“I can’t believe we managed to keep it a secret!” Mercury President and CEO Chris Balfe told The Business Insider. The shopping site went live earlier this week with savings offers from longtime ad partner LifeLock.com as well as Chocolate.com.
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Former Huffington Post CEO and CBSNews.com General Manager Betsy Morgan has been named president of Glenn Beck‘s Web venture, The Blaze.
Morgan, who spent 10 years at CBS News before jumping to HuffPo, departing there in June of 2009, will now be tasked with growing the news and information site geared toward Beck’s radio and TV community. Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s company, also announced tonight that former Premiere Radio Networks President Kraig Kitchin will join The Blaze as director of sales. Scott Baker, who joined The Blaze from Breitbart.tv as Managing Editor, has been promoted to Editor-in-Chief.
“The Blaze is very fortunate to welcome Betsy and Kraig to the team,” said Beck in a statement. “Betsy has proven herself to be a successful media executive and leader in the digital media space, and her unique perspective and experiences will be valuable in building The Blaze as a vibrant, impactful community.”
The Blaze is a curated mix of stories from politics, to news of the day, to offbeat stories and media criticism, from a conservative point of view. The site, launched in August, boasts about 3 million unique visitors a month.
Press release after the jump…
‘Tis the season for year-end lists, so Experian Hitwise chimed in with some of its own, revealing its 10 most searched terms for 2010, as well as most visited Web sites, and top searches from various categories.
The top 10 most searched terms of 2010:
facebook login
youtube
craigslist
myspace
facebook.com
ebay
yahoo
www.facebook.com
mapquest
The same list for 2009:
myspace
craigslist
youtube
yahoo mail
yahoo
ebay
facebook login
myspace.com
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has more important things to worry about, like trying to secure his release on bail from prison in Sweden. There is no celebrating in the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Lady Gaga is not dancing. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have one less thing to be smug about on Comedy Central, and ditto for Glenn Beck on Fox News Channel. President Barack Obama is dealing with more significant issues, like war and unemployment. Steve Jobs is gearing up for the release of the second-generation iPad. The Chilean miners are probably just happy to be alive. And, much like Assange and Obama, the unemployed American has far more significant issues to deal with.
What do all of those people have in common? They all finished ahead of Mark Zuckerberg in voting by TIME readers for its 2010 Person of the Year, yet the Facebook co-founder and CEO rebounded from finishing No. 10 on the readers’ poll and impressed the magazine’s editors enough to be named TIME 2010 Person of the Year.
From the explanation penned by managing editor Richard Stengel:
Like two of our runners-up this year, Julian Assange and the Tea Party, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have a whole lot of veneration for traditional authority. In a sense, Zuckerberg and Assange are two sides of the same coin. Both express a desire for openness and transparency. While Assange attacks big institutions and governments through involuntary transparency with the goal of disempowering them, Zuckerberg enables individuals to voluntarily share information with the idea of empowering them. Assange sees the world as filled with real and imagined enemies; Zuckerberg sees the world as filled with potential friends. Both have a certain disdain for privacy: In Assange’s case because he feels it allows malevolence to flourish; in Zuckerberg’s case because he sees it as a cultural anachronism, an impediment to a more efficient and open connection between people.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears to be one step closer to being released from prison, according to reports, but even if prosecutors in Sweden appeal the ruling to release him on bail, he has one piece of good news to hold onto: Assange was the readers’ choice for TIME‘s Person of the Year 2010.
Editors from TIME will reveal the magazine’s choice for Person of the Year on NBC’s Today Wednesday morning.
TIME said Assange collected 382,020 of the total of 1,249,425 votes cast, far outdistancing second-place finisher Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who finished with 148,383 fewer votes. However, the magazine added that Lady Gaga crushed Assange on Facebook, totaling 65,417 likes versus 45,643.
The readers’ top 10, unchanged from last Wednesday:
1: Julian Assange
2: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
3: Lady Gaga
4: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
5: Glenn Beck
6: Barack Obama
7: Steve Jobs
8: The Chilean Miners
9: The Unemployed American
10: Mark Zuckerberg
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may be cooling his heels in a London jail, but he will likely be heartened by the news that with four days left in the voting, he is atop TIME‘s voting for Person of the Year.
Voting ends Sunday, and the magazine will name its Person of the Year Wednesday, Dec. 15.
The top 10, as of Wednesday:
1: Julian Assange
2: Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
3: Lady Gaga
4: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
5: Glenn Beck
6: Barack Obama
7: Steve Jobs
8: The Chilean miners
9: The unemployed American
10: Mark Zuckerberg
Sure, he has a hit TV show and a wide-reaching radio program, but to announce his latest book, Fox News hsot Glenn Beck took to Facebook and Twitter.
Shortly after 11 AM ET, Beck tweeted the following:
“My staff thinks they’re funny. We’ll see how much they are laughing in the unemployment line.http://on.fb.me/91fyCs”
Clicking the link took you to this Facebook video, which has a number of “outtakes” from Beck’s promo video.
It is a funny video, and a clever way to promote a book. It also shows that when it comes to viral promotion, even big-time stars in traditional media can carve out their own niches in the new media world.
Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck is launching a news and information website, which he is calling The Blaze.
Scott Baker, form Breitbart TV, will serve as editor.
Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer spoke to Baker about the site. Baker explains what sorts of items it would cover:
“It’ll be news and information. Some commentary and opinion stories we’re interested in that are being under-covered or not covered.”
Of the five most “popular” stories listed to the right of the page, all of them are about Glenn Beck or Beck’s rally from over the weekend.
Launch sponsors appear to be Goldline, which is a regular advertiser on beck’s radio and television programs, and Dick Armey‘s new book Give Us Liberty.
Do you have any plans for the week of July 12? No? Well you do now.
Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck has unveiled the curriculum for Glenn Beck University, an online series of courses focusing on subjects that are likely to resonate with regular viewers or listeners to Beck’s daily programs.
To get access to the lectures, interested users need only sign up for “Insider Extreme” the premium section of Beck’s website. A one-year membership costs $74.95.
The addition of Glenn Beck U expands Beck’s multimedia empire, with a highly rated television show and radio program as well as best-selling books.
Sp, who out there is signing up for Glenn Beck U?
(h/t Yahoo! News)
Fox News’ “commander in tweet” Andy Levy was back with another edition of “Twitter News” on Red Eye this week. Red Eye celebrated its 500th show this week as well.
In the segment, Levy explains how Twitter is much more than a “place where cool kids like Ashton Kutcher and Snoop Dogg hang out with dorky losers like David Shuster and Rick Sanchez.” Also featured: a “We Surround Them” Glenn Beck shout-out:
