar to ask in her interviews with members of the local social and tech community attending the event. Feel free to submit questions in the comments section below or on Twitter using the #summermash hashtag. New York City is home to our headquarters, so the entire Mashable NYC team will be attending and you’ll likely see some of them on the stream. We also want you to help the discussion on Watchitoo by joining us to help ask attendees questions and answer some social media trivia. If you're interested in being brought on-camera, the details are outlined below. You'll also have a chance to win tickets to attend other events. For those attending the Summer Tour stop in New York City, here are different ways you can socialize: 1. Check in at the event on BrightKite and earn a “SummerMash Badge.” 2. Check in at the “Mashable Summer Tour New York City” venue on Foursquare. 3. Keep up with real-time updates around the event on Plancast. 4. Use the Twitter #summermash tag. Mashable Watchitoo Summer Tour Contest Contest Submission Criteria: Upload a 14-second YouTube video explaining why you should be brought on live to chat with hosts/attendees at the Mashable 2010 Summer Tour. Answer the question "Why are you the one to be featured LIVE on the Mashable Summer Tour Live stream?" YouTube video link must be posted to Facebook/Twitter with the hashtags #summermash and #watchitoo. Become a fan of both Mashable and Watchitoo on Facebook. (Please use your real identity so we can confirm). After uploading your video, please email: hila@watchitoo.com with your contact information Prize: Winners will be selected to participate live in the show. Mashable & Watchitoo will select winners. If you're chosen to participate, you will get to ask some of the virtual hosts live questions & answer social media trivia. Grand Prize: Mashable will award the best video with two tickets for each subsequent city: New York City and Chicago. Thanks to our Local Sponsors: Mopho is simply the best way to capture and share mobile photos. More than a check-in, Mopho tags your photos with a location or event and shares them with your friends. Mopho saves you time and effortlessly gives your photos more context, allowing you to capture and better reflect all of your experiences. Start sharing more with your photos — Download Mopho today from the iTunes app store and see more on the Web at http://mopho.to. There are currently 581 million customers using social media. How will your business reach them before your competitors do? Let our social media experts show you how. Please visit Wiley for more information. PepsiCo looks forward to connecting with the New York tech scene at the third-annual Mashable Summer Tour. PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar brands. Come enjoy a snack or beverage on us and join us outside of the event on Facebook & Twitter. A Special Thanks to Our Tour Sponsors Join Gotelo.com and choose where you want to be found, anytime, in one easy step.  It's fast, free, and launching this summer. Gotelo simplifies the way you connect with people you know and businesses you like by directing you to their most current web page. The Intel® Atom™ Developer Program provides software developers with everything you need to easily develop and sell applications for Intel® Atom™ processor-based products starting with netbooks, and eventually supporting tablets, smartphones, consumer electronics and more. Program features include: Powerful tools—including an SDK, easy deployment and validation, Revenue and marketing opportunities, Developer Catalog to buy and sell application components, Application Labs in addition to a vibrant online community for support. Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations agency with offices in 76 countries around the world. The firm's success is built on its deep commitment to client service, our people, creativity, collaboration and harnessing the power of Advocates – engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputation. Weber Shandwick provides strategy and execution across practices such as consumer marketing, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate and crisis management. Its specialized services include digital/social media, advocacy advertising, market research, and corporate responsibility. In 2010, Weber Shandwick was named Global Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report for the second year in a row; an ‘Agency of the Decade’ by Advertising Age, Large PR Agency of the Year by Bulldog Reporter, and Top Corporate Responsibility Advisory Firm by CR Magazine. The firm has also won numerous ‘best place to work’ awards around the world. A Special Thanks to Our Multi-Streaming Partner Watchitoo is an embeddable, live multi-streaming platform that allows 10+ participants to communicate via a web-cam in real time, while collaborating around a custom designed rich media playlist. A passive audience of thousands can view the show online. Any viewer can be added into a show via a virtual green room, where a moderator can adjust their microphone, have a private one-on-one chat, and vet their overall suitability to participate. Streams can be inserted, removed, re-arranged and re-sized in real time. Watchitoo has a rich feature set that includes Twitter and Facebook integration, chat, questioning, recording, screen-sharing and white-boarding. Thanks to Our Official Ticketing Partner Eventbrite is the world's largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event. Reviews: Brightkite, Facebook, Mashable, Twitter, YouTube More About: meetup, new york city, social media, social networking, summermash For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Gowalla Opens Up Checkin API Posted: 09 Aug 2010 03:55 PM PDT Today, Gowalla is making its checkin API available to all developers; this move will definitely lead to more and better third party applications and might help the startup challenge its top competitor in the checkin space, Foursquare. The public Gowalla API was first announced in February. Devs built apps such as Users Like Me (it is what it sounds like) and GowallaWalk, which shows a simple map of a user’s checkins. While these apps could gather and compare all kinds of interesting data, they weren’t really interactive with Gowalla itself. What today’s release adds is the ability to checkin via a third-party application using OAuth 2.0. Foursquare’s API (checkins included) has been live since last fall and has sprouted many interesting mobile applications, from social games to shopping/discount apps and far beyond. At that time, we wrote, “The API release is one of the most important pieces to the company living up to its potential… because it allows developers to make location and places relevant.” In the past six months, many Foursquare-based apps have popped up on our collective radar; still, location-based service adoption remains a badge (pardon the pun) of the tech elite and few others. So far, only 4% of the adult population of Internet users has ever signed up for a location-based service, and only around 1% use LBSes on a regular basis (at least one checkin a week). We hope that the availability of more useful APIs will encourage creative uses of location-based apps such as Gowalla and hopefully prompt a steeper adoption curve. If you’re interested in learning more, check out Gowalla’s checkin API documentation and guidelines. What kinds of games or other applications do you think could help LBSes as a group and Gowalla in particular blow up for a mainstream audience? Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock Reviews: Foursquare, Gowalla, Internet, iStockphoto More About: api, developers, gowalla, lbs, location For more Dev & Design coverage: Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

HOW TO: Avoid a Social Media Disaster Posted: 09 Aug 2010 02:21 PM PDT Clay McDaniel is the principal and co-founder of social media marketing agency Spring Creek Group. Find him via @springcreekgrp on Twitter. If there's one thing that keeps social media marketers up at night, it's the ever-present threat of a PR disaster. By now, every marketer is well-aware of how quickly dissatisfied consumers can turn to the social airwaves to vent about a brand. Nestle, BP, Domino's, Southwest Airlines, and many other brands have witnessed the unbridled power of social media as a platform for disgruntled consumers to rally around an anti-brand cause. You can never fully "control" what your customers say about your brand on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and forums — nor would you want to. After all, the biggest benefit of social media is to allow your customers to express their opinions and talk about your products and services among themselves, creating a loyal fan base that spreads the word about your brand to their friends and family. However, there are several actionable strategies you can take to avoid — or circumvent — a negative PR storm about your brand online. Here are five tips to give your brand the best possible chance at avoiding a social media PR debacle, and strategies for quickly handling problems if they arise. 1. Create a Social Media Policy/Community Management Plan Every brand participating in social media should have a clear policy and community management plan in place. Map out crucial “Terms of Service” such as: What's not tolerated in conversations about your brand. Things like foul and abusive language, threats against individuals, hateful speech, flame comments about products or services, and similar comments are best handled as strictly forbidden. Make sure this plan maps to the Terms of Service for each channel in which you are active, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or YouTube, all of which have their own guidelines on unacceptable content. Hire a community manager or qualified agency partner who monitors your brand's entire social media presence on the web. Your lead community manager should be in constant contact with the PR and marketing departments, and have clear escalation lines to the customer support team for hot-button issues. The community manager should not only monitor and manage your branded communities in Facebook, Twitter, and corporate blogs, but also use social media monitoring tools to find out where else your brand is being discussed online, such as third-party blogs and forums. The community manager should work with the executive and PR teams to decide who will respond to which type of comments. High-level "red alerts" need to be handled by a top executive, preferably someone both knowledgeable and accountable to your customer base. The PR team should, of course, be integral in crafting all outbound communications, but in rapid-response situations it's best to have a key executive who's already provided his or her willingness to be accountable and available. 2. Have an Escalation Plan Decide ahead of time what steps your company will take if a flare-up occurs. Knowing ahead of time how you'll respond to negative comments takes the "panic factor" out of potential negative commentary. Map out the following steps: Decide which type of comments require immediate response (such as a huge flame against your brand, a customer service rant, or a nasty rumor) and which are best left alone for the time being (a few negative product reviews, a customer discussion comparing your brand unfavorably to another, etc.). Which are indicative of a larger trend, and which are singular expressions of dissatisfaction or concern? Make a plan for who will flag negative comments, and how they will officially communicate these "flags" to the PR department in order of “Urgent,”"Wait,” or “Monitor.” Create corporate-wide guidelines for the first, second, and third steps to take in the event of a sudden negative sentiment storm. For example, the first step might be: Flag and collect negative comments. The second might be: Community manager works with PR and CEO to craft immediate “we hear you and are working on it” response. A third step might be: Have PR team and CEO craft and post official response. 3. Plan for the Worst – Expect the Best What's the worst case scenario your brand could possibly suffer in a social media PR meltdown? That situation probably won't occur, but by imagining the worst, you can craft "first line" responses ahead of time, so you won't be caught off guard. That way you'll be well prepared if sentiment around your brand suddenly begins to trend negative. This kind of brand take-down, should it occur, happens extremely fast — in a matter of hours. 4. Respond Quickly, Personally and Directly If online commentary starts to trend negative rapidly, consult your community management plan to decide who will respond first. Acknowledge questions and negative comments, and assure consumers you're working toward an answer. Then, execute your official response as detailed in your escalation plan — an official blog post on your domain is always the first, best place to post new relevant information. Even after you've delivered an "official" response, go back to unhappy individuals and point them to the latest blog post, as individual responses go a long way. Remember to speak personally and directly. Speed and honesty are what customers value most. 5. Don't Play the Blame Game Consumers expect brands to pass the buck and not own up to problems. Go against the grain and stand up for your mistakes. Acknowledge that you are working to correct the problem, and inform those looking for guidance when and how you will improve the situation. Customers are typically seeking accountability and accurate, direct information from the primary spokespeople of the brands they trust. Reward them with this through the social media channels you manage. Learn from Great Examples Many companies do a great job staying ahead of the social media curve. Best Buy receives a lot of negative commentary from tech enthusiasts, but the brand has been able to stay engaged with both their fans and detractors. The company has created an instant-response customer service realm with its Facebook page, Twitter account, and other social channels. Meanwhile, Virgin America is also doing a great job with proactive social media outreach, relying on a dedicated team of community managers. The brand's proactive approach centers on responding immediately to customer ire over anything from flight delays to website downtime (which happens a lot thanks to their ever-popular Twitter deals). Through its various social channels, Virgin America keeps users informed and content. Lastly, Ford is also a social media leader when it comes to keeping customers happy. Scott Monty, Ford's social media specialist, gets a lot of attention for his efforts on Twitter. His actions on blogs and forums helped avert a potential PR disaster a while ago. As lawyers for Ford sent cease-and-desist orders to forum users who had used and altered the Ford logo (much in the same way as the Nestle debacle), Monty responded quickly to angry users, many of whom were absolute fans of the brand and were showing their loyalty by including the logos in their forum avatars. Conclusion Social media is a great tool for brands to connect on a personal level with their customers. Unfortunately, it's also a great tool for malcontents to rally negative sentiment about your brand. Your best line of defense in today's customer-driven world is to develop a comprehensive social media policy and community management plan within your company before any potential PR disasters strike — and quickly respond to any flare-ups. More Business Resources from Mashable - Why You Need to Monitor and Measure Your Brand on Social Media - 10 Steps for Successful Social Media Monitoring - How Online Retailers Can Leverage Facebook's Open Graph - 3 Social Sites for Demonstrating Your Business Acumen - 15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow Image courtesy of iStockphoto, iQoncept [Image Credit: romainguy] Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto More About: avoid, business, community, community manager, disaster, plan, pr, react, repsond, small business, social media, social media monitoring For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

