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Social Media Newsfeed: Google Glass Social Apps | Yahoo Buying Tumblr?

May 17, 2013 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Google Glass Gets Social With Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Other Apps (SocialTimes)
Soon you’ll be able to look your friends in the eye (sort of) when you log into your favorite social network with Google Glass. Google announced at the I/O conference in San Francisco that the futuristic eyewear, dubbed Glassware, will come with applications for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Evernote, as well as publications like CNN and Elle. The New York Times/Bits Blog They join Path and The New York Times as the only apps so far available on Glass. The glasses also offer Google services like search and maps, connect to users’ cellphones for text messaging, take photos and record video. AllFacebook The Facebook app will allow Google Glass owners to instantly share photos to their Facebook accounts. Currently, there are two unofficial Facebook apps for Google Glass, which is only available for a handful of people (as well as Google employees): Glass to Facebook and ThroughGlass. GigaOM In a blog post, Twitter said you can now tweet photos from Glass to your feed — the update will include the hashtag “#throughglass” — and see your other tweets by turning on in-Glass notifications. The service is now available, and users can activate the Twitter app on Google’s MyGlass portal. The Verge CNN’s app will give The New York Times some competition in the news arena with video clips and the latest headlines. Elle is the first magazine trying to bring its content to Glass with an app that can read stories aloud, and you can view photos that accompany each piece. When it comes to Evernote, you’ll be able to send text-based notes from the company’s web client to Glass for reference later on. The Huffington Post The futuristic-looking devices have been a common sight at the Google conference this week, with many of the attendees and staffers wearing Glass. But Google executives gave Glass short shrift during the more than three-hour keynote talks on Wednesday, barely mentioning Glass among the litany of new products and services discussed on stage.

ATD: Yahoo Has Had ‘Serious’ Talks with Tumblr Concerning Potential Acquisition or Investment (The Next Web)
According to Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka of AllThingsD, Yahoo has had discussions with Tumblr concerning a potential investment or acquisition. Yahoo has been on a buying spree lately, but hasn’t made a purchase on the scale of Tumblr; instead, it has purchased small companies with teams rich with talent. AllThingsD It’s not the first time Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been interested in the New York-based hipster blogging service. As an executive at Google, she had closely watched in its fast growth, along with that of Foursquare. Adweek The deal is not done, but could reach as high as $1 billion, Adweek has learned. While its revenue is modest, Tumblr has positioned itself as one of the few players in the digital ad world that is well suited for brand advertising.

A New Front in the War on Obamacare: Twitter (NPR)
On the same day House Republicans scheduled their latest symbolic vote to repeal Obamacare, as part of their full-court press against the law they also took to Twitter to say, in three words, why they oppose the legislation. Speaker John Boehner led the GOP tweet slaps that used the trending hashtag #ObamaCareInThreeWords: “Repeal for jobs” and “Scares small businesses” showed up on his timeline.

Digitally Engaged Moms Can Be Your Best Customers, if You’re Smart About it [Infographic] (AllTwitter)
Take it from me, digitally engaged moms are the best untapped resource around. If you’re an everyday product/service – you know, like food or underwear (neither of which I think millennials use) – showing a little attention to your digitally engaged moms can be your social sharing golden ticket.

Twitter Cofounder Raises Money from Jack Dorsey, Bono, Al Gore for Mysterious Startup Jelly (VentureBeat)
In a blog post Thursday, Twitter founder Biz Stone announced closing a funding round led by Spark Capital with participation from SV Angel. An elite group of individual investors also contributed, including Jack Dorsey, Bono, Reid Hoffman, Steven Johnson, Evan Williams, Al Gore, Greg Yaitanes and Roya Mahboob.

The CW Introducing ‘CW Seed’ Digital and Social Hub (LostRemote)
The CW is planning to rebrand its digital studio CWD as “CW Seed,” evolving it into a digital destination for loyal CW fans. CW Seed will exist as a sub-site on CWTV.com and will still produce original programming, but the channel is adding more interactivity to the service, opening up for feedback from viewers and adding more social engagement.

Instagram Photos You’re Tagged in Go Public (Mashable)
Two weeks ago, Instagram announced users could begin tagging themselves and others in photos through Instagram’s iOS and Android apps. Those photos have been quietly filling up a hidden profile section called “Photos of You,” which went public for the first time Thursday.

‘The New Yorker’ Introduces Anonymous Document Sharing (AppNewser)
The New Yorker has introduced a new online receptacle where sources can share documents and messages with the magazine anonymously. The tool is called Strongbox, and it is accessible using the Tor network, a private and secure online network.

