Stephen Colbert, the swiss army knife of late night political satire, has joined Reddit’s Gift Exchange for the troops. The program is part of ‘redditgifts’, a popular subreddit where users sign up to give one another gifts. It’s especially popular during Christmas time each year.
Who are the big players in social shopping? How about social referral? Which companies are involved in external facing social business software vs. internal facing social business software? A new infographic from Buddy Media helps light the way, and also reveals just how large the social networking landscape has become. Far from the days of just a few social networks, we live in a world where everyone is relating to social in some way, so a handy visual map is useful to keep track of everything.
Do records spin the other way in Australia? Spotify may have the answer now that the streaming music service has launched in Australia and New Zealand. “We’re unbelievably excited to be here,” said co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek in a fake Australian accent. “Australians are massive music fans and we’ve created a service that we know they’ll love.”
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Webby Awards: Steve Jobs Gets Honored, Full List of Winners (CBS News/techtalk)
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was honored Monday with a Webby award for Lifetime Achievement for his work with the Bloomberg media corporation. The award was presented by Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp, who reminded the audience that if it wasn’t for Bloomberg’s contribution to financial technology, we wouldn’t have found out the cost of Facebook stock shares until Monday. CNET Nearly a dozen celebrities, politicians and tech luminaries paid tribute to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at The Webby Awards show. A video featuring president Barack Obama, former president Bill Clinton and others expressing admiration for Jobs, who died last October, was shown to attendees and streamed over the Web. The Verge Actor Richard Dreyfuss gave a strange and oftentimes discursive speech that began with a jab at Facebook and Google. “If you’re going to take our privacy away from us, why don’t you tell us something private about yourselves,” Dreyfus said to an awkwardly hushed reception. “And if you’re going to change our world, why don’t you pay for it, because it’s theft.” USA Today Instagram won Webby Breakout of the Year, Pinterest took home a social media award, and Facebook scored the People Special Achievement for Social Change honor. In addition, Skype won for Best Social Mobile & Apps. For the complete list of winners, visit WebbyAwards.com Read more
Etsy sellers will do anything to escape extra fees. Some write personal notes like “don’t put this in your cart, it’s on hold for a bride,” while others list a lone bowl in what should be a set of six. Many will even encourage their frustrated shoppers to write in and ask if there are “more in the back.” That’s why Etsy has created a new fee structure that doesn’t punish sellers for unsold inventory.
“I’ve definitely been hard on digital advertising,” admitted David Karp. In a fireside chat at the TechCruch Disrupt in New York City on Monday, the founder and CEO of the micro-blogging site Tumblr lamented that “the state of digital advertising is uninspiring.” His solution? “Telling stories that resonate with people to create customers,” he said.
Love it or hate it, or well, ignore it, but Google+ seems to be an important part of Google’s strategy to connect with the web. The service has caught some traction with its Hangouts feature, but other than that there seems to be a few reports that attempt to explain that Google+ is as sparsely attended as a hockey game in Texas. That doesn’t mean the service isn’t offering some compelling features, and the folks at Infographiclabs have put together a list of 20 reasons why you should switch to the emerging social network.
Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit is headed to San Francisco in five short weeks on June 26, 2012!
With the continued rise of the iPhone, iPad, and Android, 2012 will be a defining year for the world of smartphone and tablet games. What does this mean for the mobile and gaming industries? Where is the future of gaming headed on established and emerging smartphone and tablet platforms? No matter the size or scope of your current game efforts, at Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit you’ll learn successful game design tactics and monetization strategies from industry leaders who will share their collective wisdom on what’s working today and where the future of gaming is heading next.
China’s Tencent, one of the top social networking companies in China, has announced that after a period of increased spending, they will now restructure their business into a more efficient configuration to grow beyond its core business. Tencent is best known for Tencent QQ, an instant messenger not dissimilar to Microsoft’s Live Messenger service, but with enhanced web and mobile capabilities. The new restructure will help the company’s smaller teams gain enough independence to grow faster.
Hulu, the web video site that delivers quality network and cable television shows to web viewers, has announced their slate of new programming called the “Summer Series”. This is the dawn of a new era similar to the dawn of cable networks. Instead of just replaying the network programs, web video providers will now be creating their own series, and if they get even just one hit, users will have a whole new source of programming, thereby cleaving the market.