AT&T and Sony Ericsson Rolling Out New Android Smartphone Posted: 09 Aug 2010 02:18 PM PDT Sony Ericsson and AT&T are working together on a new Android “superphone,” one that promises to be all things to all people — including heavy communicators, social media junkies and audio/video consumers. Dubbed the Xperia X10, this new device will feature a 4-inch screen, a 1GHz processor, an 8.1 megapixel camera and up to 32GB of memory. All these hardware perks are wedded to an interesting software suite, and the UI itself is rumored to be something special, too. The one element about which AT&T and Sony are deliberately vague is the specific Android version the device will run. Whether or not the Xperia will ship with Android 2.1 or the much-coveted 2.2 (a.k.a. Froyo) remains to be verified. For example, part of the phone’s software is Mediascape, which can access images, video and music content from the web, as well as from the device, for a more integrated viewing and sharing experience. Users can “view photos taken on the device as well as [their] Facebook and Picasa web albums,” reads a statement about the device. “Or, when listening to a favorite song on their phone[s], [users can] press Sony Ericsson's infinite button to access related content about the artist pulled from the phone's memory as well as albums, songs and video content from YouTube and search results from Google,” it explains. Another software feature is Timescape, which creates a chronological interface for social updates and actions. It draws data from Facebook, Twitter, photo sites, e-mail accounts, SMS messages and more. Items can be viewed in a scrolling menu, or the user can see a screen of all updates and communications from a single user or source. The Xperia device will be available beginning August 15 and will cost $149.99 with a two-year AT&T service agreement and data plan. The device looks pretty slick and will be Sony’s flagship device in the Android category. AT&T already offers several Android devices created in partnership with HTC, Motorola and Samsung. What do you think of the Xperia so far? Will it be able to give the Droid suite of phones or HTC’s EVO a run for their money? Image Video Reviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Picasa, Twitter, YouTube More About: android, att, Mobile 2.0, smartphone, sony, Xperia For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Demystifying Google and Verizon’s Proposed Policy for the Open Internet Posted: 09 Aug 2010 01:33 PM PDT Google and Verizon have released a joint public policy proposal for the open Internet outlining how broadband providers can control how their users receive content. The proposal, which was announced earlier today by the companies’ CEOs in a conference call, is meant as a legal framework. It intends to please consumers who want to choose what they access on the Internet and how, but is still a compromise, and thus the most fundamentalist net neutrality advocates might still have some battles on their hands. The proposal we’re seeing is starkly different from what was described in The New York Times article from last week that accused Google and Verizon of conspiring to upend the principles of net neutrality. We didn’t believe it even then, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in the conference call that “almost all” of what the NYT reported was “completely wrong.” In particular, he stressed that this is not a business deal at all between Verizon and Google, but simply a joint policy statement. You can read identical blog posts from Google and Verizon at their respective policy blogs, or go straight to the framework proposal that’s hosted on Scribd, which we’ve embedded below. What’s in the Proposal? The policy suggests that “wireline broadband” services like Verizon’s FiOS cannot prevent users from “sending and receiving lawful content of their choice,” “running lawful applications and using lawful services of their choice,” or “connecting their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network or service, facilitate theft of service, or harm other users of the service.” Furthermore, it insists on absolute transparency as to how the network is regulating its traffic and the distribution of content to its users. Google and Verizon agree that broadband providers cannot engage in “discrimination against any lawful Internet content, application, or service in a manner that causes meaningful harm to competition or to users.” That would by default include prioritization of Internet traffic, but that could be challenged on a case-by-base basis. There are some provisions for “reasonable network management.” That could include “any technically sound practice” to improve network performance, to stop data that is unwanted by or harmful to the user, and of course to block illegal content. Proponents of peer-to-peer file sharing like BitTorrent will not be pleased to know that one of the provisions is for the prioritization of “general classes or types of Internet traffic, based on latency” — something for which Comcast and other providers have gotten flak. The proposal also clarifies and supports FCC authority in regulating the Internet — important in the wake of Comcast’s recent court win — and names several instances in which reports should be made to legislators to help them remain vigilant in keeping the rules fair for consumers. Both companies outline a commitment to increasing broadband adoption in the U.S. as well. Schmidt said that a more detailed proposal will be released within a couple of days, and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said Verizon will adopt everything in the proposal as part of its corporate policy. What About Wireless? The first point of contention in this proposal is its special rules for wireless broadband services. Google and Verizon essentially say that because wireless broadband (the Internet access you receive on your mobile phone) is still a young market, it’s too early to apply most of the above standards. Seidenberg said, “Imposition of too many rules up front would not allow us to optimize this network in a fashion that would supercharge the growth we’ve seen in the past.” The only point listed above that still applies explicitly to wireless data networks is the transparency standard. That’s welcome for sure — essential, even — but open Internet advocates will not be pleased that it’s all they’re getting. Google and Verizon have attempted to minimize the concern by reminding consumers that “the Government Accountability Office would be required to report to Congress annually on developments in the wireless broadband marketplace, and whether or not current policies are working to protect consumers.” One can only hope that those reports would help to prevent developing technologies from circumventing the distinction between wired and wireless broadband that Google and Verizon have made. Take Sprint’s 4G network, for example; it serves mobile phones like the HTC EVO 4G, but it also serves as a traditional broadband provider for homes in some markets. Which is it, and which set of rules would apply? Future Verizon technologies could blur the distinction just as easily. A Way Out?: Provisions for “Additional Online Services” The proposal’s points about “additional online services” could be another area of serious contention. In fact, many of the journalists on the conference call expressed concern about it. Verizon and Google have agreed that wireline broadband providers can offer “additional online services” that don’t operate within these rules as long as they are “distinguishable in scope and purpose from broadband Internet access service.” Such services don’t exist yet, but examples given included “health care monitoring, the smart grid, advanced educational services, or new entertainment and gaming options.” Because the distinction between these and what Google and Verizon call “the public Internet” is vague, net neutrality advocates may fear that this provision will give broadband providers a way to sidestep the rules. However, the proposal also suggests that the FCC “immediately report if it finds at any time that these services threaten the meaningful availability of broadband Internet access services or have been devised or promoted in a manner designed to evade these consumer protections.” Schmidt insisted that though Google has acknowledged providers’ rights to deploy these additional services, Google is only interested in operating within the public Internet. “Verizon-Google Legislative Framework Proposal” on Scribd Reviews: Google, Internet, Scribd More About: android, broadband, eric schmidt, fcc, fios, Google, Ivan Seidenberg, law, legal, net neutrality, open internet, policy, verizon, Wireless For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

This Guy REALLY Wants Jimmy Fallon to Follow Him on Twitter [VIDEO] Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:52 PM PDT Let’s face it: No matter how many times you Twitter at ol’ Justin Bieber, imploring him wildly to follow you, it ain’t gonna happen. Celebrities, much like your ex, don’t really respond to desperate wheedling. One man, however, is hoping that one celeb will respond to carefully orchestrated social spectacle. New York city resident and viral producer Michael Krivicka (Remember that “Nude It” video from a while back? He made it.), a.k.a. The Bald Guy, really wants Jimmy Fallon to follow him. Why? “He is fresh and raw and that’s what separates him from the outdated dinosaurs like Leno and Letterman,” Krivicka told us. “We share a love for tech and gadgets. His 2.7 million followers might also have something to do with it.” Fallon, however, only follows 264 folks — but Krivicka is hoping that the website he created, with accompanying video, will convince the comedian to make him one of the chosen few. Krivicka launched the website — Jimmy Fallon Please Follow Me on Twitter — this a.m. after making a bet with his fiance that he could grab Fallon’s attention. He also created a video (embedded above) as a kind of digital pitch. ” [I] posted it as an online experiment,” he says. “If it works, I will be able to prove that it is possible to reach any celebrity by making them a website and a slightly bizarre video.” Getting a celebrity to follow one on Twitter is a pretty big undertaking, and can gain you serious social media clout — case in point, Sarah Killen, Conan O’Brien’s sole followee, and Steve Holmes, Kanye West’s extremely reluctant Tweep of choice. Both former nobodies became big somebodies after the famous duo started following them. Still, Fallon might be an easier get than the above Twitterers — he’s really into social media (he won the Webby for person of the year last year) and is pretty good at responding to tweets. We’re not sure what effect Fallon following Krivicka would have on his cred, but it would probably be a big coup for such a socially media-inclined dude. Do you think he can achieve his goal? Will Fallon submit to Krivicka’s online wiles? Only time will tell… Oh, yeah, and you can follow me while you’re at it, Fallon. I post a lot of sick music videos. [ht: Jessica Williams] Reviews: Twitter, justin bieber More About: humor, jimmy fallon, pop culture, social media, television, twitter, viral video For more Web Video coverage: Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Web Video channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Google Makes it Easier for Big Companies to Switch to Chrome Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:51 PM PDT Google’s Chrome browser is steadily increasing in popularity among consumers, and now it looks like Google is making a more concentrated effort to lure enterprise and corporate users too. As The Chrome Source points out, Google has now made the Chrome browser downloadable as an MSI file, which will make wide and remote deployment much, much easier for system administrators. In an effort to make the Chrome installation process easy (and to ensure users are downloading the latest version), the normal Chrome for Windows installation process downloads the installer package during the installation itself. There is a way to download Chrome for offline installation, but until now, Google hasn’t made it very easy for Windows System Administrators to do unattended installations, install Chrome from a network share or from a remote location. The MSI package will let administrators do that, which will make it significantly easier for large groups or organizations to migrate to using Chrome as their default browser. Google has been ramping up its efforts to convert enterprise users to Google Apps. Last fall, the company also released its Chrome Frame extension as a way for Internet Explorer users to take advantage of the power of Chrome without having to install a new browser. Being enterprise friendly with its installer, however, skips the subterfuge and makes it easy for workplaces to switch en masse easily. What browser does your company mandate across workstations? Let us know! Reviews: Chrome, Google, Internet Explorer, Windows More About: enterprise software, google chrome, MSI packages, software, web browsers, windows apps For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Mashable Hosts #SummerMash in Washington, D.C. [PHOTOS] Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:16 PM PDT We hosted the third stop on our U.S. Summer Tour in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night. The event brought hundreds from the local community together for networking and prizes at the USA Today headquarters, where we also announced a syndication partnership with the publication. The Mashable NYC team was joined by Rachel Sklar, who interviewed event attendees and readers participating remotely in our Watchitoo live stream. Check out some photos from the event, courtesy of our Video Fellows Evan Wexler and Jay Irani. To see more pictures of the event, go to our Facebook album or Flickr Set. Tonight, we’ll be hosting our #SummerMash event in New York. If you’re unable to attend, we’d love to have you participate through our live stream. USA Today A1 Meeting Prior to the beginning of the evening event, the Mashable team sits in on the USA Today A1 meeting, where the newspaper's editors decide the placement of stories for the front page. USA Today Newsroom After the A1 meeting, the Mashable team gets a brief tour of the USA Today newsroom. Attendees Sign-in Attendees stop to sign-in to the evening event. Mashable Superfan? A Mashable enthusiast pastes a wall decal on her back. Attendees Enjoy Food Attendees lineup to enjoy food and sweets throughout the night. Dominique Bastos of Gotelo Dominique Bastos of Gotelo talks with an attendee. Mashable's Adam Hirsch and Karen Hartline Mashable COO Adam Hirsch and Events Director Karen Hartline welcome attendees to the USA Today headquarters. Mashable NYC Makes Front Page The USA Today had a front-page cutout for attendees to take a picture behind. Mashable team members Vadim Lavrusik, Zach Sniderman, Stephanie Marcus, Brenna Ehrlich and contributor Shane Snow made the front page. Shashi Bellamkonda Social Media enthusiasts and connector Shashi Bellamkonda pauses to take a picture. USAToday.com Publisher Jeff Webber USAToday.com Publisher Jeff Webber gives some brief remarks at the Mashable #SummerMash event. Thanks to our Local Sponsors: USA TODAY was founded in 1982 with a mission to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its flagship newspaper and popular Web site, USA TODAY engages the national conversation and connects readers online through social media applications. USA TODAY, the nation’s number one newspaper in print circulation with a total average daily print circulation of more than 1.8 million, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper Web site which launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.9 million readers daily. Today's leading organizations are turning to Parature to provide service and support that enhances their customers' experience while reducing service-related costs. Parature Customer Service™ software integrates a customer portal, knowledge base,ticketing application, chat, and a host of other service modules in one dynamic, tightly unified system that manages all your support needs. Parature's integrated social media application, Parature for Facebook, is the industry's first and only customer service application that empowers organizations to support their customers directly through Facebook. A Special Thanks to Our Tour Sponsors Join Gotelo.com and choose where you want to be found, anytime, in one easy step.  It's fast, free, and launching this summer. Gotelo simplifies the way you connect with people you know and businesses you like by directing you to their most current web page. The Intel® Atom™ Developer Program provides software developers with everything you need to easily develop and sell applications for Intel® Atom™ processor-based products starting with netbooks, and eventually supporting tablets, smartphones, consumer electronics and more. Program features include: Powerful tools—including an SDK, easy deployment and validation, Revenue and marketing opportunities, Developer Catalog to buy and sell application components, Application Labs in addition to a vibrant online community for support. Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations agency with offices in 76 countries around the world. The firm's success is built on its deep commitment to client service, our people, creativity, collaboration and harnessing the power of Advocates – engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputation. Weber Shandwick provides strategy and execution across practices such as consumer marketing, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate and crisis management. Its specialized services include digital/social media, advocacy advertising, market research, and corporate responsibility. In 2010, Weber Shandwick was named Global Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report for the second year in a row; an ‘Agency of the Decade’ by Advertising Age, Large PR Agency of the Year by Bulldog Reporter, and Top Corporate Responsibility Advisory Firm by CR Magazine. The firm has also won numerous ‘best place to work’ awards around the world. A Special Thanks to Our Multi-Streaming Partner Watchitoo is an embeddable, live multi-streaming platform that allows 10+ participants to communicate via a web-cam in real time, while collaborating around a custom designed rich media playlist. A passive audience of thousands can view the show online. Any viewer can be added into a show via a virtual green room, where a moderator can adjust their microphone, have a private one-on-one chat, and vet their overall suitability to participate. Streams can be inserted, removed, re-arranged and re-sized in real time. Watchitoo has a rich feature set that includes Twitter and Facebook integration, chat, questioning, recording, screen-sharing and white-boarding. Thanks to Our Official Ticketing Partner Eventbrite is the world's largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event. Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: Events, mashable, summer tour, summermash For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Monopoly Gets an Unofficial Social Media Edition Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:06 PM PDT Over the years, Monopoly, the classic Hasbro board game, has been re-imagined in a plethora of different ways — there’s even a UCLAOLOPY edition for Bruins fans — and also exists in Google Maps form. Crystal Gibson just one upped them all with her own ingenious version, the Social Media Monopoly Board game. The game, which Gibson posted to Bite, is an elaborate version of Monopoly that includes direct and indirect references to our favorite — and not-so-favorite — social media entities. The game even comes with a complete set of Chance and Community Chest cards that play upon Technorati’s and Mashable’s themes. In this unofficial edition of Monopoly, the traditional jail is replaced with a “Just Visiting” MySpace holding cell, and a cross-board Cyperpolice space which instructs players to, “Go to Myspace. Go Directly to Myspace. Do not pass Wi-Fi. Do not collect $200.” The savvy social media user will recognize both popular and niche sites highlighted in spaces across the board. Facebook and Twitter are the priciest social properties, comprising the spaces generally known as Boardwalk and Park Place. YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, Foursquare and Gowalla also come with hefty price tags, but LinkedIn, Digg and Reddit are priced a bit more economically. The Technorati and Mashable-themed cards are a spirited set of game instruction cards that make the social media side of the game really come alive. One Mashable card reads, “You’ve unlocked the ’stalker’ badge on Foursquare, collect $100.” Another Technorati card laments, “Your video has become MySpace video of the week. No one cares. Don’t do anything.” There’s no word on whether Bite readers have printed out the board and the cards to play offline. But, Gibson confirms the Social Media Monopoly game is making the rounds inside the office. “We’ve cut them out and played at the office … Wouldn’t you want to play?” asked Gibson. Reviews: Digg, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, LinkedIn, Mashable, MySpace, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, reddit.com More About: games, monopoly, social media For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Score a Random E-mail Penpal with This New Service Posted: 09 Aug 2010 11:34 AM PDT Do you love getting e-mail? Do you love getting e-mail from random people? Are you an inherently lonely fellow/female? Well, there’s a service out there for everyone, and your service of choice is undoubtedly Invisible Note. In the grand tradition of Omegle and Chatroulette, Invisible Note is a super basic tool that lets you connect with random strangers — over e-mail. Still, it’s a decidedly message-in-a-bottle affair. Basically, you visit the Invisible Note website (which was dreamed up by DreamHost), enter any e-mail address @invisiblenote.com and send your epistle into the ether. If someone else shoots a missive to that same address, said person will receive your message and you theirs. Real e-mail addresses will then be exchanged, so don’t hop on the rando bandwagon if you value your privacy. So what’s the aim of this experiment? According to the message I received after trying out the service, whoever is lucky enough to e-mail the same address as me “will then become friends for life.” Here’s hopin’ s/he’s not a fan of night-vision goggles and collecting body parts. [via The Next Web] Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Pablo631 Reviews: Omegle, iStockphoto More About: chatroulette, e-mail, invivible-note, omegle, pop culture, social media, web apps For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

