Archive for Pandora

Google’s Music Streaming Service Draws From Pandora and Spotify Models

May 15, 2013 / Cameron Scott / No comments

google, pandora, spotify, all access, music streaming, mobile apps, social mediaGoogle launched All Access music streaming service today, first leaked yesterday, that seeks to bring customized radio stations, on-demand streaming and the user’s stored music library into the same interface.

Chris Yerga, the engineering director for Android, called the service “the best of both worlds: your personal library blended with ours.”

The all-in-one service works on desktop and mobile devices. It allows users to import their music libraries or select songs to stream. Any song can also be used as the basis of a Pandora-style radio station. The service uses the user’s previous listening to generate recommendations, which can be sorted by genre.

The service, which is live, costs $9.99 per month in the United States after a 30-day free trial. Users who begin a free trial on or before June 30 will be be locked in at a promotional rate of $7.99 a month. iOS devices cannot access the service, however.

All Access music will roll out to additional countries “soon,” Yerga said. Google also plans to build similar interfaces for books and movies.

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Category: all access, Android, chris yerga, google, Music, News, Pandora, Spotify /

SoundCloud Announces NYC Office Plans and a New Hire from Pandora

May 13, 2013 / Devon Glenn / No comments

SoundCloud, headquartered in Berlin, plans to open a new office alongside a cacophony of honking taxis, rumbling subway lines, and people who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.

The New York City office for the sound-sharing community will appear “in the coming months,” the company said. Along with the new digs will come former Pandora executive Dan Gerber, whom SoundCloud has tapped to lead brand revenue initiatives for the audio-sharing community.

“We’re keeping all options open for the new office location at this time, but we are looking for a neighborhood that best encompasses an intersection of both art and technology,” said Kristina Weise, U.S. senior PR manager at SoundCloud.

As for Gerber, the former national director of strategic partnerships was a key player in connecting Pandora with Pepsi for the Grammys and with Chase for Pandora’s Summer-Themed Genre Stations. His strategies incorporated digital, mobile, audio and live events.

“Coming off our Pro Partner announcement in early March, we have been inundated with numerous brands taking interest in our beta,”  SoundCloud explained in a blog post. “We realized that in order to best serve this community, we had to bring on a professional with the experience to continue to develop partnerships and to strengthen and ignite relationships.”

The company’s current New York-based audio partners include This American Life, Audible, Sirius, The Economist, Penguin, Harper, Splitsider, and Baratunde.

Gerber starts in June and will be looking for new talent this summer.

“We’re always open to hiring remarkable talent at any position,” added Weise. “In the coming months, we will be focused on building out Dan’s team. Our jobs page will be updated with more NYC-based positions shortly.”

Photo by Orhan Cam.

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Category: dan gerber, headquarters, News, nyc office, Pandora, social media hires, soundcloud /

Social Media Newsfeed: Google Play Update | GM Likes Facebook Again

April 10, 2013 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Google PlayGoogle Play Update Shows the Big Picture (SocialTimes)
Google has announced an update to Google Play that will show bigger images for books, movies and album covers. The change began rolling out to Android smartphones and tablets starting Tuesday. Wired Media and apps with a similar theme are now grouped together to make it easier to explore new content options by subject, with recommendations that continue to pop up as you scroll down the interface. Google also updated the check-out experience so it’s more streamlined. VentureBeat The Play redesign comes a few months after Apple redesigned the App Store in iOS 6. Like Apple, Google knows that the first step to tearing people from their money is making the shopping experience as pleasant as possible — which is why design is so important. CNET The app’s redesigned user interface specifically is intended to improve the entertainment experience, whether it’s listening to an album, reading a book, or playing a game. The overhaul was rumored for weeks, with various sites publishing screenshots showing off several alleged design tweaks for Google Play. TechCrunch It would seem that Google’s big goal with this new redesign was to bring the Play Store in line with other prominent Android features — ever since its last major facelift, the Google Play Android app has been swathed in blacks and greys, with color highlights corresponding to different content types breaking up the visual monotony. At the time the shift in design made sense — Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich featured a colder, darker aesthetic than previous versions of Android and also relied on light blue UI flourishes.

