From a Twitter TV deal to a new Google programming language, it’s been a surprising week on the web.Here’s our pick of the top 5 stories this week, from the serious to the bizarre.1. From Twitter to TV: Sh*t My Dad Says Gets CBS Deal– A Twitter account got a TV deal…has the social media and mainstream media fusion gone too far?2. Google’s Plan to Make the Web Twice as Fast– The web is about to get SPDY, writes Barb Dybwad.3. GO: Google Launches Its Own Programming Language– Google launched a new programming language this week: Ben Parr explains.4. 7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn– LinkedIn is the leading business network online. Sharlyn Lauby shows us how to make the most of it. 5. 500 Leading Nominees in Mashable’s #openwebawards– The Open Web Awards nominations are drawing to a close. Here’s a peek at the people and sites leading the field.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AndrewJohnsonReviews: Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, iStockphoto

  Web-based doctor appointment-setting service ZocDochas noticed an amazing increase of 6250% in Swine Flu-related appointments over flu-related appointments last year (the numbers have been normalized against time for the increased volume). There has been an almost 14x increase in swine flu activity since September. Because of the massively increased demand, ZocDoc recently added “Swine Flu Shot” as a reason for the visit that patients can specify when searching for a doctor.“We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of flu-related appointments. Same-day flu appointments have increased by 15x since this time last year. Similarly, last year people made flu-related appointments an average of 4 days in advance. Now it is 48 hours on average, and trending downwards,” said Oliver Kharraz MD, ZocDoc’s Chief Medical Officer.H1N1-Related Appointments SpikeZocDoc’s data comes from the cities in which the company is active (New York and Washington, DC), where they have about 10% of the market. That’s not a lot, but enough to be statistically significant, and with influenza now widespread in 47 of 50 statesin the US, ZocDoc’s data can potentially be taken as an analogue for nation-wide activity. Further, the Centers for Disease Control is reporting a similar increase across the US in doctor reports of influenza like illness.One of the reasons swine flu has stayed top of mind in the collective conscious of the public is social media. In April we were seeing over 10,000 tweets per hourabout swine flu, and while that number has dropped, we are still consistently seeing up to 800 tweets per hour, according to Trendrr graphs, during peak times (note: tweets for “H1N1″ are at approximately the same levels). Swine flu has clearly become a part of the regular daily conversation. Certainly in part because of social media sites likes Twitter and Facebook, swine flu has continued to stay top of mind among the public, and that could be a factor in driving increased demand for H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine shots.The Need for Real-Time Health DataThe most difficult part of supporting the demand, said ZocDoc, has not been adding the technical infrastructure — that part was as trivial as adding an item to a couple of drop down menus in the patient and doctor user interfaces. The real challenge has been constantly staying in contact with doctors to make sure that those indicating that they have H1N1 or seasonal flu vaccines actually do have them in stock. ZocDoc told us they have been very proactive about keeping their information as reliable as possible.“This all underscores the need for systems that introduce new efficiencies to our healthcare system,” said Kharraz. The experience dealing with the swine flu vaccine has been atypical for the company, which rarely has to deal with issues like scarcity and supply and demand that change the availability of a procedure daily. However, it does point to a possible need for real-time capabilities in online healthcare systems.Real-time could be beneficial not only for patients, but also for doctors and researchers. When ZocDoc asked doctors when they expected to get more shipments of H1N1 vaccine, about half said not until early 2010. Real-time information about patients, doctors, and medications could help keep everyone more informed and keep supply ahead of demand. And that could have a profound impact on the practice medicine, especially during special cases such as a pandemic disease.See also: HOW TO: Track Swine Flu Onlineand Google Helps You Find a Flu ShotReviews: Facebook, TwitterTags: flu shot, graph, swine flu, trends, zocdoc