How Freelancers Might Use Social Media in the Future Posted: 09 Aug 2010 11:16 AM PDT This series is supported by Gist, an online service that helps you build stronger relationships. By connecting your inbox to the web, you get business-critical information about key people and companies. See how it works here. For freelancers, social media has been a real game changer, and brings networking to a whole new level. Depending on how you look at it, the competition either just got a lot tougher or the playing field burst wide open. Social media is a double-edged sword; although getting a job is often still about who you know, connecting online means there is the opportunity to know so many more people. Considering that social media is really in its infancy, it’s hard to say how freelancers will be using social media in years to come, so it helps to take a look at what is working now and what we think lies ahead. We spoke to freelancers who use social media to help build relationships and land the gigs that pay the bills, and asked them what is working for them now and what they think may be in store. Being Everywhere Establishing yourself online is the first step for freelancers looking to use social media, but where to do it? There are a handful of uber-popular social media sites and dozens more popping up every day. Creating an online identity and cultivating it well on different platforms is key. Jacob Cass is an Australian freelance graphic designer based in New York who runs Just Creative Design, a design blog, and several other sites dedicated to all things design, advertising and branding. A self-described “social media nut,” Cass is vocal about the ways social media has aided him in his career. “I’ve never paid a cent for advertising,” he said. His visibility is thanks to his efforts in getting both his work and himself known online via social media. Cass says he updates his blog once or twice a week and is using about as many social platforms as possible. Though Cass only graduated from university last year, he has been able to showcase his talent for graphics and design quite well via social media. In fact, he was offered his previous day job at a Brooklyn-based new media marketing agency through Twitter. While he has since moved on to another company, it’s clear that Cass has been able to promote himself by blogging informative articles on topics like “what makes a good logo,” tweeting useful links to his 30,000 plus followers on Twitter, and contributing to conversations with his 4,000 plus Facebook friends. The future of social media is elusive, as what’s hot today may not be tomorrow. “It’s important not to put all your eggs in one basket, ” he said. “Look at MySpace five years ago and today. If you put all your eggs in one basket and you have a million friends on MySpace, where does that get you today?” Cass says he looks for constant innovations and is eager to use and discover new platforms that will be helpful. He just started using Dribbble, a social networking site for designers and developers that lets you share “sneak peeks” of work as small screenshots with the community. “It’s great for design people because it’s another place to showcase your work.” Adapting to New Platforms Mica Knibbs is a freelance graphic designer and photographer in Kelowna, Canada, who says Twitter has been huge in building his business, especially with regard to sourcing clients after interacting with them. His strategy in social media has really been to make personal connections and engage on a conversational level 70 to 80% of the time, and only occasionally use it as a way to plug his work or see if people are looking for designers. In fact, he’s in the middle of designing a website for a well-known local radio host, who told him the reason that she chose to go with him as a designer was because she felt she knew who he was because of their interactions. Knibbs had introduced himself on Twitter and then made the jump to real life, offering up a business card at an event and kept the relationship going via tweets and e-mails. “That’s a great job for me because it’s such a high profile client and it gives a lot of credibility to the work that I do,” he said. As for the future, Knibbs also said freelancers should expect to be more adaptable to whatever platform can help. He just started using Foursquare, and as a result is now connected to people he couldn’t necessarily reach on Twitter. “The platform is young and it’s in development as far as the return you get on your investment, but I think it’s coming,” he says. Knibbs says he sees geo-location services growing and expects that geo-specific ads will one day be common, in which businesses could send out deals to consumers in the vicinity. For a freelancer like himself, that could translate into him putting out an ad while he’s in a coffee shop and seeing if anyone within his networks is looking for design work in the nearby areas. “It’s hard to say, but that’s a direction I could see it going. Plus, I think mobility is the way everything is going. For me, my office is with me all the time — it’s on my phone — and that’s why accessibility [from mobile devices] has to be in every website, with more and more integration.” Integration and Better Use Glen Stansberry, a freelance web developer, blogger, and writer from Kansas, agrees that it’s important to be engaging with people on different platforms, but says that in the future, people may learn how to use each platform more appropriately. Stansberry says he has a different conversation depending on the platforms, and thinks that in the future, more people will realize that strategies should vary depending on the site. Facebook and Twitter aren’t going anywhere for the next little while, but they have already proven their different values, he said. Because Twitter is a micro-blogging site and is limited to 140-characters, it is often just that — limited. Stansberry says that Twitter seems to be more about sending out quick links, and is often filled with a lot of regurgitation; the mindless re-tweet. Facebook on the other hand offers more in-depth conversations to emerge. “Facebook has the edge, and it’s the most attractive to the masses.” For freelancers, he says, social media is a chance to get your work out there, and there are a number of websites like Behance that are growing very quickly in popularity. Similar to Dribble, Behance allows designers to upload their portfolios where visitors, including recruiters, come to search (and potentially hire) talents. This past July, the site launched a collaboration with LinkedIn that enables users to upload their portfolios directly to their LinkedIn accounts, meaning that recruiters and employers have twice the chance of spotting their work. Freelancers hoping to stay on top of the latest social media trends have to be open and adaptable, as the social space is ever evolving. Which platforms and trends do you think will be a large part of the future of social media usage among freelancers? Series supported by Gist This series is supported by Gist, an online service that helps you build stronger professional relationships by bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts and their companies, giving you the right information at the right moment to get a first meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection. Gist does all the work for you, assembling a dynamic collection of all your contacts and their companies from your e-mail inbox, your social networks, or even your CRM system automatically building and updating their profiles as new content is published – by them or about them. More Business Resources from Mashable: - How Small Businesses Will Use Social Media in the Future - How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media for Real Results - How Startups are Using Social Media for Real Results - How CEOs are Using Social Media for Real Results - How Salespeople Are Using Social Media for Real Results - How PR Pros Are Using Social Media for Real Results Image courtesy of iStockphoto, VallarieE Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, blogger, iStockphoto More About: design, freelance, freelance work, freelancers, future, future of social media series, jobs, social media, social networking, web design For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Twitter, Foursquare and Qik Used in Geeky Marriage Proposal Posted: 09 Aug 2010 10:11 AM PDT Since the advent of social media, men in love have been inventing creative ways to pop the question to the woman of their dreams. On Saturday, Digg’s Matt Van Horn followed in the footsteps of the romantic geeks before him and leveraged Twitter, Foursquare and live streaming mobile service Qik to purpose marriage to his girlfriend. The carefully orchestrated proposal involved a string of social media feats that came together to create the ultimate surprise. Van Horn arranged for a friend of his girlfriend’s to bring her to the top of a hill in San Francisco where he was hiding out, behind a rock, with a friend who was capturing the whole thing via Qik. Twitter and Foursquare were used to alert the world, and Van Horn’s future bride, that the proposal was about to take place. Qik was leveraged to the stream the proposal so that friends and family could watch it live. Here’s how Van Horn describes the pre-proposal buildup on his blog: “So I had @hutchins hiding with me behind the rock with his iPhone live streaming the proposal and he also had a camera taking photos. I had sent out the link 30 minutes earlier to both our families, so they were watching live. Once I got the signal that she was there, I checked into Bernal Heights Park via Foursquare which shouted the URL to the live stream on Qik, which automatically synced to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I knew Lauren received my tweets via text message on her phone, so I asked her to turn around as I proposed!” Due to Van Horn’s tech-minded genius, the proposal will live on the web for eternity. You can watch the touching moment in the video embedded below. Congratulations and best wishes to the newly engaged couple. [img credit: Matt Van Horn] Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, blog More About: foursquare, marriage proposal, proposal, qik, trending, twitter For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Real People Transcribe Your Biz Cards, Sync Them to Your Phone [APP] Posted: 09 Aug 2010 09:25 AM PDT This post is part of Mashable's Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: CardMunch Quick Pitch: CardMunch provides accurate transcription of your business cards, using real humans to verify each card, then sends the contacts to your phone. Genius Idea: When you attend a business networking event, you acquire a rather large stack of business cards. These contacts can be useful, but those small slips of paper are easy to lose, so you’d be wise to transcribe the names, numbers and titles into your digital contact list on your smartphone. That can take a long time, though, and it can feel even longer when you’ve just gotten home from hours of networking. CardMunch makes that process easier by providing human transcription of the cards you get based on photos you take on your iPhone and upload over the wireless network. Once transcription is complete, CardMunch sends the contact data straight to your phone within just a few hours. Here’s a very brief video demonstrating the service. Overview of CardMunch in 21 Seconds from CardMunch on Vimeo. Once a transcription is complete, it appears in a web-based address book hosted by CardMunch. You can sync that address book to your iPhone. CardMunch gives you the choice to make the contacts appear only in the CardMunch app on your iPhone, or in your phone’s regular contact list. Since the transcriptions are made by humans and not some software algorithm, CardMunch actually guarantees 100% accuracy. That’s something automated systems simply can’t do. The downside is increased cost, though the costs are quite reasonable — generally around 25 cents per card. This chart shows the different tiers of service and their costs. The CardMunch app for iPhone [iTunes link] costs $2.99 and comes with 10 transcriptions. Since it’s an iOS app, it should also run on your iPod touch or iPad, but its usefulness on those devices will be limited since they lack cameras. There’s also a free version [iTunes link] of the app; it comes with five complimentary transcriptions. Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines)." Reviews: PHP, Vimeo, iPhone More About: App, bizspark, business cards, cardmunch, iphone, spark-of-genius, startup, transcription For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Still More Easter Eggs to Find in the Microsoft Scavenger Hunt [SPONSORED] Posted: 09 Aug 2010 09:24 AM PDT This post is brought to you by Allure Bays Corp., a microsite designed by Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. For more information on sponsored posts read here. By now, you should have found quite a few of the Easter eggs Microsoft has hidden in its microsite created for the fictional company, Allure Bay Corp. The site is designed to teach visitors about the latest incarnations of Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. The results are tracked on a leaderboard, which changes from day to day as more people join the hunt, and more Easter eggs are discovered. Some of the Easter eggs hidden in the site are a little easy to uncover, like the one embedded in the subtitle of one of the videos, but others require a little more ingenuity. Still need a few hints? Have you tried typing "Todd" into the search box yet? Or if you're curious about the features these Microsoft programs offer, try searching for "Information Capture." Every Easter egg gets you a little closer to understanding the full scope of what you can do with Microsoft's programs, and to taking the top position on the leaderboard. You're competing with every other registered user, so get creative, watch for clues and don't hesitate to click items you see in the videos. That green mask on the desk in one video just might uncover something interesting. Still more hints are tweeted almost daily on the Allure Bays Corp. Twitter account that complements the microsite, so if you haven't found all the loot yet, be sure to follow that account to keep up and dominate that leaderboard! (This post is brought to you by Allure Bays Corp., a microsite designed by Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. For more information on sponsored posts read here.) Reviews: Twitter For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

