Minggu, 05 September 2010

Mashable: Latest 8 News Updates - including “Wikipedia Founder Says Apps, Not Paywalls, Could Save the News”

Mashable: Latest 8 News Updates - including “Wikipedia Founder Says Apps, Not Paywalls, Could Save the News”

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Wikipedia Founder Says Apps, Not Paywalls, Could Save the News

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 08:11 PM PDT


Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in an interview with the Associated Press yesterday that paid apps like those found on the iPhone, Android and iPad could help financially troubled news organizations, but he didn’t have anything positive to say about charging for content on the web.

On the other hand, he’s not optimistic about other micropayment plans wherein publications would charge users to access individual articles because at present there is not a centralized and widespread payment system as there is with Apple’s services (iTunes, iBooks and the App Store) or the Android Market.

“If I just click on my iPad, and it’s billed on my normal bill, that micropayment model makes it possible for people to have an impulse purchase,” he said. Apple already has his payment information from the get go, and the creator of each app can use Apple’s billing system for in-app purchases.

That’s one of the reasons Wales believes app stores could be beneficial for the news industry. “The apps model — the iPad app, the Kindle — does provide new and interesting opportunities for newspapers.”

We’ve heard rumors in the past that Google has a unified micropayments system in the works that could do the same for desktop content, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Wikipedia is not a commercial enterprise, but Wales’s current venture Wikia is ad-supported.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, enot-poloskun


Reviews: Android Market, App Store, Wikipedia, iStockphoto

More About: amazon, android, apple, apps, interview, ipad, iphone, Jimmy Wales, journalism, Kindle, monetization, News, paywalls, Wikia, wikipedia

For more Social Media coverage:


The iWatch Is Real: It’s the New iPod Nano [PIC]

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 07:21 PM PDT


Apple makes computers, tablets, phones, portable media players, TV set-top-boxes, displays and a dozen other things, but to date, it hasn’t made a wristwatch. Oh, wait, actually, it has! It’s called “the new iPod nano.”

Sure, battery life will be a problem when you leave that screen on the whole time, but you could just act like it’s an LED watch and it’s nighttime by hitting the button to see the time.

People have dreamed of fancy computer watches for a long time, and they’ve recently become a reality in a sufficiently usable form. LG started the latest upswing trend by introducing a watch phone concept at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show.

Apple may not have intended the nano to be used this way, but the above Flickr photo from Kei Ogikubo leads us to believe that maybe tablets aren’t the only geek fantasy that Apple is recently the first to get right!

[via 9 to 5 Mac]


Reviews: Flickr

More About: apple, flickr, ipod, ipod nano, iwatch, trending, watch

For more Apple coverage:


35 Entertaining 404 Error Pages

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 05:52 PM PDT


“404 Not Found.” These three little words can make any Internet explorer an unhappy camper. After all, who hopes to click on a broken link or stumble upon a moved or deleted page while cruising around the web?

Luckily, some web designers have chosen to end the misery of encountering a 404 error page. Instead of letting their site readers bump heads with a nasty dead-end error message, they’ve managed to squeeze a little entertainment out of it.

Below you’ll find some of the most entertaining 404 error pages on the web. We’ve listed them alphabetically to avoid playing favorites, but they’re all worth a look. Share your favorite 404 error page designs in the comments below!


1. 501st Legion




501st Legion is a Star Wars costume organization. It only makes sense that its 404 page would play on Obiwan's famous jedi mind trick with a "weak-minded" stormtrooper.


2. Abduzeedo




Yes, Houston, a 404 is definitely a problem.


3. Apartment Home Living




A nice ol' chap comes to your assistance on ApartmentHomeLiving.com if you run across a 404 error page. Click the lovely lady peering from behind the frame for proper navigation suggestions.


4. Astuteo




"Uh-Oh! SpaghettiOs!" You know you're a part of pop culture if your jingle makes it into a 404 error page. The popular SpaghettiOs marketing jingle is here to stay.


5. Blippy




Head over to Blippy's 404 page for an adventure. Keep clicking on the boy dressed in a unicorn outfit to discover a triple rainbow! Who knew a 404 page could be so fun?


