Tag: Social Media

New Google Acquisition Could Be A Key To Company’s Social Battle

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Google had acquired fflick, a site that lets you log in with your Twitter account, and see what your friends have said about movies.

According to Jason Kincaid, who first reported on the acquisition, fflick had always planned to expand beyond movies, with that just being the first vertical. It seemed to make sense that Google would take advantage of this to improve its social search features, including Hotpot. I was not alone in this thinking.

Having your Twitter friends’ opinions about things you search for right along with the rest of your search results could be pretty valuable.

I was somewhat surprised to see Google announce the acquisition the next day on the YouTube blog, saying that the fflick team would become part of the YouTube team. Don’t get me wrong, this makes sense too, as a way to make YouTube (Google’s greatest social asset) more social, in the way Google described.

"Many of the YouTube videos you watch and love are also shared on sites beyond YouTube.com," said YouTube Group Product Manager Shiva Rajaraman. "Our site is built, in part, on social tools like comments, video responses and ratings. In recent years we’ve worked to integrate these social signals across other popular social platforms. For example, we see more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link, and over 150 years worth of YouTube video is watched on Facebook every day."

"We’ve always believed that there are great conversations happening all the time off of YouTube.com, and that commentary has the potential to enrich your experience when watching and discovering video on YouTube itself," added Rajaraman.

Reading a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article about Larry Page’s 3.0, one paragraph in the six-page article caught my eye. It as talking about Google’s "social layer" initiative that is supposed to help it compete with Facebook. It’s been most recently referred to as "Google+1", and the project is being led by Google’s Vic Gundotra. The article says:

Two sources familiar with it, who asked not to be named because the project is not yet public, confirm that it is tentatively called Google +1 and that it is designed to cull data about relationships among users from current services such as Gmail and YouTube. Google will then let users share material through those connections, while using the information to make other products more social. Search results may be skewed toward pages that your friends found useful—for instance, a Google Maps query for nearby Italian restaurants could return one that was positively reviewed by someone you know. (emphasis added).

With this in mind, fflick may play a role in the big picture after all, even as part of the YouTube unit. I can only speculate and try to put some puzzles pieces together, but something tells me the fflick pick-up is more than just a way to talk about YouTube videos, especially when you also consider Google’s much-increased focus on local and social.

Thoughts?

January 28, 2011
Republicans And Democrats

Nearly a quarter of Americans used Twitter or social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace in the months leading up to the November, 2010 elections to connect to the campaign or election, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

In contrast to the 2008 race—in which Democratic voters led the way in their use of online social networks for political purposes—Republican voters and supporters of the “Tea Party” movement caught up with Democrats in their use of social media in 2010.

*The “political social media user” group represented by these 22% of internet users voted for Republican congressional candidates over Democratic candidates by a 45%-41% margin.

*Among social networking site users, 40% of Republican voters and 38% of Democratic voters used these sites to get involved politically.

*Tea Party supporters were especially likely to friend a candidate or political group on a social networking site during the 2010 election—22% of such users did this, significantly higher than all other groups.

“The social networking population as a whole has grown larger and demographically more diverse in recent years, and the same is true when it comes to political activity on social networking sites.” said Aaron Smith, a Senior Researcher Specialist at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and author of the report.

“These platforms are now utilized by politically active individuals of all ages and ideologies to get news, connect with others, and offer their thoughts on the issues that are important to them.”

The main reason Americans follow political groups on social networking sites or Twitter is that it helps them feel more personally connected to the candidates or groups they follow-36 percent say this “major” reason they follow these groups or candidates, and an additional 35% say it is a “minor” reason.

Two-thirds (67%) of those who follow politicians or other political groups on social networking sites or Twitter say that the information posted by those they follow is interesting and relevant, and a similar number say that they pay attention to most (26%) or some (40%) of the material posted by the politicians or groups they follow.

January 27, 2011
LinkedIn IPO On the Way

Update: From the LinkedIn blog:

LinkedIn Corporation announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. A portion of the shares will be issued and sold by LinkedIn, and a portion will be sold by certain stockholders of LinkedIn.

Original Article: Rumors of a LinkedIn IPO have been swirling since the beginning of the year. The rumors were that the company would file this year, but they were somewhat vague.

Reuters had reported, however, that three sources confirmed that LinkedIn had selected its financial underwriters. One of the sources had said, "Some of these companies want to go public because they want to beat Facebook and others out. If Facebook went public before Linkedin, do you think anyone would pay that much attention to Linkedin? You might want to surpass the beast."

Well, Kara Swisher at AllThingsD is reporting that the LinkedIn IPO is now imminent, and that the company could file regulatory documents as early as today.

"Sources said LinkedIn is ready to submit an S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, its first step in the IPO process and that could happen after the markets close this afternoon," she writes, adding that the IPO is likely to be led by Morgan Stanley.

Another Internet company, Demand Media, went public this week, valuing it at $1.5 billion. Estimates for LinkedIn have it pegged somewhere between two and three billion.

LinkedIn has 90 million users.

January 27, 2011
New Social Media Tool Helps Businesses Manage Facebook Pages

Social media start-up, mediafeedia has introduced a social media management tool aimed at businesses on Facebook.

Users can create a mediafeedia account without having to download software and import their Facebook business pages they manage. The pages will be added to the user’s mediafeedia dashboard and synched with Facebook.

The dashboard features a selection of free, custom management functionalities for businesses on Facebook, including the ability to:

*Manage multiple Facebook fan pages from a single dashboard;

*Receive email notifications about comments on fan pages and respond directly via email;

*Schedule future wall posts for specific dates and times;

*Grant administrators access and permissions for specific pages.

“Through our research, we found that current social media management tools were lacking when it came to Facebook, especially for small-to medium-size businesses,” said Peter Buonaiuto Sr., president and founder of mediafeedia.

“We developed mediafeedia to offer a feature-rich experience that is easy to use for virtually any business.”

January 27, 2011
Facebook Shuts Down Facebook Phone Rumors…Again

Every now and then, rumors will start about a mythical Facebook phone. Eventually, Facebook will shoot them down, as is the case this week.

The rumor, this time, was that HTC was going to launch a Facebook branded phone at Mobile World Congress next month. Details of the phone were made available as well, and rumors began to spiral into "Facebook’s going to compete with Apple and Android" territory.

Not so much. From Reuters:

"This is really just another example of a manufacturer who has taken our public APIs (application programming interfaces) and integrated them into their device in an interesting way," said Dan Rose, head of business development at Facebook…

"The rumors around there being something more to this HTC device are overblown," Rose told journalists at a company event in London. Asked whether the device would be Facebook-branded, he answered: "No."

You may recall when such rumors went around last year. Facebook gave WebProNews the following statement in the comments of an article we did about it:

“The story, which originated in Techcrunch, is not accurate. Facebook is not building a phone. Our approach has always been to make phones and apps more social. Current projects include everything from an HTML5 version of the site to apps on major platforms to full Connect support with SDKs to deeper integrations with some manufacturers. Our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social, so integrating deeply into existing platforms and operating systems is a good way to enable this. For an example, check out Connect for iPhone and the integration we have with contact syncing through our iPhone app. Another example is the INQ1 phone with Facebook integration (the first so-called “Facebook Phone”). The people mentioned in the story are working on these projects. The bottom line is that whenever we work on a deep integration, people want to call it a "Facebook Phone" because that’s such an attractive soundbite, but building phones is just not what we do.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself then did an interview with TechCrunch to set the record straight, in which he detailed the company’s mobile strategy. Essentially, Facebook wants to be everywhere – on all phones. Given the new app for feature phones, just announced last week, they’ve got to be pretty close.