GM, Facebook Renew Advertising Relationship (AllFacebook)
A few days before Facebook’s initial public offering last year, General Motors pulled its $10 million advertising campaign from the social network, unhappy that it didn’t have the control over ads it sought. But now it appears the two sides have reconciled their differences. VentureBeat GM will advertise via Facebook as a part of the “Find New Roads” campaign for the Chevrolet Sonic. According to GM, the campaign will be mobile-only and will take advantage of Facebook’s new mobile-targeting features. The New York Times/Media Decoder According to Ryndee Carney, a spokeswoman at General Motors in Detroit, General Motors “worked closely with Facebook” on the idea for the test campaign, which was presented to “the Chevrolet digital team, Carat and Commonwealth.” Those were references to two advertising agencies that work with GM.

Music Service Pandora Tops 200 Million users (USA Today)
Pandora says it has reached 200 million registered users in the United States, as competition in the streaming radio business heats up. In a statement released Tuesday, the company revealed it doubled its number of registered users in the United States in less than two years, hitting the 100 million mark in 2011.

Tumblr Abruptly Closes Down its Storyboard Project, Lays Off Entire Editorial Team (paidContent)
A year ago, Tumblr launched an ambitious attempt to curate content from within the blog network — a unit known as Storyboard, with its own editorial staff who highlighted and aggregated posts from popular Tumblrs. Although the company seemed to have high hopes for the project, founder and CEO David Karp announced late Tuesday night on the official Tumblr blog that Storyboard has been shut down and the staff of the unit have been let go.

Is the IRS Targeting Tax Cheats on Twitter? (AllTwitter)
Did you file your taxes yet, or are you waiting till the last minute like the other half of the United States? Either way, make sure you don’t talk smack about it on Twitter.

How a Small Newspaper Used iPads to Bend the Rules of Reporting (Ebyline/The News Hook)
With the rapid migration of news and media onto the mobile platform, newspaper editors are finding all sorts of ways to keep up with the changeover and stay ahead of the trends. That’s why Randy Parker, managing editor of the York Daily Record put a tablet or smartphone into the hands of its top reporters.

Foursquare Readies Version 6.0 of its iOS App with Improved Search and Recommendation Features (The Next Web)
Foursquare will be updating its iOS app to version 6.0 later today, expanding its emphasis on search and location-based recommendations. The Explore section, which used to be hidden in its own separate tab at the bottom of the screen, is now right at the forefront of the overall app experience.

Adobe: Video Accounts for 77 Percent of Viral Reach on Social Nets [Infographic] (SocialTimes)
Social media and video “go together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” said Tamara Gaffney, senior manager at Adobe Digital Index, “because they’re very sticky and they’re very complimentary to each other.” Adobe’s 2013 Video Benchmark Report, released Tuesday, showed how incorporating video content in social media campaigns can help brands and media companies get better results.

Vine and Instagram Posts Warn Students of Stabbing Attack (The Daily Dot)
A student at Lone Star College, near Houston, used the video-sharing platform Vine to warn others on campus about a stabbing attack. As many as 14 people were injured, one critically.

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Category: Adobe 2013 Video Benchmark Report, facebook, Foursquare iOS app, General Motors, Google Play redesign, Instagram, ipads, IRS, Newsfeed, Pandora, Social Media, tumblr, twitter, Vine, York Daily Record /

With 200M Users, Pandora Touts Mobile Success With Advertisers

April 9, 2013 / Cameron Scott / No comments

pandora, internet radio, social media, social networks, facebookPandora today hit a milestone of 200 million registered users in the United States, and the company’s chief technical officer Tom Conrad marked the occasion at a talk at the Ad:Tech conference in San Francisco highlighting the company’s successes in creating a desirable platform for advertising.