6. Factor D




In an ode to early horror films, Factor D features an appropriately horrific 404 error accompanied by a beautiful, yet terrified scream queen.


7. SureDev




Many 404 error pages apologize for the error. Not this one. It's obviously your fault.


8. Blue Daniel




This 404 error page is a beautiful depiction of "Track 404," a fictitious NYC subway line. Check it out to experience the full animation.


9. Brandstack




"You can click anywhere else, but you can't click here." Love it.


10. Center'd




Bottom line: You can't go wrong with cute kittens.


11. Chris Jennings




Most of us would like to run into a 404 error page just as much as we'd like to run into the Grim Reaper.


12. Colour Marketing & Design




When you're facing "sharks with laser beams attached to their frickin' heads," what do you expect? Definitely a 404 error.


13. CSS-Tricks




Well, that can't be good.


14. CSSscoop




Picking a 404 error page design that is consistent with your name is an appropriate move. CSSscoop chose a melting ice cream cone, with a scoop of ice cream, of course.


15. Digitalmash




Sarcasm in dire situations is always appreciated, right?


16. Good Old Games (GOG)




Try not to make any missteps on GOG, or you'll end up lost in the cosmos.


17. HomeStarRunner.com




Insulting your readers doesn't usually help, but this 404 made me chuckle.


18 Hoppermagic




Hoppermagic chose to stick to its brand imagery when creating its 404 page.


19. iFolderLinks




There's just something about a really frustrated baby that catches your attention. And if you've made it to this 404 page, you probably feel his pain.


20. Itchy Robot




If you can't think of something clever to say on your 404 page, just write exactly what your users are thinking.


21. Jackfig




Jackfig added a creative touch to its 404 error page, with an inspirational haiku.


22. Jolie Poupée




Jolie Poupée, creator of eco-friendly children's clothes, serves up an audience-appropriate 404 on its site.


23. Mark Dijkstra




This 404 error page is reminiscent of the kitschy tourist shirts that your lousy friends and relatives buy you when they visit amazing places.


24. Merge




Prithee, go medieval on your site's visitors if need be.


25. Milrayas




Imagery always makes a 404 more entertaining.


26. OrangeCoat




Some 404 error pages do a wonderful job of explaining to users exactly what caused the 404 error. OrangeCoat provides a fun decision tree for lost web surfers that is sure to help them along their merry ways.


27. Oroza




Have fun with colors, shapes and exclamations.


28. Sick Designer




Sick Designer captures the depression that a 404 can cause on its error page.


29. Student Market




How fitting that a student-centric site would feature an addition problem on its 404 page.


30. The Brand Surgery




This page just pops. We like it.


31. The North Face




For true entertainment value, why not just tell a story? The North Face does just that by creating a tale about link-eating mountain goats.


32. Tinsanity




You might have been pwned, burned, punk'd or rickrolled recently, but have you been 404'd? Click here to join the party.


33. TK Designs




Excitement! Adventure! Ahhhhh, where I am?!


34. Urban Outfitters




Our sentiments exactly.


35. Urban Pill




If, after searching for hours, you still can't find the page you were seeking, Chuck Norris probably has it.


More Web Design Resources from Mashable:

- 12 Beginner Tutorials for Getting Started With Photoshop
- Use Adobe Fonts in Your Own Web Designs
- 10 Essential Free E-Books for Web Designers
- 12 Beginner Tutorials for Getting Started with Adobe Illustrator
- 6 New Mac Apps for Designers and Developers

More About: 404, 404 error pages, error page, web design, Web Development

For more Dev & Design coverage:


Popular “Angry Birds” iPhone Game Debuts on Android

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 04:40 PM PDT


Angry Birds is the epitome of an Apple App Store success story and it has been the #1 paid iPhone game for ages. Now it’s also available on most Android smartphones.

The version currently available in the Android Market is actually Angry Birds Lite (a free trial with several of the chapters locked) and it’s in beta testing, so it’s not quite bug-free on all Android devices. In fact, CNET reports that it doesn’t work at all on Evo handsets.