January 27, 2011
Facebook, MySpace, YouTube Named Top Blacklisted Sites Of 2010

Social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube continue to polarize corporations and people in charge of networks, judging by a new report from OpenDNS. The sites showed up on both "top blacklisted" and "top whitelisted" lists covering the entire year of 2010.

If you’d like a definition of those terms, OpenDNS said in its report, "Blacklists are typically used when there is no desire to block an entire category in principle, but there is a focus on preventing traffic to specific websites based on a combination of their popularity and content. This top ten list suggests a concern with the use of bandwidth by streaming sites and with privacy concerns from advertising networks."

Then the company added, "Whitelists are typically used when there is a desire to block entire categories, but access to selected websites is granted on an exception basis. These sites represent the most trusted sites in their category."

All sorts of interpretations seem possible as a result. An unpleasant one for Mark Zuckerberg: perhaps companies like Facebook less than Playboy. Or, to head in the other direction, maybe the average office worker prefers Facebook to Playboy, thereby necessitating the "blacklist" response.

Either way, the sites appearing on these lists can at least argue that they’ve succeeded in attracting everyone’s attention. And home usage is likely to be high as a result, since blacklists and whitelists can’t restrict everyone’s browsing all the time.

January 25, 2011
The Social Network Receives 8 Academy Award Nominations

The Academy Awards nominations list has just been released, and everybody’s favorite Facebook movie is up for 8 awards. These include: Best Picture, Best Direction, Actor in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Music (Original Score).

Having heard about two decades worth of Trent Reznor’s musical offerings, I think the word "original" is a bit of a stretch these days, but the score did work for the film, if you ask me.

Earlier this month, The Social Network won 4 Golden Globes for Best Director, Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Picture, Drama. It had been nominated for 6.

Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who portrayed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, was nominated for the Best Actor, Drama award, but lost out to Colin Firth for his performance in the film, The King’s Speech. Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Christian Bale for his performance in The Fighter.

The real life versions of some of the characters in the film have been making headlines over the past week. Sean Parker (portrayed by Justin Timberlake) has been talking to the press, calling the film "fiction" (not unlike Facebook’s official position). Mashable quotes him as saying:

"The part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character played by Justin Timberlake — who happens to have my name — basically writes a check to Eduardo – who I’m also, I consider Eduardo a friend of mine, and I’m one of the few people at Facebook who still interacts with Eduardo – and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being."

Saverin has also been in the news, having invested in startup Qwiki, which just launched in public Alpha this week.

The awards show takes place on Sunday, February 27. See all nominees here.

Read my review of The Social Network here.

January 25, 2011
Business Wire To Tweet Every Press Release

Business Wire said today it will begin to automatically tweet every press release to specific content categories.

“For those not yet tweeting the links to press releases, this provides added visibility to Twitter’s 106 billion accounts and 600 million search queries a day,” said Laura Sturaitis, Executive Vice President, Media Services & Product Strategy.

“We continue to look for community-appropriate ways to socialize and optimize press release content."

Business Wire clients are asked to choose at least one category keyword such as “science,” “business,” “technology,” when uploading their press releases via Business Wire Connect, the company’s proprietary interface. Those category keywords then send the press release to Business Wire and EON: Enhanced Online News Twitter feeds.

Users may subscribe to these feeds via the Business Wire news subscription page or directly via Twitter. The Business Wire feeds also contain keywords to help Twitter users find and follow them.

Each press release is assigned a shortened and unique URL for sharing on Twitter and other social networks.

January 24, 2011
Should Google Increase its 20% Time?

Over the last year or so, there has been a lot of discussion around where Google stands as an innovator these days. Clearly, the company has innovated a great deal since it was born, but a lot of commentary of late could lead one to believe that the Google pool has become somewhat stagnant in this regard.