Former Groupon CEO Shares ‘Business Wisdom’ Through Song (CNET)
Ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason wants to drop some knowledge on the younger generation, so he recorded an entire album of songs about “business wisdom.” Mason is known for having a sense of humor so he’s probably joking (let’s hope he’s joking).

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Category: #ObamaCareInThreeWords, #throughglass, Al Gore, Andrew Mason, Biz Stone, Bono, CNN Google Glass app, CW Seed, Elle Google Glass app, Evan Williams, Evernote Google Glass app, Facebook Google Glass app, Google Glass, Greg Yaitanes, groupon, Instagram tagging, Jack Dorsey, Jelly, Moms, Newsfeed, Obamacare, Reid Hoffman, Roya Mahboob, Social Media, Steven Johnson, SV Angel, The New Yorker document sharing, tumblr, Tumblr Google Glass app, twitter, Twitter Google Glass app, Yahoo /

Social Media Newsfeed: Amazon Buying Goodreads | Zuck’s Taxes

March 29, 2013 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Amazon to Acquire Book Lovers’ Network Goodreads (SocialTimes)
Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads, a community for book lovers. Founded in 2007, the San Francisco-based company has a member base of 16 million avid readers who have collectively formed more than 30,000 book clubs. Mashable The service lets users share and review books they’ve read or want to read, as well as keep track of what their friends are reading. In a statement, Amazon vice president of Kindle content Russ Grandinetti said the two companies will work together “to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.” CNET In a blog post, Goodreads founder Otis Chandler said he sold Goodreads, in part, to tap the “reach and resources” of Amazon. He also noted that Goodreads members have asked for an e-reader experience, something that Amazon will provide with its Kindle. Wired The nuptials troubled a portion of GoodReads 16 million members. Some took to the site’s discussion forums Thursday to voice concern over Amazon’s access to their reviews. Others were angry that the site was getting back in bed with a company it had visibly distanced itself from little more than a year ago in a dispute over restrictions Amazon placed on GoodReads’ use of its book data. The New York Times Chandler said his management team would remain in place to guard the reviewing process that had made the site attractive to its 16 million members. “Amazon has a real history of building independent brands and running them as independent companies,” he said in a phone interview.

Report: Mark Zuckerberg Faces $1B-Plus Tax Bill (AllFacebook)
Not too many people can handle a tax bill of more than $1 billion, but Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a member of that exclusive club, and CNN Money reported that his total tab will likely end up at around $1.1 billion. According to CNN Money, Zuckerberg exercised a stock option and purchased 60 million Facebook shares at a “strike price” of $0.06 cents apiece last May 18, the day of the social network’s initial public offering, and the Internal Revenue Service treats those shares as ordinary income at the time they are exercised, regardless of whether or not they are sold. VentureBeat Ungodly tax bills aside, the guy gets to keep roughly $12 billion of his paper fortune — and a controlling percentage of votes on Facebook’s board. And we are 100 percent certain that Zuck and his army of financial professionals have been preparing for the pitfalls of new wealth since long before the IPO. BetaBeat Zuckerberg’s already budgeted for the bill: He sold 30.2 million shares in the IPO, earning him $1.135 billion, most of which Facebook has said he’d use to cover his taxes. He’ll probably end up writing off his political action committee and paying a lower rate than the proverbial Warren Buffett’s secretary.

Facebook to Reveal ‘New Home on Android’ Next Week (Inside Facebook)
In related Facebook news, the social network will be holding a product announcement at its headquarters next Thursday. Members of the press were given an invitation saying, “Come see our new home on Android.”

Watch Out, Internet: Dave Winer is Back in the Business of Making Blogging Tools (GigaOM)
Dave Winer is the father of RSS and a blogging pioneer, so it’s worth paying attention to him when he comes up with something new — which he has, in the form of a browser-based note-taking and blogging tool. In a nutshell, Little Outliner is a kind of notepad, and it runs in a browser window so no software has to be installed, and it allows a user to keep notes or text content of any kind.

Set an Out-of-Office Reply on Twitter the Next Time You’re Away (AllTwitter)
Amit Agarwal is the voice behind Digital Inspiration where he offers “how to” tips including another we recently posted about: how to create a Twitter bot in five minutes. And now he’s helping you keep your Twitter credibility in check while away on “vacay” by showing you how to set up a Twitter auto-responder to alert followers to your absence when they reach out via tweet.