  This postoriginally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.There are 25 billion videoswatched each month in the US alone. That’s billion, with a “B.” So it should be no surprise that web video offers an important opportunity for small businesses to connect with a wider audience. For small business owners, online video represents a chance to reach thousands or potentially millions of people using a relatively simple and inexpensive format. All it takes is a video camera and a little time, and your message could very quickly be spread to a large number of new customers.As with anything, it pays to look at those who have come before and learn from what they’ve done. Here are five successful uses of web video for business and the key point that you can take away from each1. Mattress Dominoes World Record AttemptBenson’s for Beds, comes the “Mattress Dominoes World Record Attempt” video, which has racked up around 700,000 views. In the video, which is a lengthy single shot with no cuts, Benson’s employees form a human-and-mattress dominoes chain that extends throughout their entire warehouse. The video is playful, has a humorous ending, and makes Benson’s for Beds seem like a great place to work — just the kind of place you’d feel good about spending money with as a consumer.The “Mattress Dominoes” video certainly took some planning and I wouldn’t be surprised if it took a few tries to get it right, but what’s great about it is that Benson’s created their viral video by using materials that were native to them. They didn’t set out to try doing anything fancy; they made a statement using the products they work with every day in their warehouse.Lesson: Get creative with what you have.2. Giant Stuffed SnakeThe “Giant Stuffed Snake” video is, quite literally, a hand held video of a very large, 18-foot long, plush stuffed snake sitting on top of a Dodge Neon, while the cameraman talks about the snake and asks a man (presumably the owner of the car) to demonstrate just how large this stuffed animal really is. The video is the work of over-sized stuffed animal retailer BigPlush.comand it has received over 225,000 views. Why has it done so well? That’s hard to tell — viral video is an inexact science — but it probably has something to do with the sheer absurdity of the size of the snake and the way the camera man anthropomorphizes it by expecting it to reply when he says hello. The video literally only took a few minutes to make and cost virtually nothing, proving that you don’t have to spend a lot to make a splash with viral video.Lesson: Viral video doesn’t have to cost a lot.3. Fit Yummy MummyHolly Rigsby sells a workout routine ebook and DVD set targeted to new moms wanting to burn their baby fat called Fit Yummy Mummy. One of the key ways she promotes her routine is via a YouTube channel, on which she uploads short exercise demonstration videos, as well as other quick videos with tips for busy moms. Though none of Rigsby’s videos have gone broadly viral (she has a number with 10 to 20,000 views, however), she has very smartly targeted her core audience, which is people seeking workout advice. Her low-budget, short video clips show off her expertise and give potential customers a look at what her paid products will be like.Because navigation on YouTube is largely search based, her videos will be found by those seeking workout advice, and specifically by her target audience of moms. Each video serves as a product demo that points people toward her more detailed, paid products.Lesson: Know your audience.4. Will it Blend?Small home appliance maker Blendtec’sfirst “Will it Blend” video featured a man in a lab coat turning a handful of glass marbles into dust using one of the company’s home blenders. That video has received over 3.8 million views since it was put online in 2006. Since, the company has created over 90 “Will it Blend?” videos, and served up tens of millions of views. Their most popular video, the iPhone, has well over 7 million plays on YouTube, and Blendtec even launched a Will It Blend?web site, turning the viral clips into a regular video blog.The videos have certainly gotten a little more flashy since they debuted 3 years ago, but the idea is essentially still the same simple formula: blender + common object (that you wouldn’t normally put in a blender) = viral video hit. Why have these videos worked so well and had so much staying power? In no small part, it is because Blendtec has clearly had a lot of fun with their products. Stodgy sales pitches don’t work on the web, but goofy, wacky, and unexpected almost always does. Blendtec’s videos cleverly show off their unique selling point — how powerful their blenders are — in an entertaining and unanticipated way.Lesson: Have fun with your product.5. Penny PranksThough the “Penny Pranks” series of videos was actually created by a large chain store (Office Max) and not by a small business, there is still a lesson to be learned from their successful viral campaign. The series of hidden camera videos follows the trials and tribulations of a man trying to pay for goods and services with a bag full of pennies. Predictably, most business owners are not amused, and each video ends with a come-on for a penny sale at Office Max.The videos, many of which have racked up several hundred thousand views, work because they use humor to push a simple idea: that Office Max is unique in actually wanting your small change. That’s a lesson that can be replicated by any business. Figure out what you do that sets you apart from your competitors, and exploit that notion with simple humor.Lesson: Highlight what makes you unique.More business resources from Mashable:- 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses- 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business- HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for BusinessImage courtesy of iStockphoto, LefthomeReviews: YouTube, iStockphotoTags: List, Lists, small business, youtube

  On Tuesday, we wrote about the return of Elf Yourself. OfficeMax has been sponsoring Elf Yourselffor the last four years and its an early example of successful, web-based viral campaigns.OfficeMax decided to get really meta with the Elf Yourself campaign by creating a flashmob in New York City. On November 3 in Union Square, OfficeMax hired several hundred performers to assemble — dressed in elfin gear — and do synchronized choreography for a crowd of delighted and confused passerbys.Consider this Elf Yourself IRL (in real life):What do you think of creating a viral campaign for a viral campaign? Is it meta-overload or does the existence of real-life Elf Yourself flash mob bring you holiday cheer? Let us know!Tags: elf yourself, flashmob, viral campaigns

  The Google Wave invite rollout extravaganza started more than a month ago. While in some respects the buzz around Google Wave has started to subside, the term is still constantly one of the top trending topics on Twitter, and new gadgets, extensions, and applications are now starting to appear on a daily basis.Each day more and more people are opening up their email inbox to find an invite to Google Wave. With that shiny new invite comes the inevitable quest for ideas about to how to put the medium to good use.Should you happen to be one of those people, we’ve got a number of different resources that you can use to get up to speed with Google Wave. This time around, however, we wanted to look at how people are actually using it now. From process modelling and customer service, to project collaboration, annotation, and gaming, the examples listed here highlight the power of the newborn medium, and in part, showcase what we can expect as the platform matures.1. SAP Gravity: Modeling within Google WaveUnderstanding the power of real-time collaboration and its relevance to clients, SAP Research in Australia has developed a business process modeling toolcalled Gravity that works within Google Wave.The sophisticated tool, which can be embedded within a Wave as a gadget, allows for team members to remotely build complex models in unison, or after catching up via playback, without having to leave Google Wave.Gravity and Google Wave work together harmoniously to create a modeling environment that appears to be just as robust as, if not more flexible than, expensive desktop software built for the same purpose.We think SAP is certainly on to something here, and we encourage you to watch the video demonstration of Gravity in Google Wave in action.2. Salesforce: Google Wave for Customer ServiceSalesforce, like SAP, has figured out that they can use the Google Wave platform to support client needsand tackle real-life problems. As such, Salesforce has created a Google Wave extension that clients can use to help automate, and even personalize, the customer service experience.Watch the demonstration video to see how the Salesforce extension gives customers the ability to use Google Wave to interact with an automated support robot. Of course, customers can request assistance from a human within the Wave as well.What makes this example stand out is the fact that not only is the Google Wave dialogue being stored as a case record within Salesforce, but, because the robot is connected to the Salesforce Service Cloud, the robot can access previously stored customer data for tailored service. Ultimately, Salesforce has found a way to potentially save clients money on customer service efforts, all the while maintaining active records, with the assistance of Google Wave.3. Mingle: Integrated Project CollaborationMingle is a project management and team collaboration tool developed by ThoughtWorks Studios, who realized that they could add Mingle’s project management metadata to conversations in Google Wave.The integration is still a work in progress, but a demonstration of the conceptwas highlighted at Enterprise 2.0, and the basic idea is to give Google Wave users/Mingle clients the ability to bring their Mingle task data, which takes the form of cards, into Google Wave. Existing Mingle cards can be embedded into Wave conversation threads, and new Mingle cards/tasks can be created within Google Wave.This particular use case highlights how Google Wave can work with existing project management systems for more streamlined and cohesive communication, creating parity regardless of where the user is accessing project data.4. Ecomm Conference: Annotating a Live EventJust last week our CEO, Pete Cashmore, wrote about how the savvy people behind the Ecomm conference doled out Wave accounts to attendees so that they could collaborate, in real-time, to annotate presentation content. The result was arguably a much better way to consume conference contentthan attempting to follow hashtag tweets on Twitter.You can read the full account, which was documentedby Charlie Osmond, on the FreshNetworks blog, but here’s an excerpt that we think drives home the utility of the use case.