I’m not saying that I necessarily agree with that, but the much of the company’s focus in recent memory would appear to be based upon acquisitions and "me too"-type products. Most recently, an upcoming Google product called "Google Offers" came to light – an apparent Groupon clone. Such a product makes sense for the company, like an acquisition of Groupon would’ve made sense, but it’s not exactly something people haven’t seen before – at least based on what we know about it.

Google Buzz is another example of an original Google product, which hasn’t generated the Buzz the company would have liked. That’s not to say it’s not a useful service and doesn’t have its place, but it’s not looking like it’s going to be the next Twitter or Facebook.

Google’s greatest successes these days seem to come from acquisitions (in terms of talent and product), most notably Android.

Jeff Jarvis writes in an op-ed piece for Reuters:

When I interviewed Schmidt a few weeks ago and asked about pressure over privacy, China, and lobbying, he said, "This is not the No. 1 crisis at Google." What is? "Growth," he said, "just growth."

Scale is Google’s greatest skill and greatest challenge. It scaled search (vs. quaint Yahoo, which thought it could catalogue this web thing). It scaled advertising (vs. the media companies that today don’t know how to grow, only shrink). It is scaling mobile (by giving away Android). It has tried to scale innovation (with its 20 percent rule)—but that’s the toughest."

Perhaps the 20% should be bumped up to a slightly higher percentage. Keep in mind that products like Gmail, Google News, and AdSense began with 20% time. There would appear to be room for flexibility, as they seem to have the revenue thing down pretty well. The company reported revenues of $8.44 billion for the 4th quarter.

But, as has been widely documented, the company has lost more than a few engineers to one of its biggest competitors – Facebook. Google is faced by a growing amount of competition from all angles – whether that comes from Bing in search, Apple in mobile, Facebook in where web users are spending their time, or Groupon in the deals space. Obviously, it is Google that brings much of this competition onto itself, as it expands into established industries, but while the "me-too" services can sometimes prove valuable, the "next big thing" generally stems from innovation (granted, acquisitions can solve this to some extent).

Google has probably some of the brightest minds out there at its disposal, and giving them 20% of their time to facilitate new ideas has proven valuable for both consumers and Google itself. Maybe it’s time to bump that 20% up a bit (even if it’s not really a formal number). It could help Google create the next big thing, or even keep some talent loyal.

The company is in the process of revamping its management strategy, and it will be interesting to see the shape it takes, as half of the original Google brain takes the driver’s seat.

January 24, 2011
President Obama To Answer Questions Via YouTube And Twitter

YouTube is inviting users to submit questions to President Obama for an exclusive interview that will take place two days after the 2011 State of the Union Address.

The YouTube Blog offers details. “Go to youtube.com/askobama to submit your question now, or watch the speech on Tuesday night with your webcam or video camera nearby so that you can record and submit your question as soon as it strikes you.”

“This year, you’ll also be able to ask your question via Twitter: just include the hashtag #askobama in your tweet. And be sure to have your say in what should be asked by voting on questions submitted by others, too.”

President Obama’s answers to a selection of the top-voted questions will be streamed live from the White House on youtube.com/askobama at 2:30 p.m. ET on Thursday January 27.

Users have until Tuesday, January 25 at midnight ET to submit their question. YouTube said video questions are preferred but it will accept text. Video questions should be about 20 seconds and asked directly to the president.

The interview is the first in a series of world leaders in 2011 as part of YouTube World View. YouTube said within the month it will hold a similar interview with a prominent Republican leader.

January 23, 2011
HP Launches Live Streaming Comedy Show On YouTube

HP has launched a live streaming comedy show on YouTube that is hosted by comedian Rob Riggle and will feature actors from the Upright Citizens Brigade.

The video series called HP ePrint Live calls on people to send in ideas for comedic skits.

Viewers can submit their ideas to [email protected]. The accepted messages will print to one of the HP printers on stage. Riggle and the team of UCB Theater comedians will choose skit ideas and perform them live before millions of YouTube viewers. Submissions will be assembled into an ePrint gallery viewable on the live stream.

The show will be featured today on the homepage of YouTube. The live event begins at 3 p.m. ET and will be followed by five days (Jan. 22 – 26) of comedy shorts based on new ePrint submissions.

The two-hour live show will broadcast on the HP ePrint Live YouTube channel as well as the HP for Home Facebook page. Viewers also can participate for five days following the show, as suggestions will continue to be converted into original comedy shorts for viewing and sharing across online networks.

January 21, 2011
Turn Your Twitter Message Into A Tweet Ring

Amsterdam based start-up Alphabeth.com has introduced something that every Twitter user surely needs, Tweet Rings.

“Some Tweets should last forever because they mark a special moment in your life or express your personal motto,” the company says.

“Perhaps your favorite message is just so beautiful that you want to carry it with you.” Perhaps.

Users can pick their favorite Twitter message or write their own message on tweet-rings.com. As long as it fits the maximum length of 140 characters per side: for example, place your tweet on one side and the sender, date and time on the other.

Tweet-rings are available in stainless steel, silver and titanium, ranging in price from $120 (euro 89) to $147 (euro 109). Delivery is free to over 50 countries, with a guaranteed 30-day return policy.

This could be the best product for Twitter users since Mattel introduced Puppy Tweets.

January 20, 2011
Like The UFC On Facebook And See Two Free Fights

The Ultimate Fighting Championship said today that people will be able to watch -for free two live preliminary fights from its Fight For The Troops 2 event on Saturday, January 22 at 8 p.m. ET by clicking the “Like” button on its UFC Facebook page.

By liking Facebook.com/UFC, fans will have access to a live stream of the lightweight fight between Cody McKenzie (12-0) of The Ultimate Fighter and veteran Yves Edwards (39-16-1), as well as a welterweight match with TUF alum DaMarques Johnson (16-8) against Mike “The Joker” Guymon (13-4-1).

“I’m always looking for ways to give fans fights for free and this is just another example of that,” UFC President Dana White said.

“Facebook is such a great tool for people to stay connected and we’re excited to put two live fights on our UFC page for free.”

In addition to the live stream of two prelims on Facebook , the UFC is hosting an online auction that will raise funds for the brave men and women in the United States Armed Forces with traumatic brain injuries. Prizes include the chance to attend the premiere of season 8 of the show Entourage, as well as the chance to meet Philadelphia Phillies centerfield Shane Victorino and attend a Major League Baseball game as his guest.

January 18, 2011
ShopVisible Launches Social Commerce Platform On Facebook

Ecommerce company ShopVisible has launched a new platform called ShopVisible Social Commerce which allows people to research and browse retailers products on Facebook and then purchase items without having to leave the social network.

“This is not just about accepting a payment or posting a product, it is complete contextual sharing and collaborating that results in transactions and sales in Facebook. ShopVisible has created a comprehensive platform that not only lets consumers make purchases within Facebook, but also gives retailers the power of a full-scale ecommerce platform within the social network,” said Sean Cook, CEO of ShopVisible.

“This is truly unique in that brands and retailers can now have the same kind of functionality and flexibility they have come to expect on their primary website – from font style and logos to analytics and CRM functionality – to their Facebook pages .”

Key features of ShopVisible Social Commerce include:

*The ability to integrate with any existing ecommerce platform or be used as a stand alone platform fro Facebook.

*The ability for retailers to track campaigns and measure ROI.

*Data protection for both retailers and consumers.

*Allows retailers to control the look and feel of their Facebook commerce site along with uploading audio and video.

*Users can find and navigate products within Facebook, write and share reviews, and compare products.

January 18, 2011
BankSimple Makes Mysterious “Key Hire”

BankSimple, the startup that’s supposed to disrupt the banking industry, has apparently made an important hire that may or may not have a direct impact on whether that actually happens.