Before the company, which launched in 2005, had even begun using a separate server to push out advertisements, it got a call from “a major consumer brand” seeking to buy its entire advertising inventory for November and December of that year.

The company was Apple, and the mega-brand managed to secure exclusive advertising on the new service throughout the holiday shopping season for just $20,000, Conrad said to stunned laughter from the audience.

Each time Apple updated its ads — which happened several times a day — Pandora had no choice but to update its entire website, Conrad said.

But, with an ad server long since powered on, Pandora has delivered 15 billion impressions. Its advertising revenue has grown from 43 million at the outset of the 2012 fiscal year to 109 million last quarter. (The company is not yet profitable, a fact that it largely blames on the high licensing fees it pays as an Internet radio provider.)

The service’s success with advertisers is notable because a full 80 percent of the 1.49 billion hours its users spend listening a month happens on mobile devices. Among mobile apps, only Facebook tots up more hours of user engagement.

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Category: ad:tech, Advertising, Internet Radio, mobile apps, News, Pandora, Pandora Radio, tom conrad /

The Ultimate Guide to Streaming Media [Infographic]

April 4, 2013 / Devon Glenn / No comments

Music, TV shows, and movies have all gone digital, and there are a number of streaming services to choose from. But if you’re going to pay for them, you’re going to want to read the fine print.

Should you switch from Netflix to Hulu Plus? Is Spotify better than Grooveshark? This infographic breaks down the advantages and disadvantages of different streaming services and provides statistics on how quickly other consumers are adopting new technology.

Take a look.

Cloud Surfing Infographic | Your First Class Guide to Streaming Media Providers

The ’Cloud Surfing: Your First-Class Guide to Streaming Media’ infographic was developed by Cloud Storage Finder

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Category: amazon, best streaming services, Grooveshark, Hulu Plus, Infographics, Last.fm, netflix, Pandora, Redbox, Spotify /

Groupon, Zynga and Pandora Are Giants of the Small Screen

March 25, 2013 / Cameron Scott / No comments

mobile apps, groupon, zynga, pandoraGroupon, Zynga and Pandora a much bigger portion of their traffic from mobile users than any of the other top 50 digital properties, according to comScore’s first tally of Internet traffic across Web and mobile apps, released today.

When mobile users were tracked, Groupon’s traffic increased has 223 percent, Zynga’s increased 211 percent and Pandora’s 183 percent.

Groupon and Zynga have faced business headwinds in recent months.

Twitter, Pinterest and Yelp brought in more than half of their traffic from mobile users. LinkedIn and Facebook drew about a fifth of their unique visitors from mobile devices. Overall, mobile users accounted for just 7 percent of the visits to the top 50 most-visited sites.

Topping the list of the biggest properties across devices were Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. Microsoft drew fewer visits from mobile users than its competitors.

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Category: Analytics, comscore, facebook, Games, groupon, Internet Radio, linkedin, Media Metrix Multi-Platform, Mobile, Mobile Content, Mobile Games, News, Pandora, pinterest, twitter, yelp, zynga /

Social Media Newsfeed: Facebook Gay Marriage Support | Groupon Earnings

February 28, 2013 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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Facebook Backs Same-Sex Marriage in Supreme Court Filings (AllFacebook)
Facebook joined the growing list of companies expressing their support for same-sex marriage, announcing in a post on its LGBTQ@Facebook page that it will submit briefs on the topic to the U.S. Supreme Court. The social network said it would post links to its filings on the LGBTQ@Facebook page when they become available. Wired In all, 278 companies joined to support the friend-of-the-court filing, among them some of the country’s biggest and most visible, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Other tech companies listed as backers of the brief include Adobe, Cisco, eBay, Electronic Arts, Intel, Intuit, Oracle, Twitter and Zynga. The Daily Dot The court is scheduled to hear arguments on California’s gay marriage ban next month. In their 95-page document, the tech companies claimed that the laws make it hard for them to recruit in California. Current regulations alienate talent from pursuing a job in the state, since prospective employees could receive better treatment, benefits, and perks in other states or countries. Reuters
Separately, lawyers representing another group of employers, including some of the same companies, said they planned to file a brief on Thursday in a related case that questions a California law, known as Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. The two cases are to be argued before the Supreme Court on March 26 and 27. A decision is expected by the end of June. TechCrunch This is not the first time that tech giants have come out in support of marriage equality. Google, for instance, setup an online campaign, with a heartwarming video, to support same-sex marriage laws in the 2012 election. “The Four” achieved complete victory, stopping bans or expanding rights in Washington, Maryland, Maine and Minnesota.

