"Brain Hacking" - Another Unintended Consequence of Technology http://t.co/EOoZ1roK via @sharethis
Twitter Reaches Over $1 Billion In Total Funding
Twitter has recently completed a second round of venture capitalist funding. Rumored at $800 million, this puts the total estimated funding at $1.15 billion dollars. The company is looking to continue adding employees and seek out new demographics. As one of the largest players in the social media market, Twitter has yet to have a revenue source other than venture capital. The site maintains an ad-free format and does not have a tiered user structure, two of the most common ways to profit off of an interactive website.Twitter has seen enormous growth over the last year. With an increasing number of applications that utilize Twitter, this social site is beginning to play an integral part in many applications and environments. Twitter has surpassed the one million mark in terms of applications utilizing its social network. Now that it has spawned derivative companies and spin-offs, Twitter may need to begin looking at a viable system of sustainable revenue.
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Rumblefish Now Helping Developers Add Licensed Music
In an increasingly litigious world, many content producers have to be extremely careful not to violate any copyrights held on third-party media they wish to include in videos and blog posts. Nowhere is this more true than in the field of music. Torrent sites being shut down left and right show that the MPAA is somewhat clueless when it comes to addressing the issue of file sharing and copyright infringement. There are many users who would gladly pay digital rights holders a licensing fee to use their work, if only there were a relatively inexpensive and convenient way to do so.Fortunately, a licensing company by the name of Rumblefish has stepped in to fill the void with a creative solution. Last week, they opened up their API to independent developers so that anyone with the will and know-how can create applications that allow music embedding and licensing for everyday bloggers and end-users. It's free to apply for a partnership, and developers can even get a cut of the revenue their applications generate from licensing fees. While Rumblefish already has deals with services like HighlightCam and Clipik, releasing their API will only increase the options for using music legally in Youtube and Vimeo videos at an affordable rate.
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Google+ Allowing Users To Get More Features And Apps
Everyone knows how great Google has been for personal and business use. Google+ users are getting a lot more than just the advantage of using the Google website. Listed below are some of the great features of Google+.
Circles:
Circles are groups of contacts that can be organized by friends, family, college buddies, roommates, business colleagues and acquaintances, etc. You can drag and drop your contacts into groups, which makes it really simple to share whatever you want with your contacts.
Sparks:
Sparks is similar to Google Reader, but it delivers content to you automatically based on your personal interests. Each topic in Sparks has its own page and has links to articles, photos, videos, and more that are related to your interests. Sparks can be very helpful in helping you accomplish tasks that you use on the job daily.Add a comment Add a comment
A Misstep For Google+?
As Google continues to find its footing in the social networking game with the newly released Google+, they may have hit their first major road bump. In a story broken by ZDNet, “a striking number of Google+ accounts” were deleted over the weekend for violating the Google+ common name policy. The common name policy states that users must provide their legal name on Google+. Unlike Facebook which allows users to utilize any name from John Smith to Galaxor, Google+ aims to promote social connections through open identification.
Google+ users found themselves banned without warning for violating this policy. An ex-google employee was flagged for including a nickname within his given name. Google+ asked for a scanned government ID before they would release his account. Limor Fried, owner of Adafruit Industries, was temporarily banned for including her pseudonym. Even actor William Shatner found his account flagged, announcing on Twitter that since he wasn’t allowed to say hello on Google+ perhaps he should say good-bye.
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Social Media In The Government
Even politicians who don't know what Twitter is have a presence online, though their staff members might take care of updating Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts for them. The reality is that government officials around the world are increasingly turning to social media to connect to constituents and sell messages to the masses, though the strategy's efficiency is certainly debatable.New Avenues of Information
There are plenty of social media outlets for politicians to use, but the two most popular choices by far are Twitter and Facebook. Twitters allows senators, representatives, and even the President to update constituents practically in real time. Twitter's importance is recognized to the point that a Twitter Q&A session was recently conducted with President Obama.
Facebook is used more like traditional government websites. Updated less regularly, Facebook accounts feature press releases and bigger pieces of news. Politicians on Facebook also often screen content and feedback to align with their own views.
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