The comparatively bug-free full version is coming soon, but in the meantime the Android users who own devices that can run the game can see what iPhone and iPad users have been going crazy about.

When you load the game up, you’re tasked with shooting red birds out of a catapult at certain angles to take out targets lodged in difficult-to-reach places. That description doesn’t really do it justice, though, so go ahead and download the app if you’re curious.


Reviews: Android, Android Market

More About: android, Android Market, angry birds, App, clickgamer.com, games, gaming, video games

For more Entertainment coverage:


5 New Ways Small Business Can Offer Location-Based Deals

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 03:26 PM 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.

Location-based services, such as Foursquare and Gowalla, are proving quite popular with consumers open to sharing their locations with the world. They’re also built to be inherently business-friendly, as most allow retailers to incentivize checkins and social sharing behaviors in the hopes of attracting swarms of patrons to their businesses.

As the space continues to evolve, new platforms, technologies and services are emerging with the specific intention of helping small businesses reward their loyal patrons with deals for their in-store behaviors.

Small businesses looking for fresh and relevant ways to serve up location-based deals and stay ahead of the curve have numerous options. The following examples highlight how small businesses can leverage verified checkins, barcode scanning technology, group buying initiatives, activity-based rewards, and opt-in lists for innovative and mobile-friendly location-based deals.


1. Verified Checkin Rewards


Most checkin apps are designed so that small businesses can set up specials or rewards for checkin activity. Few, however, can truly verify that an application user is exactly where they say they are. For the small business owner to truly benefit from offering checkin rewards, verification is critical.

SCVNGR is an example of a location-sharing service built with verification in mind. The startup, which seeks to serve as a game layer for the real world, has a QR code checkin feature; businesses can display QR code decals to encourage patrons to pull out their mobile phones and scan the QR code to check in to their venues. Since the scan is tied to a specific location, the checkin is valid.

In general, QR codes present a clean way to tie a customer’s whereabouts to a physical location. Small businesses can choose to chuck the checkin app in favor of creating their own in-store QR code marketing initiatives — think scan-activated coupon codes or discounts — with the help of full-service QR code solutions such as ScanLife.


2. Social Barcodes


Small businesses sell products. Products have barcodes. New technology makes it easier than ever for consumers to create social experiences around products, and for retailers to reward them for their in-store scanning behaviors.

Bakodo is an iPhone app that can scan nearly all types of barcodes; consumers can use it to comparison shop, read reviews from friends, and make more informed purchase decisions. Stickybits has a mobile app that lets users create a social experience around products with photos, text, and videos. Even Shopkick, an automatic checkin service for retailers, has an iPhone app that supports barcode scanning activities.

As barcodes become more social in nature, small businesses have an opportunity to participate in product-driven communities and even reward consumers who scan in their stores. With Bakodo, for instance, small businesses can license a white label version of the technology to reward customers with discounts and coupons depending on what they scan.


3. Group Deals


Those following the group buying trend have no doubt noticed the growing buzz around Groupon and its many competitors. These deal-a-day sites allow small and local businesses to offer extreme discounts to new audiences. The formula has proven to appeal to customers looking for a deal, bring in new business, and create repeat business.

Interested small businesses can turn to services such as Groupon, LivingSocial, OpenTable, Yelp, or Zagat to help them facilitate a location-based deal. Better yet, there’s now a handful of do-it-yourself, deal-a-day software options. With Wildfire, for instance, businesses can offer their own group deals via their website or Facebook Page.

Another new option perfect for neighborhood bars, restaurants and coffee shops is GroupTabs. The service blends group buying with checkins, so that when a certain number of people check-in at the same place at the same time, they can unlock a pre-defined venue deal or special. GroupTabs is brand new and available in limited markets, but it hopes to expand and is accepting business requests via email.


4. Challenge-Based Rewards


In addition to QR code checkins, the mobile location-based game SCVNGR now enables any retailer to offer custom rewards to patrons who accrue points for specific behaviors — checking in, posting a photo, or completing a user-defined challenge — at their store.