Delicious Becomes a Bit More Social Again, Adds Twitter and Facebook Logins (TechCrunch)
It’s recently been very quiet around Delicious, the social bookmarking service Yahoo bought in 2005 and then sold to AVOS in 2011. After four months of slumber, the Delicious blog sprung into action Thursday and launched a few new features that could make the site a bit more interesting for those of us who long ago abandoned social bookmarking for social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

Brother of George Zimmerman Apologizes for Racist Tweets (The Daily Dot)
The brother of George Zimmerman, who stands accused of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin, has apologized for a series of racist tweets. “I realize those were controversial and offensive, and I did publicly apologize for them,” Robert Zimmerman said Wednesday on Piers Morgan Live.

Google Rolls Out New ‘Compose’ and ‘Reply’ Tools for Gmail (SocialTimes)
Gmail Thursday released its new pop-out windows for composing and replying to emails to all users. The new windows are bigger than a chat box, but small enough to leave the rest of the screen open for multi-taskers to reference old emails or watch for new ones to arrive while they work.

Sweet? Biz Stone Is Poised to Launch a New Mobile Startup Called Jelly (AllThingsD)
According to sources, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is close to launching a new startup called Jelly, which one person called a “native mobile” effort. While it’s not clear exactly what that means, sources said the well-known entrepreneur has already hired four or five employees to form a team on the mystery product that will likely be aimed at smartphones and tablets.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: amazon, Biz Stone, dave winer, delicious, Facebook Android announcement, Gmail, Goodreads, Jelly, Little Outliner, mark zuckerberg, Newsfeed, Robert Zimmerman, Social Media, twitter /

Social Media Newsfeed: Facebook Lookalike Audiences | Twitter Patent

March 20, 2013 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Facebook Officially Launches Lookalike Audiences (AllFacebook)
Lookalike Audiences, which Facebook began beta-testing last month, will launch this week as a targeting option on the social network’s power editor, allowing advertisers to reach out to potential customers with similar characteristics to their current customers. Facebook launched Custom Audiences last fall, which allowed brands to show ads to their current customers who were on the social network. Mashable As the name implies, Lookalike Audiences is a tool that alerts advertisers to similar consumers. In a blog post heralding the new feature, Facebook noted that marketers can buy Custom and Lookalike audiences in conjunction with any ad buy. The Next Web Facebook lists five ways advertising to similar customers can benefit businesses: fan acquisition, site registration, off-Facebook purchases, coupon claims and brand awareness. The company says it has been testing lookalike targeting with select businesses for a few weeks now, and the new tool “worked well” both online and offline. Inside Facebook Lookalike Audiences should be available to all Power Editor users this week. To create a Lookalike Audience, advertisers can select the “Audiences” tab from the left menu of Power Editor. MediaPost “Now with lookalike audiences, Facebook can use attributes like interests or demographics and show ads to people who share common attributes as their existing customers. Advertisers can serve any type of Facebook ad to these new groups of potential customers,” stated a Facebook blog post on Tuesday.

Twitter Scores a Patent for Twitter (CNET)
If you’re thinking about copying the way Twitter works, you might want to get a good lawyer: the technology at the core of the social network is officially patented. As first reported by The Verge, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Twitter a patent Tuesday for what it termed a “device independent message distribution platform.” The Verge The new patent was issued with Twitter founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone listed as inventors, and broadly describes a messaging service in which users follow each other and sent messages don’t have specific recipients, but are rather sent and displayed to those followers by the system itself. Twitter filed for the patent in 2007, but it’s doubtful the company will pursue any litigation against competing services with it now that it’s in hand — the company has very publicly promised to only use patents defensively and last year introduced the Innovator’s Patent Agreement to codify that promise and require permission from its employees before suing offensively. The Next Web It’s interesting to note that Ev Williams, another founder of the company, is not listed on the patent. While it was random timing that the patent was issued now, it’s definitely a boom to the company as it ponders a potential IPO move sometime in the near future.

Britney Spears First to Amass 6 Million Plus Followers on Google+ (SocialTimes)
Pop singer Britney Spears became the first Google+ user to amass more than 6 million followers on the site, GPlusData shows. Spears and her pop rival Lady Gaga, the only two Google+ users to have more followers than Google CEO Larry Page, are helping the site shed its reputation for being primarily used by Google employees.

Google+ Gets Camera App to Take Quick Pics of Your Hangouts (VentureBeat)
In related Google+ news, Google doesn’t think taking a screenshot is easy enough, so it updated its social network Google+ today to include “Capture,” an app that is supposed to make it easier to take pictures of your Hangouts. Since Hangouts arrived on the scene, screenshots have been the only option for capturing funny and memorable moments.