Groupon Q4 2012 Earnings Release: Daily Deals Still Can’t Make Money, Shares Dive 28 Percent (VentureBeat)
Groupon reported its fourth-quarter 2012 earnings Wednesday almost exactly where analysts had expected: With $638 million in revenue, up 30 percent over last year. The problem was that analysts wanted a profit. Forbes In its core daily deals business, revenue was $413.1 million, down from $478.5 million a year ago. Groupon’s direct revenue business (mostly Groupon Goods) saw growth, with $225.2 million in the quarter, up from $145 million in the third quarter at $13.7 million a year ago. However, cost of direct revenue was $218.6 million, meaning direct revenue profit was $6.6 million. Business Insider There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Andrew Mason will keep his job. It’s pretty obvious what Groupon needs to do: Milk the declining daily-deals business for cash flow by continuing to cut marketing costs; invest in Groupon Goods; and fix or dump its European business.

Which CEO Has the Most Social Media Influence? [Infographic] (SocialTimes)
A new infographic from TopManagementDegrees has ranked the top 40 CEOs on the social web, according to Klout Score and Twitter followers. Topping the list is Oprah Winfrey, with 15 million Twitter followers and a Klout score of 92. Rupert Murdoch, Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Jack Dorsey, Kevin Rose, Steve Case, Steve Forbes, Tim O’Reilly and Dennis Crowley also make the Top 10.

 

Expanded Gmail Field Trial Brings Calendar Results to Search (CNET)
Here’s a nice new feature for anyone in Gmail’s field trial, which brings personalized results directly into Google search. The trial, which is available only after you opt in, brings information like Gmail results, receipts, reservations and Google Drive documents onto the search engine results page. Wednesday’s update brings Google Calendar items into the trial.

Nearly One Out of Four Big Companies are Still Ignoring Twitter [Study] (AllTwitter)
At the end of 2012, the University of Massachusetts presented its annual survey of the digital presence of the Fortune 500. Among their findings were the following: 28 percent of the Fortune 500 companies had blogs, 62 percent had a YouTube account, and (here’s the shocker) an incredible 23 percent of Fortune 500 firms had neither a Twitter nor a Facebook account at the end of 2012.

Pandora to Introduce 40-Hour Monthly Limit on Free Mobile Listening (AllThingsD)
Pandora said it will introduce a 40-hours-per-month limit on free mobile listening, as the Internet radio company looks to manage rising royalty costs. In a blog post on the company’s website, Pandora said the new limit will affect less than 4 percent of its total monthly active users.

 

Tiny Space Violin Needed for Saddest Quora Question Ever (BetaBeat)
Astronauts may be the closest thing we’ll ever get to super heroes, but even they get a little down sometimes. One curious Quora user decided to take to the platform to ask a terribly depressing question: Can you cry in space?

Sergey Brin on the Touch-Screen: ‘It’s Kind of Emasculating’ (The Verge)
Google’s Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at the TED conference for 10 minutes this morning, showing off Google Glass before a live audience of attendees and many others watching via livestream. He confirmed that Glass would ship later this year, but also offered insight into why Google is so committed to the project.

Updated Yelp App Shows Users Where Friends are Checked in (SocialTimes)
Yelp released an update to its iOS app Wednesday that shows users which friends are checked in to businesses in the local search results page. The change echoes one recently made by Foursquare, with both apps moving becoming better able to physically connect users with their friends.