The rewards platform is more flexible than those offered by Foursquare and Gowalla, and allows small businesses to decide how many rewards to offer, how many points customers need to unlock a reward, and how many times the reward in question can be redeemed. Patrons can also only attempt one reward at a time and can visually track their progress via a green status bar.

SCVNGR also sends out signage, QR code decals, table tents, and coasters to participating businesses free of charge to help facilitate the in-store behaviors. As such, the platform is perfect for small businesses looking to offer their own location-based deals.


5. Opt-in Deals


New startup Bizzy is designed to be the go-between for small businesses interested in distribution for their hyper-local deals and residents hungry for deals in their neighborhood. The service is designed with the intention of eliminating the clutter of traditional e-mail marketing campaigns by presenting deals and offers only to interested parties on their own terms.

Because Bizzy is opt-in for businesses and shoppers, it creates an ideal platform where local businesses can list deals that consumers want to find. Members can use the service to create their Bizzy List — a list of businesses they want to hear from — for a daily stream of related events and offers. Bizzy business members can create, manage, and track their deals, as well as personally engage with shoppers and build better opt-in lists.

Bizzy is accessible to consumers on the web, or via its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch applications. Bizzy’s only downside is that it’s currently a beta service only available in Dallas, New York and San Francisco.

As location-based marketing continues to grow, there are more and more ways that small businesses can offer location-specific deals. Verified checkins, barcode scanning technology, group buying initiatives, activity-based rewards, and opt-in lists are just five new ways that small businesses can leverage location-based marketing for innovative and mobile-friendly location-based deals. Let us know how your small business is offering location-based deals in the comments below.


More Business Resources from Mashable:


- 5 Small Biz Web Design Trends to Watch
- Why Social Media Monitoring Tools Are About to Get Smarter
- Why the Social Gaming Biz is Just Heating Up
- The Future of Public Relations and Social Media
- HOW TO: Pick the Right Social Media Engagement Style

[img credits: Joseph Robertson, High Museum of Art]


Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp

More About: bakodo, bizzy, checkins, foursquare, gowalla, groupon, grouptabs, LivingSocial, MARKETING, opentable, qr code, QR Codes, rewards, scanlife, scvngr, shopkick, small business, stickybits, yelp, zagat

For more Business coverage:


12 iPhone Apps For Exploring The Great Outdoors

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 02:19 PM PDT

hiker

For much of the world, the beginning of fall means that warm, comfortable hiking weather is coming to an end. In other words, it's time to start saving up fresh air for a winter of avoiding the outdoors.

There are people who consider their outdoor excursions a refreshing escape from technology. And then there are iPhone users, who consider the outdoors yet another perfect venue to show off their mobile tech.

If you're with us, here are 12 great hiking apps to download before you hit the trail.


1. AccuTerra


This map comes with GPS coordinates and doesn't need to be folded. Download your neck of the woods for $1.99 or get unlimited access to all maps for $4.99. The app tracks your trail as you hike, allowing you to place markers at significant points along the way and review your hike duration, distance, pace, and elevation gain at any point. All maps are stored in your phone's memory, so no reception is no problem.


2. Star Walk


Scroll through a virtual copy of the sky so that you can better appreciate the real one. Star Walk maps the sky from your viewpoint. If you're facing south, for instance, you can find the map for the constellations and planets in front of you by scrolling to the south arrow on the Star Walk map. Clicking on stars provides coordinates and more information. It's an easy way to start learning about astronomy for $2.99.

A night mode tints the screen red and makes it easier to read on an otherwise jarringly bright screen in the dark.


3. Scats and Tracks


Scat_and_Tracks

Some people yell, "Hey, I found a footprint!" You can be the person who yells, "Hey, I found an eastern chipmunk footprint … or maybe it's an eastern gray squirrel!" Scats and Tracks provides everything you need to decode what animals leave behind on the trail. It includes illustrations of all footprints, animals, and yes … scat types. The backyard version is free. Guides to specific regions cost $3.99.