‘Wired’ Tries to Connect the Social TV Dots (LostRemote)
In a massive story released Tuesday, Wired magazine looks at social media and its impact on the TV business. While some of the analysis leaves a bit to be desired (i.e. duplicitous Twitter followers), the bulk of the content is smart, explaining why shows that may be ratings dogs can actually be quite lucrative.

Email Warrants Proposed in Senators’ Bipartisan Reforms To ECPA Legislation (The Huffington Post)
Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced legislation to strengthen email privacy protections on Tuesday, giving bipartisan flavor to the push to reform the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Just as ECPA action heats up, however, a House hearing provided a preview of law enforcement’s objections.

Top 25 Twitter Cartoons (AllTwitter)
Here’s a little Twitter humor to get you through the day. Check out these 25 hilarious Twitter cartoons.

Amazon Launches ‘Send to Kindle’ Button for Web Publishers and WordPress Blogs (paidContent)
Amazon is now allowing publishers to add “Send to Kindle” buttons to their websites and WordPress blogs, the company announced on the Kindle blog Tuesday. It can be integrated into WordPress blogs as well. The Washington Post, Time magazine and the blog Boing Boing are already using the button.

Yelp Helps Local Businesses, Study Finds (SocialTimes)
Yelp drives an average of $8,000 in business to small businesses that have profiles on the site, according to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group but funded by Yelp. Businesses that advertised on the social reviews site Yelp drew an average of $23,000 in additional businesses, after spending an average of $4,200, the study found after polling 4,800 small businesses.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: Amazon Send to Kindle Button, Biz Stone, Britney Spears, Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, email privacy, facebook custom audiences, Facebook Lookalike Audiences, google, Google+ camera app, Jack Dorsey, Newsfeed, Social Media, Twitter cartoons, Twitter patent, Wired, wordpress, Yelp for local businesses /

Obvious Corp.’s Medium Snags Star Literary Agent to Head Content

November 19, 2012 / Cameron Scott / No comments

Medium, the yet-to-launch publishing project of Twitter founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone, has hired “wunderkind” literary agent Kate Lee to serve as director of content.

Lee had, until April, been at ICM literary agency.

Williams described Medium at a conference last month as an extension of Blogger, which he also co-founded: Blogger gave everybody the chance to publish their writing on the Web. Now that the Web is awash with content, Medium will help highlight the best, Williams said.

It’s unclear exactly what Medium will be when it launches, but it will evidently be some sort of common platform for blogs that highlights quality content. Medium is a project of the equally mysterious Obvious Corp., whose tagline is “We do various things.”

“Truth be told, there’s only so far that content can be ‘directed’ on a platform like Medium, which will be an open marketplace of ideas, where everyone can participate and publish,” Williams wrote in a blog post announcing Lee’s hire.

“But it doesn’t hurt to nudge things in the right direction—especially when getting a new platform off the ground. Kate’s job is to help get great stuff onto Medium. She’ll do this … by discovering, encouraging, soliciting, commissioning, and contextualizing interesting ideas, authors, and institutions.”

Lee, unlike the rest of the staff at Obvious Corp., will be based in New York.

Photo of Kate Lee courtesy Obvious Corp.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: Biz Stone, Ev Williams, kate lee, medium, News, Obvious Corp., twitter /

Social Media Newsfeed: New Nooks | Facebook Purge | Twitter Feed Insert

September 27, 2012 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Nook Goes HD to Face Off With Kindle (CNET)
Barnes & Noble added two Nooks to the tablet family that have better screens and faster processors. There’s the 7-inch Nook HD (starting at $200 with 8 GB) and 9-inch Nook HD+ (starting at $270 with 16 GB). San Francisco Chronicle The largest U.S. bookstore chain’s new devices will take on Amazon.com’s updated Kindle Fire announced Sept. 6. The online retailer, which also pitched its new devices as a cheaper competitor to the iPad, starts its 7-inch tablet at $199 and an 8.9-inch at $299. Bloomberg Businessweek In the United States, the tablets can be pre-ordered, starting Wednesday, and will ship in late October. They will become available in the United Kingdom in late November. Boston Herald Consumers will soon have another mobile video streaming service to consider, with Barnes & Noble announcing a new product that analysts say could create problems for Netflix. Though the company declined to offer pricing details for Nook Video, which won’t be a subscription service like Netflix, Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating indicated they will rival other offerings. Reuters In many ways, Barnes & Noble, which operates nearly 700 stores, has defied expectations. It beat Amazon to the marketplace with touchscreen devices and a color reader in recent years, and won plaudits from reviewers this year for its glow-in-the-dark Nook that allows someone to read with the lights off so as not to disturb others. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: Al Gore, Barnes & Noble, Biz Stone, Brazil, DropBox, Entertainment Weekly, facebook, foursquare, google, Hootsuite Conversations, Kevin Rose, Newsfeed, Nook, president barack obama, Social Media, twitter, Virginia Republican Party /