 

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Category: Adobe, amazon, apple, cisco, Dennis Crowley, ebay, Electronic Arts, facebook, Gmail field trial, google, Groupon earnings, intel, Intuit, Jack Dorsey, Kevin Rose, LGBTQ@Facebook page, Mark Cuban, microsoft, Newsfeed, Oprah Winfrey, Oracle, Pandora, Quora, Richard Branson, Rupert Murdoch, Sergey Brin, Social Media, Steve Case, Steve Forbes, Tim O'Reilly, TopManagementDegrees, twitter, University of Massachusetts, Yelp app, zynga /

Social Media Newsfeed: App Store Downloads | Facebook Ads

January 8, 2013 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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AppleSocial Travel Apps Thrive as App Store Hits 40 Billion Downloads (SocialTimes)
Apple announced Monday that its App Store customers have downloaded more than 40 billion apps. It was a record-breaking year, the company said, with nearly 20 billion apps downloaded in 2012 and 2 billion downloads in December alone. CNET Developers, of course, have benefited from the App Store’s growth. According to Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, over $7 billion has been paid out to iOS developers. An acceleration in app downloads is expected to continue over the next 12 months, according to research firm Flurry Analytics. GigaOM December’s app numbers were very likely boosted by a large number of people unwrapping brand new iPads, iPad minis, iPhones and iPod Touches as holiday gifts — we don’t know how many just yet, but expect to hear that number during Apple’s earnings call in two weeks. But it’s important to remember that while total app downloads are one way of indicating how active a mobile platform is, plenty of people download an app and never use it again. Forbes Although Google Play has been gaining traction and growing at a much faster rate, Apple’s App store beats Google where it matters the most – in profits. Despite this announcement, Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes cut his price target on Apple from $800 to $740. ReadWrite The timing of Apple’s announcement is interesting. The eyes of the technology world this week are turned toward the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Infographic: Facebook Mobile Ad Performance (AllFacebook)
As more and more Facebook users check the site through their mobile devices, advertisers have followed suit. New figures from Kenshoo Social show that more than one of every $5 spent on Facebook ads are delivered on mobile devices. AppNewser The social networking giant saw a gain from 14 to 20 percent of its ad revenue since October of 2012. The growth is impressive considering that mobile ads have only started appearing in March of 2012. Adweek Kenshoo Social saw that the average desktop ad click cost advertisers $0.81 whereas the average mobile ad click cost $1.38. That price divide is likely due to scarcity and function.

Pandora Reaches More Devices, Cars and Ears in 2012 (SocialTimes)
Pandora has released statistics from 2012 that show a modest increase in the overall share of the audience for radio, but a large increase in the time that its users spend listening to the service. The company now boasts 175 million registered users.

AP Sharing Sponsored Tweets And Panicking Reporters (AllTwitter)
The Associated Press (AP) is blazing a trail for online news outlets this week, with its announcement Monday that it will be sharing sponsored tweets during CES. The Associated Press announced that Samsung “will be the first company to provide sponsored tweets to the news agency’s primary Twitter account, @AP.”

It Must Be Nice to Get Too Many Recruiter Emails on LinkedIn (SocialTimes)
Monday, Etsy design lead Cap Watkins announced in a blog post that he was leaving LinkedIn because, among other reasons, the site was overrun with recruiters sending unsolicited job posts. Sadly, he did not provide a screenshot of the emails he received about “exciting system operations positions (because I have familiarity working around coding languages) or sending obvious form mail designer inquiries.”

RightThisMinute: When Citizen Journalists Become TV Producers (LostRemote)
RightThisMinute, a joint venture between Cox Media Group, Raycom Media, E.W. Scripps Company and MagicDust Television, is a daily TV show devoted to finding the best viral videos and the stories behind them. Think Tosh.0 and TMZ (former TMZ and EXTRA executive producer Lisa Hudson is one of the executive producers) often with more serious videos.