4. Elevation Pro


Elevation_pro

This $0.99 app is pretty simple. It tells you what your current elevation is. Of course it’s an essential component of any decent bragging tales you plan to tell after your hike. Elevation includes two different calculations. One is the ground elevation using USGS data at your current location. The other is a calculation using the GPS on your phone.

There's also a tweet button, so you don't need to waste any time with that bragging.


5. Park Maps


Park_Maps

Imagine that you drove to every notable U.S. State Park and picked up a map at the entrance. And then you carried all of those maps around with you wherever you went. This app would be the paperless version of that. No bells or whistles, just every hiking map you need for $.99.


6. Army Survival


Army_Survival

There is always a chance that you will become hopelessly and desperately lost for days. If you have the Army Survival Guide on your phone (and a bit of battery life left), you could potentially avoid the embarrassment of perishing in the wilderness alone.

More likely, you'll find the $1.99 guide to be appropriate entertainment and conversation kindling.


7. Coleman Lantern


Lanternl

This free lantern is shameless advertising, but it's also pretty cool. Choose from a selection of classic and modern-style lanterns and adjust the light for your needs. At full blast, the lantern throws out a decent amount of light. Like other flashlight-type apps, it does use a lot of battery and is probably best used as an entertaining addition to your primary light source.


8. iBird


Bird guidebooks are probably most useful when taken into the woods, but its hard to justify carrying around a huge tome when you plan to walk all day. The iBird guides are just as good as hardcovers, but much lighter.

iBird apps include detailed bird portraits, range maps, taxonomies, key factors for identification, and song and call recordings from the Macaulay Library at the Lab of Ornithology. Fifteen common birds of North America are free, but more extensive guides by region cost $9.99. The true bird fanatic can opt for the $29.99 pro version, which has info on more than 900 birds.


9. Audubon Trees


Trees

Conservation organization The National Audubon Society knows its trees. And you can too, with its tree reference app. Browse trees by family (like Maple or Beech) or by name. If you’re not sure what kind of tree you’re looking at, there’s also a quick guide that helps you identify the tree based on its shape or leaves. GPS allows you to plot your sightings, and you can use the app to file your tree photos (or enjoy the 2,000 color photographs included in the app). At $9.99, this is probably an app reserved for avid tree enthusiasts.


10. Butterfly Collection


Butterflies

This $1.99 app is as beautiful as it is useful. An elegant index of butterflies fills the home screen. Scroll for more index pages or tap the butterfly that you want to identify. You’ll get an animated close up of the illustrated butterfly and learn its name.


11. Wild Mushrooms of North America and Europe


Mushrooms

When you spot something on the trail that looks like the tasty (but expensive!) Morel from last weekend's farmer's market, it can be tempting to snag it for your dinner. But amateur mushroom hunting can be a dangerous sport.

So dangerous, in fact, that the user agreement for this app guide to mushrooms includes an "important poisoning disclaimer." In other words, it can't hurt to double-check.

Roger Phillip's guide includes a searchable database of mushrooms with photos and important details like each fungus's location, normal size, and edibility. You can also locate the unknown mushrooms you encounter with a visual key or filtered search. The lite version is free, but considering the possible consequences of eating an unknown mushroom, it might be worth springing for the $1.99 full version, which includes more listings.


12. Chirp! USA Lite


iChirp

Tune in to bird songs by training yourself with this free app. Select your region to see the birds that are commonly heard there. You can sort the birds by name, how commonly they are seen, or their song style and listen to each bird’s unique tweets. The app also provides a picture of each bird to make spotting nearby tweeters easier.

Once you're learned the calls in your area, you can test your knowledge in a challenge that asks you to match each song with the appropriate bird.