“Here’s what happened: an audience member would create a Google Wave and others in the audience would edit the wave during the presentation. The result would be a crowd-sourced write-up of the presentation: a transcript of key points and a record of audience comments.”We happen to think this particular use case is genius, especially for content-rich seminars and events where attendees are typically taking their own individual notes. With the shared Google Wave experience they can combine forces to create a more meaningful and accurate recounting of information shared in conference sessions.5. Gamers: Google Wave RPGsA very detailed Ars Technicapost highlights that there’s a growing collection of Google Wave users who are using the medium to play wave-borne RPGs (role playing games). As mentioned in the post, there’s a even a Wave dedicated to serving as an index for all the Wave RPGscurrently in existence, and the last time we counted it included upwards of 300 contributing members, and a combination of 30 different ideas or full-fledged games.According to Jon Stokes, the author of the post, Google Wave is adequate for some RPGs, but it could certainly be improved to allow for a more enjoyable experience. In the excerpt below, Stokes describes the current RPG experience within Google Wave:“The few games I’m following typically have at least three waves: one for recruiting and general discussion, another for out-of-character interactions (”table talk”), and the main wave where the actual in-character gaming takes place. Individual players are also encouraged to start waves between themselves for any conversations that the GM shouldn’t be privy to. Character sheets can be posted in a private wave between a player and the GM, and character biographies can go anywhere where the other players can get access to them.The waves are persistent, accessible to anyone who’s added to them, and include the ability to track changes, so they ultimately work quite well as a medium for the non-tactical parts of an RPG. A newcomer can jump right in and get up-to-speed on past interactions, and a GM or industrious player can constantly maintain the official record of play by going back and fixing errors, formatting text, adding and deleting material, and reorganizing posts. Character generation seems to work quite well in Wave, since players can develop the shared character sheet at their own pace with periodic feedback from the GM.”Image from watch4uon FlickrReviews: Australia, Flickr, Google Wave, RPG, TwitterTags: Google Wave, mingle, rpg, Salesforce, SAP

  UPDATE (noon PT): Facebook has now rectified this issue.-Mashable reader Ben Kerin has noticed an odd change on Facebook that began last night: those importing their Twitter feeds into the service no longer see their links as clickable.In short: if you’re posting web links (Bit.ly, TinyURL) to your Twitter feed and using the Twitter Facebook app to share those updates on Facebook too, none of those links are hyperlinked. Your friends will need to copy and paste the links into a browser to make them work.If this is a design decision on Facebook’s part, it’s an extremely odd one: we’d like to think it’s an inconvenient bug, and we have a mail in to Facebook to check. Suffice to say, the issue is site-wide: it’s not just you.Are you having issues with links in Facebook status updates? Let us know in the comments.Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, TwitterTags: facebook, twitter

  Google’s been on a homepage logo changing spree: they’ve celebrated H.G. Wells, the bar code, Confucious, Gandhi, and Sesame Streetover the last few months alone.If you check Google.comnow though, you’ll see that the search giant is celebrating something different: the discovery of water on the moon! NASA made the stunning announcement earlier today after its moon bombing mission successfully revealed water under the lunar surface. And now the Google logo depicts the bombing revealing water.When you think about it, Google had a quick turnaround time for this logo. As fellow space enthusiasts, our hats go off to NASA and the men and women behind the successful mission. Hopefully this is only the beginning of something even bigger than ourselves.Reviews: GoogleTags: Google, google logo, moon, space, water

  Update: Twitter seems to have fixed the issue. If your pages are still having the issue, make sure to refresh and/or clear your cache. You may still see broken pages for a while.-If you’re taking a look at Twitter.com right now, you’re going to see some very messed up web pages. Images gone, design layouts borked, text overlapping, and missing fonts are just the start. Now thousands of Twitter users are complaining or completely confused.From our perspective, it looks as if the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) of Twitter.com is broken in some way (or the servers aren’t loading them). We’ll figure it out and update you when Twitter is fixed and why this massive error occurred in the first place. In the meantime, here’s a screenshot of you’ll find on Twitter profile pages if you haven’t visited already:Reviews: TwitterTags: twitter