100+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Events Posted: 09 Aug 2010 09:23 AM PDT Every week, Mashable puts together a calendar of upcoming social media and web events, parties and conferences. Would you like to have your conference or event listed here? If so, please contact us at least one month before your event to establish a media partnership. For more upcoming event listings, check out Mashable’s Events section. Don’t forget to check out the Mashable U.S. Summer Tour that’s making stops at: New York: August 9th Chicago: August 11th This September, join Mashable for the Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit in Partnership with the United Nations Foundation. More information about the event can be found here. Please email events@mashable.com for available sponsorship information. Here are some tips on how to network, share your information and/or promote your event using social media: HOW TO: Plan and Promote Events with Social Media 35+ Ways to Find and Plan Events Online 8 Ways to Create Paperless Business Cards 5 Useful iPhone Apps for Business Networking Mashable’s Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace. August 10-11, 2010, Rosemont, IL: The InterACT! Conference is a two-day event focusing on how video, print, social, web, e-mail and mobile work together interactively to drive your business. Join your fellow marketers and brand managers at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare for this unique two-day program featuring experts, in-depth case studies and hands-on teaching labs for a roll-up-your-sleeves conference that will change your business. Learn more and register now. Please use the discount code Interact_Mashable to receive $100 off the standard package. August 11-13, 2010, Washington, D.C.: Whether you’re a researcher, a system administrator, or a policy wonk, come to USENIX Security ‘10 to find out how changes in computer security are going to affect you. The 3-day program includes an innovative technical program, starting with a keynote address by Roger G. Johnston of the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory; invited talks, including “Toward an Open and Secure Platform for Using the Web,” by Will Drewry, Google; a refereed papers track, including 30 papers presenting the newest advances; and a Poster session displaying the latest preliminary research. Gain valuable knowledge on a variety of subject areas, including detection of network attacks, privacy, Internet security, Web security and more. Learn more at http://www.usenix.org/sec10/mash. Receive $100 discount by entering SEC10MASH upon registration. August 13, 2010, Nashville, TN: Top View Social Media Series begins in August! You’ll be able to tap into presentations from business executives who will help you take your social media strategies to the next level. All at absolutely no cost. Vaco, a consulting and placement firm specializing in technology, accounting/finance and administration will present this on-line series to lift the veil and demystify how social media brings true ROI to business! Executives from across the nation will share their tips to help you monitor and grow your return on investment at your company–all on http://www.topviewseries.com August 13-15, 2010, Boston, MA: The 6th Annual Second Life Community Convention 2010 brings Residents of the Second Life community together to network, build friendships and to discuss Second Life in a common forum. This year’s convention will be held at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, with a new organizing committee at the helm. In addition to new programming and content, AvaCon, Inc. has also launched a new website at http://www.slconvention.org which has all the details for the convention. SLCC is the largest virtual world convention combining art, business, community events, education, music, non-profit and the technical aspects of Second Life, other virtual worlds and related technologies in one location. Register Now & save an additional 10% using the discount code Mashable2010 at http://slcc2010.eventbrite.com/?discount=Mashable2010. August 14-15, 2010, Chicago, IL: SocialDevCamp Chicago is two days of developer-centric sessions about making the most of the social web. It's the unconference for social application and platform developers, mobile social developers, evangelists and enthusiasts. You'll join hundreds of passionate developers and creators for a weekend of talks on social applications, platforms, APIs, mobile applications, identity management and new media. August 15-17, 2010, New York, NY: Affiliate Summit East, the premier affiliate marketing conference, is taking place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City. This three day conference includes an exhibit hall with affiliate merchants, vendors and networks, as well as multiple tracks of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from affiliate marketing experts. Use discount code mashable for 10% off any pass type. August 16-17, 2010, Las Vegas, NV: Join us for the Restaurant & Hospitality Social Media Marketing Bootcamp. This event provides the practical knowledge and insights required by restaurant and hotel operators to establish objectives and strategies for your market, properly select the social media platforms to engage guests and monitor and measure the results of these efforts for a greater ROI. This event is presented by RestaurantWorx Consulting and Inside Hospitality. Use the Code “MASHABLE” (all caps) when registering and receive VIP pricing on “Day 1″ or “Day 1 & 2 Attendance” tickets. See complete event details on the event website at RestaurantSocialMedia.com. August 16-20, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Discover the tools of engagement at this year's SES San Francisco. No longer just lecturing your customers, learn to listen and converse in a more social world. Our experts will show you how integrating search, social media and video in even basic ways will transform both your site’s visibility and profitability. Packed with sessions on PPC management, information architecture, social media, local search, mobile application development, video optimization and other advanced topics, we have created an educational and networking environment designed for both beginners and veterans in digital marketing. Register by July 30th and SAVE up to $554 with code MHNY15. August 16, 2010, Charlotte NC: The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused on drilled down learning and case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines. One day, 25 speakers from companies like GM, Sprint, AT&T, Bank of America, Rubbermaid, H&R Block and many more. As well as keynote Amber Naslund of Radian 6. Register now and use coupon code mashable for 25% off. August 17-19, 2010, Seattle, WA: Taking place during Seattle Geek Week, pii2010 (privacy identity innovation) will explore how emerging technologies and business models are impacting the way data is created, shared and aggregated and how to strike a balance between protecting sensitive information and enabling innovation. The conference will also serve as the official launch pad for pii Labs, an open forum for brainstorming and collaborating that will be held at the Space Needle building. Tickets start at $345 and Mashable readers save 20% when they register with this Discount Code: 4MASH. Sign up today at http://www.pii2010.com! August 19-21, 2010, Seattle, WA: In the summer of 2010, hundreds of the world's leading bloggers and tech-savvy enthusiasts will once again descend upon the city of Seattle, WA for the technology conference of inspiration and influence. Gnomedex is a single-track conference guaranteed to bring you conversations and experiences of a lifetime. Our conference theme of “Human Circuirtry” is one that has created buzz around the blogosphere in past years. Loosely defined, Human Circuitry is the point at which technology and humanity combine. This year, we’re proud to feature Brian Solis as a keynote speaker, with presentations from people such as Violet Blue, Jason Barger, Scott Draves and many more. To celebrate our tenth year, we will be having a small TechTV / Call for Help reunion – right on the Gnomedex stage! More details about that will be coming soon. Full information about the conference can be found on the Gnomedex site. Register for an all-access pass with discount code g10Mashable to save 20%! August 19-21, Vancouver, BC Canada: GROW2010 Conference, Dealmaker Media's inaugural technology conference brings together leading entrepreneurs, influencers and investors from Silicon Valley and Canada to inspire innovation and entrepreneurship. The theme: Turning today’s entrepreneurs into tomorrow’s leaders. Join 400 industry executives for three days of networking, connecting, deal-making and outdoor adventure. Hear Zynga, Linkedin, Groupon, Zappos, SuperRewards, Mint and Get Satisfaction talk about founder passion, challenges and opportunities for building companies on the web. For all events details, click here. August 20-22, 2010, Washington, DC. The iPhone/iPad Boot Camp: 24 hours of training in iPhone/iPad Development covering basic to advanced features. It is an established certificate training program that trained over 400 iPhone developers since 2008. The D.C. instructor is Dan Pilone, author “Head First iPhone Development" for O’Reilly Press. Developers are able to develop an app after the training. The workshop offers a money-back guarantee after the first day. For limited time only – a 10% discount off the discounted early bird rate – a $400 savings – is offered on the registration page using the discount code mashable. August 23-27, 2010, Los Angeles, CA: Interactive and New Media BootCamp. This one-week course includes an intensive schedule of lectures, guest speakers, case study discussions and experience days, complete with professional networking events. The program demands action-oriented decision-making, and will bring you together with industry leaders to help you understand the constantly evolving landscape of Interactive and New Media. Mashable readers may register at http://uclanewmediabootcamp2010.eventbrite.com and use the discount code MASHABLE for 30% off. August 23-24, 2010, Chicago, IL: Windy City Social's http://www.windycitysocial.com/summit/ Social Media Masters' Summit was created to bring together brands, bloggers, agencies and consultants to connect and share social media best practices. Learn how Kenmore, ConAgra, General Motors, Tide, Microsoft, Weight Watchers and other large brands are leveraging social media to connect with customers and increase their bottom line. Use code MASH20 to save 20% off registration. August 25, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Ubergizmo will host Digital Summer, an event that brings together the most international, professional and glamorous crowd in San Francisco to celebrate photography, fashion, art and technology. Among the unique features of this one-of-a-kind event is a live runway fashion show showcasing designers Colleen Quen Couture, Jan Warnock, Harputs OWN and Sofie Olgaard. Invitees will also have a chance to enjoy a professional photo-shoot and lots of time to socialize. Intel and Verizon are sponsoring the event and will showcase their newest, coolest products. August 25, 2010, New York, NY: Come meet with fellow developers, marketers and agencies, members of the Facebook team, and your hosts from Syncapse. This is the official New York Garage as part of the global Facebook Developer Garage series. The theme of this Garage is global: Open Graph on a bigger scale, Facebook analytics, scaling apps globally – we'll cover it all. For more information and speaker application info, click here. August 26-27, 2010, Windsor, CT: This seminar will help financial services firms develop and implement a cohesive social media strategy that drives distribution and grows market share. Social media experts and trendsetting industry practitioners will review strategy elements and key information to 1) Uncover opportunities for enhancing sales and service 2) Identify hurdles to implementation 3) Reveal how companies are clearing those hurdles and 4) Provide concrete takeaways for crafting and implementing your firm's strategy. Register with promo code 100MASHDIS to receive a $100 discount until August 6, 2010. August 26, 2010, Galway, Ireland: Attend BlogTalk 2010: the 7th International Conference on Social Software. Join developers, researchers, practitioners and others who share, analyze and enjoy the benefits of social software and social media. Keynote speakers including Stowe Boyd, Dan Gillmor and Don Thibeau will share insights and discuss future developments. There will also be a one-day workshop on microblogging as part of the event. The cost is €200 for early birds and €250 for regular registrants. Use the mashtalk promotional code when registering to save 10%. We will also have a medieval banquet, but space is limited so register early. August 26, 2010, Orange County, CA: Engage or Die: A Special Night of Networking with Brian Solis – Well known author, A-list speaker and social media guru Brian Solis will be in Orange County for one night only! Just when you thought you had social media marketing and PR all figured out. Learn tactics and strategies about engaging customers that are changing the rules of marketing again! With themes from his new book Engage! and a stellar networking opportunity with some of the top marketers, social media influencers and business talent in SoCal, we hope you’ll join us. August 27, 2010, Dallas, TX: Join the top social recruiters and sourcers at Talent Net Live. Network & learn the latest social recruiting techniques, best practices, & time savers for effective talent attraction, applicant tracking, employer branding, candidate sourcing and more. Click here for both event and registration information. Mashable readers can save $10 with the coupon code MASH. August 28th, 2010 Austin, TX: BlogathonATX – We’re gonna blog your face off. It’s too hot to be outside, so bring your laptop and creativity along as we spend a Saturday kicking out some posts for our personal and business blogs. We’ll have space for writing, as well as other activities such as brainstorming, technical advice and even blog set-up for newbies! August 29-September 21, 2010, Lake Tahoe, NV: The Social Media Insider Summit is a three-day event that brings together the brightest minds in social media marketing to share leading-edge information and experiences in a think-tank environment while exploring new technology, strategies, and tactics for effective use of social media as a marketing vehicle. Attendance for the Summits are capped to ensure conversations, learnings and overall experiences are intimate, productive and highly useful. Our sponsors are in the unique position of receiving unparalleled access to summit VIP attendees over three truly unforgettable days. Register with promo code SOCSUMMASH and save $1100 off the on-site registration price! August 30-31 & September 2-3, 2010, Singapore & Hong Kong: Join us at the Integrated Marketing Communications in a Social Media Age Conference. Through a showcase of best practices from global brands, this two-day conference will equip marketers with strategies and insights to funnel core messages with conviction and consistency. Find out how you can capitalize on social media and integrate it seamlessly with offline channels to engage consumers and combat message dissonance. Register now and save 10% when you enter Mashable under "Additional info". September 6–7 & 9-10, 2010, Singapore & Hong Kong: Join us at the Social Media Marketing & Measurement Workshop. Through hands-on exercises, interactive discussions and case studies analysis, expand your knowledge in Social Media (SM) Marketing strategy development and implementation techniques and pick up skills in measuring social media efforts in financial and non-financial terms. Marketers can look forward to hearing how to design and integrate social media with existing marketing platforms and how to measure and monitor social media campaigns using free and paid tools. Register today and save 10% when you enter the code Mashable under 'Additional Info'. September 8-9, 2010, Minneapolis, MN: Event Camp Twin Cities is about inspiring event professionals to try new communication and collaboration paradigms at their events. Today's attendees are more educated, more experienced and have more information at their fingertips than ever before. Event Camp Twin Cities will show you new ways to harness this new attendee power and transform that energy into new ideas and solutions that change business. Come to Event Camp and discover the collaborative community of event professionals that are leading the events industry into the world of Social Media. Save 15% using discount code mashable. September 9-11 2010, Denver, CO: BlogPaws 2010 West is the only social media and blogging conference for the pet industry. Join us and more than 300 bloggers, pet-focused media and brands to learn, network and create change for pets in need. You'll walk away from this exciting weekend with new ideas, a fresh perspective and a supportive network of new friends and partners to help you further your mission online. Whether you blog for business, fun or for a pet-related cause, the inspiring keynotes and action-oriented breakout sessions by pet industry and social media experts will provide you with the inspiration, guidance and tools you need to build and promote your online presence. Register with promo code MASHABLE for a 20% discount! Learn more and register here. September 9-11, 2010, Atlanta, GA: The Modern Media Man Summit is the first blogging conference for men and dads and will feature many of the most influential social media experts in the country, including Charles J. Orlando, Dave Taylor, Liz Strauss, Carol Roth and Ted Murphy. Many speakers, including Jim Kukral and Ron Mattocks, are newly published authors and are focused on helping men and women bloggers prosper in the digital age. Thanks to M3's Platinum Sponsor Chevrolet, baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr. is throwing out the first pitch. Register with the promo code M3MASH and save 20 percent. September 10, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Join San Francisco trendsetters, world travelers and social media fans to celebrate Trendy Lime’s first anniversary with the special edition of JETLAG! Over the past year, Trendy Lime, a social media-driven producer of upscale events, has been creating events to suit the most discerning tastes by mixing Fashion, Travel and New Media. Among JETLAG partners: Mashable, Vator.tv, Bub.bliciou.us, 360 Fashion Network, Mesaic and others. Register with the promo code JLMASH to receive a surprise present. September 13-14, 2010, San Francisco, CA: APPNATION is the first global conference and exposition to focus exclusively on the burgeoning consumer applications marketplace. The event will cover social and mobile apps across all devices and platforms including social media platforms, smartphones, tablets, internet-enabled televisions and other emerging connected devices. Speakers include Adobe, Accel Partners, Getjar, The North Face, Marvel, Sequoia Partners, Smule, Time Inc., The Wall Street Journal and more. September 13-14, 2010, Charlotte, NC: Social Media 4 Responders is the first hands-on social media conference specifically designed with responders in mind. Law enforcement; fire service, emergency management, public health, disaster and crisis aid, emergency medical services, public utilities and the list goes on! Seven hands-on workshops and four power packed sessions over two-days that will provide you with the knowledge & skill you need to get your organization engaged in the fastest growing means of communication in the world. Follow us on Twitter hashtag #sm4r. Use promo code Mashablesm4r to save 10% on your registration fee. September 13-15, 2010, Silicon Valley, CA: DEMO is the premier launch event with a 20-year track record of successfully identifying and delivering the world's most innovative new products and services to the market. Companies like: VM Ware, Palm, Skype, Google, EA, Microsoft, IBM, Nokia and Citrix have launched new products at DEMO. DEMO Fall 2010 will showcase the top B2B, B2C and vertical innovations coming to market—innovations on track to evolve or disrupt the markets they serve. Don't miss the chance to experience first hand the latest technology game changers in social and media, health and life sciences, clean and sustainable technology, cloud and enterprise computing and more! Register for DEMO at http://www.demo.com/EDFPartner and save 25% off the current public price for DEMO. September 14-16, 2010, Dallas, TX: BIA/Kelsey's Directional Media Strategies 2010 takes place in a pivotal moment in Yellow Pages history. BIA/Kelsey's latest global Yellow Pages forecast indicates digital will account for 39% of Yellow Pages revenues by 2014. The future revolves around how publishers can best serve the needs of small business advertisers—with video, reputation management, mobile directories, social platforms, group buying, SEM/SEO and more. Join more than 400 senior execs from the global Yellow Pages community at DMS '10, September 14-16 in Dallas. Register with the promo code DMSMASH and save $200! September 14, 2010, Lawrence KS: Social Media Marketing Boot Camp with Sarah Evans: Limited tickets will be available for this unique boot camp style event with renowned expert Sarah Evans. You’ll spend a full six hours of session time with Sarah, taking an in-depth look at the role of social media in marketing your business or organization. You wont just learn effective social media marketing techniques, but will look at how social media works in conjunction with traditional marketing, practical ways of engaging customers and prospects, case studies, help with creating a social media based marketing plan, hints and tips, ways to make your brand stand out online, tools and resources and plenty of opportunities for discussion and Q & A. Use the discount code MASHABLE to receive a 20% discount at registration. September 15-16, 2010. Cologne, Germany: The dmexco is the leading European exposition for digital marketing & advertising. The exposition covers among others the theme areas online marketing, targeting, tracking, digital contents (moving images, audio advertising), social, mobile, performance marketing, affiliate, email marketing, search engine marketing and in-game advertising and offers agencies (media agencies, creative agencies, full-service agencies) a presentation platform. The dmexco is organised by the Koelnmesse, its industry partners are the BVDW (Federal Association of the Digital Industry) and the OVK (Online Marketers Circle). September 15, 2010, New York, NY: Mobile Social Communications: Case Studies & Roundtables — Our Keynote Presenter will be Eric Friedman, Director of Client Services, Foursquare. Case studies by Tasti D-Lite LLC, Buzzd, Yelp, McDonald’s and others will showcase how real brands are achieving tangible business goals integrating mobile social strategies into their overall marketing and communications approach. The case studies will be followed by moderated interactive roundtables. Use the promo code MASH for a discounted rate ($155). September 15, 2010, Los Angeles, CA: Announcing our 2nd annual Digital Media Pipeline conference which will offer the only industry event that has as its primary focus – the distribution pipeline that helps connect the world's leading digital media content providers with the end user. Digital Media Pipeline offers an opportunity for digital retailers, Hollywood studios and aggregators, technology and service providers to share learnings and experiences in the business of retailing digital entertainment. Join us; register now and use the discount code MASH45 to receive $45 off. September 15, 2010, Antwerp, Belgium: Out of Site proudly presents its very first Social Media and Google Optimization seminar. In two 60-minute sessions which take place in Out of Site headquarters in Antwerp (Belgium) you will gain more insight in the possibilities Social Media can offer your brand or company. Also an in-depth view of Google's role in your sales process will add to your key-knowledge of web technologies available to us today. Regular fee is 35 euro a person, which includes an incentive gift, lunch and drinks. Mashable readers can save 15% by entering the discount code OOSMASH159. September 15-17, 2010, San Francisco, CA: GSMI presents the Social Media Strategies Summit. We have researched the social media buzz to develop and present to you a top of the line marketing conference that you can't afford to miss. With in depth case studies from the nuts and bolts to microblogging and sustaining online communities, you leave with a refreshed vision to take your marketing plan to the next level for 2010 and beyond. Please use the code “MikeSM” for a discount. September 16-17, 2010, Dallas, TX: This year's 2nd Social Media Optimization Summits event, presented by Multifamilypro, brings together small to mid-sized business owners with an interest in putting social media to work successfully within their organizations. The event offers two full days of intensive, hands-on workshops from the intermediate to advanced level, led by top social media experts including Brian Solis of FutureWorks, Jason Falls of SocialMediaExplorer.com, Shama Kabani of The Marketing Zen Group and Shama.TV, Geno Church of Brains on Fire and more. The unique "See it. Hear it. Do it." approach allows attendees to learn by doing and begin applying newly-acquired skills and knowledge while the event is underway. Register now and save $125 at: http://optimizationsummits.com/. Use discount code Mashable. September 16-17, San Diego, CA: The San Diego Music & Technology Conference brings people together to enjoy, advance and celebrate the convergence of electronic music and technology. Interactive panels led by industry experts and musicians will be open forums where attendees can collaborate, challenge themselves and walk away inspired. And come experience world-class artists and up-and-coming talent perform in beautiful, sunny San Diego. Register today and save 20% off the ticket price with the code: mashable. September 17, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Social:Email is a one day conference that offers expert-led guidance on how to engage with customers via email and social media, including tips on how to maximize the impact of your campaigns, insights into new tools and services, how to monitor and measure the results, and trends to watch out for. This is the ultimate event for anyone interested in combining email with social media marketing. Speakers include Brian Solis, Kristin Hersant, Dan Martell, Chase McMichael, Luke Brynley-Jones and Murray Newlands. Register with code mashable to get a 10% discount. September 21–22, 2010, London, UK: ad:tech London is the UK’s essential free to attend event for professionals seeking to stay ahead of the latest interactive media, advertising and marketing trends. The event unites advertisers, media owners and agencies to harness the power of digital and deliver real marketing ROI. Alongside the exhibition, there is also a conference featuring 100+ international speakers for serious digital innovators and marketers. Mashable readers can take 20% off their conference ticket price – call John Corrick on + 44 (0) 203 180 6595 and quote Mash10. Register online now at www.ad-techlondon.co.uk. September 21, 2010, London, UK: Join us at this topical event to ensure that you are fully aware of all the legal and regulatory requirements surrounding data protection, as well as to hear how other organizations are handling these challenges. Speakers include Rosa Barcelo, Senior Legal Adviser to the EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISOR, and Martin Hoskins of everything everywhere (the company that manage T-Mobile and Orange), who will discuss the lessons learnt from T-Mobile's data breach experience. Plus, don’t miss out on our post-conference workshop on Cloud Computing. Mashable readers save 10% with the following code: KW8112MASH. For more info or to register, go to http://www.ibclegal.com/dataprotectionmash. September 21, 2010, Chicago, IL: The New Marketing Labs team will be invading Chicago to hold our New Marketing Experience event. Imagine a world where you can take your One Big Idea and tap over 100 other participating conference attendees and experts and each of their One Big Ideas. All of this in a structured, fast-paced and highly interactive one-day program under the direction of Chris Brogan, Justin Levy and the team from New Marketing Labs. New Marketing Experience is that world. Through six key discussion sessions this program will help you analyze and draw the best of what you need form these Big Ideas. For more information, visit us at: http://nmlevents.com. Use the code “MASH50” for a 50% off discount. September 21, 2010, New York, NY: NY Games Conference — A Day of Power Networking with Leaders in the Exploding Games and Connected Entertainment Industries! NY Games features a lively and fun debate on timely cutting-edge business topics and demos, as well unrivaled access to some of the most progressive companies in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and beyond. We invite you to join us at the event and take part in the discussion with executives, creators, investors, analysts, press and gamers who will be instrumental in shaping the future of this booming business. Mashable readers can receive 10% off registration with promo code MASH10. September 22-23, 2010, Santa Clara, CA: The Toy, Game and Technology Summit, in Santa Clara, CA is a one-of-a-kind summit that brings together leaders from the toy, video game and technology industries for in-depth discussion, cross-industry networking and the opportunity to generate new business. Capitalize on crossover business opportunities. Gain insight into toy, game and technology design issues, marketing strategies, exclusive market research and the latest trend forecasts. Toy, Game and Technology Summit is co-located with the Virtual Goods Conference. One registration gets you into both events for unparalleled networking and knowledge. Register with promo code MASHVIP and save 15%. September 22-23, 2010, Singapore, Asia: At Social Media World Forum Asia, become educated, discover, engage, network, share and collaborate in the world of social media. Ideal for those looking to embrace the latest in brand engagement, monitoring, ROI, advertising and building communities. learn from social networks, brands, advertisers and analysts. Mention you are a Mashable reader to receive a 15% discount. September 22-23, 2010, Chicago, IL: As we fight our way through a tough economy, “change” is the biggest word in business. Anyone who wants their organization to thrive knows that making change happen is better than watching it happen, and that “new ideas,” “fresh thinking” and “continuous innovation” have to be more than buzzwords. When IBM's Institute for Business Value recently asked 1,500 chief executives to name the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future, the number one answer was “creativity” — and creativity is why the Cusp Conference exists. A supercollider for creative thought, Cusp 2010 will feature designers of change like TED founder Richard Saul Wurman, social activist Tim Will, education innovator Diana Rhoten, “doctor of the future” Jay Parkinson and many more. Creativity is contagious. Register with the promo code MASHC and save 10%. September 23, 2010, Atlanta, GA: Lift: The B2B Social Commerce Summit is a "must attend" event for marketers, senior management and business owners looking to apply real-world social tactics that drive sales lift to their business. Co-hosted by Wharton Interactive, OfficeArrow and Social Strategy1, and bringing together the brightest minds in the B2B space, this 2nd annual 1-day information-packed all-inclusive event delivers educational workshops on how to monetize social media, how to quickly generate quality leads, and how to translate social data into measurable conversions. Use promo code MASH2010 and save 10% off $199 admission or $159 early-bird through 8/16. September 23, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Mediabistro’s Think Mobile conference explores the broadening mobile ecosystem, the application marketplace and the innovation that drives the industry. Hear from visionaries that reinvented businesses by innovating with unique mobile offerings and gain an understanding of key mobile metrics. Speakers include Starbucks CIO Stephen Gillett, Microsoft Sr. Product Manager Anand Iyer, NPD Group Executive Director Ross Rubin, Evernote CEO Phil Libin and more. Register with promo code MASH and save 15%! September 24, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Mediabistro and Charles Hudson’s Smartphone Games Summit is a one-day conference about emerging trends in the mobile gaming industry. As new developments emerge such as the iPhone Game Center, is it game over for a number of gaming companies, or does it open an even larger opportunity? How do new technologies like the iPad change the game? The conference will bring together leading developers, investors and executives from around the globe to share their collective wisdom on what’s working today and where this exciting industry is heading. Register with promo code MASH and save 15%! Sep 24, 2010, Mumbai, India: Digital Content and Social Media define the new marketing mantra of the future world, and they go to the heart of Corporate Strategy. Are you in yet? Attend the Digital Media Conclave – the most relevant and cutting-edge conference brought to you by CellStrat, India’s leading Mobile and Digital Media Strategy Consulting firm. Listen to top-notch digital and social media innovators from leading companies across India as well as corporate case studies in the digital media domain undertaken by India’s foremost Digital Marketing experts. Mashable readers will receive a 10% discount upon registration at the event. September 25, 2010, Atlanta, GA: Produced by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society & Kennesaw State University's Center for Sustainable Journalism, Media Law in the Digital Age – The Rules Have Changed, Have You? provides an overview of the new legal landscape, case studies, cautionary tales and how to make the laws work for you. In a one day conference held at Kennesaw State University, learn what Lawyers, Journalists, Educators, Citizen Media Producers, Communications Directors, Academics and Publishers big and small need to know now. Panelists include the Nation's top Media Law Attorneys, Scholars and Journalists. Register with promo code MASH and save 20%. September 27-30, 2010, New York, NY: Web 2.0 Expo New York assembles top tech influencers for four days of intense talks, workshops, discussions, and networking events. This year, Web 2.0 Expo New York focuses on Platforms for Growth, diving into the platform opportunities for the whole web ecosystem. We'll highlight the important challenges faced by the industry’s key players, and help you pick the winning platforms for growth in a web-fueled world. Connect with other designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, business strategists, and investors at one of the most vibrant events of the year. Use discount code webny10bd14 when you register to save 25%. September 27, 2010, Miami, FL: Calling all Affiliates, Merchants, Advertisers and Social Media Strategists looking to CONNECT to the right people, LEARN from the experts, increasing their EARNING potential and GROW their business! The Performance Marketing Expo is the premier event for best-in-class educational sessions (become an expert at Landing Page Optimization, Search, Social Media Strategies and Relationship Management), highly effective facilitated networking (in the Tune-Up Shop, Idea Factory, Masters of the Universe Roundtable sessions) and access to the leading Super Affiliates (Stephanie Nelson, Coupon Mom – Zac Johnson, MoneyReign, – Todd Martini, Alex’s Coupons – plus, eCoupons, MarketAmerica, TrialPay, Parent Media and more). Save 15% when using code PME2010MASH at www.iirusa.com/performancemarketingexpo. September 28-30 2010, London, UK: IIR's Mobile Broadband World is an absolute must for all those involved in the MBB ecosystem, including Mobile Operators, Content Developers, Financial Investors, Press and Media, Consultants, Technology Partners, Handset Developers and more. To claim your 10% discount courtesy of Mashable, please quote I2GS2MASH when registering. September 28, 2010, London, UK: Brands are frequently companies’ most valuable asset. The threats to this valuable asset are increasingly coming through online channels. This event will provide practical solutions and risk mitigation strategies for brand owners to combat these critical risks. Join experts from companies including Abercrombie and Vodafone to benefit from the practical advice and guidance they can provide. Not only will they share their own experience of preventing brand abuse, but will explain how they derive real ROI from their brand protection activities. Mashable readers save 10% on the event with the code KW8079MASH. For more info or to register, please go to http://www.ibclegal.com/obpmash. September 28, 2010, London, UK: The first ever Mobile and Video in Recruitment Conference has been designed to help recruiters get the most from using mobile and video in Recruitment. This unique conference will include speakers from some of the largest and well-known blue chip companies (including YouTube) who are leading players in mobile and online video. The conference will also include case studies and discussion panels and is aimed at forward-thinking recruiters who want to gain a competitive advantage. Save 15% with the discount code MASHABLE. September 29-30, 2010, Singapore: The Customer Show Asia 2010 is providing a unique platform that links loyalty and experience strategies with the latest technological tools and media. This conference will gather the world's largest brands, major stakeholders and leading solution providers in the customer care industry to learn, network, establish partnerships and seal profitable business opportunities. For more information, please visit website at http://www.terrapinn.com/2010/customerasia/index.stm. Register with promo code CSAMAS01 and enjoy 10% discounts. September 29-30, 2010, New York, NY: The Location-Based Marketing Summit in New York City, is the leading event for Fortune 1000 companies seeking to maximize marketing, commerce and business strategies using location-based services. Attendees receive valuable industry insight that can be immediately utilized in developing a location-based strategy. We give you an inside look at the location based marketing activities of major brands. Hear from companies who’ve made the journey and learn from their experiments and activities. We cut through the hype and separate buzz from success. Register with promo code MASHVIP to save an extra $100 off registration. The full schedule and speakers list can be found here. September 30, 2010, London, UK: Bringing together collective thoughts on Social Media for 2011. We know its going to be much more than an