BankSimple was co-founded by Alex Payne, a former Twitter engineer, who was there from the beginning, and worked primarily on building Twitter’s developer platform and on the service’s core infrastructure. Think about how much of Twitter’s success has been based upon the developer ecosystem around it. "It was an education in scaling, optimization, and systems architecture, not to mention all the joys and stresses that come with working at a growing startup," says Payne of his time at Twitter.

Today, Payne tweeted the following:

Just made a key hire. Can’t wait to announce it, but it’ll have to wait.less than a minute ago via EchofonAlex Payne
al3x

BankSimple says it is designing "true mobile banking", and shouldn’t be confused with Square, another startup from a Twitter vet (co-founder Jack Dorsey) looking to disrupt the credit card industry.

"BankSimple is doing something no bank has ever done: We’re designing our web and mobile experiences in tandem," the company says. "Deposit checks by phone. Authorize transactions by phone to prevent fraud. Categorize spending on your phone as it happens. That’s just the beginning."

"Part of Banksimple’s secret sauce is its predictive money management model," wrote Jennifer Van Grove, who interviewed Payne about the company last summer. "While users only need to concern themselves with a single account, there are actually checking, savings and credit accounts tied to that one login. Those will function behind-the-scenes with Banksimple automatically managing funds and transferring money between the accounts as needed."

Based on the interview, it sounds like much of BankSimple’s success will depend on the developer community, not unlike Twitter. It’s a whole new ballgame when you’re talking about bank accounts, though, and Facebook/Twitter integration (which it is supposed to have) could be a little scary for some people.

BankSimple says its team is made up of people with backgrounds in a range from bank strategy to data science to software engineering, and has worked in financial services, information security, "top-tier" consulting firms, and successful startups.

Last week, the company announced a new customer relations team, which should be key in its quest to provide customers with a Zappos-like customer experience as described in the interview with Payne.

The product will be coming this year, according to BankSimple’s website, and they’re currently letting people sign up to be on their beta list.

January 17, 2011
Twitterers Launch Hashtag Wishing Steve Jobs Well

As reported earlier, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence from the company. In an email to Apple employees, he said:

"At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company."

Now, the Twitter community appears to be banding together to wish Mr. Jobs well, as a new hashtag is starting to gain momentum: #getwellsteve

Twitter product guy Josh Elman was not the first person to use the hashtag, but as a Twitter team member, his contribution will no doubt help the tag pick up some steam:

#getwellsteveless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneJosh Elman
joshelman

yes lets start this hashtag @joshelman #getwellsteveless than a minute ago via webjudehere
judehere

Apple has a very large and loyal fan base, and Jobs has many admirers. It will not be surprising if the tag makes it to the trending topics soon. And as Twitter recently pointed out, engagement and influence can greatly affect how the hashtag build momentum. The tag appears to have started with Nortel veteran Adam Jefferson.

Jobs has asked COO Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day-to-day operations during his leave of absence. He also said that he and his family would "deeply appreciate" respect of their privacy.

January 17, 2011
Princess Cruises Launches Facebook Contest

Princess Cruises has launched a Facebook contest inviting people to share their favorite travel experience for a chance to “check another place off their travel bucket list.”

The contest winner will be selected by popular vote, and will be able to choose from one of eight cruise destinations including Europe, Asia, Tahiti, Australia/New Zealand, the Holy Land, Panama Canal, Alaska or South America.

The cruise vacation choices range from 10 to 16 days in length in a balcony stateroom, and include round trip airfare for two people.

Users can submit their travel stories on the cruise line’s Facebook page in written form or video. People will be able to vote on the story they like the most, and the person with the highest number of votes will win a cruise vacation.

"We’re encouraging our Facebook fans to share an inspiring travel experience they think everyone should do at least once in their lifetime," said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president.
"And the unprecedented aspect of this contest is that the winner gets to choose from among eight incredible cruise destinations, and cross yet another experience off their travel bucket list."