This Year, Pinterest Wants You to Practice What You Pin (SocialTimes)
After 30 days of inspiring pinners with holiday ideas from celebrities and brands, Pinterest is ringing in the new year with a new board and a new challenge for users: to actually make or do something that you pin on Pinterest. While the virtual scrapbook is great for collecting professional photos of beautifully sculpted baked goods and perfect homes, critics have grumbled (and even fans have to admit) that the site creates standards of perfection that are hard to live up to in real life.

Yes, There is Now a Facebook App that Will Tell You Which of Your Friends Have the Flu (AgencySpy)
If you’ve ever needed a medically motivated excuse for blacklisting your Facebook friends, Help Remedies and agency Tool are here with a Web app that will tell you which of your contacts is afflicted with illness this flu season. The Facebook app, fittingly named “Help My Friend Gave me the Flu,” marks interactive director/clothing designer James Cooper‘s first project for Tool, who lured Cooper away from JWT in October.

Bravo Launches Connected TV App with Social Sharing, Video Playlists (SocialTimes)
Bravo Monday announced a Connected TV app to unite viewers and advertisers with “Top Chef” and other popular shows on the second screen. For advertisers, the second screen offers new ad placements including branded-bottom third snipes, traditional pre-roll video and embedded logo placement.

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Category: AP, Apple App Store, Bravo TV app, citizen journalism, Facebook mobile ads, Google Play, Help My Friend Gave Me the Flu app, Kenshoo Social, linkedin, Newsfeed, Pandora, pinterest, RightThisMinute, Social Media, The Associated Press /

Pandora Reaches More Devices, Cars, and Ears in 2012

January 7, 2013 / Devon Glenn / No comments

Pandora has released statistics from 2012 that show a modest increase in the overall share of the audience for radio, but a large increase in the time that its users spend listening to the service.

The company now boasts 175 million registered users. According to Pandora:

  • Listener hours for Pandora during the month of December 2012 were 1.39 billion, an increase of 54% from 906 million during the same period last year.
  • Share of total U.S. radio listening for Pandora in December 2012 was 7.19%, an increase from 4.71% at the same time last year.
  • Active listeners were 67.1 million at the end of December 2012, an increase of 41% from 47.6 million during the same time period last year.

In addition, Pandora has made 1,000 partner integrations to bring the service to more cars and consumer electronic devices. Currently, more than 1 million listeners have accessed Pandora from 85 different car models and 175 aftermarket devices.

Chrysler Group is the latest auto manufacturer to integrate with Pandora through its Uconnect Access feature, which also lets drivers connect to SiriusXM Satellite Radio and Bing.

The number of consumer electronic devices that Pandora reaches has also grown from 450 to 760 year-over-year, the company reports.

More than 75 percent of Pandora’s listening occurs on smartphones and tablets. Pandora’s iOS app got a redesign in October to include more social features and to provide information about the artists and bands. The app is currently number one music app in the App Store, according to AppData, with competitors Spotify and iHeartRadio close on its heels. The app is also number two overall on Google Play.

Image by Barry Barnes.

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Category: Chrysler, News, Pandora /

Social Media Newsfeed: Yelp Review | LinkedIn [in]cubator

December 10, 2012 / Tim Sohn / No comments

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YelpFree Speech Isn’t Free for Yelp Reviewer (SocialTimes)
An Internet flame war had real-world consequences for the Virginia woman whose contractor sued her for her bad reviews on Angie’s List and Yelp. Dietz Development filed a $750,000 lawsuit against Jane Perez after she alleged that the contractor had trespassed on her property, damaged her home and even stolen her jewelry. PC Magazine “Dietz Development LLC was to perform: painting, replenish floors, electrical, plumbing, and handyman work. I was instead left with damage to my home and work that had to be reaccomplished for thousands more than originally estimated,” Perez wrote in a February 2012 Yelp review. TechCrunch Dietz Development is claiming that Perez’s scathing review has cost them new customers and, on Wednesday, a judge ordered a preliminary injunction for her to edit the post. Yelp and legal critics are worried that Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP)-related lawsuits could chill free speech, but business owners say that legal intervention is necessary in an age when online reviews can make or break a company. CNET
Perez has removed her Yelp review. This, she says, is because Dietz fired back at her online and made false statements. CNBC The lawsuit follows an earlier case against Perez, which was filed in July 2011 by Dietz for unpaid invoices. According to the recent filing, the two were high school classmates.

LinkedIn Unveils Supported Employee Innovation Program, [in]cubator (SocialTimes)
LinkedIn announced a program Friday to support employee innovation projects within the company. Every LinkedIn employee will have the opportunity to pitch a project to the executive team once per quarter. WebProNews If approved, the employee and his/her team get up to three months to dedicate time and energy to realizing the vision. Though not every project will get the green light, for at least some LinkedIn workers, this will be be the equivalent of 25 percent time. VentureBeat The safe cocoon was created after the company noticed that its monthly Friday “hackdays” were resulting in viable product prototypes, [in]cubator executive sponsor and LinkedIn engineering senior vice president Kevin Scott wrote in a blog post. “A group of our ‘hackday masters’ [employees who’ve won three-plus hackdays] came up with the concept of [in]cubator as a way to take hackdays to the next level. They evangelized the program internally, pitched the idea to the executive staff, got approval, and have been piloting the program for several months,” Scott said.

How I Got a 12.5 Percent Click-Through Rate on Facebook (AllFacebook)
Have you played with the news feed position report on Facebook? In addition to the standard ad-level metrics of impressions, clicks and spend, you can see news feed click-through rates and news feed position.

Tech Industry Helps Local Economies Across U.S., Study Finds (SocialTimes)
Technology is growing, not just in Silicon Valley, but across the United States, and the employment benefits spread out to other industries as well, according to a study released by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. The industry has swelled its payroll by about 11 percent since the lowest point of the Dot Com bust, and unemployment rates among tech workers have been consistently lower than average rates in the United States since then.

Worst Idea Ever: Fortune 500 Cable Company Turning Off All Twitter and Social Media Support (AllTwitter)
Charter, the “4th largest cable operator in the U.S.” announced it is turning off all social media support for clients on Friday, Dec. 14. Sure, customer service is a lot of work, particularly online – but just because they turn off their accounts and stop responding, do the folks at @Charter really think customers won’t publicly mention them?

‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ Hits Half a Billion Views, Launches Spin-off Series (SocialTimes)
As Gangnam Style approaches 1 billion views, another viral video is making history on YouTube as well. Friday, “Charlie Bit My Finger” became the first non-professional, non-music video to surpass half a million YouTube views.

How to Put Your Audiobook on Spotify (GalleyCat)
Author Craig Seymour self-funded an audiobook edition of his memoir, “All I Could Bear: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington D.C.” earlier this year. Inspired by a GalleyCat article with SoundCloud advice for writers, he decided to upload the audiobook to both SoundCloud and Spotify.

Google to Charge $50 Per User, Per Year for Business Apps (AppNewser)
Google has decided to start charging $50 per user, per year for companies that use Google Apps for businesses. Existing customers will not be charged this new fee, and individuals can still open a free personal account.

Social Media Stock Tracker: Negative Pressure from Pandora (SocialTimes)
The social media sector was down an average of 4 percent last week as it was negatively impacted by Pandora’s third-quarter report and fourth-quarter concerns for AAPL. There was downward pressure on FB shares despite its potential addition to the NASDAQ 100 index this week, which should promote further institutional purchases through rebalancing.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Category: AAPL, Angie's List, Charlie Bit My Finger, Charter, Dietz Development, facebook, Google business apps, Jane Perez, LinkedIn [in]cubator, NASDAQ 100 index, Newsfeed, Pandora, Social Media, soundcloud, Spotify, tech industry, yelp /
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