introduction to Social, we're looking forward into the bigger picture about how we communicate within the platforms and how we measure and integrate Social Media into our strategies. We're bringing together some of the leading authorities in Social Media, from app developers to word of mouth evangelists to discuss where and how the industry is evolving! – 'A forward thinking social media conference'. For more information, please visit http://www.social-collective.com. Mashable readers can receive 25% off ticket prices at registration with promo code MASH25 September 30, 2010, London, UK: Get the latest on the attempts to increase regulation surrounding the moderation of UGC. What qualifies as illegal and inappropriate content and how should it be dealt with? This year Luisa Edwards, Head of Commercial, Google Legal EMEA, will share with you her expertise on the interactive online environment, based on experience managing the legal challenges facing Youtube. Plus attend the workshop Social Networking and the Law: Challenges, Risk & Opportunities; a fully interactive guide on protecting your organisation and maximising on the opportunities that social networking presents. Mashable readers save 10% on the event with this code: KW8094MASH. For more info or to register, go to http://www.ibclegal.com/ugcmash. September 30, 2010, London, UK: Brightlemon Drupal Training – Drupal Development with Views and CCK: Drupal is a powerful CMS solution on its own – but the add-on modules of Views and CCK take that flexibility to a whole new level. This day is dedicated to turning you into an expert of how to integrate the two modules to get a lot done quickly. Buy tickets here. October 1-2, 2010, New York, NY: The Open Video Conference (OVC) is a multi-day summit of thought leaders in business, academia, art and activism to explore the future of video on the web. Join us October 1-2 for two days of learning and inspiration, and stick around for the OVC hack labs, presented in partnership with NYU ITP. October 1, 2010, New York, NY: Produced by Mediabistro and Social Times, the third annual Social Ad Summit explores best practices for social media marketing and advertising. The rapid growth of social media is providing marketers with larger reach, stronger customer relationships and increased relevance. At this showcase of recent case studies from agencies and brands, you'll see firsthand what is working and learn how to implement a successful strategy for your organization or client. Social networks, publishers, ad agencies, marketers, PR agencies, service providers delivering social advertising and anyone else interested in the latest trends in social media marketing will unite at Social Ad Summit. Speakers include Organic SVP Steve Beck, Turner Sports VP of Marketing Jeff Mirman, Skimlinks Co-founder and CEO Alicia Navarro, and more. Register with promo code MASH and save 15%! October 1, 2010, London, UK: Brightlemon Drupal Training – Drupal e-commerce solutions with Ubercart (London): The course will introduce you to the world of e-commerce Drupal style and show what a powerful and flexible suite of solutions is available. We will build a shop from scratch and through the process explore the various modules and techniques that are required. The main focus is around the Ubercart set of modules. Buy tickets here. October 2-3, Vancouver, BC, Canada: The Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit is an annual conference to unite and improve the Drupal Community in the Pacific Northwest region. This year’s Drupal Summit is being organized by volunteers from the Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria Drupal User Groups. The camp will feature both scheduled sessions and “unconference” content on both days. Sessions are proposed by community volunteers and programming decisions will be made based on the interests and Drupal experience level of the attendees. In addition to the scheduled sessions, the camp will feature space for community gatherings, Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions, hands-on training and more! October 2-3, 2010, Philadelphia, PA: PodCamp Philly 2010 is targeted to audio and video podcasters, bloggers, social media enthusiasts, professionals and hobbyists, musicians, marketers, and people who generally want to understand more about the new media space. The power of an unConference is you get open access to ideas, thoughts, best practices, and the true "wisdom of crowds" simply by registering and attending. Find out more at http://www.podcampphilly.com, or sign up at http://podcampphilly2010.eventbrite.com. October 3, 2010, Victoria, British Columbia: Come to Canada’s most beautiful city, and the first city in the world to proclaim Mashable’s Social Media Day! Whether you are an avid Facebook user, interested in learning about Twitter, or you're trying to grow your business by leveraging social media tools – there is something for everyone at this event! Social Media Camp is a one-day event featuring interesting and knowledgeable speakers from around British Columbia, and across North America! Register with promo code SMCV10 and save 15%! October 4-6, 2010, New York, NY: At Search Marketing Expo – SMX East, you'll learn to maximize ROI from paid search advertising, optimize your website content for superior organic search results, expand your skills with local and mobile advertising expertise, master social media marketing on Twitter, Facebook and other SMM networks, boost conversions… and increase sales. Use code "smx100mashable" and save $100 off your registration. For more info visit http://www.smxeast.com. October 4-7, 2010, Atlanta, GA: FutureMedia Fest 2010 – Explore new paradigms in how Content is Created, Distributed and Consumed with FutureMedia at Georgia Tech. Join our mash-up of talent, ideas, trends and technology. Hear directly from top industry execs and visionaries. Talk with investors. Meet interactive marketing experts. Network with potential partners. Experiment real-time with open innovation. Industry leaders, academics, entrepreneurs and VC's will inspire and challenge attendees with provocative panel discussions, facilitated small discussion groups and hands-on demos of next generation technology. Register today at futuremediaglobal.com and use the code FutureMedia 2010. October 4-8, 2010, Boston, MA: FutureMis the first ever week-long, collaborative, multi-location conference in Boston offering participants the opportunity to tap into the freshest thinkers in marketing, media and technology. Leading innovators will come together to share and explore how the newest technologies and insights are changing the way marketers think, create, engage and measure. October 5-6, 2010, Prague: EyeforTravel's Online Marketing & Social Media in Travel Summit brings together top travel brands to share key insights on how to maximize the impact of your online marketing and social media initiatives. The 2 days are packed full of case studies, presentations and networking opportunities. Speakers hail from across Europe and include Lufthansa, Lonely Planet, Expedia, TripAdvisor, P&O Cruises and many more. Use the code MASHABLE to claim your €100 discount on the price to attend. October 6-7, 2010, Boston, MA: The Inbound Marketing Summit is where the online marketing community gathers to solve today’s marketing and business communications challenges. This event features the brightest minds in the business, including world-renowned authors and practitioners, as well as leaders from some of the companies already using the new tools and strategies. This fast-paced and information-packed event is your check-up on your existing business communications strategies and your prescription for the coming months. On October 6 and 7 join Chris Brogan, Justin Levy and the entire New Marketing Labs team along with hundreds of marketers like yourself and 60+ speakers and sponsors at Gillette Stadium for two days of fast-paced, highly interactive, actionable content. For more information, visit us at: Inbound Marketing Summit. Use the code “MASH50” for a 50% discount. October 6-7, 2010, Novotel Clarke Quay, Singapore: The Mobile Social Networking Conference is hailed as the event for all major players within the mobile social networking and telecommunications industry to explore topics ranging from product innovation, revenue management, pricing strategy, and consumer trends. Conference presentations include case studies, discussion panels, and presentations by industry leaders, professionals and regulators. Register with the promo code M1 for a 10% discount. October 6-7, 2010, Los Angeles, CA: Digital Music Forum West: Over 300 of the most influential decision-makers in the music industry gather in Los Angeles each year for this incredible two-day dealmakers’ forum to network, do deals and share ideas about the business. Digital Music Forum West -– now in its fifth year –- features a lively and fun debate on timely cutting-edge business topics and demos, as well as unrivaled access to some of the most progressive companies in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and beyond. Mashable readers can receive 10% off registration with promo code MASH10. October 6, 2010, New York, NY: AdWeb 3.0 is an exclusive event taking place at the Cornell Club in New York City focusing upon the latest in business models, solutions and technologies in the digital advertising business in of data, platforms and monetization from the perspectives of buyers and sellers. Registration is open and available at the discount rate of $495. For more information on registration, and a full roster of speakers and sponsors, visit adweb30.com. October 7-8, San Francisco, CA: Every year we bring you our biggest and brightest conference in the Fall in our beautiful hometown of San Francisco. Health 2.0 always features the most comprehensive line-up of technology innovators, as well as leaders in health care, government and finance, and unveils the best new health care technology startups at Launch! You won't want to miss the Fourth Annual Health 2.0 Conference. With nearly a hundred speakers and plenty of new healthcare demos and technologies on display on stage and in the exhibit hall, you'll get a sweeping overview of the ways that information technology and the web are changing healthcare. October 8-10, 2010, Miami, FL: The Blogalicious Weekend conferences are aimed at celebrating the diversity of women of all ethnicities in social media. Over the course of 3 event-filled days, savvy, influential and talented bloggers will ignite a sense of unity within the multicultural blogging community as well as educate marketers on the importance of our demographic in today's marketplace, all while networking, building relationships, and promoting inspiration and success for each other. Imagine a getaway that combines all of the things that you love about blogging with the added element of face-to-face interactions and the intimacy of "IRL" relationships. At Blogalicious 2010, You'll laugh, you'll learn, you'll let your hair down. It will be just like blogging…only better! Register with the promo code MASHABLE10 and save 5% October 8-10, 2010, Philadelphia, PA: Experience 24 hours of training in iPhone/iPad Development covering basic to advanced features. It is an established certificate training program that trained over 400 iPhone developers since 2008. Matt Campbell, author of “How to Make an IPhone App" for AppMastery Press, will serve as the instructor. Developers will be able to develop an app after the training. For limited time, a 10% discount off the discounted early bird rate – a $400 savings is offered on the registration page using the discount code mashable. October 9-14, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Unlike other conferences out there, DMA2010 is the only Global ROI Marketing Event, focusing on direct and digital marketing integration across all channels! Learn from 300+ experts from brands like Pepsi, LG, HP and Twitter. Network with 10,000 practitioners from 50+ countries giving youaccess to broad and fresh marketing insights. and, create new partnerships with any of 400+ vendors in the comprehensive Exhibit Hall to learn how to merge direct and digital to maximize your ROI! Register and save an additional $250 with the discount code AN500. October 10-13, 2010, Cincinnati, OH: The HighEdWeb Conference is nationally recognized as the conference designed by and for all higher education Web professionals — from programmers to marketers to designers to all team members in-between — who want to explore the unique Web issues facing colleges and universities. With more than 60 presentations; a robust poster session; daily general session addresses; pre-and post-conference intensive, hands-on workshops; and multiple high-quality networking opportunities, HighEdWeb attendees receive a high-quality professional development experience packed into just a few days. Registerby August 31, 2010 and save $125! October 13-14, Princeton, NJ: Brought to you by the producer of the sold-out ePharma Summit, the Multi Channel Pharma Marketing Event brings together product managers and marketing operations under one roof to discuss cross-channel media plans for building brand value and elevating top line sales. Join us at the ONLY industry event focused on breaking down internal silos to achieve channel integration and maximize return on engagement. Visit www.multichannelevent.com for more information. Register with Priority Code XP1515MASH to save 15% off standard registration! October 14-15, 2010, London, UK: Creating and distributing video online? Join us at Online Video Strategies this October in London and learn how to choose the online video solutions that meet your needs, increase audience engagement with interactivity, use video for marketing, promotion and branding, deliver video to the iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices, leverage video for internal and external corporate communications, make sure your video gets seen by viewers and search engines and measure the ROI of your video projects. In addition, Online Video Strategies is a featured event at Streaming Media Europe and all delegates enjoy unlimited access to the Streaming Media Expo as part of their registration. Register at streamingmediaglobal.com/ovs. Quote priority code MASHABLE20 for a 20% discount. October 14-16, 2010, Las Vegas, NV: BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of new media including all forms of blogging, podcasting, social media, social networking, online video, music, Internet TV and radio. The BlogWorld conference features more than 120 educational sessions, panel discussions and keynote presentations, while the New Media Expo features the only industry-wide new media marketplace where thousands converge to network and find all of their online business and marketing resources. Running concurrent with the BlogWorld conference, the Social Media Business Summit is the world's largest social media business conference where marketing executives, business owners and world-renowned companies send their teams to learn the strategies, tactics, tools and technologies they need to build their brands and grow their businesses with social media. Register today with the code MASH20 for 20% off!! October 17-19, 2010. New York, NY: Pivot Conference is the only industry conference to explore and evaluate the attitudes, technologies and preferences of the “always on” 18-34 year old consumer. Attend Pivot Conference and hear from those successfully engaging with today’s emerging consumer and create your own action plan for success. Register today with code MASH101 and save 20%. October 17-20, 2010, Scottsdale, AZ: SuperGlad describes the prosperous life of agencies on the right side of the digital marketing divide. The “have’s” have it. The “have nots” do not. For an agency, in-house digital marketing expertise is now a must, not a nice-to-have. And does the knowledge permeate the agency or rest with just one person operating as a stand-alone department (who, by the way, could leave you high and dry if something better comes along)? Digital marketing is a core competency of the “have” agencies. You might not need to execute on all of it but you need to understand it and drive the strategy upon which decisions are made surrounding it. BOLO 2010 takes on the big task at hand: explaining why digital media leads the charge in SuperGlad agencies. It is not an afterthought. It is dealt with using creative, media, traffic and account service employees who think traditionally first, then translate that thinking to a digital environment. This event will show you how. $799/person (or $599 for agencyside members). Use discount code mashable to save $125 (more than 15%) off full-price registration at any time. October 18-20, 2010, Washington, D.C.: As Social Media quickly emerges as more than a communication tool, the U.S. Government must proactively leverage this new "environment" to achieve organizational goals. IDGA's 3rd Social Media for Defense and Government provides a forum for senior Government and Military officials, industry partners and academic communities to align shared goals, showcase new technology and define the way forward. This conference will present advanced social media strategies that not only improve communication but actually utilize the tools to improve effectiveness. Register with code MASH4GOV and receive 20% off the standard three-day event fee! October 18, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Join us for the third annual i-stage startup competition, featuring debuts from game-changing apps, products and services. Presented by CEA, i-stage gives tech startups the opportunity to compete for a share of $50,000 in prize money and a free booth at the 2011 International CES. Audience members get the first look at the industry's newest visionaries and network with high profile investors, media and industry leaders. Past winners include Boxee and Regen Inc's ReNu solar charging system. There is no entry fee for competing start-ups. Mashable readers save 10% on attendee tickets. Register now and use discount code IMASH. October, 18, 2010, Washington, DC: Digital East 2010 will feature over 50 industry leading speakers addressing best practices on topics including Social Media, Online Advertising, Ecommerce, Cloud Computing, Web Analytics, Search, Email and more. When registering, use the code Mash1 for 20% off. October 22-23, 2010, Petaluma, Sonoma County, CA: SocialBizWorld is a 2-day Social Media and Web 2.0 business conference for private and public-sector business executives, leaders, managers, employees and