Entries can be submitted any time until February 7, 2011. People can vote for the story that inspires them most between February 11-25, 2011 and the winner will be announced on or around March 11, 2011.

January 17, 2011
The Social Network Comes to DVD and Blu-Ray, Continues to Rake in Money

The Social Network, the hit movie depicting the founding of Facebook, makes its way to DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday. Sony Pictures Entertainment said last week in a press release that it was set to cross the $200 million mark at the worldwide box office, before being re-released in 600 theaters in the U.S. on Friday.

"The Social Network has struck a chord with audiences all around the world," said Jeff Blake, chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures. "No invention defines our era like Facebook does, but what has made it break through as a motion picture is that it is a parable for our time.

"Everyone, everywhere, can relate to the human motivations of the real-life people who are depicted in the film," he added. "At the box office, this film showed true staying power, grossing more than four times its opening weekend gross – a rare accomplishment when the average for wide releases last year was below three times its opening weekend gross. It is always a great feeling to see a film connect with moviegoers, but this film is incredibly special to us – we are as proud of it as any film in our studio’s history."

The press release lists some of the honors the film has received:

The Social Network has been embraced during this year’s awards season, with four honors from the National Board of Review, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor for Jesse Eisenberg. The film has also received six Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and nominations for Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, as well as two nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, including Ensemble and Eisenberg for Best Actor, and nominations for Best Picture from the Producers Guild of America and Best Adapted Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America. The film has also been named Best Picture by 24 critics groups, including the New York Film Critics Circle, the New York Film Critics Online, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the San Francisco Film Critics, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Dallas/Ft. Worth Film Critics Association, the Washington Area Film Critics Association, the Toronto Film Critics Association, the UK Regional Critics Awards, Sight and Sound, the Village Voice/LA Weekly Critics Poll, the African American Film Critics Association, the Black Film Critics Circle, the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the Houston Film Critics Society, the Detroit Film Critics Society, the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, the St. Louis Film Critics Association, the Indiana Film Journalist Awards, the Utah Film Critics Association, the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society. The film also appears on over 350 critics’ Top Ten lists.

The film has been named Best Picture of the Year by numerous publications, including The New York Times, New York Post, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Chicago Sun-Times, Denver Post, Boston Phoenix, Cleveland Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Huffington Post, IFC.com, Miami Herald, Lincoln Journal-Star, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, MSN Movies, North County Times, Oklahoma Gazette, Omaha World Herald, Orlando Weekly, Sight & Sound, Time Out Chicago, Time Out New York, and Tulsa World, among many others.

The Social Network will no doubt continue to rake in money throughout Awards Season. Currently, IMDB has the film listed at 8.2 stars, which is pretty high for an IMDB rating.

The DVD contains over 8 hours of bonus extras about the film.

Read my review of The Social Network here.

Seen it? Tell us what you think of it in the comments or on our Facebook Page.

January 10, 2011
Will 2011 Be Even Bigger Than 2010 for Facebook?

Was last year the year of Facebook or is this year going to be the year of Facebook?

The company made arguably its most important move into web dominance last April when it announced social plugins and the open graph, for all intents and purposes, connecting the biggest part of the web together through Facebook itself. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was both the subject of a hit movie and Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Read this for a lot of other things Facebook did in 2010.

Now, we’re only a week into 2011, and Facebook is already making its presence heavily felt. In fact, it’s really everybody else that is making Facebook’s presence felt, and that is the key. Facebook doesn’t have to release new features left and right (though it does make semi-frequent adjustments). Other companies find new and interesting ways to use Facebook that benefit consumers, many of which are already Facebook users, many more will probably become Facebook users as they see more of what these third-parties are doing, and how they can benefit from that.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, there have been quite a few products shown off that utilize Facebook to some degree or another. PR firm Outcast, which represents Facebook, made sure we notices a few of them, such as:

The Sony Bloggie – A portable camcorder that allows users to upload photos directly from the camera to Facebook.

