Speaking to a group of Chinese students in Shanghai, US President Barack Obama said he’d never used Twitter because he’s too clumsy to type on the phone. The question he was asked, however, was far more important than his typing skills. In China, many of the services we use everyday – Twitter, Facebook, MySpace – are either heavily censored or completely blocked. One of the Shanghai students asked Obama “Should we be able to use Twitter freely?” “Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone,” Obama replied. Fair enough, although as an avid BlackBerry user,he should be able to use Twitter without problems; we reckon lack of time is to blame rather than typing problems. He continued, however, with a short lesson on the importance of freedom of speech: “I should be honest, as president of the United States, there are times where I wish information didn’t flow so freely because then I wouldn’t have to listen to people criticizing me all the time. But because in the United States, information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear.”Speaking to an auditorium of hand-picked students, in a country that also happens to be one of the world’s biggest markets and US trading partners, Obama was probably careful to criticize the Chinese government too vehemently. But even this cautious answer was clear enough: Twitter is an important communication channel, and censoring or blocking it is wrong. We wonder when the Chinese government will realize the same. Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, TwitterTags: obama, twitter
If you ask an iPhone owner what he likes best about his device, you’ll often hear the following answer: well, it’s great for surfing, and it also has a fantastic Twitter and Facebook app…And yet, owners of Palm Pre (which is a direct competitor to the iPhone) didn’t have an (official) Facebook application – until now. The app requires webOS version 1.3.1, and will also work on the upcoming Palm Pixi, but unfortunately, the word isthat the app doesn’t really have all the latest bells and whistles; in fact, it’s very basic compared to the iPhone version. We don’t have a Pre handy, but if you do, and if you decide to try out the app, please let us know your thoughts in the comments. [Image courtesy of Engadget Mobile]Reviews: FacebookTags: facebook, palm, webOS
Evernoteis the popular note-taking service that works across any platform: desktop, web, or mobile. On Monday morning, the always evolving serviceis announcing that they’ve raised $10 million in Series B funding, which follows their Series A round of $6 million. This round included participation from prior investors, but was led by Morgenthaler Ventures.This particular announcement is quite interesting for a number of reasons. Most notably is that Evernote already has a solid business model, with premium subscribers who pay to use the service. When you also consider the fact that Evernote has been out of closed beta for just 17 months, and now has nearly two million users (up from one million earlier in the year), then it appears as if the startup is in a healthy position to keep growing.Andrew Sinkov, VP of Marketing, tells us, “All of that money is going into the product. That’s always been Evernote’s approach. Our product is our marketing, so we’re using the funds to make Evernote better, more functional, and more accessible to new users. We’re also adding new platforms, new language support, and lots of other good stuff.”If the past few months have been any indication, we can expect new releases and product enhancements from the company in the very near future.Reviews: EvernoteTags: evernote, funding
Google’s Matt Cutts hinted this past week that Google is considering using a site’s speed as part of the algorithm that ranks the order of pages in its search results. Fast sites might rank higher, while slower-loading sites might suffer. It’s a proposal that’s proving controversial.To quote from Cutts’ video interviewon WebProNews:“We’re starting to think more and more about should speed be a factor in Google’s rankings? …A lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast, it should be a good experience; and so it’s sort of fair to say if you’re a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. Or maybe if you have a really awfully slow site, users don’t want that as much.” Reasons for Ranking Fast Sites HigherI can think of plenty of good reasons why Google might pursue this strategy: a fast web is better for users, site owners, and Google itself. For instance:1. Google searches are more productive: Giving fast-loading sites a boost in the rankings improves the user experience for those coming from Google.com. You’ll know that if a site is near the top of the results, you won’t be waiting an eternity after clicking.2. User experience improvements on wider web: with site owners incentivized to improve speed to appease Google, the whole web might speed up. That’s better for users.3. More revenue for everyone: Google ads are everywhere on the web, so giving site owners an incentive to address speed issues increases pageviews, clicks and revenue for both the publishers and Google itself.Reasons Against Ranking Fast Sites HigherSome are none too pleased with the proposal, however. In particular, blogger Douglas Karris up in arms about the idea that Google would prioritize fast sites and penalize slow ones. His main argument against the move: penalizing slow sites would mean that the “little guy”, running a successful site on his GoDaddy hosting account, would be knocked out of the Google rankings by big companies that could afford “loadsharing, caching, web acceleration or cloud technologies”. There are other strong reasons against too:1. Favors big / powerful sites: As Karr notes, big companies are best able to plow resources into technical prowess. This could disrupt Google’s egalitarian basis, and the whole idea of the web as a meritocracy. 2. Greatest benefits go to Google: Who benefits most from Google.com results loading fast for the user? Who gets the most benefit when millions of sites running AdSense suddenly have a lot more inventory (users click more on faster sites)? Who saves masses of money on crawling the web if web site owners optimize their pages for speed? Which company is able to grow its stock price faster the more people get online and have a good web experience? Google, Google, Google. Publishers get an individual benefit, of course, but in aggregate the value is really greatest for Google itself. 3. The fastest site isn’t always the best result: If I’m searching for a local business, I probably want to find its website. But local businesses rarely have sites optimized for speed; the big business listings sites would almost certainly score higher on the speed metric. The same rule applies across numerous industries: speed and relevance are not related.Should Google Rank Sites Based on Speed?Admittedly, this is just a surface look at an idea Google has not officially announced. But the concept is nonetheless intriguing. What do you think: should Google include site speed in its rankings?[Image courtesy of Tecfre]Reviews: GoogleTags: Google, speed