consultants looking for insightful speakers, hands-on workshops, in-depth discussions and real-world examples to move their business forward with new media. With Basic, Intermediate and Advanced tracks, attendees will have full access to multiple sessions on both days, have numerous networking opportunities, attend the Friday evening Awards and Business Networking reception (with Special Guest “The TwitchHiker”) and have access to experts gathering in Northern California from all over the country. Join us for this fantastic event in beautiful Sonoma County, at the foot of wine country, minutes from Sonoma and Napa, and just 30 minutes north of San Francisco. Mashable readers receive 15% off conference registration with promo code MASHED. Please visit socialbizworld.com for more information. October 22-23, 2010, Atlanta, GA: Social Media Experts will be in high demand as social media becomes an integral part of PR and marketing campaigns. Will you be one? Designed specifically for marketing and PR professionals of all backgrounds, non-profit organizations and small business owners, the Integrating Social Media Conference goes beyond the buzz words to real-world and proven methods for successfully incorporating social media into your current marketing and PR strategies. You'll hear firsthand from social media experts including Shiv Singh of Pepsi Co., The Brand Builder's Olivier Blanchard, WholeFoods's Marla Erwin, HubSpot's Mike Volpe, Kellye Crane of Crane Communications and more. Register with promo code MASH and save 20%. October 25, 2010, Orlando, FL: IIR presents CUSTOMER WORLD, the co-location of three unique customer-centric events (NACCM, Linkage Strategies & Customer UNinterrupted) under one roof. Where the Voice of Your Industry comes together to champion and celebrate CUSTOMERS 1ST. Customer World's flagship event, NACCM, is an industry favorite. It attracts top customer-centric leaders in North America to share new and best practices for strengthening customer relationships. Content areas include customer-centric social media strategies, loyalty, customer experience, innovation, culture, engagement, leadership and more. Register with code CWORLD10MASH and save 15% off the standard rates. October 26, 2010, San Jose, CA: Get real about social media at SocialTech 2010 — the only conference dedicated to teaching B2B high-tech marketers how to harness the power of social media. You’ll learn from B2B marketing leaders at companies like IBM, Intel, SAP, HP, Adobe and Cisco how to use social media to achieve real, measurable business results. Enjoy networking and keynotes from Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble and Jeremiah Owyang. Can't make it to San Jose? You can join us online. Register today and save 10% with coupon code MASH10! October 27-28, 2010: The Caribbean Media Conference & Expo have become the Caribbean's premier regional conference on television, cable and satellite, broadband, wireless, radio, magazines, news and print media, advertising and marketing. The 2010 Caribbean New Media Expo and Conference is unique in that it seeks to strengthen the relationships with new media companies, marketers and advertisers to further capitalize on the benefits of digital, social and mobile media. Presentations and panel discussions will help marketers understand concepts such as online-display advertising, search and social networking and how the impact of new technologies has wrought consumer behavior changes. October 27-29, 2010, Washington, DC: This event will showcase 15 federal perspectives on different strategies government agencies can implement to comply with the Obama Administration's Open Government Directive. The social media realm will be a prevailing topic of discussion as it has been the prime means federal agencies have taken to achieve compliance, but problems with its use still persist. This event will provide ADVANCED solutions and ideas to the policy, security, monitoring and measuring struggles that many agencies face on a daily-basis. Mashable subscribers will enjoy a 10% discount when they mention MASHABLE in their follow-up email to the event contact listed here: event. October 28-30, 2010, Toronto, Canada: Today, companies recognize that Social Media is an important part of an integrated strategy that is woven into every fiber of Sales, Marketing, PR, Advertising, Customer Relations and Branding campaigns. The second unGeeked Elite three-day Retreat brings together 10 keynotes and 16 presenters who'll provide you with examples of best practices, solutions and case studies in a forum where keynotes and presenters ask you to engage, poke them in the eye with questions and get one-on-one responses in this intimate learning environment. RSVP with the promo code unGeekedMashable and save 30% off regular ticket price! October 28, 2010, London, UK: The International Search Summit will focus once again on international and multilingual search marketing topics and offer delegates insight and advice on how to effectively develop and manage international online campaigns. Speakers at the event will include Eugene Lomize from Russian search engine Yandex, Omar Khaled from Arabic search Engine Ayna, as well as well-known search marketers Mikkel deMib Svendsen, Marty Weintraub, Massimo Burgio and Barry Lloyd. The Summit will be held at The British Library in London and is a must for any marketer targeting multiple markets and/or languages online. Register now with the coupon code MASH20 to receive 20% discount. November 1-2, 2010, New York, NY: Are you a health marketing and communications professional? Please join us at unNiched 2010, a unique collaborative boot camp where you will actively learn and use collaboration, strategic marketing and communications skills. Using our unNiched Innovation Model, gain the tools to create and drive marketing communications success within (and without) your organization. In addition, you’ll have access to a private online group and learn from a range of experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AIDS.gov, Edelman, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab. Use the discount code Mashable and get 10% off. November 1-2, 2010, Dubai, UAE: Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Summit at Total Marketing Discuss and debate the opportunities and challenges faced by marketers in leveraging social media as a marketing tool. Hear from leading organizations on how they managed to turn Twitter and LinkedIn amongst others into powerful communication channels! Getting in at the top of any search remains a key focus for many organizations today. Hear from leading practitioners on how best practice strategies and innovative methods to get the most out of the internet. Register and save 15% when using code MASHABLE-TM. For more information, visit www.totalmarketing2010.com. November 8-11, 2010, Las Vegas, NV: PubCon, the premier search and social media conference, features the industry’s biggest names and key players shaping the future of the Web. PubCon holds cutting edge panel sessions exploring tracks dedicated to search, social media and affiliate marketing, an intensive professional search and social media training program and some of the world's top keynote speakers. PubCon Las Vegas will also hold a one day two-track slate of intensive educational training programs led by some of the industry’s most respected search professionals. PubCon makes all of this available at some of the most affordable registration rates in the industry. Please use the code ma-8201210 for 10% off the registration price. November 8-11, 2010, Santa Clara, CA: See the latest collaboration tools and technologies at Enterprise 2.0 Santa Clara’s comprehensive conference and expo. Gain thought leadership — from strategy to execution and performance monitoring — to bring the power of collaboration to your organization, accelerate information flow, drive revenue and increase productivity. Register with the promo code CNUJES04 to save $100 off the onsite price for passes or for a free expo pass. November 11, 2010, London, UK: The first London Social Gaming Summit is a one day event focused on the intersection of games and the social web. The event focuses on helping social games developers build, monetize, and grow their social games. We’re bringing together the leaders in free-to-play games, social networking, and payments infrastructure for a full day of panels and talks. November 12, 2010, London, UK: The first London Virtual Goods Summit is a one day event focused on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Once restricted to the world of online gaming, virtual goods and currencies are beginning to influence the development of social networks, community sites, and many other new and exciting markets. The market for virtual goods continues to grow – join us for engaging talks and panels designed to highlight important trends in this fast growing market. This is a must-attend event for those in the games, social media, and entertainment markets. November 15, 2010, London, UK: The virtual goods model is the revenue-generating sensation that is taking the world by storm, from games publishers to media companies, from social-networking sites to consumer brands. The Virtual Goods World Europe 2010 promises to be the next step for your business! Major brands will come together to discuss the opportunities presented by the rise of virtual goods. Social networking sites will participate, to learn more from the brands and create business models for the future. Games publishers and developers will learn best practice customer acquisition strategies. All participants will learn new opportunities presented by advances in alternative payment systems. Register now with the promo code VGWMASH and save 10%! November 17-18, 2010, Raleigh, NC: Internet Summit 2010 will feature over 100 speakers and an audience of over 1500 internet execs, entrepreneurs and senior marketers. Join dozens of industry leaders and innovators in the conversation on topics such as Social Media, Mobile, Cloud Computing, Geolocation, Online Advertising, Analytics, Video, E-commerce and more. Use registration code MASH for 20% off. November 17, 2010, Phoenix, AZ: Fifth Annual Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference (AZEC10). In the current environment, some companies will still come out stronger than before. Has your business suffered? Have you been laid off? Are you trying to grow in difficult circumstances? Here at AZEC10, we’ve got your back. Local investors, local entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley veterans will spend the day discussing the realities of business today. You MUST meet these people and learn from them during the Great Re-Set of 2010. This is the premier entrepreneurship conference in Arizona, benefitting the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation. November 18, 2010, Madrid, Spain: Stepping out of the comfort zone: Innovation & Social Media in Healthcare. Advertising in the new markets of conversations is the big challenge, and realizing that you no longer have the control of the brand is difficult to assume and scary. But wanted or not, the conversation is out there. HCPs are right now storytelling their opinions, experiences, unmet needs, therapeutic strategies and ideas via the Social Web. They are looking for connectivity and knowledge in these new ecosystems which are "common and global grounds". The word of mouth surpasses, in credibility, the traditional communication tools. November 25, 2010, London, UK: The media and marketing industry's Global GREEN Awards 2010 recognise and reward creative work that communicates the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and ethical best practice in any sector and across any marketing discipline. Now in its 5th year the GREEN AWARDS™ are going Global, this year for the first time, all the categories are opened for entry from all over the world. The Awards illustrate the crucial role that needs to be played by green marketing and sustainability communications in informing people about green issues, products and lifestyle choices, and showcase examples of excellence and best practice in communicating sustainability and green issues. The Awards are now open for entry. For more information about the 16 categories and entry process, please visit http://www.greenawards.co.uk November 30, 2010 – December 2, 2010, London, UK: Online Information is the largest UK event dedicated to the information industry. Taking place in the Grand Hall at London's Olympia, the exhibition attracts more than 9,000 visitors each year from around the world. This unique, free to attend event consists of an exhibition with more than 200 international exhibitors alongside an extensive seminar programme. Online Information covers 6 core segments: Content Resources, ePublishing Solutions, Library Management, Content Management, Search Solutions and Social Media, providing an annual meeting place for this global industry. Mashable readers may register to attend here. November 30, 2010, London, UK: Social Recruiting Conference will gather together leading employers and recruitment industry professionals, to passionately discuss and practically demonstrate the power of Social Recruiting. The conference will be unlike any other Social Media Recruiting conferences you have attended. Our aim is to take the talk from theory to practice; and shift conversations from hype and hope to reality and results. #SRCONF will focus on Social Recruiting case studies, with measurable ROIs. Save 10% when you register with the code MASH10 at http://www.srconf.com. November 30, 2010, London, UK: Hear how 21 heavyweight brands, including Facebook, Sainsbury’s, Google-YouTube, COI, King of Shaves, Motorola, JustGiving, BBC, Volvo, M&S, FT, Jaguar, Eurostar and Santander are demonstrating real results from social media at the Social Media Results For PR & Comms Conference. Tried and tested strategies to genuinely engage audiences, fully embed and integrate social media practices and clearly demonstrate real results. Mashable readers receive a £150 discount with the promo code MASHABLE if you book before August 19. Click here to download the conference brochure. December 7-9, 2010, Santa Clara, CA: Taking place in the heart of Silicon Valley, BIA/Kelsey's Interactive Local Media 2010 (ILM:10) is a unique, three-day mega-conference featuring the true innovators of local media, local directories, local search, local mobile, local social and local direct marketing. One highlight is a special Mobile Local SuperForum offering the deepest and most strategic dive ever presented in the mobile local space. Head's up: Local is hot, and this year's conference should be BIA/Kelsey's largest ever. Register with promo code ILMMASH and save $200! December 8-10 Reno, NV: Join professionals from marketing, tourism, gaming, service industries and nonprofits in Reno-Tahoe's amazing ski country for Social Media at Reno Tahoe (SM@RT), one of the best values of any similar national conference in 2010. Speakers, along with specialized breakout session presenters, include top authors, practitioners and strategist from media giant, Gannett, winter travel destinations, Vail Resorts, and many other experts in building business for professional service firms. Anchored by the University of Nevada, and its business and journalism schools, attendees get specialized instruction to return home with ways to immediately improve their social media marketing. Register now and save and an additional $100 online for the main conference with the discount code MASH. February 7-10, 2011, Orlando, FL: ARC's 2011 World Industry Forum: Driving Innovation, Sustainability and Performance will take place at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld! This forum will focus on challenges that will help you develop winning strategies. It provides an ideal environment for industry executives to collaborate, share ideas, and find new ways to attack their most pressing problems. The event includes sessions on the major issues facing our industry, with multiple tracks that enable executives to explore these topics from different perspectives. Owner/operators, solution providers, & technical experts will all benefit while contributing to the community's body of knowledge. April 13-15, 2011, Singapore: The Internet Show Asia 2011 is a series of seminars and a large end-to-end showcase of the latest internet technologies and solutions. More than 10,000 attendees will be at the exhibition and conference to find new ways of doing internet business and enhancing product offerings through the internet – through case study presentations and speaking directly with solution partners. The show will aim to increase your ROI, it's all about business, not a technology show. For more details and registrations, please visit www.theinternetshows.com/2010/Singapore. The Mashable Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace. Eventbrite is an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell tickets to their events. Make your event a success on Eventbrite. Reviews: Boxee, Drupal, Facebook, Foursquare, Get Satisfaction, Google, Internet, LinkedIn, Mashable, Mint, Skype, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, awards, eXperience, social media, society, video More About: Events For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Single Man Makes Informercial Hawking… Himself? [VIDEO] Posted: 09 Aug 2010 08:59 AM PDT We already know that Craigslist is full of creepers, and dating sites aren’t really for everyone — so what to do when you’re lookin’ for a lady and channels both RL and virtual are skint? Make an online informercial, of course. Meet Tim Goggin, a.k.a. TimWOW, a 32-year-old San Diego-based comedian and entrepreneur who, after getting fed up with the chicks on sites like eHarmony and Match.com, created a website and accompanying commercial hawking…well…himself. And, apparently, the shtick is working out for Goggin — his Snuggie-esque commercial has been viewed more than 100,000 times since it went up on YouTube on August 2, and he’s already gone on around 12 dates so far, according to relationship advice blog WTF Is Up With My Love Life?. Although Goggin’s vid is a little in the realm of those creepy dating reels from the ’80s, he’s part of a recent trend of extreme techno-romantics (to steal a term from the aforementioned blog, WTF?). See: Folks like Dating Brian looking for romance on the web, and quirky apps like Boink and customizable dating sites like Tastebuds popping up everywhere. Still, the question becomes at this point, when our love lives are turning more into spectacle than sentiment: Are folks like Goggin looking for love, or publicity? What do you think? Reviews: YouTube More About: humor, online dating, pop culture, social media, video, viral video For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