More Mobile Resources from Mashable:


- 8 Free BlackBerry Games Worth Downloading
- Why Smartphone Adoption May Not Be as Big as You Think
- 10 iPhone Apps to Get You Back to School
- Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends to Watch
- How Mobile is Affecting the Way We E-Mail

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Saturated


Reviews: iPhone, iStockphoto

More About: Army, Army Survival Guide, Audubon, Audubon Trees, backpacking, Butterflies, butterfly collection, camping, coleman lantern, elevation pro, hiking, iChirp, Lantern, Mushrooms, national parks, Outdoors, park maps, Scats and Tracks, trees, woods

For more Mobile coverage:


Craigslist’s Adult Services Replaced With “Censored” Bar

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 01:11 PM PDT


Craigslist’s “Adult Services” section — a digital red light district that has been the subject of many controversies — has been removed in all U.S. markets. The front page link to Adult Services has been replaced with a black bar that reads “censored,” an implication that the site’s hand was forced by legal authorities.

Adult Services has been a scapegoat for the prostitution problem in the media and in politics almost since its inception. A year ago it was called “Erotic Services,” but Craigslist rebranded it and implemented new policies to manage its contents to avoid legal repercussions.

That didn’t stop prostitutes and their Johns from connecting on the site. Thanks to all the media coverage, Craigslist is seen as a sort of mecca for people who are discretely looking for sex outside the mores of society.

There’s a tune of defiance to Craigslist’s decision to not just remove Adult Services but replace it with a black “censored” bar. Craigslist has responded to criticism on its blog in the past, claiming that an attorney manually screens all of its Adult Services ads. It says that 700,000 ads were manually rejected in just one year. However, you can still find prostitutes on Craigslist if you know how to look.

The narrative Craigslist would like people to hear is one of victimization by a political establishment that must have someone to blame for prostitution, but while that may be accurate, it would be naive to believe this “censored” stunt is solely a matter of principle. The Advanced Interactive Media (AIM) Group determined that Adult Services will have generated $36 million in revenue for Craigslist in 2010.

We’ve contacted Craigslist seeking the story behind the removal of Adult Services, and we’ll update this post if we hear back.


Reviews: Craigslist, aim, blog

More About: adult services, censored, censorship, classifieds, craigslist, erotic services, law enforcement, politics, prostitution, sex

For more Social Media coverage:


Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 11:49 AM PDT

Twitter Chart Image

If you fired up the ol’ Twitter machine on Sunday night, you probably won’t be surprised to see Jimmy Fallon’s Emmy Awards nab the number one spot on this week’s chart. Not only are award shows a boon for tweet riffers to begin with, but this year’s Emmys saw a nice marriage of TV and social media, courtesy of the web savvy Late Night host.

The awards bumped the long-trending topic of football down to the number two spot, while Hurricane Earl crept up to number three just as it crept up the East Coast of the U.S.

One interesting trend that made the list (besides Justin Bieber, of course — mrow!) was “Christmas.” It wasn’t Santa making the rounds in August, but a spam bot tagging hacked tweets with “Merry Christmas” — enough of them to hit the top of trending topics this past Wednesday. That’s bad for users, but a milestone for horrible, abusive spammers everywhere.

Have a look at the complete chart below, compiled by our friends over at What The Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart.

You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section as well as read more about this past week's trends on What The Trend.


Top Twitter Trends This Week: 8/28 – 9/3

Rank
Topic
Top Index This Week
Intensity
Description
#1
Emmy Awards
1
3
The 62nd Annual Emmy Awards was broadcast August 29th on NBC. Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory, TV Show Modern Family, and Hugh Laurie of House were the most discussed winners and losers.
#2
Soccer/Football
1
3
The Corinthians are a popular Brazilian football team which celebrated its 100 year anniversary this week.
#3
Hurricane Earl
1
2
Hurricane Earl glanced by North Carolina and raced up the East Coast of the United States.
#4
Sydney Dalton
1
2
A few months ago, Sydney Dalton made a YouTube video of her and her friends ripping up Justin Bieber posters saying that she’s "over" him. Monday night, she said she met him at his NYC concert and that she was a "huge fan." Some Bieber fans are upset and angry.
#5
Justin Bieber
1
1
Justin Bieber told his fans to wake him up at 10:30, so many fans took up the challenge. Every concert, Justin picks one or two girls to be his "One Less Lonely Girl" on stage, and he sings to them.
#6
Michael Jackson
1
1
People are tweeting "happy birthday" messages to the late Michael Jackson.
#7
Christmas
1
1
A spambot is posting links on Twitter accounts and labeling them with "Merry Christmas" to get people’s attention.
#8
Lady Gaga
1
1
"Little Monsters" are tweeting about what kind of things happen in their life because of Lady Gaga. Brazil is tweeting "GaGa Grávida" which means Lady Gaga is pregnant, but it’s not true.
#9
September/Autumn
2
1
People are tweeting about things they want to happen in September, and celebrating the start of Autumn on September 21st.
#10
Super Junior
1
1
Yesung, the main vocalist of Korean group Super Junior first posted, then deleted his picture with title "Junior Yesung."


Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ricardoinfante


Reviews: Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto, justin bieber, michael jackson

More About: entertainment, football, Hurricane Earl, justin bieber, List, Lists, social media, sports, Top Twitter Topics, trends, twitter, twitter trends

For more Social Media coverage:


Kanye West and How Twitter Has Changed the Way We Communicate

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 10:43 AM PDT


If you needed any more proof that Twitter has transformed how we absorb information and communicate, look no further than Kanye West.

Just a few hours ago, the superstar rapper let loose a barrage of 70+ tweets, starting with a declaration of his love for Twitter and ending with an apology to Taylor Swift. His apology refers to last year’s VMA incident, where West rushed onto the stage and interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech for best female music video. The incident has since turned into an Internet meme. More importantly, the 33-year-old rapper was vilified by music fans, the media and even President Obama.

Yes, the rapper apologized on national TV and on his blog, but he has never been able to shake off the 2009 VMA incident, and if his Twitter is any indication, there are a lot of people that (understandably) won’t let him live it down.

For whatever reason though, Kanye West decided today to make his case, and he used his brand new Twitter account to do it. Whether you think his “stream of consciousness” is the rambling of a broken man or his most heartfelt attempt yet to put the incident behind him, you can’t help but appreciate the rawness of each tweet. There is no filter or middle man between his thoughts and the rest of the world.

I won’t repost all of his tweets (check out his Twitter stream if you want the whole thing), but I do want to highlight a few of the tweets that encapsulate the raw nature of today’s barrage of tweets:

- “Had to let employees go… for the first time I felt the impact of my brash actions … I felt the recession from an ownership side”

- “How deep is the scar… I bled hard.. cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world … closed the doors of my clothing office”

- “That’s when you realize perception is reality. I’ve been straying from this subject on twitter but I have to give it to you guys raw now.”

- “If you google Asshole my face may very well pop up”

- “I’m the guy who at one point could perform the Justin Timberlake on stage and everyone would be sooo happy that I was there”

- “When I woke up from the crazy nightmare I looked in the mirror and said GROW UP KANYE … I take the responsibility for my actions”

- “These tweets have no manager, no publicist , no grammar checking… this is raw”

- “It starts with this…”

- “I’m sorry Taylor.”


Communication Revolution


A few months ago, we would never have heard something like this from Kanye West. That’s because his publicity team would never have let him say these things. Then he got a Twitter account, giving him an opportunity to talk to his fans and to the rest of the world directly, without anybody to say “no.”

Social media has changed the way we communicate. Information has never traveled faster. It has created frank and transparent conversations. It has given people a chance to directly express their thoughts to the rest of the world in a mater of seconds.

For years we’ve chronicled the amazing impact Twitter has had on our world here on Mashable. In 2008, a Berkeley grad student used Twitter to tell his friends he was arrested in Egypt, leading to a mobilization effort that got him out of jail. Last year, Twitter rose to prominence for its role in the Iran Election crisis. Earlier this year, Twitter showed us the devastation in Haiti in a way that has never been possible.

These are just a few examples of what Twitter has done. While Kanye West’s tweets don’t come close to the level of importance these events carried, his raw line of communication is another shining example of just how Twitter has changed our lives. Information has been set free.


Reviews: Mashable, Twitter

More About: entertainment, kanye west, taylor swift, trending, twitter

For more Social Media coverage:


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