NASA is getting even more social media savvy: the organization is sending 100 of its Twitter followers to Cape Canaveral for tomorrow’s launch of Atlantis; NASA awarded tickets to the Tweetup to the first 100 people to register on its site. The move is an attempt to drive more interest in space exploration.It’s not the first time NASA (@nasaon Twitter) has leveraged the social media messaging service. The organization technically posted the first Tweets from space this May, when user @Astro_Mikesent messages to the ground to be posted to his Twitter account by NASA staff. The addition of Jeff Williams (@Astro_jeff) and Nicole Stott (@Astro_Nicole) expanded NASA’s team of tweeting astronauts. The launch, scheduled for 2.28pm EST, is taking astronauts to the International Space Station for an 11-day mission. [via Space.com]Reviews: Twitter
Sometimes there’s an advantage to calling something “experimental”. Google Social Search, the much heralded new way to combine Google results with datafrom your social networks, went down today, we reported earlier. Now Google has responded to our inquiry, explaining that the service will be inaccessible until Monday or Tuesday. No reason has been given for the downtime. Google wrote to Mashable via email:The Google Social Search experiment is temporarily down. We are working on it and expect to restore access sometime Monday or TuesdayWhat could possibly befall the search experiment such that it takes days to get it back online?Reviews: Google, MashableTags: Google, social search
In a ruling that’s a surprise to no-one in the tech industry, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled against Psystar, a company manufacturing Mac clones. The short of it: Psystar established a business to sell Mac software on non-Apple hardware. Apple contended in a lawsuit that the Mac OS X end user license agreement (EULA) prohibits the use of the software on machines not manufactured by Apple. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup issued a summary judgment on Friday, coming out in favor of Apple. Groklawwrites of the decision:Psystar just got what’s coming to them in the California case…. It’s a total massacre. Psystar’s first-sale defense went down in flames. Apple’s motion for summary judgment on copyright infringement and DMCA violation is granted. Apple prevailed also on its motion to seal.Psystar’s motion for summary judgment on trademark infringement and trade dress is denied. So is its illusory motion for copyright misuse….Here’s what’s left to be decided at trial: Apple’s allegations of breach of contract; induced breach of contract, trademark infringement; trademark dilution; trade dress infringement; and state unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code § 17200; and common law unfair competition. Interestingly, PCWorld arguesthat while Apple certainly has the law on its side, the company could have much larger market share if only it would allow 3rd parties to run Mac OS X on their own hardware. That outlook isn’t Apple’s philosophy, of course: the company’s iron-clad grip on the entire user experience is what ensures consistency throughout.
UPDATE: Google says social search will be down until early next week. No reason has been given. See: Google: Social Search Down Till Monday or Tuesday.Google Social Search, launched in late October as an experimental way to combine your social networks with Google’s search results, has mysteriously disappeared today. When trying the service, we’re greeted with the message: “The experiment you’re trying to access is no longer available. Go to experiments overview”.Pulling the feature so soon after launch would be unusual, given that social networking is clearly a large part of search’s future development. One possibility is that Google has decided to take another approach to bringing social networks to search. A more likely explanation, given that it’s a weekend: the feature has erroneously disappeared and Google’s staff have yet to catch the issue.We’re putting an email in to Google and we’ll update when we have more information.Are you having trouble using Google Social Search? Let us know in the comments.Reviews: GoogleTags: Google, social search
J.R. Johnson is founder and CEO of Lunch.com, a user generated content platform focused on finding common ground, and host of the Lunch for Goodevent series.There’s been a rising interest in the concept of “social media for social good.” In large part, that discussion has been focused on cause-related social good. I have a different take, related more to the greater good of humanity as a whole. To my view, the Internet, specifically social media, has the potential – and responsibility – to make the world more thoughtful and tolerant by showing people their shared common ground.The Web’s World Changing PotentialAt 15 years old, I entered an essay contest where the first prize was a trip to Moscow. The subject: how to create world peace. I wrote about a board game that would pose questions about different cultures. The more you played, the more you learned about other cultures, and the less likely you’d be to want to nuke them. Voila! World peace. I ended up getting second place and a $50 savings bond. More than 20 years later, I’ve still never been to Moscow, but I haven’t given up on the belief that people around the world are fundamentally the same and share many of the same values.Meanwhile, I’ve seen the advent of the Internet, and more