Social Media Newsfeed: New Myspace | Facebook Hysteria | Tweeted Movie

September 25, 2012 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Justin Timberlake Teases Sexy New Myspace (Mashable)
Fifteen months after its acquisition by Specific Media, we’re finally getting a sneak peek at the new Myspace. Justin Timberlake — who took an ownership stake in the new MySpace — tweeted a link to a video previewing the new service. AllThingsD The promotional video previewed a drastically different, horizontally oriented user interface and a continued emphasis on music, one of the site’s strong points in its nearly 10-year existence. In 2010, there was another attempt to revive the site with then-CEO Mike Jones at the helm; back then, the aim was to create a “social entertainment site” aimed at Gen-Y, Web-savvy users. The Verge Myspace looks like it will integrate well with the dominant Facebook and Twitter platforms — there’s a short clip that shows off finding friends through Facebook as well as posting tweets directly through Myspace. The new service will also encourage users to “bring their stuff,” specifically photo albums, videos, and playlists. AllFacebook It appears that users will be able to bring more information and details from their Facebook profile. Currently, those who sign into Myspace through Facebook automatically import their profile photos, as well as basic information such as birth date, current city and relationship status. WebProNews “We’re hard at work building the new Myspace, entirely from scratch. But we’re staying true to our roots in one important way—empowering people to express themselves however they want. So whether you’re a musician, photographer, filmmaker, designer or just a dedicated fan, we’d love for you to be a part of our brand new community.” That’s all it says at new.myspace.com. There’s an email signup box, and Myspace said it will send an invite your way “very soon.” continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: apple, Biz Stone, Emmys, Eva Longoria, facebook, Facebook private messages, Free Journalists Club, Georgina Chapman, James Murphy, Jamie Foxx, Justin Timberlake, LCD Soundsystem, linkedin, Myspace, New Myspace, Newsfeed, RadiumOne, Ron Howard, Rootsy, Social Media, social media Emmy, specific media, twitter, Vietnamese bloggers, youtube, YouTube translator /

Social Media Newsfeed: Zuckerberg’s Shares | iPhone 5 | WordPress Liveblog

September 5, 2012 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Mark Zuckerberg: I Won’t Sell Facebook Shares for a Year (Mashable)
Some investors and Facebook insiders may be rushing to sell off their stock in the company, but at least one person plans to hold onto his shares for a while: Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that Zuckerberg has “no intention” to sell any of his Facebook shares for at least the next year. VentureBeat According to the document, Zuckerberg holds roughly 444 million shares of Class B common stock and an additional 60 million Class B shares issuable upon the exercise of an option. All of those shares are staying put for the foreseeable future. Bloomberg Facebook shortened the lockup period for certain employees, so 234 million shares will now be available for sale on Oct. 29, instead of Nov. 14. After Tuesday’s amendment, and accounting for the shares that Zuckerberg won’t sell, the total number freed up for sale by insiders through November will shrink to 1.01 billion from 1.44 billion previously, according to the filing. AllFacebook The bad news related to Facebook stock continues to roll in, with analysts for two of the social network’s largest underwriters, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan, lowering their price targets, according to reports. The Wall Street Journal reported that Morgan Stanley Analyst Scott Devitt dropped his price target for Facebook for the next 12 months from $38 per share to $32, warning that it could drop to as low as $17 per share. CNNMoney Zuckerberg will take the stage at this month’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference to make his first public appearance since the company’s tumultuous debut in May. Zuckerberg’s interview will take place on Sept. 11 in San Francisco. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: Amara, Automattic, Biz Stone, Charles Adler, Democratic National Convention, Email, Evan Williams, facebook, iPhone 5, J.P. Morgan, kickstarter, Liveblog, mark zuckerberg, morgan stanley, MTV, Newsfeed, Obvious Corp., PBS NewsHour, Perry Chen, Social Media, Viddy, wordpress, Yancey Strickler /

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