5 Useful Tools to Track Twitter Unfollowers Posted: 09 Aug 2010 08:23 AM PDT It can be hard not to take it personally, but being unfollowed on Twitter is as much a part of the microblogging service as direct messages and trending topics. We can’t make losing followers less tough, but we can help you track who stops reading your tweets, and potentially figure out why they hit the road. From services that alert you when someone clicks the unfollow button, to a timeline of tweets that enhances your ability to figure out where you went wrong, here are five options that can help you analyze when and why people unfollow you on Twitter. Let us know which tools you are using to track Twitter unfollowers in the comments below. 1. Friend or Follow Other than trawling through your followers list, or hitting up individual accounts to see if you can DM someone, there’s not really an easy way on Twitter to see if someone is following you. Solutions to this problem come through various web services, one of which is “Friend or Follow.” It’s quick, easy to use, and will show you at a glance who you are following and who has not reciprocated by following you back. Simply enter your Twitter username and you’ll be presented with the thumbnails of those who don’t follow you. You can hover over the pic to see the bio for each Twitterer and there’s the handy option to remove “Verified” accounts from the list, presumably as these are less likely to follow you back. You can sort the list by name, username, location, follower stats, etc., and you can also choose to tweet about it, although we’d imagine that not many people go for that option. Friend or Follow will also provide you with a list of those who follow you that you don’t follow back, and a list of “friends” — Tweeters who you follow that follow you, too. 2. TwUnfollow Similar to Qwitter, but offering instant (rather than just daily) e-mail notifications, an RSS feed, and a web-based summary, TwUnfollow is our unfollower notification service of choice. To start receiving e-mail alerts when you are unfollowed, head over to the site, sign in via OAuth, enter your e-mail address, verify it and get your settings sorted as to how and when you want to get alerts. Once you’re all set up, TwUnfollow will alert you to the tragic event with an e-mail stating that “these twitterers aren’t following you any longer,” followed by a clickable list of usernames and a link to your online follow/unfollow history. In our experience, the service isn’t quite “instant,” but the alert e-mails generally come through around half an hour after the unfollowings take place, so it’s not far off. 3. TwitterCounter TwitterCounter can’t help you identify your leavers, but it can offer stats and data on your followers in order for you to see the bigger picture as far as your Twitter presence and following goes. Sign in to the service and it will show you, on a line graph, how your follower numbers look for a weekly, monthly, or three-month period. You can also plot the same info against how many tweets you’ve sent, see data on whether your current followers are up or down compared to your average, and even compare your Twitter account with up to two others. It seems the TwitterCounter team has also invested in a crystal ball, as the site offers “predictions” (presumably based on past activity) of how your account will grow over time. For example, for the account we tested, we were informed that in 37 days it would hit 1,600 followers. Wider services offered by the site include a “profile checker” that dispenses advice on your profile page, and various widgets and buttons, such as this one: 4. Goodbye, Buddy! The Goodbye, Buddy! service “busts” unfollowers by sending you a direct message to alert you of their abandonment, making it a handy in-Twitter alternative to TwUnfollow. Best of all, the DMs are humorous (examples include “I just saw @username leave — do you wanna ask them why? Only if you give a tiny rat’s ass, of course”) which kind of takes the sting out of knowing there’s someone out there who is no longer interested in your 140-character musings. In addition to the DM alerts (which take a while to kick in — we’re still waiting for our first DM four days after signing up) you can also log in to the service on the web to see a history of your unfollowers. There are even more features if you’re willing to cough up some cold, hard cash. 5. TweetEffect TweetEffect can potentially help you pin down where you’re going wrong in terms of tweets that are turning off your followers. Simply enter your Twitter username into the site and it will bring up your last 200 tweets and note next to them at which point you gained followers (highlighted in green), lost followers (in red), or stayed static. Rather interestingly, for the account we tested, it appears that most followers were lost when the tweets were replies to others, or parts of insider conversations, suggesting that tweeple get bored of effectively being CCed into a conversation stream they are not directly involved in. Although not 100% accurate, TweetEffect is a great tool to consult if your Twitter account is suffering from major churn. In Conclusion Twitter, although incredibly useful and increasingly influential in the online world, is just a social network, and it’s not a gauge for success — or even popularity — in real life. However, if monitoring Twitter unfollowers and trying to work out the reasons they left is important to you, then we hope these tools will be of good service. Please have your say in the comments below and let us know any other services you find useful. More Twitter Resources from Mashable: - 5 Terrific Twitter Mapping Tools - 5 Fab Twitter Follower Visualization Tools - 10 Free and Fun Twitter Bird Icons for your Website - 5 Free Ways to Never Miss a Twitter @Reply - The Origin of Twitter's "Fail Whale" Image courtesy of iStockphoto, A1Stock Reviews: BUDDY, Twitter, iStockphoto More About: friend or follow, how to, Lists, tweeteffect, twitter, twitter tools, twittercounter, twunfollow For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Can QR Codes Make Assembling Ikea Furniture Easier? Posted: 09 Aug 2010 08:01 AM PDT Assembling Ikea furniture on one’s own is a bewildering process, as anyone who has ever attempted to do so well knows. Parts always appear to be missing, certain corners never seem to align just right and, perhaps worst of all, screws and other attachments are mysteriously left over every time. It’s an ordeal the team at how-to video network Howcast is certainly familiar with. In a recent blind pitch to Ikea, the company illustrated how video and QR codes could be used to create clear, overlaying instructions to guide consumers through the furniture assembly process. Such technology could be leveraged not only to improve consumer satisfaction, but could very well cut down on customer support costs for the company as well. Check out the video and pitch deck and let us know what you think. Do you think Ikea could benefit from a video and mobile guide like the one demonstrated below? What other companies or services could? Video Pitch Deck [img credit: Evil Erin] More About: Augmented Reality, howcast, IKEA, Mobile 2.0, QR Codes For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

BlackBerry Curve 3G to Ship This Month Posted: 09 Aug 2010 07:42 AM PDT Research in Motion has announced the BlackBerry Curve 3G, an updated version of the popular Curve smartphone that will support the company's new BlackBerry 6 operating system. As its name makes obvious, the Curve 3G (also known as the BlackBerry 9300) supports calling and data over 3G networks. The device will ship with BlackBerry 5, but be "BlackBerry 6 ready" according to the company. The hardware on the Curve 3G is fairly similar to other recent models. There's no word yet on pricing, though we assume the Curve 3G will retail for less than the BlackBerry Torch, the new high-end BlackBerry that will go for $199 with a two-year contract. Like the Torch, Curve 3G will hit stores later this month, with T-Mobile USA and Rogers Wireless (in Canada) confirmed as carrier partners thus far. More About: blackberry, blackberry 6, blackberry curve 3g, RIM For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Morning Brief: Facebook UK Stats, Droid 2 Ad Appearance, Run Flash on iPhone 4 Posted: 09 Aug 2010 06:33 AM PDT This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology. Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. We're keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today. Facebook Accounts for 1/6 of Page Views in the UK According to recent data from Hitwise, Facebook is the second most-visited website in the UK, accounting for 54.48% of visits to social networking sites and 7.14% of total visits across the web in July. More impressively, the site captured 16.73% of all UK page views in July. Google UK and eBay UK followed with 8.22% and 5.39% of total page views, respectively. Unannounced Motorola Droid 2 Appears in Newspaper Ad A Verizon newspaper advertisement includes a screenshot of the yet-unannounced Droid 2, featuring a full sliding keyboard, with the tag “coming soon.” Run Flash on your iPhone 4 Redmond Pie has published a tutorial for installing a “very alpha” version of Flash, called “Frash,” on your iPhone 4. Do so at your own risk, however; although it is now legal jailbreak your device for "educational purposes," thanks to an update to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), doing so will void your warranty. Further News VoIP giant Skype, which was sold by eBay to a group of private investors last year, filed with the SEC for an initial public offering that will look to raise as much as $100 million. Sources close to Apple's hardware suppliers say that the company has ordered millions of CDMA chipsets from Qualcomm, suggesting that Apple's iPhone 4 will finally launch on Verizon this coming January. Mark Papermaster, the senior vice president ultimately responsible for the iPhone's hardware, has left Apple only a short time after his start date, presumably as a result of the iPhone 4’s Antennagate PR disaster. Netflix is working on a streaming video application for smartphones running Google's Android operating system, a Netflix employee and online job listing have each confirmed. More details about the resignation of HP CEO Mark Hurd have surfaced: He reportedly received $12.2 million in severance pay and the woman who filed a sexual harassment claim against him, Jodie Fischer, has issued a public statement. Vinay Deolalikar of HP Labs has released a 100-page paper that may have proved the P != NP, one of the seven almost-unsolvable problems that qualify for the Millennium Prize. Series supported by HTC EVO 4G This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology. Reviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Skype, eBay More About: droid 2, facebook, Flash, iphone 4, jailbreak, Motorola, uk For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Skype Files for IPO Posted: 09 Aug 2010 06:32 AM PDT Skype, which was sold by eBay to a group of private investors last year, is about to re-emerge as its own publicly traded company. The VoIP giant has filed with the SEC for an initial public offering that will look to raise as much as $100 million. The price of Skype's shares and the number of them to be offered to the public has not yet been disclosed, though the company was valued at $2.75 billion when it was sold in September of last year to investors including Silver Lake, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. When it goes public, Skype will immediately become one of the largest publicly traded Internet companies. The service has more than 500 million users, and according to its filing, brought in more than $600 million in revenue during its 2009 fiscal year. In recent months, the company has been focusing on a few key areas, notably its iPhone app (which now supports 3G calling), multi-user video calling and embedding its service on Internet-connect televisions. Skype’s filing also marks the second major Internet IPO to be announced in the last few days. On Friday, content giant Demand Media filed to go public. Reviews: Internet, Skype More About: initial public offerings, ipo, Skype, trending For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

TBD.com Takes a Community-Driven Approach to Newsgathering Posted: 09 Aug 2010 06:01 AM PDT From the company that brought us Politico, a model for a local news site that fully integrates social media tools and community into the newsgathering process launches today: Washington, D.C.-based TBD.com. Although there are plenty of things that set TBD.com’s model apart from other online-only local news sites, perhaps the most notable is its approach to community online and off. The site will not only produce original content, but more importantly will incorporate community content from a network of 127 local bloggers, launch with two mobile applications, will be heavily focused on community engagement and newsgathering through social tools like Twitter and Foursquare, and will have the advantage of providing its audience with high-quality web video from two TV stations. The approach is one that fully integrates the community into a process they are already part of, whether news organizations acknowledge it or not. TBD is simply embracing the community. "We’re not going to hover over it from a mountain shouting down the news of the day, but we’re going to be in the thick of it, be a part of it," said Jim Brady, general manager of TBD. Brady, who is the former Washingtonpost.com executive editor, speaks from experience — experience of being frustrated about the lack of innovation and risk-taking in traditional media. “There’s a lot of risk in innovation, but there’s no greater risk than continuing on the course that newspapers are on now,” he said. As a result, the minds behind TBD.com are pulling together the trends in the news industry, and the lessons from their experience into its journalism process, perhaps offering a roadmap for other news startups to follow. Social Tools and Community Led by Community Engagement Director Steve Buttry, the site includes a community engagement team of experienced digital journalists. Buttry has said for the longest time that news organizations have not understood nor adapted to the fact that the community wants to take part in the story-creation process. “But they do, and we’re enrolling them into the process,” he said. The team not only plans to use social sites like Twitter to engage their audience, but also to take advantage of the streams to produce and complement the content on the site. Social Media Producer Mandy Jenkins said their dialogue with the community will be a very open one with crowdsourced stories, topic-based discussions and social streams that accompany stories. One of the prominent community features the site incorporates is called “Complete the Story,” which prompts users to do just that, enabling readers to add missing pieces, like a fact or picture, to enhance the story. Before launching, the TBD began engaging the local community through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Foursquare, which showcases tips from its community of bloggers. Location-based News The site includes a “My Community” section, which provides users with a feed of content based on their specified location. It enables readers to customize the feed by specific categories and news topics. This also applies to the mobile experience. Instead of waiting to launch site to develop mobile applications, TBD is launching with both iPhone and Android apps. Brady, who like Buttry has evangelized mobile for news, said it is essential to their process. Taking advantage of their in-house app developers, TBD developed applications that are not only useful for reading geotagged news specific to your location, but also for other utilities such as trip planning on the Metrorail and perusing local weather and traffic conditions. Users are also able to save the news for reading on the train even when they don’t have service. “We didn’t want to make it just a mobile site,” Brady said. He also noted the possibilities of using their development skills to build applications for local advertisers as a unique way of generating revenue. Network of Community Blogs Although the concept of linking out and aggregating content might be foreign to many local news sites, TBD is embracing the idea of covering what it covers best, while being a one-stop shop for finding all local news — even if that means pointing readers to the competition. Much of these links will come from its community blog partners. TBD’s community engagement team will watch the content from the network of blogs and surface the best content it is producing by featuring it on the site. TBD is not only entering a content partnership, but a business one; the blogs will be entered into TBD’s ad network, taking 35% of the gross revenue. That’s a win-win for both parties involved. Video Content The site includes video from two TV stations, one of which will be rebranded as TBD; the other is an ABC affiliate. The TV aspect will be a useful tool for not only cross-promotion of the website, but also for web video content, which readers continue to watch more of. Also, as mobile video consumptions grows, TBD’s mobile applications could become great tools for watching location-based video on-the-go. TBD’s community and members in the media industry will watch closely as the site develops. The model certainly has all the right pieces, but the challenge will be for TBD to continue to innovate as consumption habits change and the media industry continues to evolve. Brady said the process certainly will not be a perfect one. “But everyone understands we’re trying to find our way. Mistakes are things you learn from and failure is just part of the process,” he said. Buttry shared the sentiment, adding, “You don’t focus on saving journalism, you focus on doing good journalism.” What do you think of this model for local journalism? Is there anything missing? Reviews: Android, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Twitter More About: android, iphone, location-based, media, Mobile 2.0, news site, social media, tbd, Washington DC For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

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