recently, participated in the explosion of social media. What I’ve yet to see is for the Internet to fulfill its true potential to connect people by focusing on our common ground in the interest of growing our mutual understanding of each other. It’s certainly off to a great start – but we’ve barely scratched the surface.Uncovering Common GroundUtilizing commonalities has been a staple of many of the most successful online companies to date. Large e-commerce brands like Amazon and Netflix rely on the common ground among shoppers to make product recommendations. Facebook’s social graph is built entirely around areas of commonality, namely schools, work and offline friendships. Going even further back, we’ve seen discussion groups formed online around specific topics, originally through Usenet, and now across many sites. In each of these examples there are threads of common ground that link people together, providing a significant value and benefit to the website as well as their members. However, I believe that the benefits of discovering our common ground can extend far beyond a good product recommendation or reconnecting with high school friends. We are sharing unprecedented amounts of personal perspective through the online platforms mentioned above, as well as on blogs and user generated content sites like Twitter, Wikipedia, and YouTube. This increased sharing, combined with the technological transparency and connectivity that the Internet provides, is exposing our points of common ground more than ever before. The stage is set for a positive change in the way we view “us” and “them.” The more we understand our common ground, the more likely we are to understand each other’s differences. The Common Ground ParadoxYet, a common ground paradox exists. Often, when we gather around a common interest or passion, it creates a self-reinforcing silo, resulting in resentment or hatred toward anyone with opposing viewpoints. Finding common ground within one group often blocks our ability to find it outside of that group. It’s a natural human reaction and we all do it.If I’m passionately in favor of public option healthcare, for example, and encounter someone strongly opposed to it, I feel alienated from them simply because of their take on that issue. If all we know about someone is that they disagree with us on something we care about, it’s almost impossible not to transfer our feelings about that issue onto the person. With zero common ground, it’s easy to hate them, or at a minimum dismiss them, which can be equally divisive. Once the “us” and “them” mentality sets in, we are unable to hear what they’re saying or understand the point they’re trying to convey. Creating ConnectionsBut today, we now have the ability to reduce that innate animosity through common ground discovery. Even if the only things we share are as trivial as loving Cherry Coke or Seinfeld, that’s a start. That trivial little something has the potential to change the way we see the person with whom we disagree. They’re no longer an image of what we hate or don’t understand, but someone with whom we’re similar in some small way. We will become more tolerant, understanding, and thoughtful when interacting with them. Does that mean, we ultimately agree with them? Of course not, but we will be able to hear them. At that point, we can learn something from someone we’d previously perceived as completely different.In order to experience the benefits of this scenario, we need to take full advantage of the current landscape and put common ground at the forefront of our online interactions. It’s going to take more than good intentions though. We need the right set of tools and online platforms to make it a reality. It’s unlikely that we’ll all start analyzing the Twitter streams or Facebook Fan Pages of everyone we come across to learn that we share a love of Cherry Coke and Seinfeld before passing judgment about each other. As a Web entrepreneur, I’m tasking myself as well as my colleagues in the industry, to foster these types of connections through innovation.Overall, this will be a subtle change to each individual interaction, but when multiplied by the millions of connections taking place online daily, the impact will be monumental. Imagine millions of people understanding their common ground with every other person in the world. Over time, this will change the way we look at different races, religions and nationalities, and shift the natural first impression that we are all different to a new first impression – that we are all somehow similar.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AndrewJohnson, enot-poloskun, urbancowReviews: Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, iStockphotoTags: changing the world, editorial, social good, social media, trending
Nominations for the The Open Web Awards: Social Media Edition, our annual contest highlighting the very best the web has to offer, close at midnight EST tonight. We’ve had 408,767 nominations made for 76,431 individuals, companies, websites and applications. If you haven’t nominated yet – and you can nominate once per category per day – now’s the time to do so. Nominations close tonight, November 15th, after which we move to the final vote.A few high-level stats:- 400,000+ nominations made- 70,000+ nominees- Most categories have less than 100 votes separating the 1st- and 2nd-placed nomineeNominate in the Open Web Awards 2009>>Thanks to our Partner: MOTOBLURMOTOBLURfrom Motorola was built expressly for the way people communicate today. It’s the only service that automatically delivers and organizes your conversations, contacts and content from all your favorite sites and sources in easy-to-manage streams. Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text messages, Gmail or work e-mail, MOTOBLUR keeps track of it all and serves it up on a customizable home screen and integrates it through the phone. Plus, with MOTOBLUR you have peace of mind, because all of your info is backed up and secure. Discover MOTOBLUR on Motorola CLIQ available at T-Mobile. It’s time to spend less time managing life and more time living it.Reviews: Facebook, Gmail, MySpace, TwitterTags: openwebawards, trending
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 swineflu, 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