Barnes & Noble NookCOLOR – New Nook Facebook integration allows you to recommend books to friends, share your reading status, share quotes from a book you’re reading, or lend a book to a friend.

HP ePrintCenter – By integrating with Facebook, HP printers allow you to print photos directly from facebook.com.

Chumby – A compact wi-fi device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web – also can be used as an Internet radio player or alarm clock. Chumby allows people to access and update their Facebook status and see the latest photos and updates posted by their friends.

Samsung TV – Samsung has a Facebook app as part of its suite of apps for Samsung internet TVs, so people can update their Facebook status and see photos and updates from their friends on the Samsung connected TV.

Kodak Pulse Picture Frame – 7" and 10" digital picture frames feature built-in Wi-Fi that Facebook users can configure to show their albums and their friends’ albums (live updating).

Western Digital WD TV Live – The WD TV Live product family offers unique Facebook integration which lets users upload photos and videos, share their status, view their wall and get the latest newsfeed from their network of friends – all on the big screen TV.

OpenPEAK OpenFrame – Touch screen display for home and work desk environments that includes a full-featured Facebook Application to get access to News Feed, Photos, Messages, and other Facebook functionality.

And let’s not forget every other connected device out there. Anything that accesses the Internet that people use is potentially a gateway to Facebook.

Again, we’re a week into the year. Facebook hasn’t even made any significant announcements of its own yet. What kinds of things do you expect to see from Facebook this year?

Any predictions for how many users Facebook will have by the end of the year? Rumor has it that they’re up to 600 million these days. Comment here.

January 7, 2011
NFL Playoffs: Twitter Style

If you follow American Football, you know that it’s playoff time, starting this weekend. Since social media and football go hand in hand quite nicely, Twitter has taken it upon itself to help out fans in keeping up with their favorite teams and players that are involved in the run to the Super Bowl.

Twitter has created a list of Twitter accounts relevant to the playoffs. "You can follow @drewbrees and the @Official_Saints as they try to repeat as World Champions or @MikeVick of the @eagles as he continues his comeback," says Twitter’s Carolyn Penner. "The list also includes folks like @JimIrsay, owner of the @NFLColts, and @PeteCarroll, coach of the @Seahawks."

Users can also receive tweets via SMS on their phones if they don’t have Twitter accounts or smartphones. To do this, you can text "follow [username]" to 40404 (in the U.S.).

As a football fan, I can honestly say that Twitter has played a valuable role in my keeping up with the happenings of the NFL throughout the season. It’s nice to be able to whip out the phone and quickly see the latest NFL news from a variety of sources – often before the news makes it to ESPN or NFL Network.

It’s also nice to watch what the players themselves have to say, whether they are gearing for a big game, or just hanging out during the bye week. Twitter has put fans closer to the game in ways that just weren’t available in the past.

So, as the playoffs approach, you can bet that fans will have Twitter close by.

January 5, 2011
Half Price Books Begins Selling Online

Half Price Books said today it has launched HPB.com, which features its new online web store, HPB Marketplace.

Through a partnership with Monsoon Commerce Solutions, a company that powers websites for online retailers, Half Price Books has begun selling books, music and media online. The company says its website will give users access to more than 120 million book, movie and, music titles sold through Half Price Books and other independent sellers. Previously the company offered its inventory via third- party sellers such as Amazon and Half.com.

“Half Price Books is pleased to offer an online shopping option to our customers, both in our markets and around the world,” said Kathy Doyle Thomas, executive vice president of Half Price Books.

“HPB.com will allow our customers to track down a specific book they may not find in our brick and mortar locations.”

HPB.com also includes social media elements like the company’s latest tweets on the homepage, the ability to “like” a specific retail location on Facebook, and check in on Foursquare. Users can find one of Half Price Books’ 110 locations with a zip code locator on each page, which includes exterior and interior pictures of each store.

January 5, 2011