  Since its inception in 1990, Microsoft Office has quickly been the dominant force in office applications and document building. Need to build a presentation? There’s PowerPoint. Looking to create complex spreadsheets? Excel is still the gold standard. And with the power of Windows to help push the desktop software, its presence only grew.Over the last few years though, the web has begun to change this dynamic. Collaboration has become more important in business. At the same time, web applications have become more and more able to match the power and features of their desktop counterparts. In the document space, Google Docshas carried the banner for web-based document building.Now Google claims that Docs will be a viable alternativeto Office by next year. At the same time, Office 2010 boasts web-based versionsof its popular software. With the two giants locked in battle, we wanted to get your take on things. We asked you to vote on which doc-building tool you prefer……and while it may not come as a surprise, Microsoft Office came out on top. But surprisingly the match was a close fight all the way to the end. Microsoft Office only secured a slim majority of the vote, 51% or 1365 votes. Google Docs registered 37% of the tally with its 994 votes. Finally, 12% of you (315 votes) said it was a tie and both were good tools.We expected Office to win this one, but from the votes and the reader comments, it seems that the winds of change have begun to blow. Whether Office 2010’s web integration will be enough to fend off Google’s attempts to challenge Microsoft, we’ll just have to wait and see. Be sure to tune in next week for the next edition of our Web Faceoffseries! Below are the full results of the last eight weeks:Who would win in a fight: Microsoft Office or Google Docs?(poll)Web Faceoff: Overall ResultsWeek 1:- Mozilla Firefox vs. Google Chrome- WINNER: Firefox, 4600 votes (Chrome: 3310 votes, Tie: 911 votes)Week 2:- Tumblr vs. Posterous- WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 votes)Week 3:- Pandora vs. Last.fm- WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 votes)Week 4:- Twitter vs. Facebook- WINNER: Facebook, 2484 votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: 588 votes)Week 5:- WordPress vs. Typepad- WINNER: WordPress, 2714 votes (Typepad: 267 votes, Tie: 357 votes)Week 6:- Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard- WINNER: Windows 7, 3632 votes (Snow Leopard: 3278 votes, Tie: 121 votes)Week 7:- TweetDeck vs. Seesmic Desktop- WINNER: TweetDeck, 3294 votes (Seesmic Desktop: 1055 votes, Tie: 260 votes)Week 8: Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs- WINNER: Microsoft Office, 1365 votes (Google Docs: 994 votes, Tie: 315 votes)Reviews: Chrome, Facebook, Firefox, Google, Google Chrome, Google Docs, Mozilla Firefox, Pandora, Posterous, Seesmic Desktop, Tumblr, TweetDeck, Twitter, TypePad, WordPressTags: Google, google docs, microsoft, microsoft office, poll, web faceoff

  Want to bail out of your Verizon service for a shiny new iPhone, or head to another carrier before your contract ends? There’s an early termination fee for that. And starting next week, that fee is going to doubleif you’ve bought a smartphone or other mobile the carrier considers an “advanced device” high-end enough to warrant a steep $350 penalty for ditching.Currently the ETF starts at $175 and is pro-rated by $5 each month you’re in your contract. If you pick up a BlackBerry or Android phone (like the new Droid) after November 15, though, you’ll be in for a $350 starting fee that drops by $10 a month. That means even if you cancel your contract in the very last month of service you’d owe Verizon a $110 chunk of change.To explain how we could possibly have even gotten here requires a bit of backstory. When you buy a phone on a carrier in the U.S. (and in many other countries around the world), you typically get a discounted price on the phone in exchange for signing a 1- or 2-year service contract with that carrier. The cell companies are willing to subsidize the actual street cost of a phone because of the guarantee that they’ll make it back as well as a tidy profit off of your cell service over the life of the contract.Thus the argument goes that because smartphones are even more expensive in actual cost value than that basic, no-frills flip phone you can get cheap or even free, the carrier needs more “insurance” should you decide to duck out early. However, consumers and even some legislators are none too happy with the news, including a Minnesota Senatorwho seeks to block the deal. Others like David Pogue in his NYTimes editorialtie Verizon’s announcement to other shady revenue tactics and the carrier’s overall reputation of aggressive pricing and steep additional fees.What do you think: is Verizon over-reaching its bounds? Do we already pay enough in extra data costs for these “advanced devices” to offset the subsidy, or is the company justified in trying to cover its costs?Reviews: AndroidTags: ETF, Mobile 2.0, smartphones, verizon

  Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers!Advertise with us and get noticed.Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers, and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition to thank you as our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact usfor more information and to receive our media kit and rate card.This week, our valued sponsors are Leapfish, Web 2.0 Expo New York, nimbb, Streaming Media West, MOTOBLUR, Conduit, Clickatell, Influxis, EdgeCast, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, Sun Startup Essentials, and Eventbrite.LeapFishis an evolved search engine that provides a single, connected, multimedia experience for both searching and sharing traditional, social and real-time content making the new web easier to navigate, more integrated and ultimately more efficient.Web 2.0 Expo New Yorkbrings together the designers, developers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketing professionals, product managers, and business strategists – from start-ups to enterprises – that are building the next-generation web. Along with a dynamic Expo Hall and plenty of networking opportunities, ten main topic areas discussing a spectrum of Web 2.0 topics from business strategy to web design, user experience, developer hacks, community building, security, mobile, web ops, user-generated content, and more. Register today and save 25% (code: webny09bd5) or get a free Expo Pass (code: webny09bde) at web2expo.com/ny.Nimbbis the easiest way to add video recording to your Web projects. Using our Nimbb Player and API, any developer can integrate webcam video recording in their site easily. Our Flash player can be embedded using a few HTML lines and we host everything on our server. Developers can create a free account and our subscription prices start at only $9 per month. Our company is located in Montreal. We created Nimbb to answer our own needs to have a video recording widget that we could use in many projects to lower our development cost. 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  Jessica Faye Carteris an award-winning author and columnist. Her company, Nette Mediadevelops social media technologies for women and multicultural communities, and she blogs at Technicultr.The expression of community has changed considerably since the emergence of social media technologies, but its basic foundation — the notion of individuals exchanging information, ideas, and opinions — remains firmly intact. Today, one of the most widely-used tools in developing these types of exchanges online is WordPress, the popular blogging and publishing platform. Part of its appeal is the ease with which users can build advanced functionality into their sites with plugins. If you’re interested in building a community around your site, there are plenty of third-party add-ons that can help create one.These 10 WordPress plugins add features that will help you to engage your user base.Highlight Your Best Content1. Featured Content Gallery– If you’re not an expert in programming or design, Featured Content Gallery makes it easy to highlight images, posts, or pages anywhere on your site. It comes with a sleek and contemporary design that is fully customizable through the WordPress dashboard, so that you can integrate your highlighted content seamlessly with the rest of your site.2. Popularity Contest– Your users will want to know what’s popular and interesting to their peers in the community and the Popularity Contest Plugin can help. It keeps track of the most popular posts and pages on your site and acts as a leaderboard that directs users to the most active content in your community. You can customize the point values assigned to user actions on the site, such as comments or views, and display the results easily in a widgetized-sidebar.Facilitate User Engagement3. Viper’s Video Quicktags– Including video in your community is easy using Viper’s Video Quicktags. Just enter the URL of the video in the prompt box and see a preview of the video right on your screen. Then specify the dimensions and other customizations you’d like to add and see your final product before saving it into your post. Supported video sites include YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo and others.4. WPtouch– Part of keeping the community vibrant means letting your users take it with them. You can go mobile with your community using WPtouch and avoid building a mobile website or the costs of developing an iPhone application. You can control the mobile user interface by allowing the browser to automatically route users to the interface of your choosing — your site or the WPtouch interface, which looks similar to an iPhone app. You can also show or hide post excerpts and customize the icons and general appearance of your mobile site.5. Disqus Comment System– Nothing stops a potential commenter in their tracks faster than having to set up a user ID and password in order to leave a message on your site. At the same time, most of us would like some sort of authentication process we can use to identify and correspond with other users as we develop our communities. The Disqus Comment System allows users to engage with your site using their Twitter, Disqus, Facebook, OpenID or selected other accounts. This prevents users from having to set up new accounts while allowing for authentication. Bonus: the Reactions feature allows you to include the social component of user feedback into your comments.6. Customize Your Community– Customize Your Community (CYC) provides some useful options for those building communities in WordPress. It allows you to re-brand the WordPress pages for registration, logging in/out, and lost passwords, as well as the user profile pages. In addition to giving your community a standardized look and feel, CYC helps with a long-standing navigational issue in WordPress: it automatically directs “subscribers” to their profiles and bypasses the WP backend entirely.Measure on the Fly7. Clicky– While Google Analytics provides you with a long-term perspective on your site metrics, Clicky gives you instantaneous feedback. The dashboard includes traditional site metrics, but also offers cool features, like “Spy”, which pinpoints the location of current visitors on a map. It’s an easy way to get a snapshot of your site’s current activity and, in conjunction with Google Analytics, gives you a comprehensive overview of your site’s activity.Improve User Navigation8. Breadcrumb NavXT– Your users aren’t exactly Hansel and Gretel, but they still may occasionally need help navigating your site, particularly if it’s content-heavy. Breadcrumbs are usually located just below a site’s primary navigation system and look something like this:Home » Dance Music » Saint Etienne » Method of Modern LoveBreadcrumb NavXT, the successor to Breadcrumb Navigation XT, improves your site’s navigation by building this kind of virtual breadcrumb trail for your users to follow. This way, users will know where they’re located on your site. This plugin may require customization, depending on your theme; check out the Advanced Options section of the plugin’s homepagefor additional instructions.Monetize It!9. Advertising Manager– If you were previously using the Adsense Manager plugin, you’ve probably noticed that it hasn’t been updated in a while. That’s because it has been succeeded by Advertising Manager, which is recommended unless you are using WordPress version 2.5 or earlier. The renamed version supports a broader group of ad networks in addition to Google AdSense, such as Adify, AdBrite, and several others. It also imports your AdSense Manager settings, for users of the previous plugin.10. WP125– Do you prefer a more hands-on management style for your advertising? WP125 allows you to do everything from arranging the ad display so that it fits your site design to setting timelines for ads (they can be removed automatically or manually at expiration). It also provides a placeholder for empty ad space, which you can switch to your own customized version.Do you have another plugin that’s been helpful to you in building your community? Share your favorites in the comments below.More WordPress resources from Mashable:WordPress Themes: “Top 12 Stunning WordPress Themes“, “30+ WordPress 3 Column Themes,” “20 WordPress 4-Column Themes,” “30+ WordPress 1-Column Themes,” “10 Unusual & Original WordPress Themes”Plugins: “50+ WordPress Plugins for Multimedia,” “30+ WordPress Plugins for Statistics,” “30+ WordPress Plugins for Comments,” “30+ WordPress Plugins to Get More Blog Readers,” “Top 10 WordPress Plugins to Promote Your Social Media Profiles”Miscellaneous: “WordPress God: 300+ Tools for Running Your WordPress Blog,” “The 7 Weirdest and Wackiest Uses for WordPress“Reviews: Clicky, Disqus, Facebook, Google Analytics, Google Video, Twitter, Vimeo, WordPress, YouTubeTags: community, Lists, plugins, Wordpress

  Friday is a happy time for many, which makes it the perfect time for our weekly Lunchtime Poll! If you’ve participated before, you know we throw out a poll question, start off with some responses from the staff here at Mashable, and let you fine folks have at it in the comments. Last week we wanted to know about your favorite Twitter photo-sharing services, and the results are inif you want to know how they stack up for Mashable readers. This week we’re curious about your RSS habits. Some pundits have claimed that RSS is dead, but we think the news of its death may be greatly exaggerated. Do you use a news reader? If RSS is dead to you too, be sure to let us know that in the comments as well.What’s your favorite news reader?Mashable FavesAdam Ostrow: Google Reader … still makes it easy to read my favorite news sources all in one placePete Cashmore: Google Reader. Lazyfeed is getting some buzz but I haven’t gotten into the habit of using it.Sharon Feder: Google Reader — it’s a simple, reliable, and an important tool I use daily.Adam Hirsch: I used to be FeedDemon, but I’m all Google Reader for portability and speed. I set it as a separate Chrome app.Josh Catone: I’m perhaps the only person on the planet who can’t stand Google Reader. I use Vienna on Mac, and FeedDemon on Windows.Ben Parr: Google Reader, and it’s not even close.Jennifer Van Grove: Google Reader, it’s my lifeline to the outside world.Christina Warren: Fever. You have to host it yourself but it’s pure gold if you have lots of feeds.Barb Dybwad: Primarily NetNewsWire on the Mac, but I’ve been using Google Reader again a lot more for serendipity finds since they added Magic sort(it’s magic!).Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ericsphotographyReviews: Chrome, Google Reader, Mashable, iStockphotoTags: FeedDemon, fever, google reader, lunchtime poll, netnewswire, news reader, rss, vienna

  If you already use Internet Explorer but haven’t upgraded to the latest version yet, there are plenty of reasons to do so. But perhaps none is as adorable as the following endorsement from none other than the Smoky Mountain Songbird herself, Dolly Parton.In the video she promotes a new feature on her websitethat makes use of a feature only supported in IE8, web slices. And it’s unexpectedly endearing. Check out the video below.[via ReadWriteWeb]Tags: Browsers, dolly parton, IE8, internet explorer, microsoft, video